Act of Void

Altas

"Keep the damned thing in one piece!" Maria called as Icey and I marched down the hall to board the "damned thing" that Maria was referring to.

Icey and I, soon to be again referred to as Icebox and Prince Vega, gave each other a quick look and both in unison said, "Yes, Mother." Maria scowled and mumbled a few curses under her breath. Siren was the only available flight vessel in working order in the Fantasma Colony, so I suppose she had good reason to be concerned.

Three days earlier....

"cccssssooo...Vega....oosssssss..... ssss..Vega....ssssstpssssstpssss..."

"Huh, no I didn't... wha...?"

Ko'ah, realizing he was no longer dreaming, jumped to his feet only to be brought back down to his original position... "Aaahhh... damned low ceilings..."

"Icey to Ko'ah."

"Uughhh... yeah, what is it?" groaned Ko'ah, apparently annoyed.

"I just got a transmission from TarCom, apparently they need us... on Io... they said they tried to contact you fir--"

Ko'ah interrupted Icey in mid-sentence, "Yeah, yeah... I was asleep... man, Io... been a while, huh? I wonder how Xenomorph is doing without me at the academy..."

"Ko, there will be time for this... but they need us ASAP... and Siren is a shambles... we need to get it in working order now."

"Okay, okay coming..." Ko'ah attempted to get up again and fell to the floor with a large crash, knocking over a table.

"Ko, you ok?" came a voice from the com.

"Yeah, guess I hit my head a bit harder than I thought, heh."

now rested on the other side. It exposed its arm around the pillar. Altas snapped to the other side and fired a red shot, snapping the gun arm off at the joint. From the pure force of the shot, the 'brid was thrown back from the pillar, exposing its body. A second shot through the chest ended that target.

"One more," came Gyl's voice.

Altas looked out from the bulkhead. He slowly got out from his position. Examining the room, there appeared to be nothing remaining. He walked forward, curious as to where the last target may be. He heard a quick movement behind him. Turning into a roll, he brought his gun to bear in the noise's direction. Nothing was in the vicinity. Altas sighed, relaxing slightly.

A powerful force threw the gun effortlessly from his hands where it smashed into a wall, detonating. Altas turned to see a hideous pure black image. It slashed with its hand in an untraceable motion, catching Altas in the chest, leaving pure black gash marks.

"Gyl, what the hell is this?" Altas frantically called out.

No reply came.

"Gyl? Gyl?! Pause simulation!" he cried.

Nothing.

The image swung for his arm. He swung his arm into a counter attack motion for the image's head. His arm went into the image. He now understood why it was pure black; no light could escape from it. The image swung with its other arm, breaking off Altas' own. Its first hand swung out to grab him at the throat, lifting him off the ground. Altas struggled to break free. In his struggle, his eyes locked to the image's. He saw Maria and Del's fight with it. He saw the pure terror in their eyes. The image let out a sound, a laugh. Its free hand reached back, and then drove through Altas' face. It then let go. The lifeless robot smashed into the ground. The image smiled, an invisible smile, and then disappeared.

Altas' body snapped up from its slouched position against the wall. The familiar scene of the Fantasma Herc refitting centre still remained, though in a perfect, war free state. Ajax shuffled from his standing position and pointed his guns, as a gesture that he was looking at him.

"Del ripped yer head off again, I take it?" he muttered, though in a joking manner.

Altas remained quiet, almost shivering.

"Okay, she must've really kicked your ass then, huh?

Altas slowly turned his head to face Ajax. He shook his head. "A ghost," he said, quiet, almost hoping it wouldn't hear his voice.

"I'm sorry, no such thing. You sure Del didn't squeeze too hard on the armour plating for the CPU? That'd do it ya know..." he said, obviously not taking Altas' word.

"I think I had... a... dream." Altas said, knowing to a 'brid, he must sound like he had gone crazy.

"Dream, you say? Sounds like what a human would call a 'nightmare'. Best ya check with Gyl. She's just takin' her usual power down, same as yerself."

"Hey, yo, Gyl?" Ajax called out. "Gylley poo?" Nothing. He tried kicking her a few times, though making sure not to dent her; otherwise she would have killed him. No response.

"Gyl?" Altas called out, beginning to get worried. Normally she would respond immediately. Altas extended a small plug-in from his finger and inserted it into a small, and normally invisible hole. The canopy promptly opened. Altas hopped inside, calling out Gyl's name, getting no response. He began pushing buttons, flipping switches. Nothing. He inserted his plug-in into another hole in the cockpit. Nothing happened. This should have jump-started her reactor. Altas began banging his fists in fury against the cockpit, enraged, and also frightened. As he swung his fists, most likely one to smash the glass protecting several of the gages, a black hand tore through the cockpit and grabbed his arm. Altas struggled, but was effortlessly pulled into the black void, his dying scream echoing through to every living soul.

Altas' eyes snapped open. He immediately recognised the room as the infirmary. He felt something extending from his feet to head. Apparently he was lying down. He attempted to get up, but found that something was holding him down. He looked to see restraints over his arms, legs, torso, and neck. He turned his head to see Maria sleeping in another bed, and Del, in a third at the end of the room. Xeno, who was fixated on Maria, noting any signs of change, occasionally glanced over to the other two patients. She looked to see Altas' green eyes staring at her.

"Altas is awake," she called out. Ko'ah, Razorback, and Icey came from the halls and assembled around the bed.

"So, what am I doing here?" he asked, almost sounding angry.

"Ajax reported that you were shaking violently," Razorback dryly answered.

"And these?" asked Altas, gesturing to the restraints.

"We couldn't stop you from getting up and smashing things about," replied Xeno, glancing over at the mess of medical supplies that waited to be swept up.

"Most likely a hardware malfunction," added Razorback.

"No," retorted Altas. "It was like a dream. A nightmare. I saw a black image. I saw it kill me, Maria, Del. I saw... evil."

The others backed away, their hair standing on end.

"I don't know much about 'brids," Xeno began, "But perhaps you should get some sleep."

"No." replied Altas. "I don't want to go back."

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