✅ Project SETI Trilogy

Chapter Two - Part XXVIII: Departure

          Temet and Nova tailed the clone closely. They were all quite winded by the time they approached the vessel, and Nova could feel the effects of the analgesic he'd been given steadily ebbing off. The dull ache in his chest and groin had become sharp and grating, and all the running he'd just done was only making it worse. Both he and Novala stopped to catch their breath as Temet made her way over to a small control panel on the support column underneath the ship. She turned it on and interfaced with it as fast as her shaking hands would allow her to, and a few seconds later, a hatch above them began to lower to reveal the access ramp.

          Novala whipped around when he heard the hatch of a transport pod swip open. He fired off six shots of the plasma rifle, and then the trigger clicked dryly a few times as the energy cell powering it ran out. "Shit!"

          Nova passed him the energy pistol when he heard him curse, and he hastily took it and started to fire that off too. As he did, the hatches for two more transport pods opened and more Daxut poured out into the area.

          "Come on!" Temet urged them. She'd stepped onto the ramp as soon as it was low enough to do so, and Nova wasn't far behind.

          He shot the Daxut nearest to them while backing onto the ramp, and Temet scrambled up into the ship to get to the panel that would close the hatch again. She found it and activated it before their pursuers could stop them, and she allowed herself a sigh of relief when it closed completely with everyone securely inside.

          This left them in a small room where the entry ramp took up the vast majority of the floor. Along one wall were a handful of spacesuits, a half-stocked wall of firearms, and a row of spooled tethers to connect to the aforementioned suits. Several seats with accompanying harness fixtures above them lined the other walls. Temet started toward the closed hatch on the far end of the room and waved for them to come with her.

          "The piloting console is just ahead," Temet said as she ran her fingers along the panel near the sealed door. It beeped and opened at her touch. "They'll be trying to stop us. We don't have much time..."

         "Can you fly?" Novala asked as they advanced through the short corridor that led off into the other sections of the roomy vessel.

          "Yeah... I'm still learning, but... I'll do my best," she pointed to the archway ahead of them, beyond which was the large cockpit. The piloting console was already powered up and sitting idle.

          Nova silently followed them and found a small bench against the back wall to sit on. It had four slots in the wall above it, to extend safety harnesses for two passengers. He watched as Temet sat down in front of the main piloting console, and Novala sat down next to her in the co-pilot's chair. He could hear the two of them talking, and he could see Temet was explaining things as she pointed and gestured to various items on the HUD in front of her and on the console beneath it, but he couldn't actually hear the words, even though he wasn't sitting that far away. His mind was reeling, loud enough to drown them out, and he found himself unable to ignore it this time.

          A few seconds later, the vessel was airborne. Temet guided it over to the panel in the ceiling that opened and closed to provide access to the hangar, and it opened automatically as she approached. On the other side was a sizable airlock that prevented the vacuum of space from entering the ship, and as soon as the hatch behind them was closed completely, the wall ahead parted to allow them passage.

          "Wait...!" Novala suddenly yelled, barely a moment after they had disembarked from the Temetor One.

          Nova and Temet tensed at the sound of his voice. He looked up at Novala first, then followed his gaze through the windowed hull. He jumped to his feet at what he saw.