Enjoy! ***Work in progress (Novel)***
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Kelile jolted awake in his pilot seat to the sound of a voice. Glancing around the cockpit of his ship, named "Nexus"; Kelile mutters...
"I've been in quantum travel too long".
"Come to us!..." called a distant voice. The voices seemed to echo from within his head.
Suddenly a vision of unfamiliar faces and the familiar sight of a driftless ship remains flashed in front of him.
"What the hell is wrong with me?!", asked himself while removing the flight helmet to rub his burning eyes.
A shiver went down Kelile's spine, he shuttered and leaned back in the seat. Glancing at his HUD. "Only 13 million kilometers to go", he thought. Suddenly the ship alarms began sounding in cadence with warning lights dancing about the cockpit. Kelile recognized the warnings and routed power to his shields and weapon systems. He was being pulled out of Quantum warp.
Kelile's ship jerked violently at the sudden decrease in speed. Prepared for a fight, nothing appeared on his radar, he saw but an empty void in space. "What in the hell is going on?!" he yelled. Frustrated, he began spooling the quantum drive and diverted power to the ship's thrusters. Warning lights illuminated the dash and alarms began to sound again. "Contac..." voiced the impeded ship's AI. The alarms had ceased and the power to the ship's systems instantly cut out. After realizing the life support system had malfunctioned Kelile scrambled to put his flight helmet back on. Suddenly the wreckage of what was once a massive ship flashed into existence before him! Glancing around the wreckage, the remains of the ship's crew were littered throughout the hull. "My God!," he gasped "Is that Vara?" He had heard the tales as a child and shivered at the realization.
Desperate to mend his ship. Kelile decided the only way was to scavenge for parts in the wreckage.
The ship sustaining significant damage forced Kelile to pry open the cockpit to exit the ship. While exiting the ship he thought he spotted a corpse beginning to move. "He is here." hissed the voice from before. The corpses seemed to come to life and rapidly approached him. Kelile drew his pistol instantly firing on the approaching corpses. They seemed unaffected by the blasts and were faster than his trigger finger could pull. The increasingly frigid sensation in his suit caused Kelile to slowly lose consciousness. A strong tug was felt at his ankle. "Come.. with.. us..." the voice hissed. Kelile turned and fired again, sprinting back to his ship, pulling himself into the cockpit, and sealing the hatch.
Loud thuds from the corpse's fists pounding on the hull, and awful screeching of metal scraping metal filled the gaseous space.
"You cannot leave Kelile!", said the inscrutable voice. Struggling to maintain composure Kelile began cycling the ship's power, "Come on Start!!".
Attempts to escape were in vain; the ship failed to respond, and time seemed to slow as the glass of the cockpit began to fracture from repeated blows. The canopy shattered and the vacuum of space ripped Kelile from his seat, his helmet struck a piece of wreckage causing him to lose consciousness.
Kelile awoke with a startle.
His heart was racing and the glow of the helmet display filled his eye indicating low oxygen levels.
Kelile hastily flipped switches to divert power to life support and started ship diagnostics.
His frantic movements slowed as he realized he was alive, the ship intact, and still in the quantum warp. It was a nightmare, "I fell asleep".
Kelile's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden onset of alarms and warning lights. The ship seemed to come to an immediate halt as it fell out of quantum warp. A field of debris filled the ship's viewport. "Kelile!..." a voice hissed.
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