The Beast

The Beast - Part 53

The first thing he wanted to do is clear things up with Chip, no matter how weird their relationship had become since their fight. Gabriel asked Elle for direction and got on his way. The stony tunnels had gotten somewhat familiar to him by now, however Elle led him into a remote corner deep inside the meteor that was still unfamiliar.

The usual encounters with patrols turned into long periods of nothing but rocky walls and the occasional flickering light. Almost concerned, he turned the last corner on Elle's description, behind it the tunnel widened to make place for an improvised checkpoint. About a dozen guards were either playing a holo-game he didn't recognize or sleeping leaned against the wall.

They jumped up when they saw him, trying to save face as much as possible. One particular soldier saluted in a way he only knew from the oath ceremony and started to apologize for their position. This was followed by excuses, Gabriel interrupted to say that he didn't care and just wanted to know why they were here.

The woman informed him that her patrol was sent to secure and assist the bolg engineer inside but were faced with stiff resistance and chose to wait outside. That did sound very much like Chip, plus she was the only blog he met so far.

Gabriel shot down the urge to ask what 'stiff resistance' meant. He knew Chip too well not to already have some sort of idea. He then thanked the patrol leader and made his way to the sealed door.

She shouted after him: "We suspect the place is rigged with booby traps!"

He just chuckled, their existence was absolutely certain, the only question was whether or not Chip put in enough effort to make them creative.

The door opened with whistling noise, behind it was another identical one. He stepped inside the tiny room and when the first door closed behind him, he was certain he had found the first trap. He figured out that he was standing in an airlock when the second door opened to let red mist flood in and replace his clean air.

The air tasted weirdly sharp but since Elle didn't say anything he stepped into the room. It looked like a long cargo bay with Chip's influence clearly visible by the amount of unsecured things practically begging to be put into a safe and locked container. Gabriel carefully stepped over a pile of ammunition-like looking things as he made his way around the area. The red mist made it hard to see very far, nevertheless he made out the familiar looking silhouette hunched over a device.

Carefully he closed the distance, just when she was almost in distance to reach, he stepped on something that gave in with a mechanical 'click'. A split second later his ankle exploded, pain shot through his body as he fell forward on his knees. He cursed himself a thousand times for accepting Elle's advice until the bloody stomp he called his right foot got regenerated into its previous form.

He felt the cold floor through the warm puddle of blood under him when he stood up again. Finding new shoes just got added to his to do list. When he looked forward again, Chip was gone. First he thought she used the distraction to hide somewhere but his assumptions were proven false when a barrel was pressed against the back of his head.

"This never gets boring." The barrel left his head, "Make it interesting the next time you show up." Chip went back to work, she looked no different than usual except for the heavy gas mask she wore.

Gabriel stepped closer to inspect the device, it was a rifle: "Why the gasmask?"

Chip exhaled loudly: "Do you think the red cloud is decorative? These batteries can't make contact with conventional air without pulverizing both of us." She pointed at two bulges on the weapon. "The additives are toxic but I assume you'll deal with that the same way you dealt with your foot."