DOOM SAGA I - I'll be home tomorrow

Day 13

The Fortress

Just two more days before lowering the food ratio again. She sat upright, legs crossed, in what she tried to imagine was the light of the morning sun.  She only wore her underwear, black boy-cut shorts, and a black cotton undershirt. The rest of it was still drying on an improvised hanger. She counted her breaths, relaxed her mind. The little noise that surrounded her in the Fortress first got louder and clearer, then got swallowed by the thoughts rushing by. For a few moments, the calm created warmth in her chest. Her body finally relaxed and her heartbeat slowed down. But a loud omnipresent groan of metal made her consciousness return.
BANG
Io jumped from her seat and grabbed the rod she carried with her. The noise made the whole station quiver. Nervously she stepped from one foot to another glaring down the hallway.
"SODIA?!" she yelled frightened.
The rubble in the hallway on level four has collapsed. No further damage was caused. On the contrary -  parts of the barracks are now available on foot.
"The barracks?! Ohhohohohaha...!"
She could barely contain her excitement to have new rooms to explore - and maybe an actual bed to sleep in. She hopped down the hallway, her naked feet making her sound like a running duck. The metal rod was tight in her hand as she braked and took one step at a time at the huge staircase.
"I - hate - the - fucking - stairs - who - builds - a - house - like - that.", she said with each step.
She took an elevator two levels down from there on and walked into the pitch-black corridor. But no, there was a shine of light at the far end now. The first time she'd walked down it there had been a dead-end filled with stone that had fallen, now dim sunlight shined from around the building through a bridge-like glass tunnel that connected to another tower's base.
A big hole gaped in the structure on one end, at the point where it connected to the tower on her side, it had given way for the rubble to fall into space. She looked at it, wondered.
Ignored it.
She had learned not to think about the technologies that held this place in one piece, or how she was not yet sucked into the void outside.
The rim of the floor had sharp edges of torn metal, while she stepped closer to the hole, looking at the bright stars she could see from here. It was so much clearer and detailed, being so far away from any source of light. It felt like she could see much deeper into space than she had ever imagined, millions of more lights glimmering around her.
She could comfortably walk over to the other side, a corridor with multiple doors to each side presented to her. The left-behind mess continued in each of the rooms. Single-bed or two-bed quarters, barely big enough for the beds and a small cupboard that accompanied each slot as storage. On the floor below was a large hall with dozens of beds. Nearby she found a big open shower room, so there must be a toilet somewhere too, she thought.
Three floors up,  above what seemed to be an emptied lounge of some sort, were fewer doors, and from the direction of the tunnel was a big window letting in light. The hallway was a little wider, curving around some fancy rooms. These must be for higher-ranked soldiers. One room, in particular, held her interest. It stretched about 20 meters to the window and was about as wide too. The window extended all along the rounded wall of the tower and from the bottom to the top. A wide bed that stood on the right wall, bigger than a regular double bed, seemed fresh and unused, tough dusty. The desk table was still set with utensils and in the drawers, she even found a handful of clean clothes. For men, twice her size, but clothes anyway.
On the far end corner on the left was another open door. When she walked into the frame she could hardly keep her cool.
"Fuck. Yes. TOILET."
The bathroom was measly small compared to the bedroom, but it held a toilet and a big and flat sink made from dark grey stone. The open shower was only hidden behind a see-through pane and had a rainshower head thing coming directly from the ceiling. A big one-person bathtub was in the rounded corner next to a piece of windowed wall.
She paced to the sink, her hand reaching for the faucet, but a nightmarish vision played in her head of flesh-eating bacteria or acidic alien sludge. Her fingers curled backwards.
"SODIA, is the water safe? I mean... does it even work?"
It does and it is perfectly safe.
She hesitated. Did she even want to know how that could still work?
Quickly she turned the faucet and took a few mouthfuls of it. It was okay. The same aftertaste, but she had already gotten used to it. Minutes later she was enjoying the heat running down her cold body. And she didn't even need to go quick. This water was all hers and hers only. Probably half an hour later she stepped out, dried off, and slipped into a pair of soft fabric pants that she could tie around her waist, the length rolled up multiple times. A loose-fitted shirt of what felt to be a mix of linen and cotton, but softer and warmer. Well, everything was loose for her anyway.
The view was different from the one in the control room, a far big broken moon shined calmy from afar, but right then and there it felt less weird to her. This was going to be her camp for a while, and with a hot shower and a real comfy bed, everything seemed less shit than it actually was.
She laid down on the bed after she had plumbed up the sheets, happy that she was no longer allergic to dust for a few years, and stared at the ceiling.
"SODIA, have we finished the story of the Slayer yet?"
This is all the information I can give you without starting the next chapter.
She did a deep sigh.
"Okay. I'm ready SODIA. Start the next chapter."
She closed her eyes and made it more comfortable as the AI began.
After uncountable weeks of fighting in hell, the Slayer awakened on the planet of Argent d'nur, where the folk of Argenta, also known as the Sentinels, lived.
"That's where he got his armour and weapons from, right?"
Indeed. The Argenta worshipped two different kinds of deities, the Wraiths, and the Makyrs that come from the realm of Urdak...