Timelines Collide

Chapter 11: Farwell

On my way towards the meeting spot, I walk by all the vested shinnies who always hang out deep within the hangar. Laughing it up with a few beers with an oblivious attitude. The only reason I know this is because Hardcase, Heavy, Joltxs, and Silverback told me that this is the spot they would go to before being assigned to the 104th Battalion, just to have a good time.

What I wouldn't do for another drink with my squadmates now. To hear Joltxs and Hardcases's hardy laughter as they struggle to fit one more DB down their throat. And the eye-turning Ethan, Cliff, and I would give as we struggled to finish our third. I doubt I can mentally swallow even one now, after seeing Cliff's struggling throat still smelling of the stuff.

Thinking about it makes my mouth reflective gag.

After passing the shinnies, the reminders fade as I make it toward the darkness of the hanger to finally take a gander at Lisa's machine. Lana's eyes, when I got there were bulging as if she saw in front of her an act of God. Peter's eyes remain stationary. Mine happens to be somewhere in the middle.

If I must compare it to something, a mini rocket ship comes to mind first. However, its bullet-shaped structure is widened, comparable to that of a decorated Easter egg. It has five wings, three in the middle, separated evenly by the mini exhaust that stretches to touch the ground. The other two are more like tail fins resembling a spider's legs. Arched out toward their respective sides, only going back toward the ground to support themselves like the ones in the middle.

The metal has the texture of a painted wall right after it had dried. It's a lot smoother than I thought when my fingers run easily along it. There are only two main exhausts and they look like missiles taped on the side of a car door. For all I know, they're missiles.

On the top is a see-through egg-shaped dome. Being one of the tallest troopers I've seen in this entire force standing at 6.2ft, even I can't see what's inside. Its highest point has me beat, not by much, just enough to be annoying.

My hands sigh gripping the step ladder. Granted I only needed to take two or three steps before towering over it. Not going to lie for its size it looks quite roomy inside. The hatch has a smear of fog, layered upon its outside. The type of fog people know something is going to be on the other side. I should've been more prepared.

My mind practically shit itself, uncovering Lisa's unspectacled face pressed against the glass. My brain left, fleeing from its chains, leaving me to fall downwards from the ladder. The impact is loud enough for even the shines to turn their drunken heads from the smuggled lecture liquid.

My back lays flat on the floor as I watch the hatch open like a coned-shaped security door. The only thing missing is the alarm going off in the process.

Both Peter and Lana laugh but hers is more of a genuine one like a child seeing someone slip on a banana peel for the first time. Peter's laugh, however, has a vibe to it, making it seem like he was in on my demise. To think if this was one of his little gags, it would make me flustered, but I couldn't be mad at him for long.

Especially when he knows he better help Lana get me from the ground.

"So, you like my little joke?" Peter asks, his signet arm wrapped over my neck's backside.

"You know I can't get mad at a joke like that," I say gutturally.

"That's good because this might be the last one for a while."

"I wouldn't be so sure Peter." Lisa's voice grunts from inside the machine. "Where he's going there might be more jokes to be told."

Everything from Lisa's and Peter's words starts sticking to me upon a brick wall. I never imagined we would get this far, just from The Covenant research alone. The same research that made us forgotten by the rest of the world is giving us another chance to prove ourselves. Mostly I thought I wouldn't have survived to see it through.