Afterglow

Chapter VII

I boarded the station. The intentional white metal of the airlock was covered in dust. I stepped forward, whipping up the dust of the room and sent it spiralling down again.

I opened the inner hatch and stepped through.

What greeted me as I walked through the door will remain in my ever constant nightmares.

On the floor lay the body of a woman holding a small object, engaged in a death struggle with an enemy she couldn't fight.

I looked down both ways of the corridor. Either one led into darkness my torch couldn't penetrate.

The deathy silence of my surroundings was broken by the static of my suits radio.

"Mi_l_r pl_ea__ __sp_d" read the distorted voice of Ryan.

I quickly replied. "Ryan this is Miller, Emma didn't make it." I reported.

"M__ler? I'm sorry, there was a problem with the ships communications device, needed a quick calibration. Whats your status?" He asked me quickly.

"I'm fine but Emma's not." She reported.

"Why?"

I paused to think about my reply. Tgere was no easy way of saying that another human being was dead.

"She's inside the blackhole."

No reply came from Ryan for a few seconds. "Shit."

"I know," I acknowledged "how am I getting back?" I entered the firat room on my right.

And I entered a nursery.

I then immediatly backed out and entered the room to the left.

It was apparent that I was in the education section of the station.

**********

The merciless efficiency of humanities requirements for survival had never been so apparent to me. The twisting, dark and cold corridors of Utopia Station Alpha were littered with the bodies of men, women and children. Some were old. Some were young. Some had more sex appeal. Some would have been considered ugly. None could escape deaths unflinching grasp.

As I wondered the corridors searching for an answer, I noticed something. There open and bulging eyes. Staring into far-off places whilst in their final death throes. I walked inside someones living quaters. Inside a cot lay dormant in the darkness.

I quickly backed out into the horrible shackles of this ancient and barren place.

I walked onwards.

When I finally managed to arrive at the bridge, I noticed that it was the only room in the entire station not to contain the carcass of some long dead human.

I activated my radio. "Ryan, I've reached the bridge," I reported "what am I looking for?"

His reply took two seconds to come through. "Uh... Look for a control network interface and then feed the access code through to me."

I moved to one of the control panels. When I tried to activate it, one message appeared on the screen.

>Access denied - error code 158GI90FT

"It's not letting me access the system," I said in a confused manner.

Ryan got back to me within a second. "Have you tried a forced bypass?"

I looked at the moniter. "No... Attempting now."

I quickly tapped out a bypass attack.

>Enact Order 527
>'Order 527' has been purged

"Ryan, it says that order 527 has been purged," I reported with a puzzled face.

"I think you should probably get out of there." he hastily replied.

I stepped back. "Why?"

"I just think you should." his voice had a tone of confidence in it.

"WHY?" I replied loudly.

"I'm picking up more than one life sign on the ship."