Astray Among The Stars

Chapter 42: Haze

The ship's alarms blared, waking Roger with a jolt. "Fuck!"

He hastily left his quarters, not bothering to dress before he ran to the nearest console.

FIRE. DECK FIVE, SECTION THREE.

Shit! The mess hall!

Roger bolted down the crimson glowing hallways, arming himself with an extinguisher. Without food, they couldn't survive. Without them maintaining the ship, no one would survive.

The double doors opened. The room was dark and quiet. All was still.
Toast activated in response to the motion, his cyan eyes glowing. "May I be of assistance? Did you come for a midnight snack?"

Roger panted, setting the extinguisher down with a thud. "False alarm."

"False alarm of what?"

"Fire. You can turn off now. I won't be needing your services."

"Very well." Toasty McToastface powered down, his glowing cyan eyes fading into darkness.

Roger exited, stopping at the doorway. What the fuck?

The hallway lights weren't glowing. No alarms were blaring. It was silent, dead silent.

Roger sighed as he headed back to his quarters, making note to find the glitch and repair the systems. Hopefully Prill and Tevra heard it too.

* * *

Prill woke up in a cold sweat. He sat up, feeling the gaze of two eyes pierce him from the darkness. His quarter doors opened. A shadow walked out, heading down the hall.

Prill grabbed his rifle, Raquel, pointing the weapon as he moved forward. The doors opened. He followed, tactically aiming, jumping from one corner to the next.

"Prill," an old raspy voice called, "come and find me."

"Who are you? What do you want?"

The voice chuckled.

"I can feel your anger, your pain, your fear. Use them and you'll be strong!"

His eyes caught a glimpse of movement. He fired. The plasma bolt hit the wall in a brief flash, sending a storm of sparks. The voice cackled. "You can't kill me."

Prill turned to another source of movement, his mind obsessed by the taunt. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"You already know."

Prill fired again, missing the silhouette as it dodged the blast.

The figure stood motionless. A chill swept over him. "That is all for now Prill. Your toy is useless against me." The shadow faded. Prill kept his weapon pointed in the darkness.

Footsteps approached him. Something was running. Someone was coming. His eyes followed the sound, jumping to the movement headed towards him. His heart pounded. His fingers were ready, his mind anticipating the horrors of war. It was a war against fear, a war against the unknown. Prill had enough. He couldn't take it anymore. He fired.

The white plasma bolt briefly lit up the hallway. His stomach sank. "Roger, look out!"

The boy barely had time to react. He flung himself to the side, but it was too late. The bolt grazed him, but hit the fire extinguisher he dropped in reaction. The canister's explosion blasted him across the hall. Roger slammed into the metal, falling limp to the floor.

"Roger!"

Prill rushed to him, coughing as he breathed in the chemicals. He dragged the boy from the cloud, sealing off the section for ventilation.