Mindless

Chapter Five - 008

 My entire body feels like it's on fire still. It only took me about five stairs and the walk across the control room to be steady on my own feet, but that doesn't mean I'm not feeling the aftershock of that gun. Turned on the lowest setting, they can cause people slowly growing pain for hours without loss of consciousness. Ouch.

I quickly type in strings of code into my tangiscreen as we walk, hoping to get past the bay doors before we get the shuttle, so that once we're in, I can just open them. I had one shuttle set aside, armed and loaded but not a normal many-passenger transport. This is for flying.

We get to it and I quickly punch in a code to open the door, something I caught off of the last shuttle bay guards. It slides open and I beacon the others in.

"So this is what we're supposed to escape in?" 022 asks as we step inside and I power it up. "Yeah," I quickly reply, then head off to the control room. I find a comm there, one that connects to the entire ship. Huh. Useful.

I've never piloted a shuttle before. I understand how each individual piece on the control panel works, but as a whole? No clue. The steering wheel in front of the cushioned seat, complete with about six different belts, seems foreign.

I press power on the main control panel and watch in awe as it flairs to life, the shuttle rising higher. When I sit in the chair, the belts strap me in automatically. I flip the switches for more height, put in the string of code for opening the bay doors, and grab the comm, enjoying the soft crackle it makes.

"Attention, passengers, buckle up. We're going for a ride."

Then I grab the steering wheel and guide the shuttle out of the bay, shutting the doors behind us. We're free.

Now our next job: find the un-findable, starBase 000. They're rumored to be in the Azure system, one we learned about long ago in classes. But they could have gone anywhere.

So I just pilot the ship for hours, on a course to the Azure system at a cruising speed just over that of light. We'll come out of that speed as we hit the outermost ring of Azure. You'd think flying would get old, but it doesn't.

My ears perk up as I catch glimmers of conversation from the other room. I strain to listen.

"...freaky, right?"

"Fourteen hours ago I thought nothing in my entire life would ever change. You're telling me."

I hear boyish laughter, unusual for someone so large. He absolute towers over me. I giggle to myself at the sound. Laughing, both the word and the action, are illegal, but sometimes the guards and the soldiers do it, when they think nobody's watching. And smiling is not illegal, but only because some people always smile, it's just how their faces look.

"So where do you think we're going?"

"Not a clue. Silver-eyes over there hasn't bothered to tell us yet."

"Oh." The silence stretched on for a long time. Then, "Do you think we're going to be ok?"

I hear a sigh, and then the soldier replies. "I think we're all past that point," he says as 022 feebly laughs. I still haven't caught the soldier's name.

"It feels weird. To not know what's going to happen. It's like I'm stuck in something thick and heavy, and I can't breathe or see and everything just kind of fades into oblivion as my stomach drops." She pauses, as if thinking. "I know that sounds crazy. None of that is real."

"Not crazy," he replies. "It's actually the most normal thing I've heard in the past five hours."

They go silent again. I sigh. It's for the best, and there really was no other way to keep them both alive, but... still. I feel bad. For taking them away from everything they know, even if it's not something good. and if we can't find starBase 000--

I force myself to think about something else, anything else. If we can't find it, we're dead. They will terminate 022 and commit the soldier to purple. They will probably also harm me, but, crazy as it sounds, I don't care. I only care about the well being of 022 and the soldier.

A ping sounds throughout the control panel and into my headset, which I have around my neck. I pull it back over my ears and turn on the comm feature of the mic, so that they can hear me in the back of the ship. "Sit down and buckle up," I say. "We're coming out of hyperlight."

A minute later, give or take, the ship jolts and everything blurs back into focus around us. The navigational auto-pilot clicks off as I grab the wheel, flying down towards the planets in the center of the system.

The control panel beeps angrily. The ship shudders. I move the wheel, trying to steer as I was before. Nothing happens. I frantically flip on and off all autopilot switches, then reset navigation. Nothing happens. We begin to drift as the power flickers.

I pull the headset off of my ears and around my neck and jump out of my seat, rushing towards the back cabin.

"I don't have control of the ship!" I cry out, slamming right into the soldier, whose sheer size knocks me over. I get back up quickly and peer around him, to there 022 stands, eyes wide.

"What?" they both ask simultaneously, then look at each other briefly before their eyes train back on me.

"I don't have control over the ship! Nothing's working!"

The power flickers completely off. I panic. The soft glow of the pale white emergency lights glows over the room, making it hard to see much of anything.

Something purple begins to pour out of the air vents.

"I've got 022!" The soldier shouts into the darkness. His voice somehow still reaches me. "Go find something to help you breathe-- we have helmets in the closet!"

I wonder how he knows this but don't hesitate to try to find out. I stand in the doorway for a moment longer, hoping they make it to the closet alright and get the helmets, and then rush off to the cockpit, bumping into walls on my way. My hand is pressed tightly against my mouth and nose, but I don't know for how much longer. I desperately want to breathe... my brain cries poison, but my lungs scream air.

I know I saw a mask with an oxygen filter tucked into a ceiling compartment. I just need to reach it. I fumble in the darkness, standing atop the chair I had been sitting in before. I reach for the mask, putting it on like we had all been taught to do in the event of a base breach with an oxygen vacuum.

I click on the filter.

Nothing happens.

The little dots of light that were supposed to appear don't. No small whirring sound can be heard from this device. The mask is broken, and I can't hold my breath anymore. I take it off and throw it across the room, taking in a deep breath of poison.

At first, nothing happens. But then I start to feel it-- my head is swimming, spots of darkness are appearing in my vision...

I slide down against a wall, slumping painfully against the cold surface. Everything burns, and my lungs feel tight. My vision is becoming more dark than light.

I know that poison is the equivalent of termination. At least the others are safe. I feel something strange and wet brimming in my eyes, but it never spills out.

Slowly, slowly, the world around me fades. I see blue eyes, brimming with all sorts of things that I could never even hope to understand, right before the entire world is gone.