OGENUS EARTH 🌎 🌊 {Dystopian Sci-Fi Adventure}

The Burden in My Hand

Justin returned to the bridge with leaden feet having left Meg in her tube. 

Should I have kissed her? Justin questioned his inaction, an unusual occurrence for him. The tumult of emotions that accompanied his insecurities should have been laughable. Sea Monkeys didn't have relationships, not unless they wanted to retire and lead a boring life full of routine. Also, it didn't quite seem like the most appropriate time to let his hormones get the better of him, especially since Meg did not appear to share his affection. 

Captain Matthias and the others were a frantic hive of activity, and he fell easily into the action.

"Get ready for de-docking!" Captain Matthias called out. 

The swarm reacted, busying themselves at the controls. Big Joe knew he wasn't a cog in this machine, but he could steer a ship as well as any of these Sea Monkeys, so he saddled up to the only one he knew by name. The only problem, Big Joe didn't exactly like Justin or the goo-goo eyes he had been flashing at Meg.

"What do you need me to do?" He asked Justin.

"Just wait." The Sea Monkey replied with a tense smile. "We're going to need your expertise very soon."

"What's that suposed to mean?" Big Joe pressed.

"I'm kind of busy right now," Justin mentioned over his shoulder as the floor shook and jolted abruptly, signaling that the Syracusia had detached from the other ships.

He turned to face Big Joe. "Sorry about that big man, I had to complete a couple of cycles," Justin explained. "And you're right, I need to show you how you're going to be helping."

Big Joe flinched reluctantly at the Sea Monkey's kind tone. "Good," he replied. 

It was going to be difficult to resent this kid if he was going to act so damn kind. 

"Alright, so here's your panel." Justin pointed to the seat next to him. "In a few minutes, we're going to begin firing torpedoes at The Arc's seismic barrier."

"Isn't that going to cause a lot of noise?" Big Joe asked with concern. "One of those monsters-"

"If that happens we'll have to split our efforts to fend off the beast." Justin shrugged like Harrison, which made Big Joe deeply uncomfortable.

"No you don't understand, I've seen those beasts and it would take our full attention," he warned the naive Seafarer.

"We've seen them too," Justin assured him without getting cocky. "Trust me, we've got some juice of our own! Those things won't stand a chance."

Big Joe huffed at the whippersnapper's blustering, but he was also pretty curious and wanted to hear more about their secret weaponry.

"So, as I said, this is going to be your station. When Coeuss lowers the barrier, the Sirens are going to send drones and motorized Aegis' out into the water to fight," Justin spoke quickly as he brought up what looked like a three-dimensional gridded field with an egg-shaped sphere in the center. "We'll move in and send out our drone squads. Since we won't be using Coeuss' logic to fly them, we need as many great pilots as we can get."

Big Joe had to admit that the kid was charming, but he didn't want to give his loyalties too easily. He'd been with Harrison for years and it felt strange to take orders from other people at this point.

"Weapons ready!" Captain Matthias called out.

"That's my cue!" Justin grinned, then turned back to his panel.

Big Joe had already wedged himself into the seat next to the lanky Sea Monkey but was busy trying to tuck his belly under the lip of the table.

A large zooming noise rumbled under the ship as their first bogies went out into the water.