a Tale Among the Stars

Chapter 4: a Decision to be made

William opened one eye to glare at the offending blue liquid slowly oozing down the tunnel wall. It seemed harmless enough, but he knew for a fact that it was acidic. And strongly so. However, as he stared, he began to try and categorize what this blue liquid was. It was the same blue as the Crylian Crystal's, yet it seemed more concentrated. It was more electric, and a deeper hue. He slowly touched the hardened foam on his face and winced. Thankfully he had gotten to the emergency medical kit before it damaged his eye and he managed to save his vision. Still, it was going to scar.

"Dammit- what the hell are you even?" Willam walked over to the oozing substance and kicked the wall next to it. A droplet of the ooze flew out from the hole and landed onto his HoloPhone. It seemed to fizz before it seeped into the object with a few sparks. The HoloPhone seemed to light up brighter, and when he cautiously scrolled to another message, it even seemed faster. However, after a moment the HoloPhone seemed to be unable to handle this and began to heat up as sparks flew everywhere. William, in a panic, threw the phone down the tunnel. Just in time, the phone exploded down the tunnel and caused a small section to collapse. He wasn't trapped, it was just inconvenient.

"Oh come on!" William yelled, turning back to the ooze. "I don't know what you are," he muttered angrily, pointing at the hole. "But I'm gonna figure it out."

He slowly walked away, holding the foam against his face. He found that the pressure helped with the pain, especially since he was still dragging around the pickaxe. After all, he couldn't leave it behind. He needed to return it.

"Funny how I still think about returning things like this even though I'm injured."

William said as he slowly approached the womans booth again.

"Yes who i- oh my god what happened?" The woman seems to come out of her stupor at the sight of so much medical foam on his face to ask her question.

"Was mining when I hit something liquid...I think it's an acid of some kind. I'm not sure so I'm gonna ask my partner Lily to section. My tunnel off."

The woman nods and presses the button to the door.

"In suprised you came back to return tha'." She drawled, sinking back into her stupor.

William sighed and continues through the doorway. Again it took him a second to find the yellow door, but once he did he set the pickaxe against the wall and sighed. He had barely gotten in half a day of work, his HoloPhone broke, and to top it all off he was injured.

After he had returned his pickaxe, William slowly walked towards the engineering department where Lily would most likely be at this time. He walked slowly because the pain had begun to return, and every step was as if someone was scraping a cheese grater against his face.

Hissing in pain as he entered the designated area that Lily had been assigned to, he sat down near her work bench. She was currently under one of the gigantic land cruisers used to haul the large loads if copper and silver. You couldn't do that with Crylian Crylian Crystals, they were too unstable and would be useless when they got to their destination. So, William cleared his throat to let her know he was there.

"One second William, I just need to- " there was a click and a bang as Lily inserted some metal part into the underbelly of the beast.

"There." Lily slid out from underneath the large machine on her repair board, a small hoverboard she laid on to reach those difficult parts.

"Now what do you ne- oh my god what happened?!" She rushed forward and touched the side of his face that was encased int he hardened medical foam.
William winced and pulled away from her touch.

"I was mining when I cam across a weird blue liquid. My pickaxe broke through and sprayed me with it. It turns out it was acidic."

Lily covered her mouth with one hand.

"No! I'm so sorry!" She said, horror on her face.

"Its not your fault," William said, smiling painfully. "Its not like you put that strange stuff there."

Lily seemed to look away as he smiled mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?" William asked, but lily brushed off his question.

"Well since you're injured, youd better go home. If anyone giver you crap about it tell them I forced you home."

William nodded and started walking away. Lily called after him, a worried expression on her face.

"Dont overwork yourself! I know you have a new project but seriously!"

He turned, nodded, and continued on. When he got to the gate, he used his customary greeting for Hal.

"Hey there Hal."

However, Hal was having none of it.

"Halt. You are leaving before your shift is over. Leaving these grounds will result in disciplinary actions." His robotic voice boomed, making Wiliam wince.

"No I know that Hal. I'm going home due to an injury." He answered. The red ball that was Hals eye flickered as it processed this new information.

"Work injury code?" He finally said, the volumes dialed down quite a bit.

"23-47." William replied, and the gates swung open.

"Get better soon." Hal said as the gates opened. William nodded knowing that he couldn't see him as he walked out of the facility. He didn't look back. He knew that if he did that he would have the irresistible urge to work again. So he began jogging home, wincing as each impact of his foot spread pain throughout his face. However he didn't have to jog for long and soon came to his warehouse. Entering, he was glad to see that the homeless around his place had only done minimal damage to his machine. The Crylian Crystal processor was still welded onto the machine, and the machine itself was only missing a few wires. Some of his tools were broken but he knew how to fix them.

"Let's get started." William said, pulling his welding mask over his face.