THE FALL OF ROSENROT STATION

ON RAILS

He opened his eyes to a sound of something crashing. Sarah was standing over him on hand on his shoulder in the process of shaking him awake, but she was not looking at him. She looked past him at something he could not see.

He grabbed her wrist as she started shaking him again. Then he let her go and pushed himself up so he was sitting on the side of the bed.

We must leave. Now. The synthetic looked at him. Her eyes were wide behind the faceplate of her mask. Her hair stuck out from the straps at a wierd angle. She had pulled the mask on in a hurry.

What is wrong. He looked around. Where is Nico.

He r- he is guarding the car.

It's here? You called it without my say so.

We had to. You'll understand in... Her words trailed off and she looked over where she had been looking before. There was another crashing sound. The scrape of steel across steel. He looked over but could see nothing beyond the radiated lines from the fusion lamp. Without looking away he reached down about the sides of the cot until he found his carbine. He stood and swung his weapon up and snapped its light on. Light lanced the darkness. A bright circle of white light. It illuminated a number of steel and plastic crates stacked haphazardly in one corner of the room.

There was another loud crash. The larger crate shook while several of the smaller ones were jostled loose and tumbled onto the floor. Somewhere behind the crates came an inhuman shriek that, though muffled by several layers of materials, made the hair on the back of his neck bristle. 

Then the sounds stopped. There was a lull a strange silence that somehow seemed even worse.

Talk fast. Even glanced back at Sarah then back at the crates.

They got into the subfloor somehow. We blocked the access hatch but they will get through.

Even said nothing for half a second then turned abruptly and started for the door. Do we have everything.

Sarah hefted the kit bag.

Everything we found useful, and can carry. Nico has a bag of supplies.

Even nodded. He hurried to the door and slapped the controls to open. Immediately outside was the corpse of one of the biomorphs. One of the pale species with extra limbs that terminated in bone swords. It had been cut in two the flesh stitched into ragged wounds by automatic fire. Blood pooled in the dimpled steel.

Beyond it was the car. It was a capsule of a dark metal about five meters long and several meters it's other dimensions. The sides had windows of a dark glass that he could not see inside. It hung upon the overhead monorail but without touching it.

Nico. He yelled.

Nico.

The side of the car peeled open and then a ramp slid out at an angle. Nico stood at the top silhouetted against the warm yellow internal lighting. His armor was splashed with blood and he pointed his rifle out past them.

Come on.

Even glanced behind him to see the synthetic closing the door to the shelter. Then he turned and stepped over the corpse of the biomorphs then hurried up the ramp. At the top he stopped and turned and aimed his carbine to cover the synthetic as she scrambled after him.

She was about halfway when it happened. A form exploded out of the shadows alongside the shelter a pale thing moving so fast it was a blur. Before Even could get it in his sights the creature sprung up against the side of the shelter then sprung again for the synthetic.