Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

10 - Setting Off

While everyone else was preparing for their trek, Chris took the opportunity to revisit the Control Room, on his own. It was impossible to know what obstacles or dangers they might meet during the hike to the Supply Modules but now that he knew they might have a traitor in their midst, he had to be prepared. The odds of the traitor being active would increase dramatically when the defrosting of the rest of the crew began.

Once he had identified the traitor, he would no doubt need help from other members of the crew, but until then, he would have to operate alone. It seemed reasonable to assume that he would be an obvious target for the traitor so he would have to take precautions to protect himself.

Standing as high on the sloped wall as he could without slipping, he could just reach the misleadingly titled emergency locker. He took the Command Key he kept on a chain around his neck and used it to unlock the small door. He knew the contents from training but had never seen them in real life before. On a compact rack inside were two Glock 19 pistols, some spare clips, four single-use flare pistols and the security key for resetting Foxy to her factory settings.

He nervously glanced back at the hatch before releasing one of the Glocks from its bracket. The pistol felt cold and heavy as he checked it was loaded. He took two spare clips and shoved them along with the pistol into one of the chest pockets in his H.E.P.O.. He was about to relock the locker when he changed his mind and took one of the flare pistols too. He stuffed that into the long pocket on the right thigh of his H.E.P.O. side then fastened both zips.

He could not think of a reason why he might need a flare pistol, but he felt he was more likely to need one if he did not have one with him.

* * *

"Lucy, have we left enough food for the people who are staying here?" Chris asked as the group who were making the trek gathered behind the Command Module.

"More than enough to last until well after our own food runs out," she replied. "They've probably got enough to last two or three weeks. Their water's not going to last that long, so they won't starve to death."

"How bad are the four injured."

"Ah... no-one told... okay, it's three now. It's Robert Butcher..."

"What happened?"

"He'd been unconscious ever since we crashed. He was one of the unlucky ones who got hit by the chairs that broke off. Apart from being knocked out and suffering some impressive bruising, we thought he was going to be okay. I thought it was just a matter of waiting for him to come round."

"He died?"

"We noticed he'd stopped breathing about fifteen minutes ago. Hugo tried to resuscitate him, but it was too late. Hugo reckons he probably had internal bleeding that we couldn't detect."

"How are the other three?"

"Broken ribs, a suspected broken ankle and a head injury that probably needs surgery. I'd be happier if we could x-ray Rebecca's arm too. Amanda seems to have done a decent job of setting it, but we really need the medical people from those Supply Modules. The paramedic who was revived before the crash died."

"We're not getting much luck," Chris sighed sadly. "Our mission now is to turn things around. How are we going on preparations, Fletcher?"

Fletcher looked surprised to be spoken to.

"It took some work to get water out of the drinking tank, Commander," he reported. "I had to rip some panelling out, drill a hole in the top of the tank and set up a syphon valve. We've taken just over half the total supply just filling the water bottles."