Escape from Abyss

The coming ordeal

EST 359th sol day, 3025 AD

Cryssalid cluster, Osiris system

Western wing, Union space

The USV Shalmeneser emerged from the void. A stream of blue light washed through the deck, rudely greeting her crew back to real space. A flash of white light illuminated the inner ring stabilizing the wormhole.

The grey cargo ship parted from the shadow of the twin warp rings and proceeded onto the inspection zone. The crew on deck spied a single union cruiser about 10 light milliseconds away. Laser rangefinders detected a 1000 mm railgun, running across the length of its body.

The Cruiser commenced a long-distance scan of the cargo ship. "Thermal and laser scans show no sign of armaments ", recon officer Abe reported.

"Then open the hatch and send a shuttle to inspect them ", Vice-Captain Eze responded. "Aye ", the recon officer moved to give the command but the Captain barred him.

"Cancel that order, give them the green light to depart ", ordered the grey, old Captain.

"But Sir, the check is routine and..." the Captain cut him off and pointed at the visual images.

"See that Red Star on its broadside? That's from Redstone Shipping. You want a complaint to the Admiralty on your name or what? ", he pointed a finger at the young, redhead officer.

He looked at the disinterested faces of other officials and sighed, "I'm sorry Sir ".

The inspection was canceled and the safe passage permit was relayed to system officials.

Upon receiving clearance, the freighter boosted its primary fusion reactor to cruise capacity and the plasma shields went up. The whole vessel was enveloped within an orb of translucent white, hardened to a wall by alternating magnetic fields.

The twin propulsion engines activated, and the ship resumed its trek through the endless night.

The comms in the ship's living quarters blared, "Attention all passengers, we will now recommence our journey. Acceleration will begin shortly, set at 20g. It will take 12.7 hours to reach the cruise velocity of .03c. If you feel any discomfort, please notify your compartment AI for assistance.

ETA is 30 hours to the destination: Terra-12 "

#

The images were hazy in Cassie's mind. A sky red with fire, a stew of corpses and limbs scattered around. Metal walls blackened to coal while ravenous golden fires extended as far as the eye could see, dancing to the sparks of shattered wires.

And from amidst the flame emerged a pair of eyes. Eyes from the pit of hell, glowing red with fury as a black shadow emerged behind them. A single hand, glowing red with heat shot out and grasped for her face.

"Mama! ", she jumped up from her slumber, covered in sweat. She wiped the sweat from her forehead before brushing her golden locks aside. Her arms were shaking terribly.

This is the third night I've had this dream, is something terrible going to happen? She crawled up the walls of her cell and wrapped her arms around her. The small cell was perpetually lit to a dim red by an LED lamp. She could only keep track of night and day by the routine meals force-fed to her thrice a day.

How long has it been since I've come to this place? Where am I? She grasped her head to push down an ache. Weeks of confinement had robbed her of her sense of time.