Escape from Abyss

Ascent

The man stepped into the customs division along with the rest of the passengers. The hall was large, with steel and polymer constructs built right into the lunar rock. A multitude of cameras observed the proceedings while two large, bipedal, squid shaped combat drones stood in solemn guard.

A platoon of Croc guards shepherded the visitors in line to the customs. The man was fourth in line. Before him stood two women and a bald, short man. A Necker officer questioned the man.

The Necker spoke in an inaudible tone, at a frequency incomprehensible to humans. A floating Meissner ball beside him translated his questions to Terran English.

"Where are you from? What's your purpose here, why are you..."

As the Necker droned on, the man in black spied the location of the cameras and floating drones.

After questioning the bald man, his thumb was pricked for DNA analysis. While the computers cross-matched his data across intel agencies, government databases and banking records, something strange started to occur.

The computer in front of the officer burst into fire, sending the being reeling back. The cameras started to malfunction, as they turned on and off until several of them burst. A guard's Mag rifle discharged onto a comrade, puncturing a hole through his torso and leaving his guts to slide out.

The rest of the guards and the drones moved to corner the befuddled guard as he looked around in shock. The people screamed and ran for cover as the massive drones moved into search mode.

In all the commotion, no one noticed that a passenger from the flight had disappeared.

#

Cassie lied on her back, staring at the metal wall above as the state of euphoria slowly faded away. The light switched to a yellow hue when she reminisced about her past.

The memories from her early days were hazy. She never knew her father, only a slew of men either arguing or kissing with her mother. She had blue eyes and brown hair. That's all she could remember of her, other than faint images of her screaming and pulling Cassie's hair.

The memory of her at the old building was clearer. The grey polymer building was lit to an eerie red by large LED lamps and a stream of men could be seen entering it. She never saw her mother after that day.

The next memory was of a man with viper-like eyes, patting her on the head and giving her chocolate. The memories afterward were so hazy that all she could remember was being transported to a grey planet on a freighter.

There I met him and...

The lights went out.

Do they want me to sleep or, then she noticed the air conditioning had stopped as well.

She crouched up, it was subtle but she could feel the air growing heavy. She gulped and knocked at the AI compartment. "Is there something wrong? Mr. Computer, I don't like the dark and the air conditioning stopped as well. Could you turn it on again please? "

There was no response. She knocked several times but no response came. She gulped and curled up against the wall. The air now became noticeably colder and heavier. She started to shiver as tears ran down her cheeks. She remembered the brown puppy she used to meet at the building.

"Mr. Whiskers, where are you? ", she sobbed while grasping her arms tightly. Her breaths started to freeze and soon the air grew thick and suffocating. She knocked on the walls in panic and approached the AI again and then the compartment to her left opened.