I swim back up to the opening of the ice-hole, and before I can even fully emerge, Major Chang is already grabbing my hand to pull me out. When I stumble back onto the solid ice, the water on my hair, face, and spacesuit instantly freezes and flakes off.
"Xiao! Thank God you're okay!" Major Chang wraps me in a tight embrace. My programming tells me to hug him back, but I don't understand his behavior at all. Didn't he know my suit would protect me?
"I was...attacked down there," I told him. "But whatever it was, I managed to fight it off. Apparently, I'm equipped with lasers. See?" I fire off another laser at a small iceberg nearby, exploding it into a million tiny particles.
"Hey, watch where you're aiming that thing! You'll expose us to the natives!" He hiss-whispers at me and seizes my hand before I can do it again.
"The natives?"
"Yeah, I'm sure you noticed we're not the only living beings on Titan. Most of them are harmless, but a few are...well, not exactly thrilled to have outsiders like us invading their moon. I've been staying out of their way for the most part, so they leave me alone usually. But you? They might see you as a threat."
"Me? How can I be a threat? I still don't even know why I'm here!"
Major Chang gestures toward the pile of shattered ice. "If you can do that, imagine what they think you can do to THEM."
I think about the missile that I thought I saw earlier. No matter how many searches I run, I can't locate the video file in my database. Memory or not, it vanished as soon as it appeared. However, there's only one thing I'm certain of.
"Major...THEY'RE the ones who shot down my capsule, aren't they?"
Even through the helmet, I can see Major Chang's jaw drop.
"You...you remember??"
"I...I don't know for sure, but I need you to take me back there."
"That's not going to be easy, but if you think you'll find out something, let's go."
. . .
An hour or so of trekking later, we finally find the massive crater that holds the wreckage of the "Blue Dragon."
.
[[TO BE CONTINUED]]
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I Am XIAO: An Inktober Story
Fiksi IlmiahFirst published on Instagram under the username @leilacreatesthings as a response to Jake Parker's "Inktober" art challenge during October 2019-January 2020. PREMISE: In the year 2520, on the space capsule "Blue Dragon", the sole passenger, a NASA...
