By David C. Daoust
Major could hardly see; his vision was blurred. He had just dropped to the ground, pain still coursed from his back. He felt grating beneath him which put him in mind of a catwalk stretched beneath him. He reached up, off to the side, groped in search of something to lift himself. He felt weak, and the groping really only led to his arm shifting a few inches from his prone position, and off to the side. He felt a long steel pipe as his reach extended past the grating he was laying on.
He didn’t know where he was or how he had gotten there. His mind, at least, felt as though it was his own. He did not know why that relieved him. He felt used up, castaway. His mind was both relieved, and cheated, slighted. He was searching for someone that just wasn’t there anymore. His body wasn’t really working as intended either; what started as a sit up, turned quickly into a low groan.
Major began to blink. He wanted to wipe the darkness from his eyes, but his hands didn’t make it up past his chest. It was as though he could not remember how to move. The soldier’s mind wandered back, back to his youth. Back to his training. Searching for anything in his mind that may give him an advantage.
Suddenly the silence was cut by a clunk, like a long steel pipe colliding with the ground. He felt the vibrations through his spine. He could only puzzle what could make such a noise. Then again, clunk, and again, clunk. He had to move; it was as though whatever it was, was coming straight at him. He didn’t know where the energy came from, but he managed to roll onto his side.
From his new vantage, he made out a small light in the distance, his eyes focused and he was able to understand what he was seeing. It gave him a greater idea of his surroundings; the ceiling was but five feet above him. Whatever he was on, was not the walkway he had envisioned. The load clank, came again, pushing him to move. To take action. He managed to lift himself into a crawling position. With each next clank, ever approaching, Major managed to summon more strength.
Just as he got his feet beneath him, a darkness suddenly stole the light in the distance. Something had crossed it, blotting it out. He heard, what he could only imagine, breathing, long and strong. The breath of a giant.
Major, yet in a crouch, with his arm raised above to steady himself on the low ceiling, took a step, his legs shook, but the fear of whatever giant thing was approaching, kept him moving. He was pried between parallel pipes, hundreds of them running the length. The grating had to lead somewhere… it had to have an access point. Built to accommodate people; he hoped.
Suddenly the thing shifted, and the light returned. He made out the side of a giant face. Whatever it was, it could not fit itself between the narrow gap. Long metal tentacles, however, stretched forward, reaching for him.
“Halt,” he heard a low rasping voice command, “Hold, Soldier!”
He stumbled forward, falling to his hands and knees. Major was moving, he didn’t trust it, hands searched the grating before him as his legs pushed him forward. He did not know what he was wearing, but it was restrictive, tight in all the wrong places, and sopping wet. The cold bit, and his body shivered. Still, he pushed himself forward in the dark.
One of the long metal tentacles gripped his leg, or tried to. He ripped his leg away, the fear giving him renewed strength- too much. He pulled too far. Major tumbled to the side and rolled from the grating. He felt himself slip between the pipes below, smacked his head, and bruised his arm, until his body was suddenly stopped by another pipe. His breath was forcibly evacuated with the collision.
He barely had any room at all. He heard the tentacles scraping above. Whatever had tried to grab him, was now searching for him. Major, in full survival mode, scurried over the long steel pipe, trying to create as much distance as he could from the long tentacles snaking through the pipes above. He felt the downward curve of the pipe, just as he lost balance; pitched forward and plunged into the darkness below.
The long drop was invigorating, though not as much as the cool pool of water he landed in. The water engulfed him. His mind spun, half expected to collide with a shallow floor, yet relieved as the water caught him, slowed him before he could learn just how deep the pool really was.
Major erupted from the water, his body, finally, answering to him fully. Small lights glowed around him, dim blue, showed him the trunk of pipes that stretched from the center of the pool, led straight up back from hence he came; disappearing into the darkness. The water stung his left ear; he realized he could not hear from it. Placing a hand to the side of his head, he found a cold steel socket, where his ear had been. Following the metal embedded in his skull, he found another at the base of his skull. No time to ponder, he moved to make his way from the water. Swimming to the edge of the pool, he pulled himself up, out of the water, up onto a circular catwalk that hung just above.
More grating. If he had to guess, he was in the underbelly of a City-station. Near the water treatment plants. But how in all the Moons did he get here? He tried to think of the last place he remembered being. Aboard that Otomo Cruiser… near Neo Vir’ees. There were no City-stations in the Neo Vir’ees System. More disconcerting than that, the lack of droids roving about. Vaguely he remembered the Red Faction’s raid. And then Dakota Sun, nothing but Dakota. He didn’t know what that meant, but didn’t know why he could not stop thinking about the doctor.
The circular catwalk led to an access hatch on the far side of the enclosed chamber. It slid open easy enough, and Major cautiously made his way through the next corridors. And then the corridors after that. He felt confident that the long drop into the pool, had helped him elude his captor, whatever it was, whoever it was. Major was on the run.
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