CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle One ∞ 3: A Shard Of Code

109 ∞ To Raise the Fallen

Day 00013 Mission Nilex


Gareth sweated inside his stiff suit despite the cooling system. The suit, made for high radiation environments, fought his every movement as he held onto the arc plasma cutter with both hands. When the damaged bulwark strut hung by a finger's worth of metal, he killed the cutter.

He stepped back to let the metal cool down and stop glowing and surveyed his work. Wider and thicker than he was tall, the strut stretched above and below him to connect the primary and secondary hulls. One of the thousands of girders supporting the ship's structure, it had a solid core with the cross section of a wide 'H'. On both open sides along its length, interwoven zigzag lattices allowed a web of shadows to dance along the strut's interior surfaces as a dozen globe drones lit the area around him.

Below Gareth, its gray metal reflected in the drone light. But as his eyes followed it up above his cut, it grew blacker to end in an abrupt black mess of slag and char. His gaze continued past the strut to the hole in the primary hull and the starscape beyond. The gas cloud they were traveling through interfered with the view, causing the stars and galaxies to fluctuate in visibility.

Hitting a key on his wrist pad activated a winch to pull on the rope attached to the arc cutter. He opened his gloved hand to release it, and it floated back to where he'd anchored the winch on the far end of the portable platform he stood on. His hands now free, he stepped up to the strut. It was cool enough in his judgement. He placed both hands in position above the cut and prepared himself for what came next.

«Okay, Canaisis. Here we go.» he thought.

«I'm ready, Captain.»

He locked his boots at maximum to the platform and pushed with all his strength on the strut. It bowed back, then bounced forward. He let it rebound, then pushed again, letting its momentum work for him. On the third sway, the strut broke free and started tumbling away in the zero-G. A rope tied halfway up the strut floated along with it, close enough for him to grab. He shifted his feet to a better position and slowly tightened his grip on the rope. It slid through his fingers at first, but then the drag of his grip brought it to a stop.

With a slow and gentle pull, Gareth brought the strut back. He let its length drift past him until the rope's magnetic anchor in the middle came into view. He snatched it from the strut and threw it down behind him onto the platform. It stuck where it landed, but the rope continued to snake by him with inertia. He surveyed his surroundings and shifted his feet, careful to ensure there was no chance of the rope tangling him up.

The strut was still drifting past him, so he spread his arms wide to catch it. The mag locks in his gloves did their job, and the strut slowed to a stop. With it floating at his chest level, he fought the resistance of the suit to squat under the strut, and positioned his shoulder.

«Catch!» Gareth thought as he heaved with a drawn-out grunt.

The mass of the strut resisted his effort, then began moving with him. With a forceful push, he sent it flying upward. A few seconds passed before Canaisis arrested the strut's slow-motion tumble. Straightened to aim like an arrow, it accelerated into the hole of stars.

It was gone.

Gareth drew deep breaths and relaxed, sweat from the exertion tickling his forehead. He wanted to settle into his usual half-crouch to rest, but the suit had its own preferred position. He refused to rest standing stiff-legged with arms stretched out like a scarecrow, so he turned to grab the rope and wind it up.

«That's the last of the dead struts, right?» he thought.

«Yes, Captain. You should rest now.»

«No, there's the dead metal around the hole itself.»