Into the Void

Chapter 18

A flash of orange filtered through the water’s surface followed by a rain of hot metal. Bouncing off rocks and through reeds, Nate was sucked into a lightless tunnel and drug through a fetid patch of mud before being flung out into open air. He flew over a waterfall and dropped through the air like a stone before being plunged back into the water. Instinctively he struggled to keep his head above water, even though the exo-suit had enough air left for him to remain fully submerged for an hour. Flailing and floundering, he brought his head up out of the rushing water just long enough to slam it into a low hanging branch. His head snapped back and a spiderweb of cracks spread across his faceplate. The current scraped him through the shallows and tossed him onto the shore amidst a tangle of driftwood.

              He crawled up the beach and rolled over onto his back staring vacantly at the sky. The sun was setting, filling the sky with shades of blue and deep purples. He took a moment to catch his breath, and ran the exo-suits automated diagnostic program. The right arm was breached, the helmet was slowly leaking air, there was damage all over the suit ranging from small tears and abrasions to holes in the armour layers. The suit’s electronics were nearly destroyed. The radio transmitter was ruined. He stood and turned in a slow circle, he was in the forest, completely surrounded by thick stands of tall spindly trees, and dense underbrush. By some small miracle he had managed to hang onto his repeater. The small weapon was clamped securely in the seized fingers of his prosthetic hand.

Wincing, he pried his alloy fingers open, letting the repeater fall to the ground. He bent and picked it up, slinging the mud soaked weapon over his shoulder. Assuming that the sun set in the west on this planet he limped off into the forest, following the river south. A soft rustle came from the brush behind him, Nate pulled the laser repeater off his belt, clutching the weapon tightly in his left hand he continued on cautiously as the shadows lengthened, a darker shape flashed through the underbrush, Nate fired into the darkness, burning a tangle of vines to ash. The forest fell silent and still. As night fell, he stopped in a small stony clearing,scattered with fallen branches and dead trees. He gathered some branches to use as firewood. Thanks to the multiple small holes in the exo-suit the air supply was already running low. Heart racing, he took his last breath of air from the suit and shut down the oxygen system. Fumbling with clasp at the suit's collar he unlocked the damaged helmet with a sharp clack.

He set the cracked helmet down and took his first breath of the alien atmosphere. The air was humid and warm with an earthy, slightly spicy smell. He shrugged off his backpack and laid it next to the pile of deadwood, clumsily rummaging through the sack until he found the flint and steel at the bottom of the bag. Kneeling in front of the kindling, he rested his right forearm on his knee and ran the flint down the charred metal of his right hand, sending a stream of sparks into the wood. He let out a short peal of laughter as the fire crackled to life. The thin spindly wood gave off a rich spicy aroma as it burned. Reaching back into the backpack, he pulled out a small case filled with tools. He cut the tatters of his right sleeve away and fought down a wave of nausea as he looked at his ruined arm, an alloy bone poked a jagged edge up through the coiled strands of synthetic muscle, leaking hydraulic fluid dripped to the forest floor and a shredded mess of muscle stands hung down from his wrist. With the shock of his trip down the river fading, the horrible pain in his arm thundered in. Gritting his teeth he flipped open the access panel at the shoulder, turned off the pain receptors and shut down power to the arm. He breathed a long sigh of relief as the arm shutdown. He tinkered with the servo system until the moon rose high in the night sky. He had done all he could and restored power to the arm, wisely keeping the pain receptors disabled and was glad to see he had some mobility restored. The elbow was slow and shaky but the hand, fingers and shoulder all worked well enough. 

Sitting alone huddled by the fire, Nate gazed off into the night sky. This planet’s moon hung a lot closer than Caldania’s, filling the sky and bathing the forest in a soft, ghostly glow, washing the colour out of the forest and leaving the world shrouded in pale greys and black shadows. A pack of small winged mammals circled the fire, whistling sharply and snatching fat beetles out of the air. The forest filled with the high, trilling songs of nocturnal insects. He reached back into his pack groaning as he pulled out the supply of vacuum sealed rations, the backpack had been shot during the battle, and a laser had gone through the rations container, burning the freeze dried food to inedible ash.

He picked up his ruined helmet, unclipping the camera from its side and turning it to point at himself. “Well, I’m still alive,” he said. “I hope this is the first of a few video logs. Anyone watching this will notice I’m out of my helmet.” He showed the helmet to the camera. “It’s pretty wrecked and won’t hold any air. So far the local atmosphere hasn’t killed me. It’s a little humid for my tastes, but it’s pretty nice here. Only downside is my rations got shot, gonna be a long hungry walk back to camp tomorrow.”