Creator1

Tracy, Maddie, Jay, and the bodyguard made their way down the corridor away from the chaos in the loading bay. The mining station’s alarm systems were blaring and making occasional announcements as the situation worsened.

‘Hallway lock down initiated. Exterior breach detected in the loading bay.’

They could hear the scurrying in the air ducts above them as they ran. The bodyguard fired several times at the vents, and the scratching would temporarily stop, only to be replaced by others behind it. The group made their way to the end of the facility . The cold, haze gray metal hallway would abruptly end with warm wood planks. They covered about four feet in front of two wooden doors with two golden knobs. The lights surrounding the door on each side provided a bright yellow glow that made the entrance appear rich.

‘We’re not allowed in there!’ Maddie said, Jay gave an irritated look.

‘I’m sure she does have use for her commanders’ quarters anymore.’ He said as he punched in the door code and they entered. The bodyguard shut the door and began to barricade the room. Tracy stood in awe of the space. One third of the room was a thick, curved wall of window showing the deep, black, void of space. There were two sofas around an artificial fireplace off to the side. Next to that was an entrance labeled ‘Commander’s Quarters’. The door was open. An unmade bed could be seen. The blaring noise was no more, but the red lights still flashed, highlighting the wrinkled sheets. There were bookshelves that lined the wall, the body guard was moving them against the vents.
 In the center of the room was a large red-brown desk. A large five-wheeled chair was tucked neatly into it. The desk and chair sat above a large rug. Jay moved the chair back, accidentally tipping it and letting it clatter on the ground.  He lifted a small slate of wood from the desk revealing a digital display keyboard, he hastily typed something in and a voice began speaking.

‘Hello, I am Wilma, the digital stand-in for the Commander when I – she is away.’ The voice giggled.

‘Prepare emergency launch craft!’  Jay shouted. There was a pause.

‘I’m sorry, the evacuation crafts are in the hanger bay, you will need to see transportation sector to gain approval to depart the camp.’ Wilma responded.

‘Where is it!?’ Jay shouted.

‘I can provide you with a map to the hanger bay if you’d like Agent Jay.’ Wilma said.

 ‘That’s right! This is Agent Jay Bird, Earth intelligence Apparatus. My entered number is 118653053’ Jay said frantically.

There was another long pause, then the voice responded. It was Wilma’s voice, but different, much more direct, less calm.

‘What can I do for you Agent Bird?’

‘Lock down the Commander’s Quarters! Send SOS to my parent ship! Prepare emergency launch craft!’

Maddie whimpered, through the window, she saw in the distance another rover bouncing away, being followed by larger giant crabs. It was gaining distance from the crabs only to lightly bounce over a hill and disappear. The bodyguard handed Jay one of his weapons.

‘Preparing emergency launch craft. Please make your way to the Commander’s Quarters.’ Wilma directed, the bed lifted and revealed well lit stairs that Jay began descending before the bed had stopped raising. Below was a separate room, it had a bag of supplies that Jay scooped up and a small craft, about five feet tall. It had two seats and a small storage area behind them.

‘Everybody in!’ Jay commanded. The bodyguard tried to get into the passenger seat but was too big. Maddie was able to fit and wedged herself in. There was a loud thud as the bookshelves tipped over. Wilma’s voice chimed in.

‘There has been a breach of the Commander’s Quarters, sealing emergency escape room. Jettison in 15 seconds.’

The bodyguard threw himself into the back, there was limited room as Tracy climbed in. They could hear scraping as the creatures attempted to get in. Jay went to seal the door, but couldn’t, Tracy and the bodyguard were in the way.

‘Pull yourself together, now!’ Jay screamed yanking on the door.

All people screamed as Jay squeezed the door closed. There screams were silenced by a loud burst and thrust forward. The slanted metal doors in front of them were jettisoned off, launching several of the crabs away, crushing them with the impact. The ship rocketed out, initially skidding on the ground. Jay reached for the controls and began instructing Maddie what to do, soon they were gaining elevation.

Tracy’s face was wedged against a porthole near the back of the jettison craft. She could now see the camp as she’d only seen it once before, from this far distance in space. Miners only see this view when they show up and when they leave, if even then. The hanger bay was half missing, chard remnants of equipment, mining gear, and coworkers floated around. Parts of the facility illuminated a glow, fires in the building fueled by the oxygen system where the vacuum of space hadn’t gotten to it. The ground moved as it crawled with the creatures. A bright flash occurred, a large fireball appeared, and the cafeteria was no longer on the asteroid.

‘Fire reached the emergency oxygen supply tanks.’ The bodyguard said.

‘All my things. My home, it’s all gone.’ Tracy said.

‘We can replace your things, it’s incredible luck we even made it out of there this time!’

‘My friends are gone, my job is gone, I have nowhere to go. All those people are dead!? ‘ Tracy continued.

‘What do you mean this time?’ Maddie asked.

‘And those things just ripped people apart!’ Tracy continued.

‘Yeah, and can you believe, even during and after all of that, 800 million people still masturbated?’  Jay concluded.

They sat in silence and the asteroid started as their ground, then became a moon, which turned into a boulder, becoming a rock, to turn into a spec, then disappear. As if it never existed, Tracy felt as though with the destruction of the camp, she herself would be forgotten, just like those crew members on that rover. She wondered if they saw them leave. A part of her died there, still sitting there in the Commander’s Quarter’s relishing in the accomplishments she hoped to achieve one day.

‘We’ll get your squared away and standing upright shortly.’ Jay said.

‘Soon we’ll be back at the command ship for debriefing and instructions on where to go from here.’ Jay said.

Tracy was numb to this news, crammed in an escape pod she never knew existed. Maddie sat in silence, completely absorbed in the tragic events they just witnessed. Jay had an air of gratitude and happiness about him, a small smirk. He was used to risky behavior like that, he realized how close he came to not making it off that rock, and unlike the others, he wasn’t on that rock, he was already home.