《Deep Space Combat School: Nexus》Chapter 23: Lone Mission
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Victor ran fast to the air lock nearest to the pod and prayed that there was no hindrance to him getting in. He opened one of the special glass lockers housing the spacesuits and was speedily shoving himself into one when he realized that someone was watching. It was Fumio and Miguel. Miguel had his arms crossed.
"Hey guys," Victor said, nervously.
"We saw you running through the halls toward the air lock and figured something was up. So. What's up?"
"I'm going out for a space walk --" Victor began, but Miguel rasied an impatient hand.
"Save the bullshit, Vance. I know when someone is lying to me.What are you really up to?"
Victor shrugged and explained what he found on his comm dive.
"You mean the answer to getting to the other side of the station was in the surface folders?" said Fumio. "Even T.J. had to dive a layer or two down to find the good stuff."
"Hidden in plain sight. It's incredible that no one's found it before," Miguel said.
Fumio shrugged. "I perused those folders, myself. I must've missed it," he said. His expression showed a nearly imperceptible bit of frustration.
Miguel stepped between where Victor was dressing and the air lock. "You're not going alone, Victor. We'll get Lucas and go together."
"No. time. I programmed it to leave in twenty minutes. That should be down to a little over five with the time it took to get down here and this conversation."
Victor began dressing again. If the transport left he didn't know how long it would take to come back, or even if he could bring it back from this side. Miguel and Fumio got into space suits. Victor thought about closing the air lock behind him, but thought better of it. There were the people that had saved his life, after all. He wasn't exactly sure he was doing them any favors by allowing them to come along, however.
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"All set Vic," Miguel said over the space suit comm. Fumio agreed with a thumbs up. Victor pressed the airlock release, and the boys climbed onto the surface of the station.
When Victor got atop the side of Nexus, he did a full three-hundred and sixty spin to spot the transport.
"Uh. Are you certain of what you saw Victor?" Fumio asked.
"It was....here...." Victor said, his magnetic boots clomping around as he did another spin.
"It could've been some sort of trick, right? Or maybe footage? The thing might exist, but activating it might take more than a surface level folder," Miguel said. Victor sighed, frustrated. Hadn't they learned to believe him yet?
Then again, if he kept this up it might occur to one of them that he was losing his mind. It was beginning to occur to him.
"Let's go back inside, Victor. You can show us on the holo table," Fumio said.
Back in the Information Room Victor browsed the folders and subfolders, desperately trying to retrace his steps. The worst thing that could happen at this moment was him not finding the folder again. Then he really would appear crazy. Fortunately, after about a half hour of progressively more frustrated searching Victor found the folder.
"Hmm. External Auxiliary Systems. I thought I perused this folder," Fumio said.
"Looks like Vic is catching up to you in the tech department," Miguel gave Victor a strong pat on the back. "Well done, Victor."
Fumio folded his arms in what could almost be considered a pout.
Victor opened the folder and then opened the Auxiliary Module folder. Inside, he opened up the form boxes in which he had entered information previously. Fumio leaned forward, his annoyance at having missed something obvious surpassed by his curiosity.
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"This 'Side' entry box, You changed it to B from A, or was it empty?" Fumio asked. Victor nodded. Then the full implications of the question hit him like a lightning bolt.
"It was on 'B' when I opened the input boxes. That means that it is currently on whichever side is 'B'," he said, understanding.
"So the transport is on it's way to our side form the girl's side?" Miguel asked.
"I think so," Fumio said. "If Dixon is here as Victor claims, then this is possibly how he is getting from one side of the station to another."
"Question is, how long is the transport going to take to get back to us?" Miguel added.
Fumio shook his head. "Hard to tell. We should try checking at regular intervals. For now, we should get some rest while we can. I'll go find Lucas and fill him in on everything that's happened and take first shift at the airlock."
Victor wanted to offer to take the first shift, but realized that Fumio was right. It was better to inform Lucas and get rest while they could.
In the dorms it took Victor a while to drift off to sleep. His thoughts were haunted by Dixon and the unsuspecting girls on the other side. What if he got impatient? But Victor knew Dixon wouldn't. At the moment Dixon seemed to want one thing: making him suffer. And it was clear he wanted to take his time.
After an hour Victor finally drifted off into a restless sleep. In his dreams, chiming lights pulsed and rang. Sometimes he understood these as words.
"Vance, one called Victor. You do not carry our warning into your waking cycle...... please.......mouth of......... torn apart..."
Victor was shaken awake and nearly screamed.
"Vic, chill out, buddy," said Miguel, whispering so as not to wake others. "It's your shift. You okay?"
Victor nodded as he got out of bed and dressed. "Yeah. Thanks, Miguel. Get some rest."
Victor stood outside the airlock, yawning. He was watching the vid screen and hoping he had chosen the appropiate airlock to watch when the transport orb came into view and clicked into place outside the airlock. It was time to go wake everyone.
Before he could dash away, he could see a prompt pop up on the vid screen. It read: Transport Arrived. Transport Departure: 00:07:00. Transport Allowances left for week: 1.
Victor stopped in his tracks. Was the transport leaving automatically in seven minutes? What was meant by 'Transport Allowances'? He dashed for the glass locker and jumped into a space suit as fast as he could. It seemed he just wasn't meant to have help on his mission to the other side. Of course, there was a scheming A.I. and sociopathic killer who could have planned this, but Victor tried not to think too hard about it. According to the screen he didn't have a choice. If there was only one Allowance left, it would only be enough for his return after he....took care of Dixon. Victor paused for a half second before realizing exactly what it was that he would have to do to stop Dixon from hurting anyone. He steeled himself to do whatever it took, stepped into the airlock, and punched the release button hard.
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