, Coms are live! This baby’s ready to roll,” Meghan announced while he pushed a few virtual buttons and adjusted a couple of levers on the control board.

Bishop stepped up behind him, glancing over at the tech language, virtual buttons and holographic displays scattered about the control board. It was like a small live city of its own and Bishop stood amazed how one person could understand all of it, more so someone with a torn up brain.

“You look like you need more sleep,” Meghan said, swiping his hand over a section of the board which made the lighting in the ship turn a bright sky blue. Bishop’s feet shook as the ship hummed just like was its manner when getting revved up.

“Just feeling a bit weird.” Bishop’s finger twitched against his will and images in his eyes became disrupted before returning back to normal.

“Your DRA haven’t worn off yet?” Meghan asked with a raised eyebrow. “Man! You must’ve been pumped on some bad ass electrolyte.”

Bishop shrugged, the data run aftermath would wear out with time-at least that’s what he told himself. He walked up to the control board, watching in fascination how holographic objects moved around and various maps appeared.

“Domino traveler loading,” a computerized voice said. Meghan touched a few spots on the holographic map displays before inputting a series of keys into the control board.

“The Astro Ark is designed with the latest security systems. For every checkpoint we cross, a trace portal is created,” Bishop explained with his eyes fixed on the control board. “That means in the case of any problems, we’d get shot back into the previous portal.”

“That’s…cool,” Bishop simply answered, trying to visualize what he’d just heard.

The swish of the door as it glided shut caught their attention as Kindra stepped into the Astro Ark. Bishop didn’t seem to be the only one who had noticed her falling back while everyone stayed ahead. His eyes met her inquisitive one for a split second as she shut her connectiva and joined Jo and Ramon at the report front of the control room.

“She’s definitely got a boyfriend,” Bishop blurted loud enough for just Meghan to hear. “Who else could she be connected to on the CC all the time?”

Meghan scoffed, “she plays her cards close to her chest, can’t be certain for sure about her kind.”

For the next few hours, the Astro Ark skulked the open skies. The closer they drew towards Bathfog Ruins, the easier it was slipping away from the radar. In his period as a Porter, Bishop had never ventured so far away from Capital’s civilization. It felt like going on exile to some barren land, highly unstable and hazardous. It’s just for a try, he consoled himself. Just for a try.

Everyone had gathered around when the Ark announced their approaching the Bathfog border. Tension enveloped the room as they watched the white clouds which swirled around the spaceship transcend into the polluted grey clouds of Bathfog. Bishop’s nerves were starting to fail him; his pulse increased with every second due to the feeling of both excitement and nervousness he felt inside him.

Below the grey clouds, the only visible thing was a mist of a light shade of red, formed mostly of reactive elements and hazardous debris. Asides the synergist core which was their destination, the crew didn’t know for sure what to expect out there in the Ruins, even with all the security measures they’d been equipped with.

Their stomach twirled and their taste buds stung sour in a nauseating sensation as soon as they crossed fully into Bathfog’s atmosphere. It was a normal feeling for their body to react to the high reactivity gradient of Bathfog Ruin’s environment.

A first wave of vibration hit the ship followed by a harder wave which shook the ship, alarming the entire crew. Meghan swung into action almost immediately as things began falling out of place. In a flash, his hands were all over the control panel, his eyes darting about as he worked on impulse trying to figure out what was happening.

Lines of confusion could be seen across the faces of the other crew mates when the inner lighting turned red affirming that something was now definitely wrong.

“Bipolar jam! System Alert!” A holographic model of the Astro Ark popped up on the board following the computerized announcement. A startled Jo joined Meghan at the control panel where the model of the Ark disengaged, showing its technical parts and signaling at the faulty sensor.

The systems in the ship shut down causing a whimper of panic escape Bishop’s lips when something fast whizzed past them.

“What the hell was that?” Ramon blurted, holding on for support as the ship now seemed to have been tilted out of control by the force of what had sped past them.

“I don’t know,” Meghan answered on impulse, pushing the reboot lever and trying to manually engage the Domino Traveler to shoot the ship back to the last trace portal they’d created. He turned to Jo who had been trying to established connection with Tri Tech and the expression on his face told enough of the dread ahead.

“PREPARE FOR IMPACT,” Jo yelled, backing off from the control panel and hurriedly into a seat, strapping herself in. The others did same immediately as they could now feel the Ark tilt further while its altitude dropped with every second.

With sweaty palms and a racing heart which thumped as though it would explode the next second, Bishop struggled to strap his belt on, missing the locks many times in nervousness.

Systems: Check. Upgrade: 26%. Synchronization: Good. Compatibility: Good.

“Bishop, get the damn thing strapped,” Jo roared in rage, her eyes were fixed on Bishop who only fiddled more with the belts with trembling hands as the ship vibrated and his mind loosing connection with what was happening around him. The Ark gave a cranking sound, like metal being squeezed and the power in the ship fluctuated.

“Son of Mary, see us through,” Meghan muttered under his breath as he grabbed on to the belt locked above his chest, fear being very evident in the way the sounded. Pressure built within Kindra, her chest tightened causing breathing to become a task while her heart thumped. The glow in her eyes was obvious when she looked over at Ramon who just like Jo, tried to comport himself.

The same cranking sound of squeezing metal sounded again except this time it came more fierce and louder, followed by a thunk sound as the roof of the Ark ripped open at a spot and the floor jutted into an inward spike where Bishop sat causing his breath to hitch. Just as the locks of the belt hooked, there was a massive shook of the Astro Ark as it hit exposed grounds causing a ripping effect of the ship.

A glistening mist of red clouded the atmosphere and everything became seemingly void. Litters of torn metals laid scattered here and there and the sound of grinding metal could be heard around.

Joleen crawled out from underneath the severed ship. Her cloth had been ripped at multiple spots and her skin, bruised severely with a stream of blood trickling down her neck and arm. She groaned at the excruciating pain shooting from one of her arms as she strode a few steps away before resting one hand on her knee in an attempt to catch her breath and get over the tingly sound in her ear.

The crashing sound behind her crouched position barely got her attention; she only twitched her head in the direction from which the sound had come, her vision blurred by both the mist and her brain.

Ramon struggled to break free out of the heap that had him buried. His feeble hands pushed off the pieces of the battered Astro Ark from his body before he could burst through the broken exit frame of the destroyed Ark. He let out a muffled groan as he fell to his knee, his hands holding on to one side of his torso which ached and was soiled in bright crimson. His clothes, just like Jo’s had been ripped too, bruises covered his face and arms.

Mustering all the strength she could, Joleen pulled herself with an unsteady gait to where Ramon laid his back flat in an attempt to control the painful surge on his torso. She fell to her knees next to him.

“Just keep it in there,” she said, sounding out of breath. “Keep the pressure on it, I’ll try to get help.”

She glanced around from where she was crouched on her knees next to Ramon. The red mist was starting to clear up slowly, revealing even more parts of the ship. Help was far from near, at least not with the coms all fried up. Surviving the crash still felt surreal in her head and although she’d made it out alive-barely-, she couldn’t quite tell the fate of her crew mates.

The lifeless body of Kindra laid on exposed ground amongst their supplies. Her head had been badly bruised with a deep cut on her forehead and blood streamed down from just above her eyebrow down through to her ear. Several reactive colonies had already clustered on her skin causing red patches all over her arms and neck.

Joleen knelt over Kindra’s body in an attempt to check for a pulse while she herself struggled for breath. Her heart sunk into her stomach when she didn’t find any pulse. A look at Kendra’s entrée showed that active colonies had also infected it as it now only flickered. Jo pulled open Kindra’s eyelids; there was a frequent dilation and contraction of her pupils. Thank Goodness, she heaved. If only there was a way she could reach Tri Tech in time to call for an extraction.

A nauseous feeling hit her senses and she picked herself from the ground. A light rumble started in her stomach causing her lower lips to twitch and in a moment, she spewed black liquid from her mouth. Only then did her clouded mind clear up a bit.

Bishop! The thought hit her like a brick. She moved with an unsteady gait in search of the primary reason she’d been assigned to the job. The Suhrel Matrix which she lived on made it pretty hard for her to keep up. The matrix had been designed in a manner that it couldn’t pick up with its surrounding-especially those with a spiked up reaction level like the ruins.

Systems: Reboot. Upgrade: On Hold. Synchronization: Disrupted…undergoing rematch. Compatibility: Checking.

Jo kicked off the shattered screen of the holographic display as she approached the part of the broken Astro Ark where Bishop’s body hung upside down in his seat, held back by the fastened belt across his chest.

“Wait,” Bishop’s words were soft and rolled of his lips in an absurd tone, still unconscious.

Jo eyed Bishop with a skeptic look, wondering if he knew what was happening around him at all while she pulled out the rough edged dagger from the pouch in her boot.

“There’s more,” Bishop muttered again.

Jo ignored the senseless remark, the blade of the dagger slicing through the thick strapped belt across his chest. Her arms ached and her feet threatened to give up.

“We’re not alone here.”

“Shut up already,” Jo replied, disgusted by Bishop’s unconscious babbling. There was no way anyone could be out there with them, not with Bathfog’s reactivity gradient. Joleen’s sight went blind for a second; she staggered away from Bishop’s hanging body as the images formed appeared in twos before her feet finally betrayed her will to remain strong for her team.

Joleen’s body went numb, her vision blurred out faster by the second until the world turned black before her eyes.