Kiera watched the fleet die, the blue jewelled orb of the planet
watching on impassively. A thousand explosions blossomed against the
blackness of space. The ship shuddered, detonations somewhere within
its superstructure tearing out into the vacuum. She turned away from
the viewport, towards the door to her cell and waited for the prison
block subsystem to fail, which it finally did with a moment of
darkness, before the emergency power cells kicked in.
Then she opened the door and ran to cell 12AG.
Then she opened the door and ran to cell 12AG.
Woodrew
ventured outside his cell as she arrived and they collided in a few
seconds of intense passion, stored up over the years, then released
like a spark to earth.
"We have to run," said Kiera. So they ran, scything through the panic, out to the life pods, where all the screens showed launch data bar one. Into the remaining pod, and away from the hulking ship, out into the mêlée of carnage. Out there the damage looked worse, the cruiser battered and torn, ripped open and bleeding bodies.
"It's a miracle there was a pod left," said Woodrew.
"No," said Kiera, "it was a plan."
She touched the pod's system panel and the last vestiges of the virus jumped out of her mind.
The radio stuttered on; disturbing fragments of system crash stories and unknown enemies and breached firewalls. Woodrew looked terrified.
"It's okay," said Kiera, "they promised to spare us."
"What did you do?"
"I got you out," said Kiera, "the only way I could."
Kiera reached out to hold Woodrew's hand as they watched the remnants of the data demon army slide across universes with a flicker, and their newly won knowledge.
"We have to run," said Kiera. So they ran, scything through the panic, out to the life pods, where all the screens showed launch data bar one. Into the remaining pod, and away from the hulking ship, out into the mêlée of carnage. Out there the damage looked worse, the cruiser battered and torn, ripped open and bleeding bodies.
"It's a miracle there was a pod left," said Woodrew.
"No," said Kiera, "it was a plan."
She touched the pod's system panel and the last vestiges of the virus jumped out of her mind.
The radio stuttered on; disturbing fragments of system crash stories and unknown enemies and breached firewalls. Woodrew looked terrified.
"It's okay," said Kiera, "they promised to spare us."
"What did you do?"
"I got you out," said Kiera, "the only way I could."
Kiera reached out to hold Woodrew's hand as they watched the remnants of the data demon army slide across universes with a flicker, and their newly won knowledge.
; "James Bloomer")