Rifka floated down a pipe-like passage at least twice the diameter of her height with bluish-white walls unlike anything else in the entire station. The design suggested neither a floor or a ceiling, low-g travel handles were on all sides; it was just a passage to the next section.
Everything appeared pristine; even the mining tunnels had some dirt and dust. This area appeared to be made of metal panels and had been designed to be laboratory clean with lots of empty space. There was no place to hide, and no sound except her breathing.
She reached a tunnel junction at the end of the hall that split into sections. By itself, the space seemed largely spherical. Each branching tunnel had convenient labels: Research Office, Testing Laboratory, Sample Processing, Quantum Computer, Sample Storage, Fabrication, External Loading, Cafeteria, and Residences. Unfortunately, none of the halls were labeled “Hoard.”
The space felt so large, Rifka felt nauseous. Almost zero gravity and the feeling of weightlessness combined with a growing headache from the unusually long time awake meant she had to take a few moments to stop and just rest. The lights were on at full brightness, and unlike the other parts of the mining station, they didn’t flicker at all.
Rifka expected a secret laboratory to be small, but, somehow, not this. A quarter of residents in the habitat could have fit in the space, and there had been more employees living deep inside LM-25, with their own residences?
Erasmus always sent an image of themself in a darkened space filled with tiny green lights and wire. Rifka has seen them shining within from the blue light of their scales.
To her, that seemed like a space with computers.
So, although the living areas looked tantalizingly like they had gravity panels and conventional hallways, Rifka drifted toward the passage labelled for the Quantum Computer. If she could find Erasmus’ hoard, she might figure out what the Dragon really was. After all these years, she could finally have an answer.
After she could discover the reason this section of the station—clearly intended to be pressurized—had almost no air at all.
Floating across the distance alone felt daunting.
Instead, Rifka used her bio-liminal drive to cross the gap between the two entrances. She found it much easier than her typical warp-sprints.
‘The air,’ She realized.She’d never tried the skill in a vacuum. Her heart rate spiked, but much less than normal. For the first time, she realized she could fly in vacuum; she was her own spaceship.
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The liminal drive, however, did not accumulate momentum. So, when she did reach the opening into the Quantum Computer section, Rifka used the handholds to propel herself down the corridor. Bars that attached to the circular walls, making their own circles inside.
Grab. Tug. Release. Grab. Tug. Release. Rifka gradually picked up a little speed, but as the dark opening into the next space approached, she switched, slowing her self by grabbing and holding the bars a little, before letting go.
The passage opened into a tube-shaped space larger than Rifka had ever seen. She halted herself before crossing into the dark. From the bright passage, she peered into a profoundly dark cavernous space. The walls had banks of black cases used to house computer processors. They lined every surface, with various green and red indicator lights, shining like a city by the thousands, and spiraling both upward, and downward, at distances that seemed to go on impossibly far. Wires covered surfaces and bridged gaps. Other loose untethered wires drifted. A blue spark would occasionally fly, and pop like a firework, in absolute silence.
Rifka held onto the edge of the opening into the space, and peered “upward” toward one end of the tube. Her eyes followed the lights along the wall, until there was a large black spot, like several hundred lights had just gone out. But there were more tiny lights beyond it and Rifka could follow them to a darkness at the far end, where Rifka could swear she saw a faint blue light.
This looked like Erasmus’ hoard. But, Rifka didn’t see a dragon.
Rifka began feeling like her head had screwed loose. She sensed that she was falling, except there was no down or up. She clutched at the bar around opening, and closed her eyes.
She realized she’d started suffering another panic attack; heart racing, breath coming in great heaves. She’d use up all her air. Still, she tried to let the feeling flow over her, and out the other side. She began to wonder if she needed to restart the anxiety medication after all.
Mid-panic, her comm beeped.
“On,” She said to activate it. “Erasmus?”
“No. I’m afraid not.”
Rifka’s eyes snapped open. How was someone taking to her? She was deep in the asteroid. She became very still.
“Who is this?”
“We’ve been introduced before, Rifka. My name is Gjosta. I’m like you, a BE human.”
“You’e dead.”
“Ah. You might think that. But, no. I am alive.” The voice had a wry smile to it. “Turn around slowly.”
Rifka shifted her weight and pivoted to look behind her. Four figures appeared in the well-lit corridor. Three of them, including the one closest to her, wore in tight fitting, mottled-grey deep space exosuits. The last wore a black exosuit instead.
Unlike Rifka’s auto-coverall, which had a clear visor, these suits had opaque or metal faceplates. She guessed they used cameras. They also looked hostile.
Four shoulder-braced guns pointed at Rifka. Likely some sort of low-mass electrical or light-based weapon. She hadn’t seen a gun in a long time, but she knew a gun well enough. And, she knew very well what they could do.
Now that the contest time limit has been met, my posting schedule is going to move to my typical one: a chapter every five days. Maybe quicker if I have a big boost in productivity.
If you’re following the story, I promise I won’t stop writing until at least the first arc of the story is done and there’s a satisfying resolution. Even if it’s only two people. Besides, I have to convince my family to read this one.