Carpathia IV: Episode 99 - The Long Fall
Somewhere high above an alien landscape
For what seemed like an interminably long time, Amenaru wasn't even sure where he was. He was in his chair. His console was in front of him. That's about all he knew as he spun through the air with the remains of the port side of the bridge and the conference room. Finally, the loose chunk of deck that his chair was on broke away from the spinning bridge wing and spat him out straight up into the air. Well, up into the air relative to the bridge wing. In reality, he was probably just falling less fast for a moment.
As the wing dropped away, Amenaru was finally bereft of spin and recovered his senses just long enough to see the Shadowdancer graze the top of a craggy peak and disappear behind the mountains. "Good, they made it," Amenaru thought. No sooner did the words passed through his brain than a white flash erupted from behind the rocky mountaintops, followed a few seconds later by a thunderous roar.
It could be something else.
Surely it must be something else!
Amenaru's mind soon became preoccupied with something else, namely his rapidly approaching mortality in the form of a rocky valley between the mountains. His probable title as the last surviving crew member of the Shadowdancer would be short-lived indeed. This wasn't what he expected when he got out of bed that morning. He thought of his parents. Mrs. Tiggywinkle, who could very well be dead already, along with Kit.
Kit.
A short-lived romance indeed. If only he'd been more forward from the start.
It was a long way tumbling down. Ground, sky, ground, sky. On one of his passes through a sky view, he saw a fiery streak shooting down directly toward him, like someone shot a missile at him. Which would get to him first, the ground or the missile? It would be close and he was near enough to the ground to see the scraggly bushes poking out of the rocks. The last thing he remembered was a sudden jolt, more tumbling, a crash, and then blackness.
Amenaru awoke to a terrifying headache and his head resting upon something hard. He tried to move and only managed to set himself rolling onto his side. It was then that he realized he was still belted to his seat. Woozily, he fumbled for his buckle and it took several seconds for him to find the release. Staggering to his feet, he took stock of his surroundings. How could he have survived that? This wasn't heaven or hell or anything in the middle. Just the same bleak, grey rocky valley that he saw from the sky.
Looking up, a blue, peaceful sky with fluffy white clouds greeted him from above, a stark contrast to what he experienced. Now, he had to think about survival in this inhospitable landscape. First thing to do was to look around to see if there was anything he could use. What he found was a trench full of freshly turned dirt and fragments of rock, a place that looked like an airplane crashed there. Curious, Amenaru decided to follow the trail.
There was a little more to the trench than the dirt and rock bits. After some searching, glint of gold caught Amenaru's eye and he picked it up. It was a bashed-up fox badge, the same as the one on his uniform. Amenaru checked and his was still there. Even more curious, he pressed on, next spotting a black and gold cylindrical object on the ground. As he came closer, he realized it was an arm with a hand still attached to it, but no blood anywhere. That's when he realized that the arm was entirely mechanical, with bits of metal and grease where bones and blood would normally be.
Amenaru's mind now consumed by a mystery, he pressed ahead, finding more mechanical body parts. A foot here. A hand there. Other bits of scrap that he couldn't identify. As he continued, he could hear a beeping sound, so faint at first he thought it was all in his head. As the beeping grew louder, he knew it wasn't in his head. It was coming from directly below him, buried in the dirt.
Amenaru got on his hands and knees and started to dig. Indeed, the beeping became louder the deeper he went. After a solid twenty minutes of digging, he found yet another body part. A big one this time, which quickly revealed itself to be an entire chest cavity clad in the remains of a black and gold uniform. Amenaru did not have much time to mull what he was looking at before the front of the chest swung open revealing a tiny blue person inside. The blue person sat up and shook his head.
Phobos: Woo! You found me!
Amenaru gaped at the small person as he stood and brushed the dust from his arms and body.
Phobos: I couldn't get my door open with all that dirt on top of me.
That voice. That demeanor. The bits of gold uniform scattered everywhere. Though Amenaru could hardly believe it, there was only one explanation.
Amenaru: Phobos!?
Phobos froze just as he was brushing the dust off of his tiny arm and slowly looked up at Amenaru, giving a nervous grin.
Phobos: Oh... um... ha ha. Surprise?
It was Phobos! And he was... Amenaru didn't know what he was, but the more he looked at Phobos, the more concerned he grew. Whatever happened to him was rough indeed. A broken visor. Torn clothes. One of his arms looked like it was bent or something, as was his foot. Some kind of tail thing protruded from the back of his neck and it looked awfully ratty and torn. Some sort of device, which he guessed used to attach to his ear, now dangled next to his neck.
Amenaru: Phobos, you look really banged up. Are you okay?
Phobos: I'll be okay. It's just... wait, what did you say?
Amenaru was now more confused than ever and wasn't sure what he was supposed to repeat.
Amenaru: Um... I asked if you're okay?
Phobos's arms went limp as he looked up at Amenaru with his shimmering eyes. Seconds later, he leaped out of big Phobos's chest cavity and wrapped his little arms around Amenaru's neck in a tight hug.
Amenaru: Whoa!
Phobos: I shouldn't have doubted you!
This was all very surreal, Amenaru thought. Maybe he was dead after all.
Amenaru: It seems you're okay, Phobos, but can you explain to me what's going on before my head explodes?
Phobos backed down and took a seat on top of... well, himself, from the looks of things.
Phobos: Sorry, Lieutenant. This is my real body. The other one was just a shell. I'm an android. Dad, Dr. Leingod, built me. It's a long story from how I got from the start to now, but that can keep for another time. I caught you right before you hit the ground.
Phobos made a gesture with his arm like an airplane swooping to the ground.
Phobos: I couldn't just catch you. I had to change the direction of your velocity and then give you a little toss into the air so you'd land gently. I couldn't pull up in time and hit the ground at 412 kilometers per hour. My outer body's chest cavity is heavily shielded and armored but even that took some damage.
Talk of Phobos swooping in to save him made the Shadowdancer pop forward again into his mind.
Amenaru: The Shadowdancer! I saw an explosion after it passed below the mountaintops! Are they okay?
Phobos hung his head low and Amenaru's heart sank.
Phobos: I don't know. I had been using my rocket feet to keep the nose up. The moment the ship passed the mountaintops, several thrusters reactivated again, so I came to get you. They had more than enough power to keep the nose up without me. I know this much. That explosion wasn't a core breach. Half the continent would be gone if it were. It was something else.
Amenaru felt a little better with this, but only a little. It was still a big explosion, but Phobos was right. Bad as it was, it wasn't a core detonation.
Amenaru: That's true. I suppose we should head in that direction. Can you fly?
Phobos shook his head.
Phobos: I can't. This body doesn't have rocket feet. I should ask Dad for some of those. I have a couple of spare bodies on Polaris Deep, at least, so I'll be back to normal once we get back.
Amenaru: It'll be nice to have some company. This hike will probably take at least a couple of days. By the way, thanks for coming for me. I thought it was the end for me.
Commissioned art in this episode from:
AvareonArt
Zelbunnii
Thatwildmary
Colourbrand
