Sarah7
Chapter 3

“Sarah? Are you ready?” The odd voice asked over the tinny helmet speaker.

Sarah wiped her face, only succeeding in combining the dust and tears into a dark mud smear across her cheeks.

“I’m sure I look terrible, not that there’s anyone to see me anyway.” She thought bitterly to herself.

She gathered what little courage she possessed and replied, “Yes, I guess so. I’m very cold.”

“If you put on the helmet, I may be able to help you, Sarah.”

“How can you do that? You said you are stuck in an elevator? And three floors down? How do you even know that? ” Her voice began to get a panicky edge once again.

“I will answer all of your questions, but first we need to work together quickly before the power cell goes out in that helmet.” The voice replied.

“Oh! ” she quickly put on the helmet. It was too large for her and threatened to fall off, but she held it in place and stood up, shakily.

“Ok, first off, if you have just emerged from … hibernation … you will find some clothes next to the containment unit. They have been sealed so they may still be in good shape. Go over to the chamber and look for a door with a red handle.”

Sarah stepped gingerly over to the chamber and blew dust away from the panels nearby. One door appeared to be what Max had described.

“How do I open it? There’s no release button?”

“Grab the handle and rotate it to the left, then pull hard.” Max said.

Sarah reached out to the handle. It was corroded and stiff, but after a few tries, she managed to turn it until she heard a click, and a woosh of air. Coughing from the dust, she pulled on the handle and the door opened to reveal neatly folded clothing, some shoes, and a few other devices that she did not recognise.

“It worked!” she nearly dropped the helmet in joy.

“Get dressed quickly, Sarah. I have indications that your actions may have triggered the ship’s intruder alert system. This ship may be almost a hundred years old, but there are still some vestiges of power, and you’re going to have to be careful.”

Setting the helmet gingerly on the dusty floor, Sarah donned the grey pants and nondescript shirt. At first she had attempted to remove the bodysuit, but it held tightly to her skin and did not budge. After getting the shoes on - they seemed to be made for her because they fit perfectly - she put the helmet back on.

“What are these other gadgets in here? Should I take them too?”

“Oh yes! We are in luck, Sarah. Your team … the crew must have wanted you ready to travel. One thing should look like a belt with a lot of containers. Put that on your waist. There may be something that looks like a headset. If it is there, then we will be very fortunate indeed, because it is another communicator, and it will work off of your own body’s energies. Do you see it?”

Sarah wondered what Max may mean about that, but she felt her panic waiting at the edges of her awareness once again and she pushed the thought aside.

Squinting in the mostly darkness, she felt inside the container until her hands felt the belt.

“Got the belt!” she cried.

Suddenly, she froze. In the distance she heard a tap tap tapping, like metal on metal. Frantic, she felt around for the headset, and her fingers felt something metal.

“I have the headset! But something’s coming!” her voice pitched higher.

“Quickly, put on the headset and press the earpiece to scan for open channels” Max’s strange voice was insistent.

Sarah removed the helmet and lifted the headset. It seemed to consist of an earpiece with extensions for her to speak, and a small glass viewer. She awkwardly placed it in her left ear, and it hummed to life. She squeaked as the eyepiece extended over her left eye slightly, and the earphone hummed.

Pressing the earphone to her ear, she slowly turned around - facing the entrance where the tapping was growing louder by the moment.

“..ddddddssssdd Sarah? Can you hear me?”

Sarah’s knees nearly failed with relief. “Yes! Max? I can hear you!”

The voice sounded even more close now, and still strangely … off. But Sarah put that thought aside and took a step away from the opening.

“Max? What do I do now? I’m scared!”

“Calm down. I’m detecting a defense drone approaching your location. They should not even be active on this ship! The crash must have compromised their hibernation chamber. “

“What? What does that mean? I can’t understand.” she answered.

“Sarah, the ship you are in was on a military mission. After it crashed it was heavily damaged. Some of the remaining defense systems must be online, and they appear to be mistaking you for an intruder. You have got to get out of there!”

“What! Where do I go?”

“There should be two ways out of the room you are in. You need to leave by the south exit and proceed to the elevators.”

“South exit? How am I supposed to know which one that is?” she took another step away from the tapping sounds. They were getting very close.

“Touch your eyepiece. It should cycle through a number of overlays until you see one with directional orientation” Max replied.

Awkwardly, with shaking hands, Sarah felt across the top of the eyepiece until she felt a small raised button. After pressing it several times, she saw a big “N” appear near the top of her vision. The eyepiece was overlaying text on the glass in a way that allowed her to see freely, but also read from the HUD.

Sarah gasped. A leg, not unlike a spider’s, appeared in the doorway. Then another. They were large, metallic, and segmented in a way that allowed them to bend in any direction. The sharp tips of the legs were the source of the tapping sound Sarah had heard.

“Oh God! It’s here!” She whispered as she backed up to the wall.

Something that looked very much like a metallic spider on six legs walked slowly into the room. It stood about 6 feet tall, with eight glowing eyes that were scanning the room in all directions. Below the torso were two more shorter arms, that seemed to be holding weapons.

The eyes suddenly stopped scanning the room as one trained on Sarah. They all oriented towards her and a floodlight kicked on, blinding her.

“Halt. Intruder. Or be destroyed.” said a tinny metallic voice.

“This is bad. Very bad.” Sarah said under her breath.

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