Excerpt: Scene from "Game Over"
Story by Spiders Thrash on SoFurry
So here's a sample "episode" from Game Over (formerly titled "Arena"). This scene happens fairly late in the story, but I figured it was a fun example of the "sense of wonder" I've talked about a few times, specifically in this blog entry: https://fredtkerns.blogspot.com/2018/12/walking-among-stars-like-giants.html
The whole story is posted at Tapas Media: https://tapas.io/series/GameOver1
Keep an eye out for its sequel, Uncharted Territory, going live every morning starting on August 1: https://tapas.io/series/Uncharted-Territory
And if you enjoy my content, consider "buying me a coffee": https://ko-fi.com/feel_boss
"Whoa," Chenova whispered as they emerged from the wreckage. "Look at that."
Grishnag found what she was staring at and froze for a heartbeat before clamping her right hand onto an exposed support beam to stop her forward motion. Something bumped into her from behind and Dylan grunted.
"Sorry."
"S'okay," Grish said, keeping her voice low. She motioned at the object passing overhead and he looked up.
"Oh, wow. Anybody recognize that?"
"Huh-uh," Vivan whispered. Desmond shook his head.
"I had the Jemison's database updated the night we docked," Cora said, "and there's nothing like this anywhere in it."
"Can't make out any details on its surface," Chenova muttered. She turned off her cameras' spotlights and maneuvered them out into the open. "Looks kinda diamond-shaped, but with curved edges instead of sharp angles."
Grish nodded. It didn't appear to have have running lights or anything else one would expect to find on the hull of a ship. Nothing that resembled hatches or viewports, either. At first, the surface seemed to be painted black, but then she noticed light from Regulus A reflecting in colorful swirls along one side as it altered course again, like sunlight on an oil spill.
"I'm gonna start scanning it once we're back aboard the Jemison," Cora said. "Come on, everyone, get moving."
"I'm heading back to the yacht," Benny said. "I'm not leaving it here. That thing was expensive."
Grish waited for the others to tap their thrusters and zip across to the Jemison's airlock. As she turned to follow them, she noticed Chenova hanging back.
"C'mon, Mura, we need to be ready to jump in case that thing doesn't like being scanned."
"Yeah, okay. I'm coming." Chenova glanced over her shoulder, puffed the thrusters mounted on her chest, and kept staring at the object as she drifted backward toward the ship. The cameras stayed with her but kept their lenses pointed at the oily diamond shape. "Since I'm here for this, I may as well milk it for all it's worth."
"Well, try to milk faster. It won't be worth anything to you if that thing turns out to be hostile and kills your ass."
"Fine." Chenova sighed and fired another quick burst to accelerate.
"It's heading straight for the radiation sources," Cora said. "That suggests the wreckage was part of a ship and this one is investigating its disappearance."
That's just fucking great. Let's hope it doesn't think we're responsible for its destruction. Grishnag caught Chenova's arm and hustled her into the airlock before following her in. Cora brought up the rear and began the decontamination cycle.
"Another possibility," Ayastal muttered, "is that this ship is the one that turned the other into wreckage and is back to make sure there are no survivors."
"Or to retrieve something the destroyed ship had inside. Or something those on the other ship thought it had."
"Oh, wonderful." Dylan groaned. "Thanks for putting those thoughts in my head."
"Jump engines are ready and waiting," Cora said. "Benny, how about you?"
"The engines are ready and my finger's on the button."
"Good. Scanning now. I'm getting all the information I can before we have to jump." The inner hatch opened and Cora led everyone to the flight deck. "It's pulling objects toward it. I'm detecting more damaged metal structures that correspond with the locations of the radiation sources. I'm hoping they're just power plants and not weapons."
Everyone found a seat or something to hold on to. Cora raised a brow plate.
"The object is … absorbing them, I think. I haven't detected any hatches or cargo bay doors opening, yet the wreckage is moving inside it anyway. It's almost like it's seeping through the hull."
"Well, my skin just crawled," Dylan muttered.
Grish stared through the front viewport and could barely make out the dark shape moving in the distance. Suddenly, it rippled and sort of blinked -- and then it was gone.
"Huh," Chenova said. "Did it jump to hyperspace?"
"Maybe," Cora said. "If so, it used a technology I'm not familiar with. Also, whenever it turned, stopped, or accelerated, it didn't use RCS thrusters or anything similar. I detected no bursts of energy that you'd find when any other ship changes course."
"Gravimetric propulsion?" Vivian leaned forward and braced her elbows on her knees.
"Maybe. We'll have a ton of data for Malcolm's research team to go over."
"I'm just glad that thing left without taking any shots at us." Malcolm rubbed a hand over his forehead.
"And we got to see something really cool," Benny added.
"Okay, yeah, fair point. And the best part is, we get to live long enough to tell someone about it."