{"sf1_id":915164,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Victernus - Chapter 27","author":"Baumarius","words":1383,"posted_at":"2015-09-27T14:02:00.000Z","tags":["Cybernetics","Science","Transformation","War","Werewolf","Wolf","apocalypse","corruption","dystopia","implants","mind","tf","uploading"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/915164-victernus-chapter-27","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/915164","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=915164\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\n            Two inches of dust. It coated the\ntables and the old electronics in a room left over from the last age. A little bit of light\nfiltered in through a small window on one end. Namara held his hand\nto his nose, breathing into it. Theo had entered the old room before him and\nwas now wiping the dust off of a large computer screen. As it booted up, he\nbent over the table and tried not to move.\n            Namara grumbled, waiting at the\ndoor, \"I thought you would have taken care of this place, if you worked here...\"\n            Theo objected, \"I was in stasis for\na while too - I haven't been up here in a long time.\"\n            He sighed, \"Well, hurry. This place\nis going to kill my nose... it smells like crap.\"\n            The computer finished starting and\nwas ready to go - a miracle in itself. Theo opened a command window and started\ntyping on the dust-ridden keyboard. \"It won't be long. Don't worry.\"\n            While he was typing, Namara heard a\nmechanical door opening in another room. He asked curiously, \"So, what's in the\nwarehouse?\"\n            Theo clenched his fist in excitement\nand then left the computer, causing Namara to move out of the way. He traveled\nback down a short hallway and then stuck a key into the door on the left,\nunlocking it. \"You'll see!\"\n            Namara followed him and then called further\ndown the hallway to his friends, \"Hey guys, we're ready!\" He waited briefly to\nsee if they would come, and then slipped into the main warehouse with Theo.\n            Inside the warehouse, a giant grey door\nthat spanned the entire wall was retracting into the ground slowly. The\nmachines that were causing all of the clanking and grinding noises were hidden\nbehind the walls along the edges of the room. As the door fell, Theo's plan was\nrevealed to Namara. Behind the door rested a gigantic, black spacecraft. It\nconsisted of three parts: a main body that looked like a thick rectangular\nprism, and two bulky wing shafts that attached near the middle. The front end\nwas slanted, making it just a tad more aerodynamic - not that it was in the\nfirst place.\n            While Namara held his breath at the\nsight, Theo explained to him, \"See, as much as we would all like to stay here,\nI think we would do best on a new planet where we do not have any history. This\nworld is still recovering - it's not done - and I'd rather find a new one and\njust do it right this time.\"\n            Namara contained his excitement and\nthen nodded, \"I understand. If the Selanians ever manage to make it back out of\nthat hellhole, I think it would be best if we were not here.\"\n            Mahalia, who was standing by the\ndoorway with the others, walked in and said, \"So this is what you have been\nworking on? Will it fly yet, or is it not ready?\"\n            Theo pulled some small black cubes\nout of his pocket and handed one to everyone in the area. Holding a tablet in\nhis hands, he focused on it and said, \"It will - there's just a few things that\nI haven't finished yet, like the weapons and the long-range transporters. The\nshort range ones are online though, and...\" He pressed a button and they were\nteleported onto the ship's bridge almost instantly. \"...they work quite well.\"\n            Namara grabbed his chest as if he\nwas unsure of if he was still coherent. He glanced around the spacious room\nwith the others, who were equally astonished. Computer stations with fixed\nchairs were scattered about neatly across three separate levels - the lowest in\nthe front. A giant window was at the front of the room, and it reached across\nit, barely touching the edges. Two open corridors led out of it on the other\nend.\n            Theo chuckled because of their\nsurprised faces. He suggested, \"You guys can explore the ship if you want. Or\nyou can find a seat, 'cause I'd really like to take off soon and you might not\nwant to miss it.\"\n            Mahalia sat in one of the chairs and\nsmiled, \"Definitely not!\"\n            Athius and Gala sat at separate\nstations despite the obvious state of their relationship, and Kyon took a seat\nnear the front, by himself. Namara scanned the room briefly before stepping\ndown to the front and sitting down beside Kyon. He smiled, \"Wonderful, isn't\nit?\"\n            Kyon nodded and smiled back,\nresisting the temptation to feel alone. He said, \"Yeah, it is.\"\n            Namara sat back in his chair,\nrelaxing his body. He began to swivel his chair around to find Theo, only to\nturn back and sit upright. The ship started with a slight rumble before it rose\nupwards. Outside of the window, he could see the shield grinding against the\ntop of the warehouse. Several sections of the roof disintegrated while the\nremainder fell back down to the ground.\n            He glanced back slightly and teased,\n\"I thought this was supposed to be elegant? You will be the first humans to\nleave this system, you know.\"\n            Theo laughed, \"Oh, shut up.\"\n            When the ship cleared the warehouse,\nit ascended into the sky. Washington D.C., once the seat of the world's\ngreatest power, lay in ruins below them. Namara couldn't help but smile,\nfeeling both freed from control and like some unspoken quest for vengeance had\nbeen fulfilled. Dr. Lynn was probably waking up with a severe headache, unable\nto see a thing. The thought only made Namara feel good.\n            And then, it didn't. Thinking of\nwhat the Selanians had to endure, he couldn't help but feel responsible. Years\nbefore, when he took Lynn up on his offer, he figured that it was just what he\nneeded. He was far more naïve back then and didn't really assume anything else\nabout it. However, he quickly realized that it was too late to speculate now.\nWhether he or someone else had gone through with it, he was just glad that he\nhad made it.\n            While he thought about these things,\nclouds zoomed past the window. With the sun behind them, the view quickly got\ndarker and darker. The ship was leaving the atmosphere. He turned back and\nasked Theo, \"Have you named it yet?\"\n            \"What, the ship? No... You can if you\nwant to.\"\n            Namara smiled and asked, \"What would\nyou guys name it?\"\n             Most of their faces turned blank, but Athius\nsmiled and suggested, \"How about the 'Starlight Alpha?'\"\n            Kyon raised his eyebrow and\nchuckled, \"I think this hunk of metal deserves a more-\"\n            Namara interrupted, \"The Starlight\nAlpha it is! Write that down, Theo.\"\n            Theo grinned while he set it as the\nship's title, \"Whatever you say, Captain.\"\n            He furled his brow and objected,\n\"Captain? I'm not your captain. I don't know how to fly this thing.\"\n            Mahalia shook her head, \"He's right,\nNamara... Or should I say, Captain Galvarros? You've always managed to work\nthings out for us, and we've always been here to help. I don't think anyone\nelse on this bridge can take your place.\"\n            Theo nodded and pointed to the big\nchair in the middle of the room, \"I made that chair for you.\"\n            Namara smiled and glanced down at\nthe floor briefly before standing up and moving to the middle of the room. He\nstared at the chair for a few seconds before sitting down on it and tapping his\nfingers on the armrest. Feeling both accepted and somewhat powerful, he asked,\n\"So, where are we going?\"\n            Theo shrugged, \"I'm not sure yet. I\nhave the sensors scanning for habitable planets. It'll go faster if we're\nmoving, though.\"\n            He pointed towards the window, \"Well\nthen, go that way!\"\n            Theo shut off the ship's thrusters\nand then activated the hyperdrive. He spoke cheerfully, \"You got it!\" and then\nwatched as space twisted and folded before the front of the ship. Before anyone\nknew what was happening, the Starlight Alpha shot into hyperspace and headed\nfor the far reaches of the galaxy.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/913487-victernus-chapter-26.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/915165-victernus-chapter-28.json"}