The hangars were dark when we arrived, which tells me one of two things is possible: Solcrue came through and used an EMP to shut down the last of the life support, or it has died on itsown. No matter which way I look at it, even though not a whole day has gone by, I fear I’m already too late.
The moment the ramp nears the floor, my eagerness to see if my friends have survived makes me jump off the ship and land on the dark hangar floor. I fumble for the light on my helmet and switch it on.
“Aera!” Evo calls after me as I run to the hangar’s backup airlock. Eight other ships hover inside and set down inside the hangar. He chases me to the control panel. It doesn’t respond when I tap it.
My pounding pulse ratchets up in my skull as frustration surges.
A hand rests against my back. Evo guides me away from the door. “Let us help you.”
I look back as Titans gather around the door. Down the hangar, at another airlock, a different team has formed up.
“They are going to take care of the engines and get this ship back online. We are on life support duty,” Evo adds.
Diesel walks up to the panel, his eyes bright green in the dark. He pulls a cable out of his side and hands it to a dark unit with a pink digibadgeTor. Tor takes the cable, connects it to his side, then gets down and removes his gloves. His fingers peel apart into an array of snaking cables, which he feeds into a nearby access panel.
Evo removes a glove and sets his hand on the control panel. It lights up and fills with schematics and command options for the ship. But it’s the way Evo’s face paints with the same moving bars of light that has my attention.
“They’re in the central compartment. Remaining power at eight percent. Amp has accessed the engines. Reactor is inside, connecting to the charging system. Unlocking door.” Evo’s neck twitches. “There is an intruder. Leech attached at level six. Near the fuel cells.”
A Titan beside Diesel vanishes in a cloud of tiny orbs. His mass slinks into a nearby vent and disappears.
The doors open, and Evo, Tor, and Diesel disconnect themselves and step back. Castor and another Titan with orange fissures across his skin, namedSarge,are the first through the doors, rifles in their hands.
“Atomizer, report,” Atox says in my ear.
Another voice replies, “Scrapper ship. Slipping outside now. Will clear vessel, scavenge, and eject.”
I can’t help but try to push forward in the group, wanting desperately to get back to my people. But Evo keeps me close, one hand to my back at all times, the other now steadying his rifle. Castor and Sarge take a different passageway, heading away from my colony and toward life support.
I try to protest, but Evo takes me by the arm and keeps me with the group.
“We need life support on before we can breach the room. Oxygen is too low. They’ll suffocate if we open the doors now.”
Down a dim maintenance corridor, the Titans lead us into the critical life support power facility. Atox, Siphon, and a female with red eyes and a digibadge ofPoppy, scout the hallways we leave behind.
“How do you know where we’re going?” I ask them.
“Pulled ship schematics,” Evo says. “I sent them out to every Titan. They now have record of all the systems.
As we approach the life support power generation facility, Siphon pulls translucent hoses from his side and clips one into Diesel and another into Sarge, who connect themselves to Tor’s sides. Tor removes a dark fuel cell and snakes his fingers inside the chamber.
Castor, Atox, a shadowy unit, and Poppy form up around the working Titans. It is something I haven’t seen in action in years, not since I was very young.
Diesel’s green eyes, Sarge’s crackling orange skin, and Tor’s radiant banded arms fill the dark corridor with a colorful light show. They have formed their own power generation system. Siphon feeds Diesel and Sarge fuel. They step it up with the transformers in their bodies, and Tor feeds the appropriate amperage into the system, controlling it with appropriate switching to get the generators moving.
Seconds later, the generator makes a revolution with a faint glow. It circles again in the chamber, then again but faster. I haven’t seen it turn on in many long, cold months. It cycles with increasing speed, spreading into the other chambers around the room. A hydropump kicks on. I can hear it hum overhead.
Evo looks up when I do.
Rebel and Atox leave our group to begin coordinating the humans from Toriszi’s Rebel force in the hallways with medical prep, leaving Castor, Poppy, and the shadow unit on guard.
An emergency light darkens by the door, drawing my attention to it and the doorway that leads into the emergency power systems.That shouldn’t switch off when Titans are charging the ship.
Evo is monitoring the generation system when I leave his side to peer through the door’s window. Blue light moves down the hallway like a fuel cell has been pulled out of its chamber.
Someone is taking our backup power.If they break the circuit, the entire system will shut down and steal the last of the life support feeding my colony until Evo’s team gets the main system online.
Oh, fuck no!
