SIREN

Chapter Twenty

Captain Maximova had said her goodbyes in a hurry. Doctor White had reached a setback with Hoshi's treatment and he needed another pair of hands to administer some medication. The Captain wished us well, but that didn't do much to ease the anxiety growing in my mind.

I didn't want to believe that there was something out here leaving breadcrumbs for us to follow. If someone was baiting us along, were they intimidated by our actions on the Martini? Were they watching us right now? Were we doing exactly what they wanted?

Sam was hunched over the controls, clutching the joysticks with an iron grip. He peered at the oncoming sphere. 'In there, man, that's where we'll find our answers. I bet that's where the Poseidon Transmission came from, too.'

'Now hang on, Sam, let's not jump to conclusions.'

He jolted the Eagle to the right and dodged a rock. 'What do you mean? Look around you, what else is here? It had to have come from that floating piece of crap there.'

'We don't know that! It could've come from a spaceship that left when we arrived!'

Sam snorted. 'A spaceship left and we missed it go? Get real. We've been in this area for hours and nothing's gone.'

'Remember that we lost all our visuals when we came through the belt. What if that was a way for something to escape during that time? Maybe that's why the transmission stopped?'

'If you're right, why would anyone leave that marking behind? Why knock out our systems and embed a signature? Why be that grandiose about your actions when you could easily escape with no trail?'

I glanced at Sam and sniggered.

'What're you laughing at?' he growled.

'You! Since when do you use words like, "grandiose"?'

'Yeah, maybe you're rubbing off on me, man. Who knows.'

I sat back in my seat with a small smile. It vanished as my eyes met the sphere. It was bigger than the Martini and the Wreath, and the yellow lights I saw earlier were still zipping away. Now that we were closer, the cavity in the centre looked more like an opening, and the giant white spotlight inside reminded me of a lighthouse.

'Looks like an eye,' Sam grunted.

'Yeah, it does.'

'You still got your gun?'

'Yeah, it's on my suit.'

'Good. I might've misplaced mine.'

My body tensed up. 'But you're the weapons expert...'

'Who has no gun, yes, I know. I'll use yours and you'll just have to trust me.'

'Oh, wonderful!' I raised my arms and slapped them down on my thighs.

'How about you use the saw? Or maybe bring something heavy with you?'

'Something heavy with me?' I gasped, 'what do I look like? A caveman?'

'Okay, so use the saw.'

I unbuckled my seatbelt and floated away from my seat. 'I'll see what I can find in the back.'

'I'll call you if I need you.'

'Sure,' I snatched the nearest rung, pulled my body along and shot swears at Sam. Only having one weapon wasn't good, and I was feeling increasingly angry at my teammate for being so complacent about losing a firearm.

I stopped near the glass panel Sam had checked earlier when the Poseidon Transmission stopped. I rubbed my fingers against it and commanded the system to refresh its search for contact.