CROWN OF THORNS

Chapter 3

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~ 400 metres above Kalypso ~

A stillness ricocheted through the observation deck, four off from the main hub. A sense of weightlessness wrenched at the Zero G Mechanic, he was strapped down in his chair, the straps forming an 'X' over his chest. The deck accompanied many, however, this time was different. A steady alarm ran through the entire ship, to each empty corridor, to each empty bunk. They awoke to a flashing red light overhead, their hazel eyes puzzled. They tried to take off from their seat, but they were contained. They looked down to what was keeping them, confusion washing over their face.

He did not recall entering the observation deck, he did not recall strapping himself in, and he did not remember any of it ever occurring. But, there was no time to dwell on that. He unstrapped himself, pushing himself off by the metal bar in front of him, letting his body be pulled towards the servers. He connected his suit to the inner comms, driving the signal out to other ships. His suit was still intake, and he chose to keep it on, until he knew it was safe to remove it. The Zero G Mechanic spoke into his helmet, "This is North Ryker, abroad Observation 6. Badge number 61316. If anyone is hearing this, please respond."

Radio silence.

"I repeat, this is North Ryker, badge number 61316, abroad Observation 6. Something has happened, I don't know where my crew is."

Static. Radio silence again. "Fine." He huffed. "I'll find the crew myself." North kicks off, floating over to the other side to run diagnostics on a separate server. He clicks his heels together to stay planted upright and begins to enter his access code. Redirecting him to the main server, "Welcome, 61316. How may I assist you?" A monotone robotic voice asked.

"We talked about this, Jill." He said in a stern, yet musical tone. "Please call me North."

The screen goes fuzzy, and then flickers back on. "Welcome, North."

"Jill, run a full diagnostic exam."

"Air quality at 92 percent functionality, heating and cooling systems at full functionality. Interior safe. Exterior not safe."

"Real funny." He chuckled briefly. "Something still isn't right. What about the hull attachments, everything look secure on your side?" A digital live blueprint of the ship pops up onto the screen, zooming into module 11.

"Module 11, unstable atmosphere, conditions are critical. Hull attachment- False."

"Let's hope no one is in there."

North ducks out from the observation deck, a white light flashes in the duct. The lights all over the ship were shut down, leaving only the emergency back up ones to generate. North glided through each duct, pushing past all the particles. His team consisted of six, and it appeared he was the only one left. The rest had vanished, like they just got up and left. He approached module 11, and to open its interior doors, all ducts in this module needed to be closed and sealed off, he put the override codes in and began the process. "Module ten, override successful." He was notified by Jill in his headset.

"Open module 11 interior doors." Automatically, he made passage through them. Heat bounced off the room, in the corner, there was a blast of some sort, it blew right into the side of it, taking out a section of the module. "It's no wonder, it's unstable." North went back out, shutting down the door.

He continued to explore the ship, searching for his team, searching for any sign of life- there was none. He came to an opening, a window that looked over Kalypso; a large violet and blue planet with white streams that looked to be wispy clouds. North let out a sigh of relief, Observation 6 was still in orbit with Kalypso. There was still hope, he just had to bring down an hundred year old ship that would probably implode on itself when it enters into Kalypso's atmosphere. It's an observation ship that holds scientists, engineers, and mechanics. North was here to make mechanical repairs, and go for the occasional spacewalk- that no one knew about.