Chương 35: Chapter 34: Artemis

Heavy smoke, searing fire and burning flames surrounded me as I ran through the corridor. I had to find my way out. Breath held, I did everything I could to avoid taking in the noxious gasses around me. Through the smoke, I saw an exit sign leading me through the smoke and out into the courtyard. As I took a long, deep breath, I felt the air become noticeably thinner than before. Alarms were blaring from every direction. I dove into the seat of the nearest transporter I could find, speeding toward my goal.

Dead bodies filled the streets, forcing me to slow and swerve out of the way of the corpses. I looked up at the motor ring, seeing it spinning faster, the smoke swirling with it at breakneck speeds. The joints and bearings screamed in a high-pitched squeal throughout the entire ship, rebelling against the speed they were forced to move. I turned upwards when approaching the back of the ship, keeping away from the windows. The center ring screamed louder as I drew closer to it.

The hurricane winds it generated were threatening to blow me away, but I couldn't give up now.

"Okay, you can do this…" I said to myself, starting to move in the same direction. The small transporter couldn't come anywhere close to matching the speed of the spinning ring, but all I needed was the necessary speed to do the transfer. Pulling alongside it, I didn't waste any time, turning into the seam. As one set of wheels hit the center ring faster than the others, it forced the tiny car into a tailspin. I screamed, but kept control as I was forced into the opposite direction.

Knowing this way was where I needed to go, I slammed my foot on the accelerator, keeping as much speed as possible, but also staying as slow as I could in comparison to the central ring. I looked above me to the back of the ship as I slowly drove along the center of the ring. Even though I was going too fast, my little cart could barely handle the speeds it was already taking. With a glance behind me, I could see the elements of the back ship approaching me from behind.

I tried to line myself up as I saw it: the gate. With a quick breath, I veered to the right, transferring myself onto the back segment of the ship, spinning out from the sudden adjustment in speed. I vaulted out of the car, thudding to the ground on my back and sliding across the metal surface. A searing pain ran through my back as I came to a stop, but I knew I had to ignore it. Standing in the gale force winds, I started toward the gate, leading to the forest.

More bodies lined the street as I approached the gate. It was hard to ignore them all, but I had to keep going. I knew exactly where she'd be hiding… I just had to make it to her. A massive explosion boomed overhead, making me look toward the exploding bearing in the central ring. Oil was igniting all around it, making a fireball spread through the ship, stirred by the central ring. I watched in horror as the black cloud was swept at me. My eyes squeezed shut as the oil splattered onto my body.

Another sharp pain seared through my back. That slide had cut through my suit, my fur, my skin. Through the haze, I continued moving, knowing where I needed to go… knowing where she'd be hiding. Between the shroom tree, I could see the trunk I'd been trying to reach. The familiar, hollowed out tree trunk of the shroom where she used to live… it was the only place for her to be. She'd have to be there. As I walked toward it, I heard crying coming from inside, and once I went through the door… there she was.

My daughter, crying, sitting in the middle of the room, wearing the white jumpsuit they'd assigned to her, including the patch on her shoulder, falsely indicating her as an orphan. I always hated the sight of that patch, but there was no time to undo the wrongs of the past. I needed to get my daughter out of here.

"Honey? We need to leave, sweetie. I need you to come with me." I said as softly as I could. She looked up at me with her beautiful, dark brown eyes, both of them shining with tears.

"Please, honey…we have to go." I said, reaching out to her. She was holding a shard. I had no idea who's it was or where it came from but it wasn't the time to ask. I carefully took it from her and put it in her pocket.

"You can take it with you, but we've got to get going. We don't have much… time…" I said, looking out toward the ring. It was going even faster, flames shooting out from the seams. Even if I found another working transporter, it could never match that speed. I looked around for a moment, then remembered the speedboard left in the little house. Sure enough, there it was, sitting in the corner.

After its destructive slide, two of the wheels had giant, flat wedges cut into them, but there was still enough on one edge to let it roll. I carefully picked my daughter up along with the board. She was still crying. I did my best to console her as I ran toward the gate. As I reached it, I was met with a wall of flames. My daughter wailed when she saw it.

"Don't look at it, honey, just close your eyes, okay?!" I yelled to her, over the sound of the spinning ring. She seemed to understand as her face pressed tightly into my shoulder. I placed the board on the ground, trying to see through the wall of flames. I knew I could make it to the other side as long as I got as much speed as possible. I didn't have to match the ring's speed… I only needed enough to make it across to the other side. This story originates from a different website.

Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I looked up and to the left to look for the largest clear area on the other side, but it was nearly impossible to see through the flames. Jumping onto the board, I leaned forward, alongside the wall of fire. It'd been ages since I'd ridden one of these boards, and the wobble on the lopsided wheels only made it more difficult to control. Getting as much speed as I could, I yelled back to my daughter.

"Hold on! We can make it!" Turning into the wall of flames, I sped through. The board almost instantly came out from under me as I tumbled. I held my daughter as close to my chest as I could, trying to stay on my sides and back as we were thrown through the center ring. In the blink of an eye, we landed on the other side. She was torn from my arms as we spun apart. My face smashed into the dirt of what used to be a flower bed. Dazed, I slowly stood, shook my head, and quickly located her.

She'd landed against the next building down, laying there with a large dent in the wall where she'd crashed. No, no no no… I ran to her. She wasn't moving. I couldn't tell if she was breathing.

"No, please, no…dammit…this is all my fault…I'm sorry, I…I'm sorry. None of this should have happened…you shouldn't have gotten caught up in all of this…I'm sorry…I…" Suddenly, she coughed, trying to stand. I gasped, reaching out to her as she grabbed onto one of the wheels of the board. The rest of it was laying in a useless heap, destroyed by its impact with the building.

"Y-You're okay!" I yelled, hugging her to my chest.

"Dad…what's…happening…" She struggled to ask me.

"Shh, it's okay, honey… I've got you… I'll get you out of this." I promised. I picked her up and started running. The thin air made my breaths come short and fast as I was unable to take in all I needed. The terminal was ahead of me, and the hallway I'd initially come through was engulfed in flame, but the other entrance was still usable. A loud crack rang through the ship, coming from behind us. As I turned, I saw one of the main towers collapsing down onto a distant part of the ship.

A large pile of bodies was pressed against the door, but with the electrical systems failing, any locks in place were no longer there. I climbed over them, slipping inside and running up to the terminal. Once I was in the room, I kicked the shovel to the side. Along the wall, all the cockpits were all still empty, aside from the two I'd already launched. I pulled my daughter back from me. She was still crying, the wheel still in her hand. My gaze went back to the cockpits.

They were all set by default to go to Lifeboat Eight, but there was no way she could go there. Pulling out the sheet Artemis had given me, I quickly moved to the control panel, entering the coordinates on the paper. There wasn't enough room for both of us, so I decided to take a separate one after I'd launched her. The hatch opened with a thick white mist, already prepared for launch. I gently sat her down in the seat, but she didn't want to let go of me.

"Please, honey…I'll be close behind, okay? You won't be alone, I promise." I said, giving her a small smile as I put the seat belt around her. At the last moment, I decided to reach into her pocket, pulling out the shard. I quickly took off the cap and placed my thumb over the back. It began to glow as I turned to her.

"I love you. You'll be okay. I promise." A cataclysmic crushing sound erupted through the ship. I turned as the ground left my feet, watching the central ring explode into three separate pieces. Lifeboat Seven was split into chunks, and for the first time in my life, I saw an unobstructed view of the vast emptiness of space. Everything froze. Suddenly, I was myself again, standing on the metal floor next to my dad.

He was looking out the window, thumb leaving the shard as the glass, the cockpit was nearly closed shut. It looked as though it was about to close just in time for him to get his hand out of the way, the shard falling into the cockpit. The world itself was frozen in time… in the final moment of the memory my father had left me on the shard. I stared out the windows but constricted in fear as I saw a figure standing at them. He was another being like me, but he was almost entirely white.

His arms were behind his back as he looked out at the shattering remains of Lifeboat Seven. He was wearing a black suit with blue trimming, fur entirely white aside from his arms. His right arm was a bright yellow, all the way up to the elbow. His left arm matched in everything but color, the yellow replaced with a deep black. I cautiously approached him. Whoever he was, he was breathing… which could only mean he wasn't part of the memory. He was there with me.

"H-Hello?" I asked. He responded with a deep breath, looking at the ground.

"Who…who are you?" I asked him.

"Artemis." He responded in a deep, commanding voice. I was at a loss for words. I didn't know what else to say, what else to ask. Artemis looked up to the windows once more.

"You weren't abandoned." He said, turning to face me. His piercing blue eyes locked onto mine.

"You were saved."

In a brilliant flash of light, I found myself back in the woods. The robot backed away from me, reaching its claw up and pulling the shard out from its chest. It placed it back in my pocket, and then, wordlessly, it turned and walked in the direction of the mountain again. I stood there in shock, trying to process everything I'd just seen in that memory. Once my senses were fully back, I realized I was alone in the woods again. The robot disappeared into the distance, leaving me in the darkness.

"No!" I yelled. I hadn't come this far to stop. I needed to get up to that clearing. I needed to see the ship. Grabbing the claw holding me in place, I pulled my lower half toward my neck, bending my back to get my toes into the crevice between my neck and the metallic claw. I was barely able to reach it, but I managed to do it. I pushed as hard as I could, shoving my back to the tree. My feet and hands pushed out as much as they could. With a sudden snap, the claw loosened and fell from the tree.

I clambered to the ground, scrambled to my feet, and started chasing after that robot.