Chương 2: Salvaged

The alien ship wasn't huge, by any means, but it certainly dwarfed Felix's capsule, near enough to fill his view entirely. While not sleek, it also was not boxy, though it did have a number of sharper angles to its primary hull, gliding back toward where the main drives appeared to be. Viewing from what Felix suspected was the underside of the vessel, the nose appeared pointed, but long, rounded wings curved out of either side of the center hull and swept aft.

The bright light he'd seen came from a slot in the ship's ventral hull, though there wasn't any sign of arms or tethers. The capsule shuddered and began to move toward the ship, pressing him into his command chair. Must be some sort of external unit… Checking the tablet, he found it had only barely begun charging and reached instead for the checklist binder.

He selected the operations tab and opened it to the page for the maneuvering system and then pressed the synoptic key beside the lower display unit until it changed to the FUEL/SYS page.

"Damnit!" Felix slammed the binder closed as the fuel quantity blinked a balefully red zero. He glanced down at the auxiliary environmental pack for his pressure suit, but that too announced a disappointing lack of charge. Like it or not, he was along for the ride. The alien ship grew large enough he couldn't see anything else out the forward window, and the shoulder restraints of his command chair caught him as the capsule began to decelerate.

It became apparent, now, the opening was a lowered hatch, slid forward along the hull. A flowing script of symbols was painted along the port side of what must have been a bay of sorts, and as he leaned forward to examine it his headache grew stronger. Felix squeezed his eyes shut and the pain subsided. When he looked again, however, the ache didn't return and instead the script appeared to be normal English: ICV 601 MAGPIE. He closed his eyes again.

There wasn't anything like this in Earth orbit, at least as far he could recall… but then again, it wasn't like his memory was doing him any favors at the moment. Perhaps he really did have brain damage. The capsule rotated as it slid into the open bay, and when he looked out again he was presented with an open, and brightly lit space stacked with scrap and machinery. Noises greeted him through the hull of his own vessel: the sound of latches releasing, metal on metal connections, and… voices?

Everything shuddered as he was moved backward, away from the piles, before grinding to a halt a moment later. Something scraped at the hatch above him, and he crawled out of the chair to stand on what was, essentially, one wall of the capsule. Then he froze. He was standing. Gravity. He made a tentative step, pushed himself up on his toes. His weight was familiar, about right what it should be, but his legs still shook. Which meant this ship, whatever it was, produced artificial gravity—an impossibility.

Something outside the hatch moved and a shadow fell over the view port. The capsule shuddered as something latched onto the hull around the hatch, followed by a chime, transmitted through the hull. A figure moved outside the hatch, at least somewhat humanoid if its blank helmet faceplate was anything to go by, twisting the exterior release. The MASTER WARNING lit up on the glareshield panel, and a PRESSURE OVERRIDE alert appeared on the system status screen.

There was a small hiss, and Felix's ears popped as he looked around the cabin for something, anything. He found the crash axe strapped to the back of his seat and pulled it from its holder, testing the weight in his hand. Satisfied, he let the axe hang by his leg and waited as the alien finished unlatching the hatch and hauled it open. Whoever was coming through had better have a smile under that helmet and a whole lot of love in their heart.

The figure paused, definitely humanoid, and then issued a series of muffled sounds that could only be expletives, though they weren't words Felix recognized. Each one sent a jab of pain through his head.

"Who are you?" His voice sounded odd in his own ears, almost thin. The light flowed around the alien, and he squinted against the renewed ache and brightness. It reached up to the band holding its helmet and pulled at the latch, which hissed as it released. It then twisted and pulled at the helmet, unlocking it from the seal ring, lifting it clear. The helmet snagged for a moment, and then her long, blonde hair spilled out and down the front of her suit.

She stared at Felix, her eyes dark, her lip curled into a snarl. Turning back, she shouted again, this time to someone else in a curious mix of what sounded like Chinese and German, but not really either. As she spoke, his head throbbed again and he dropped the axe, falling to one knee while he gripped his temples and gasped. Behind her, an assembly resembling an airlock folded away, allowing the brighter light of the bay into the capsule. The woman looked back, eyes narrowing.

"Okai-ma ah-ju? Ju-du help?" Felix looked up. Maybe they spoke a mish-mash of languages?

"Yes, help. My head." She shouted over her shoulder again.

"Heigel! Du-hae ma Doc!" Climbing into the capsule, she paused, looking at his nametape.

"Conway?" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Felix Conway, yeah."

"Kyra." She knelt in front of him, waved her hand in front of his face, frowning.

"No ju ten sigan?" He felt each syllable stab through his eyes and he grimaced, squeezing them tight against the vocal onslaught. His head was pounding and a buzzing pressed in on his eardrums. Kyra stood and dashed back to the hatch shouting again as she leaned out.

"Heigel! Where's el doc, yu geff, es still integrating!" Felix looked up at her, gritting his teeth.

"What's going on? Where am I?" As soon as the questions left his mouth, he scolded himself between the waves of pain radiating through his head. They obviously didn't speak the same language, why would he think she understood him? She turned back and pursed her lips as another voice drew near. Another face appeared in the hatch, a darker-skinned man, who only glanced at Felix before forcing himself into the capsule.

"Jumper? Be-koi integrated and pug-eh?" The buzz reached a crescendo, then fell silent.

"That's not supposed to happen!" The hot irons in Felix's brain suddenly cooled and he dropped to all fours, chest heaving. Doc knelt beside him, pulling a tool from his belt and held it to his head.

"Just breathe, in and out slow." The man inhaled through his nose, then exhaled an exaggerated breath out his mouth.

"Just keep doing that…" Felix copied the man, in and out, slow and steady.

"Why can I understand you now," he gasped. The pain had ebbed off, but the sparkles returned in force, coating everything in a sort of snow, rather than just the edges of his eyesight. The device chirped and Doc's eyes widened.

"Translation just came online."

"What's that mean?" Kyra asked. He took Felix's arm and looked at Kyra.

"Grab his other arm, help him up. We need to get him into the lab right now." Felix allowed them to lift him; his legs were weak, as much from being weightless for who knew how long as whatever was spearing through his head. The sparks danced brightly, angrily, hints of red and blue and gold static blurring everything that wasn't directly in front of him. Was it the oatmeal? The lack of oxygen? They led him to the hatch, helping him over the edge and into the arms of a third man in the bay.

This one was incredibly overweight, pale, and sweating. Felix's nose wrinkled as he caught a whiff of the man, a bouquet of stale musk, a cheap cologne and something sickly-sweet. Around them, junk was stacked against the walls and crates secured across the deck by cables and straps hooked to the floor. The bay had the appearance of a junkyard inside a supply warehouse. At least, a warehouse threaded with pipes and conduits across every free surface that wasn't the floor.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" The man grimaced, struggling to hold Felix at arm's length while Doc and Kyra exited the pod.

"If he's been aboard that the whole time, it means this isn't legitimate salvage and we just wasted the fuel packs on two drones!" Kyra rolled her eyes.

"Yes, rescuing a jumper is a waste of time, Heigel." Her voice dripped with contempt as she and Doc took Felix from the man." Captain Heigel!" His face turned red, and he paused to retrieve a bottle from a pocket, some of the contents of which he dumped into one hand and swallowed.

"Jumpers aren't our problem. Magpie! Begin logging the cost of supplying the squatter with air so we can charge him." Overhead, a chime presumably indicated the ship's computer had acknowledged the command.

"You know," Doc growled.

"You're a real piece of work sometimes, Karl." Another sharp knife jammed itself between Felix's eyes, and he let out a cry, knees buckling. Kyra shot a concerned look at Doc as they led him out of the bay, into the corridor.

"Why's he getting worse? He seemed fine until I started talking. If anything, he looked ready to jump me with that axe."

"He's not done cooking yet. Hell, he shouldn't even be awake right now! Something must have happened where the safeties had to be overridden." Safeties? Overridden? The pain had subsided from excruciating to merely agonizing and Felix rediscovered his tongue.

"Can…someone please…explain what's going on?" Each word still caused another pulse of searing pain through the front of his head, right behind his eyes.

"Don't talk, try not to think," Doc instructed as they reached a door. Doc kicked it with his toe, and the panel slid into the wall, hitching repeatedly as it moved. Inside, there were two beds along one bulkhead. A light turned on over one, the screen at its head blinking to life. To the right, on the opposite side, sat a desk and deck-mounted chair, well-worn from use—presumably Doc's workstation.

On the far side, unmistakable in function, though not form, a sort of combination storage and lab took up the entire wall. Crates were piled everywhere, some metal, others obviously some form of plastic.

"Sorry, place is a bit of a mess, don't get much business in here," Doc apologized as the two spacemen led Felix to the lit bed.

"Which is a good thing," Kyra added. Felix attempted to nod, but as his head moved a feeling of frigid water rushed through his mind, setting every last synapse to screaming. It was as if he'd jumped into the water of Lake Superior in the middle of January— why did I remember that? — except instead of just stinging his skin, every nerve, every shred of muscle, every cell was encased in ice while simultaneously being on fire.

His body locked up, knees and arms rigid, spine straight, and the world rushed to a single point of light that winked out to darkness. [WARNING: SAFETY OVERRIDE ENGAGED. PREMATURE ACTIVATION, USER INTEGRATION INCOMPLETE.] [WARNING: MEMORY ACCESS – LOCKED] [WARNING: CLASS NOT FOUND!] [WARNING: SKILL ASSIGNMENTS NOT FOUND.] [SAFE MODE... INITIATED] [SYSTEM STATUS... ONLINE] if you're reading this and not on Royal Road, this work has been stolen. It is a work by the user ZeeWulfeh, under his penname of ZeeWulf.

This has not been released for sale by the author on any book selling platform.