Chapter 8

"Rommie, Beka, I need you to come here please," said Dylan into his commlink. He stood by the cargo hold of the Andromeda where they had been keeping the ship the Goldensun. So far they hadn't explored far into the ship, just enough to remove most of the bodies, but this time Dylan knew where he needed to go, and he also knew that he might need help.

"What's up Dylan?" asked Beka from the Command deck. Rommie was equally intrigued.

"I'm by the cargo holds. Just get down here. I think I'm going to need some help,"

Beka looked at Rommie and shrugged, and they both set out together to the hold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "OK, so we're here. What now?" said Beka when they reached Dylan. They all stood inside the Goldensun's charred remains. "This way," said Dylan as he set out, "I think it's time we found out what was in the hold of this ship." Silently Rommie and Beka followed.

They reached the first door, and found it was welded shut from the flames. It took about five minutes using a laser saw to cut through the metal, but their work was fruitless. The hold was huge but there was nothing in it. They moved on to the next door. This one was openable with out the aide of the saw but there was only crates of packed up food, all rotten. They moved on much more quickly than they had for the first hold.

They then reached the third and last door. This was partly open, but it was stuck. Rommie put her head into the hold through the opening in the door and looked around. "Well, there are crates in here, but I can't see what's in them," she said, "We'll have to get the door open somehow," she pulled her head back out through the hole and tried to push the doors open. "Won't budge," she said. They resorted to using the laser saw to cut the door completely out of it's frame, but this took over twenty minutes. When they got one half of the door out, they decided to call it a day.

"After all, the ship will still be here tomorrow," said Dylan

"What do you think we'll find in it? Probably more rotten food?" said Beka as she and Dylan walked towards the mess hall.

"I wouldn't be surprised, but I have a hunch that there's much more than food in that hold. I don't want to say anything yet, because I may be wrong, so don't ask me." he said. Beka kept silent. She knew it would do no good to prod and she would just have to wait and see.

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