BAM!!!!!!
ÒWhat was that? Report, KÕleta (Colonel) Kigata!Ó A metallic voice asks through the wires connected to me (so to speak).
I reply, *Just some enemy gunfire. IÕve sustained an impact. *
ÒReport your statusÑand I need a damage assessment immediately!Ó
*Yes, sir. *
I run a systems check. Not much damageÑbut what there is, is potentially dangerousÉ
*We have sustained about fifteen percent damage of structure. She wonÕt take another hitÉ*
ÒFifteen percent!Õ
*Yes, sir. Right now, she stabilized. Tell the others to pull out. IÕll join them as soon as I can. *
ÒYes, KÕleta. Over andÑÓ
BOOM!!!!!! The whole star fighter (a single person ship, more like a robot, better known as a Òflight suitÓ or ÒmechaÓ) shakes. I can no longer control my unitÉ
*Commander! Commander! * I ÒscreamÓ. All I get in return, though, is static and an overwhelming sense of doom. I feel the gravity become strange as I plummet towards the ground.
* * *
My mecha is now just a twisted heap of metal as I pull myself from the wreckage.
IÕm bleeding all over. I stumble my way through two steps away from the wreckage when I am hit by a sudden set of convulsions, bringing me to my knees. As they pass, I feel a tickle in my ribs. I start coughing uncontrollably and spitting up blood. IÕm a gonerÑI know thatÉ Unless I can find some place quiet where I can assess the damage to my body and repair it.
I walk towards the sound of waves, figuring IÕd find an oceanÉ. But, no! I run into some gÕleÕlah (quicksand) and begin to sink.
* * *
(A year later.)
I wake up and am surrounded by mud. I must be fully healed, for if I wasnÕt, I would still be ÒasleepÓ. I say ÒasleepÓ, for throughout the whole time I was dreaming yet still ÒawakeÓ enough to monitor the progress of rebuilding my tissues and fighting infection.
Anyways, I am fully awake now. Since I have healed myself, I now have enough strength to pull myself out of this quicksand (of mud.)
* * *
I am hungry and thirsty. But most of all, thirsty. I can smell water, and it is not too far away.
Someone shouts, ÒFreeze!Ó
What the hell? I turn around, and there is a person in a uniform pointing a weapon at me. I start to run towards the water. I hear a shot fired, but it misses me completelyÑI am too fast to be caught. I hear shouting behind me. I am not worried.
I have arrived at the lake, and am making my way into it. The splashing is so loud that I do not hear the click of the sniper rifle, nor the report.
It was a lucky shot. It hit a chink in the shielding that was grafted into my living body (when I was all but formed) of Òliving metalÓ, and hit me in one of my three heartsÉ
I begin to sink. I try to continue to swim to the other shore, but I am failing.
*I beg of you, please! Do not kill me! No-o-o-o! * A strangled, hissing cry escapes my jaws before I slip under the waves for the final time.
I realize the bullet is not what is going to kill me, though it is going to be a contributing factor. I am drowning, and it is the lake that is killing meÉ
Goodbye world, goodbye.