Metroid, Chapter 1

Samantha Aaron

Prologue

"Samantha, come quick!"

The sirens screeched as if the world, as Samantha knew it, was coming to an end. Unfortunately for her, it was. She didn't understand what was going on. She only knew she was running as fast as her 4-year-old (Federation time) legs could propel her, through the familiar halls of K-2L, class XII space colony, in orbit around the uninhabitable planet Tabula III, nicknamed "Twin Tabula" because of the hideous fever that was able to wipe out nearly anything that came into it's atmosphere.

This information, although Samantha hardly knew what it meant, had been drilled into her mind so many times that she highly doubted she would ever forget it.

She ran... and ran... and ran, until she decided that she was going too far and sat down for the obligatory crying session.

"Sshh, Sammy, Sshh." She felt comforting hands reach down and pick her up, stroking her hair. She knew everything would be okay now. Mommy would help like she always did. "Sshh. We have to get to Daddy's office. Then we'll all be okay. We'll stick together like we always do."

Samantha felt a little better.

She slept.

"Will ten be enough to revive her?"

"It will have to do..."

"I don't want you to fail again."

"I won't, sir."

"You had better be right."

"Yes, sir."

"Kar'Amath would have been displeased with you..."

"We'll see about that when she comes back."

"What was that, officer?"

"Eh... Nothing, sir, nothing..."

"Good. Ridley out."

"David, get her on the shuttle. David!" her Mother's scream floated toward her through her nap. She sat bolt upright. She was lying in a bed that reminded her of the beds in sector 7.

She had never been on a space ship before. This ought to be fun. She could see Mommy and Daddy on either side of her, wheeling her into the shuttle.

Daddy looked over and grinned at her.

"Are you awake already, pumpkin?"

He reached over and poked her in her tickle-spot. She laughed.

She got out of bed and walked into the shuttle. It was a shiny affair, with little armrests on the chairs and a small hatch that said "Airlock." That was funny. She didn't know why air would need a lock. As far as Samantha knew, air went wherever it felt like. Maybe it was for space. She'd heard there was no air in space.

"David, the Pirates are following us..."

"I Know, Anne."

"Promise me, if they catch us, that you'll let Sammy escape first."

"Yes, Anne"

She heard the whispered conversation, but didn't understand most of it. She was too busy looking at the lights out the back window. They were pretty. They were also steadily growing bigger.

"Hey Sammy, how are you doing?" Mommy smiled at her.

"Mommy? What are those lights?"

Mommy looked amazed. Then scared. Then horrified.

"David! They're---"

Impact.

"They've boarded us!" Screamed Mommy.

"Ir'Kalai'Shil'Sach!!"

An unseen, non-understood voice menaced them.

"Never." Said Daddy's voice from the cockpit.

"Sor'Katan."

"No! David!! —"

Samantha, for the first time in her life, heard the sound of a Galvanic Accelerator Cannon firing. A grunt. She heard the sound of a heavy body hitting the floor. Her father's body.

All this time, she had been strangely unaffected by the mayhem. Now, all hell broke loose. She could only remember, later on in her life, these sentences: "No!! David, No! Samantha, Run! Run!! Then a scream. She ran, straight forward. Then another Accelerator fired.

Black.

Samantha awoke. The world slowly slid into blurry focus around her. Where was she? What was going on? Furthermore, which way was down?

She looked around herself. She was lying on the wall—or was it the ground—or the ceiling-- of a small, round room. Very small. She could see the stars of space wheeling slowly by her, through the small window.

Then it all hit her.

Mommy was dead. Daddy was dead. Everyone, dead. That thing on the ship had killed them all. She began to cry, the tears floating around her like the shreds of her mind.

She slept.

She woke up some time later, and looked around, hoping it had all been a dream. No such luck. The room, however, was hot. Very, very hot. The walls burned when she touched them, and the air wasn't much better.

She then noticed a huge shape in front of her. A planet, in fact. The pod—for that was what it was, an escape pod from the shuttle—was streaking towards it. She closed her eyes, squeezing them tight, wishing it was all a dream, making it all a dream in her imagination, seeing the comforting faces of her parents as they smiled at her—

Crunch.