Ch.6: The Light in The Abyss

A.N.:

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update this story.

I also know that this is shorter than what I normally post.

However, I really wanted to get the show on the road especially considering how wack my finals are looking this semester. If I didn't get it up today, I wouldn't have likely had time to get it up at all this year.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday this year!

Gobble Gobble! :P

Anyway,

Again, I'm sorry for how long it has been.

I also know that this story has been a slow-building one. I promise that I will make the action sequences as badass and awesome as I can once they arrive.

Read and review if you want!

Happy Holidays to all!

"What are you listening to?" I asked the holographic woman standing before me near the far-right reinforced window in the Captain's Nest.

Ishimura's A.I. was humming quietly to herself as she swayed slightly on the balls of her feet while she gazed out the window at the seemingly endless pitch-black area of space that the massive legendary Planet Cracker was currently cruising through as we searched for the missing SCAF vessels. We had spent nearly a month searching the incredibly remote sections of space that she had determined to be the most likely places that the long-gone organization had sent their spaceships. The more we explored these largely unmapped regions of space, the more respect I had for the SCAF crews.

Based on the scant information that Ishimura's A.I. was able to dig up in her archives about the vessels that they had, I had come to the conclusion that they had either been incredibly courageous or they had just been incredibly desperate to have come this far out in the ships that they had at their disposal. While rugged and respectfully advanced for their time, most, if not all, of the SCAF vessels were simply not built to be able to function effectively so far from the fully mapped, inhabited regions of space. Rather, they had been built to operate around Earth and the nearby Lunar and Solar System colonies.

By comparison, the Ishimura was specifically built to not only be able to travel as far out into the abyss of uncharted deep space as humanity had thus far advanced as a species to be able to achieve, but to also be able to take a seemingly impossible beating with her uniquely thick, reinforced industrial-grade hull while she literally devoured and harvested entire planets and sometimes even entire planetary systems in aforementioned regions of space. The massive Planet Crackers was, after all, famous for being the first vessel of her size to utilize the ShockPoint Drive for large-scale commercial and deep space expeditions. She was still the largest vessel of her kind that humanity had ever created. That was, of course, because she had been humanity's desperate, last resort and had, for all intents and purposes, been the reason why we had not gone extinct from lack of resources within my lifetime had she been a failure.

The point being that if they did indeed come this far out into uncharted space, surely they would have had a very important reason to be doing so. With any luck, as Jack had suggested, that reason had to do with the Markers. With their situation being as desperate as it was, perhaps they had observed and documented missing pieces of the puzzle. If nothing else, the few pieces of salvageable equipment and supplies that we had since found in the abandoned space stations and drifting spaceships that we had come across was going to be useful to us in the long run.

Ishimura's A.I. explained after she briefly gave me a soft smile when she paused her humming for a moment and turned to face me, "Just the background noise, Captain. I find that listening to the song of deep space is quite relaxing."

Intrigued, I asked in response, "Really? What does it sound like?"

The holographic veteran paused for a moment before she explained, "It is not something that your kind can understand. Organic lifeforms are simply too restricted by their sensory limitations to hear the chorus of deep space."

Before I could reply, I heard the airtight door behind me open. Upon turning to face the door, I smiled slightly as I saw Ellie entering the once highly restricted area of the massive Planet Cracker. My partner's Advanced Suit had become increasingly worn over the past two months as a result of the dozens of salvage operations that had occurred as Ishimura fearlessly continued to navigate through the increasingly backwater restricted systems that we flew through in search of anything that remained of the Sovereign Colonies' possible research into the Markers. Due to the physical conditions of our two other allies, Ellie and I were the rogue mining vessel's only ground forces for the time being, and, as such, my Level 5 Advanced Engineering RIG was also now sporting an equally worn, beaten appearance.

My partner's helmet was folded up inside her suit and she also noticeably had both of her hands behind her back in a manner that suggested that the brunette was hiding something from me. I tried to play my poker face as Ellie moved to stand just before me but, judging by the brief appearance of an amused smile, I had ended up failing miserably at it.

When my partner stopped within an arm's reach of me, Ishimura addressed her with a gentle, almost maternal tone, "Welcome to the Captain's Nest, Miss Langford. I hope that you are having a pleasant evening."

Despite the two having had a bad start, Ellie had slowly been getting more comfortable with being around the eccentric, self-aware artificial intelligence of the Planet Cracker.

The brunette jokingly remarked, "Ah, so this is where you two have been hiding so you do not have to help finish sorting through all those supply crates that we pulled out of that illegal garbage dump?"

The Ishimura replied, "I am the one doing all the heavy lifting. Besides, as the A.I. of this ship, your welfare is my responsibility…hence I ensure that all crew members get their required amount of daily physical exercise."

Ellie nodded in sarcastic manner before she remarked with her British-accented voice, "Oh yes, I am sure that's the reason."

Genuinely delighted by my partner's spirit, the holographic woman began, "Such a stubborn, intransigent child…" There was a pause as the Planet Cracker's A.I. gave off a low, dark laugh before she finished, "…all the best of them are."

Ellie turned to looking at me as she stopped about an arm's length away. Since it was my turn, I explained as I pointed towards the holographic display that was directly in front of the captain's chair, "Check this out…"

I tapped on one of the images that was being displayed with my gloved left index finger. The image expanded to dominate the majority of the available space. The orange colored image of the Ishimura's layout from her left side and, at the moment, it was showing the Ventilation Network that crisscrossed through the city-sized Planet Cracker.

When she saw the image, my partner commented with her accented voice, "Oh…that's right…the vents. I remember in the CEC Facility at Titan…they had wiped out half of us before we even knew what was happening."

My memories of how easily the Necromorphs could move about the mining ship and pour into a room as if they were a literal horde flooded my mind along with the sensation of pure fear that was so intense that I had to fight to breathe. However, I forced it all back down as hard as I could before my companion could see my distress.

Meanwhile, Ellie had been distracted by Ishimura's A.I. as she explained, "My condolences, Miss Langford. If you provide me with their names, I will include them in my list of deceased crew members."

The former CEC heavy equipment operator asked with a confused yet grateful tone, "Thanks…but why?"

The holographic, uniformed woman smiled before she explained, "It would be my honor to be able to think of fallen CEC heroes like Chief Security Office Vincent in my final moments when they finally come."

Ellie let out a brief, loud laugh before she replied, "Oh God…if Kaleb had lived to hear the Ishimura call him a hero…that beautifully useless idiot…I would have had to strangle him to get him to shut up about it."

I simply listened as I stood near the transparent, orange holographic display while I took the opportunity to check on the overall status of the legendary Planet Cracker. As I reviewed Ishimura's latest diagnostic report, I could not help but feel a surge of intense pride roll through my mind. Considering everything that she had been through as well as her age, her recovery over the past few months was nothing short of remarkable.

After a moment, Ellie finally addressed me, "Oh, I'm sorry Isaac…you were saying about the vents?"

Highlighting the Ventilation Network once again, I began by asking, "You remember the set of cutting lasers that we salvaging from the abandoned mining colony about a month ago?"

The brunette nodded and then replied, "Yes…luckily for us, what was left of that planet was not worth harvesting so it and the colony were abandoned in place…along with some tanks of fuel and pieces of equipment that they did not consider worth taking with them."

In one of the restricted systems that we had searched, we had somehow managed to have the great fortune of finding a deep space mining colony similar to the one on Aegis VII. However, while the later would have been one of the most lucrative mining operations that humanity had ever had, the former's host planet had turned out to be a mere "flash in the pan" after the first few metric tons of mineral-rich material had been harvested. As a result, the colony had effectively left to rot after it had been gutted and stripped of anything that was deemed worth taking with the personnel while they were being extracted off the planet by the orbiting Planet Cracker.

Luckily for us, as Ellie had mentioned, they had left behind a few tanks of fuel that would be enough to keep our repurposed shuttle running for a few months as well as several pieces of nearly worn out equipment such as a large mining drill similar to the one that we had used to break into Government Sector on Titan Station.

I nodded before I explained, "I mounted them to cover the ventilation ducts in key places in the Ishimura so it will be easier to repel another Necromorph infestation. They are wired into the Quarantine System so Ishimura can turn them on and off at will to assist us."

Ellie actually seemed somewhat impressed as she remarked, "Ah…so if they try to overwhelm a single area using the vents like they usually try to do, Ishimura can activate a lockdown so that the lasers can cut them to pieces as they stream through the openings. Not bad, Isaac."

The elderly Planet Cracker's A.I. remarked with her somewhat haunting, electronic voice, "As expected of Captain Clarke. He always has an ingenious answer."

I shrugged slightly before I replied, "Probably won't be enough to matter but it is something at least...a few seconds here and there are the difference, you know."

I then inquired, "So, what is that behind your back, Ellie?"

My partner nodded as she said, "Ah, right…"

The brunette then brought her arms out from behind her to reveal that she was holding a small object that vaguely resembled a mechanical turtle with a flat shell. I recognized the robust, dirty robot as an old scavenger bot that were often used in large roaming "packs" on mining colonies to pick up pieces of precious ore and other material that were in hard to reach, hazardous sections of the settlement while the planet was being cracked.

Approximately the size of my RIG's helmet, the autonomous drones usually moved around on three wheels with two in the front that were mounted at the end of two jointed arms and one in the back at the end of a tail-like appendage that allowed them to steer themselves as they rolled along the ground. They stored the pieces of rock and scrap metal that they found in a rectangular compartment that was on top of their frame and vaguely resembled a turtle shell. However, the intrepid little robots were rapidly becoming obsolete as new technology and more efficient mining methods had removed the need for the scavengers.

To my surprise, the little bot actually powered to life when I flipped its worn switch to active mode. The playful A.I. of the scavenger bot made it behave almost like a little puppy as it looked up at me and then shake its back wheel like a tail. I could not help but smile slightly before giving a short laugh at the tiny robot's antics and playful demeanor.

Ellie smirked before she remarked, "I may not be an engineer, but I can handle fixing a simple scavenger bot."

I began to reply as I lowered down to let the turtle-like robot roll around, but I was interrupted as Ishimura's A.I. remarked with a sharp tone, "Better keep that…thing…on a short leash."

Having been set free, the bot turned its head up at cocked angle in an inquisitive manner as it looked at the holographic projection of the Planet Cracker's automated systems. The uniformed woman leaned down towards the increasingly cowering scavenger bot as she addressed it with an icy cold tone, "I have safeguards against little vermin that go where they do not belong."

Having retracted it limbs up as close to its body as it attempted to curl up into a ball, the little robot let out a quiet electronic cry before suddenly rolling as fast it could to hide behind my armored right leg.

I sighed before ordering, "Settle down, you two. Stick close, little buddy, and you'll be fine. Ishimura…just give him a chance."

The blue holographic woman smiled as she went to stand at attention before giving me a quick salute while she remarked, "Yes, Captain."

I nodded slightly and Ishimura began addressing the small scavenger bot with the same official, cheerful greeting that I had once received in the Flight Deck when I first arrived on the Planet Cracker above Aegis VII. Almost comically, the little robot moved forward until it was almost at the feet of the hologram and then lifted itself up on its front wheels as it listened with rapt attention almost like an obedient child would listen to a teacher.

As the legendary mining vessel began to list the stats that it had accumulated, I noted that she was including the recently harvested asteroids and comets that had been rich in water vapor to add to the reserve of drinking water and useful metals that were easily molded into various miscellaneous replacement parts for her continued renovation and repair in the massive furnaces located deep in the bowls of her massive Mining Deck.

As Ishimura finished her introductory speech, the little scavenger bot did a short jump in the air and then moved around in a circle in an excited manner. I could not help but smile slightly at the tiny bot's enthusiasm.

Even Ishimura's A.I. seemed delighted by the tiny, turtle-like robot's reaction as she flashed a small smile and then remarked, "That's the spirit, rookie. With that kind of attitude, you are going to go far in the CEC."

A small notification appeared before her and caused her to pause for a moment to read it after she held up her left index finger and said, "Excuse me for a moment."

After reading the notification message, she dismissed it and then informed the entire ship through the network of public broadcast speakers, "Attention! Dinner will be served in the Mess Hall in ten minutes."

Feeling hungry after working on Ishimura's systems for the majority of the day, I turned and then began to make my way towards the elevator that lead up to The Atrium of the Bridge. Ellie and the scavenger bot began to follow me.

As they did, I heard the holographic projection of the Planet Cracker's A.I. call after the small robot as it rolled through the now open airtight security door to the Captain's Nest, "Be careful now. As a newly hired employee, your Insurance Coverage doesn't kick in for another thirty days."

I was deep in thought as the elevator began to ascent toward The Atrium but I did not realize how much my body language was betraying me until Ellie asked with a gentle tone in her voice, "What is it, Isaac?"

I found myself feeling strangely calm and at ease around Ellie. It seemed as though she was the only person other than the artificial intelligence of Ishimura that I could be completely open and honest with despite the chaos and uncertainty that my life had devolved into ever since my first encounter with the Markers at Aegis VII.

As such, I explained without any hesitation, "I don't know...I mean, should we keep searching through these restricted systems in hopes of finding out what SCAF might have found out about the Markers? Should we do something bold and go after the Unitologists or EarthGov…I just don't know. I just feel like we are spinning in circles lately."

By then, the elevator had reached The Atrium and we began walking across the vast, window-filled space towards the tram station for the deck. Despite the time that had passed since the nightmarish hours above Aegis VII, I still felt a slight chill as I spotted the patched hole in the ceiling and floor where the massive piece of debris had punched clean through The Atrium when I had first entered it upon my arrival to the deck to rendezvous with Hammond.

As we continued walking, Ellie assured me with a gentle tone, "We are in uncharted territory here, Isaac. I would be suspicious if you did know exactly what you were doing."

After pausing for a moment, my brunette companion remarked, "I think that we should continue with the plan of looking for the remnants of the SCAF fleet and seeing if they were indeed researching the Markers as well."

Before I could reply, Ishimura added via my RIG, "Do not worry, Captain. I have high hopes for this particular system."

Confused, I asked in response, "What do you mean?"

The Planet Cracker's AI explained, "This system is parallel with an ancient shipping lane. Assuming my guess is correct, the SCAF fleet at some point jettisoned some of their equipment and smaller, auxiliary ships during Shock. If SCAF did jettison them, the local gravity fields generated by the sun and planetary bodies in this system might have caught said ships or equipment and has kept them trapped in an orbit all these years."

Ellie was clearly unconvinced when she replied with her accented voice, "Sounds pretty farfetched."

Ishimura countered, "You would be surprised by the kinds of things that fall off or get jettisoned from starships. Trust me, I have seen a lot of strange space garbage and junk in my days of planet cracking."

Acting an intermediary, I commented, "Anything that can help narrow the search will be helpful."

We were essentially working against the clock. While we could push our supplies for a fairly long time, we could not escape the fact that Lexine would need proper medical attention as the time came for her to give birth to her child. Ellie said that we could return to her family's Outpost because we would have her brother acting as a liaison to get us a free pass to ensure that our latest human crew member would get the attention that she needed to make sure that both her and her child would be as safe as possible. However, that would still mean exposure to an inhabited settlement that could tip off EarthGov or The Church to our location.

In the meantime, I had to admit that we would be nowhere without the guidance and protection of the elderly USG Ishimura. Her experience and data logs had been invaluable assets during our dive into the abyss of deep space. Even as a Systems Engineer, it would have taken several career lifetimes to come even close to the extensive backlog of information that the veteran Planet Cracker held in her memory banks.

I also could not help but notice that she was continuing to grow more and more eccentric. The already slightly unhinged A.I. of the unimaginably powerful vessel had been taking full advantage of being effectively let off her leash. Ishimura truly took her old nickname as the "Savior of Humanity" very serious and, while she did indeed have considerably more compassion and empathy than the layman would expect from an artificial intelligence, she was still a cold, calculating being at heart.

While she considered her crew and certain other individuals that she classified as "critical" to the overall war against the Markers, Necromorphs, and whatever intelligence was behind them to be indispensable and vowed to protect them at all costs, she went about her mission from a long-term perspective and not a short-term one. Based on her sometimes brutal and harsh behavior during the Aegis VII Incident, I knew without a doubt that there was no extreme that she would not go to in order to "save" us all.

By then, we had reached the station. As I boarded the Jerry-rigged "tramcar", I sighed and reached up to ensure that my Level 5 Advanced Engineering RIG's helmet was properly secured over my head in preparation for the possibly life-threatening trip to the Crew Deck. I could not help but laugh as the scavenger bot hesitated at the edge of the station platform as it eyed the metal deathtrap before it for a moment and then looked up at me and giving off a confused robotic chirping sound.

I explained to the old little bot, "I'm afraid so, little buddy."

After letting out a curt electronic noise, the scavenger bot rolled onto the flat, open motorized platform that had been modified to work in place of a proper tramcar. As the deathtrap began to screech and bump its way along the track to the Crew Deck, I reflected on the fact that I should not be so critical of the operational car and tram network beneath my feet. After all, upon my arrival to Ishimura above Aegis VII, the tram network had been about as out of commission as it could have possibly been being brain dead, in need of having an inoperable car removed from its track, and in need of a replacement car to take the place of the aforementioned one. It had taken quite the nightmarish adventure in order to get the discombobulated network back in working order. That was, of course, after literally running for my life from the Necromorph Horde that had ambushed the Emergency Repair Team in the Flight Lounge.

As we continued to travel towards our destination, I glanced over and saw that Ellie not only did not have her Advanced Suit's helmet covering her head, but she also had a large smile on her weathered face. In addition, upon our arrival at the station for the Crew Deck, both the scavenger bot and I exited the tram as quickly as we could while she calmly stepped off moments later.

The headstrong, athletic brunette that was my closest ally teased both of us as she mentioned, "Oh grow a pair, you two. This is nothing! Back when I was a little girl, we stripped old garbage shuttles down to nothing but their bare frames, life support, and controls so we could race them around the outpost."

I took off my helmet and then looked at her as I replied, "Oh yeah? Well, one time, I had to hot wire an engine into a piece of shit cargo freighter that was about to burn up and then crash into a colonized planet."

Ellie responded with a brief set of slow claps before she remarked, "Well done, nerd. I assume someone else actually had to navigate it away from the planet after that though."

I shot back, "The crew was still onboard so I couldn't help that part."

My companion nodded her head while she flashed me a smug smile before remarking, "Right, I'm sure that's why you weren't allowed anywhere near the controls."

Moving closer, I said, "I can drive!"

The Heavy Equipment Operator simply flashed another smile before she asked with her British-accented voice, "Into a wall?"

Still moving closer to her, I retorted, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ellie sighed and then explained, "Isaac, you can fix and build damn near anything, but you have spectacularly crashed or just narrowly avoided spectacularly crashing literally everything I have ever seen you operate."

Now standing just in front of her, I retorted, "I'm a Systems Engineer…I didn't train to be a pilot."

My headstrong companion raised her left eyebrow and she gave a short nod while continuing to smile brightly at me. After a moment of tensely staring each other down, we both simultaneously laughed, and Ellie even lightly slapped my armored upper left arm a moment later before we then turned and began to make our way towards the Mess Hall.

We walked in silence for a moment before Ishimura contacted me via my RIG, "Captain, I have been thinking about something lately and I wish to run it by you for consideration."

I quickly replied, "Go ahead. What's on your mind?"

The incredibly advanced A.I. began, "It has to do with EarthGov and the Unitologists. I understand how you feel about both parties but…"

She paused and I smiled slightly before assuring her, "It is okay…go ahead."

Ishimura continued with just the faintest trace of relief in her haunting, computerized voice, "Captain, the upcoming conflict between them might be a blessing in disguise in more ways than one."

By then, we had reached the Mess Hall and I could see that Lexine was behind the large central counter in the center of the upper floor of the two story, glass-lined space. Meanwhile, Jack was already eating one of the vacuum-sealed rations that we had found in an abandoned facility that had been temporarily been used as a backwater distillery before being ultimately abandoned entirely before we discovered it about a week or so ago. As we approached, the Grade 2 Surveyor greeted us with a small smile and a wave of her left hand.

Upon noticing the scavenger bot, she said with an amazed tone, "Oh wow, that little guy actually still works."

Meanwhile, Jack looked from the bot to his apparently empty "Sun" soda can and then slowly lowered the container down onto the floor for the tiny scavenger to "eat". The little robot chirped loudly before rushing over to the can. It then paused and looked up at the large, imposing man sitting before he shook his rear tail-like appendage in an excited manner. The former Recon Marine simply smiled ever so slightly before returning to eating the ration before him.

Meanwhile, Lexine held up two different sealed rations before asking, "So, who wants which delicious meal? You have two options tonight. One is miscellaneous meat and the other is generously described as 'question mark'."

Ellie and I looked at each other and then simultaneously started to use "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to decide who got what. Moments later, I had lost, much to my companion's amusement, and had to settle with taking the ration that contained what Lexine had described as "question mark". When I opened it, I found it be a chunky, brown mass that was trying to pass itself off as being a piece of something that just was barely classifiable as being editable.

As we ate, Ishimura's A.I. manifested herself before us using the holographic projectors of the Mess Hall and continued from where she had left off minutes prior with multiple charts and data tables to support her argument, "As I was saying, Captain, this war will be a blessing in disguise in more ways than one way. While, yes, of course we can play both sides against each other without having to provoke either side, there is one more and far more valuable way we can exploit the conflict."

She paused momentarily before continuing, "Naturally, at the beginning there will be almost complete conviction on both sides. However, we must take into account that it is statistically impossible that this resolute conviction will last for very long. Eventually, there will be dissatisfaction among both groups as their members begin to question their leaders and their cause in general."

The uniformed, holographic woman moved to stand by an image of a generic Red Marker and then motioned towards it as she continued, "It is almost statistically guaranteed that the Unitologists will bring the Markers into the conflict by releasing them from their containment facilities. Once that happens and humanity sees what they are for themselves, it is highly likely that this dissension among the ranks of both parties will grow exponentially."

Ishimura then moved towards a collection of radio messages and media broadcasts before she continued, "Based off the pieces of media that I have been picking up on as of late, I now believe that this third party will be much larger than I had previously projected. I apologize…I thought there was more resolution among both groups, but now I believe that there are already far more individuals that are really questioning what they are being told by their leaders than before."

She then paused once more and then finished in an excited tone, "Don't you see? While it will take time and it will not be something like a ready-made army for us to have, we just have to wait for our moment to strike and then we will have more manpower to fight back against the Markers."

Jack cut her off, "Look…this is all well and good…on paper. However, we cannot bank on this…dissension or whatever…actually happening in enough cases and numbers to make it enough to be useful."

Ishimura looked at Ellie and I where we were eating next to each other and then requested our assistance, "Captain, Miss Langford…and even you Lexine…you have seen it for yourselves. You have seen the confusion…the fear...that even devout Unitologists and diehard members of EarthGov have responded with when they see the Necromorphs. You know what I am saying is the truth! Not to mention the members of CEC that would be willing to help us as well!"

Jack stood up and remarked before any of us could back up the Planet Cracker's argument, "But you don't know for sure! You're entire 'plan' is based on nothing but statistics and guessing!"

Ishimura looked at the former soldier for a moment before asking with a disappointed voice, "You dare say that to me? You dare to say such things…you of all people? You, the decorated soldier who once risked his life…much less threw away his entire career…on nothing but an emotional, gut decision that you felt was 'the right thing to do'?"

Clearly rattled by where the A.I. was going with her statement, Ellie's brother briefly backed away from the holographic woman before then stopping as he seemed to collect his nerve once more.

Worried that the two were about to get into a fight that none of could afford, I stepped between them and asked the elderly Planet Cracker, "Look I see your point, but why would they follow us?"

She smiled for a moment and then explained, "We will give them a solution that EarthGov and The Church cannot. For that we need…"

She paused in mid-sentence as her eyes widened for a moment. Then, she continued with an excited, proud tone, "…a SCAF vessel off the starboard bow."

We stared at her in confusion until she stated with a steady, calm tone, "A SCAF vessel is off the starboard bow."

As Ishimura finished her statement, the room erupted as we all leapt to our feet, literally knocking over several tables in the process, in response as the reality of the situation finally hit home.

Amongst the uproar, Ishimura added, "It is a small, auxiliary shuttle. I can use my Gravity Tethers to manually guide it into Shuttle Bay 5!"

All of the previous tension, distrust, and animosity amongst us vanished as we began to operate like a well-oiled machine.

Ellie's Advanced Suit began to audibly and visibly assemble itself in place around her head in its oddly satisfying manner as she tossed me my own helmet while she said, "I'll go out and help guide it in."

Meanwhile, I simultaneously caught and then placed my Level 5 Advanced Engineering RIG's helmet back over my head as I said, "I'll take Jack and go down to Bay 5 and be ready to board it."

As Jack caught his carbine in mid-air with his right hand and used his left hand to check the seal around his heavily worn and battle-scarred Level 6 RIG, he said, "Right behind you, Clarke! Everyone stay on their toes until I clear the interior…we don't know what kind of stowaways could still be onboard."

Meanwhile, Lexine informed us while she jumped over the circular counter around her, "I'll go to Bay 5's monitoring room and assist Ishimura and Ellie."

Together, we all ran out of the room, with Jack, Lexine, and I running to the left towards the tram station platform and Ellie running to the right towards an exterior airlock.

Minutes later, the ancient shuttle was entering the smaller, but still more than large enough Shuttle Bay 5. Being the daredevil that she was, Ellie was actually riding on top of the tiny vessel that looked like a combination of the ancient Space Shuttles of Mankind's early Space Age and a more modern military bomber as she and Lexine assisted Ishimura's A.I. in guiding the long dormant, powerless vessel into the docking clamps next to the singular platform in the vast space. The green paint that had once covered the entire vessel aside from its bank of engines was now badly faded and peeling, which revealed the large number of heat-resistant panels along the entire underbelly, nose, and partially up the sides of the shuttle that were undoubtedly the ancient craft's "heat shield" for planetary reentries.

Meanwhile, on top of the shuttle near the middle of its curved, rounded top where the hull flattened out slightly, there was what appeared to be a very early version of a Mass Driver Cannon that was a forerunner of the much larger, more powerful cannons of Ishimura's ADS. It was the twin barrels of the cannon that Ellie was holding onto as she rode the shuttle into the Shuttle Bay.

Through our RIGs, Jack and I heard the three as Ellie first ordered as the shuttle stopped in position above the docking clamps, "Okay, stop! Go ahead and lower her down…slowly."

The shuttle then slowly lowered down onto the docking clamps before Ishimura said, "Lexine…"

From where she was in the monitoring room for the bay, the surveyor advised the pair as the docking clamps audibly moved to hold the shuttle in their grasp, "Got it! Clamps in place. She's grounded."

Ishimura's A.I. then informed us all, "Standby…"

We all held our breath as the shuttle bay doors closed and the local gravity was restored. To our immense relief, the ancient vessel was still structurally sound enough to hold up its own weight under the effects of gravity despite the very loud, initial protests of its metal, glass, and composite hull.

A cautiously optimistic cheer rang out among us as the Planet Cracker announced, "Gravity restored!"

Lexine and the scavenger bot had joined us by the time that I had used my RIG's Telekinesis Module to open the powerless access hatch. Jack ordered us all to stand back as the veteran soldier raised his carbine despite the obvious immense physical pain that it caused him and then swiftly but still methodically moved into the dark interior to clear the vessel of any possible threats.

As I excitedly examined the exterior of the ancient ship, Ellie gracefully slid down the side of it and, upon landing next to me, I informed her, "An old planetary shuttle…God I haven't seen one of these things since college when we visited a scrapyard."

I then looked at my companion and continued, "Did you know these things actually relied solely upon their heat shield to ensure a safe reentry? Can you imagine?"

Without even waiting for a response, I looked back at the exterior of the shuttle and then began to move down towards the end of the platform to examine the rear of the vessel.

However, I had only taken a few steps before I saw something that made me remark, "Ah…shit."

As she moved towards me, Ellie asked with a concerned tone, "What is it? What's wrong?"

I pointed at the hull rupture that had previously been out of sight due to the stabilizer wing near the back of the shuttle as I stated, "There…the rupture. That explains why it was abandoned. It looks like it compromised a portion of the heat shield."

It was tiny rupture to the hull and the damage to the heat shield would have seemed almost inconsequential to the layman. However, I knew without a doubt that the damage to the plating just below the bottom corner of the wing and partially along the nearby section of the underbelly would have almost guaranteed a fatal reentry that would have likely resulted in a complete structural failure as the overwhelmed shuttle's hull would have been ripped apart and torn asunder by the forces that it would have subjected to if they had attempted to use it ever again. I felt my heart fall slightly as I was briefly reminded of the cost of human ambition, especially when it came to our Space Age, for a moment before I shook my head and forced myself to move forward.

Luckily, about that time, Jack yelled out from the interior, "Clear!"

Steeling myself for what mechanical and electronic nightmares I was about to find on the inside of the ancient, derelict ship, I said to my gathered companions, "Alright, let's see what secrets this old girl can tell us."