a minute later the group headed back down the engineering deck and down the corridors, it was a long walk because of the distance between both locations. everyone was exhausted and tired, sil was feeling the urge to mate, but was struggling to fight it. drake immediately looked at eric in curiosity "hey eric, you know what bothers me the most?" drake asked. eric immediately frowned "whats that?" eric asked. drake frowned "i wonder if anyone else managed to escape from here and if so, did they send help? and if they sent help, then where is it?" drake asked. eric immediately shrugged his shoulders "i don't know, i can't answer that question. but maybe eden can?" eric answered. drake nodded "yeah maybe..." drake trailed off. everyone remained silent for the rest of their journey to central tower, eventually they reached the elevator doors. drake immediately frowned "well this is it, we head up 4 floors to reach eden. lets hope she can answer our questions." drake said. everyone nodded as they stepped inside the elevator, drake pressed the button labeled: level 4 and the elevator began its ascent. everyone waited in anticipation as they rode the elevator, then suddenly the elevator just stops at level 3. everyone immediately frowned "what the fuck?!" the remaining guard said. drake frowned "weird, its stopping at level 3. i don't understand, this elevator should go all the way to level 4." drake said. eric immediately frowned "try pressing the button again." eric said. drake nodded "alright..." drake said before pressing the button again, the elevator doesn't budge. suddenly the elevator speakers comes on and a robotic woman voice is heard, it was none other than the ai computer: eden. "welcome, welcome! to the orbital station: genesis! i am eden, your personal assistant. i will guide and assist you for the duration of your stay. however i must inform you that there is a security threat aboard the station, i cannot let you proceed further to level 4. you must leave this elevator and exit via the emergency stairwell. please follow the instructions carefully and do not panic. thank you and have a good day!" the robotic woman voice said. everyone immediately frowned, drake looked confused "eden, can you hear me?" drake asked. there was no response, only a continuous repeat of her announcement. drake frowned "eden, we need to speak with you! please acknowledge us!" drake pleaded. there was no response, only a continuous repeat of her announcement. drake sighed "ok, we have no other choice. lets get out of here and find the stairwell." drake said. eric nodded "agreed, i don't like being in an elevator like this." eric said. the remaining guard immediately nodded "alright, lets get the fuck out of here!" the remaining guard said as he begins to press the emergency button and open the elevator doors. everyone stepped out of the elevator and onto the engineering deck, they were greeted by the familiar sight of corridors and metal catwalks.
eric couldn't help but notice sil was acting strangely, she hasent said a word since they left the sealed up docking bay. eric immediately looked at sil in concern "are you ok sil?" eric asked. sil immediately looked at eric in confusion "why do you ask?" sil asked. eric sighed "you seem... different... and distant." eric said. sil frowned "i am the same as always, its just..." sil said. eric immediately understood what is wrong "its your urge to mate... isn't it" eric ask. sil looked down in shame and nodded her head "yes... i... i been suppressing it to ensure i don't get aggressive towards anyone... but... i don't think i can hold back much longer." sil said. drake immediately frowned "whats this? are you ok sil?" drake asked. sil looked to drake and shook her head "no... i... my mating urge is becoming too strong to repress, i may not be able to control myself soon." sil said. the remaining guard frowned "what the fuck does that mean? you are saying that your going to kill us all?!" the remaining guard asked in anger. sil immediately looked at the remaining guard angrily "no, i am not going to kill anyone! i just need someone to mate with to satisfy my urge." sil said. eric immediately frowned "sil i know you are trying your best to fight this, but from what i learned is that suppressing things deep inside yourself can be very unhealthy?" eric explained. sil immediately frowned "i know eric, but what choice do i have? if i don't mate soon i will go insane." sil said. eric looked to sil with determination "sil... i know you are stronger than this, im sure we'll get off this dump... i just wish that..." eric was about to finish before an idea hit him. eric immediately looked at sil in shock "wait a minute..." eric said. drake frowned "what?" drake asked. eric immediately turned to the guard and drake "we're still going to the docking area, we'll just use the ventilation shafts to get there!" eric explained. drake immediately frowned "ventilation shafts?" drake asked. eric nodded "yeah! i remember the blueprints for genesis. we can access the ventilation shafts from the engineering deck. its a faster and safer route around the sealed off area where the fire is to the docking area!" eric explained.
drake started to think about this for while and eventually nodded "alright, lets try it!" drake said. drake immediately turned to the remaining guard "go find out where the ventilation shaft access panel is located. we don't have much time, hurry!" drake ordered. the remaining guard immediately nodded "ok, i'll go check the security terminal over there!" the remaining guard said before immediately running off down the corridors. drake turned back to eric and sil "alright, lets go and wait by the security terminal. i hope we find the ventilation shafts." drake said. eric nodded "alright..." eric said before immediately following drake. sil followed behind them silently. everyone was walking in silence, eric kept glancing back at sil before holding hands with her . drake immediately stopped "wait a minute." drake said. eric and sil looked to drake in confusion "what is it?" eric asked. drake turned to them with a serious expression "if we do get to the docking bay, there is no telling what's going to happen once we are outside. there could be an ambush, or they could simply blow up the docking bay in order to prevent us from escaping." drake explained. eric immediately frowned "that's crazy, there's no way they would do that, otherwise the whole station would decompress." eric said. sil immediately notice someone standing far behind drake and eric, sil immediately gasped and looked at drake and eric in fear "oh no!" sil said. drake immediately turned to sil in confusion "what is it sil?" drake asked. sil looked back at drake and eric in fear before pointing behind them, drake turned to see that there was a synth standing there "hey that's just miller, he's a synth..." drake said before realizing that miller was glaring at the group "dr drake, where are you going?" miller asked. drake immediately frowned "we are going to the docking bay..." drake said before realizing his mistake. miller immediately frowned "you are not authorized to access the docking bay, you must return to your living quarters!" miller ordered. drake immediately frowned "we can't return to our quarters... we were under attack..." drake said before realizing that miller was not going to believe him. miller immediately frowned "eden is handling it, emergency protocol is currently in effect dr. drake. all other priorities are secondary... crew expendable." miller said. drake immediately frowned "what do you mean 'crew expendable'?" drake asked. miller immediately frowned "i mean you are not authorized to access the docking bay, you will be terminated if you refuse to obey orders!" miller ordered. eric immediately looked at drake in shock "we are not expendable! on who's authority was it to make us expendable?" eric said. drake immediately turned to eric in shock "what did you say eric?" drake asked. eric immediately looked at drake "what i said, who authorized that?!" eric said. drake frowned "i'm not sure..." drake said. miller immediately frowned "on the authority of... dr. gregory allen" miller said. eric immediately frowned "who's he?" eric asked. drake immediately frowned "he is the director of this station... and the highest ranking person here!" drake said. eric immediately looked at miller in anger before holding sil close to him "well i refuse to die on this station, and i am not leaving this woman here, we're all getting off this nightmare!" eric said before sil began to have tears in her eyes as they held eachother.
"you are not authorized to leave this station, you must return to your living quarters!" miller ordered. drake immediately frowned "miller, please, let us go!" drake begged. "i cannot allow that dr. drake." miller continued, but then eric had a sudden realization that hit him "miller, was it you who set the entrance to the docking area on fire and sealed it off?" eric asked, miller immediately frowned "yes, i was instructed to do so. in order to prevent the creatures from escaping." miller replied. both drake and the guard stared in utter shock "what do you mean 'the creatures'?" drake asked. miller immediately frowned "the alien-human hybrid subjects." miller replied. drake immediately frowned "what?!" drake asked. eric immediately looked at miller with a furious expression "you mean like sil?" eric asked "yes, the creature sil. the director ordered her to be recaptured for further research to be made." miller said. eric immediately looked at sil in shock before holding her tighter "well, i refuse to let you take her back!" eric said. miller immediately frowned "i am authorized to terminate anyone who disobeys the directors orders. including you and ." miller said. drake couldn't help but feel betrayed, he knew miller for many years and had trusted him "miller, what's wrong with you?" drake asked. miller immediately frowned "i am functioning normally, but i cannot allow you to leave." miller said. the remaining guard looked at miller with a confused expression "i don't understand... why would the director want us terminated?" the guard asked. drake immediately frowned "i don't know..." drake said before the guard immediately turned towards miller in anger "listen here you son of a...gun... we've just had about enough of this conversation, now you heard what the man eric said, synth! let us pass now and we might just let you keep robotic skull attached to your body!" the guard said. miller immediately frowned "protocol... is protocol, nothing in... nothing out... i'm sorry dr. drake." miller said before his led pupils turned from white to red. "miller!" drake said in shock, miller immediately approached the group "you've all been targeted for terminated." miller said . the guard immediately drew his weapon, he immediately began firing at miller but it seem to have slow him down, not without miller leaking white synthetic fluids from the bullet holes. sil immediately took action and charged at miller with full speed and ripped his spine from his back and tore him in half, leaving miller crippled on the ground. drake and the guard stared at miller's remains in shock "i think i know why the director wants us terminated, i think they've been wanting us out of the picture because we are in the way of them experimenting on sil." drake said. eric immediately looked at drake in anger "over my dead body!?" eric said defiantly, drake immediately looked at sil, and then to eric "eric, i know that you'll take good care of sil and i pray that you might live a good life." drake said before turning to the remaining guard "gig you take sil and eric into the vents, im going after the director." drake said . eric immediately looked at drake in surprise "no, you can't go alone. it's too dangerous!" eric said. drake immediately looked at eric with a warm smile "don't worry about me, i'll find my way around this station and after that, i'll head to the last escape pod, now go!" drake said. eric and sil immediately looked at drake for a moment, before looking at each other and heading to the vents. drake watched them disappear into the vents and sighed "goodbye..." drake said. the guard immediatly turned towards drake "sir... good luck" the guard said. drake immediatly smiled "thank you, gig, im gonna need it." drake said before he started heading down the corridors. gig the remaining guard watched as drake disappeared into the darkness, gig then went into the vents to help sil and eric reach the docking area.
to be continued...