Skinless Souls

The fragments of a rogue meteor shower were crashing around them, some were mere specs of rock, kicking up tiny puffs of dust as they peppered the surface of the meteoroid Giganteas, which was one of the largest in the Rock Zone. With each impact the larger meteorites caused Giganteas to moan and groan, but the largest were so dense they caused its structure to distort. There was no doubt that if this level of battering continued it would affect the rock's rotation, with the additional risk that it would be forced out of its current orbit into the heart of the Solar System.

At first, they thought it was just bad luck, but as the storm grew in intensity, it became obvious that a storm of this magnitude would not have gone undetected, which led to Franklin asking the most obvious question.

"Dover, why on earth did this bunch of cowboys, send us out here with this bloody box, knowing that all hell was going to break loose?"

Dover didn't take long to ponder the questions and gave a curt reply aimed directly at control, not his buddy.

"I don't know, but you can be f******g sure if we somehow manage to get out of this alive, the first thing I'm going to do is find that dick of a Controller and kick his mother f*****g ass, all the way into the next galaxy."

"Buddy, whatever you do, don't kill the b*****d, I want the pleasure of draining the last drop of the asshole's blood."

Their earlier shift had been cancelled at short notice, and under direct instruction from the Tech Head, they were told nothing other than their orange actosuits would be the first of the crew's suits to undergo a mandatory upgrade. They were naturally irritated as it was their most profitable shift, but they knew full well, there was no point in arguing about a decision given at that level. Under normal circumstances, they would have been warned well in advance and able to negotiate reparation for the loss of earnings. Things became worse when over open coms they got a call from the Tech Team advising them that they were required in the lab within thirty minutes, which they felt would be another waste of valuable time. The call said they were to undergo decontamination before reporting for a flash fit and a training program because the new suit tech required personal posture and biotech assimilation.

They were used to meeting tight deadlines and arrived at the Tech Lab at the exact time instructed, but quickly sensed something was amiss. As a rule, the Tech Staff were intentionally rude and aloof, and rarely said anything of consequence, the only words spoken to Rock Workers were invariably denigrating comments, an obvious attempt to make them believe they were several classes above them, in the pecking order. But on this occasion, they were being spoken and listened to in a manner which gave the impression their point of view, truly mattered. In truth, it was a ploy designed to make them relax which backfired, as it only succeeded in arousing their curiosity, regarding the purpose of the refit. Their curiosity reaches an all-time level when they are asked to stand side by side in identical transparent biometric chambers and use their well-practised body language to indicate a common concern.

However, they didn't have time to express their concern as without warning, two identical transparent biometric chambers rise smoothly and silently from beneath the floor, mirroring the ones in which they were encased. Inside each chamber stood a black actosuit, neither Dover nor Franklin had seen actosuits that could stand unaided and lacked the supporting paraphernalia that was essential for a Rock Worker. The suits were exquisitely sleek, looking like they were designed to fit where they touched, not baggy and loose fitting like their regulation orange actosuits.

A serious-looking member of the Tech Lab staff pranced around trying to look important, scribbling away on her scratch pad, they both found it difficult not to laugh, but when she stumbled and fell, it became impossible to contain their amusement and simultaneously they burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter. The Techy quickly scrambled to her feet and gave the laughing hyenas a deathly look, she was not amused one little bit, but her indignation only made things worse, and they began clapping her performance as if she were a circus clown. They'd never seen a Techy lose it, but then they had never bested one before, it may seem callous, but they were getting immense pleasure from watching her face glow red. The humiliation she felt was about to explode in a fit of anger, and they were delighted by the tirade that followed but stopped laughing immediately after she referred to them as nothing more than skinless souls. The atmosphere became dark and tense, they could have cut the air with a knife, but she didn't retract a word, even so, it was clear from the body language that they had stepped over some invisible line. In the nick of time, a blue and white light began to flash and saved a few blushes, as she rushed from the room without uttering another word. In a brief time, another replaced her, she was an equally strait-laced member of the Tech staff, but this one strutted around the lab in a way that was a delight to watch, and they both agreed she was extremely easy on the eye.

Like a couple of lustful teenagers, they let the issue pass but in the pit of their stomachs were left with a feeling that there was some kind of sinister malevolence hidden behind the Techies, intellectual superiority masks which went well beyond their obvious arrogance. The new Tecky approached their capsules and began to explain what was going to happen next in a manner which stank of their arrogance, which they found detestable. To their surprise she explained it would require them to be sedated as being the connection with their new suits would require a painful biometric interface with their skin. It wasn't as if they had a choice as their chambers began to fill with yellow-tinged vapour which was the last memory they recalled when awaking next to each other, looking through the visors of their new suits. A voice began talking it was like an echo inside their heads, their previous head-coms, had an exterior feel to them, but this one was distinctly different, it was as if they were being spoken to by their brain, and the sensation was quite disconcerting.

The changes were easily explained away by a plausible claim that it was a result of the biometrics which were linking directly with their skin and resonated via their skull, not via the antiquated audio pods, which would have been inserted in their ears. The Teckies who fussed over them like drones also explained how whilst asleep, both they and their new suits had been put through extensive environmental testing, to ensure their new tubeless oxygen and nutrient feeds worked perfectly. They reported that the suits would work unsupported for up to six old earth weeks without the need for a recharge, they could only begin to imagine the bonuses they would be able to attain. Their final task was to perform an extended real-time trial on a distant meteoroid, deep in the Rock Zone, they wanted the test to be as extreme as possible, and this is how they found themselves fighting for their lives on Giganteas, which was rapidly turning into their graveyard. Just when they were thinking that things could not get any worse, they found themselves in radio silence and unable to contact Control, another problem they didn't need, but right then Giganteas began to split in two.

They found themselves scrambling from one fragment of rock to another, it was a version of Hop Skip and Jump, It was lucky they were tethered together, or they would have been separated. As they swung around in free space the precious black box slithered up and down the tether like a demented yoyo, they had been told in no uncertain terms.

"No Black Box, No Bonus."

But the truth is, that they did not give a jot about their bonus right now, knowing full well that you couldn't take it with you on the journey to the other side, even if such a spiritual place did exist. The only thing that truly mattered was getting safely home to the bosom of their wives and family, and Franklin couldn't help thinking even his nagging daughter was a better option.

In all the commotion they hadn't noticed that their tether was stiffening, becoming more like a pole with them fixed at each end, and they or more likely their suits were acting like antenna dishes. Both were attracting some sort of energy that was being emitted from the broken core of Giganteas and they had begun to rotate about the Black Box which was now positioned smack bang in the middle of the tether. Their speed of rotation was accelerating and even though in a virtual vacuum, they could feel the G force building and worried that their suits might break free, but as if the suits knew what they were thinking, they too stiffened and locked firmly in place at each end of the tether. It wasn't long before they were rotating so fast that the space around them was becoming a blur, from their perspective it looked like they were at the edge of a vortex and the Black Box had become its epicentre, a sudden flash of light was emitted from the Black Box at the epicentre and then there was nothing only darkness.

Total Words: 1633

Running Total: 8495