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Chapter 69

Chapter 69

February 3rd, 2158 (station time)

A fly annoyingly tried to wake him from sleep. Logan was still tired, and too comfortable to wake up yet. Without opening his eyes, he lazily swatted at the fly. Despite his efforts, the fly continued to bother.

With a little more effort, Logan attempted again to discourage the fly. But the fly continued it's buzzing. His attempts were not having the effect that he wished. Logan rolled slightly to his side, and was shocked awake from a pain radiating from his left side.

The pain brought Logan out of his stupor, and back to Clotho Three. The sun beat down hard on his exposed face. His left arm still hung limp at his side. Every muscle in his body screamed for attention. And that fly, never had a fly annoyed him as much as this one did now.

Once again, Logan attempted to swat the fly away. With eyes half opened, he saw it's movement flittering just above him. Swatting again, he once again missed.

It would seem that his full attention would be required to defeat this new enemy. Logan willed both of his eyes to open. The sun was bright, and took a little while to get use to. He could see the fly buzzing above his head. Again, he tried to swat at it, but it was just beyond his reach.

Logan blinked his eyes several times trying to make them focus. Slowly, objects sharpened. He redirected his attention on the fly, and noticed it wasn't a fly. Hovering ten meters above him was a drone.

Logan stared at the foreign object for a while trying to make sense of it. What was that drone doing, it shouldn't be here. Logan tried to remember what Nassor had the drone doing last. Maybe Nassor was looking for members of the team using the drone.

He tried to stand, but Logan's legs protested and refused to hold his weight. Resigning himself to that spot, he decided to wait for Nassor to come to his position.

The wait was short, but it wasn't Nassor who came for him. Five forms took shape on the horizon and began to grow. They were large, and Logan began to worry that the goliaths were coming back for him.

As the shapes took on more form and detail, Logan received a surge of hope. The shapes were not goliaths, but five mechs moving towards him.

Logan began to wave his one good arm and yell. "Hey, I'm here! Over here!" His voice came out choked and ended in a coughing fit.

In less than a minute the mechs reached his position. He was somewhat surprised to see Atnea leading the group. With grace, she leaped out of her mech and was on the ground next to Logan. A man and another woman exited their mechs as well. The last two stayed in their mechs and formed a perimeter watching for potential threats.

"Logan," Atnea began, with obvious worry and relief mixed in her voice. "Are you OK?"

"I've been," Logan began but was cut short by another round of coughing.

"OK, don't worry." Atnea said. She turned and gestured to one of the two that had left their mech.

The man moved up next to Logan. The patch on his shoulder indicated that he was a medical specialist. The man pulled a syringe from a pouch on his belt and gently placed it on the ground. Next he removed a small cuff and placed it on the upper part of Logan's arm and turned it on. The cuff inflated slowing the blood flow back into Logan's body.

The medical officer then picked the syringe up off the ground and removed its cap. Turning Logan's arm over, be briefly examined the crook of his elbow and found a proper vein. The needle was inserted into the vein and the contents of the syringe were plunged into Logan's body.