Nathan crouched behind a shelf for cover. He studied the soldiers' movements as well as the structure of the room. He noted the locations of the surveillance cameras, making sure to stay out of their line of coverage. He made his calculations and changed position only when that area was clear. He continued that way until he laid his hands on the materials he needed. Taking just the required quantity, he turned around to leave, only to stare at the face of a MoonEx soldier.
Nathan held his breath to stop his body from revealing the shock he felt. He kept a straight face and stood at attention, with the materials in his hand.
"Why are you not in your uniform?" The soldier asked.
"I was about leaving at the end of my shift when my commander asked me to get these." He replied.
Nathan did a mental calculation of the distance between his location and the nearest exit. He wasn't going to make it if he decided to run for it, so he stayed put.
"Hmm." The soldier replied. "You must not have gotten the instruction right. These materials need to be moved to the shelf over there."
"Oh, sure." He replied, walking back to the shelf to begin moving the materials.
Nathan was relieved the soldier couldn't tell he was human. On the flip side, he didn't know if to take it as a compliment or not.
"Do I really look like a robot?"
He sincerely hoped the answer to that question was no but right now, it served him well. He continued making the trips to move the materials to the other shelf, while concealing his feelings. He couldn't get visibly tired or he would be found out and that would be a disaster.
At this point, Nathan ran into his fourth problem – time. He didn't have a watch on MoonEx and the activities in the store had distracted him from keeping a mental note on the time he had spent out. If he didn't make it back before the end of the lights out period, he would be found out. He looked at the shelf containing the materials he was moving and knew there was no way he could stick around to finish moving them. Thankfully, the soldier who gave the instruction had walked off. He signaled another soldier and told him the commander wanted him to move the materials. The MoonEx soldier carried on with the task, giving Nathan the time he needed to sneak out with the material he required.
YOU ARE READING
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Science FictionOne million years into the future, a young man stumbles upon the truth about the destruction of humanity's first home, Earth. But did he really? Nathan Ross is one of the few thousand survivors of the disaster that will- forever remain in the hearts...
