The Bridge: A Science Fiction Survival Story

Chapter 23: A Stunned Darkness

Airomem's eyes were shut tight as she hid in the dark underneath her bed, gripping the stun gun tight in her right hand and her left flat against the ground, while her toes were coiled like springs against the back wall. In case the locked door of her apartment burst open. In case she had to attack. And in case she had to run.

Her breath came quick as she saw faint blue flashes through the crack underneath her door, accompanied by far off thuds, and the sound of metal ringing on metal. And she thought back to an hour before, when she and her father had been sharing dinner.

"And how was school today?" He had asked her, holding out her seat as he placed a plate in front of her, "Tell me that Prometh still has enough wits about him to teach the youngsters! He used to be the finest of our engineers."

"Good!" She said, stabbing her fork deep into a carrot and shoving the entire slice in her mouth such that the next few word were muffled. Being a princess came second to being hungry, she had decided."Today we learned about the photonic crystal! And about what happened to the one on the other end of the ship!"

"Oh, sounds like there was some serious learning indeed," Said her father, raising an eyebrow, "Are you sure that you'll be able to keep all that knowledge in that tiny noggin? I hear if you pack too much in then it'll explode!"

"Dad!" She whined, "I'm not six, you can't play tricks on me like that anymore. I'm eight now! I know better."

"Funny, at thirty eight I still think the same thing about when I was thirty six. You can never stop learning, Airomem, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."

"Yes, daddy. You always say that," She huffed, rolling her eyes, and stabbed through another carrot, deep enough that the metal clinked against the plate. And as she brought the it to her mouth, her father's head snapped upwards, and she heard it.

The wailing of the siren. The sound that made the hairs on her neck stand up, and her skin tingle as blood rushed to her face and adrenaline raced along her capillaries.

Her father's hand swept the fork out of her hand as he tucked her under his elbow, then sprinted out of the mess hall. Doors flashed by as they passed the siren wielder, a boy who had just entered his teens, holding one of the stun guns such that its prongs were plugged into a box that screeched as he took off in the other direction, running loops around the Lear territory.

"Starboard!" The boy shouted with every other step, his cracking voice struggling to make it down the corner he had just turned, "Starboard! Starboard! Starboard!"

And then they were at her apartment and her father threw the door open, before tossing her inside on the bed.

"Under, down, down! Make no noises, and open your door for no one! Do you understand?" He barked as she nodded.

"Wait, daddy, what if you don't come back?" She said, trying to grab hold of her hand.

"I always come back," He said, gripping her head between his hands, "Don't you forget that, Airomem. And I'll always be here." He gave her head a squeeze between his hands, then raced away, slamming the door shut behind him. And as soon as he left she rushed to her dresser and took the stun gun from the top drawer, then waited under her bed, trying to still her breath. Knowing what came next.

The darkness.

And seconds later it happened, the lights above extinguished themselves, along with every other light in their sector of the ship. Turning the hallways near pitch black, impossible to navigate unless they were already memorized.

Which for the Lear, they were.

She waited, her jaw tight, watching her doorknob as her eyes acclimated, the only light the faint stars outside her window. Her muscles tightened as she heard feet run past, and the siren wailing again, this time the boy shouting "Port! Port! Port!" as his vocal chords strained.