The Orb Adventures

Prologue

"Emma? Come on, you should really have this turned on... Come on, Emma, pick up -"

"Scott, I'm here! Listen, we made a huge mistake! It's not -"

"Emma, where are you?"

"Scott, listen! Look, I'm fine, we're both fine, but Scott, you need to tell Andy right now..."

"What? Tell Andy what, Emma? Dodge is with you? What's going on?"

"There's no time - listen, we... Hang on..."

There was a crackle over Scott's comlink as the line hummed and buzzed in a very unhealthy way. Scott groaned as the signal started to stutter out.

"No, come on, come ON!" he leant back in his seat, away from the glow of his computer screen and shouted desperately through the open door. "ALEX! ALEX, MY COM'S GOING DEAD! EMMA WAS SAYING SOMETHING ON THE OTHER END -"

"SCOTT, I THINK I FOUND SOMETHING!" Alex's voice came bounding down the passage. "GET OVER HERE!"

"NO, ALEX -"

BBXZZZT! Another crackle from the comlink.

"Damn it..." Scott muttered, grabbing a small screwdriver-like utensil he reserved for tampering with small devices. He clicked open the back of the comlink and twisted the little dials very carefully around. The crackling increased in intensity, until finally -

"SCOTT! bbzzzttt SCOTT, TELL ANDY - bxbbxxxzzzzttt"

"Emma! Can you hear me? Emma, slow down!" Scott threw down the small technical utensil and yanked the reciever wire out of its port inside the comlink, jamming it into the output slot of one of his machines at the desk, linked up to an external satellite. There was a hiss and then a split second's silence, then -

"SCOTT! He's on his way NOW! You need to get out of there!"

"WHO? Who is it, Emma? Who's on his way? Why?" Scott's tone rose in panic and frustration. "Emma? ...EMMA?!"

The line had gone dead.

"Damn it!" he threw his head back again. "ALEX, I THINK WE LOST SATELLITE POWER! ALEX?"

Click. Scott turned to see his only lit screen go blank. He grabbed the comlink out of the satellite port and jerked up out of his computer chair.

"ALEX! WE LOST EMMA AND DODGE! THIS ISN'T FUNNY, ALEX!"

SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! Scott jumped as the shock of the huge lights in each room clanging off coursed through him like electricity, leaving him in darkness, his pulse racing, his mind paralysed with fear.

"Alex?" he cleared his throat and stepped up to the doorway. "ALEX, PLEASE!"

He was greeted with a chilling silence just as the comlink spluttered to life once more, nearly shocking him out of his skin again.

"Scott? ksksshhhhh Scott? kshshhhhss He's boarded hsashkk taken hold of sskkkhhh airpod that went missing, it was all kkssshhhhsss..." It was Dodge's voice that fizzled out of the small machine this time.

"Dodge? DODGE? What's happening, where's Emma? WHO'S BOARDED THE AIRSTATION?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!"

Scott bolted for the door as the sound of Alex's scream pierced his ears.

"Oh God, what -"

"SCOTT, RUN!"

"Alex!"

"RUN!" her voice was jagged as it smashed down the metallic corridors, the pained sound smacking Scott in the face and shocking him to the core.

"RUN!" it came again, and Scott stopped hesitating. He turned and ran back towards the shuttle decks, through the sliding doors, stumbling and grabbing the edges of the cold walls in the pitch darkness...

"Scott!"

"Emma, is that you?"

"SCOTT!"

"Dodge?"

"SCOTT, RUN!"

"Alex? WHERE'S ALEX?"

"Where's Andy when you need him?"

"Dodge, stop MOVING, it's pitch black!"

"You guys were supposed to be on the OTHER SHIP!"

"Scott, that thing -!"

"Any second -"

"Any second what?  Spit it out!"

THWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM... A scorching blaze of light burned Scott's retinas until he thought his eyes were going to explode, he felt himself thrown back against the wall, Dodge crashing to his knees beside him. The whole airstation took a huge lurch towards the explosion, the spinning chaos in Scott's ears broken only by the sound of Alex's screams in the distance and Emma yelling somewhere to his right.

His head seemed to crunch everything into slow motion, he could see a vague blur, a mess of shapes twisting in the face of the fire visible through every window on the station, but he couldn't move or even open his mouth. He heard the crashing sound of an airpod smacking into the floor of the decking bay and felt himself slide to the left as the airstation tried to right its angle and lurched back up in the air.

"ALEX...       INSIDE...         UP WITH..."

"Scott? Scott, are you OK, buddy? Scott?" Andy's blurred face was suddenly swimming in front of him.

"NAOMI, GET SOME SHOCK MEDS!" It sounded like Dylan, somewhere in the background, maybe a distance away...

"Scott? We're gonna give you something..."

"NAOMI, ALEX IS STILL INSIDE!"

"Don't worry, OK? This won't hurt a bit..."

"NO!" Scott jerked forwards, vaguely trying to sit up, to stand up, to do something to react as the lights started jamming on and off like a strobe light above his head.

"No, just lie down! Everything's under control..."

Scott didn't feel a thing, but the next thing he knew, Andy's face had disappeared from his vision and he could see nothing again but a wave of light lapping against his eyelids as he drifted off, the clamour of chaos all around him...

"Dylan, call Newcastle NOW, I don't CARE what time of night it is, I want Penny up here as soon as humanly possible... Naomi, what's the time in India? We might need to get Aanya..."

"Andy, we found her, her foot..."

"Oh God, bring her in here quickly - DYLAN, GET PENNY! Right, hold this right here, make sure you keep applying pressure..."

"Scott?"

"Emma? Dodge..."

"No, it's Alex!"

"Where? Wait, no, hang on..."

"Scott, you're losing it, what did he give you?"

"Emma, wait..."

Scott could only hear the distant sounds of coughing and different objects hitting the floor all at once as everything went dark. He forgot where he was right when the drugs kicked in, then he forgot everything else...

TWO WEEKS EARLIER...