Chapter 1 (Fate of the Armadeaus)
Chapter 2 (Portents)
Chapter 3 (Passing of a Fantasy)
----------------------------------------
DARK HAVEN
Chapter 4 (Fissures in the Dark)
Captain Jack Monroe, Personal Log :
'I'm about to enter the interior of the station. As I step forward into a corridor the airlock door slides closed behind me. I can't afford to use my oxygen tank unnecessarily, so having checked the ambient oxygen level on my sleeve readout I know that it should be safe to remove my helmet.'
...
'I have now removed it and I take my first breath reluctantly and prepare for the worst.
I am still slightly surprised that the air is breathable. Reasonably fresh too. So life support must still be working, or has been recently.
Though fresh, there is an odd smell in the air, nothing I can place, but it's not pleasant.'
...
'Having collapsed my helmet and stowed it on the rear of my belt, I proceed.
It is dark, all but a few dimly glowing control panels at the far end of the corridor. I turn on my EVA suit lights as I make my way down the corridor.
I have a vague feeling of familiarity. I'm not well aquatinted with the interior layout of many stations outside Argon sectors, but the shape of the doors and corridors suggest Teladi. But why would the Teladi be out here? It doesn't add up.
I continue down the corridor, about halfway now. There is a door on the left, closed. As I shine my light across the top half of the door I see some text. I can't read it, but it is clearly Teladi, damn, if the Armadeaus or M5 were still here I could get a translation. I'll try the touch pad to open it. Nothing, but with the power out that was expected. I don't see manual over-ride, but I don't want to be trying every door I come across. I should try to find Command and Control. A diagram of the layout might help, if I can find one.
I'm continuing down the corridor to the lit panels.'
...
'These panels have similar pictorial writings as the ones at the airlock. One of them green, the picture something like an arrow pointing up. The familiar wavy line, this time red.
Now I see them closer with my helmet off I can see some sense in the pictorial language. It seems to be simply descriptive, the wavy line may be a door in motion. The arrow, a direction perhaps for an elevator. A circle with four lines out of the top could be lights or comms. I could take a guess at one or two others. The rest, I have no idea. I've never known the Teladi, or anyone else, to use pictorial writings like this, handy though.
If I'm right, the green arrow... ah yes, I hear the elevator descending, so not all the power is out. Now the door open button has turned yellow. In I step and press the green arrow, up I go.
This is really easy. They should have a system like this on every station. For those of us who haven't the time to learn the languages of all the other races, we need to take a translator pad everywhere just to find the bathroom. I must remember to mention this when I get back.
Yes, when I get back, or if.'
...
'The elevator comes to a stop, I open the door and step out. There are a few lights in this corridor, though most are flickering it is enough to see by so I turn off my lights and walk onward. As I'm about to pass the first door, again on the left, I decide to try the touch pad all the same, this time it works.
As the door half heartedly slides open, a great sense of urgency grips me and I reach for my pistol. But for nothing. I'm almost disappointed, it seems to be just a small storage room. A few crates, a stack of chairs and a tiny window halfway up the opposite wall. I don't know what side of the station this window looks out on to, but I can't see the cloud of black ships, I feel a little better for that.'
...
'I'm back in the corridor. It's curving to the right.
As I continue, I see more doors on either side.
I'm over half way now and the end of the corridor is in sight.
The door at the end may be another elevator, a little larger than the previous.
As I near the elevator I see the control panel is cracked, I try the buttons, but as I expected, nothing.
I will try to force the doors open.'
...
'With some effort I am able to part the doors a little, I don't want them to close again behind me. I will need something to jam between.
One of the crates perhaps. No, the control panel will do nicely. As I tore it out of the wall sparks crackled behind.
It is sturdy enough to hold the door open a couple of feet.
I look through to see the lift shaft. The emergency lights are barely enough to illuminate the shaft. It drops down ten feet or so, I assume to the lower level. About three levels above I see the underneath of the lift.
A ladder running throughout the lift shaft is to the right. It would be within easy reach if the doors were open fully. I can swing round a grab hold though.'
...
'As I climb I see two elevator doors beneath the elevator itself. Assuming Command and Control is on one of the upper levels I need to get as high as I can.
I'm at the highest door. A small runner at the base of the doorway means I can get a little balance with the toe of my right boot as I reach across to open the door.
Damn this isn't easy. I'm holding the ladder with my left hand and foot, stretching across to the door with my right while trying to balance myself on the runner. They sure designed this place well. Yea yea, ok , I suppose if I were a maintenance worker I'd have a line attached and the door would already be open.
I can get my fingers between but I'm just not getting the leverage to open it.'
...
As the Captain is trying to rebalance himself between the ladder and the runner, the lift shaft suddenly starts to shake. A metallic creaking noise, like metal fatigue, as if the whole shaft or more, maybe the whole station, were under great stress, coming from all round, getting louder.
Something shakes loose, a nut or bolt, from somewhere above and falls down past Monroe into the darkness below. It clatters as it hits the bottom.
The Captain looks up, hoping that the lift isn't about to fall.
As the vibrations worsen he looses his footing and swings down, held only by his left hand. More debris falls, narrowly missing Monroe as he dangles for a moment.
The Captain manages to swing his right arm up and grab the ladder just in time for the tremors to worsen briefly then stop.
...
'Whoa there, what's going on? What's happening to this place?
I'd better get out of this shaft quick. I'll not be able to open the doors like this. I need to find something. Ah, perhaps, yes a small panel. The door mechanism perhaps.
I've opened the panel, inside is a lever, looks like a manual release for the door.'
...
'There was a gaseous hiss when I puled the lever.
Nothing seems to have happened, I'll try the door again.
Yes, the door has slackened. I've managed to pull it open a little now.'
...
'I've made it into the corridor.
This one is much larger than the corridor below and was until recently more pleasantly adorned. This may be a public passage, where the one below was maintenance. It is strewn end to end with fallen debris, ceiling and wall panels, lighting fixtures and further up, a door. Wires and pipes hanging out everywhere. It looks like a war zone. I carefully pick my way through the corridor, as I reach the door lying across my path I see that it's not as it should be.
The whole door, two-inch thick solid steel, has been twisted and bent out of its doorway. Looking at the doorframe where it used to be, I see that too has been twisted. I think I should take a look in the room.
The room is simple and small, it looks more likely to be crew quarters than that of a paying customer. The bed has not been made, there are a few personal trinkets on a table and more fallen on the floor. Shards of glass lie beneath a shelf, perhaps from a vase or ornament.
I look back to the doorway and trace the line of twisted metal along the wall then up to the ceiling and curving across in the direction of the room next door. As the distorted metal of the ceiling ends at the far wall it is beginning to separate, light can be seen from the room above.
I'm going to take a look in the room next door to see if this deformity continues.'
...
'The door to this room is slightly ajar, I push my way through. The lights are off or broken, but the twisted crack in the ceiling is larger and light is shining through from above.
This room is identical to the previous and in the same mess.
As I follow the fracture in the ceiling from right to left, it grows gradually wider.
I see something, it's...
An arm. A blood soaked arm dangling limply through the gap.'
Dark Haven - Chapter 4
Moderators: TheElf, Moderators for English X Forum
Dark Haven - Chapter 4
Last edited by crunn on Fri, 25. Apr 03, 17:32, edited 2 times in total.
-
Deleted User
-
Tiberian Commander
- Posts: 1308
- Joined: Wed, 6. Nov 02, 20:31
Thanks muchly.Tiberian Commander wrote:Looking very GOOD
Do you wright book's of your own.
No, this is the first fiction I wrote in many years (since school)
I do read a lot though.
-Robert Ludlum
-Asimov
-Clive Barker
-Stephen King
(many others)
ATM I'm reading Lord of the Rings and Sun Tzu.
(and I'm a big fan of Mercs Traders Tale)
