Mission Born: Space Twins - Chapter 8

Welcome Back Readers!

We're glad you are here and ready to read Chapter 8 of Mission Born: Space Twins.  If you're new here and would like to start from the beginning, or maybe you need to get caught up, find the appropriate link here:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

But, if you've shared the journey all along the way, or prefer jumping into the middle of the action, Chapter 8 starts now.  Get on your spacesuits and enjoy the ride!

                As the ship staggered out of translight, Jess spotted an asteroid belt that twisted around two planets.  One of the planets was a severe black, as if it were absorbing all light.  The ebony planet had streaks of red through it in jagged lines.  A second ivory colored planet, with streaks of blue flowing around it like stripes on a candy cane, resided across the way.  She used the sensors to scan for a closer look at the system.  A ping came up on the star map.  Directly in the center of the asteroid belt was a stable energy source, which usually meant human habitation.  Being in unknown space, Jess was ready to accept any humanoid form, since discovering the orcs.

                Jess nudged Walter awake.  “Come’on sleepy’ead, wakey, wakey….”  She smirked at her own joke.  Walter jumped awake, “Ah!  We gotta get outta here!”  His sister let out a belly laugh, as she watched Wally realize that they were safe. “Not funny, Jess!”  Walter scowled at her. Then, after thinking about it for a second, he leaped at her hugging her so tight she almost couldn’t breathe.

                “Okay…Okay!  Let’s look at what we got here.”  She flipped the sensors on, so he could see what she had recently learned.

                Walter had a look of worry painted across his face. “You know, Jess, something isn’t right.  From the beginning of the orcs invading the ship to the fleet bombarding the planet….  I mean, the council just decimated a civilization, and the rest of us never even knew anything about them!”

                Jess stopped and thought about it, then replied, “Wally, the good part is that those people don’ even know we’re alive.  We ‘ave a ship an’ the whole universe is open to us.  So, whaddya say we ‘ead fer that base or whatever it is, and start our adventure!”

                Walter turned to her and smiled weakly, “I’m not going to forget.  But, maybe we can find out more about what’s going on, down there.”

                Jess nodded, as if she knew he was going to agree with her, and guided the ship toward the point of civilization. 

                As they approached the middle of the asteroid belt, Jess had to dodge and weave through the debris.  Suddenly, a tinny voice came over the comms, “We see you, what is your intent?  If you do not answer, we will be forced to crush your ship….”

                Jess hurriedly answered, “Um, we just want to resupply and make friends.  We’re new ‘ere an’ just wanna explore.”

                “Your ship has similar symmetry as the Templars, why would you be flying a Templar ship?  Answer now or die.”

                “Uh, actually we kinda liberated this ship from its previous owners.  Um, who’re the Templars?  We’re kinda new aroun’ ‘ere.”

                “Shut down all systems, you will be tractored in.”  Five of the asteroids outside, suddenly maneuvered around the ship and light blue, cascading beams were projected onto the hull of the ship.  Jess quickly shut down all systems, as the hull started to whine at the force of the ship’s momentum against the force of the tractor beams.  The whining of the metal stopped, and they were maneuvered through the rest of the debris.  As they exited the debris field, Jess and Walter gaped at the gigantic asteroid base before them.  The opening into the base was big enough to allow the ships of their recent fleet to easily dock at one time.  There were ships, of differing sizes and shapes, spread throughout the gigantic docking bay.  They resided on large metallic gray platforms with yellow trim around them, in a caution pattern. 

                Their ship was still being towed in by the weird space rocks.  Jess brought out some long-range binoculars and could now see they were large robotic drones, which had been disguised as asteroids.  They started to guide the ship onto a landing platform, designed for a large shuttle like theirs.  Several smaller beings in yellow spacesuits were surrounding the area.  It looked to be about ten to twelve of them, and they looked on edge with laser rifles pointed at the ship.  Jess and Walter shrugged at each other and then turned to disembark from the ship.  Jess hit the button to open the entry ramp, and as the ramp glided down, the beings around the ship converged on the ramp.  They kept their weapons on Walter and Jess and kept scooting around them in a nervous fashion.

                As everyone scooted down the ramp, another being came up to them and stated in that same tinny voice, “You will come with us, where we may discuss and find out what is going on.”  The twins nodded in unison.  Jess looked down at the one that had spoken. “Why are ya bein’ so guarded, we aren’t ‘ere to harm ya, heck, like we could?!” 

                “Girl, we have not survived for this long by allowing others to trick us.  Once we know you are harmless to us, then we will allow you to tour our facilities, but until then….” 

                He waved over his shoulder for them to follow him, the entire group moving in a stutter step as they gained access inside the actual structure.  The accessway was around Walter’s height, which he found weird, since these beings did not need such vaulted openings.  He assumed that this facility must allow other beings, if this was made for such.  The leader had punched in a code, which was composed of numbers and symbols.  Walter did not recognize any of the symbols, but the numbers were the same 0 to 9 numbers from back home. 

                They moved down the corridors, which were lit to half the light he was used to.  The corridors were cut into the asteroid’s bare rock, and metal streaks could be seen throughout the walls.  The floors were some kind of metal fashioned plates, and they were buffed until they shined.  It was like looking into a mirror.  They wound through the tunnels until they came to a door, much like the accessway.  The leader punched in another code and the door swished into the ceiling.  They were ushered in by the group of guards, and then motioned to sit around a large table with several modern-looking chairs surrounding it.  The leader took a position across from them.  As he unhooked his helmet and removed it, they could see that this being was yellow-skinned, with blackened eyes and orange pupils.  “Welcome to our facility.  Now, explain why you are here, and how you came into possession of a ship similar to a Templar shuttle.”  He put his hands under his chin, as if waiting for them to answer him with an interesting tale.

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