A very big decision

 

A very big decision

The air inside the Subi spacecraft was thick with the tang of ozone and despair, a stark contrast to the pressure cooker of recycled air at Beagal's orbital dock they had left cycles ago. Low, red emergency lighting cast long shadows across the cockpit, illuminating the strained faces of JB and BK, who slumped in exhaustion, their energy reserves dwindling. Subi, the ship's AI interface, flickered erratically, its once vibrant blue glow now a struggling murmur, occasionally flashing a warning symbol.

Their initial quest for the Necropolis Corridor, an uncharted region bordering the Kelpian Expanse, was now secondary to their survival. This notorious hazard zone was a "black scar across the vast space," a swirling, ominous darkness where the "river of light" of Primary Trade Lane Delta-Nine abruptly ceased. It was characterised by "dense fields of derelict ship hulls, rogue asteroids, pockets of temporal distortion, and severe energy fluctuations."

Katcha, the genetically modified cyborg spoodle, was hunched over the navigation console, his enhanced olfactory sensors and mind intertwined with Subi's systems, desperately searching for a solution. He knew no "stop and revive" station existed at the hazardous entry to the Necropolis Corridor. Then, a faint, almost imperceptible energy signature flickered across Subi’s ancient display. It wasn't a known station, but a "presence of hospitality" on the very fringes of Uncharted Space.

This anomaly became everyone's desperate hope. The display resolved, showing a tiny distortion at the edge of the black scar, a "needle in a cosmic haystack" amidst the "dense fields of derelict ship hulls and temporal distortions" of the Necropolis Corridor. Subi, its voice nearly gone, rasped a dire warning: "Katcha, it's unstable. Wild fluctuations". A direct approach to this flickering beacon carried a 45% chance of structural damage to their battered Subi spacecraft.

The alternative was grim. Their comms buzzed with an automated hail from a rusty container freight vessel, offering emergency docking services at an exorbitant cost: "all unallocated credits, plus seventy per cent of the cargo". Years of savings, their entire mission's profit, would be wiped out.

The anomaly, unstable and risky as it was, offered a "tantalising, almost magical solution". It was a high-stakes gamble that could potentially "save everything," or cost them "far more than credits". With BK's tremors worsening and JB barely conscious, time was a luxury they no longer possessed. Katcha, the genetically modified cyborg spoodle, voiced tight with determination, finally broke the silence, preparing to take the gamble.

Podcast: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXaHuXMcUMrhIzfjKlj9clJCOfOlb5B5B

Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXaHuXMcUMrgi9Vms3dSNvqYUCqfQENoS

Tags

#art #Spacestation #scifi #fictionalworld #story #arthouse #futuristic #spaceadventure  #Sanctuary #Revitalisation #Retro #art #metaart

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Be Creative and Innovative with Knowledge

John Bennett - AKA JJFBbennett, is an independent artist. You can view and subscribe to my work via Blogger, YouTube, Flicker, Facebook, Instagram and Deviant Art. 

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Copyright

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