Aetheral Space

Chapter 100:4.13: Northbound

One giant in a metal crater later, here they were.

Skipper, Ruth and the indomitable Mazma walked into the hangar, Skipper slapping his hands together in satisfaction as he looked up at his ship. The Slipstream was just as they’d left it -- sleek, pristine and beautiful.

"There you are, old girl," Skipper grinned -- he was trying to get a thing going where he looked like he really cared about his ship. He’d only had it for a few weeks, but he felt like he was making good progress in that regard. This must have seemed like a real heartwarming scene.

Ruth rolled her eyes behind him.

"Looks like the ship’s already been unlocked," Skipper continued, clearing his throat as he gestured towards the open clamps. "I’m guessing we can thank Mr. Hadrien and the del Sed’s for that one, yeah?"

"Yeah," Bruno’s voice echoed out from behind them. "But we have a problem."

Skipper turned to look as the blonde-haired boy marched into the hangar, a grim expression on his face -- grimmer than usual, which was saying something.

Ruth grinned: "Bruno! Serena!" she exclaimed, relief evident in her tone, only to be silenced by a regretful glance from Bruno. She narrowed her eyes. "Where’s Dragan?"

Bruno finally reached them, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he sighed. "That’s the problem." He glanced at Mazma. "Who’s this?"

"Mazma is the only guy," Mazma ’explained’.

For a second, it looked like Bruno would inquire further -- then he just rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers and nodded. "Okay."

"What happened, Bruno?" Skipper said, voice firm. "Thirty words or less, yeah?"

Again, Bruno nodded. "Me and Dragan came here to get the ship out of impound. We had to bring some techs with us to do that. We split up for a minute -- Dragan was watching the ship and I was going to use the controls. I heard gunfire after I started the unlock sequence so I rushed back to see what was happening -- my hostage ran for it. When I got back here, Dragan was gone."

Skipper rubbed his chin with his prosthetic hand, the metal cold against his skin. "That’s way more than thirty words," he mused. "And that’s also really bad. You haven’t seen him since?"

Bruno shook his head. "I went through some of the nearest corridors to

"And that is?"

North turned back to look at him, his smirk visible even through the mask. "You asked me if I planted the bomb that blew up the engine, right? That I did. But anyone can do a thing like that -- and you don’t hire North for a job anyone can do. Nah, I had a whole grocery list. My blowing up the engine was part of that, sure…"

There was a hollow thunk from the nearest vent.

"...but so was messing around with the ship’s air supply -- and it looks like we’ve just switched over to the tanks I managed to get to. Still, if you play your cards right, you still have a chance of getting out of here alive. Not a good chance, sure, but still a chance. I already made sure your friends were taken care of, so it’s all up to you now. Have fun, okay?"

"Fuck you!" Dragan snarled.

"Buy me dinner first, man!" And with that, North began walking away, waving over his shoulder as he headed for the door. "Good luck! Do your best!"

A second later, he flickered out of vision, the only trace he’d ever been there being a single footprint in Darren Roash’s blood.

And a second after that, the gas started coming in.