Thunder, not heard but felt, deep within bone, oscillating through soft tissue.
“Christ! We take a direct hit?”
“ — Engine room, Quadrant Two, Section Four, sealed. Reactor pool, Quadrant Four, Section One, sealed — ”
“Schulster, get down to the quarters, make sure no one’s there — ”
“MAYDAY, MAYDAY, we’re going down. I repeat. WE ARE GOING DOWN!”
“ — Captain Neimenn — ”
“ — power failure, Type Three. Auxiliary power is standing by. Auxiliary power activated — ”
“Mayday, god-DAMMIT! Respond! We’re hit!”
“Captain, I got red readings across the — ”
“Sir! Tracking another — ”
“Fuck! Grab something — ”
The world — their tiny world — twists and bends, unimaginably, violently.
He looks around. He’s at the other end of the cabin, jammed between the narrow door and the ladder. He doesn’t remember how he got here. There is a painful sound, so high-pitched it bypasses his ears and fills the spaces in his skull.
Metal tearing, shrieking.
The boat’s dying.
Beneath it, so faint he can’t really believe he hears it, an echoing, bubbly rush along the hull, a thousand dainty…
