Mission Sigma — Chapter 3
Sparkling green light trailed from the tail end of the Stargazer. Like some sort of intergalactic Kraken, the vessel plunged nose-first toward the Rift.
Unsteady on his feet, eyes flitting, mind racing, cold sweat trickling from his temples, Landrik couldn’t stop thinking about Bem. Was he always working for Vector Prime?
The Rift had them in its grip. The swirling, lashing mass, full of pixelated light was mutating as it consumed planet Vartos.
“You’re grinding your teeth.”
Landrik spun and found himself staring into the eyes of a small, strong-boned woman with a square jaw and large brown eyes. The Trinity Blade marked the center of her forehead. Landrik felt his heart skip a beat. “Huh?” he blushed.
“Even with the noise this hunk of space junk is making I can still hear your teeth milling together. It’s putting me on edge. You should take a Codex to calm your nerves.”
“I don’t need my nerves calming,” Landrik replied. “Besides, we ran out of Codex a month ago…” his eyes opened questioningly.
The woman cleared her throat. “Oh…my name? Ava,” she replied. “Here, I’ve still got a few left. Have one of mine.”
Landrik raised a giant palm. “I’m okay. With everything that’s going on, I need to keep my wits about me.”
“Not everyone here is a born killer,” Ava said.
“That still leaves more than enough of these freaks to worry about. I can’t have Codex fogging my brain.”
Landrik glanced back at the Rift and pointed. “How long do you think we’ve got until we’re in the belly of that beast?”
“Not long. We’ll know when the attacks start getting worse.”
“Is Sigma Tech capable of standing up to it?”
“I don’t know…” This time it was Ava’s eyes that transmitted the question.
“Ha…yeah. Landrik.”
“Strong name.”
“So?”
“We’re in uncharted territory. All we can do is wait.” Ava’s eyes misted in some sort of reverie.
Landrik, an immense tower of sinew and muscle, reached down and rested his hand on her shoulder. “We’ll beat the Rift yet, Ava, don’t you worry. That thing won’t make a digital doughnut out of me.”
Ava smiled weakly, then frowned. “I don’t want to beat it. I want to understand it.”
For a moment there, Landrik had forgotten the goal of Equinox. His brow collapsed into a frown. “What, you think the Rift has childhood abandonment issues? Ha. Now I’ve heard everything. Sorry, Ava. It’s impossible to understand something like that.”
“Nothing is impossible.”
Landrik was about to respond when, from the corner of his eye, he sensed someone approaching — fast! He pivoted to see Bem, his face twisted with rage, pile-driving towards him.
Instinctively, Landrik’s hand left Ava’s shoulder and shot to the ion blaster on his hip. Maybe it would start working now.
Functioning or not, there wasn’t enough time. Bem had capitalized on the advantage of surprise. He was moving with great speed, fist raised high.
He was about to bring it crashing down on Landrik’s already broad and broken nose when Ava launched at Bem, landing a flurry of accurate chops and punches about his head and upper body.
Bem went down, his hands raised to protect himself from the sudden onslaught. Landrik couldn’t let Ava do all the work, and so with a single step, he joined her, putting Bem in a headlock. He squeezed until Bem’s face turned scarlet. “An ounce more pressure and your neck will snap like a twig, Bem. Don’t think I won’t do it.”
Bem thrashed about, trying to escape, but Landrik’s grip was iron. When Bem became still, Landrik started to release the lock-hold. As Landrik eased back, Bem’s body slumped.
“I think you might’ve killed him,” a wide man with a high and sharp Mohican said.
His arms were folded but it wouldn’t take long for him to unfold them. A damned mercenary, Landrik thought. Trouble in all weathers. He turned to Ava. “Impressive moves. You okay?”
When Ava nodded, Landrik turned his attention back to the man whose arms were now by his sides, fists balled into clubs. Landrik glanced down at the unconscious Bem and then back at the man. They both had the same Sigil on their foreheads.
Looking directly at the mercenary while pointing at Bem, Landrik asked, “Do you want to end up like him?”
“Think you might have that the wrong way round, friend.”
“We’ll see about that.”
To be continued…
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