supersetfiction

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F-Week & G-Week - Flight Path and Ghost 16/10/23-29/10/23

This isn't my greatest one I've written. It was such a struggle to come up with what to write. I feel like I had a good idea, but the words weren't coming and it was just really difficult for me to write anything good. I hope that I do better the coming weeks.

The roar from the engine was deafening in the cockpit where David sat wrestling with the controls of the ship. The more he struggled to right his ship, the more it threw it off balance. The atmosphere of this planet was nothing like earth. It was heavier and it was bringing him closer to the surface.

As he sped towards the ground, he started to lose consciousness. His thinking became sluggish and doing anything to stop himself from passing out seemed to him a colossal mountain that he couldn’t quite start to climb.

----------

“We’ve followed your work since your work on the black hole incident on Turin IV and feel you’d be most qualified. We think you might be exactly who we’re looking for.” Two men sat opposite David. The younger of the two had rattled off David’s accomplishments as a scientist and linguist.

“Is that so? Because up ‘til now you’ve only shown me that you’ve done your homework. You haven’t told me anything about the job.” David leant back in his chair and regarded to the men carefully.

“You better get talking quickly, or I’m walking out of here.” He left the question hang in the air for a moment. The two other men opposite him looked at each other unsure why to do.

The younger man started, but the other man cut him off before he could continue. “We believe that there is a sliver of hope for the retrieval of a man who has gone out past the last settled colony. You may know him from your training on Mars, Commander Owen Hoey. We need you to head into the outer reaches past the colonies and investigate a potential message sent from Commander Hoey. His last known location and message was from the colony orbiting Enceladus. We haven’t heard anything from his since and have assumed the worst.”

“What did the message say?”

The man reached into his coat and pulled out a flat silver disc. As he placed the disc on the table between them, he pressed a button on the side and the image of Commander Hoey appeared above it. The audio crackled for a moment before Hoey spoke.

“This is my last message for the foreseeable future. My name is Commander Owen Hoey and I am currently 1300 kilometers from the Enceladus colony and travelling further out in search for what I believe is a relic in deep space from the days of the old Earth. If I find this facility I will collect as much data as I can and return to Enceladus to upload. God willing I will return and you will hear from me again. Commander Owen Hoey, signing off.”

The image shut off and the man replaced the disc into his coat.

“Will you go and find Commander Hoey, David?”

David looked down not saying anything.

“How long will I be gone?”

“That’s hard to say. At a minimum, it could be two years. One year to the origin of the response, and one year back to earth. That’s if everything goes perfectly. It could be longer. That’s the risk you’d be taking.”

David sat thinking. It was a long time to be isolated and lonely. There would be no one to talk to and most of his time would be spent in cyrosleep dreaming his life away. It would be the chance of a lifetime to travel out to the furthest reaches were no one had ever been before. The information he could collect and things he could learn would be incredible. It was a difficult decision he had to make.

“I’ll do it.”

-----

“The plan is simple enough in theory. All you need to do is take this shuttle to the Interplanetary terminal orbiting earth. From there you board the solo shuttle and take the year long journey out to Enceladus. It would be wise to use the cryosleep to pass the year. A year in isolation is not healthy, and sleeping will help with that. The ship will auto pilot and send back to us periodic updates.” The younger man had said over the headpiece as David boarded the transport shuttle. 

David sat in the tight seat in the ship, buckled and ready to leave. He adjusted in his seat and found little room to move. (The trip shouldn’t take too long. It’s just three hours. I can sleep it.)

The ship rumbled to a start and soon after he was thrust into the atmosphere. Being so tightly packed made David feel more comfortable, that he wasn’t being thrown around as the ship sped further into space. The rumbling stopped and David found it easier to close his eyes and sleep.

-----

Upon getting to the Interplanetary terminal he was led from his gate to a private section of the terminal where his shuttle was waiting to take him to Enceladus. A terminal employee walked him through the ship and functions. The ship wasn’t big. It didn’t need to be, but there was enough space to walk around and house functions like a dining room, shower, treadmill, and lounge. (A year alone is a long time. I hope it doesn’t make me too stir crazy in here.)

After the tour, the terminal employee left, and David made his preparations to leave. The shuttle was ready for him to launch, The computer was locked on Enceladus, and the latest maps were loaded to avoid any damage to the ship en route.

David was finally ready to make his trip to Enceladus and find his friend Owen in the deep reaches of space.

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E-Week – Entropy 09/10/23-15/10/23

“That shouldn’t be there” Riley mused to himself.

The trip from Hermes Station in the north-west to Olympus Mons had taken him over a week of gruelling travel in a tight exocraft, with barely enough room to sleep. He had seen nothing but red dirt and blue sky for 6 days and was grateful now to be stopped.

He was actually going to the other side of the mountain when in the distance he had seen this steel door not quite hidden on the rock face. It looked old. Older than the first settlers of Mars and wanted to investigate.

Riley stood before the door and was dwarfed by the neck breaking height of the cliffs of Olympus Mons above him. The door stood barely taller than himself, and if he wasn’t looking for something more than what he had been seeing for the past 6 days, he would have missed it. He approached the door and pushed on it.

The heavy steel door opened with a creak illuminating the inside of the library, lit by the fading sun on Mars. Riley stepped into the darkness with his torch cycling the light options. The flood light barely gave him enough light to see ahead of him, so he decided that the beam would have to do.

The darkness did little to help him understand what this place was. As far as he could tell he was in a reception area of a sort. Sat in the middle of the room was a straight flat desk with a heavy layer of dust coated on top. On either side of the room were doors. Riley hoped that at least one would have a way to turn the lights on in this place.

Looking into left room he found a desk in a more personalised state than the reception and assumed that this would be the office of a supervisor or someone like that. In the other room Riley found more luck with turning the lights on. In here were three computers lined up perfectly against the wall and in between each was a control panel. Looking closer, Riley found that, thankfully, the panel were labelled and easy to navigate. He soon found the master switch for the power and flipped the switch.

At first nothing happened, then one at a time lights began to come to life. Some came on immediately, and others took longer to turn on, like being awoken from hibernation after a far too long winter.

Feeling rather pleased with himself, Riley went back to the reception with new optimism about walking around now that he didn’t have to do it by the light of his torch. Beyond the desk was a hall that still faded into darkness. The hall was lined with doors, each closed and after trying to open a few and finding that they were locked, assumed the rest would be too.

The hall stretched out and out and did so until he came to an abrupt stop, facing the largest room he had ever seen. The walls of this massive circular room were lined with floors upon floors of shelves filled with all manner of books, statues, monuments, and artefacts from every period and culture on Earth and more recent ones from the colonies and first settlers of Mars.

In the centre of the room, was a series of floating rings circling each other at different angles and different speeds. The fastest of the rings moved at the pace of Riley’s watch, while the slowest moved so little that he could have sworn it didn’t move at all. The curious thing Riley noted was that these rings almost lined up to where they would be flat against each other.

Riley nervously approached the rings and the pedestal at their base. He watched with anticipation as the rings moved ever closer to their assumed destination. Slowly the rings crept together and Riley wondered what would happen when the came together. Would they keep going? Would they reveal something that only he would now know? As far as he could tell he was the only living soul in this museum of curiosities and history. No one else would be here for whatever he was about to witness.

Ever closer the rings crept, and Riley started to become nervous. What if something bad was going to happen? It didn’t look like a bad piece of machinery, but then why was there no one here? What had happened to them? Did they leave? Are they still here somewhere hidden away in a closet?

All these thoughts passed through Riley’s mind in a split second and all the while his eyes did not leave the rings. His attention was held hostage as these rings moved closer and closer together.

5…

A bead of sweat dropped from Riley’s fore head.

4…

He hadn’t noticed the tremble in his hands.

3…

Any moment now the rings would align, and he would find out what would happen.

2…

A single breathe escaped out of his mouth.

1…

The rings aligned and then they stopped. The base of the pedestal began to glow and made it way up to the top, in line with his stomach. The top grew brighter and brighter and soon became blinding. Riley could barely look at it, it had become so bright.

…let me show you…touch the pedestal…you will understand…

The voice dug into Riley’s mind like a worm and made its home there. The words hung in his mind, replaying over and over. He tried to look away and knew he must, but he couldn’t force himself to do it. He wondered if he touched the light would he would be released from this grasp that held him so tightly?

He made the thought to move and raised his hand towards the pedestal. The motion felt easier than breathing. He reached out and placed the palm of his hand on the top. At once everything in his vision became white. It consumed everything. He wondered if this was blindness, although he had always imagined blindness as a darkness, not a blinding light. He found it hard to concentrate. He felt himself losing balance and stumbled. His hand stayed on the pedestal, yet his knees gave out and he collapsed and everything became black.

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D-Week – Derelict 25/09/23-01/10/23

“Hello? Is anyone there?” The words rang out in the crashed ship. It’s been 6 months. These are the first words from another person I’ve heard. I wanted to leave but the ship wanted to keep me for itself. I hunt for the stranger in these dark, tight corridors but the voice told them to turn off the power. I wanted to do that once too. I find them pulling at the power. Ripping. Tearing at the cords. I can’t let them do it. The ship tells me to stop them. The power must stay on. This is not the first time I’ve defended the ship. The pulverized corpse beneath me tells me I’ve done it countless times before.

“Hello? Is there anyone there?” The stranger yells out into the dark corridors once again.

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C-Week – Caverns 18/09/23-24/09/23

The Chase

Andrew Hodgkiss sat low in his hover bike as he flew across the vast red plains of Mars. The wind and dust whipped past his face, but he didn’t care. His target, Jackson Church, was only a dark speck ahead of him. Further ahead to west, the mountains of the Erebus Montes rising before them. Andrew followed the dust cloud from Church’s hover bike in the distance, his eyes determined, hands tight on the handlebars. 

Andrew knew that if his target made it to the mountains then he could lose him to the caverns in the mountains. The caverns were a labyrinthian collection of old, abandoned mining tunnels from the first settlers on the red planet after the terraforming made the inhospitable planet viable life. Hoping to find minerals, or even just water they tunnelled deeper into the mountains.

After the corporations went bankrupt digging, the caverns laid silent and dark until nomads, criminals, and the desperate called them home. Jackson could hide in the caverns without worrying about being found for weeks.

Andrew sat focused on the speck ahead of him, the lust for revenge against Church burning in his mind. After robbing Andrew of a life with his wife and child because of a robbery gone wrong on their land, Andrew has sought Church’s life for a year. Travelling from settlement to settlement, finally Andrew will be able to take his revenge on Church.

The Erebus Montes grew taller the closer Andrew got to Church. He took his old ion rifle from the side of his bike and mounted it on the handlebars. The dust from Church’s hover bike clouded Andrew’s view. Andrew knew that any shot he was going to take could either miss Church’s bike or, worse still, kill Church before he got the chance to end him personally. If he didn’t take the shot, Church would escape and be lost for a long time.

Andrew weighed the choices before him and then took aim at Church. With one hand on the handlebars and the other on the rifle, Andrew squeezed the trigger. The blast missed Church’s bike by a few meters. Church, shocked by the sudden shot, swerved from side to side to avoid any further attempted shots from his pursuer.

Andrew cursed and took aim again. The dust made it impossible to take an accurate shot, and Church’s swerving did nothing to make it easier for Andrew, but he squeezed the trigger anyway and this time the shot hit something. He knew this because through the haze of dust Andrew could just make out Church struggling to keep his speeder steady.

The shot was too late. The foothills of the Erebus Montes appeared before them, and at base of the foothills, the numerous mine entrances from the early settlers.

Church, still trying to stabilise his hover bike, sped towards the nearest cave entrance. Andrew replaced his rifle and sped toward Church to cut him off. Unstable as it was Church made it to the entrance, ditched his bike and ran inside. Andrew caught up and, having seen Church’s bike dumped to the side, did so with his own and ran in after Church.

The Search

The darkness enveloped Andrew as soon as he stepped into the cave. The quiet, unsettling silence of the tunnel stretched out into the dark. Andrew took a few tentative steps further listening for any noises that Church may be making in escaping his pursuer. Andrew took out his torch and determined not to let Church go, he quickened his pace and forged ahead.

The constricting darkness continued around Andrew for a long time as he hurried down the tunnel. In his haste he didn’t see the electronic sensor on the wall at his feet. He crossed the invisible line and the sensor beeped but nothing happened. At once the ceiling behind him exploded downwards in a deafening BOOM. Chasing him as a predator hunts prey, the rest of the ceiling started to collapse after Andrew.

He sprinted down further into the darkness, the sound of rock crashing closely behind him. In his haste Andrew almost missed a path on the right wall of the tunnel. Taking the chance to escape his pursuer, he dove into the tight entrance, cutting his arms doing so. The old tunnel continued to collapse, but he was safe here. With the way back gone, he could only move ahead.

Following this new path, lit only by his torch, and resting his hand on the tech revolver in its holster, the room that Church waited in lay ahead.

“Church!” Cried Andrew into the darkness, “Jackson Church! Come out here and face me!”

Andrew turned the corner into a room lit by a solitary fire by a large boulder.

Church waited crouched behind the boulder, sweat beading up on his forehead, quietly prayed to himself.

“Who are you?” he yelled back in response.

“The name is Andrew Hodgkiss of Green River Ranch!”

The fire between them popped and spat up sparks, then settled into its rhythmic low crackling once again.

“Oh no.” Church exclaimed. “It’s you. So it’s finally happening then.”

“You killed my family, Church. I can’t let you get away with it.”

“There’s so much more going on. I’m only the tip of the iceberg-”

“Stop talking and come face me! Come out now and die like a man or stay there and die as a coward!”

“You have to understand, I-I had to. I had no choice!”

“I don’t care! You had the choice to turn away. You had the choice not to kill them!” The flood of vitriol in his voice spewed out.

Church took three deep breaths and slowly stood up from behind the boulder. His only protection from Andrew’s rage now becoming the barrier to his freedomA.

Andrew rested his hand above his revolver and waited for Church to emerge from behind the boulder.

Church emerged from the boulder and turned to face Andrew, fear and anger showing in equal parts on his face. His hand rested above his pistol ready to draw.

The silence surrounded both men as they counted in their heads. The glow of the fire illuminated their faces enough to look for any sign of action.

In the seconds that felt like an eternity, Church started to draw his weapon to win his escape, but Andrew, who was quicker to draw than Church grabbed his weapon and shot Church in stomach, blowing a hole through the man, dropping him to the ground.  

Shocked and pained, Church gasped and writhed on the ground, struggling away from Andrew. With his revolver levelled at Churches head, Andrew approached Church.

“You’re going to die here Church. I don’t care what choice you did or didn’t have. You crossed the wrong man.”

“You’re now part of something you can’t escape from.” Groaned Church as he felt his life leaving him. “Look for…the Surgeon…at…Hermes Station.”

Hermes Station was four days ride away from where they were, and he had no business there. The only reason to go was on the word of the dead man dying before him.

Without another word Andrew aimed at Churches head and pulled the trigger of his revolver one more time, finishing Church off for good. He bent down, took the dead man’s pistol and found his way out of the caves.

The Collection

A day later, Andrew walked up the steps of the sheriff’s office, the automatic doors whirred open, and a flood of cool air overcame Andrew as he walked in.

“Afternoon, Rence” said Andrew to the man sitting behind the desk, playing a game on his comm-tab.

“Good to see you too Andrew. Any luck finding Church for us?” Rence said without looking up from his game.

Andrew threw Churches pistol onto the desk, making a dull thud.

The sheriff took his feet off the desk and inspected the weapon. “That looks like Jackson Churches pistol alright. I’ll get you your money Andrew, just wait right there.” Said Rence as he stood up and moved to a safe not far from his desk.

“Did Church say anything to you before you killed him?”

“He was scared. He said a lot of things that didn’t make sense. He told me of some grand plan that he was a part of and that in killing him I’m a part of now as well. He also told me I need to look for someone at Hermes Station.”

Sheriff Rence took pause at this before continuing to collect the money. “That’s quite a trip, going three days north. Are you going to make the trip out there?”

“I dunno yet. I’ve been thinking about it, but I can’t think of a reason to go out there. I just want to go home.”

Rence closed the safe and returned with the money. “Why do you think he would tell you to see the Surgeon?”

Andrew paced the floor “It’s not like I want to go out there, its just…” Andrew paused, “Rence?”

Rence came back with the money in hand “Yeah?”

“I didn’t say anything about a surgeon.” Andrew said cautiously.

Rence put the money on the desk “I thought you had said you needed to look for the Surgeon at Hermes?”

“I said that I needed to look for someone. I never said the Surgeon.” Andrew turned to face Rence.

Sheriff Rence sighed, walked over to the door, and locked it. “I wished I hadn’t said that.”

“What are you-” Before Andrew could finish, a blast from Rence’s revolver caught Andrew I the side.

Andrew was thrown into the desk from the force of the blast. Churches gun flew into Andrew’s lap where he picked it up quickly and shot Sheriff Rence in the heart. The Sheriff was thrown against the door and slumped down, dead.

Andrew got up quickly, grabbed the money and moved the Sheriff’s body out of the way of the door. He peered out the door to make sure the coast was clear, and when he determined that it was, he mounted his speeder and started north, to Hermes Station. The decision to go was made up for him.

[supersetfiction]

B-Week - Black Hole

11/09-17/09

"Check status of electromagnets."

"Status: All electromagnets functional."

"Starting centrifuge rotation cycle. "

"Gravitational force at 10 G’s and rising."

"Check status of atoms."

"Atoms prepped for collision."

"Centrifuge gravity at 15G’s and increasing."

"Starting atom launch and tracking atom location."

"Atoms cycling at 90% speed of light."

"Atom cycle stable at 95%."

"Centrifuge gravity at 20G’s and stable."

"Increase power to atoms and monitor speed."

"Increasing power to centrifuge."

"Atom speed increasing."

"Holding at 99.99% speed of light."

"Final push to light speed. Increase power to atoms and check status."

"Final push confirmed. Increasing power."

"Atoms holding speed at 100% speed of light."

"Centrifuge integrity holding."

"Start collision."

"Starting collision. Guiding atoms."

"Atoms ready for collision in fusion chamber."

"Collide atoms."

"Colliding atoms."

———

"Atom collision successful."

"Extreme energy output from collision continuing to ignite with gases present in fusion chamber."

"Creation of stable artificial sun successful."

"Energy in fusion chamber increasing."

"Size of fusion at 1mm and slowly growing. "

"Check status of electromagnets and centrifuge structure."

"Energy from fusion is causing structure to show signs of duress. Duress is within accepted tolerances."

"Artificial sun size now increased to 2cm."

"Hold centrifuge speed and gravity and wait for artificial sun size to increase to 10cm."

"Centrifuge speed holding and sun size growing."

"Well done everyone. We’ve created the largest stable artificial sun to date."

"Centrifuge duress increasing. Structure is close to accepted tolerances."

"Begin transference of artificial sun to observation housing. "

"Prepping transference."

"Lining up transfer path between centrifuge and observation."

"Transfer path lined up."

"Alright people, just like we practiced."

"Begin transfer of artificial sun to observation housing."

"Beginning transfer to observation housing. Slowing centrifuge gravity to 10G."

"Centrifuge rotations slowing."

"On my count join Transfer Path to fusion chamber."

"3…2…"

"Centrifuge arm is bending! Transfer path is misaligned."

"Try to manually align transfer path and initiate transfer!"

"But the chamber is damaged and it could miss the Path."

"We may never have a chance like this again! Go now!"

"Transfer initiated."

"Imperfect contact with transfer path made."

"Launching sun into Transfer Path"

"Artificial sun launched into Transfer Path."

"The sun is making contact with sides of transfer path."

"Artificial sun is losing stability."

"Sun is contained in the observation housing but it’s bouncing all around the observation housing."

"Sun is losing molecular stability."

"Collapse is imminent."

"There are bright flashes are coming from the observation housing and the sun is expanding to the bounds of the housing."

"Integrity of housing is failing. Sound the alarm and get everyone out of the building. I’ll try and cut off power to the sun. It’s our only hope before it collapses."

"You need to get out! I'm not leaving without you!"

"I'm staying to turn the thing off. We can't have this going supernova because who knows how what damage it'll do to the lab!"

"Its getting bigger! There's nothing you can do to stop it. It's too late!"

"I have to try! I can't lose everything."

"Then I'm staying. We'll stop it together."

"Give me the status of the sun."

"Sun is at 5 meters diameter and increasing"

"Isolate Observation Housing from all external influences."

"Isolating Observation Housing. Turning off power to all non-essential functions."

"The sun is self sufficient. How will you put it out?"

"We're going to suffocate it. Seal the housing and begin extracting all air from the space."

"Sealing housing and extracting air."

"Good. Hopefully that slows it's growth at least for the moment. while we figure something out."

"It's not working. There's no air but it's getting bigger and less stable. The housing it coming apart."

"It's going supernova. There's nothing we can do to stop it and it'll be too late for us to get out now. It'll be a black hole soon."

"We stay to observe and record the creation of a black hole."

"Supernova beginning. The Housing has disintegrated due to the explosion. We can see a bright light and feel incredible heat from the supernova."

"The light and heat have dissipated leaving nothing behind. There is total blackness and an extreme pull to where the sun was. The pull is getting heavier and our own control room is being crushed as the pull gets heavier."

"The blackness is increasing and so is the incredible pull. We're both holding on as hard as we can but we can't for much longer. There's nothing we can do now. If we let go we'll be crushed."

"Let it be known that I, Teresa Miller and Wayne Cook are the first humans to be consumed by a bla-'"

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A-Week - Artefact

04/09 - 10/09

Hiding contraband is a process. You need to hide it in layers so the search becomes more and more tedious trying to find whatever it is they're looking for.

First I carry forged credentials for my ship. You can get though most searches with the right looking paperwork.

Second I hide the objects in the hold of my ship. I always have at least four cargo containers in there so that it looks like I’m already delivering. Nothing more suspicious than an empty cargo ship.

Third I hide something in plain sight. Whoever is looking wants to be the one who finds something. They look through the crates, and they look through the wall storage, and they never find anything because fourth, I lied about the second. I keep it under the crew quarters.

Usually my process works. Today wasn’t my lucky day.

I had taken a job to move a special package for Ulsa Batrian to a vendor at Citon Spaceport Markets in the Military-controlled Space Sector. It was supposed to be a straightforward job. I didn’t ask what the package was. All I knew is that is wasn’t very big so I could hide it easily.

I made sure that I had the right kind of papers for the trip. My cargo bay was full of crates with goods for another market vendor. And I made sure to hide the package in the crew quarters like I always do.

I had gotten out of the Free Space Sector without problems. It was getting in to Military controlled space that proved to be difficult. My usual guy had been replaced a few hours earlier and they were more nervous than usual over the communication array.

“We need to stop your vehicle for a routine contraband search. Make your way to Bay 10 and await further orders.”

Soon after landing the ship was bustling with a team of security all knocking, dragging, lifting, moving, and looking for any kind of contraband that this local planetary systems leaders have deemed illegal.

“This search has been going on for an hour, guys. I’m telling you, you’ve been through my whole ship and found nothing. I’m not carrying anything illegal.” I was saying to anyone who would listen. No one did.

The knocking continued until…

“Hey boss, I think I got something here!”

“What does it look like Phil?”

“I’ve got a space under the floor here.” Said Phil as he gave the near perfect fake panel a knock. The knock made a hollow sound compared to all the other compartments that he was banging on.

“That’s just my spare clothes and other personals in there.” said Jared. He was a big man that I took on to my crew a year earlier.

“Open the panel.”

Jared approached the panel and towered over the security guard by a full foot. With the gentle precision of months of practice he opened the panel. On top was neatly folded clothes, a commtab, and a bottle of something called Atomic Dunes Whiskey.

“What’s under the clothes?” The guard asked.

“Really? You guys have been here for over an hour. We don’t have anything to hide.”

“We’ll be the judge of that. Now move your clothes.”

As Jared started to move his clothes a yell came from the back of the ship.

“I've got something here!”

The guard looked up and back to the sound of the other guard and started to move to the back of the ship. As he did, Jared started to put the panel back.

"Leave it open and show me whats in there. Move the clothes."

Jared did so and all the guard could see was a few knick knacks, a pistol and an ornate box.

"Open the box."

Inside the box was old style photographs and folded letters.

The guard moved to the back of the ship where the guard had said he found something. Whatever it was.

I gave Jared a look of confusion. "Where is it?" I whispered to him when the guard was out of earshot.

Jared said nothing but opened up his jacket to show a wrapped bundle stowed away safely.

Jared replaced the bundle in the compartment as a guard was walking by and saw him put the bundle away.

"What do we have here? Open that up and lets have a look" He said with a self-satisfied look in his eyes.

Jared unwrapped the bundle to reveal an old leather bound book. There was no writing on the cover, only the embossed image of a gold bird on the cover.

"We found it boys!"

Two guards came to the side of the leader and drew their weapons.

"Put the book on the table and step away boy. We'll be taking that now."

Jared looked to me, unsure whether to put it down. "Put it down. It's not worth your life."

"That's right boy, put it down and you'll live a long life."

Jared put it on the table and took two three steps back.

The guard picked up the book, examined it, and placed it in his pocket. "Artefact will be very happy to finally add this to their collection and you can thank Ulsa Batrian for all this as well. He's the one that wanted to make sure that you'd get caught. He told us the ship to look for and what time we could expect you. We had no idea where the book would be, only that it was on this ship. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make a delivery."

As the lead guard walked away he called behind him to the other guards, "Take care of them all. We don't need them anymore."

As the guards raised their pistols and readied their aim, two blasts were heard and the two guards had dropped to the ground.

"Glad I was still here when this all went down, and I'm surprised they didn't find me."

"Isolde! I kicked you out at Tecore Station and closed the door. how did you get back in?" I asked

"Never mind that. We've got to get that book back before Artefact gets his hands on it."