She was floating, somewhere in a dark place. Sometimes she thought she could hear voices, but they were just a distant whisper among the continuous pulsing in the background. But there was this smell. She couldn’t recognize it, it was just strange.
‘I do not care’ she thought, ‘it is warm and comfy, it is okay.’
Comfy? How could this darkness she was floating in feeling comfy? Slowly she became aware that she was laying on something... or under something?
‘A bed, I am laying in a bed!’ flashed through her mind as she tried to remember. ‘The explosion, the flash! They found me in time!”
Sarah carefully opened her eyes, blinking many times until she got used to the light in the room. It took her a moment to recognize Eric Hunt sitting on a chair besides her bed, his arm fixed by an unfamiliar bandage.
“Sarah” he said and smiled, “welcome back among the living... I thought we had lost you.”
Sarah looked at him with suspicion. Did Eric felt responsible for what happened?
“What happened on Pan? I just remember some kind of explosion that hit me” she asked and shivered. “I do not remember much after this point.”
“Be grateful about this, when they brought you to the station your leg looked like the Thor Heyerdahl had rolled over it.” Eric took a deep breath, trying to find the right words. “In fact you would have died if I had not allowed the Fen to use their... their magical stuff.”
Sarah stared at him for a moment, then she looked down to her legs... or better her leg. Even now she could felt her other leg itching, but she could see that there was only one leg below the blanket. She pulled out her arm under the blanket and twitched.
“What... FUR? HOW?” she cried with wide eyes. “WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?”
---
The door suddenly opened and a catgirl rushed in. “Cathy! CATHY!!! We found it, we really found IT!”
Cathy slowly stood up from the communication terminal she had been using to talk with Coruscant a few minutes ago.
“Calm down Alice, the attack is over and we have more than enough time to breath” she said grinning. “Now sit down and tell me what you found.”
“No, you have to see it yourself” the other catgirl replied hectically, grabbed Cathy’s hand and pulled her up towards one of the corridors.
‘Keep calm, no reason to throw her around’ Cathy thought, trying to keep her martial arts training under control and stumbling along with Alice. “So what is so important that it cannot wait?”
“You remember we launched all of our drones for a sensor perimeter?” Alice asked while they both ran towards Jengas control tower. “We also sent one along the path of the projectile to backtrack it. It just reported back a minute ago!”
“So you found some evidence who shot us?” Cathy shot back. Suddenly she was a lot more interested in what Alice told her.
“No, we did not... but we found something else!”
With this they both reached the room of Jengas second holo-globe. Cathy could so a lot of small holographic dots floating in a roughly spherical configuration.
“This is a huge cloud of small and large pieces of matter, distributed over nearly a lightsecond diameter” Alice explained. “They are all moving outwards outwards from a common center... and their movement started the moment the projectile was there too.”
“We need the coordinates and vectors of each of the parts as precisely as possible” Cathy said, looking at the holographic image. “THIS might be the only evidence we have at the moment, maybe we can reconstruct what it was!”
Alice grinned.
“Cathy, we are not amateurs... we already have sent more drones there to get a real good sensor image of each part, and a group of Exocomps who will collect all the small part. They will arrive soon! Don’t worry, we have thought of everything!”
---
It took Eric nearly thirty minutes to calm down Sarah a bit. Finally he leaned forward and grabbed her at both shoulders.
“Sarah, look at me... LOOK AT ME! You were minutes away from DYING. Whatever they did, they SAVED YOU.” he said, looking directly into her eyes. “Don’t let me down now, you have to calm down.”
Sarah just stared at him silently for nearly a minute, then she slumped down into the bed again.
“So thats how it ends” she whispered as Eric took her hand. For more than ten minutes neither of them spoke a word.
Then someone knocked at the door and opened it. A catgirl with a Red Cross batch entered the room, carrying a tray with food on it.
“You are finally awake!” she said with a smile, “I am Taja, you gave me quite a shock when they brought you in. I worried we wouldn’t be able to save you.”
“Thank you for saving me” she said and sighed. “Our mission busted, ESA will fire me as soon as they learn about this and I am crippled. Just great.”
The catgirl looked a bit puzzled and showed her the tray.
“You shouldn’t be so negative... I am sure your mission will continue and ESA will surely not fire anyone until the mission is over.” Taja said. “Just eat something, you must be very hungry.”
“I am not really in the right mood to eat” Sarah said and shook her head. “Just give me something against the damned itching of my missing leg!”
“Oh, that is just your leg regrowing, the itching should go away in a few hours when the leg is finished. Now get something to eat!”
Sarah blinked a few times.
“Wait... WHAT?”
‘I do not care’ she thought, ‘it is warm and comfy, it is okay.’
Comfy? How could this darkness she was floating in feeling comfy? Slowly she became aware that she was laying on something... or under something?
‘A bed, I am laying in a bed!’ flashed through her mind as she tried to remember. ‘The explosion, the flash! They found me in time!”
Sarah carefully opened her eyes, blinking many times until she got used to the light in the room. It took her a moment to recognize Eric Hunt sitting on a chair besides her bed, his arm fixed by an unfamiliar bandage.
“Sarah” he said and smiled, “welcome back among the living... I thought we had lost you.”
Sarah looked at him with suspicion. Did Eric felt responsible for what happened?
“What happened on Pan? I just remember some kind of explosion that hit me” she asked and shivered. “I do not remember much after this point.”
“Be grateful about this, when they brought you to the station your leg looked like the Thor Heyerdahl had rolled over it.” Eric took a deep breath, trying to find the right words. “In fact you would have died if I had not allowed the Fen to use their... their magical stuff.”
Sarah stared at him for a moment, then she looked down to her legs... or better her leg. Even now she could felt her other leg itching, but she could see that there was only one leg below the blanket. She pulled out her arm under the blanket and twitched.
“What... FUR? HOW?” she cried with wide eyes. “WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?”
---
The door suddenly opened and a catgirl rushed in. “Cathy! CATHY!!! We found it, we really found IT!”
Cathy slowly stood up from the communication terminal she had been using to talk with Coruscant a few minutes ago.
“Calm down Alice, the attack is over and we have more than enough time to breath” she said grinning. “Now sit down and tell me what you found.”
“No, you have to see it yourself” the other catgirl replied hectically, grabbed Cathy’s hand and pulled her up towards one of the corridors.
‘Keep calm, no reason to throw her around’ Cathy thought, trying to keep her martial arts training under control and stumbling along with Alice. “So what is so important that it cannot wait?”
“You remember we launched all of our drones for a sensor perimeter?” Alice asked while they both ran towards Jengas control tower. “We also sent one along the path of the projectile to backtrack it. It just reported back a minute ago!”
“So you found some evidence who shot us?” Cathy shot back. Suddenly she was a lot more interested in what Alice told her.
“No, we did not... but we found something else!”
With this they both reached the room of Jengas second holo-globe. Cathy could so a lot of small holographic dots floating in a roughly spherical configuration.
“This is a huge cloud of small and large pieces of matter, distributed over nearly a lightsecond diameter” Alice explained. “They are all moving outwards outwards from a common center... and their movement started the moment the projectile was there too.”
“We need the coordinates and vectors of each of the parts as precisely as possible” Cathy said, looking at the holographic image. “THIS might be the only evidence we have at the moment, maybe we can reconstruct what it was!”
Alice grinned.
“Cathy, we are not amateurs... we already have sent more drones there to get a real good sensor image of each part, and a group of Exocomps who will collect all the small part. They will arrive soon! Don’t worry, we have thought of everything!”
---
It took Eric nearly thirty minutes to calm down Sarah a bit. Finally he leaned forward and grabbed her at both shoulders.
“Sarah, look at me... LOOK AT ME! You were minutes away from DYING. Whatever they did, they SAVED YOU.” he said, looking directly into her eyes. “Don’t let me down now, you have to calm down.”
Sarah just stared at him silently for nearly a minute, then she slumped down into the bed again.
“So thats how it ends” she whispered as Eric took her hand. For more than ten minutes neither of them spoke a word.
Then someone knocked at the door and opened it. A catgirl with a Red Cross batch entered the room, carrying a tray with food on it.
“You are finally awake!” she said with a smile, “I am Taja, you gave me quite a shock when they brought you in. I worried we wouldn’t be able to save you.”
“Thank you for saving me” she said and sighed. “Our mission busted, ESA will fire me as soon as they learn about this and I am crippled. Just great.”
The catgirl looked a bit puzzled and showed her the tray.
“You shouldn’t be so negative... I am sure your mission will continue and ESA will surely not fire anyone until the mission is over.” Taja said. “Just eat something, you must be very hungry.”
“I am not really in the right mood to eat” Sarah said and shook her head. “Just give me something against the damned itching of my missing leg!”
“Oh, that is just your leg regrowing, the itching should go away in a few hours when the leg is finished. Now get something to eat!”
Sarah blinked a few times.
“Wait... WHAT?”