Divided States of America by Aithal

Author:Aithal [Aithal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Season Ball
Published: 2020-01-03T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Bill sprang from the chair when he looked at his screen. His eyes widened. He grabbed the receiver with his eyes still peeled on the screen.

“Are you seeing this?” he barked as soon as Doug answered.

“Yes.”

Martin’s ears perked up. Frustrated—yet curious—he leaned further towards the wall that separated him from Will.

What are they seeing? He thought. It must be something important.

The pod was slowly lodging itself back in the empty bay. Steam hissed on the edges of the rim as it lodged itself back in the cavity. A soft light cast silhouettes of two figures in its hull. Soon after, a bright light turned on from the far end of the pod. The figures walked towards that and disappeared.

*-*-*

Don and Tom walked towards the lit corridor that led to the central control room of the ship. As soon as they had reached the place, Kim ran towards them and hugged Tom as if she was seeing him after a long time. Taken aback by surprise, he reluctantly and awkwardly reciprocated.

“Oh, Tom! Thank you,” she said.

“For what?” he looked confused.

“For saving my life—for healing me. Terry told me what you did.”

“Oh, that?” his eyes brightened. “That was nothing…er…I mean…you are welcome,” he stammered. For the first time in his life, he found himself tongue-tied, overwhelmed with an emotion that he had never experienced before. He looked at Don, who was grinning.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Don replied as he continued to smile.

“Then why are you smiling? Did I say anything wrong?”

“No, not at all. I’m just finding the whole situation funny with you being awkward. I’ve never seen you like this before.”

Not knowing how to respond, Tom just shrugged.

“What’s happening?” he asked, heading towards the dashboard. The light was still blinking. He looked at the screen in front of him. Two out of focus blinking lights appeared on the screen. He turned a knob to zoom into them. The two drones came into focus. They were hovering above the ship with their cameras pointed at it.

“Drones,” Terry exclaimed, “How many are there?”

“I see two,” Tom replied.

“Are there more?” Terry asked.

“Let me check,” he replied as he panned the camera to scan the vicinity. “No,” he shook his head.

“Are they armed?” Don asked.

“I’m not too sure, but I’d say no,” Tom said. “I think they are just scouting us.”

“What should we do?” Kim asked. But before Don could reply, she turned to Tom, “Can we talk to them from here?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

He reached for a wireless microphone. “Speak in this,” he said flicking a switch.

She looked at Don apprehensively. He nodded his approval. She hesitated a little before speaking, “Hello?”

Silence. The drones continued to hover over the ship. “Hello?” she repeated.

Bill heard a crackled voice of a woman on the speaker next to the screen. He immediately pressed a button on the speaker to transfer the sound to his receiver. Now, only he and Doug could hear the voice.

“Hello,” he replied.

His voice was transmitted to the drone and was beamed out via the external speaker mounted.

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