ForeSender Rebirth: A Fantasy Action Adventure by Adrian Murphy

Author:Adrian Murphy [Murphy, Adrian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

38

Cavern

After resting in the emergency shelter, Rusty had headed deeper into the asteroid’s labyrinthine interior. She felt certain that staying in one place too long risked capture from the pursuers she was sure would soon be on her trail.

Now she closed her eyes and placed her hands against the chill bedrock wall. Once more, in her mind, she saw the sprawling network of the abandoned mine.

Her fears were realized. As she focused her gaze inward, she sensed movement in the passageways above her. She couldn’t tell how many there were, but was convinced that Wainwright would be among those hunting her. And she was under no illusions about his resolve to recapture her.

A heavy wrench, found in a storage area, lay at her feet. She’d hoped the workers had left behind a thermal lance or some other equipment she could more effectively use to defend herself. No such luck. She didn’t doubt the searchers would be armed and regretted not retrieving the laser pistol when she fled the hangar.

Rusty opened her eyes, sucked in a heavy breath, then leaned down and grasped the bulky wrench. She decided to make for a wide cavern at the lowest level of the mining works—fed by several tunnels—that she had glimpsed in her mind’s eye. There appeared to be another emergency shelter near the vast open area and what she believed was a former habitation block.

She suspected some of the space-based miners spent months if not years living in the agglomeration of passageways, perhaps seldom venturing to the administrative section close to the surface.

Another access shaft led down. Rusty grasped the iron rungs without hesitation. Upon reaching the bottom, she realized she had descended in total darkness—the lights broken—yet she’d failed to notice.

The rocky corridor beyond the shaft opening was also unlit. Despite this, she could see the way forward. She had no time to wonder how—just as she did not understand the scales that adorned her skin or the talons that had replaced her fingernails.

Part of Rusty’s mind screamed that the changes taking place in her body should terrify her. But even as she thought this, she felt an almost uncanny calm, a serene sensation that what was happening was normal and nothing to be concerned about.

The gem at the base of her throat throbbed every few minutes and was warm to the touch. The feeling was not unpleasant, as if the stone was a natural part of her body.

She recalled the incident on the park deck on New Hebrides space station. Several of Wainwright’s operatives had ambushed her in an isolated area. Each of her adversaries was armed. Yet somehow, unarmed, she had defeated all three. She hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself, but deep down, she knew she had incinerated the third attacker.

He had carried a laser rifle set to kill, unlike his two associates whose weapons were only on stun. She still didn’t know how, but the small pile of feathery gray ash—all that remained of his body—had been her doing.

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