The Belt: The Complete Trilogy by Gerald M. Kilby

Author:Gerald M. Kilby [Kilby, Gerald M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Outer Planet Media
Published: 2018-11-18T07:00:00+00:00

Scott awoke to darkness and a cold shiver. The temperature in the facility had dropped, and the only light came from a dim emergency lighting strip running along the ceiling. “Cyrus, you awake?” Scott glanced over and could just make out a mound in the bunk opposite. It stirred. “Cyrus, something’s wrong with the power.”

“Eh?” the mound replied.

Scott sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bunk. “How long have we been asleep?”

Cyrus grumbled as he checked his internal clock. “Crap… almost ten hours.” He slowly moved himself off the bunk.

Ten hours. How is that possible? thought Scott. “Maybe they drugged us?”

“Or maybe they lowered the oxygen levels. That and the fact that we were pretty exhausted anyway.”

Scott put a finger to his lips to signal to Cyrus to keep quiet.

“What?” whispered Cyrus. “I don’t hear anything.”

“That’s the point,” said Scott. “Neither do I. It’s very quiet out there.” He gave Cyrus a look. “I think we need to investigate, find out what’s going on.”

They opened the door and moved into a short corridor. It was dimly lit, but not by emergency lighting. This meant that there was still power in the facility, something that came as a relief to Scott. The section they were in was below ground, like most of the research station. They moved quietly down the corridor to a stairwell at the far end. They could hear nothing but the sounds of their own footsteps. They exited the stairs into the ground level area where they had first met Dogg and his crew. It had been stripped clean.

“Shit. They’re gone,” said Scott.

Cyrus stood mute as he surveyed the barren space. “How…?”

“Hello?” Scott shouted. But there was no reply save for a faint echo. He looked over at Cyrus as the realization of their situation began to sink in. “They’ve cleared out, taken everything with them, and stranded us here.”

Cyrus took a second or two to respond. “But how? I didn’t see a shuttle outside.”

“They were obviously picked up by someone.”

“Well, that’s great. Just great. I thought we were home and dry.” Cyrus gave an exasperated sigh.

“We’d better figure out what we’ve got here in terms of life support.” Scott glanced around the space. “Let’s find where the operations room is. Come on.”

Both Scott and Cyrus had been in a great many research stations over the years, and they all had a similar layout. It was a design honed by both practicality and necessity in equal measure. Above ground was a domed structure used primarily for goods and vehicle storage. It was not a space you wanted to spend a lot of time in unless it came with heavy radiation shielding or its own magnetosphere. The latter was a recent technological advancement which required a considerable power source to function.

The biggest threat to life in space was cosmic radiation, a constant background noise of heavy isotopes traveling at almost the speed of light. Exposure caused damage to cellular life, and prolonged exposure led to certain death.

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