Xn by Clint Townsend

Author:Clint Townsend
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction/Christian/Fantasy/Futuristic/Suspense
Publisher: Elm Hill
Published: 2018-12-06T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

AWOL

“Great!” Armada grumbled. “Now what do I do?”

The deck of CARBEL One was nearing the Aerie at the top of the SUBOS, and, as he peered down, the reality of potential danger struck him. In the excitement of the moment of following the orb, Armada failed to consider his options upon arriving at the SUBOS. Without his identification lanyard, he had no means of accessing the inner tower. He didn’t have any zone authorization codes or passes, and was incapable of generating artificial permissions to the SUBOS elevator systems. Once he reached the Aerie and was found to have left the Arena without an authorized release from Garret, dire consequences were sure to follow.

Armada scooted away from the platform’s edge and rolled over on to his back. Gazing up at the carbon braids and multitude of stars, he proceeded to talk his way through the anticipated scenario of being caught.

“Okay, any minute now we’ll trip the first descent sensor, triggering the load lights. Right after that comes the second sensor, which will cause the dock beacons to begin flashing. Then the locks will engage, and the deck officer on duty will come and ask me why I’m on the CARBEL without an authorization code. He’ll ask the staging and dispatch clerks to check their incoming and outbound manifests for any individual….”

He stopped talking to himself when something caught his attention. Staring up at the four vertical deck support posts, it suddenly occurred to him that the load lights didn’t engage. Not only that, but the four mounted video monitors weren’t recording as they normally should. He knew this to be true due to the absence of illumination by either a red or green miniature LED status light on the camera’s exterior.

“Why are there no load lights?” he wondered aloud. “And the cameras should have started recording the moment the platform pulled away from the Halo.”

Curious as to the extent of malfunctioning gadgetry, he rolled to his chest and crawled to the edge of the CARBEL deck. Just as he thought, the platform had indeed passed the descent sensors and should have, technically, engaged the lights and beacons. But as he pulled himself over the elevator’s edge, he saw the beacons on the deck’s underside, like the monitors and floodlights, were void of life.

Even though the CARBEL was nearing its final destination, from his temporary vantage point, Armada could easily view the entire Aerie and staging zones. The Aerie’s footprint was nearly equivalent to that of a soccer field. All five CARBEL prestaging areas were filled to capacity. Each CARBEL had three prestaging zones, and were aptly named PSZs. So CARBEL One, more commonly known as CE1, had PSZs One, Two, and Three. CARBEL Two, CE2; CARBEL Three, CE3; and so on, followed by a PSZ number. CARBEL One, Prestaging Zone One would read CE1 PSZ1, and on down the line.

The platform touched down with a deep and mighty thud. Armada remained motionless as he lay on his chest. After looking about the Aerie, he slowly and cautiously erected himself.

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