Heroes: Starships & Apocalypse Volume Four by Andrew P. McGregor
Author:Andrew P. McGregor [McGregor, Andrew P.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2023-12-12T00:00:00+00:00
Chapter 3
The shuddering of the ship ceased within a few seconds, replaced by calm silence. Many people, those that had previously been staring at nothing, fell over, asleep or dead. The soft clanking of robots entered the room, and Leo watched as dozens of robots dragged away more and more people, up to a hundred of them.
âThey were already dead on the shakedown march,â Pony-tail woman commented casually.
âAlready dead?â
She shocked him with a genuine smile. âYep. Poor bastards must not have survived the procedure. Iâd say the aliens sent us all upstairs to test us out. Hey, my nameâs Rohini Chowdhuri. Ro for short.â Without another glance at the bodies of the dead, âRoâ stood up and walked to where Leo and Olivia were sitting on their beds. She stuck a hand out to Olivia, who reciprocated and shook her hand.
âI-Iâm Liv. Olivia I mean. Martin.â
Ro snorted and grinned back. âSo which is it? Liv, Olivia, or Martin?â
Liv wrinkled her nose. âYou know itâs Liv.â
âBecause youâre still alive?â
âYeah, I guess so,â Liv replied, but looked aghast at her arms and legs.
Ro turned to face Leo. Remembering his manners, he stood to shake her hand, just as his father had taught him, despite being in an alien spacecraft. âLeo Martin.â
âLee. Leo. Lo?â
âJust Leo.â
âThink I prefer Lee, but whatever. So how did you win your ticket to space?
âWin?â
âThatâs right, what brought you to the stadium to get abducted by these arseholes?â She began tying her hair into a bun at the back of her head. Without any string or bands she didnât have a lot of success, and the hair fell about her shoulders. She grunted and flicked the hair away. âGotta find some scissors before I lose my shit. Sorry about the language, Iâve been around too many baggage handlers.â
âI was just out with my friends to watch the soccer and down some beers.â He looked down at the floor, remembering that day. âHad a bit of a nightmare job that day so needed to blow off some steam. Iâm an auditor.â
âAuditor? Yeah, Iâd want to drown my sorrows if I got caught doing auditing.â She squinted at his face. âYou look young to be an auditor.â
âEighteen. Iâm just a trainee. What about you? Why were you at the stadium?â
She looked wistful for a moment, as if remembering that fateful night back on Earth. âI, uh... it doesnât really matter. Iâm just a fan of the planes.â
Leo and Olivia looked at each other, one eyebrow raised each. âDonât you mean the Newcastle Jets?â
Ro gave them a cheeky grin. âCaught me. Iâm no soccer fan. But, look, it doesnât matter why we were all there, weâre here now, hurtling through space at some unholy velocity, where any of us might go crazy or start a mutiny.â She tapped her forehead, mock-remembering a little detail. âOr both. Hey, hereâs a little distraction: Iâve been trying to work out if these, um, letâs call-em âupgrades,ââ she said and held up her arms, âincluded some cognitive enhancements, but I donât think Iâm any better at working things out than before.
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