Blackbird Survivor

“Nobody can hear you scream in the vacuum of space - or so they say.”

My big brother’s final words from our last conversation over the GalaWeb rattled around in my head as I hefted the body of one of my ship mates to the side of the cargo bay. We had been discussing my latest decision to “shack up with the military” as he had so eloquently put it. I thought about my retort I had given so I didn’t have to think about the dead body I was placing next to the six others.

“And I suppose shacking up with the military is a step down from shacking up with a different Space Bunny every night?” I teased.

He had laughed at me, one of his big Jax laughs where he threw his head of long, straw colored hair back and closed his caramel colored eyes.

“Speaking from experience sis, yes. A huge step down.” He’d winked at me then.

Jax was a big shot actor in the hottest new show back home called Space Force Alpha. It was about a space detective, played by Jax, who fought crime, arrested evil alien bad guys, and always saved the damsel of the week at the end of the episode.

I wiped the sweat from my brow with my forearm and suddenly cried out in pain. My reflection in the side mirror of one of the ATVs parked nearby made me pause. I had a nasty looking gash down my right temple, and had unknowingly wiped sweat and grime into it. Now that I was looking at it, I began to feel the throbbing pain of a headache. The shock was wearing off.

“Great.” I huffed.

I set about what I had been doing before my painful interruption and pulled the last tarp over the body I had just laid to the side.

“Civ… Soph… Right?” A robotic voice chimed on and fought through the static and interference to be heard clearly. I jogged over to the nearest terminal by the elevator and hit the few keystrokes I had learned in the week I had been aboard the Blackbird.

“Cain? Can you hear me? I was worried you’d been taken offline for good.” I said quietly. The ship was so eerily silent that I felt like talking too loud would disturb her somehow.

A holograph of a white orb materialized above the terminal. C.A.I.N stood for Computerized Artificial Intelligence Network. They were the ship’s AI unit.

“Civilian Sophie. Are you alright? You are the only heat source I am detecting.” The voice was robotic and monotone, but it was comforting. I wasn’t completely alone anymore.

“Yeah. I’m alright. A little banged up, but nothing a shower and a bandage won’t fix.” I swallowed hard. “And yes. I’m the only survivor. The raiders were definitely thorough.” The only reason I had survived was thanks to my fallen coworkers. I had hidden myself beneath a couple of them and played dead.

“I am glad you are still alive, civilian Sophie.”

I shuddered and suddenly felt every bit of sweat and dirt and corpse grime caked into my pores.

“Yeah Cain, me too. I’m gonna go shower, okay? Hold down the fort while I’m gone.” Giving a halfhearted salute to the terminal, I made my way up two floors to the living quarters. After stripping out of my government issued t-shirt and shorts and my regulation plain black cotton bra and underwear, I stepped into the shower stall and turned the water on as hot as I could stand it.

The water that pooled around my feet was muddy brown, and then red, and by the time it was clear and I was satisfied that I had scrubbed all of my fellow shipmates’ blood off of me, there was a thick steam hanging in the air and condensation fogged the shower doors and the mirror above the compact sink. As the water beat against my back and neck, I hugged my arms around my middle. In the isolation of the shower stall, the events leading up to the last few hours came back to me in painful shards.

“So how are you liking the Blackbird so far?” Lieutenant Hawk and I had been in the mess hall. They had just wrapped up supper. I was full, and leaning against the back of my chair.

“It’s actually been a lot of fun. I’m learning a lot here. Thanks for having me.” He had shined his perfectly straight pearly whites at me, and I’d thought I’d like to…

A breath I hadn’t realized I was holding escaped from my lungs in a rush, and I coughed. My eyes stung, and I realized I was crying. Hawk had become a friend in the short time I’d been up here with all of them. I had begun to think that he could maybe be more. His body was one I had hid under to escape the raiders.

There had been a loud bang, so loud it shook the inside of the ship. There was a commotion near the elevator, and the Commander had come to address us.

“Soldiers. Sophie.” His voice had been tense, almost strained. He was scared, and he didn’t want it to show. His eyes flitted over each of us, but they had settled on me. His gaze looked almost apologetic.

“Is everything alright Commander?” Hawk had stood at attention when the Commander walked in, as did the rest of the crew. I awkwardly stood up because I didn’t want to be the only one sitting down.

“We’re being boarded.” The Commander spoke low and with purpose. The quiet panic that the ship broke out in then made me more anxious than if everyone had started running around screaming.

My chest heaved with another sob and I cradled my head in my hands. The water rushing over my skin suddenly went from steaming hot to lukewarm, and I decided I should get out before it got any colder.

I grabbed a towel from the cabinet as I shut off the water and stepped out of the sauna I’d created. After drying off and stepping into fresh clothes, I piled my crimson hair on top of my head and wrapped it in the towel to dry.

There was a thunderous bang! as I exited the bathroom and I immediately hit the floor, thinking of the cat-like eyes and mouths full of fangs.

“Cain?!” I cried out from my near fetal position on the floor. I heard the harmonious chime in response.

“Civilian Sophie.” The monotone voice wasn’t so comforting at the moment. I looked up at the terminal across the hall from where I was crouched. Their words were followed closely by the same whining alarm I had heard before the first attack.

“We’re being boarded.”