Chariot 3: Conception
Chapter 40 – Free fall

“If what goes up must come down, does everything that go down must come up?”

-Martian proverb.

Fortunate, Shoffer quickly recovered his consciousness, with the feeling of the air blowing against the back of his neck, as his body accelerated towards the ground.

“Captain, are you all right? Can you hear me?” V-Nus` voice echoed inside his mind.

He opened his eyes, blinked a couple of times, and dissipated the blur, recovering his full sight.

The falling Captain then stared above and found the disc shaped ship that once was under his command becoming smaller and smaller at the distance.

Surprised, Shoffer thought he would never hear any of his crew again.

“V-Nus, you must complete the mission! Lead the Greys astray and return to the black hole.” The Captain`s distorted voice was broadcasted to the crew who stared at each other without daring to proceed with his orders.

Wondering of how much time he would have until `landing`, as he preferred to think in his sarcastic mind, Shoffer struggled to finally flip his body facing down to find out that the land was not as far ahead as he wished.

The air was blown directly onto his face caused the weird vibrating sensation on his cheeks and immediately dried his opened eyes and mouth as he tasted the Earthian air for one last time.

“What about you Captain?” Cai Yiu Hun, V-Nus, and Flumen enquired while the three fought to regain control of the falling ship.

“You must leave me behind! We are outnumbered. Coming back for me would only decrease your chances of succeeding. This is an order!”

While the crew was stagnant with the Captain`s determination to complete the mission, Chariot 3 started to self-heel by utilizing the small provision of graphene solution that still remained in her tanks.

The viscous liquid started to flow to the edges of the destroyed hull, rapidly solidifying at the pace it progressed.

An imperceptibly thin layer of metagraphene sealed the two holes, one after the other, making Chariot 3 suddenly regain pressurization, returning the false sensation of calmness back to the crew. V-Nus could once again feel the ship’s capacity of immediate response to his thoughts.

“Outnumbered?” Cai Yiu seemed to have something else in mind.

“Captain, permission to proceed overboard?” The armory and weapons specialist enquired while getting up from his seat without giving V-Nus the chance to grant his request.

Cai Yiu Hun rapidly slid through the pipe down to the Flight Deck while transmitting his vague thoughts to Sissy and the others.

In the background, Chariot 3 continued to deviate from a series of beams, discharged by the remaining crafts still on their chase.

Cai Yiu quickly placed the helmet on his head at the same time he re-opened the magnetic passage.

In the meanwhile, V-Nus tried his best to inspire Flumen. “Perfect, Flumen! That’s just the two of us. Captain Shoffer is falling and we still have four of those crafts behind us. We can do it!” Although that perhaps inspiring was not among the best of his qualities.

Flumen listened to V-Nus` words as he watched him with an indescribable face.

More fearless than any of the others had ever seen him before, Cai Yiu Hun was ready to set the Nibirian warrior that rested inside him free.

Cai Yiu closed both his fists, giving the last instructions to the spherical probes, slightly bended his knees and then, without looking down, he jumped off the ship through the magnetic passage.

“What is he doing?” Flumen shouted while watching Cai Yiu underneath with the transparency mode.

V-Nus turned to Flumen and with a comforting although momentary smile, he replied. “What he`s been trained for.”

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