Edward Graves: Temporal Detective
Chapter 31: The Gravity of the Situation

Ivana Baskov smiled softly as she delicately ran a silken cloth along the length of her blade, gently wiping away Solomon Cain’s blood.

Melanie was shaking and felt like she was going to be sick. She wanted to just drop to her knees and cry; to sob and heave and bellow in anguish and in grief. But more than that, she wanted to live. Even more than that, she wanted to avenge Solomon and that meant, stopping Baskov and her employers.

She glanced over at the console she’d been working at, specifically at the artificial gravity controls. Shutting off the artificial gravity was easy, but she’d need to be quick. It would take twenty, maybe thirty seconds for her to do it and she had to actually get to the console first. Ivana didn’t seem to have a gun, apparently she favoured swords. That was positive, unless she was fast. If she were fast then she’d probably be able to cut her down before she made it to the console. She had a feeling that Ivana Baskov was probably fast.

She looked at Ivana, she was nearly done cleaning her weapon. As if she could sense that she was being watched, she glanced up at Melanie with her piercing eyes and said in that thick accent, “Don’t worry dear, I’ll be with you shortly.”

Knowing that she would be dead soon anyway, she took a chance and dove for the console. The seconds slowed down, stretching out into hours.

Ivana looked up from her sword.

Melanie accessed the gravity settings.

Ivana lunged forward.

Melanie requested an emergency gravity shutdown.

Ivana swung her sword outwards.

Melanie entered her security code and there was a large grinding sound, machinery coming to a halt.

Ivana closed the gap between them, just as her feet floated out from under her.

Melanie turned around just in time to dodge the blade that swung towards her back and then she felt herself rising from the floor, like an angel ascending to the heavens. She quickly grabbed onto the leather strap that was attached to the consol for just such an occasion. Her legs drifted towards the ceiling, as did her short crop of hair, but she held onto that strap with all of her strength.

Ivana had been taken by surprise and thus had taken too long to react. She swung her sword at Melanie, just narrowly missing her right shoe. She yelled something, which Melanie assumed was a Russian profanity.

“Sorry, I don’t speak Russian,” said Melanie.

“Let me down right now you little brat,” spat Ivana as she bounced around the ceiling trying to get control of herself.

“I don’t think so,” said Melanie as she did her level best to keep herself anchored. Keeping her legs down was hard enough, but stopping her shirt from drifting up too far was another challenge in itself.

She looked over at the door and pondered whether she’d be able reach it without drifting up within sword range. She looked up and had to stifle a scream. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t noticed it before. The room was now full of floating corpses. Blood drifted from wounds and floated towards the ceiling in big globs. Her body went limp and she released her grip on the strap. Fortunately, she took hold of it again before she could float away.

She looked in terror upon Solomon’s body as it floated by. She wasn’t sure how, but there was something about his expression which pushed her. It was as if he were telling her to keep going. She broke away from his lifeless gaze and turned her attention to Ivana, who was beginning to get control of herself. She crouched upside down, on the ceiling and it looked as if she was going to attempt to spring down at Melanie.

Melanie took one last look at Solomon and then decided to take another risk. She reached down to the control panel and reactivated the artificial gravity.

Ivana kicked off of the ceiling with her sword stretched out before her, just as Melanie felt her stomach sink and her feet fell clumsily to the floor. Wasting no time, she dove for the door and turned around just in time to see Ivana crashing to the floor with a scream, her sword snapping in half and the pieces sliding in two different directions. Finally, as it rained blood and corpses, Solomon’s body fell directly on top of her and pinned her to the floor. Ivana Baskov was left battered, bruised and covered in her blood, as well as Solomon’s.

Melanie wiped away a tear and smiled at how even in death Solomon had managed to save her and get revenge. She hoped that it brought him some peace.

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