blast. The mass heat flash forced her hand off the window, she enabled her eyes to analyse the data and it surprised her to find out what it was. As the epidermal layers of the glass were the most exposed, they grew crystals from the plasma blast. Next to arrive was the shockwave that threw her back.
Catching a stranger glimpse, Sally watched as the gunships tumbled out of the sky. Breaking on the surface, the gunships were partially recognisable as the Stal model 10 gunner, more commonly nicknamed stallions. While the stallions were downed and out of action, Amber got herself up to pound at the window to get to freedom. Hitting the window repeatedly forced the damaged fittings around it to stretch and then shatter. With the loosened window, dust clouds swirled into the cockpit. It was heavy to shift out of the fittings and its thickness didn’t help either, with a thud following the window’s clumsy landing on the planet’s surface, Sallyn was now free. Using the autopilot’s seat, she pushed herself out of the vehicle and into the dust ridden air. Her landing was soft and uncomfortable as stones tried to jab into her back.
In comparison to the previous excursion, the atmosphere had changed and micro tremors were being detected. Although faint, the readings pointed to geothermal activity had been reinitiated. Out of Sallyn’s curiosity, and to the amazement of the study, she saw the readings had drastically changed. Recording her thoughts, she began to reorganise her mind “Atmospheric pressure increased by a factor of 0.5% in one blast of Plasma.” Such phenomena was unheard of in natural circumstances as the only thing to produce such quantities of plasma, were mass coronal ejections in excessive magnitudes from stars at least twenty times the size of this planet’s neighbouring one.
A brief headache allowed Amber to come to her senses. While the crews of the gunships were preoccupied with getting out of the hulks dotting the landscape, rapidly she sought an overhanging ledge. Realising the scattered crews didn’t have the capacity to determine the planet’s unstable weather conditions, Amber needed to act fast. Streaks of light soon followed by the bellowing roars of thunder signified the worst is yet to come.
Burning was all she could feel as a drop of rain rolled down her tendril. The heavily laden skies were ready to release their cargo. She caught sight of a soldier pointing to her as she scouted for shelter. Dashing to the nearest overhang, Amber allowed the adrenaline flow to come but regulated it to prevent irrational thinking. The crunch of the freshly crystallised soil made it easier to detect the footfalls of the numerous enemies giving chase. Heat tingled the back of her scalp, she glanced to see a familiar set of MATECA armour handling a very familiar weapon. He made planet fall especially for her. Pounding came from her heart as the mind’s subconscious self preservation mechanism caught up with her brain’s calculations. Instinct took hold as her body elegantly leapt into a sprint for the nearest overhanging ledge.
Fluids pumped furiously throughout her body. Each thunderous footfall was one more step closer to the continuation of her existence. Ears caught the tell tale patter of the full force rainfall chasing her to the sheltered alcove. More rapid burns streaked down her back, she had no choice but to remove her robe as it erupted into flame. She raised the mass of fire soaked clothing while the rain caught up with her. On her naked skin, the air was warm and tingling and then came the real pain as the acid droplets began devouring layers of skin. Amber held her composure until the rocks above shielded her from the onslaught. Hurriedly she wrapped the robe around her and turned to see what lay behind her. Curtains of toxic liquid disrupted her view of the soldiers panicking under the condition of burning rain. Very few had the determination to follow after her. There was only one whom completely ignored the effects of the environment around them.
“RUN, BITCH, RUN. GIMME SOMETHING GOOD TO KILL” It could only be one as her spine flared with the scalding heat of his weapon. Amber wasn’t sure if they’d heard her but she knew that the instinctive scream ripped its way into the calm ambiance of the rainfall. Tripping over a rock, she slammed hard into the razor sharp soil, shards of crystalline material ate their way into her skin and she soon realised that even here, she was not accepted. Her hands raked at the sharp teeth of the topsoil as she got back up. Glancing briefly, she surveyed the local geography for a way out.
The clearing between the overhanging ledges were going to force her to run out in the rain. Any other alternative meant a brutal execution at the hands of an obvious psychopath. Her programmes within her head spotted in the distance a cave large enough for her to seek some definite shelter. Scrambling back to her feet was the hardest part as she could sense the psycho preparing to blast her with one long beam of fiery energy. Forsaking the cloak, she embraced the pain to come as adrenaline would soon compensate for the damage done to her body. Wearing next to nothing, Amber had her augments help ignore each stride’s worth of burning tears to achieve her eventual escape. It was further than she thought, but this cruel world had other plans as the torrential downpour terminated abruptly as it had started. Fumes rose from the saturated ground, they were getting through the damaged atmospheric filter covering here nose and mouth, Amber soon began choking.
Escape this time would be even more difficult. Thankfully her legs kept propelling her toward that darkness of obscure safety. It would be a nightmare to deal with, but her options were limited. Scoured skin bled slowly as the grazes and acid burns delved deeper into the layers of skin on her human body. Even her augments were complaining of severe epidermal damage caused by the destructive atmosphere, but they persevered as much as she did.
Bull rushing into her most feared of spaces, Amber clambered through the sharp stone void. Blood rushed through her body, delivering packages of adrenaline to her muscles, preparing her flight from the black. Claustrophobia was really beginning to annoy her as it was trying to drive her back to the executioners outside. She must have been two or three metres into the tunnel when she felt the sudden end of the cave. Sounds of water droplets could be heard landing in a very large body of water. Infrared vision found it difficult to identify specifics of the chamber’s dimensions. Most of the room looked black with a green haze of static to it. Shuffling and rubbing sounds on the cave exit behind her let her know what was coming.
Deep breathes and a slow rolling tear before one final act that she would regret. As she pushed against the rocks, Amber leapt with a scream to her death.
Slamming hard into the body of water, her skin ached from the force of the flat impact. Fluid devoured her body, cold to her extremities, but soothing nonetheless. Bubbles floated and tingled upon her body as they sought to rejoin the atmosphere. Opening her eyes, the infrared found light to absorb. Pulses of what appeared to be fluorescent coral colonies shone the way, Amber needed air before she could pursue the entities any further. Using a natural flowing motion to surface out of the water, she realised that is what she resided in, a subterranean pool of precious clean water. The gasp for air echoed throughout the cavern. White lights beamed into the darkness, ruining her infrared vision. She changed her vision again, this time back to regular sight, Amber then began to follow the pulses of coloured light leading away from the bright pair behind her. She soon was able to see the reddish rock below her and realised what that meant.
Diving beneath the surface, she swam above the string of coral to evade the potent cutter lasers. While the water absorbed most of the heat, she could still feel the heat of the gun on the calf of her leg.
Blood loss was starting to make her light headed as the adrenaline fuel ran out and her body writhed in agony as it realised the damage done. Flesh was rebellious in this way. Lights vanished as her body curled up. A sudden thunderous roar followed by a burst of light as the roof collapsed into the pool behind her. Smouldering boulders cannon balled into the pool, clouds of red mist billowed in the lake. Something moved in the water with her.
Currents from the descending roof were interrupted by another, swifter and softer current. Through the murk swam the dazzling lights of the coral. Descending down into the corrupti
ng water, Sallyn saw something she never anticipated to see.
Writhing brightly, the entire colony of corals moved as part of one greater form and this alien being was reeling back its appendage. There was no time to analyse the meaning of such a thing, she needed to grab any chance for freedom, no matter how irrational. As a flat and rounded diamond shaped fluke rolled up and down in the water, Amber swam to grasp it with her hands. Upon wrapping her fingers over the edges of the fluke, a final pulse of light transmitted itself through the serpentine form of the alien. Amber felt the pull of the water, attempting to drag her to her death while she clutched the fluke throughout its journey into the darkness. She could handle the drag but the peak and trough the motion of the fluke made it difficult to hold onto. It speedily traversed the dark waters and the cave system until it eventually climaxed at a brilliant focal point of light.
Dancing above her in the darkness, an aurora borealis swayed streams of pastel coloured lights, spanning across the entirety of her vision. Water was absent from her sensations and it was replaced by a spongy floor, unlike