Pain. So much pain. The flickering world went black.
Pain. He was dead? And flickering lights. Groaning Nack tried to move. Something pinned his head, cheek to the cold steel floor. More pain and the world went away again.
Pain. His head hurt. Not like 'the morning after drinking with the crew' type pain. Sharp 'tend to me now!' pain. He was lying on his stomach and the floor was cold against his cheek. Why was the floor cold? It was never cold. His hand was going numb. Pins and needles numb. Why were the lights flickering? He tried to lift his head and pain made the world go away, yet again.
Groaning he realized he was lying on the floor. Nack could feel something across the side of his head, pinning him and the pain was intense. The only thing he could see looked like a partially crushed power pack less than a meter from his face. And it was leaking. Bad news but he had more pressing issues. Nack started to chuckle at that thought but the pain quickly killed any humor in the situation. He felt with his left hand and found it was an I-beam holding him down. He tried to get his right hand out from under him but he moved his head. The pain was so intense everything went red for a few seconds and he almost passed out again. He wished he had. Feeling around with his one free hand he found there was other items scattered around. He had to get this beam off. Worried that if he passed out again, he wouldn't wake up. Later he would wish he hadn't woken up at all. Nothing he could reach could be used to pry the beam off. Nack felt like crying.
The only noise he had heard was the groaning of the superstructure. Was he the only one left alive? There was no vibration of engines or the curious whistling of warp. No barking cough of the railguns. And no yells for the Doc over ship's comm. Or yelling at all. No hammering on blast doors. He needed his other hand free. He tried to wiggle it out slowly. Every move made the world swim and sweat dripped off his face. Finally it was free. The returning of sensations to his numb hand paled in comparison to his head. The leaking power supply now had a small puddle round its crushed base. Nack knew the corrosive properties of the liquid and knew what it would do to him. Definitely had to get free before that puddle got much larger. He slowly moved his hands over his head and onto the beam. Even that effort caused incredible pain. Nack tried to shove and the world went black.
He opened his eyes and immediately he could see the blood. There was a fair bit and it had started to crust over. A single drop still hung off the tip of his nose. At least it hadn't spread and joined with the now larger pool of acid from the still leaking power supply. His perspective had changed by a few centimeters. Nack hadn't succeeded in moving the I-beam but had pushed himself. His ear was on fire and his head hurt even worse but he had moved. Unwelcome tears and a whimper started as he lifted his hands back onto the beam.
Free! While he couldn't stand with the room spinning, he was out from under that cursed beam. Rolling over and attempting to sit up had been a mistake. Nack's ear was on fire and his head pounded to the beat of his heart. He discovered that his ear wasn't on fire, it was missing. So was quite a bit of hair and scalp. The side of his head felt... misshapen. Touching it brought the stinging sensation of raw exposed nerves and a deeper throbbing pain. Crushed skull Nate thought. No wonder my balance is shot. Laying on his back he could see where the ceiling had buckled and the I-beam had let go right onto his head. Saved by a welder's power pack.
Saved? Or cursed to a slow death. Would it be the cold or lack of oxygen? The stink of the acid leaking from the power supply was definitely stronger. Nack found he could crawl but standing up was out of the question. He barely had the balance to stay on his hands and knees. And don't lift that pounding head too high. At least the blood had stopped. His missing ear was still on fire but he ignored it as best he could. One end of the passage way was completely blocked. There was enough debris that he knew getting back to crew's quarters or the galley was impossible. The blast doors leading to Engineering at the other end were clear if he could get past the acid puddle and the I-Beam. Under other circumstances, it would be nothing to step over them. But Nack was forced to a slow dizzy crawl. He made his way to the puddle. At least the power pack had stopped dripping.
The floor was getting colder. That was a really bad sign. The ship had sustained considerable damage in the Blood Raider attack. But since Nack was alive and still had his blood... well most of it, the Raiders must have lost. His hands were now freezing cold but he dare not lift one up to blow on it. He knew he would likely fall over and if that happened... well lets not think on it he told himself. Halfway over the I-beam he found his missing ear. And quite a bit of skin and hair stuck to the beam. Getting free had ripped it off. There seemed no way around the acid puddle, having spread across most of the hallway. "Damn it!" He turned his head to look around, slowly so the room won't spin too quickly. There was plenty of debris. Could he gather enough that won't react and cause a fuming acid cloud? He would have to back track to collect it.
On one hand and knees, Nack leaned against the blast doors. The missing ear was nothing compared to the burns his hand suffered. He had almost made past the puddle when his cold numbed hand had slipped off, right into the acid. The instant agony and smoking sizzle made him howl which in turn made his head pound even more. It took everything Nack had to almost throw himself forward past the puddle. He landed hard on his side, debris digging into his ribs and his head felt like it exploded upon impact. Only the incredible pain of his melting, bubbling skin kept him from passing out. Screaming, he tried to wipe the acid off on his coveralls, the floor, the wall, anything he could reach. Most of the skin was left behind in doing so, still smoking and bubbling. The stench of acid and burnt flesh was thick in the air, almost choking. Nack screamed in pain and frustration. That made his head hurt even more. Tears flowed freely as he lay there crying having no more breath to scream with.
The door finally moved a few centimeters. Nack dropped the tie rod with exhaustion. The strain of prying open the slightly buckled door was almost too much. He was cold and tired. He could barely hold the heavy rod up with one hand. Just using his arm caused his throbbing hand to flair in pain. At least the air in Engineering was warmer than the passageway. There was a scent of charred electronics and something... sweetish, cloying. But at least no acidic smoke. After peering through the gap he knew he had to open the doors more. Some of the consoles still had power and it was definitely warmer in there. Nack shied away from thinking about the lack of movement in the room. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he picked up the tie rod again.
Success! He was in. He sat cradling his burnt hand in his lap and leaned against a console. So much pain and dizziness. Now if only he could stand. Had to see what the screens could tell him. Engines, oxygen scrubbers, power status, sensors, anything. He avoided looking over to Shield and Repair Control. He didn't want to see that again. As he had crawled and squeezed his way through the barely open doors he had stared straight at two dead crew. One missing most of the upper half of his... her? body, the other's head was torn and charred beyond recognition. He had instantly closed his eyes, but knew it was too late, had seen too much. He emptied his stomach right there and then. The pain of retching had been almost unbearable. The main panel must had overloaded, exploding without warning. Fighting nausea, pain, waves of dizziness and sheer exhaustion, he had dragged his way through his own vomit and into the room.
Laying on his chest, draped over a chair bolted to the deck, Nack waited for the dizziness to pass. He could hear quite beeps from still active scanners. At least there were no targeting alarms. Nack knew this next part would be as difficult as pulling himself up onto the chair had been. He tried to picture his next moves. His one good hand reaching and grabbing the console. Then pulling himself up further unto the chair and swiveling into a seated position using the console to take most of the weight and for a stable hand hold. Nack had no doubts that he may pass out in pain. Or get so dizzy he couldn't stay in the chair and fall. But he had gotten this far. Besides, lying this way on the chair was uncomfortable. "Uncomfortable." he would have laughed but he was way beyond that capacity now. Looking at the corner of the console, he reached out with his one good hand. The tone of the beeps changed. Nack's eyes widened and knew he had do something quickly. With a strangled whimper he pulled himself up and twisted into the chair. His ribs ached and his head pounded and swam. Ignoring the extreme pain in his burnt skinless hand he held on to the console with both for dear life. The scope in front of him wavered with tears and dizziness. A white blip with distance readout was on the screen. A ship! And the distance was counting down! His heart pounded, and his head felt like an explosion with every beat. The other screens told him a grim story. Engines dead or gone. Armor non-existent and structural pretty much the same. The comm. panel had no power at all. The only thing still together was the hallway he had been trapped in and Engineering. He had to find a way to contact the other ship, tell them he was here, still alive.
"No." Nack said to the blip on the screen. It had stopped just under twenty five hundred meters away. What were they doing? He could feel a vibration start and slowly build in intensity. Now he could hear it shaking the very walls. The frequency throbbed through his reeling head, pain flaring. All he could see was red. "What are you doing?” he yelled "I'm here! I'm here!" he screamed at the console, in agony or desperation he didn't know. The excruciating vibration grew in intensity and Nack's head wanted to fly apart. His grip on the control panel was so tight that his fingers were breaking. There was an incredible ripping sound and a gale force wind. Sudden intense cold and all Nack's pain was gone.
"Damn" Captain Delsaan said softly. There had been no loot in the cargo hold. And to top it all off, the only salvage were a couple of charred logic circuits and some scrap metal. "Hardly worth while.” He switched off his salvager and turned his ship from the now worthless wreck. "Oh well, on to the next.” There were half a dozen other destroyed ships to be investigated, floating in the system. Setting controls on approach, he ignored Nack's flash frozen corpse as it slowly tumbled its way out and into the void.
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Topic: [fiction contest] Wrecked (Read 1010 times)