but evaporated almost instantly. The shock and awe of the assault left him dazed for a moment.
“ Please brace yourself for artificial gravity and decontamination. Thank you,” the computer said.
After he straightened up and shook away the notion that the computer had done that on purpose, he looked over the entryway. The inside of the building was as institutional as the outside, and extremely old. The lighting was provided by overhead hanging banks of bulbs, and it was the sickly yellow of fluorescent instead of the cool blue of LED. The floor was some sort of rugged plastic material, scuffed and marred with use and faded with age. Walls, ceiling, and floor were all one shade or another of neutral blue. Identical metal doors and large, reinforced glass view windows lined the walls on either side. The rooms were all filled with various tools and disassembled machinery on work tables, but there was no sign of people in any of them. In fact, there was no sign of people, period. No one walked the halls. There was no sound of conversation. Nothing but his own footsteps, the echoing growl of power tools somewhere further down the hall, and a pulsing green strip that traced along the tops of the doorways. It led to a workshop near a bank of industrial elevators. Inside was the source of the noise.
Splayed out on the work table inside was a carefully arranged layout of parts and tools. A hydraulic jack held what was certainly a piece of an engine, but Lex couldn’t quite identify it. Whatever it was, there were lots of pipes, lots of tubes, and it appeared to be running, as the whole jack was humming and vibrating along with it. Working on the mystery component was a man in blue coveralls. He was focused intently on his task, his back to the door, and if he had noticed Lex’s arrival, he hadn’t acknowledged it. When Lex approached the door, it hissed open. He still didn’t turn, reaching awkwardly across the table instead.
“ Uh, hello. Are you the guy in-”
“ Gimme that auto-spanner.”
“ O...K?”
Lex sidled painfully into the room and found the appropriate tool, handing it over.
The mechanic silently accepted it and went back to work.
“ I recognize your voice. You were the one who was yelling at me when I was in the junk cloud. And you sent the bus. My name’s-”
“ In a minute. Gotta bleed this valve. Very important.”
“ What is that, a plasma manifold? You can’t bleed a valve on one when it’s running.”
“ Sure you can, you just need to time it right. See, watch.”
Lex took a cautious step back as his mystery host started loosening fittings. The hunk of machinery started to stutter and vibrate, prompting the downed pilot to strap his helmet back on.
“ See, you just twist here, three quarters of a turn. Wait for that to actuate, then loosen and-”
There was a short, sharp hiss. The room filled with a powerful scent of heat, ozone, and char, and the wall and ceiling received a spritzing of blood. Something pinged off of Lex’s helmet and bounced across the room.
“ Son of a- !” the mechanic barked in pain, clutching his left hand to his chest as he gingerly re-tightened a fitting with his right. “Forgot I changed the sequence.”
“ Oh God! Are you okay?”
“ Nope, nope. No, I lost some fingers,” he said quickly, holding up the afflicted hand.
It looked like he had tried to palm a grenade. There was blood seeping down his arm, and if there were any fingers left at all, Lex couldn’t tell them from the rest of the mangled mess that remained of his hand.
“ Give me a hand, would you?”
“ Yeah! Yeah sure, of course! Oh, God. What do I do!?” Lex replied, panicked.
“ I just told you. Give me a hand. They’re in that box over there.”
“ Wh-what?”
“ Never mind. Frickin’ useless. Just look around for the fingers then. I used to have five. See if you can find two or three. I saw one go that way,” he added, gesturing with the ruined nub, “And another
“ Please brace yourself for artificial gravity and decontamination. Thank you,” the computer said.
After he straightened up and shook away the notion that the computer had done that on purpose, he looked over the entryway. The inside of the building was as institutional as the outside, and extremely old. The lighting was provided by overhead hanging banks of bulbs, and it was the sickly yellow of fluorescent instead of the cool blue of LED. The floor was some sort of rugged plastic material, scuffed and marred with use and faded with age. Walls, ceiling, and floor were all one shade or another of neutral blue. Identical metal doors and large, reinforced glass view windows lined the walls on either side. The rooms were all filled with various tools and disassembled machinery on work tables, but there was no sign of people in any of them. In fact, there was no sign of people, period. No one walked the halls. There was no sound of conversation. Nothing but his own footsteps, the echoing growl of power tools somewhere further down the hall, and a pulsing green strip that traced along the tops of the doorways. It led to a workshop near a bank of industrial elevators. Inside was the source of the noise.
Splayed out on the work table inside was a carefully arranged layout of parts and tools. A hydraulic jack held what was certainly a piece of an engine, but Lex couldn’t quite identify it. Whatever it was, there were lots of pipes, lots of tubes, and it appeared to be running, as the whole jack was humming and vibrating along with it. Working on the mystery component was a man in blue coveralls. He was focused intently on his task, his back to the door, and if he had noticed Lex’s arrival, he hadn’t acknowledged it. When Lex approached the door, it hissed open. He still didn’t turn, reaching awkwardly across the table instead.
“ Uh, hello. Are you the guy in-”
“ Gimme that auto-spanner.”
“ O...K?”
Lex sidled painfully into the room and found the appropriate tool, handing it over.
The mechanic silently accepted it and went back to work.
“ I recognize your voice. You were the one who was yelling at me when I was in the junk cloud. And you sent the bus. My name’s-”
“ In a minute. Gotta bleed this valve. Very important.”
“ What is that, a plasma manifold? You can’t bleed a valve on one when it’s running.”
“ Sure you can, you just need to time it right. See, watch.”
Lex took a cautious step back as his mystery host started loosening fittings. The hunk of machinery started to stutter and vibrate, prompting the downed pilot to strap his helmet back on.
“ See, you just twist here, three quarters of a turn. Wait for that to actuate, then loosen and-”
There was a short, sharp hiss. The room filled with a powerful scent of heat, ozone, and char, and the wall and ceiling received a spritzing of blood. Something pinged off of Lex’s helmet and bounced across the room.
“ Son of a- !” the mechanic barked in pain, clutching his left hand to his chest as he gingerly re-tightened a fitting with his right. “Forgot I changed the sequence.”
“ Oh God! Are you okay?”
“ Nope, nope. No, I lost some fingers,” he said quickly, holding up the afflicted hand.
It looked like he had tried to palm a grenade. There was blood seeping down his arm, and if there were any fingers left at all, Lex couldn’t tell them from the rest of the mangled mess that remained of his hand.
“ Give me a hand, would you?”
“ Yeah! Yeah sure, of course! Oh, God. What do I do!?” Lex replied, panicked.
“ I just told you. Give me a hand. They’re in that box over there.”
“ Wh-what?”
“ Never mind. Frickin’ useless. Just look around for the fingers then. I used to have five. See if you can find two or three. I saw one go that way,” he added, gesturing with the ruined nub, “And another
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