Surviving The Theseus Read Free Page A

into had three revolving
doors on each of the other three walls, labeled as Level 1, Level
2, and so on.
    Regina walked towards the door
labeled Level 1 . As she did, she noticed
a painting on the wall depicting what waited inside.
    The creatures from the holograph were fully
realized through the paintings. They had long, black hair, black
claws, white eyes, long snouts, pointy ears, and sharp,
double-rowed teeth. Severed heads hung from their blood-dripping
fangs. A typical fierce, horrible creature to invoke fear in the
players. A speaker in the ceiling unleashed wrenching growls,
squeals, hisses, and barks. All told, it was a nice build-up to
freak you the fuck out before the game.
    Regina went through the dark, revolving
door.
     
     

Chapter
6
    Back in Michael’s ship, George’s voice spoke
to him through his eyeglasses. “Let them have it.”
    Michael nodded to Cindy. Cindy looked at her
screen, which showed that the weapon had reached its intended
target, just below the engines. The Class C Flat Fanny, small
enough to fit in a suitcase, attached itself to the underside of
the engines, like a magnet to metal. “Sending CMP through,” Cindy
said as she chose the CMP option on her screen. The CMP, or
Controlled Magnetic Pulse, shuts down everything but life support,
leaving a vessel dead in the water, the people safe inside.
    Seconds passed and nothing happened. The
runner continued its zigzagging attempt at escape.
    The good old, reliable
network, Michael thought to himself. “Comm Set,”
Michael said. “It looks like they disabled it. Hold. Cindy, blow
it.”
    Cindy chose the Explode option on her screen, and nothing
happened.
    ”No effect. Repeat, no effect,” Michael
said. “Recommend a surround and shut down . There’s a Gate near by. Check your navigation screen. Comm
Off.”
    Before Michael finished talking, Cindy
started the process of shutting down non-critical systems in the
holding area, diverting all power to the engines.
    In seconds, all the ships had more power to
their engines and they proceeded to surround the runner, from the
front, back, left, and right. They used a magnetic towing beam to
lock the runner in place, allowing some room for movement, but
making escape difficult once the runner was locked in.
     
     

Chapter 7
     
    After walking through the revolving door,
Regina found herself in a smaller room with black walls. As soon as
she walked in, the white lights above went out, a short blackness,
and then a rotating, red halo light came on.
    ”Prepare!” came a loud, bellowing voice,
which Regina wished would shut up. The voice continued. “You are
about to enter the first level of the most horrifying adventure of
survival you will ever be put through. What you are about to
experience has been meticulously duplicated from the accounts of
Ryan Buckner, the only survivor of the Jaltorn Horror.”
    Regina had heard the Buckner story as a kid,
but it was never proven, because Buckner couldn’t recall what
planet he had come from. His ship’s logs were wiped out because one
of the creatures got on board, and Buckner shot the ship all up
before killing it and jettisoning it into space. The ship was found
to be damaged, like Buckner said, and there was some non-human
blood found, but beyond that, nothing proved Buckner’s claims. It
was a good story, Regina thought, and a good lead into the game.
Jaltorn was the name Buckner gave the creatures.
    Regina figured Buckner got a royalty every
time somebody played the game.
    She needed to focus. No time for
distractions. One distraction could be the end.
    Even though her fear abated somewhat, she
still felt uneasy about what had happened, and why no one seemed to
be left on the ship but her.
    Regina was not prone to her imagination
getting away with her, because she couldn’t make the living she did
if that was the case. But with everything that occurred, and now
with the Jaltorn Horror coming back to mind, her heart started to
beat a little