“Commander, are you with us?” Called a voice shining a light in his eyes back and forth as he was waking up.
“Maybe,” he sputtered pushing the light away and rubbing his head and eyes, “What’s the situation Julian?”
The medic smiled, “Good, you’re awake. Tyson found you lying unconscious in the wild. Perhaps if you weren’t lying against that Drakin you would have been dinner.”
“Well that’s a joyful thought, what did I miss?” He asked finally getting his vision back fully. He was sitting in a plain white bed on board the ship, beside him on a chair Julian sat with his equipment beside him.
“Quite a bit Commander.” Another voice replied.
Colton turned to look to his left. Standing out of his vision was Evelynn looking at him with contempt replaced with gladness.
“I can imagine.”
“After you went on your western adventure, your men had to deal with another wave of Stalkers as well as another pack of Ravengers, they took them with ease and according to your partner, fighting with the gun was the easiest thing he’s done thus far. After the attack, your horse arrived back with our rifle, thank you for keeping it intact by the way. He then took his horse and had yours lead him to you. Which of course is why you’re here, we let down the shields letting you be taken in here.” Evelynn explained.
“This morning, a scout rushed back to the town and relayed the night’s events and how they found more people. The results brought glee to everyone but our old friend Kaleb who was just too full of pride. We now have the construction crew, medics and scientists here. Watch out for Mateo when you’re looking around, he’s having what one may have referred to back in civilized time as a kid in a candy store.” Julian finished.
“That’s it?” Asked Colton.
“Of what we can tell you, I suggest if you want more then you should go see Tyson.”
“Then that’s what I’m doing.” He stated, stumbling to his feet, Julian and Evelynn ran to help but Colton raised his hands. “I don’t need crutches.”
“Well aren’t you stubborn.” The Captain stated.
“He’s just the Commander we all know and love… now hold a minute. What’s that there, on his neck?” The medic asked, pulling at Colton’s collar. A mark stood alone, with pride. “Could be a bite, maybe a rash, I hope to god this isn’t an early sign of-“
“Doctor, that’s no disease or anything of the sort.” Evelynn stated looking at the mark restraining laughter. “If you wish to compare it to anything of the sort then one may refer to it as a love bug.”
“What type of insect is that, I’ve never heard of it… is it some space disease?” Asked Julian.
“No… someone kissed my neck.” Colton stated, embarrassed at his mark and his doctor’s lack of knowledge. “It’s either a hickey or lipstick stain, nothing time won’t remove.” He stated lifting his collar higher, hiding the mark.
“Noted.” The doctor said writing on his clipboard.
“Now, I’m going to find Tyson, so excuse me.” Colton stated, pushing through the door and out into the hallway. He walked through its corridors, men moving to the side letting him pass as he moved. Colton traveled once more outside to the ship where he knew he should be. Tyson was always where he should be, a quality that Colton liked.
Colton approached the edge of the manmade clearing, created by the vessel and met Tyson there, speaking with Kaleb.
“Why do we waste time on this? We could easily just take these people back to our camp and be done with this.” Kaleb argued.
“You sure like to waste your air Kaleb.” Colton stated as he approached.
“Ah, there’s the daredevil himself. Tell me, how does it feel knowing you’ve felled something that armies have failed to?”
“Like I have a hangover I think.”
Kaleb laughed, “Oh you children know not the adventures that came from a bottle of liquor, perhaps you’d find that I was quite a fun lad in my day.”
“What happened?” Asked Tyson, it brought a smile to Colton’s face and loath to Kaleb’s.
“Anyway,” Kaleb continued restraining his anger, “why must we poke around in this metallic mess of scrap? I’d rather be preparing our adventure parties!”
“Depending on certain contingencies, then we may find that the materials provided may let us have some proper lights. If that happens then we can prepare for adventuring, keep in mind we can’t go far if we can’t keep in touch with our teams. This is an adventure in itself old man, lighten up and look around.”
“Did the doc check you out for brain damage, because I feel you’ve lost touch with me.” Kaleb asked.
“No, I’m good, it’s just that the world’s changing and so are we. In a matter of days are situation will be a lot better than before. Think about that.”
“Sir, sorry to cut off this lovely conversation but, Emmett was looking for you.” Tyson stated, “I can show you to him if you need.”
Colton nodded, “Sounds like a plan, lighten up Kaleb. I get you have issues with change but get over it.”
The old man muttered under his breath as the boys took off back towards the ship, heading to the left side where laughter could be heard.
“Colton is the most stubborn man you’ll meet, one time I remember he got bit in the leg by one of them dog things. I shouted at him to get the bloody hell out of there, instead he grabbed it by its tail and used it to beat the rest of its pack before sending it to the skies. He then says, ‘it was just a scratch, nothing to worry your whiskers about’ believe me lass, he is an unstoppable force. Rumors going around that he were some super soldier back in the days of tech. The government was working on them, so I heard, and with how much punishment he gives it would be no surprise.” Emmett rambled with his workers and Ashley.
“He sounds like a machine alright.” She replied.
“He’s not just the machine, he’s the designer, maker and patent-placer of himself and there ain’t a thing in this world that can change it. Look at what he did to the Drakin, not an army could kill one of them and he does it with a blaster and horse. When Julian gets back he’s going to have a field day cutting up that thing. Maybe find a way of killing it without fancy technology. It’s still unbelievable.
“What’s unbelievable, you talking about me, or you not doing any work?” Colton asked pulling around the corner while Tyson went back towards Kaleb.
“Neither, how complex this piece of machinery actually is, it has all the bells and whistles. This thing was meant to be an escape pod, yet it could have been the ship we sent to Mars, I say this is by far the most complex thing I’ve seen since I was born.” Stated Emmett pointing at the ship, unfazed by his leader’s presence.
“What can we do about it?”
“Honestly, with how big and heavy it is, I think it would be easier to move the town here than the ship there. Probably weighs a couple tons and we don’t have the power to move it there.”
“What about flying it?” Asked Colton.
“No, we don’t have the fuel or engine to fly it.” Ashley responded.
“The best we can do to it is repair the hull damage, everything else is too complex for us right now.”
“I see… what about deconstruction and reconstruction?”
“We can put metal over a patch not bind wires together or set up computers. It’s an impossible task requiring a more impossible solution, the only way we can really access it, is if you can come up with a way of moving it back to the base.”
Colton nodded and then rubbed his head, “Wonderful.”
“You have a good nap Commander?” Ashley asked.
“I guess, my head still hurts.” He stated, “do either of you know where Mateo is, I need to talk to him too.”
“The lab, he hasn’t left since we you arrived. I’ll show you.” Ashley stated.
The duo marched back into the ship and up into its inner workings, they traveled through and finally into the large white room where Reid and Zayne stood watching Mateo rush around the lab jubilantly.
“How long has he been doing this?”
“Two and a half hours now, how can he be so fascinated?” Asked Reid
“Kid in a candy store.”
“Colton, my god this place is the ultimate savior. It has proper equipment and samples and computers and lights. I could work all day and night without worrying about setting the tower on fire.” Mateo stated rushing to the Commander.
“That’s good, listen we need a way of moving this ship. Emmett says that there is no way of us being able to do it with what we have now.”
“Give me a day in here and I’ll give you more than that. I could craft up an energy sources! We could have power!”
“If you moved the ship over to your base, the ship generates enough electricity than it needs to sustain itself. It’s just a backup supply incase of emergency, however in we could use it to power the town.” Reid stated.
“That can work, but just in case we need another way of generating electricity.”
“So you’ll figure out how to move this thing?” Colton asked.
“Yes, yes, now go I haven’t seen the entirety of this beauty.”
“Alright, I think I was done here anyway.”
Colton stepped back into the corridor and began walking, pondering on what he still needed to do. Eating was an idea, but that could wait for the return to base. With everyone here though it would probably be best if returned.
“What are you thinking about Colt?” Ashley asked.
He pause, having completely forgotten that she was still there. “I just need to get back to the town, that’s all. Perhaps you and a few of your crew would like to join, see what society is like now?”
The girl smiled and nodded, “Yeah, we’ll meet you outside okay!” She stated rushing off before Colton could say a word.
He sighed heading out into the fresh air once more and walking up to the hill he had stood last night. He sat up on the hill taking in the spectacle that had occurred over the past ten hours.
At this point, maybe, just maybe they weren’t as stuck as they were before, whatever one may refer to these events as, it certainly was amazing.
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