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He secured the teleFRAG keys from their console on the opposite side of the abyss and began his search for EVA.
“Where was EVA last?” his radio crackled in response instead.
There was no sign of the elusive little spider anywhere in the remains of the control room, so he headed through the forward hatch.
Scorching and pitting was evident everywhere in the hallway as if a pitched battle had been held.
But against what?
Small glistening chunks of organic looking rock littered the floor as if in answer.
So some of the silicon bugs HAD made it aboard.
He unslung his weapon, checked his air reserves, and proceeded.
Static in his ear told him that control was attempting to tell him something.
He ducked under an air line and came face to something with a floating shape.
He backpedaled and aimed at it.
In the weightlessness of the room, the shape slowly turned to reveal a frozen Sigma.
“Control, I found him. I found sigma. He’s a Sigmacicle. How do I proceed?”
The static modulated and then cleared up.
“Bring him to the forward docking doors, portside if you can. We’ll retrieve him there.”
“But, he’s dead.”
“Dead is a relative statement with him. He was dead long before he vented the atmosphere in that room.”
“Wait, he vented the atmosphere..” he saw the weapon in Sigma’s hands, “Okay.. why? And you said he was already dead?”
There was a small hole in the hull overhead that light suddenly stabbed through, Bradmantes hulk was slowly rotating, the portside docking doors would be in sunlight shortly.
“The SLAVER incident, he’d been technically dead since then. You’ll understand more later, just bring him to the doors quickly.”
“And EVA?”
“Slight change of plans, you'll have to find her on the second pass. Or, more correctly, BOTH of her.” there was a bit of irony in that voice.
“Both?!” he thought as he slowly dragged the frozen and floating Sigma through the remains of the corridor, the portside docking doors were just up ahead to his left.
Just beyond the very cindered and broken silicon bug heap, which he fired into a few times just to be certain.
“I have him at the docking doors, obviously you want to transfer him without exposure to the sun?” a clunk outside was the response he got.
“Get him aboard shuttle 106. We'll take it from there.”
Sparks handed Sigma off to suited figures who cradled the presumed dead body in an aerogel like conformal protective layer before bringing him to the cryolab.
There, ‘operation waking the dead’ would hopefully meet with success.
Assuming the nanites had done their jobs.
“Patience old friend, you'll be back soon enough.” a familiar voice told the frozen figure wrapped in layers of gels and more exotic insulators.
Sparks went to say something, but the doors closed again.
“Continue forward, you may find EVA sleeping near the forward sensor blisters. Presumably listening for a signal that never came.”
Never came?
Why not?