Catastrophe 18 (Patreon)

OhWolfy requested more of Catastrophe. I couldn't agree more. This one is too good to neglect any longer!

Catastrophe 1
Catastrophe 2
Catastrophe 3
Catastrophe 4
Catastrophe 5
Catastrophe 6
Catastrophe 7
Catastrophe 8
Catastrophe 9
Catastrophe 10
Catastrophe 11
Catastrophe 12
Kai'to Sketch
Vaagai (Catastrophe)
Catastrophe 7 (rev 2)
Catastrophe 13
Catastrophe 14
Catastrophe 15
Catastrophe 16
Catastrophe 17

———

Vaagai wrung her paws nervously while she stared at the airlock. One of the techs called out, “We have a hard seal. You’re ready to move!”

Vaagai disagreed. Her stomach was tumbling so hard that if she’d eaten anything, she’d throw it up right there and then. The only place she was ready to move to was back to her bunk and hide underneath the covers.

“Well, move out,” said Captain Loophi with mild irritation. When she hesitated, his tone turned slightly gentler, “Just go in there, do a headcount, and start loading cubs into the airlock,” he said. “I want one of you on that side, and the other on this side. Just keep them calm and moving. We’ve got a schedule to keep.”

The scientist turned to the airlock, but then turned back. “Which of us—”

“I don’t care,” interrupted Captain Loophi with exasperation. “One of you on either side. Keep them calm and corralled.”

Vaagai nodded. She turned the latch and tugged the hatch open just enough to climb inside before pulling the hatch shut once more.

The airlock was surprisingly large. Having spent only a few minutes in person with a single geroo, she found it difficult to gauge how many could use the airlock simultaneously, but it had to be at least a half dozen.

Well, or so it would have been, she thought with a grin. Kai’to hadn’t said anything about piling the airlock nearly full of debris, but she conceded that it was a clever ploy. There was only enough room for a single lio to use the airlock now, so the assault team would waste lots of time, cycling through the lock one by one.

She sealed the hatch behind her, said a quick prayer to the Blessed Speaker, and pulled the cycle lever on the far side of the lock. The air whistled instead of roared, and the pressure equalized so slowly that she actually laughed out loud. “Very smart! Did you shove the vents full of rags to slow them down more?” Vaagai looked around, trying to spot what the little engineer might have tampered with, but nothing seemed out of place.

When the air finally equalized, she cranked the second hatch and came away with a crumpled note taped to the handle. In Geroo, it read, “Vaagai, when you come through the hatch, close it back behind you. Radio your ship and make up an excuse why it’s taking so long. Then, proceed to the access hatch opposite the lock. Close the hatch behind you and follow the tunnel to its end.” It was signed, “Good luck. Kai’to.”

In the corridor beyond the airlock, Vaagai found many surprises waiting: the lights were dimmed nearly to darkness, the artificial gravity had been reduced to a tiny fraction of normal, and a mountain of wreckage and debris had been piled haphazardly along the wall—up and even over the airlock hatch.

Following Kai’to’s directions, she turned and closed the hatch behind her. This turned out to be a very difficult task indeed as her paws kept slipping out from beneath her. She wasn’t weightless, but the gravity was set so low that pushing just a little too hard sent her flying up to the ceiling. She tried grabbing the handhold beside the hatch to get the leverage she needed to pull the metal door shut, only to realize that someone had removed all the bolts securing it to the wall. The handle came away in her paw, then drifted slowly to the deck when she let it go.

She turned, and in the dim light, she could just make out an engineering hatch set into the wall opposite the airlock. In marker, someone had written “Vaagai”—or the closest approximation to her name that they could manage, really—in Geroo glyphs. “Good,” she sighed, “I doubt anyone on the assault team will be able to read that.”

Beside the hatch, someone had taped a communicator to the wall with long lengths of strapping tape. Did you leave this for me? she wondered and nearly pulled the device from the wall, but hesitated when she realized that a long cable connected to it. She smiled. The camera lens pointed directly at the airlock, so the geroo were probably using it for surveillance.

Vaagai looked about, but didn’t spot any of the security cameras that were ubiquitous on the ship she’d just left. No wonder they’d resorted to using someone’s phone.

She took a deep, calming breath, and called the captain on her communicator. “What the devil is going on there? What’s taking so long?” he demanded before she could say anything.

“Yeah, this is a real mess, Captain,” sighed the scientist. “Light and gravity are nearly out. There’s debris piled up everywhere. The cubs are scared and running away. I’m going to help Kai’to round them up. This may take a bit.”

“What? No! This is already taking too long,” growled Loophi. “Start loading those cubs into the airlock this minute or leave them behind. We warned the geroo that they needed to be ready if they wanted our help!”

“We’re going just as quick as we can,” said Vaagai.

“Just forget it,” he said. “I want you back here on our ship. Leave them to their fate.”

“No, Captain, I refuse to leave them behind.” He started to scream at her, but Vaagai had already ended the call before she could make out the words. When he called back, she let it go to voicemail.

# # #

“Welding team?” Kai’to called into the radio. “Give me a status report.”

“Too many cooks in the kitchen,” crackled the radio. “I told you. It doesn’t take six welders for a job this small. We’re in each other’s way here.”

“I don’t care!” said Kai’to. “Your part of the job is tiny. You should already be done—”

“I am done!” said the voice. “Welding is done. Now, I’m using those cables to tie the ships together. But they’re gonna hear us bumping around out here.”

“I’m hoping they’ll just think it’s wreckage bumping against the hull,” said Kai’to, “but hurry! If they realize what we’re doing, I don’t want them going EVA and shooting you. Finish up and get back in here as soon as you can.”

“I’m going! I’m going!”

# # #

Lieutenant Kosal’s ears perked when the captain finally lost his temper. “Okay, screw this!” he huffed. “We’ve waited too long, Kosal. Send your team in.”

“And the scientist?”

“Shove her back through the airlock,” said Loophi. “I don’t care if you have to bind her wrists and ankles.”

Kosal saluted and turned. “Assault team! Move out. Four teams of five. Move! Move! Move!” he barked into his throat mic. “Point team: I want good assessments as you go. No one behind you should be surprised by anything.”

The giant felines moved without even an acknowledgement, lining up silently at the airlock while the team leader cranked open the hatch. He gasped in surprise when the hatch swung open. “First team: clear this airlock,” he said into his mic. He pointed at the far wall. “Stack the debris over there.”

Five lio descended on the lock, but no matter how they tugged, they couldn’t turn any of the pieces, couldn’t pull any free. It was as if all the debris had been welded together. The team lead radioed, “Break out the cutters. Chop this mess—”

But Kosal overrode him, “Just go one at a time. This is taking too long.”

Without another word, the team lead hopped in the lock and pulled the hatch closed. A moment later, the radio crackled with his voice, “I think the mechanism is damaged, venting very slowly.”

Eventually, he called again, “I’m through. Next soldier up.” A moment later he added, “No sign of anyone—no cubs, no scientist. Gravity is maybe five percent. Most of the lights are off. Debris piled everywhere.”

“Sounds like a trap,” said Kosal. “Team lead: check for trip wires, IEDs, anything.”

He didn’t reply until the second team member had cycled through, “Nothing nefarious, sir. Just looks like a disaster zone. Still no sign of anyone: no geroo, no scientist.”

———

Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KUn1QlLLpq9mrvfJV_vfO75SBjMLcZTAWAvecuG0gcw/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?