The Void's Maw

-----E-----

The ship rocked, and without my left arm, I couldn't steady my aim with the fast-acting glue paste. Letya held down the metal plate on the broken wall that was seriously damaged by Nia's artifact.

„Almost done," I said with gritted teeth.

I released the trigger and saw the paste harden before my eyes. We stepped back and sat down on the floor in a corridor.

„We have finished repairing 20 or more, but we still have to replace many of them," Letya said.

„Let's keep at it, there were other broken walls in that direction." I pointed and we stood and grabbed the tool kit and metal sheets then continued to fix the ship.

An hour passed of bolting, gluing, and mending the broken walls and ceiling. The glue paste kept on being empty, and I needed to grab more canisters and replacing the not-so-old one.

If it wasn't for the ship having familiar tools, then our oxygen would have been depleted already.

„This is the last broken wall we know of. Letya, run around the ship for any more damages, I'm going to check on Nia. Call me if you see anything," I said and started quickly moving towards the troublemaker. Letya went in the opposite direction, still holding on to the tool kit.

As I approached Nia, she was still in her holographic screen pressing buttons. The wall before her was still breaking apart. She noticed me and stood up from the ground.

„I can't do anything, I can't fix this mess," she said with concern.

„If you really can't find anything, then the effect of your artifact can't be reversed. We are going to need to fix the ship every hour until we arrive," I said.

„And how long is that?"

I thought for a second and calculated the holographic screen I saw at the bridge.

„Ehh, about six to seven days."

„Oh great, were dead," she said and a drop of sweat was shown from her forehead. „I need to open a window, It's really hot in here."

She started walking towards the airlock. I quickly pulled her back away from it.

„We will only die much faster if even a sliver is open. I really need to teach you the... Woah!"

A loud boom was heard, and the corridor reverberated and seemed to have spun. I fell on my back while holding on to Nia, and she held me tight back. I felt pain at the back of my head, and damn it hurt.

„Are you alright?" I managed to say through the pain.

„Yes, I'm fine! I landed on you so I wasn't hurt!" she said with a smile.

I groaned. Maybe I shouldn't have held her, maybe I would not have hit my head then. Nia stood up and helped me to my feet.

„Come on, we need to find what exploded," I said and started rushing to where the explosion came from, Nia by my side.

The lights flickered as we passed by, the vents still gave out air and we breathed it in. Then we saw the door to the hangar was closed and locked. We peered through the foggy window, and we saw a hole opened out to space. It was large enough for a horse to go through without touching the edges.

„Letya!" Nia shouted.

Then I saw her, Letya. She was holding on to thick wires from the wall, and she was being sucked into the void. Debris of metal and other junk flew out, and some even scraped Letya.

„Shit! Shit! Letya, hold on!"

Crap! What the hell should I do!? I glanced around in my surroundings, but this corridor was empty.

„Nia, stay here and watch her!" I said and quickly ran.

„What are you going to do?!"

I didn't respond, I just needed to go to the bridge quickly.

I ran through the corridor, then turned by a t-junction, then up some stairs and into the bridge. A new holographic screen was displayed, and it showed a map of the ship. And the hangar was glowing red.

I tried touching the hangar, then a new image appeared. An image was showing the eyes of a camera in the hangar that I didn't even know was there. Letya was still hanging on, and the wires were starting to detach.

I pressed buttons, trying to find anything that could help save her. Then I found the energy shield for the ship, it was inactive, and thank god I could understand this language.

I turned it on, but then a warning message popped up, and a female robotic voice emerged.

„Warning. User of a gemstone required. Unauthorized access to any non-summons."

I cursed and tried to bypass the computer, but it wouldn't let me.

„I should've had Nia with me. What was I thinking?" I muttered.

I glanced one more time at the screen which displayed the hangar, and the camera was starting to shake. Then it loosened and was starting to get sucked into the void. But just before that, the wire that Letya held, snapped and she started to fall. The image disappeared, and I shouted towards her and started to run back.

Grief flowed inside me. If I wouldn't have asked her to look around alone, then she wouldn't have gotten killed. Reve died, and I don't want to lose another.

It felt like the corridor I was running in stretched for many kilometers. And I also heard a ringing sound in my ear. I finally turned the last corner and saw the once locked door be open, and Nia wasn't there.

I instinctively clutched the walls, but I couldn't feel the air tugging me towards the open hole. I walked with caution and poked my head into the hangar.

An artifact energy, colored red, showered the gaping maw of the void, and it clogged it, no air was rushing out. Nia, with her gauntlets that glowed crimson, was blocking the hole. Letya was on the ground, holding her head that bled. She must have hit her head when Nia blocked the hole, what program did she use?

„Ethan! Grab her and get out! My energy is about to faint!" Nia shouted to me.

I quickly ran down the stairs and held Letya with one arm. She managed to stand up, but she looked like she was about to fall into unconsciousness. She was breathing lightly.

I laid her by the door, and Nia came towards us, slowly, not wanting to lose the concentration of her energy. Then when she stepped out of the hangar, she quickly closed the door by hacking it. The door slammed shut, and the gaping maw continued eating the oxygen of the room.

„What happened? How did you do that?"

Nia laid her back against the wall and slid down to sit. Her artifact glow faded away.

„It was your program, from the shield. I used it to block the hole," she said.

„Expanded Shield? But that should only protect your whole body, I couldn't use that program like what you did. The one you used looked like the one I called Sky Barrier," I said. Expanded Shield should create an energy barrier around your body, but it couldn't be moved further away from the user.

„I tweaked it. It will disappear after a few days, so I had fun with it. I managed to change the program itself, and you saw the result. But it drained all my energy."

I tried before to change the program, but could only change the size of it and it's strength. Her gauntlets that have hacking capabilities is a one of a kind artifact, it really is powerful. Powerful enough to even change a program completely.

Letya started healing her wound, then stood up but staggered. I held her so she wouldn't fall.

„Relax, Letya, you should sit down and rest."

„But the bags," she managed to say.

„What bags?" I asked.

„The bags containing the zettra stones, they are all gone."

My eyes widened. The zettra stones we stored in the hangar? All eaten by the void's maw? I glanced at Nia's gauntlets, she didn't have any energy left, then at Letya's, it still glowed but will deplete in only a matter of days. And Letya's gauntlets was my life source, without it or the shield, I will die.

„Nia, Letya, let's go to the bridge for a second," I said and strutted off. I try to act strong for them, but I had full of terror deep inside me.

----------

We stood around the holographic screen, depicting every floor of the ship. I didn't know about this until I was trying to find a way to save Letya. Good thing I went up here, otherwise we wouldn't be using it right now.

„The green parts of the ship means that the room has no damaged walls or ceiling," I said and showed more than half of the ship lighting up green. „But the other colors like orange and red means there are broken parts. The red ones most likely means that there are big or small holes into space," I moved the hologram to show three rooms that lit red. Thankfully they were non-essential.

„What about that one?" Nia asked and gestured towards the hangar, which was black.

„I'm guessing it means that it has no oxygen and there are breaches into space."

Nia tilted her head. „Do we need oxygen?" She said with no hint of sarcasm.

„You must be joking, right? Did you not go to school or something?"

„Not that I remember."

She did say that she lost some of her memories, but she still has her intellect, at least some parts of it.

„Now that we can see which part of the ship is damaged, so we don't have to run around anymore. Just come here to see what is broken and we can quickly act before a new hole appears," I said.

„We should plan on shifts," Letya said. „At least two of us should be awake, fixing the walls, while the other rests."

„You're right, we will be needing to maintain the ship until we finally arrive. Letya, you should take a rest. Nia and I will continue mending."

„No it's fine, you should lay down, you have been working the hardest here after all," Letya said.

„Letya, you almost fell unconscious after nearly getting eaten by the void's maw."

„I feel fine! I can still help!" she insisted.

„Look, you... Hgh!?" I suddenly fell down on one knee and started to feel pain around my heart. My vision went dull and my hearing went static. I could already feel sweat running down my forehead. My breathing felt ragged.

„Ethan!" Nia and Letya both ran towards me and held me steady.

„Don't you dare die Ethan! I don't want to lose someone else!" Nia said, and I could have sworn I was starting to see tears running down from her.

This was happening only because I don't hold the shield anymore, I am really going to die of a heart attack, aren't I?

„Stay still, let me heal your heart," Letya said and moved her gauntlet towards my mouth. I already felt shivers for what will come next.

I closed my eyes and let her Nanos go through my throat and finding their way to my heart, I felt like puking after every time she does that. After a minute or two, my heart was starting to pound normally, and my breathing stabilized.

I feel like an old man, always needing people to tend to me. I need to find the shield and not lose it again. Or to find someone who could fix my body.

„I'm sorry, Ethan, it's all my fault," Letya suddenly said, her face was looking down to the floor.

„What fault? You did nothing wrong here."

„But I could have saved the bag containing the zettra stones, then I could heal you much better, I only have enough to heal your heart one more time," she said and showed her gauntlets. Their glow was already fading away, a sign that their energy is being depleted.

„You are not to blame for losing the bags. It was that damn woman fault for shooting my arm off along with the shield."

I stood up, still feeling ill in my head, and looked at them both. I know a lot more about space ships, so it should be best if I am awake for a bit longer. But I think Letya is right, I need to rest, I haven't gotten a good rest for a while.

„Alright then, I'll leave it up for you two," I said and then glanced towards Nia. „Oh, and Letya, don't let Nia open the airlocks."

„Don't worry, I'll stop her if she gets close to any."

Letya knew the basics of repairing the walls, so she is going to teach Nia. I'm only going to sleep for a few hours, I just can't stop thinking about what will happen when I am asleep, maybe I won't even be able to get some rest because of this unpleasant feeling inside me.