Tag: the thing in the airlock

12/192/2022 Snippet, THE THING IN THE AIRLOCK.

Making myself finish this up!

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Back in the dim days of a year ago, hand-to-hand combat on the moon was something you did for fun. Everybody in the military learned the principles, but nobody actually used them. Well, nobody used them in order to injure people. Sometimes security personnel might have to use an arm lock or quick grapple on a sloppy drunk, but real combat? What was there to fight about?

I thought we were done with this! Tobias snarled to himself — or maybe complained to Asenath — as he kneed a cultist in the crotch. Everybody who was going to go kill-crazy already had!

It started out at sixteen to ten, and his side were the ones who had started behind. It was now ten to seven, because while what had turned out to be a nest of Silver Dawn cultists had plenty of knives, his security squad had helmets, and armor that wasn’t completely useless. They also knew something about how to fight as a group.

Tobias was still getting angrier and angrier at every successful slash and strike. We need to shut this down now, Asenath! he snarled again, as he flung a cultist into the wall. Any luck getting control of the HVAC system?

12/14/2022 Snippet, THE THING IN THE AIRLOCK.

Not as much as I wanted, but it was a weird day.

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“Sorry, sir. I’m just wondering. Why didn’t Domaine come up with this? He is a logistics guy. Architecture, too.”

“He’s also not at his best, maybe? I mean, the man carved up his friend, so Domaine’s not too stable to begin with. And I think being in solitary is getting to him. Lately he’s been acting kind of stir-crazy. I think he misses being around people.”

“You gonna let him out, then?”

“Oh, absolutely not.” Tobias laughed, technically. “What if what he misses about people is not being able to stab them, too? No, he stays where he is until it’s time for us to leave. And he’ll spend the entire trip back to Earth strapped in, with a diaper and a food tube. If we have any sedatives, he’ll be dosed to the gills, too.”

“I’ve had people talk to me about that, sir.” Abbie looked just a little bit uncomfortable. “Some folks don’t know why we should bring the crazy people, too.”

This time Tobias laughed, for real. “Ha! Like we have anybody left who’s sane. We’re all Loonies by now, Abbie. Some people are just better at maintaining, that’s all. If I start deciding who’s least-crazy enough to get to make the trip, we probably… won’t be able to make it.”

12/13/2022 Snippet, THE THING IN THE AIRLOCK.

Getting along there!

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Indeed, Domaine did have a good guess. “Are the rest of Miller’s minions also missing?” he asked Tobias. “If they did, they’ll all be in the same place. I’m sure of it.”

“Minions?” repeated Tobias, before shrugging. “I guess you could call them that, sure. I think that maybe they’re a little too decentralized for that kind of setup, though.”
“Of course, Commander,” Domaine rushed to reply. “Forgive me. I am by myself too much, these days. I forget how to talk properly.”

Tobias squinted at Domaine through the screen. The man did look a little stir-crazy, true: his hair was messier, and he had bags under his eyes and a restless air about him. Tobias assumed he also smelled bad, but it’d be unfair to ding him for that. Everybody had an odor, these days. There was still tons of (barely melted) water to bathe with, but damned little soap.