The Outer Worlds: Book One of the Epherian Chronicles Read Online Free Page A

remote. The charges detonated and
blasted the lock off. Michael and Ajax ran forward, and together
they heaved the door open. They entered the storage hold and
proceeded as quickly as they could. The air was becoming so thin
that it was difficult to breathe. Only Ivan was unaffected. Ethan
opened the door at the far side of the storage hold; they entered
the escape pod launching room. Michael’s eyes quickly scanned the
pod bays; there were no remaining escape pods.
    Ethan hung his
head. ‘This is it, Captain. We are going to suffocate.’
    ‘ I will survive this incident,’ said Ivan. ‘I can continue
functioning in a vacuum.’
    Ajax rolled
his eyes. ‘Lucky you,’ he said.
    ‘ It’s been nice working with you,’ said Ethan in a cheerless
voice.
    Michael shook
his head. He had come so far and couldn’t give up now. ‘Follow me,’
he said, his voice faltering from lack of breath.
    ‘ It’s over, Captain,’ said Ethan grimly.
    ‘ Not until I say it is,’ replied Michael as he walked back into
the storage hold. ‘Ethan. Are the seals on those spare sleeping
pods space worthy?’
    ‘ Yes, they are, but even if we get in them we won’t be able to
get away from the space station, and by the time anyone can rescue
us we will be found and killed by the battle droids.’
    ‘ What about the shipping container? Is it vacuum
proof?’
    ‘ It should be.’
    ‘ Ivan won’t run out of air,’ said Michael. ‘Follow
me.’
    They quickly
crossed the storage hold; Michael opened the shipping container
with the sleeping pods. ‘Get into the sleeping pods.’
    ‘ I would rather die fighting the battle droids,’ said Ajax, his
face hardening.
    ‘ You’re not going to die,’ said Michael.
    ‘ Ethan is right; this is another bad idea,’ added
Ajax.
    ‘ Just get into the shipping container,’ commanded Michael as he
grabbed the quantum code breaker from Ethan. Ethan and Ajax
followed his order. ‘Not you, Ivan. I need you to seal the
container from the outside and then break the quantum code on the
storage hold space door. We are going to float away from this space
station.’
    ‘ But, Captain, I will be sucked out into space,’ said
Ivan.
    ‘ Don’t worry; you will be fine; remember I originally found you
floating in space. I know you can do this, Ivan. Don’t let me
down.’
    His wrist-com
beeped again. ‘…Captain…’
    ‘ Yes, Sara?’
    ‘… There are four battle droids approaching your position…you
have about thirty seconds…’
    ‘ Ivan, go!’ he shouted as he stepped into the shipping
container.
    Ivan sealed
the shipping container door from the outside and then sprinted
across to the manual control console of the storage hold space
door. With his one remaining hand he powered up the quantum code
breaker. The outer space door had a double quantum encryption and
also needed an approval code from the central computer.
    Ivan lifted
his wrist-com. ‘Captain, the door cannot be opened.’
    The four
battle droids entered the storage hold from the service corridor.
Ivan dropped the quantum code breaker and reached for his plasma
rifle which was slung over his shoulder, but the battle droids
opened fire before he could point the rifle. A blast of charged
particles tore through his chest. He was thrown back and his rifle
slid away across the floor. He immediately sat up and drew his
pistol. Sparking wires were hanging out of a gaping hole in his
chest. He fired several shots at the droids, but their laser
systems burst into operation. Several bright red beams cut directly
through his synthetic body; an instant later he fell back and
powered down.
    ‘… The battle droids finished Ivan…’ said Sara.
    ‘ No!’ yelled Michael.
    ‘ Now this is a tight situation,’ said Ajax with a grimace. ‘Not
only are we nearly out of air, but we are locked and sealed in this
shipping container and surrounded by Epherian battle droids. Do you
have any more bright ideas?’
    ‘ One or two,’ said Michael