Ex Nihilo - Abyssal Prophecy

Chapter 2

    The two brothers raced towards the sounds of chaos coming from up ahead. In the distance, they could hear the faint commotion and the vague sound of Captain Gabriel Solomon’s commanding voice. Kain felt his muscles bunch with renewed energy. Trying to catch up, Matthew pushed himself to run harder and faster than he ever had before. He struggled to breathe in the oxygen mask, but nothing was going to stop him.

    The voices broke from a distorted symphony, and the screams of the people overtook Captain Soloman’s shouting.  Coming around a corner, the dim glow of emergency lamps pierced Kain’s eyes. He saw his father and his Honour Guard in full power armour hard at work trying to restore power. They were trying to seal off the Lower Wards beyond the lift entrance.

    “Kain! Thank God you’re here,” Captain Soloman proclaimed.

    “Captain, what is the situation?” Kain inquired.

    Matthew arrived behind his brother and took a moment to catch his breath. He looked around at the Honour Guard standing almost eight feet tall in their red and gold power armour. Sparks flew from a nearby exposed power conduit and the cutting torches the guards were using to cut through metal. Matthew could tell they were trying to seal the door shut to the Lower Wards. 

    “Father, there are people trapped in there!” Matthew shouted.

    “That’s Captain Solomon, you little brat. What the f**k are you doing here?” Captain Soloman asked. “Don’t you have some plants somewhere needing your attention and tender touch?” 

    Kain did his best to control the rising anger in every nerve of his body. He hated how his father treated his youngest sibling. Stepping in between Matthew and Captain Soloman, he refused to allow his little brother to be abused in his presence.

    “Captain, with all due respect, without Matthew, there would still be a hydraulic fluid fire in the main shaft consuming our air. That’s why none of the emergency seals are working right now. Matthew helped me seal the main shaft and decompress the oxygen to stop the fire.”

    “Covering for your, little brother again, Kain?” Gabriel sighed.  “Fine, but he’s your responsibility. I don’t want to hear another word out of his wretched mouth.”

    Matthew’s face flushed red and his blood boiled. He couldn’t contain his fury at his father’s action. Under no circumstance was he going to allow all of the people in the lowest ward to die. Stepping around Kain, he stood toe to toe and looked up into his father's eyes. Gabriel’s hand moved to take a firm grip of his pistol at his side.

    “We are not abandoning those people in there,” Matthew declared.

    Kain was shocked by his little brother’s courage. He had never seen anything like this from Matthew. The screams coming from the ward had awoken something in him. In that moment, Kain admired his little brother so much that it left him speechless. Even the guards halted their work. Everyone now watched the altercation.

    “Listen here, I am the captain of the ship, and these lives are my responsibility, not yours. You will do as you’re commanded, or I will kill you right now.” Gabriel gripped his pistol tight. A part of him admired the fire of rebellion burning in Matthew’s eyes, but he couldn’t let the ship think they could challenge his authority.

    “Do your duty! I won’t let you sacrifice thousands of people that live in this ward. Your job is to protect them,” Mathew insisted.

    “Those people don’t contribute anything to the ship. They’re just more mouths sucking up our oxygen and eating our food. Hell, most of them are drug addicts making their own concoctions to lessen the harsh reality we live in because they’re weak. They’re bigger threats to our survival than the damn hull breach, and we’re damn lucky a large piece of debris is plugging the hole. How long do you think that is going to hold, Matthew?”

    “I don’t know.” 

    “That’s right. You don’t f*****g know because you’re a botanist and biologist. So, shut the f**k up you little asshole.” 

    “Captain Soloman, in all fairness, Matthew has a point. Those people are needed to keep the crew growing, and if we let them die, we’re going to have fewer workers and soldiers in the long run,” Kain stated.

    “Kain, that’s enough out of you,” Gabriel insisted. “I won’t have you defending your brother’s idiocy. Now is not the time for division. We need to get those f*****g doors sealed before we’re all sucked into space.”

    Fury pulsed in every beat of Matthew's heart. He knew no argument or fact would change his father’s ignorance. He glared at his father through the dim emergency lighting. Instinct demanded he act, and he turned and raced into the ward before anyone could stop him.

    “Matthew, come back!” Kain shouted, but it was already too late. His little brother vanished into the darkness of the ward. He turned to face his father and saw a smile on his face.

     “Good riddance. What are you waiting for? Get that door sealed now!”

      The Honour Guard went back to work.

    Kain could feel his anger growing. In that moment, murderous rage filled his mind, and he knew he could kill his father right there without being stopped. But, he still loved his father. He was determined to make his father listen to reason.

     “Let me take a couple of the Honour Guard and go get Matthew. We might be able to repair the breach ourselves if you give us two of the cutting torches,” Kain pleaded.

      “All I’d be doing is sending you to your deaths. Neither of you are even in power armour. You’re just in your regular pressurized clothes. It’d be foolish to send you after him,” Gabriel reasoned.

       “Without Matthew and his green thumb, some people are going to starve to death. Let me go and save him and any people I can. You keep working out here in case we fail.”

         Gabriel shook his head in disappointment. His children loved each other and it was something he admired in them, but Matthew was his greatest disappointment. Gabriel watched his youngest son spend more time reading than training. There wasn’t a drop of warrior in the boy, but he knew Kain was right. Matthew, in his short years in charge of the gardens, nurseries, and animal farms in the Core Ward, had increased yields substantially. Letting go of the pistol grip, Gabriel looked his eldest son in the eyes.

         “Take what you need and go, but if one of you has to die, it can’t be you. I need you to understand that,” Gabriel stated. “You’re vital to this ship, and you’ll be captain when I am dead. It might be hard to live without Matthew’s green thumb, but we’ll die without you.”

         “Thank you, Captain,” Kain stated. “All right, half of you men grab the cutters, and let’s go!”

    One of the guards working on the conduit grabbed their gear. Gabriel watched his eldest son lead the men into the lowest ward. He prayed to God that both of his sons returned safe and successful, but he feared he’d never see either of them again. No matter how hard he was on Matthew, the boy refused to grow up, accept the harsh realities of survival, and that endangered Kain. Marching over, he began helping the guard working on the power conduit. Getting power back would help everyone, including his sons, inside the ward.

      Racing through the massive Lower Ward, Matthew could hear screams of pain from all around him, but he focused on finding the breach by following the sound of hissing air. Sealing that would save everyone still alive in the ward. He wasn’t quite sure how he was going to do it, but he was determined to find a way or die trying. The darkness from power loss cloaked the ward in an eerie ambiance. The houses and makeshift buildings metal-welded together from cargo containers, and whatever other resources could be scavenged, were mere shapes in the darkness. The only thing providing any light was the fluorescent plants he had genetically modified. Illuminants grew in the public gardens all over the Lower Wards and were the only light right now.

    The streets were littered with debris ripped off from the vacuum of space. Matthew could make out dead or wounded people half-buried in some of the rubble. Blood was pooled on the deck from scattered human remains, wounded by flying sheets of metal. Unconcerned for his own safety, he slipped when he hit a pool of blood and tumbled across the deck through the debris. Picking himself up, he ignored the pain and started running the best he could. He failed to notice the gaping wound caused by a jagged piece of metal. He limped along, moving through the streets, following the vacuum until he came to a clearing.

    Matthew could see how precarious the situation was. The decompression had torn several houses down, and a large piece of metal was clogging the hull rupture. It was plain to see the nearest house had collapsed on itself, and the piece stuck in the rupture was the wall closest to it. Hissing from the vacuum pierced the ears. Intermittent groans from the metal caused his muscle to tense, and sections of the metal wall had crumpled together under the strain of the infinite power of space. Matthew knew there wasn’t a lot of time, and he had no clue how to fix any of this. He knew something needed to be done to have a chance to save anyone.

    “Everyone who can hear me, you need to get out of the ward now. If you’re alive and you can hear me, get out of your homes and out of the ward before Captain Soloman seals the door. Run if you want to live.”

    For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Matthew was breathing hard into his mask again and preparing to take it off to scream again. A piece of metal shifted, catching his attention, and when he saw a piece of debris shift again, he knew someone was trapped. Matthew raced over and tried to lift the large piece as far as he could. From underneath, a small girl crawled out. Looking at her dim hazel eyes, Matthew knew she was blind from ischemia,  a common ailment in the Lower Wards, because the Core Ward and Upper Wards received the lion share of oxygen production.

    “Who's there?” Her soft voice trembled with fear.

    “Don’t worry. I’m here to help,” Matthew said, trying to keep her calm. “You need to move to your right and out from under this metal. I don’t know how long I can hold it up.”

    The little girl in the dirty pink dress felt around for a few seconds. She moved out from under the metal debris that had trapped her. Beyond the debris, space howled, pulling her hair in the direction of the hull rupture. She trembled from the cold. Her breaths came in short, shallow gasps. Matthew dropped the debris and moved to the little girl to help her. He took off the oxygen mask and slipped it over her face. Moisture puffed in rapid breaths that fogged up the mask. 

    “Just breathe slowly,” he said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

     Mathew could see she was wounded in several places. She sobbed, holding on tight to him. Her wounds were treatable if he could just get her out of here. Rapid footsteps came from behind, forcing him to turn. He recognized the vague shapes and motioned for his brother and the guards to join him.

    “Matthew, what in the hell were you thinking?” Kain asked.

    “These people need our help.”

    “We’re going to help them, brother. First, we have to seal that breach.” Kain looked at the hull breach before looking around at the nearby metal debris. He knew with a little luck that they could use it to jury-rig a solution. “You two fire up those cutters and start welding that piece of metal blocking the rupture in place. First, make sure you activate your magnetic boots, because if we get sucked out into space, everyone in this ward dies.”

      The guards nodded and reached down to activate their magnetic boot locks. With a thud, the boots stuck to the metal floor plating. The two guards strode over to the metal fragment blocking the rupture and sparked their cutters. He could still hear screaming from all over the ward. Looking down, Kain saw the injured little girl held tight by his brother and reached down and tugged on his shoulder to get his attention.

    “Matthew, if we don’t fix this now everyone is going to die in here, including us,” Kain insisted.

    “She needs my help,” he begged.

    “I need your help to save everyone. We need to get some of this heavy metal debris over to the rupture so our people can weld it in place. She’ll be fine if we can get this done fast.”

    “So, we’re going to use the debris of these people's homes to save them?” Matthew asked.

    “Do you have a better idea?”

    “You know Father will never help these people out, so to save them we’re going to make them homeless,” Tears welling up in Matthew’s eyes.

    “We can’t change Father. What we can do is save their lives. Sure, they might be homeless, but at least they’ll still be alive, and you know that’s the lesser of two evils,” Kain reasoned.

    To save the little girl, Matthew knew his brother was right. The breach had to be sealed. He tried to let go of the little girl, but she clung to him.

    “Please don’t leave me alone in the dark,” the girl begged.

    “I am not going far. Just over there to fix the rupture,” he stated.

    “No, please don’t.” She whimpered.

    “Trust me, please.”

    Crumpling metal thundered out from the breach as the vacuum tore at it. The sound caused the little girl to jump in fear and cling tight to her saviour, but she relented after a moment. Matthew was struggling to breathe, but he left the oxygen tank and mask with her. He followed his brother to the large piece of debris that had trapped the little girl.

    Together, they lifted the metal, carried it over, and placed it against the wall. The nearest guard moved quickly to start fusing the metal to the hull.

    This close, the howling air being sucked out of the small cracks was almost deafening. Matthew and Kain moved quick to get another large metal slab that had been the wall of a house moved into place. Fear of death pumped adrenaline into their system and gave them the strength they needed. Purposefully, they raced back and forth, setting metal in place. The guards fused the pieces in place with haste and created an overlapping patchwork of metal slabs.

    Together, the two brothers lifted a large piece of debris to cover the last breach, using the vacuum to their advantage. Pressure from the vacuum of space sucked it in place and held it firm. Kain took the cutter from the guard nearest him and fused it in place. The center began to crumple with a loud clunk and the little girl screamed. Matthew turned to her. Finishing the weld, Kain passed the cutter back and went to grab his brother for one final trip.

    “One more piece and it should hold long enough to make proper repairs.”  

    Metal shrieked and gave away in the center. Space ripped a hole through the metal debris and everything started getting sucked into space. Matthew fought through the decompression, trying to keep his feet on the ground. He focused on the little girl. Decompression from the vacuum pulled the little girl into the air, and she was now tumbling with the debris towards the gaping maw of space. Without a second thought, Matthew leaped into the air to grab her. Space grabbed both people and pulled them towards the void. 

    "Matthew!” Kain cried.

    Matthew grabbed the edge of the debris with one hand and howled in pain. Sharp metal cut into his hand. He only squeezed harder, fighting past the pain, and clutched the little girl in his arms. The two guards moved to grab a large piece of debris to seal the new rupture shut, and Kain trudged to the rupture, grabbed his brother’s arm, and tried to pull him free. The sheer power of the space strained against him.

    “Hold on.” Kain urged.

    Matthew struggled to hold onto the screaming little girl. He could feel himself losing his grip, and she began slipping from him. He tried to pull her tight to his body and squeeze her between his arm and chest. He worried he was squeezing her so tight she couldn’t breathe. The vacuum tugged at her, and he strained against the relentless fury of space. She slipped free and clawed  at Matthew’s legs. He reached down, grabbed her by the forearm, and tried to pull her back up.

    “You have to grab a hold of me!”

    “Please don’t let me go!”

    Kain struggled to pull the two of them back into the ship. He could see in his peripheral vision that the guards were moving back to the rupture with a metal piece large enough to seal it. Every instinct told him he needed to save his brother now or let him go. He glared into the dull hazel eyes of the little girl. They were dilated from terror. His father’s words echoed in his mind commanding him to let go.

    “I can’t save you both!” Kain shouted over the howling. “You have to let her go!”

    Matthew heard his brother but refused to listen. He struggled to pull her up. He was more than willing to die himself if it meant saving this little girl. He knew this was someone’s child. Relenting was not an option. Turning to look at Kain, he saw the fear in his brother’s eyes and the sweat dripping from his brow. Drops flew off into space.

    “No!  I won’t let her go!”

    “You’re both going to die if you don’t.”

    Kain struggled to hold onto his brother, and Matthew struggled to hold onto the little girl. Sweat poured from their skin, and their hands were becoming slick with it. Kain tried to move backwards in small steps, using his magnetic boots and his entire body to produce leverage. He could see the guards were in position now. He knew he had to get his brother out now.

    Staring into the little girl’s dim hazel eyes, Matthew refused to accept what his brother was saying. Inch by inch, she was slipping from his grasp. He grasped her arm with all of the force he could muster. Drops of blood were sucked from her arm and into space where his nails broke through her flesh. The howling abyss loomed, refusing to let its prizes go. Tears flew from the girl's eyes and into the void, and the howling vacuum swallowed her screams.

    Time seemed to freeze for Matthew, and his eyes widened. He stared into the girls eyes in that moment, and they began moving away. Getting smaller and smaller. He screamed in rage when he lost his grip. Flailing against his brother, he struggled to reach out, trying to grab hold of her tiny hand, but it was already too late. He watched the little girl disappear into the void of space.

    Taking slow steps backwards, he refused to allow his bother to be sucked out. He could feel muscles beginning to tear under his skin. Fighting through the pain, he kept moving backwards with strong, steady steps. With a scream of rage, Kain ripped his brother free from the hole.

    With the two men out of the way, the guards moved with purpose. Two of them moved the plate into position and released it, the vacuum of space pulling the metal slab into place. Everything dropped to the ground and the howling ceased. The guards worked to fuse the metal into place and kept working away to ensure the breach didn’t rupture again. Kain and his brother collapsed to the ground.

    Matthew stared at where the rupture used to be.  He could still see the terrified look on the little girl's face, and he heard her screams of terror echoing in his mind. He remained frozen. Even when his brother shook him, he was unable to snap back to reality. He knew this moment would haunt him forever. This was forever his failure.

    “Matthew, snap out of it!” Kain shouted and smacked him hard across the face.

    “I failed,” Matthew sobbed on returning to reality.

    “No, you didn’t little brother. Because of you, many people are going to live.”

    Matthew clung to his brother. All Kain could do was hold his brother tight. He knew the pain of losing someone all too well. Training had taught him that sacrifice was part of survival, but Matthew was different. Nothing would assuage Matthew’s pain and anguish.

    After a few minutes, Kain pulled his little brother to his feet. He stared into his brown eyes, red from crying. He reached up and wiped the tears away. He smiled, full of pride at the courage Matthew had displayed.

    “There is no shame, little brother. You did everything you could, and I think you’re one of the most courageous people I’ve ever known. I’ve trained many soldiers on this ship, and few would have raced into this ward to save these people.”

    “But, but I couldn’t save her,” Matthew sniffled.

    “You tried, which is more than almost anyone else can say. Sometimes you have to snatch victory from the jaws of a defeat like this,” Kain urged. “Let’s get out of here.”

    The two brothers turned away from the patched rupture, Kain guiding his brother. Many of the survivors were wounded, but they stopped and allowed the brothers to pass. They offered smiles and whispered thanks to the two. One of the small boys broke free of his mother’s grasp and raced to the two brothers with a smile on his face. Matthew looked down on him as he trudged past. He was feeling the pain from his leg injury now that the adrenaline was beginning to wear off.

    “Thank you for saving us, mister,” the boy said.

    Soon, a cadence of appreciation echoed through the ward.

    Kain looked down at his little brother.

    “See? You’re a hero.” Matthew didn’t say a word. He knew the little girl whose name he never learned wouldn’t agree with him. Kain was trying to be kind. It was something Matthew appreciated, but he couldn’t feel it.

    “God job, First Officer,” Captain Soloman cheered on seeing his two sons. “I knew if anyone could do it, it was you.”

    “It wasn’t just me, Father,” Kain retorted.

    “Matthew nearly got you killed.” Gabriel looked at his youngest son. “What’s the little baby been crying about now?”

    Hearing those words woke something dark in Matthew. Breaking free, he charged at his father and caught him off guard. With all of the force he could muster, he slammed his fist against his father’s face. He managed to get in another hard shot, and blood splattered Gabriel’s face.

    “You ungrateful child!” Gabriel grabbed his youngest son by the throat, throwing him to the ground. He pulled his pistol from his side and brought it to bear.

    Before he could get a clean shot, Kaingrabbed the pistol to stop his father.

    “Let go of my hand boy. This little traitor is going to die now!”

    “No, Father. If you want to kill him, you have to kill me first,” Kain stated with defiance.

    “You’d fight me for him?” Gabriel challenged.

    “No, Father. I wouldn’t fight you. I won’t hurt the crew by giving you a reason to call me a traitor, as well, but I won’t stand here and let you kill my brother.” Kain glared at his father.

    Gabriel breathed heavy and his skin burned hot. He stood there in silence, glaring past Kain at Matthew, and hatred filled his eyes. Gabriel relented pulling his pistol back  before placing it into his holster.He stepped backwards before  he spat on Matthew.

    “You’re lucky your brother loves you so much, and that this crew needs him, you miserable, disobedient child.” Gabriel turned to Kain. “Send word to the great houses that I am calling a general assembly. Never defy me again in front of the troops.”

    With that, Gabriel pushed past Kain and marched into the ward. His Honour Guard stopped their work and followed behind.