Movement

[Venty]

At the very edge of his vision, something moved.

 

Whirling about, James aimed the end of his accelerator off into the darkness. The light from his suit illuminated the asteroid in front of him, revealing... nothing. Just rock, stone and his own footprints.

 

'Just a trick o' the mind, kid', he heard O'Malley assure him over the radio. 'The dark's messin' with ya. Relax, put on yer lantern, and get back to it. We got's a quota t' meet.'

 

James sighed, and turned back to the rocky wall. 'Yeah, of course sir.' Shifting his stance to hold the accelerator against his shoulder, he took in a breath of recycled oxygen and...

 

The gun kicked as he pressed the trigger, and he watched as a portion of what used to be near-impenetrable asteroid disintegrated under the concentrated force of a dozen megapascals, if not more. All that remained were mere particles, floating harmlessly in the void as he stepped forward.

 

Blast after blast shattered through the rock in front and around him, only pausing to give him a chance to pull his box with him as he advanced. With each boom, he saw specks of his prizes flow from the stone- coal, hematite, galena, bauxite. And in-between those, he saw the blue sparkles that radiated through his HUD: his real goal.

 

Turning his gun towards the closest of the indicators, he hesitated for only a moment before pulling the trigger. The rock caved in, and from it, bits and pieces of glittering yellow floated around and towards him. He lowered the gun and took one of the larger chunks in hand.

 

In the voidsuit's light, reflected in his visor, was a solid chunk of raw gold.

 

He grinned. This was the first time he'd ever gotten to ever hold gold, let alone find it.

 

Turning around, he shoved the chunk into the massive box of ore behind him, and got to collecting the rest. Specks and fragments floated all around him, and each wave of the ore bag he had been given got more and more. It seemed like he-

 

In one of the pieces, he saw the reflection of something moving fast.

 

James scrambled to turn around and bring his accelerator up, but it was too late. Before he knew it, something latched onto his arm and tore.

 

He screamed as a fish seemingly larger than his head and with teeth sharper than the pick on his hip tried its damnedest to tear his arm out and off. The accelerator tumbled out of his hands and floated out of reach, leaving him scrambling for the machete at his other hip. His arm burned in an indescribable way as he felt the joints of his voidsuit strain under the assault, not helped by his wild movements or the fish's thrashing.

 

After a moment, he managed to rip the machete from its sheath and swung as hard as he could manage at the fish's head. His blow struck true and caved into the carp's head, sending blood all over and splattering onto his visor. Blinded, yet still feeling the wild thrashing of the now-wounded fish on his arm, he swung again and again until he felt the thing let go.

 

'James, the hell happened over there?!' James heard O'Malley shout as he swiped the blood off his visor. With his vision clear, he got the clear sight of the carp's bloodied and ruined corpse floating away from him, the shaking hand that still held the machete firmly in his grasp-

 

And the torn, leaking end of his voidsuit's arm, now exposed to the vacuum.

 

All at once, he felt the air and pressure in his suit begin to dissipate, and before he even knew what he was doing, he ran. Even after a few seconds, he felt the effects- his arm felt like it was on fire and frozen solid, and it was only getting worse. He vaguely heard his coworker shout for him again over the radio as he sprinted through the rocky tunnels, held down only by the magboot's suction on the ground.

 

The ship wasn't far off. He didn't go far. He could make it.

 

Blood pulsed and flowed from his arm as it began to fully depressurize, the water that made up his core beginning to boil as he saw the airlock of the tiny shuttle they had flown in on. It seared, the pain making his vision go bright as he tried to stumble forward and hit the cycle valve.

 

Only for his world to burn as he felt something hit him from behind and latch on to his neck.

 

In those final moments, just as he hit the valve, he swore he saw a bladed limb cut along the throat of his suit. And in those final moments, he swore he felt it tear through.