Doomsday Wonderland

Darkness wrapped around Woyu like a thick blanket. He could feel himself drowning in an impenetrable umbra. There was no pain and fear in there. If there was something that irked him, it was the rapid and unceasing blinking of something ahead of him.

Slowly, ever slowly, Woyu’s eyelids fluttered open. A blast of dazzling light instantly seized its chance and flooded into his eyes, causing him to close his eyes once more as tears began running out. Then, he gradually returned to full consciousness.

By the time he opened his eyes again, the light was gone. What laid ahead of him was a starless dark sky. Woyu blinked his eyes a few times, and his memory slowly returned to him. He remembered that before he passed out, he’d ordered Silas to bring him to the open-air garden and then…

Ignoring the pain ripping down his body, Woyu raised his head. Then, he saw the light.

From the dusky sky, he could vaguely discern a strangely shaped pure black shadow that was hovering right above Exodus. The light that woke him up should be coming from that thing.

‘If Lin Sanjiu hasn’t given up yet, why doesn’t she call me?’

Woyu opened his mouth, wanting to say something but he suddenly remembered that Lin Sanjiu could not hear him right now, so he closed his mouth again.

He was certain that Lin Sanjiu was able to see that the communication device was not with him, and so she knew she couldn’t call in through the device right now.

‘What should I do? If she doesn’t come in, nobody can stop the man…’ Woyu thought inwardly.

Just when he was in a quandary of what to do, the jet-black aircraft suddenly closed in. It hovered very close above the dome of the open-air garden, reminding Woyu of the Remora Fish that swam along with the shark. In such close proximity, Woyu finally saw the two sharp, scythe-like wings of the aircraft. The light flickered again. However, this time, each flash had a different duration and rhythm. Some of them were long, like dashes, while others were short, like dots.

“Really? Morse Code?” Woyu sighed. “Do they think everybody is familiar with Morse Code? This is real rocket science, you know? They really have too much confidence in me.”

The flickering light went off, and the aircraft blended into the same monotony of the night sky.

“Well, consider yourself lucky,” he sighed again. Then he shuffled his feet and sat on the floor. Ignoring the aching scream of his muscles, Woyu lowered and raised his head several times.

The fund for the committee was always stretched to the limit, and the price for Special Items that could be used for secret communication was often off the charts. Since they couldn’t afford any of those, the committee forced their members to learn Morse Code. Woyu had never expected that he would need to use Morse Code again so quickly after the demise of his comrades. A pang of sadness and grief jabbed his heart when he thought of his fallen comrades. Woyu cast those feelings away and stopped.

Another light blasted from the aircraft when they saw Woyu nodded. Even though he had been squinting his eyes, the light still worked its way into his eyes and caused his eyes to become watery.

There were only two messages Lin Sanjiu wanted to relay. One was they could not communicate through the communication device anymore, and the second was that she wanted him to locate the hangar bay.

‘Hangar bay?’

Woyu frowned. It did not take too long for the realization to sink in. For a massive mothership like Exodus, takeoffs and landings were not an easy feat. In the situation where they needed to transport people to the ground and resupply, a tender vessel was required. Hence, if there was a tender vessel, then there must be a hanger bay.

If he could open up the hangar bay from inside, then Lin Sanjiu and Yu Yuan could land inside Exodus. The only thing was that they needed to circle around Exodus to locate the hangar bay.

With that thought in mind, Woyu called out, “Silas.”

His voice had become weaker, so he was afraid that Silas couldn’t hear him. However, it seemed that his concern was totally uncalled for. After a few seconds of silence, Silas’s ever-soothing voice rang out. “Yes? How may I help you?”

‘It’s really good to have such a spaceship,’ Woyu thought.

“That man, your former commander, where is he now?”

“The unregistered personnel is now moving towards the bridge on deck one.”

Woyu blinked his eyes blankly as confusion ran amok in his mind.

‘Where is deck one? And what the hell is a bridge?’

Be that as it may, Woyu decided to put those questions aside and gave out his order. “No matter where he is heading to, don’t let him pass.”

He paused midway through his sentence and went into a coughing fit. It took him quite a while to regain his breath, and he continued his sentence, “Do whatever you can, Silas. Lock him down.”

No sooner had he finished his sentence than Silas’s voice rang out again. She said, “Target has arrived at the bridge.”

Woyu’s heart somersaulted. Before he could respond, Silas continued, “Initiating lockdown sequence.”

“Ho—Hold on—”

“Lockdown sequence initiated. Target is now trapped in the bridge.”

Woyu sighed. Silas was not a human being, so she wouldn’t understand why it was wrong to trap the man at a location where he wanted to be. Besides, she was just following his order, so he couldn’t blame her either. It was just that Woyu couldn’t understand why the man wanted to go to the bridge.

‘Did he give up on me already? And also, what is the use of the bridge?’

Woyu bit his lower lip and fell into deep thought. After a few seconds, he shooed away the bad feeling that was swelling in his heart. Then, he raised his head and looked into the sky. Since he had seen the aircraft twice, he was able to pinpoint its location amidst the dusky sky. Right now, the aircraft had pulled away from Exodus and was now flying above it.

“Silas, can you tell me the location of the hangar bay?” Woyu asked. He could feel that one or two of his ribs were broken, for whenever he spoke, the vibration in his chest would cause him to experience a violent fit of pain.

“It is located on the right side of deck 1.”

‘Not again,’ Woyu cussed inwardly.

“How far is it from the bridge?”

“For your information, the hangar bay is about seven to eight hundred meters away from the bridge.”

Seven to eight hundred meters was nothing for a posthuman. Woyu was confident that the man would appear in front of him in no time when the door to the bridge was unlocked. He gulped down and he could sense a metallic taste in his mouth.

“Can the door be opened by anyone other than me?” He asked again.

He crossed his finger and hoped to receive a negative answer from Silas, but the system just replied, “It depends on whether or not the operator has the emergency recovery passcode. All mechanical instruments can be operated manually without the permission of the commander after the emergency recovery passcode is entered.”

“Can you tell me the emergency recovery passcode?” Woyu swallowed again as his chest tightened.

“Permission denied.”

Woyu was stunned for a second, as he did not expect that answer. He asked, “Why?”

“According to the Starfleet Federation’s Starship General Rules Chapter 10, article 171(A), the commander is not entitled to be informed of the emergency recovery passcode.”

Woyu heard every single word in that sentence, but he couldn’t understand it at all. With a blank mind, he asked, “Starfleet Federation? What is that?”

“It seems to me that you are ill-informed.” Even though Silas was not a human being, she was sharp. She continued, “Exodus, serial number 07, is a mothership-class vessel under the jurisdiction of Dongwon Colonial Corporation, a subsidiary of the Starfleet Federation. Year built: 2388. Period of service: 8. Number of decks: 10. Allotted crews: 800…”

Silas continued to introduce the history of Exodus, but Woyu’s brain was occupied by a thought.

Exodus was not an ordinary starship. Not only was it built by an unknown world before the apocalypse arrived, but it was also a vessel responsible for interstellar colonization. It was now clear to him that the man was either the captain hired by the company, or he stole this ship from the real captain. It was also now clear to him that the reason he could erase the man’s authority by changing the passcode was that the real owner of Exodus belonged to the Starfleet Federation from an unknown world, which might have already been destroyed by the apocalypse.

The man was only a commander. Just like how Silas wouldn’t tell him the emergency recovery passcode, she wouldn’t tell the man either. In other words, he was the only one who could control Exodus right now.

Woyu blinked his eyes and wiped his forehead.

The aircraft was no longer in sight. Without him, Lin Sanjiu wouldn’t be able to land on Exodus. Also, following Exodus was a no-go as well, as this starship was capable of entering space at any time.

If he did not give the order, the man would be forever stuck in the bridge and starved to death.

Woyu could feel a tickling sensation as sweat trickled down his forehead. He and his comrades had been getting by for so many years by feeding on the leftover of those higher echelons in the Twelve World. When they first came across Lin Sanjiu, they didn’t even expect to get their hands on her house.

“Bring me to the bridge,” Woyu ordered after he made up his mind. “I want to take a look outside.”

‘If possible, I want to have a talk with the man as well.’

“Alright.”

Exodus had seven levels in total. Before Woyu became the commander, it only opened up the top level for Lin Sanjiu. As Silas opened up one door after another, the pod went all the way down through the starship and came to the seventh floor.

After he went through a massive grey door, he suddenly put the brakes on the pod. Woyu stared at the words “hangar bay”, which was written on the door in white marker.

‘As soon as I get behind the door, I can open up the hangar bay and Lin Sanjiu could come in.’

Sitting inside the pod, Woyu was torn between the devil and the deep blue sea. Cold sweat was budding from his back, and soon his shirt was thoroughly wet. Nobody could tell if it was because of his injury or the struggle in his heart.

The bridge was just ahead of him. He raised his head and rubbernecked between the corridor and the hangar bay. After a short while that seemed like an eternity, he gnashed his teeth and his face contorted.

“Silas!” Woyu called out. “Silas!”

But there was no reply from the system. His blood turned cold.