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No bodies though. Had there been bodies all around, Miya would have run screaming. There was only so much real-life horror a commercial space pilot could take.
“What off Earth happened here?” she whispered, afraid to break the chilling silence. She was afraid to move as well, frozen in place by the sight.
“Where would the colonists keep their ships?”
She turned to look up at Therak’s face. “Seriously? You seethisand that’s what comes to mind first?”
He stepped in front of her, blocking her view at the horrific sight. “Where?”
Okay, maybe Therak had a point. Whatever had happened here was long over: the blood appeared old, not fresh. There wasn’t anyone injured in need of their help, so why stick around and try to solve the mystery? Especially when there might be a second edition of whatever had occurred inside the station. And she liked her blood in her veins, thank you very much.
“Miya.”
“The ships, yes, yes.” She took a deep breath to focus on what really mattered now. “As per protocol, every newly established colony has evacuation ships or shuttles at hand. Those must be stored someplace safe from the elements. So, that would be in an underground hangar.”
“Where?”
“Um… here? The access point to the hangar, I mean. It should be somewhere in this station, as per protocol.”
Therak nodded and guided her toward the exit with a hand on the back of her neck. It was a light, gentle touch, not a controlling one, and Miya found it comforting. She didn’t know if that had been his intention, but it definitely made her feel better, reminding her she wasn’t alone.
It also helped that once out of the dining hall, Therak started walking slightly in front of her, as if ready to shield her against danger. She didn’t simply have a companion: she had a protector.
“What do you think happened here?” she asked while they were going from door to door. Labs, storage rooms, a medical center, a gym – everything was in pristine condition but empty of people.
“You know what happened,” he replied matter-of-factly while handing her a bottle of water. “You should always stay hydrated.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
The state of the dining hall had made Miya forget all about her thirst and hunger. She had barely noticed the bottles in one of the storage rooms, but Therak had thoughtfully taken one for each of them.
She took a long sip then watched Therak finish the entire one-liter bottle in one go. Obviously, he wasn’t as unaffected by the trip from the sea to here as he let on, the stoic guy.
“There should be emergency food and water rations on the evac ships, so we don’t need to stock up from the storage rooms here,” she told him as they continued their search. “But back to my question. I don’t know what occurred here, hence why I’m asking the expert.”
“The expert?”
“Well, you did use to be in the bloodiest business out there.”
“My kills were always fast, painless, and clean. Never messy.”
“Right.” Again, Miya wondered if he had an assassin’s code. And again, it wasn’t the right moment to ask him to elaborate. Maybe when they were flying safely off of Xera...Ifthey found a ship. “So, you think what happened here was…?”
“The colonists are dead, Miya. A large number of them, at least. You saw the amount of blood in there. Whoever survived is long gone. Pray to your gods that they didn’t take all of the ships available.”
Miya gulped. She had just had her fears confirmed. “But who could have done this? New colonies have guards, weapons, they come prepared for any possible scenario,” she reasoned aloud, barely paying attention to the vacant rooms by this point.
“I could have easily eliminated them to the last colonist,” he stated calmly while peeking in yet another not-the-hangar-room. “Some of my colleagues have the skills to do the same.”
“You think assassins did this?”
“There are many possible culprits, Miya. Your kind are wrong to believe yourselves safe because of your weapons and technologies. Every place can be infiltrated, every person can be–”
“Eliminated. Yes, I get the picture.” Miya hugged herself while they were progressing onto the final corridor left unchecked.
Then she face-planted in Therak’s back when he stopped abruptly.
He turned around and caught her by the elbows fast enough to stop her from falling on her ass.
