Chapter 12
“So,” Reed continues, “it’ll take some time to change our engine signature. In the meantime we will hide in the asteroid noise. They won’t be able to pick our signal out as long as we stay amongst the rocks. They provide excellent interference!”
We got lucky to come across this debris. This must have been a star at one point or another and now it’s just rocks, a lot of them. Broken and scattered they still stayed somewhat together creating the perfect curtain for us to hide behind. We went in as far as we could and “parked” the Destroyer on the largest rock we could find.
I notice Ellie looking out in fascination.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, - she responds without taking her eyes off the view, - I’ve never seen a formation like that before.”
“I lived near a very similar one as a kid. - I say. - It was my very own playground. As a matter of fact… Hey, Reed, how long did you say you’ll need to change the signature?”
“Mmmm, about an hour. There is a lot of manual work involved since I can’t connect to the network. The block works both ways, you see”
“Yeah-yeah, alright. I don’t need to know the details. You don’t need us here to do any of this, though, right?”
“No-o-ope.”
“Perfect. Ellie?”
I throw a nano-tech suit her way.
“Suit up. We are going for a walk.”
Her face lights up for the first time since we met.
I can hear her laugh through the comms as we leap from rock to rock like a couple of frogs. For a second there even I forget all my worries. I’ve been so focused on survival, for such a long time now that I never had a spare moment to think about anything else. And here, in the endless space in the middle of nowhere I just suddenly feel at peace. I feel that perhaps I could just stay here forever, no longer be the hunter or the hunted…
“You know, I never even asked your name.” - I hear Ellie say through the comms.”
“It’s Sef. You can call me Sef.”
“Nice to meet you, Sef.”
“Em? I hate to be a party-pooper but you’d better come back inside.” - We hear Reed say through the comms. - “We’ve got company.”
