I woke up with a headache. That was the first thing I noticed.
Upon regaining full consciousness, I realised that I was tied to a very uncomfortable chair in a small, white room. The others were in similar positions. The enemy agents must have sedated us and placed us here, but why?
Soon enough, I remembered what had happened prior. Dawn's betrayal, the train chase, and its ultimate derailment into a mysterious building. I didn't know where we were now, but I hoped that we could get out of here.
- At least we can talk - Claudius sighed. That was true; we weren't gagged.
- For how long have we been out? - I asked.
- I have no idea - he replied. As I looked around, I noticed that Sebastian and Dawn were still unconscious. Some grey barrels and crates were lying around the room. It seemed like we were locked in some storage area.
- Uhh, my head... - Amber woke up. I noticed that Sebastian's eyes also slowly opened.
- Oh, we were kidnapped. Beautiful - Sebastian said sarcastically.
Suddenly, we heard a quiet zoom ahead of us. We initially thought that it was one of the aggressors, but the noise seemed to be mechanical, not human.
- Is that a robot? - I asked.
- I think so. Maybe we're in a factory of some kind? - Amber suggested. Most factories in the 2030s were automated, with humans only conserving and observing the AI's that worked and cooperated like hundreds of little ants. It would make sense that the moon adopted similar methods.
- I think that the robots will notice some mayhem - Amber said. She then tipped over her chair by pushing off her feet. She landed on a barrel that was quickly knocked over.
- What are you doing?! - Sebastian yelped - The enemy agents will notice that we're up to something!
- They'll definitely notice you yelling - Amber muttered.
The white, mechanical door slid open, and a maintenance robot rolled in through it. It was shaped like a white box with two small wheels, a pair of metal claws on the sides and a singular camera for seeing. A long and pointy antenna was sticking out of its "head". The robot arrived and tried to move up the barrel, but Amber positioned herself in such a way that the robot's claws tore her ties and freed her from the chair. She quickly got up and freed us, using a tiny dagger that she carried around with her. Soon enough, we were all free and ran out of the room before the door slammed shut.
We entered a hallway that had similar colours to the room we just left. More grey barrels were lined up against the right wall. A giant mechanical claw grabbed one of those barrels and took it somewhere. We had to carefully avoid bumping into any of the robots that were driving around the place. Most of them were almost identical to the one that unintentionally freed us. We soon found ourselves on a catwalk, surrounded by mysterious machinery. Lots of gears, pipes and pumps were tangled in a strange manner.
- I'm getting steampunk vibes from this - said Claudius, clearly in awe of the stuff in here.
- I think I know where we are - Amber stated, looking around and expecting danger.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOBHVRWmSJ
- Where? - We asked her in unison.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewkLKvsEJf
- The rocket fuel factory - she responded.
- Oh, it's the place where they process lunar ice and split the water coming from it into hydrogen and oxygen to make cheap rocket fuel! - I remembered reading about this place a while ago.
- Exactly. I don't know how to navigate this place, but I hope we can find a way out of here without running into our enemies - As Amber said that, I turned around and noticed Dawn, along with the big man from earlier, getting dangerously close to the catwalk we were on.
- Hide! - I exclaimed upon seeing this. I tried to be quiet, so as not to alert the enemy agents. We quickly got moving and hid behind a literal wall of gears. Luckily, the villains didn't notice us. Additionally, the mechanical clicking of the gears wasn't loud enough for us to not hear their conversation. They walked past us, not suspecting a thing.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrZRSrkWHC
- Listen, Rill - Dawn started - I know that you're obsessed with history and all, but you seriously should have used a modern laser blaster instead of that old rifle. You could have defeated them!
- At least we get to interrogate them and see what they know about our plan - Rill replied with a thick Russian accent. Dawn was caught off guard, but she soon returned to her rant.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8mNIiyqms
- We must prioritise effectiveness over passion. We're evil, and we need to do our things right so that we don't get caught. Got it? - She asked fiercely.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALRBI2ps7B
- I get it, but I am not obsessed with history. Evil people can also have passions - Rill responded - However, I will make sure that I do my job well.
- Good, let's go meet up with the others - Dawn ended the conversation. The two walked away in silence.
- Should we go or do we sit here? - I whispered, but the others didn't hear me.
- I can't hear you. Could you repeat? - Sebastian asked, annoyed.
- Should we go or do we sit here? - I repeated, this time a little louder. They heard me.
- I reckon we wait a bit and get out of here. We don't want to run into them, but they'll eventually find us if we don't act - Claudius took the initiative, and we agreed to that. We sat around for a bit, making sure that Dawn and Rill were far away from us before we left our hideout. From what I could hear, our enemies went forward, so we went the other way, left. Once again, there were loads of robots moving back and forth between the machinery, making sure that everything worked as intended. Eventually, we entered another hallway. We had to take a sharp turn further left, as we heard some human footsteps on the right. Upon doing so, we found the trainwreck.
The Lunar Express, or what was left of it, was in horrible condition. The front window was completely gone, with a massive dent at the very front of the cabin. The wagon at the very back detached itself from the rest and flew forward, demolishing a poor pipe along the way. There were tons of scratches on the wagons and rubble around them. The middle wagon was completely flattened by the remnants of the wall that the train slammed into. Speaking of the wall, the hole was covered up by a weird material.
- It seems like they 3D printed a filler to prevent us from escaping - Amber sighed. We noticed a few 3D printing robots along the way, so it made sense that one came here to patch up the hole. Upon closer inspection, the greyish material that was used to fill the cracks seemed to be a mix of concrete and moon dust.
- Oh no, they're coming here. Let's hide in one of the remaining wagons! - Claudius exclaimed. Soon, we all heard footsteps getting louder. Without hesitation, we jumped into the second wagon from the cabin. We slammed the bent black door shut as we did. A lamp was flickering on the ceiling of the wagon, illuminating the wagon. There were several things around the room, but most of them were smashed into smithereens by the impact. One thing, however, remained more or less intact. In fact, it wasn't a thing, but a person. The woman in her twenties who wanted to shoot me on the roof of the train.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwR2Q87MeK1
Her space helmet fell off her head during the crash and was shattered, but the rest of the spacesuit still clung to her. Her face was pale, her eyes were closed, and her dyed bright red hair was a mess. The woman was unconscious, but one detail caught our attention. She was holding a notebook in her right hand. Carefully, we pulled it out of her hand and took a look at it. Flipping through its dusty pages, we found out that it belonged to a man named Leonid. The pages were mostly filled with sinister notes that showed his resentment for the USA and the desire to destroy it. Most of these notes were written in Russian, but Amber translated them into English. One of the last notes was particularly interesting. It said:
"Operation Supernova will commence on the 22nd of February, 2035, at 4 PM. I have gathered my forces around the base, and I hope that our act will greatly hurt the USA and benefit Mother Russia". 31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBoyji0kVS
The rest of the note consisted of unreadable scribbles, probably drawn in rage. However, what we've just seen was huge. The enemy agents were planning an operation that would commence today, presumably in a few hours. We wanted to know more, but the last few pages of the notebook were ripped out as the train derailed. We scrambled to find them on the ground, but all of a sudden, someone grabbed me by the neck. It was the woman. She woke up in the meantime and clearly wanted revenge for what we did to her. I saw the fury in her grey eyes. Sebastian, who was nearby, kicked the woman, which made her drop me. We tried to escape and leave the train, but instantly ran into the other enemies from earlier, with Dawn upfront.
- What were you looking for, hm? - She asked ominously.
ns216.73.216.13da2
and then Add to home screen.