After the thunderclap roar of the gun overloading, there was a long silence, only punctuated by the rhythmic tapping of a gutted light fixture swinging on a single fib-op line.
Tak tak tak tak
One of the corpses groaned, its body half charred and mutilated by the plasma flash. The air was thick with the scent of roast flesh, and the stomach churning smell of burnt hair and smoldering synth-cloth. A few of the corpses lay still, others began to struggle. Some pulled themselves forward, dragging behind half congealed, half frozen guts behind them. Others staggered forward on broken limbs.
*****
Ao and Severin heard none of the yelling, nor any of the banging on the bay door. They wouldnt have heard it even if the speakers weren't blasting the latest power ballad by Space Germ. Synth-steel reinforced blast doors were impervious to hard vacuum, and temperature changes of up to 500 degrees. A single human fist was nothing next to nothing.
The explosion of the power pistol was another matter. The feedback loop in the power cells generated a small EMP. Most ships were hardened against such accidents, so there was little effect. The music player skipped, and reset itself to the first track in it's memory, and archaic group named 'Alabama'...
Sweeeet Home Ala-bama!
I'm coming home to youuuuu!
The lights in the cavernous bay flickered as the power circuit was temporarily interrupted. The music played on, leaving the two space jocks to contemplate the source of the event. The hazard light near the north, or dorsal bay door blinked red...
