Chapter 694 - Vacuum Of Despair

Despite the fact he covered himself with a heavy root shield, the heat was still rapidly rising, not just from the air around him... But the satellite as well, the flames from the thrusters leeching heat into the metal... Obviously, this was due to its half-constructed state, and it didn't make the ride anymore pleasant for Afton... Especially since the clothing on his back had already begun to burn away, along with the flesh on his back.

He was luckily aware of this beforehand, and made sure to keep his weaponry away from it to prevent damage to them... After all, if either the Railgun or Sonic Emitter began to melt, they might just explode and sent the satellite and him plummeting back to earth..

Eventually, the atmosphere began to thin, the heat rapidly began cooling, but another problem presented itself... Afton could hear faint sounds of alien spacecraft, as well as the trademark sound of their weapons arming.

He sucks in the last of the air and begins holding his breath for however long it would take to either get onto the alien ship, or return to earth...

Quickly, he sticks himself to the satellite via roots and lowers the root shield, allowing him to see the blackness of space just as the satellite exits the Karman line. As beautiful as the faint blue of the atmosphere was, his attention couldn't be distracted from the small squadron of scouting saucers that'd been intercepting the rocket.

Afton quickly points the railgun at the lead one, the hum of it charging its shot far quieter than he was used to due to the lack of particles to transmit sound waves.

After a moment, it finally fires.

*PUUUCH!*

Now, usually, air resistance would restrict the projectile's force somewhat, but here at the edge of space, that wasn't a problem... Allowing the gun to be used to full effect.

*CRASH!*

The alien's shield instantly gets penetrated, the thing popping like a bubble, allowing the projectile to continue, blasting a hole into its glass dome.

The alien's eyes bulge as its cabin starts decompressing, forcing it against the hole and literally tearing it out through it... Its frail body acting like fluid through a straw, even despite its spacesuit.

Once Afton spots how effective the railgun is, he grins and waits for another of the saucers to get close... They all scatter after their comrade dies of course, but they quickly return to destroy the rocket.

Their lasers punch holes through it, but eventually one strays too close, allowing Afton to catch it with a root. The shield pops into existence as Afton grabs it, but he reels himself closer like a grappling hook, using his railgun to punch a hole into the shield, while leaving the spacecraft undamaged.

Once done, he tears open the cabin and throws the alien out, shutting himself inside afterwards and looking around for the controls... Luckily, his language acquisition perk allowed him to read the terminal inside. He quickly accesses the blueprints for the shuttle and pauses time with VACs so he could quickly get familiar with it.

After thirty minutes or so of memorizing, he deactivates VACs and sits in the small alien chair and begins to pilot the spacecraft.

He ignores the other spacecraft with continuing to destroy the satellite with laser fire and turns his ship towards his main target... There were a number of large ships in earth's orbit... But the largest of the three looked like your typical 'mothership'... He couldn't really see it from the surface, but now, he could easily see the sheer scale of it.

It must have been a quarter the size of the moon, yet, it didn't seem to cause any gravity-based anomalies with its presence...

Flying the saucer itself was rather awkward... The alien's hands only have three fingers which are very elongated, meaning that each control was rather difficult to access without using his plant arms...

He quickly approaches the mothership, but is cautious as he wasn't aware if he'd crash into its shields or not... Suddenly, the console terminal activates and reveals an alien on the other end, who begins barking commands but pause once it notices Afton...

"BACK SURVEY, YOU BE NEUTRALISED IF NOT-... WAH!" it screams in surprise.

"Ooooh shit!" Afton exclaims in response, the alien's voice grating on his ears, plus the fact he might just be shot into oblivion causing him to curse.

"WAAAAAH!" the alien continues screaming though, as if it'd just seen Freddy, Jason, and every other horror villain sitting inside the spaceship.

"Shiiit!"

"WWAHHHH! WHO BE YOU!? IS WHERE KALBONIX!?" it quickly asks after calming itself, other aliens beginning to crowd around the terminal.

...

"IS ME KALBONIX! INJURED IS ME! ME REQUEST LAND!" he shouts in a rasping voice, attempting to mimic the alien's tone.

"UGLY NOW KALBONIX!" one of the aliens say, but just as Afton was getting his hopes up, another shows its holodevice to them, which clearly displayed Afton's face, along with the words; "PURGE!"

The aliens again screech in response, but by the time this happens, Afton had already reached the outskirts of the mothership.

He fires a couple lasers at it to test its shields, and finds his assumptions correct. The mothership's massive shields pulse in response as the laser dies against it uselessly... Leaving Afton basically stranded outside of it... He honestly didn't think there was a way to breach them...

He looks back down at the console terminal, "Er, say... Could you guys let me in? I swear I'm peaceful." he says with the kindest smile he could manage.

...

The aliens look at one another for a moment before shaking their heads. "DIE YOU, NO INSIDE!" they all shout almost in time with each other...

Afton sighs, "Well, I guess I knew that was coming" he mutters while breaking the terminal with his foot, stopping the aliens from viewing him.