Hi all! Sorry I missed last week, but I’m back now with the next instalment from “Earth Alpha”. Sabina and the rest of the people on the transport are exiting into the space station, Hope.
Shouts of disgust rang out from the front of the craft, but there were hopeful noises too. Sabina decided she would keep her judgement to herself. Eventually the wave of humanity brought her to the airlock, and she stepped through it. She immediately blocked her nose against the stench. The floor of the corridor ran slick with some nameless watery substance; some type of icky-looking fungus was growing on joins in the walls, and the windows were caked with what looked suspiciously like moss. That saddened her; she had hoped to see the hulk of their colony ship in all her glory as she waited for the final remnant of escaping humanity. Revulsed, she stared at a spot in the middle of the back before her eyes.
Final transport from earth, please proceed to Gate 17-alpha. Final….
The announcement repeated itself over and over, drumming into them that they must please proceed to Gate 17-alpha. Sabina didn’t have much choice in the matter anyway. Like the herd they were, she simply followed the person in front of her, looking to neither side.
Getting a whiff of something suspicious yet? Guess you’ll have to wait a bit longer 😀
Do let me know what you think, and then don’t forget to take a look at the snippets shared by the other authors this week on the main SFFS blog.
Thanks for stopping by!
Laurel's Writing Desk 
Great visuals. Hopefully she got to see some of the transport at their departure point…and also hope that they aren’t all marching off to their doom.
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Well, Hope is their departure point, so… that transport they were on was just a ground-to-Hope ferry.
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The ship as described is a rotting hulk, not a spacefaring colony ship. Where are they going?
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This is a transfer station, so no, it isn’t any kind of ship. And yes. Rotting hulk definitely describes it. The plan is for them to travel to Earth Beta…
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Sounds like my boys’ bathroom. Yeah, there is a sense of impending doom wherever that image is invoked. Seriously, the use of language was great at foreshadowing and creating that sense of foreboding. Seems like a lot of effort for a charnel house, but that’s what it feels like.
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Good to know that alarm bells are ringing 🙂
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Sounds like they’re about to board the S.S. Lemmings! Nice description of the ship and build up of what the heck is happening. We’re getting a clearer picture and I’m looking forward to the payoff. Fun piece!
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HAHA – Lemmings 😀 Thanks.
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I have a sneaking suspicion I know what is coming – an easy but very nasty way to reduce the population dramatically. Or am I just too cynical?
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Must be 🙂
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