Free Sequence by Adam Moon Page A

eyes. “It affects all of us. They’re going to have their god alter the very fabric of reality. They’re going to try and get him to stop the heat-death of the universe.”
    “That would be a good thing though , Earthling. The end of the universe means the end of hope. If the universe is destined to fail, then what’s the point to life at all?”
    I see what you’re saying, but what if we’re not supposed to interfere with the natural order of things? What if we’re supposed to let nature take its course?”
    “Huh?”
    “What if interfering causes an unintended side-effect?”
    Samda nodded but she wasn’t convinced. “So you think the Grays are destroying entire planets because they have loftier principles? They’re slaughtering but that’s okay because they have altruistic intentions, huh? That’s preposterous, and a little offensive considering they just annihilated my race.”
    Chris had seen her angry before so he knew he’d accidentally hit a nerve. He shook his head and held his hands up defensively. He hadn’t meant to insult her. “It’s impossible to know their motives. I’m only speculating. Maybe it’s as simple as the Grays are just assholes who like to facilitate mass genocide across the universe for fun or glory.”
    “That’s the way I regard them. And I can usually trust my first instinct.”
    “I just have a feeling there’s more to this than our captors have let on.”
    “Now, I agree with you there. The captain hasn’t told us everything.”
    Just then the captain’s voice called over the loudspeaker. “That’s enough gossip from you two. Get back to the command station.”
    “Ah shit,” whispered Samda.
    Chris sighed. “Busted.”

Walkabout
     
    Samda purposely took a wrong turn as they made their way back. Chris was about to question her, but she smiled and said, “Those pricks aren’t spilling any info so let’s investigate for ourselves.”
    “They’ll know we’re up to something.”
    “All I want are answers. If they’re against that then that’s all the motivation I need to snoop around, and if they’re not, then they won’t care that we’re curious.”
    Chris imagined they could be punished for snooping, but he agreed with Samda. Not knowing was a worse punishment than anything the captain might do to them.
    Samda stopped at a large glass door and stared inside. The room was full of stasis p ods, but they were all full of liquid. It was impossible to see inside any of them from their vantage point behind the door.
    Samda sniffed the air with her tiny nose and said, “Those are methane -based life forms. I wonder how the crew plans to assimilate their DNA with ours.”
    Chris shook his head. He tried the door but it was locked.
    Samda mused, “The scientists back home would have done anything to see alien life like this. The only aliens we ever came across were the Grays , and that was right before they destroyed our world.”
    Chris said, “My people still debate whether alien life is even possible. If I ever get back home, I’ll sure have a story to tell.”
    Samda asked, “If we escape , would I be able to survive on your planet?”
    “You want to come to Earth?”
    “No, but I can’t go home the way it is and I don’t know of another habitable planet. If I had to go to Earth to survive, then I would.”
    “The atmosphere is oxygen and carbon dioxide rich. The surface is covered in oceans of water with land masses splitting them. Food is plentiful if you live in the right parts of the world.”
    “It sounds like paradise. Would I be able to fit in? I look different than you do.”
    “You might be able to come up with a cover story. You could say you have gigantism or a birth defect of some exotic variety. But if you got discovered, you would be imprisoned and experimented on.”
    “That’s a risk I’m willing to take for a chance at a life. Would you take me with you?”
    “If we get through with the experiment and the crew agrees to