Free Survivor by Saffron Bryant

Doctor Codon but I don't think
anyone else is left."
    "Our scanners detected a massive shockwave.
Technological systems appear unaffected, but some of your plants
have died."
    "What?" she said. Her eyebrows drew
together. Why would Cal be talking about her flowers at a time like
this?
    "They were killed by the blast. They turned
brown and wilted in a matter of seconds."
    Realisation exploded in Nova's mind. "It
targeted living things."
    "It would appear that way," Cal said.
"Although how you and the doctor survived is beyond my
understanding."
    "Mine too," she said. Her imagination was
whisked away with thoughts of the soldiers and workers outside. She
wondered what had let her survive, while they died. Then again, she
didn't know they were dead. They could still be alive.
    Don't be foolish, another part of her mind
said.
    "Damned thing!" Codon yelled. A loud bang
brought Nova back to the present.
    She forced her eyes to focus on Codon. He
was back inside the laboratory, slamming his fingers onto a large
screen. Numbers and maps flicked across the display.
    "What is it?" she said, making her way
towards him.
    "We're grounded," he said.
    "Where is the ship damaged?"
    "That's just it. It's not damaged, we just
can't take off."
    "That doesn't make any sense," Nova
said.
    "Well thank you, hunter, for pointing that
out. Work, damn you!" Codon said.
    "Cal, are you able to leave?" she said.
    "Negative. Crusader's engines are in working
order, or at least are working as usual, but we are unable to
lift," Cal said.
    Nova couldn't help the corners of her mouth
twitching. For a robot, Cal had an excellent sense of humour.
    "Look, Doc, there has to be some kind of
force-field," she said.
    "What the hell would create a force-field
like that?" Codon said.
    "That's what I've been trying to tell you.
The writing above the door said 'we'. 'Open and we will have the
power to control the universe'. There was something waiting inside
that tomb, waiting to be let out."
    "That's ridiculous. What could possibly be
down there?" Codon said.
    "I'm sure we'll find out sooner than we
would have liked."
    Codon started off down the corridor, away
from his laboratory and the three bodies. Nova trailed after him.
The going was slow; there was rubble and pieces of broken furniture
everywhere. Worse than that, the doorways were all the wrong way.
They either fell away below their feet or opened above their heads
in what was now the ceiling.
    The ship had become a three dimensional
maze, complete with hazards and debris. The most awful thing of all
was the bodies. The workers and soldiers who had been standing
throughout the ship were all dead. Their bodies were crushed
beneath piles of rubble, bones broken. Their eyes stared
blindly.
    Trails of dried blood streamed out of the
eyes, ears and noses of each corpse. While some of the bodies were
broken from the ship's collapse, it looked as though something had
killed them before the shockwave arrived.
    Codon puffed hard as he climbed over yet
another fallen chair. By Nova's estimates, they were about half-way
to the main door leading out of the ship.
    "If you people didn't spend so much damned
time sitting down, this would be a lot easier," she said.
    Codon didn't reply.
    "Or at least if you'd bolt down your
furniture. Who in the hell has a spaceship with loose, floating
furniture?"
    "I'll be sure to mention that to the
Confederacy designers," Codon said. His tone was grating. "If I
ever get off this damned rock."
    Nova used both hands to vault over a broken
table. She landed amidst more rubble and broken glass. It was as if
every inch of floor had been coated in a layer of razor-sharp
crystals.
    It took them over half an hour to get from
Codon's lab to the main entrance area. Unlike the many toppled
couches they'd passed, the statues were bolted down and protruded
out horizontally from the upturned floor. They looked ready to fall
at any moment, waiting to crush an unsuspecting passer-by.
    They made their way to