Free Silhouette by Arthur McMahon Page A

  Someone pushed an empty cart out of the hold, down the loading ramp, and for a moment she and the girl were the only two inside of the hold. Sue’s hands brushed the dirt off her suit, then she pulled on her headpiece and took off her shawl, dropping it to the floor. Silhouette slipped back into the shadows. The girl finished her demonstration and turned around to see only a cloud of dust floating above the abandoned shawl.
    “Hmpf,” sighed the girl. “Whatever. I’m not taking any heat for your sake.” She grabbed her cart and pushed it toward the exit, leaving the belly of the ship.

CHAPTER THREE
Nightmare in the Shadows

    There are not many places to hide on a brightly lit ship; fortunately the Burmin on board were focused on their pre-flight checks and most had gathered in the bridge. Using her Ocu to track bodies and map out passageways, Silhouette avoided detection while she scouted for a place to hole up in during the ride.
    She found a dead end which led to the ship’s escape pods. Silhouette entered one of the pods and inside was room for a pair of Burmin to fit snugly, which was quite roomy for a woman of her size. It was very basic with nothing more than a pair of harnessed seats and white walls with minimal digital displays. Her form was a void in the brightly lit pod, the suit warped the light it absorbed, attempting to hide itself, but it only succeeded in radiating darkness. Thin wisps of shadow wafted off her dark shape like a mist as the shadowsuit was overwhelmed with light. She had always thought it was an awesome effect, but it really was not the right time to appreciate it. She needed to get away from all of the light.

      * * *

    Under the seats Silhouette noticed a handle and bent down to tug on it, revealing an empty drawer.   She crawled inside and pulled herself into a fetal position. It was not comfortable, but she fit and it would do, so she closed herself into the compartment and waited. As long as the escape pods were not part of a detailed pre-flight inspection, Silhouette believed she would be safe for the trip as few Burmin would likely travel down the dead-end passageway
    Hours passed. She was cold and many of her joints ached, but she knew better than to move. Through her Ocu she watched bodies roam about the ship; the Burmin eventually settled into their seats and the engines fired up. After a quick jolt followed by the pressured feeling of acceleration, the ship left Nye’s atmosphere. It was an uneventful flight and no one moved from their seats for the duration of the journey, short as it was.
    The ship thunked then rattled as it docked aboard the command ship. Silhouette watched as the prisoners were offloaded first, followed by the Burmin and then the remaining supplies. After the ship was unloaded, a handful of humans returned to it and began to sweep and scrub with no Burmin to supervise the cleaning crew’s work. Silhouette crawled out of her container, stretched out her limbs, and rubbed at her agonizing back, but the pain drew very little of her attention. She had learned to ignore pain, to embrace discomfort as a tool which many others were unwilling to use. She made her way to the cargo hold and easily evaded the human cleaning crew.
    The transfer ship’s cargo hold was empty as she passed through it, but the command ship was brimming with bodies and red-hot machinery. She had entered an alien city, densely packed and full of life. Her Ocu was overloading her mind with information, so she switched off its enhanced sight and peeked into the ship’s space port, overwhelmed by the immensity of it all. Nothing humanity had ever created even came close in size to this. Every ship in the Erdian fleet could dock into the Juggernaut’s port and likely leave room to spare. The Presider had thoroughly briefed her, but seeing the Juggernaut for herself made Silhouette break into a cold sweat. She had not fully understood the magnitude of her mission until now.
    If the