The Core

Scholastic Honorable Mention

Excerpt

But Andren was focusing on the scout. “What…” His mouth tried to form coherent words at what he was seeing. The scout looked down at his outfit.

“Yeah, it’s just as bad as it seems. The thing surprised me and actually got me pretty far down its throat. I managed to extend the plasma blade and slice myself out. The suit, however, couldn’t be—” The scout looked up in utter shock at what he had just caught on to. In the panic of the battle, he must not have noticed.

Andren shakily lifted a finger. “Y-you’re not… it’s off… you’re–”

“I’m not wearing the suit,” The scout said in shock. “And I’m… alive.”

Not only was there intelligent life on the planet, but it was also a super habitable exoplanet. “That’s the second breach in checks…”

The scout nodded. The silence seemed overwhelming as both came to realize what this could mean.

“Has the Regime—?”

“No, no,” Andren laughed shakily, waving his hand. “For some reason, it sent us to a planet that breached the checks. It’s fine. In and out, let’s get the job done.”

“In and out.” The scout said, nodding vacantly. “In. And. Out.”

Light years away on the Regime homeworld, a warning light began to glow in the AI’s cavernous server room. Its brain, one might say. Lost among the other servers, the light dimly illuminated a small portion of the floor. It wouldn’t be discovered in this labyrinth for weeks, and by then, it would be much, much too late.