Proxima Bound
Chapter One: Thief
Year 193AC (After Cataclysm) Day 102
Deck 53. Mid-Section G. Approaching engineering storage
Thief crawled through the hot ventilation shaft. In the dark, she wriggled out of her jumpsuit, making the heat more bearable; but one discomfort replaced another, as scrawny knees and elbows rubbed against aluminium pipework. Her skin, slick with sweat, squeaked against the metal with each wriggle forward. She feared one of “them” might hear her laboured breathing and squeaking skin; she told herself for the hundredth time, that perhaps they’d put the noise down to rats, or the ship’s machinery. Would they be able to smell her though? The cloying odour of her physical labour filled the shaft. Would it seep out and waft into their nostrils? She imagined them sniffing her scent in the air; their lips curling back over white fangs as they arched their heads towards the vents, grinning with delight at the promise of fresh blood.