Newsletter with Part 5 of Free Continuing Story!
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I hope this finds you all well. Our little family Covid update: I’m doing better after three weeks, though I still have a cough. My husband felt bad for two and a half days. He woke up on the third day and said he was 100%. He did cough for the rest of the week though.
My mom and dad have been moved from the hospital to an assisted living place for rehabilitation. They are still very weak and fatigued. Mom is still coughing. Dad now has Covid pneumonia, which is sneaker than regular pneumonia so the nurses have to really watch him. Fortunately, he only has it in one lung.
We see improvement in them even though it’s taking longer for them to get better.
Stay safe out there and happy reading!
Maira :)
What Used To Be series: Albert Anderson PhD (Part 5)
Copyright©MairaDawn2023
Previously: Albert is with the military in a secret underground bunker eagerly watching the beginning of The Fall. He begins to see all his plans for any experiments that make it to earth crumble when the Captain orders the larger debris to be broken up. In desperation, he uses his secret experiment—a transporter—to move some of the experiments from space to his lab. It was a one-in-a-billion shot, but it worked. Knowing there are more experiments to find, Albert convinces two soldiers to join him in a search for more experimental boxes.
Part 5:
“It’s a recon mission,” he said. “We’re looking for any signs of life or important resources from the stations that could be valuable to the government. We need to retrieve it before someone else does.”
The soldiers nodded, their hesitation fading away.
“We’re in,” one said, and they quickly grabbed their gear.
Albert led them out of the underground facility, keeping an eye on the Captain to make sure he didn’t catch them.
Once they made it to the garage upstairs, the scientist hopped into the front passenger seat. He wrapped his hand around the grab handle when the soldier who was driving shot out of the building. They raced toward the nearby town. It’d been easy to tell where the thickest part of the debris was. The fires from minor explosions lit up the night.
The air was thick with smoke. The stench of burning plastics and metals was so thick they could practically taste it. They pulled on their air-purifying respirators and jumped out of the vehicle, running into the burning field.
The scene was what Albert imagined a war zone looked like. Explosions and fires of various sizes surrounded them.
But he blocked all that out, focusing on the task at hand. Spotting the largest piece of debris, he headed toward it. It was a small section of a space station. The one he’d seen on the screen in the underground bunker.
“There!” he pointed out the wreckage to the two military men and raced toward it.
They nodded and followed behind.
“Stay alert,” he warned as they approached the wreckage. “There could be dangerous materials leaking onto the ground or more falling debris.”
As they walked around the wreckage which was about the size of a small room, they examined it with care. On one side, twisted metal looked like a twisty-tie. A gaping hole gave them entrance into the space station.
Albert raced to the entry, careful not to touch the still-heated metal. Should he enter? It didn’t seem wise if it was still so hot.
A small container that must’ve been flung from the inside of the space station caught his eye. It looked nearly perfect.
Albert grabbed and opened it, revealing several embryo cases.
“Jackpot,” he whispered to himself, a grin spreading across his face.
The soldiers looked at him with confused expressions, but Albert quickly regained his composure and held up the container. “This is exactly what we were looking for. Let’s see if there is any more.”
“And survivors, right? Hurt people.”
“What?” Albert said, dragging his eyes from his prize. “People?” He noticed the soldiers’ guarded expressions. “Oh yes, of course. That goes without saying.”
Turning back to the box, Albert turned it over and found something had gouged a big hole out of the middle, destroying the DNA contained inside it. The scientist cursed and threw the box to the side.
The three men combed through the remaining wreckage, searching for more containers. It was dangerous work and Albert gritted his teeth more than once when he touched hot metal or got too close to one of the explosions or fires surrounding them.
But he had to continue to salvage as much as he could. He almost cheered when he saw a second and third box, both cool and still intact.
After several minutes, one soldier called out. “Over here, sir! I’ve found something!”
Albert rushed over to where the soldier was standing, his heart pounding in his chest. There, amidst the wreckage, was another container. He carefully picked it up and examined it, relieved to see that this one was also still intact.
“Good work, soldier,” he said. Albert jumped when something nearby exploded. “Now, let’s get out of here before it’s too late.”
As they were about to leave, the other soldier pointed. “Sir, look over there.”
Albert followed his gaze and saw someone lying motionless in the rubble. He ran over, and the soldiers followed close behind.
It was an unconscious woman with a wound on her forehead, dressed in a spacesuit. The scientist moved closer, looking for signs of life. She was breathing.
He was astounded. Had this woman really survived the fall to Earth in that broken and beat-up space station? What were the odds of that?
“We need to help her,” Albert said, continuing to check her vitals. “Let’s get her back to the underground facility.”
The soldiers nodded and carefully lifted the woman onto a stretcher, carrying her back to the Jeep, with Albert leading the way.
To be continued . . .
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