greatest population of the crew works and resides.
She’ll soon be approaching Zone Four, and the outer shell of Dadr’Ba, that keeps Dadr’Ba’s atmosphere in, and the ravages of interstellar space out. The air Su’Zi is breathing is recirculated inside the eSuit she donned as she passed from Zone Two to Zone Three.
Dadr’Ba is by necessity a cold place made predominately of ice, the insulated personal quarters and work modules of Zones Two and Three originally in place when Dadr’Ba exited Or’Gn [22] have since been rebuilt out of sturdier materials and Zone Two is now entirely above freezing. Su’Zi being born a Mi’Nr [23] has spent the bulk of her scant sixteen years in the lower or non-insulated portions of Zone Three where few except for Mi’Nr’s like herself and her family dwell and work.
She plods along, each step becoming an effort due to the increased gravity, without regard for personal safety, oblivious to the dangers almost as if she were already dead.
She thinks of the Se’Ro’Bs [24] , disappointed that she hasn’t encountered one. The mysterious and deadly creature or creatures are known to roam these zones. Rarely seen, and then only in glimpses, the monsters are responsible for gruesome deaths by disembowelment. They consume their victim’s soft internal organs and suck every drop of blood from the unfortunate prey. Few bodies of those gone missing are found.
Su’Zi psychically challenges such a confrontation, welcoming the chance to face down a Se’Ro’Bs or be devoured, and perhaps join Ba. She descends further and slows in the increasing G-forces as she nears her destination, these tunnels are not lit and she uses her light, but set at the lowest intensity, she navigates an obstacle course, along small maintenance and service passages occasionally crisscrossed with beams, struts cross members and scaffolding. The Se’Ro’Bs that had been following her stops at the edge of the obstacles waits a moment, then as if deciding the prey is not worth pursuing through an obstacle course turns and slowly walks away.
She had now passed through and neared the outer edge of Zone Four, the Death Zone. Her weight is nearly more than double the norm of zone two, and she fights to keep from going down on all fours.
The heating systems of the class two eSuit she’s wearing are maxed out; it was designed for the temps of Zone Three not zone four. If she weren’t exerting herself so much to keep moving and creating body heat, the cold would surely take over.
She was able to see frost and an occasional frozen patch of some frozen gas at her feet and on the walls. If she didn’t keep moving and didn’t reach her goal soon, she would perish. Her eSuit, at the edge of its safety margin, began to make a crackling sound as she moved.
She had long since silenced the audible alarm of the suit, but the automated flashing body recovery light had no switch. It irritated her, and she wished she had a wrap to cover it. The flashing caused the eerie sensation of a time stop sequence of movement. The repair patch on one of the pockets of the suit would have been large enough to cover the light sewn into the arm, but she doubted that it would stick as cold as it was.
In the mood she was in, if she died or collapsed, she would rather not be found. After hours of searching and failing to find her father, she only told her mom that she was going for a walk along with a mental reassurance that it was safe for her to be alone. It was only after she walked for a while that she decided on this dangerous course.
She couldn’t feel her hands or her feet as she arrived at her destination. She cycled the airlock and stepped inside. Then turned to the panel on her left and toggle on the radiant heat as she closed the airlock.
As the temperature of the suit slowly warmed, the crackling sound the suit had been making stopped and the emergency recovery light stopped its irritating flashing. Su’Zi’s Mi’Nr eyes