Here is the first version of this scene.
For those not familiar, MILK RUN is a military SciFi about a young man fresh out of SpaceComm training school who is assigned to captain the USS Princeton, an old destroyer class spaceship. His first mission is to transport a secret weapon to a hidden starbase. Earth is losing the war against the Telrachnids, tiny spider like creatures who control humans with their injected venom. The Telrachnids use their venom addicted humans as spies and to build spaceships to wage war against Earth. Having infiltrated key areas of SpaceComm, the Telrachnids have learned about the young captain’s mission. They plan to intercept and destroy the Princeton using the young captain’s ex-fiancée (now under Telrachnid control) as a distraction.
Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this scene by leaving a comment at the bottom of this page. Thanks!
Scene 26 v2 Escape
Emerson turns toward Smriti with a nasty look.
Smriti stares at the empty escape pod launch rails. Then her face tightens with recognition. “. . . should have known. There are no escape pods on this ship. This is a one-way mission.”
“You commanded this ship and you didn’t know that?!” demands Emerson.
“I have no clue what’s on this ship. They just told us to get on board and go to your coordinates,” blasts back Smriti.
“Our coordinates! You knew our flight plan too?”
“Yes, compromised humans in SpaceComm,” Smriti reminds Emerson.
“Spies you mean,” responds Emerson, with a finger back on his laser rifle.
Now, Villani begins to stir. He grabs his helmet with a back-and-forth twisting motion.
“He’s trying to take off his helmet!” says Wagner.
“Give him another sedation shot,” Susan tells him.
“We already gave most of it to him. What are we going to use when it comes time to sedate her?” asks Emerson looking toward Smriti.
Smriti’s eyes open wide, “Toby?”
“We were not sure what we were up against, or how you were going to respond,” says Toby. Then he glances towards Villani. “Give him another shot and let’s get back to the airlock we used to enter this ship!”
As the enter the gunship’s main axial corridor, Toby scans up and down the brightly lit hallway, “no one’s here!”
“Not for long,” Smriti breathes out.
“So let’s move!” demands Toby as Emerson and Wagner support a wobbly Villani down the long-cramped hallway back to the same blasted through doorway they used to enter the gunship earlier. The airlock looks dark and uninviting.
Then the automated lights flicker on to turn the entire room florescent blue. Like kitchen roaches caught in a sudden morning light, the Telrachnid spiders scurry for the dark corners.
Smriti turns to Toby with a pain that shrieks across her face, “I can feel their pain.”
Realizing the bugs did the same thing in the crawlway, Toby tells the others, “It’s the light!
Smriti’s stiffened posture is her only confirmation.
Then two compromised crewmen rush in from the hallway through the opened doorway behind Toby and his crew. Fiery red particles spray out from their wildly aimed electromagnetic pulse rifles towards Toby.
Suddenly a hard shove pushes Toby to the side. It’s Emerson who positions himself between Toby and the intruders.
At first stunned by Emerson’s move, Toby, with his right hand, quickly wheels his pulse rifle around, regains his stance then along with Emerson returns his own fiery spray to cut down the compromised crewmen.
With the doorway cleared, Emerson and Wagner slam the door shut.
“Move to the airlock and stay away from the walls, the spiders like dark corners,” yells Toby as Susan and Smriti drag Villani into the airlock followed by Emerson and Wagner.
Emerson enters the airlock with the stolen D-Jump device, puts it down then pokes his finger through a hole in his orca suit. Looking at Toby, he removes his finger, coated with blood. “Not good,” he grumbles.
“Just keep those bugs out!” responds Toby.
“Too late,” says Emerson as he brushes away a few floating bugs and the golden goo they squirted around the hole in his orca suit. “They already stung me.”
Emerson glances at Smriti who returns a sorrowed look as Susan wraps space duct tape to cover the hole in Emerson’s orca suit. Then his face hardens, “so be it . . .” Then he turns to Toby with a softer look that clearly completes his thought . . . to protect the captain!
Pushing back the urge to offer a sentimental response, Toby swallows hard then says, “Let’s get out of here.”
Then Smriti holds out her bounded hands, “so how am I to survive the spacewalk?”
“Cut those ties,” says Toby who then notions to Emerson.
Emerson steps behind Toby and unpacks a knapsack from Toby’s back. He then hands Smriti a spacesuit that looks more like rubberized tights with a small flatten backpack.
She eyes it warily then glances at Toby, “who designed this, you?”
“It’s made to minimize any hiding spaces for bugs inside,” says Toby with a straight face.
“So I don’t contaminate your ship?”
“Yes . . .”
Smriti glances at the space duct tape on Emerson’s spacesuit. “Why not give it to the commander.”
“Because we came here for you and that D-Jump device. That’s our mission. Besides, more of those bugs will get me if I take this one off,” says Emerson.
Toby watches as Smriti shimmies into the spacesuit that conforms around her body like a soft black leather glove. It’s been a while since seeing those curves.
But Emerson’s slamming the airlock door shut interrupts the daydream.
As the airlock seals inflate in place, air hisses out of the room.
“You and Villani probably have less than five minutes before your air runs out,” Toby tells Emerson.
“More like one minute,” corrects Emerson. “And you don’t have much time left yourself. You need to conserve your air. Don’t worry about me. I’ll look after Villani.”
Toby gazes at Emerson as he wraps more space duct tape around the hole in his orca suit and check the patch on Villani’s suit. The patch seems to hold in place despite the gooey substance the Telrachnids left behind on the suit.
As he checks the patch on Villani’s suit Emerson pauses then waivers a bit.
“It’s starting to happen,” cautions Smriti.
Interested in reading more about MILK RUN or becoming a beta reviewer? Click here then click the big blue “Request Beta Copy” button to join and get a free read of MILK RUN as I create it!