The moment E.E exited the vortex, the cold silence struck him like a slab of iron.
Stars stretched endlessly across the void, drifting in warped patterns because of the station's spatial distortions bleeding outward. His boots touched nothing. Only weightless infinity.
He immediately shut the vortex behind him since he couldn't risk the 42nd commander slipping through again.
"Where the hell are you…" E.E muttered.
He spun around, scanning every angle. His senses stretched out as far as possible, but the distortions made everything flicker or shift irregularly.
Locating a target in normal space was one thing... locating a small, shrunk alien with unpredictable energy signatures out here was practically impossible.
He clicked on the secret comm device inside his ear.
"Angy, Aildris, Falco—bad news. The commander slipped out. The bead got crushed. I'm out in space."
Falco: "WHAT? Bro, tell me you're joking–"
E.E: "I'm going after him."
