The force field was the only thing keeping Sam alive. Its surface was transparent, and shined with a white light. Sam thought perhaps, it would serve as a beacon for help. But the vastness of space was just that: vastness.
‘Maria,’ he breathed.
His dead-like body floated in the bubble as if weightless. It reminded him of the time he almost drowned while pursuing a man-squid criminal underwater, the fusion grenade had knocked him out cold.
As his eyes twitched, a blade of light shone through a narrow opening. His back bumped against the spheres interior shell. He flinched as the cold penetrated his back, and his eyes jolted open releasing the light in full force. He could see the stars, millions of them stacked in a cluttered yet glorious display.
Tears of blood dripped from his nose. Sam could summon a force field without effort, but to sustain it (or multiple) for prolonged periods would eventually take its toll. With a wipe, his smudged the blood against his sleeve. His clenched fists were encased in two smaller spheres which glowed violently with a flickering light.
‘Uh oh,’ he said with wide eyes.
Sam felt uncomfortable in his black uniform; it was tight to the point where his small muscles seemed exposed. He fixed his hands firmly against the field, holding his body in place, and peered through its glass-like shell. Rubble and debris from the ship floated aimlessly. Among a large heap were three spheres clustered together. Each sphere preserved a limp body.
With his mind, Sam could will his sphere to move. And it did. It gravitated towards the other constructs in hope to merge with them. He found Maria first and inspected her body as his field consumed hers, doubling in size. She was unconscious and her ears bled. He lifted her weightless body in his arms like a child and attempted telepathic communication. He projected his thoughts at her which felt like electrical impulses shooting out of his mind, despite them being invisible and immaterial. She did not respond.
‘Sorry for this,’ he said as he sifted through her mind. Maria had once made him promise never to do such a thing. Sam told himself the situation required it, and therefore he did not succumb to guilt. But he would respect her thoughts, repressions and desires by ignoring them completely.
Her mind felt like a vacuum. He cried when he could not reach her. He steered towards another sphere and found Richard. He delved into his mind, but he too was unresponsive. The third was a green alien who let out a pain-induced moan.
Together as a single unit – The Nova Corps, Sam meditated briefly as his mind filled with static. Like all Novas, he was cosmically aware and could use the universe like a computer. An image flashed before him like a vision. The vision showed him him covering his teammates in force fields the moment the ship was hit. He didn’t see who done it, and he still couldn’t see anything while replaying the moment.
‘Whoever did this was fast—wait,’ he shouted. ‘Whoever did this was in and out before we even knew what hit us. But that’s not possible, no ones that fast. Unless, whoever hit us is still right here.’
Sam slipped out of his vision and shook off the nausea. His senses felt impaired. He could feel a thundering out in the distance which sent his heart thumping. An object came within his vision, and quickly became clearer. It was more than just one object.
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