Silhouette by Arthur McMahon Page A

system.
    “Backup power?” asked Davi.
    “Enough stored energy to keep life support going, but not enough for shields, weapons, or galactic travel.”
    “Are we escaping?” asked Davi. “What about the others?”
    “There is no time,” said Silhouette. “I said no hesitation. No more questions. Keep running.”
    Burmin poured out from the theater and filled the halls behind them. Silhouette and Davi reached the docking bay with little interference, but many Burmin had already made it to the spaceport and were already loading onto the ships. Sister and brother weaved through piles of cargo on their way toward the nearest transfer ship, one which looked identical to the one they had arrived on. Burmin moved frantically as they carried supplies into the ships, presumably to escape to planet Nye. Silhouette grabbed her brother and they ducked behind a pile of tumbled crates.
    “They haven’t spotted me,” she said, “and they’re not paying much attention to you yet. From here we’ll have to sprint into the nearest ship and hustle over to the escape pods. Burmin will see us running for the ship. We’re going to draw attention. No matter what happens, keep running and head for the escape pods. There are two levers inside. Green lever closes the hatch. Red lever disengages the pod locks. Press both red buttons at the same time to launch the pod. It should fire even though the ship is still docked.”
    “Got it,” said Davi, “but why tell me if you can just do it?”
    “ Chup raho! I said no more questions!” She elbowed him in the gut. “But if you end up alone you know what to do. Just keep running, no matter what.”
    “Ok,” Davi wanted to say more, but he knew his sister would only repeat the whole no hesitation thing again. Ships were beginning to leave the docking bay, and the flood of theater-goers began to seep in from the entryways. Silhouette was waiting for the right moment, watching the Burmin hustle up and down the loading ramp with supplies in their arms.
    “Ready?” asked Silhouette.
    “Yeah,” said Davi.
    Hundreds of Burmin were closing in from behind and more ships fired off, leaving the spaceport. The commanding Burmin’s voice continued to grumble over the loudspeakers and multiple Burmin on security platforms struggled to direct traffic toward the larger capacity ships. Davi looked back at the approaching wave of creatures and saw that a line of Burmin had funneled around the side of the crates, heading right for them. “Uh, Sue….”
    “Run!” Silhouette shouted, pulling Davi forward by his hand.
    They darted toward the ship, drawing the eyes of all of the nearby Burmin, several pointing toward the duo and yelling in growls. An energy blast was fired from somewhere to their right, but it missed and they ran down the loading ramp and into the transfer ship. Silhouette and Davi entered the cargo hold, passing under two Burmin who were high up on loading platforms. The two Burmin both stood shocked and looked over to each other, surprised to see a human man running into the ship and being led by his own shadow, but then they started climbing down off of their platforms in pursuit.
      Silhouette and Davi ran through the ship’s corridors taking the same route she had mapped out on the previous transfer ship, but with her Ocu she noticed that a Burmin stood inside of a room, gun drawn, waiting to ambush them. “Stop!” she yelled, stopping dead in her tracks, but Davi stumbled forward as he tried to slow himself and an energy blast fired from the side room, hitting Davi and disintegrating his left arm below the elbow. Davi screamed out and fell to the floor. The Burmin stepped out into the hallway between Silhouette and her brother.
    “Davi, run! Take the next left!”
    The Burmin turned toward Silhouette. She stepped forward and grabbed at its weapon, pushing it away from herself but failing to wrangle it out of the Burmin’s hands.
    Davi stood up, clutching his burning arm.