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craft had multiple
trees and shrubs sprouting from it, making it blend even further
into the forest. The steel hull was mostly rusted over and the name
of the craft had long since faded away.
    “Gotcha,” Nova said.
    She walked right up to the ship and placed
her hand on its side. It had crashed nearly two hundred years ago,
she just hoped no one else had been here first to steal… Salvage,
she corrected herself… the valuables and the fuel.
    “Cal, I’m sending through data, I’ve found
the crash site. I’m going in.”
    She waited for Cal’s response but there was
only silence.
    “Stupid robot.” She sighed and came to a
stop at the door to the ship. It hung open from a single hinge and
moved in the slight breeze.
    The inside was dim but she could make out a
walkway and some chairs. There was no sign of habitation, not for a
long while anyway.
    According to data logs Nova had found in the
Cloud, the ship was carrying enough equipment and resources to
colonise a new planet. That was a lot of tech gear to let go to
waste, even if it had been lying around for two hundred years.
Hell, that would have been right as the tech-bubble burst and
scientific advancement began to lag. The chances were pretty good
that whatever systems the ship had were just as good as any of
Crusader’s.
    She marched to the doorway. With the tilt of
the ship, the base was up near her hip and she had to grip hold of
the rusted door to pull herself up. She swung into the ship and
landed with a soft thud. Crouching low on the tilted floor, she
waited for her eyes to adjust.
    She wiped the rust from her hands onto her
trousers and listened. There was no noise except for the wind
rustling through the open doorway, and no sign that a forest animal
had made the ship home. Although she did notice large piles of dung
scattered amongst the rubbish and other debris of the ship.
    The floor at Nova’s feet was covered with a
thick layer of leaves and dirt. The plant matter was also piled in
high drifts at the front wall where the room was at its lowest.
    She walked downwards at a steep angle
between the chairs to the front wall and tried the door. As she
turned the knob the door fell open and hit the opposite wall below
her with a loud clang.
    “Dammit!” she whispered, listening for any
approaching threat.
    The forest and the ship remained silent. She
lowered herself down through the door and into the next room,
leaving the observation lounge behind and entering a dining
area.
    As with most spacecraft, the furniture was
firmly attached to the floor and so the tables and chairs were
exactly where they had always been, albeit sitting at a steep
angle. Conversely, every glass, plate and knife was smashed against
the far wall. Shards of broken glass sparkled in the few rays of
sunlight which lit the room.
    Nova glanced at the windows. Only the ones
closest to her let in any light, the rest were buried by dirt as
the nose of the ship went underground. She sidled down the steep
floor, going from chair to chair to keep her footing on the steep
incline.
    The ship was incredible. The sheer size and
wasted space, let alone the windows, were unthinkable. It would
have taken an astronomical amount of power to get it moving and
keep it together. But then it was a colonisation ship, the people
on board were meant to stay for generations. They’d go mad if they
were cooped up in the close confines of an economic ship with zero
gravity and no walkways.
    When she reached the next door, she cursed.
It opened inwards, or at the current angle of the ship, upwards.
She grabbed hold of the handle and pulled with all of her strength.
The door lifted a little and then slammed shut again.
    “Grishnak!” Nova said, readjusting her
grip.
    She lifted again, this time resting a foot
on the wall next to the door and using her whole body to pull
upwards. With great reluctance and a lot of squeaking, the door
lifted up. She pulled it all the way up and then let it fall the
rest