"Warning. Hull integrity below five percent. The Antimatter Engine will reach critical mass in ten minutes. All personnel must evacuate immediately..."
The shrill alarm and a mechanical female voice counting down pulled Link from his thoughts.
He glanced at the flashing red warnings on the console, then at the unchanging darkness beyond the viewport. His brow furrowed.
With this body, he could survive in the vacuum of space for a while. But if he was caught in the Antimatter Engine's explosion... even he would likely be torn to pieces.
Just then, the ship's long-range scanner gave a soft beep. A faint signal appeared on the radar, slowly drawing closer.
It was a ship.
Link did not hesitate. He hurried to the ship's emergency Escape Pod, threw out the long-rotted corpse of its pilot, and climbed in. He activated the pod's emergency launch system and set the Distress Beacon to full power.
With a violent jolt, the little Escape Pod shot away like a cannonball toward the unknown ship.
Behind him, Scrapper Seven dissolved into cosmic dust in a silent flash of violently distorted white light.
The shock wave sent the Escape Pod tumbling. Link was pinned to his seat, and the unfamiliar sensation of dizziness struck him as oddly novel. Once, a single thought had been enough to carry him across a sea of stars. Now he had to entrust his life to this thin metal shell.
After an unknown stretch of time, the pod stopped shaking. Harsh white light streamed through the viewport.
The hatch was ripped open from outside by tremendous force.
Several oddly shaped creatures in heavy, grease-stained Exoskeleton Armor appeared in the doorway. At their head stood a burly man nearly three meters tall, with four arms and stone-gray skin. He spoke in a low voice