(For those who don’t know the orange wall does exist in game. It mostly does not work like it does in this story. I will be willing to answer any questions you have.)
The CMO had just entered medbay when they saw a nurse pulling a patient in on a roller bed. It was a nurse, and they clearly had no idea what to do. It was the GP on the roller bed who was not moving. The CMO calmy dismissed the nurse and gave the GP a medscan. The CMO was stunned when they saw the result. About 300 clone damage. Regaining their composure, they shoved the GP into the cryotubes. A few minutes later the GP popped out of the tube and regained consciousness.
The GP simply curled up and began to cry. When the CMO tried to question then the GP just kept muttered “it was an orange wall” and “I can’t go back into space.” Despite the CMO best efforts the GP was too traumatized to keep working. The MP’s questioned the CMO but they had no idea what had happened. They searched the hanger and found nothing radioactive. The GP had only done fly-by’s the entire mission.
A few hours passed and the operation was over. It was made much harder due to the lack of CAS from the earlier incident. The GP had partly recovered but would refuse to go back to the dropship. They would simply curl up into a ball when brought near a window. They passed out from terror when the CMO tried to get them to talk about the incident. The CO was not content with one of his crew being traumatized and nearly dying with no known cause.
The CO called a meeting of the department’s heads. Looking over the CMO’s testimony, the CO threw the report on the table. “So that is it. All we got is that an orange wall did it. I do not have to tell you HC will not be satisfied with that answer.” The CE chimed up saying “well sir my men looked at the dropship’s black box. Seem that midflight the ship got hit was a massive blast of gamma radiation.” The CO’s eyes narrowed “so a giant radioactive wall in space. Once again that is not a satisfactory answer.”
The CE replied, “well sir in theory we could put on a radiation suit and just retrace the GP flight path.” The CO thought for a few seconds and smiled as they said “good idea CE. I am sure you can handle it.” The CE said in a nervous voice “well sir perhaps it would be better if I sent an MT so I…” The CO cut them off saying “none sense this requires a professional and that will be you. In fact, make it a space suit. If you can, collect me a sample of this orange wall. I think HC would be happy with that.”
The CE could not believe that this was going to be their evening. Doing a final check of their suit they knew it was time. Looking out the window of the dropship they did not see anything unusual. They saw the stars in hyperspace zip past and below the planet was visible. Pulling out some binoculars they were frozen in awe and terror from what they saw. Surrounding the entire ship was a giant orange wall. It was made of large blocks the size of a man. With tiny gaps between them that showed a starless void behind the wall.
Pulling the binoculars away from their eye it vanished. Looking again through the binoculars it was back. Zooming in at one of the blocks they saw that the stars zipping past were not stars at all. They bubbled off the blocks and fell like glowing rain that would hit the wall behind the dropship and be reabsorbed. The CE stood a moment just looking at the glowing rain that hit the ship’s hull. They broke out of their stupor and remembered what the CO wanted.
The CE was nervous as he jumped from the dropship into the flurry of glowing rain. It was not a gentle transition from artificial gravity to microgravity. But nothing that could not be corrected with the EVA jetpack. They saw the raindrops fly past them as they drifted out into space. One flew next to their head. It looked like a small drop of pure light. Looking behind the CE saw that the dropship was not moving. Its engine was going at full blast, but it seemed more like space moving around it.
Out of the corner of their eye they captured an orange glint. As they drifted farther away it became clearer. Soon they saw the orange wall, yet something was not right. It was if their eyes where seeing two images at the same time. They could see the wall and the empty space that by all right should lay behind. Even the almayor in the distance. The two occupied the same space in their minds eyes. But as they got closer the wall became clear and the rest vanished.
Reaching out the CE touched it with much anxiety. It was warm and the giger counter let out a flurry of clicks. The CE took a look into the gaps of the wall. It was pure darkness in all directions. The CO chimed in on the radio snaping the CE back to reality. “Are you okay CE the dropship landed.” Looking back, the CE saw that indeed the dropship was gone. It took them a few seconds to figure out what to say simply replying with a “yes.”
“Well that’s good. I will send the dropship out to get you. Can you tell me where you are.” The CE said “I don’t know sir. I don’t know how to describe what I am seeing.” The CE began to feel the wall. It was smooth like glass and the blocks tingled with energy. Pressing on one it easily moved back. When the pressure was released, the block would move back. The CE said over the radio “sir I am about to do something stupid.”
Ignoring the CO’s on the radio the CE grabbed one of the blocks with both hands. Pulling one of the blocks fully out it opened a hole. The CE quickly jumped in and the CO’s voice got cut off when the block moved back into place. The CE checked their sensors. All was blank. No distant signal, no space dust, light from stars, or even background microwave radiation. It was if the universe was fully empty.
They drifted around for a while before seeing another orange wall. But between the gaps there was light from the other side. The wall was yet another cage surrounding something. Opening it up they saw a city. It was covered in blood from both humans and xenos. The CE quickly realized that this was the planet that they battled on. They even saw a few marines still milling around. Grabbing a wrench from their toolbelt they threw it inside. The thing shifted from zero g to full gravity instantly when it passed by the blocks. Falling from the sky onto the ground. The marines looked up but did not see the CE looking back at them.
They closed the wall and drifted on. They found many others and each was the same. They saw the alamo, the inside of cars, and some space stations nearby. They saw a WY ERT station and it was odd. The wall was extremely close. Opening it up and watching the WY goons in the hanger it seemed they could not see the CE. They stuck their arm past the wall for a few seconds. One of the goons noticed and walked up the window. The goon looked all around with a confused look.
Amused by this they had an idea. They grabbed one of the blocks and pushed in close to the station. Even when the CE peeked out from behind it the goons still did not see them. That was until the block hit the window. All at once the goons reacted shouting and backing up. The CE turned off the suits jet pack and the block quickly swung back into place.
They had no desire to return because there was so much to explore. Many assumed the CE simply died but a few have seen them. Peeking out from behind the wall. Sometimes they come in to steal supplies before leaving once again. Marines would tell legends of the CE late at night. The DP would hold these stories in the back of their mind. Openly claiming it was nonsense, but they could never explain the handprints on the outside of the ship. The GP would never return to space and eventually the trauma of the incident faded.
A few weeks later the CO, after a long day they returned to their office. Sitting on their desk was a small box with a note attached. It read “sorry for the wait sir. Singed CE.” The CO opened it to find a small orange crystal inside a glass tube. It jittered with energy and let off small white sparks.
(To be continued in part 2 if I ever make that.)
