No Oxygen (comic)

**No Oxygen** is the first comic in the Side Adventures.

## Overview

After receiving a distress call from a space station threatened by raging storms, Zach Archer ends up being blamed for the loss of one of the crew's sanity. With fighting within and an unknown species trying to kill the crew one by one, Zach has to find a way to put a stop to everything.

## Plot

Locke Station, in the orbit of Harixo 12 in the Caradan Nebula, the year 4652. A scientist observes scans of the nearby area, commenting that they don't look good. A large storm is heading toward the station. Another man asks if the signal might just be broken, which the scientist says is a good thought. He asks a man named Hatch to get a suit and check the radar. After Hatch leaves, the scientist asks the second man, who he calls Arwell, if the captain has been seen around. Arwell says no to this, and the scientist comments that it is strange.

In a spacesuit, Hatch walks towards an airlock. He rants that everyone on the station always bosses him around and gets him to do everything. As he walks out through the door onto a platform on the outside of the station, he notices a large cloud of gas nearby. Suddenly bright pink lightning hits the station. In the control room, Arwell and the scientist are thrown about as the equipment glows pink. The shaking stops and the station falls quiet. The scientist asks Arwell is he is okay, which he replies that he thinks he is.

In another room, the Jet lands. Zach Archer looks out at the mess in the room. Stepping out of the Jet, he asks himself what happened there. He eventually finds the control room and walks in, asking what was going on. The scientist asks who he is and how he got there. Zach lies and says he's a company called "Station Checkup, Inc.", and he goes on to say that he got their distress call. Arwell skeptically says that nobody sent a distress call. Zach walks over to a computer terminal and presses some buttons, and replies that they have sent one now. He turns back and asks the two crew members about oxygen storms, noting that the storm made quite a mess. The scientist replies that the station has never had one that bad. Zach asks what exactly is going on there, as he wasn't actually intending to land on Locke Station. The scientist introduces himself as Arthur Manuel, and explains what is happening. Another member of the crew walks into the room and also asks what is happening. Manuel then introduces him to Zach, who asks if there are any more crew. Manuel introduces the new arrival as North, and then says there are two more crew - captain Kurt Locke, and secretary Iva Tanning. North then says there is also the reporter, which Zach questions. Arwell says a reporter is on Locke Station to question the crew about their jobs. Zach then asks where the crew all are.

In another part of the station, the reporter, Fiona, questions Locke about the storm that just occurred. Annoyed, Locke says that he is busy due to the fact that his station might be in danger. Locke then gets up and leaves to go find the rest of the crew. Fiona rants to herself as he walks away. She turns around and notices Hatch standing behind her in the spacesuit. She asks him if he's one of the crew, and if he can show her around. He slowly walks towards her and reaches out his arm. Fiona screams and then falls to the ground.

In the control room, Manuel orders North to go and look for Locke. North is hesitant until Zach says that he will go as well, for "safety in numbers". Walking down a corridor, Zach asks North about his name, and North says that his first name is actually Kurt, but the captain doesn't like the fact that they have the same name. Zach then notices a door and walks through it, finding the body of Fiona. He pulls out a device that he calls a trace scanner and scans her body to try and find out how she died. The results of the scan determine that all of the life energy had been drained from her. North then asks where Locke is.

In a different room, Locke is being cornered by Hatch. He tries calling out to him and attempting to get Hatch to recognize him, but fails. Thinking Hatch has gone rogue, he pulls out his gun and tries to shoot Hatch, but the bullets do nothing. Hatch approaches him with his arm out and Locke's gun falls to the ground as he screams.

Back in the control room, Manuel orders Arwell to go and find Hatch. Arwell is hesitant, but Manuel insists he goes. Hatch comes across a bridge where he finds Iva Tanning hiding from "someone in a suit".

Zach and North then come across Locke's body, and they find that the energy has been drained from him also. They are then confronted by Tanning, who accuses Zach of killing Locke, and asks him where his spacesuit is. As Arwell tries to calm her down, Zach asks about the spacesuit. Suddenly Arwell is grabbed by Hatch and killed. Zach, North and Tanning run away, encountering the bridge. Iva is backed up against a crate by Hatch, who picks her up and throws her off the bridge, where she falls to her death. Zach then realizes that Hatch isn't killing to get energy anymore - it's just killing for fun. He tells North to run as they escape Hatch.

As oxygen storms continue to rage in the nebula, Manuel asks himself where everyone is. Zach and North run into the room and Zach says the other crew members have been killed. Manuel is angered by this and Zach tries to explain, but is accused by Manuel, who says all the problems started just as Zach arrived. He also says Zach does not work for the company he claimed to. Zach confesses that he is just there to help, but is attacked by Manuel. Zach tries to stop him, to no avail, so he instead fights back. Manuel runs away, saying he's going to go alert the authorities. He then runs into Hatch, who kills him. Hatch walks towards Zach, who asks him what happened to him. He pulls out the trace scanner and scans Hatch, who freezes. North asks why Hatch stopped, and Zach guesses that the energy from the scanner is harmful to him. The scans show that Hatch has been dead for a while, but something is controlling his body. He increases the scan and Hatch emits a screech as a pink gaseous cloud radiates from him. Hatch falls to the ground as the gas creature floats upward. Zach talks with the creature, and learns that it rode into the station on an oxygen storm and managed to inhabit Hatch, who was killed during the strike, and that it fed of Hatch's hatred for working on the station and for his fellow crew, and used his body to kill them. It then says it will kill Zach, too. Zach disagrees, saying there are no bodies left with energy that the creature can inhabit. It says it will ride an oxygen storm onto the planet that the station orbits, and inhabit the dead there. Zach pulls out the trace scanner and activates it, causing the creature to screech and then implode. Relieved, Zach says that it worked.

Back outside the Jet, North asks Zach what he will call the new species. Zach names them the Keyy, due to the name of Locke Station. North then asks what he should do now. Zach says he can take ownership of Locke Station. After being asked what he will do, Zach says he will leave, and bids farewell to North, using his first name. He then walks into the Jet, which disappears.

## Characters

* Zach Archer
* Kurt North
* Arthur Manuel
* Deron Hatch
* George Arwell
* Kurt Locke
* Iva Tanning
* Fiona

## References

* Locke Station orbits the planet Harixo 12.
* Zach mentions Krajon Minor.
* Oxygen storms occur frequently in the Caradan Nebula.
* Matheson Locke, an ancestor of Kurt Locke, founded Locke Station in 4502.
* Hatch wears a Xeroc-Suit Type C.