Authors: Craig Alanson
Dooley broke the
silence. “Two hours is not enough time, boss.” It would probably take more than
two hours just to rendezvous with the command section, assuming it hadn
’
t already fallen out of orbit during that time.
“I know that, you
idiot!” Valjean snapped. “We
’
re not rescuing anyone, damn
it. We stick to the plan. We know where the box is, and now we know at least
two people have it.” he stood up, and holstered his weapon. “Dooley, get that
door open, and keep going, while I have a little chat with our new friends.”
Sister and
brother looked up at the speaker. “This is the leader of the, uh, the pirates,
as you call us. Who am I speaking to, please?”
Kaylee saw Manny
vigorously shaking his head up and down in a ‘No
’
gesture.
She didn
’
t need her little brother
’
s
advice on this subject. She keyed the mic on. “None of your business. We are
the people who have the thing you want. That
’
s all you
need to know.”
A soft laugh came
over the speaker. “Fair enough. You seem to have the advantage. Very well, I
agree to your terms. All I want is the item I came here to get, I never
intended for anyone to get hurt.”
Kaylee toggled the
mic on again, and opened her mouth to shout out what a liar the pirate was. She
stared at the microphone, then clicked it off. While shouting would make her
feel better, it wouldn
’
t bring her parents back.
The voice from
the speaker continued. It was a man
’
s voice, smooth and
oily. Kaylee thought she wouldn
’
t want to meet the man,
under any circumstance. Even at her young age, she knew the type. “There is one
problem, however. Two hours is not enough time, we will need eight to ten
hours. Let me explain, please, so you will know I am not stalling for time. In
order to bring those people in the command section here, it will take two trips
in my shuttle, my shuttle only has four seats. As I
’
m sure
you know, my ship is damaged, so I can only use my shuttle. Two round trips
will take four hours, at minimum. I will then need to go back to my ship, and
refuel the shuttle, before dropping down to the surface. Depending where we are
in orbit at the time, relative to the position of the people on the surface, it
could take another three to five hours to bring your people off the surface.
So, I propose a good faith gesture. I will send my pilot to bring three people
back from the command section, no more than three hours from now. When they
arrive, I will hold them here with me, and let you talk to them. Your part of
the bargain is that you will not damage the item, in the meantime, agreed?”
Kaylee looked to
Manny. He gave her an exaggerated shrug. “He
’
s probably
telling the truth, Kaylee. It does take a long time to fly around in orbit, and
down to the surface and back.”
She hesitated
before toggling open the mic. Her advice on orbital mechanics was coming from a
twelve year old boy. “Ok. Agreed.” She blurted out, then snapped the mic off.
Dooley gave
Valjean a thumb
’
s up sign, and the door began to slide
open. Valjean turned the microphone off. It was attached to the wall panel with
a cord. “Can you make this wireless, so I can move while I talk?”
Dooley shook his
head. “Sorry, boss,” he said as he sent his robot into the compartment ahead of
him, in case there were people, unfriendly people, waiting for him. “That
’
s part of the ship
’
s emergency system, it
’
s designed to work when the regular wireless systems are down.”
To Dooley
’
s surprise, Valjean didn
’
t blame him
for it. “Then, you go ahead, get those doors open, take Taney and your robot
with you. I
’
ll keep them talking.” Valjean sat on top of a
crate, to get comfortable, as his crew hustled down the compartment. He toggled
the microphone on. “I
’
m glad we can agree. We both have
damaged ships, and it is dangerous enough out here in the coldness of space
without us being in conflict. Let
’
s see what else we can
agree on, shall we? Avoid miscommunication, any potentially dangerous
mistakes?”
Brother and
sister exchanged a knowing look. “He
’
s trying to keep us
talking.” Kaylee said in disgust. She'd seen that in a video somewhere.
“Yeah.” A thought
just occurred to Manny. “Uh oh. Kaylee, they might be able to track where we
’
re talking from.”
“What?”
“
I
don’
t
know
they can do that, I
’
m just
saying, you know, maybe they can? Somehow?”
“I wish you said
that
before
.” Kaylee said, and added an eye roll.
“You didn
’
t even know how to use the intercom!” Manny shot back. “You
’
re so stupid!”
“
Shut
up!
”
“You shut-“ Manny
stopped, mouth open in mid-insult, when he saw tears well up in his sister
’
s eyes. “I
’
m sorry, Kaylee. I didn
’
t mean it.”
“I want Mom and
Dad back.” Kaylee said through a sniffle, wiping her eyes with the back of her
sleeve.
“Me, too.” Manny
felt his eyes start to water. He snatched the microphone out of his sister
’
s hand, toggled it open, and spoke into it, trying to make his
voice as deep as he could. “When you get the crew off the command section, call
us. Until then, shut your pie hole!” He slammed the microphone back in its slot
in the wall.
Kaylee was so
startled that she covered her mouth with her hand, and giggled. "Shut your
pie hole?" She giggled. Manny snickered, and soon the two were laughing
through their tears, laughing together.
Valjean
wasn
’
t laughing. He looked at the speaker in
surprise. “
Shut my pie hole?
” He mouthed silently. That
comment hadn
’
t come from a girl, perhaps a teenage boy?
So, there were three children? He wasn
’
t insulted, he
’
d been called far worse, and by people he grudgingly respected.
Insults from children? Meaningless. He sighed, and slid down off the crate.
Valjean actually didn
’
t enjoy killing. It wasn
’
t that he was morally opposed to it, killing was just so messy
and complicated. And unnecessary, if a plan was properly thought out. The
freighter
’
s shuttle crew, of course, he had
tried to kill. That was a consequence of his having very little time to develop
a plan and implement it. Given more time, he could have snatched the item
without anyone getting hurt, without anyone even noticing. It wasn
’
t his fault, that the freighter crew, and passengers, had not
cooperated with his plan. If they had, he would already be in hyperspace, and
far away from here, by now.
Atlas Challenger
would, of course, be blown
to dust by the explosives Valjean planned to set off near the ship
’
s fusion reactor, once he had the item he wanted. The
explosives were in the pack Taney carried slung over his back. Witnesses he
didn
’
t particularly care about, they knew nothing useful,
but his contract was specific: no one could know which item he had stolen.
Which meant, according to Valjean
’
s plan, that he needed
to destroy
all
the cargo, leaving no trace of what was missing. It would
all be missing.
"Boss,"
Taney said as he once again checked the charge on his rifle, "I know we're
gonna blow this whole ship, but if we get the chance, I want to kill those
brats myself."
"You got it,
Taney. Let's move."
“That was funny,
Manny.”
“Uh-huh. What do
we do now?” Manny asked.
Kaylee bit her
lower lip. She had no idea what to do next, she hadn
’
t
thought the plan through that far. If the pirates failed to bring her parents
aboard, what then? And if the pirates did bring their parents aboard, how could
she assure the pirates didn
’
t kill everyone, after she
gave them the thing they wanted? She looked at her backpack, leaning against
the crate at her feet. “Let
’
s see what this thing is.”
Whatever it was, she felt like smashing it right now.
“
Wait,
”
Manny said, as his sister couched down and unzipped her backpack, “not here.” He
looked nervously around the vast compartment, back and forth between the large
doors at either end. Had the pirates been able to figure out the location
where Kaylee had used the intercom? He didn
’
t know if that
was possible, but then, he was a kid. The possibility that he had given away
their location by turning on the intercom for his sister scared him. “Let
’
s go over near one of the access hatches, in case we have to
get out of here fast.”
“Good thinking.”
Kaylee picked up her pack, and led the way toward the closest access hatch. It
was a close squeeze in between some of the crates, it was darker, and the area
was dusty. She had a sneezing fit as they sat down. “Get out your light.” She
told Manny, as she pulled the box out of her pack.
Manny turned the
light on and shone it on the box.
Kaylee was about
to run her fingernail along the plastic Customs seal and break it, when she
stopped, and looked at Manny. “There
’
s not some kind of
alarm, is there, if one of these boxes is opened?”
Manny frowned,
puzzled. They had never seen a cargo box being opened, they were supposed to
stay sealed the entire journey. There was no reason for the crew to open a
sealed cargo box. “
I don’
t know. The boxes aren
’
t supposed to be opened in flight. There might be an alarm.” He
thought back over their trips with Jen, when that woman had been on her
maintenance rounds. Had she ever checked any sort of alarm system? Not that he
could remember. “
I don’
t think we need to worry,” Manny
said haltingly, “the main computer is down, right? Any alarm like that would be
connected to the main computer. I think.”
Kaylee looked at
the box. She turned it over. There wasn
’
t any sort of
alarm attached to it, that she could see. Maybe there was an alarm built into
the box, an alarm which would go off if she broke the seal.
What would her
mother do? First, her mother wouldn
’
t think like a child.
Kaylee realized she was worried about getting in trouble, if an alarm went off.
An adult wouldn
’
t worry about setting off a stupid
anti-theft alarm, not in this situation! “Let
’
s open it.
If an alarm goes off, we take the thing out, leave the box here, and go
someplace else.” She still could not help closing her eyes and bracing herself
as she slit the seal with her fingernail. No alarm sounded. The box had a
latch, she turned it, then swung the cover open. “Huh.” She was disappointed.
She had been expecting something that looked like it was worth stealing. This
was a piece of junk. Alien junk.
Old
alien junk. She lifted it out of
the box, peeled away the protective layers of plastic, and looked at it
closely. ”Ow!” She said, as she got a mild shock from the thing, and dropped it
on the deck.
“What is it?”
Manny asked.
Kaylee
’
s eyelids fluttered, and she slumped to the deck. She didn
’
t seem to have control over her arms and legs, and wild, random
images flashed thru her brain, like all of her memories were popping to the
surface at once. And there was another voice in her head, a voice like someone
screaming from far, far away. The voice faded, faded, and then it was gone.
“Kaylee, are you
OK?” Manny asked, alarmed.
“Uh, wow, that
was weird.” Her feet and hands tingled, but she could control her body again.
She rose to her feet, unsteadily, flexing her fingers to make the tingling go
away. “That thing zapped me.”
“Zapped you? I
thought all these alien things were dead, no power.” Manny nudged it warily
with his shoe. “Kaylee, you were lying there spaced out for like a minute. What
is this thing?”
Kaylee shrugged.
“A minute? It felt like only a couple seconds. Dad would know what this thing
is.” It was about the size of a softball, roughly spherical, with protrusions
where it used to attach to something else, and a fragile-looking tangle of
wires spilling out of a hole in the bottom. Someone would kill her parents, to
get this stupid piece of old junk? She sat down, her back against the wall,
grateful for the darkness, so Manny wouldn
’
t see her
tears.
“Come on, come
on!”
Doole
y urged his notepad to move faster cracking the
code for unlocking the last door. He had opened both doors in the adjoining
compartment, Valjean and Taney were waiting at the other end of this
compartment. Five minutes, Dooley had told the pirate leader, it would take
only five minutes for him to open this door, and then he and Rocko would go in
and, according to Valjean
’
s plan, force whoever was in the
compartment out the other end, right into Valjean
’
s hands.
If, in the meantime, Dooley got killed, Dooley knew Valjean wouldn
’
t care. In fact, that would be one less person to take a cut of
the loot. So Dooley wasn
’
t planning to take any risks, he
would send Rocko in by himself, and let the combat robot do its job. “Yes! Got
it!” Dooley exclaimed, as the door was unlocked. He unplugged his notepad, set
it aside, and drew his weapon. “Rocko, get ready.” The robot raised its arms,
weapons ready, and walked to stand directly in front of the door.
What Dooley didn
’
t know was that, in addition to a red light glowing on the
panel when the door was unlocked, there was an audible, metallic click
when the locking pins retracted. “What was that?” Manny whispered, startled, as
he spun around. After he and his sister had given up trying to figure out what
the alien thing was, they
’
d put it back in the box,
stuffed it in Kaylee
’
s backpack, and sat down to wait.
Manny had gotten bored, so he had crept out in between the crates, to where he
could see down the center of the compartment. He had been playing a game on his
notepad, with the sound turned off, when he heard the click. He looked aft, and
didn
’
t see anything. Forward, also nothing- no, there was
a red light on the door panel! In the gloom of the emergency lighting, it stood
out. Someone had unlocked the door! Manny flung his notepad over his shoulder
into his backpack, crouched down, and ran as fast as he could to his sister,
banging his shoulder painfully on a crate along the way.
“What
’
s going on?” She asked.
“Somebody
’
s coming. The door is unlocked!
” Manny
explained. “Give me the card, I need to open the hatch!”
They both heard
the big door begin to slide open. Kaylee
’
s eyes were as
big as saucers as she handed the card to her brother. “You
’
re bleeding!
” She whispered, pointing to the ripped shirt.
“I bumped into a
crate.” Manny put the card into the slot, and the light on the hatch turned
red. He yanked the card out, gave it back to his sister, and turned the handle
to swing the hatch open. “I
’
ll go first,” he said,
retrieving the light from his backpack, and turning it on. They crawled into
the access tube, it was a tight fit. Kaylee had the presence of mind to contort
herself enough to turn around and close the hatch behind them. Then they
crawled into the darkness, illuminated only by Manny
’
s
light.
“What do you
see?” Dooley asked, from his position safely out of the line of fire, next to
the door.
The combat robot
swiveled its head side to side, searching in the visible, infrared and
ultraviolet spectrums. “Nothing. No targets.”
That didn
’
t convince Dooley. “Go on in. See what you can find.” He
checked his watch. Valjean would be growing impatient, beyond the door at the
far end. Dooley had been surprised not to be greeted by a hail of gunfire
coming at him when the door opened. Blasters, or at least stun pistols.
Instead, nothing, and it didn
’
t sound like there was
anyone in there. Just before opening the door, he had verified that the box
they wanted was still inside that particular compartment!
For five long,
anxious minutes, Dooley waited for Rocko to return. Periodically, he peeked his
head around the opening, but he couldn
’
t see anything.
Finally, he ducked his head around the corner, and saw the robot coming back
toward him. “What? Nothing?”
“No sign of any
people.” Rocko reported, and swung his hands up, to point his weapons at the
ceiling.
“What the hell?”
Dooley
’
s blood ran cold. If he had screwed
this up, Valjean would not be pleased. So much had gone wrong already. He
hurriedly plugged his notepad back into the wall socket and searched for the
box. Its last reported location was in the compartment! In fact, near
Structural Frame 43. Where was the box now? He
’
d lost its
signal. Had whoever possessed the box smashed the radio ID tag? He unplugged
the notepad and ran into the compartment, searching for Frame 43. There it was,
a big girder, with ‘43
’
painted in blue block letters,
high above his head, halfway down the length of the compartment. “Follow me.”
He told the robot.
“What is keeping
that idiot?” Valjean fumed. Dooley should have gotten into the compartment five
minutes ago. He
’
d heard no weapons fire, and both he and
Taney had their ears pressed to the door. They should have heard something by
now. “Stay here.” He told Taney, and ran off to go all the way through the
adjacent compartment, to see what was going on with Dooley and his
temperamental robot.
“Try it again!”
Kaylee whispered. She and her brother were stuck, trapped in the access tube.
She wasn
’
t claustrophobic, she also didn
’
t
like being in the dark, confined space.
They had crawled
the short length of the tube, bumping their heads, elbows and knees on
obstructions along the way. In the middle, the tube opened up, and was tall
enough that they could stand up, but now they were at the other end, trying to
get the hatch open. Jen
’
s card didn
’
t
seem to work, the handle wouldn
’
t turn.
“I
am
trying it!” Manny shouted in frustration.
“Be quiet! They
might hear us.”
Manny didn
’
t respond, as much as he wanted to shout back at his sister, he
needed to concentrate on getting the hatch open. If the pirates could open the
doors between compartments, they could open the hatches, including the hatch
behind them. He put Jen
’
s card back in the slot, and keyed
in her access code. There was no response, the handle still wouldn
’
t move. He felt so stupid. What was he doing wrong?
“This is it.”
Dooley muttered to himself. Frame 43. One of the electronics boxes mounted on
the frame was no doubt the radio sensor that had tracked the box to this spot.
“Rocko, can you see anything?” There was a gap in the crates on both sides,
leading back to the walls. It was just room enough for a person to squeeze
through. The hair stood up on the back of Dooley
’
s neck.
Also, just room enough for anyone hiding back there to have a clear shot at
Dooley. He jumped back.
The robot looked
down the narrow gap between crates. “I see something.”
“What?”
“Possibly blood.
It shows on my ultraviolet sensors.”
“No people?”
“Negative, no
heat signatures.”
Dooley screwed up
his courage and squeezed in between the crates. He wished he
’
d
thought to bring a light with him. At the end, he saw two things; a few drops
of blood on the deck, and a hatch. A hatch to a maintenance access tube!
Dooley hurriedly
scrambled back out into the center corridor. He knew where the box had gone,
why the ship
’
s sensor couldn
’
t locate
it. “Come on!” He shouted to the robot, and took off running back through the
door they
’
d come in through.
Manny pulled Jen
’
s access card out of the slot and shone his light on it. The
card wasn
’
t damaged. Had he put it into the slot the wrong
way-
No. He grasped
the handle, and yanked it counterclockwise. It was sticky at first, then turned
easily. The hatch popped open. Now he really felt stupid. The hatches weren
’
t locked at all from the inside! The handles on inside and
outside were connected, so they appeared to turn one way from the outside, and
the other way from inside. Duh!
He crawled out of
the tube, and stood up, grateful to stretch his legs. Kaylee followed. “How did
you get it open?” She asked.
“I
’
ll
tell you later,” Manny said, embarrassed. This compartment looked like all the
others, dimly lit, packed with crates, and a narrow space to squeeze through,
leading away from the hatch. That open area looked inviting.
Three things
happened at once. Brother and sister stepped out from between the crates,
Valjean came through the door at one end, Dooley and his robot came running
through the other door. For a split second, no one moved. Dooley skidded to a
stop, and was almost bowled over by Rocko. Valjean
’
s mouth
dropped open in surprise. Manny froze in place.
Kaylee saved her
brother
’
s life. She grabbed hold of his shirt collar and
yanked him back between the crates, at the same moment both pirates raised
their weapons and fired. Shards and melted globs of plastic flew through the
air as the energy beams hit the crates next to where Manny had stood, a moment
before. The children didn
’
t waste any time talking, they
ran back to the access hatch, which was still ajar. Kaylee had hit it with her
foot on her way out, intending to close it, but it hadn
’
t
latched. She got there first, pulled it aside, and dove in. Manny followed,
hooking his foot around the inner handle, and pulling it firmly closed behind
him. Since Manny had the light with him, Kaylee crawled ahead in the dark as
fast as she could, ignoring the painful bumps and scrapes along the way.
“Kaylee, just
turn the handle counterclockwise, it isn
’t locked!
” Manny
said as he huffed and puffed his way along on hands and knees. His sister
reached the end, and gave a mighty heave on the handle, which wasn
’
t necessary, because it turned smoothly. They tumbled out of
the tube, just as there were loud booming sounds from behind them. The pirates
were shooting at the locking mechanism on the other hatch!
Manny slammed the
hatch closed behind them, squeezed around his sister, and ran as fast as he
could. “The other tube!” He said, almost out of breath. Their only chance, he
thought, was to use the tube to crawl through to the adjacent compartment, and
hope the pirates weren
’
t in there also.
“Boss! Stop
shooting! You busted the lock!” Dooley protested. Valjean spun around, and
Dooley feared Valjean would shoot him, then the lead pirate lowered his weapon.
“Get it open!”
Dooley was about
to retort that he couldn
’
t open it, now that Valjean had
shot holes in it. Instead, he gestured with his gun. “I know where they
’
re going, we can cut them off!”
The pirates ran
full-speed down the compartment, joined by Taney, who had come when he
’
d heard the commotion.
Manny hesitated
only a second when he came out from between the crates, checking that no
pirates were in sight, then the two of them shot across the open area, and in
between the crates on the other side. Kaylee snagged her shirt on the corner of
a crate, and tore a piece off, she kept going. There was a moment of panic when
Manny couldn
’
t find Jen
’
s
card, until he remembered he
’
d stuffed it into his back
pocket. Manny entered the passcode wrong the first time. He took a deep breath,
and forced himself to move slowly the second time, even as he heard shoes
pounding on the deck plates behind him. They got the hatch open, and Manny
handed the light to Kaylee, letting her go first. His heart was in his throat
as he crawled in behind her, the sound of people running was loud now, and he
heard shouting. He reached behind him, grasped the handle, and pulled the
hatch closed. As he heard the latch click shut, a sharp, burning pain flared in
his hand. “Ow! Ow ow ow!” His hand felt like he
’
d stuck it
in a power socket.
Valjean fired
again in anger at the door handle. It had been turning as he came around the
corner, now it was latched shut! He had been so close! “Get in there and open
that hatch!” He shouted at Dooley.
“Right away,
Boss.” Dooley squeezed in between the crates, dropped to his knees, and plugged
his notepad in. The flaw in Valjean
’
s plan was obvious
now, they should have opened the doors in both adjacent compartments first, not
just on one side. Pointing out that flaw to his boss, Dooley figured, would not
be a good career move. Especially not right now.