Gillespie leapt from his consoleas it sparked and caught fire, throwing himself on the floor. Lifting his head,he saw the greater part of the bridge had been destroyed. The main screendangled by one corner, pixels sparking and smoking. Beside it, the hull hadbuckled inwards; metal piercing through the wall. The ceiling crumbled andbegan to fall.
The captain sat immoveable in hischair, barking orders while he rapidly worked the controls, and McReidy wascoughing at her console. The rest of the crew were silent, sprawled awkwardly overtheir consoles or motionless on the floor. Gillespie immediately began tocheck them, but was greeted by the open-eyed stare of death.
McReidy coughed and spluttered asthe smoke poured up from in front of her. Her eyes stung and watered. Sheshut them tightly and lifted an arm to rub them. A hand grabbed her shoulder.
“We’ve got to get out of here,”Gillespie told her.
She shrugged him away. He heldon, stepping closer.
“The ship’s done for. We werelucky to get those two torpedoes fired.”
“But the captain –”
“He’s buying us as much time ashe can.”
This time McReidy moved. At thedoor, she turned and peered through the smoke one last time at the captain. Hewas at the helm of his ship. On emergency power, the ship had manoeuvringability only. All weapons that were capable of being fired had been. Theshields were failing fast. It was only a matter of time. Precious seconds toallow the crew to escape.
McReidy and Gillespie were welldown the corridor before the bridge door closed. They were bounced off thewalls as the ship shook again. The bulkhead at the far end of the corridorbegan to close.
Gillespie shoved McReidy ahead ofhim and dived through the narrowing gap. McReidy stumbled and lost herfooting. Gillespie had set himself to roll, but the ship jolted up and thefloor smacked him in the face, sending him skidding.
The bulkhead sealed behind them asthey scrambled to their feet and kept moving.
The lifts were still working,though it seemed more like a sudden drop than a controlled descent to theshuttle bay.
The bay door was open, theforcefield flickering, barely maintaining its integrity. There was one shuttleremaining, its engines humming. As they raced on board, McReidy froze. Sitting at the controls in his bubble suit, with helmet and gloves removed, andin an argument with the computer, was Kowalski.
“I know the ship’s about toblow,” he yelled. “Will you just tell me who’s still on board?”
“Sam!” McReidy cried as shelunged for him, drowning out the reply from the computer.
Kowalski turned and guessed thelook on her face. “Don’t you dare kiss me,” he warned.
“But how...?”
“Later, we haven’t time. Whoelse is left?”
“The captain,” Gillespie answered,dropping into a seat and reaching for the seatbelt. “Go.”
Kowalski’s jaw set. He turnedback to the controls and shut the hatch. “Strap yourselves in. This is goingto be a rough ride.”
McReidy took the co-pilot’s seat andstrapped herself in as Kowalski slammed the throttle forward. The forcefieldfailed and the contents of the bay were sucked out, pelting the shuttle asKowalski turned it to cling to Magellan’s hull.
“What are you doing?” McReidyasked
“The other shuttles weredestroyed as soon as they were spotted. The port engine’s gone, but it’scompletely protected. If we hide there, we’ll get thrown clear when the shipblows. By the time the smoke clears, we’re home free.”
Magellan exploded as Kowalskifinished speaking. They were momentarily crushed to their seats as the shockwavethrew the shuttle clear.
“Go for it!”
Kowalski had little control. Thehelm was heavy and the shuttle was slow to respond. It took all his effort tohold it steady as the engines fired up to full. “Computer, engage Raindrops.”
McReidy half turned to glance athim.
“I’m just giving them a few moretargets to aim for,” he explained. The helm came back under control and hesighed and relaxed a little.
“How long until we’re out ofrange?” McReidy asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen aship like it. And I didn’t stay out there long enough to study it. By thetime I got to the shuttle bay, the first one was on its way out.”
“Can we get a visual on it?”
“We can try.” Gillespie swunghis seat around to face the console beside him. He switched on a small screenand brought up a picture of the immediate area. There was nothing but space,littered by the debris that had once been the ship. The alien ship was nolonger there. “It’s gone!”
“What?” McReidy was peering outthe front window, straining forward and twisting her head as far as she couldreach. “Widen the field.”
“Still nothing,” Gillespie toldher.
“Do a long range scan.”
“I can’t see anything either,”Kowalski added, his eyes darting from the window to the console. “Either onscanners or visually.”
Gillespie shook his head. “There’s nothing out there… anywhere. She’s gone.”
A sigh of relief engulfed themfor a few seconds. McReidy’s head sagged. Her knuckles were white from herstranglehold on the arms of her seat. She loosened her grip and watched thecolour slowly return.
“Where to?” Kowalski asked.
She turned to the navigationalcomputer, plotted their location and looked for a suitable destination.
“There’s an uninhabited planetthree days from here. An alien system who may or may not be sympathetic to us,about a week in the opposite direction. The nearest Earth base is about amonth away. I don’t even know if the shuttle can make it. Theoretically, wedon’t have the range.”
“We don’t,” Kowalski confirmed.
She glanced to one then theother. “I’d like this to be a group decision. First, we need to send out adistress beacon.”
* * *
In a nearby star system, a shipsat in orbit around the mining planet Tricon. With its captain down on thesurface, the crew were in a relaxed mood. The day shift was about to berelieved by the night shift.
Commander John Madison satthoughtfully in the captain’s chair. He liked the quiet at this time of theday and chose it to look reflectively at his life. First officer on a cargoship transporting mining supplies was not his ideal ambition. But he also knewit could have been a lot worse. The captain was a stickler for detail,insisting on perfectly laundered uniforms and polished boots. John smiled ashe remembered a landing party member being sent back to the ship for
