by AJ Vega
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“You must reduce your speed and put down at the nearest landing pad. This is your last warning …”
Haylek’s hands trembled as he heard the ultimatum come on the conference channel.
“Ignore them,” Chorus said. “Press that button there to turn off the audio.”
Haylek did as instructed and heard an acknowledgement beep from the console.
“They might have missiles,” a weak voice cautioned. “If we get too far from them …”
Haylek turned around; it was Eddie. His face was a bloody mess, yet he tried to sit up from the ground, groaning in pain from the attempt.
“Are you okay?” Haylek asked him, wondering what kind of consolation he could possibly give him.
“He’s fine,” Chorus assured. “Divert your attention back to the controls.”
Haylek hesitated.
“Who is that?” Eddie mumbled.
The other Chorus that was helping Doc jumped down and landed near Eddie’s figure. He struggled again to try to get up. She whispered something into his ear that seemed to calm him down and he became still.
“The controls!” Haylek’s Chorus yelled at him.
He turned around and focused his attention on following her directions. She had given him a quick lesson in the basic operations of the craft. The controls comprised a flat imaging surface that used tactile input from his fingers. Some of the panels were damaged from the earlier explosion, and some of the interfaces and gauges were black and melted away.
Chorus helped him to divert the data to the working panels as well as reduce the complexity of the arrangement. With her help, he managed to reduce the clutter and get one of the panels down to the bare essentials for flight control: pitch, direction, and speed. It reminded him of the video games he used to play when he was not hacking the Ocean. Although he had never piloted a ship like this before, he had been successfully doing evasive maneuvers to avoid the incoming fire from the police ships.
Chorus jumped onto the control surface and manipulated the panels. The graphical windows and virtual gauges moved underneath her tiny hands as she dug deep into the onboard computer’s inner systems. She then jumped to another part of the panel and darted her hands across the flat screens with rapid motions that were hard for him to follow.
When she was done, aside from his flight controls, only a single flashing button was left on the display panel. He also noticed a compass appearing on the viewscreen with a waypoint indicator.
“When I tell you,” she said, “stop the jinking maneuvers and then follow that waypoint. Then I will instruct you to press this.” She pointed to the flashing button.
“Are you ready?” he heard the other Chorus say to the hackers.
“Yeah,” Freeze responded.
“Waverider, adjust course now!” his Chorus said.
Haylek did as instructed, angling the ship toward the waypoint indicator. Their heading now moved them toward an empty area of space away from the traffic lanes.
“Execute the program now!” the other Chorus ordered.
“Waverider, press the button now!” his Chorus said immediately after.
He did as instructed and pressed the flashing button. He felt the ship rumble and could see the transport lanes around them passing quickly out of view. A quick glance at the speed gauge showed they were accelerating rapidly.
Haylek then gave a look at the aft view display. At least a dozen police craft chased them now. A sudden barrage of fire erupted onto the screen and struck each ship almost simultaneously. He could see flashes of blue energy, quickly followed by another flash from the ships. The aft display went completed dark and he felt the ship’s rumbling stop.
On his control panel a new image appeared. It displayed a schematic of their shuttle’s engines with warning indicators showing damage. They were out of commission.
“What happened?”
“It worked!” Freeze said.
“What? What worked?” Haylek asked.
“The aggressors are pulling back,” the other Chorus explained. “But our firing turret and engines were destroyed from the overload.”
Haylek looked at the speed indicator; they seemed to be going on their own inertia and were outside of the superstation’s atmospheric dome.
“So… how are we going to maneuver now without engines?” he asked.
The other Chorus jumped onto his control station, joining his Chorus. They then walked toward each other and seemed to pass through one another, forming a single, slightly bigger, Chorus.
“We can’t maneuver,” she said simply. “Our engines are destroyed.”
Haylek looked at her and then back at the others. “What now?”
“We can’t get away now!” Freeze said. “The police will get us!”
“No, they will not,” Chorus said calmly. “Reopen your conference channel.”
Haylek looked at the various panels, the array of controls dizzying him.
“This one,” she said, tapping her foot near a button she stood on.
“Well, why don’t you just press it for me?” Haylek said, a little annoyed.
“You won’t learn how to be a pilot if I do it all for you, now will you?” she said with a smile.
“Who said I wanted to be a pilot?” he said, scowling.
“You’re going to be one before this is over, Waverider. You will ride space-time as skillfully as you do the digital waves of the Ocean. Press the button, please.”
Haylek reached his hand over to the button as she moved away for him to press it. He heard a beep and an audio transmission came on the speakers.
“Eddie, is that your ship?” a voice came on with an old Irish accent. “Please respond.”
Haylek gave Chorus a questioning look. She raised her eyebrows and motioned for him to respond.
“Uhhh—this is Eddie’s ship,” Haylek fuddled for words. “Eddie’s hurt, though. I’ve had to pilot for him and our engines are out. Can you help us?”
There was silence and Haylek began to wonder if they were even going to believe him.
Haylek muted his channel. “How are they going to know Eddie’s really in here?” he voiced his concern.
Chorus gave a slight smile and then motioned to the speaker in anticipation.
“Okay, Eddie tells me your name is Waverad’r. My name is Mac. I’m going to lock a tow beam onto yer ship. We will then tow you to the Sea Wolf. Make sure to deactivate yer shielding for this, lad.”
Mac’s ship suddenly appeared on the main screen above them, matching their speed and course.
He unmuted the channel. “Okay, I hear you. Whatever you say.”
Haylek eyed Chorus. “How can Eddie be telling him anything?” he whispered.
“Trust me,” Chorus said. “I’ve taken you this far. Trust me all the way and you will be fine.”
Haylek sighed.
What choice do I really have? he thought to himself.
“Mate, we may have a problem,” Mac’s voice came back on. “We’re going to have to do something to help the Sea Wolf. Does your ship have gravity warp?”
Haylek looked toward Chorus. She shook her head.
“No… uh, negative,” he responded.
“Aye. Thought not—neither do we. But the captain has a plan, and we’re going to follow it. Just do what we say and you’ll be fine.”
He was getting used to hearing that.
Chapter 26: Small Heroes