As Eddie walked up to the bridge, he was laughing, and so were the soldiers. He fit right in with them in his black and blue outfit. ‘See you, guys,’ he said as he saluted the soldiers, walking backwards on the ramp.
‘You’re a legend,’ one of the soldiers said. The rest saluted, then turned around and marched away.
‘What was that about?’ Tredd asked. His experience had been quite the opposite.
‘They’re just young guys, like you and I were, you know. I told them about the time I scorched a rebel fighter with a propulsion blast – a stupid thing to do, to fly so close, and under the influence, but makes a good story to tell.’
Tredd had heard about it. Eddie had been extremely lucky to live to tell his story. But Tredd was glad he had. ‘Just don’t try to repeat it with the Rutger. Which reminds me, you should prepare to fly us out.’
‘I believe our prognosis is gloomier than that,’ Eddie said. His light-hearted humour was gone. ‘Unless you know something I don’t?’
Tredd told Eddie about his experience with Jill, and asked him to get to the cockpit, ready to take off as soon as they were cleared.
Eddie must have thought it to be just a fantasy, but he agreed to play along. Then he darted up the stairs, past Evie, who sat against an empty container, reading something on a screen. Berossus stood on the level above, and Eddie stopped by him for a quick chat before disappearing from the cargo bay. There was no sign of Tommy.
Midnight was at hand. Tredd expected Jill to show up with Aino any minute now. The ramp was down and Tredd was waiting in the cargo bay, breathing the cool night-time air of the Excalibur’s landing bay.
Then, at the stroke of midnight, he saw them.
Jill was holding Aino by the hand as they talked with a soldier on duty by the side of the ramp. The soldier’s presence concerned Tredd. Jill showed the soldier something, and Tredd struggled to hear what they were saying. It was taking too long and he was getting nervous. He thought Aino saw him, as she fixed her gaze in his direction, while Jill was talking with the soldier. Suddenly the soldier turned back, and Jill and Aino started walking up the ramp.
Jill approached Tredd with her official face and, when she was close enough, her expression relaxed.
Aino smiled quickly at Tredd and then ran past him to Evie, who took her hand. Together they took the stairs up inside the Rutger. Tredd was left alone with Jill.
Jill spoke with a quiet voice. ‘Now, you must leave as quickly as possible. Your engines are charged and I’ve arranged your ship to be cleared to leave. Certain security processes will run slower than usual, but you must still engage full blast and pinch the moment you can. Do you have a safe place to go to?’
Tredd nodded. ‘There’s someone in Spit City who might be able to hack Aino’s data.’
‘Good location – difficult for the navy and an excellent waypoint to Eura, if that’s where you’re headed,’ Jill said, looking around the cargo bay. ‘I wish you all the best.’
‘You’re not joining us?’ Tredd asked, unable to keep the disappointment from his voice. Jill was there, and they were about to leave.
‘I can’t. I’m so sorry,’ she said, and looked back over her shoulder. ‘I just can’t.’
Tredd was baffled. ‘Then why did you do this?’
Jill hesitated, and Tredd thought he saw her blush. ‘I want you to take good care of her. She’s a special child.’
He was grateful for Jill releasing Aino, and organising their escape, but he had been hoping she would join them. ‘But—’
Her beautiful lips crumpled and she sighed. ‘I can’t.’
‘What about Tommy?’ Tredd asked, partly because he wanted to know and mostly because she wanted her to stay.
Jill stroked the side of her mouth with an index finger, and said, ‘He’s held for examination.’
‘Is he still…?’ Tredd asked, failing to find a word for Tommy’s state.
‘There’s nothing I can do’, she said. ‘I must head back before they come over to check up on us.’
‘What are you going to say to them?’
She stopped and turned around. ‘I’ll tell them I took Aino to pick up her teddy bear, and you attacked me.’
‘I’m not going to attack you,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I want you to come with us.’
‘I know,’ she said, and stepped up close to him.
Without a word they shared a sweet kiss of goodbye. Tredd wanted it to last longer, but too quickly she pulled herself away from him. Her face was a complex mix of happiness, sadness, and longing. Tredd’s own face was probably the same, with plenty of confusion.
Jill looked about the floor. Then she bent down and removed a clasp from a cargo holder. Straightening up she stared down at the weighty metal clip in her palm. She frowned, and then smashed it hard against her face.
Tredd gasped. Then he realised what she had done.
The fresh cut on her brow started bleeding and she grimaced. ‘Now go,’ she whispered, and touched the side of Tredd’s neck with her palm – a lingering touch – before she went off running down the ramp.
There was no time to waste. Tredd took off to the opposite direction and up the stairs. He said, ‘Computer, initiate the exit protocol.’
He felt the ship jolt. It meant Eddie had started up the engines. The cargo bay ramp started rising up. Now the only thing was to be quick enough so that the landing bay control didn’t have a chance to deny their access. Tredd had to trust what Jill had said.
Taking a quick look back, Tredd saw a group of soldiers intercepting Jill on the landing bay floor. Right after they disappeared behind the Rutger’s rising ramp, the air outside the ship flashed. It was like lightning: bright blue light, and a cracking sound. Tredd stumbled on his steps. What the…?
Swarms of flashing light crackled inside the cargo bay, and exploded in a blinding flash. As the ramp sealed the cargo bay closed with a thud, it suddenly became silent and dark again. Tredd’s eyes adjusted slowly as he climbed up the stairs.
‘Did you see that?’ Tredd asked Berossus as he reached the top.
The big man squatted down and held the railing as he peered down. ‘I’ve never seen anything a like it before.’
‘Was she all right?’ Tredd had to know.
‘I don’t know,’ Berossus said, and stood up, still holding on to the rail. ‘It was like she was in the middle of it.’
I hope she knows what she’s doing, Tredd thought, but he was worried. Jill had said she had a cover story, but it felt wrong somehow. They would not let her go that easy.
Tredd ran to the cockpit, while Berossus headed for the engine room. When Tredd arrived, the ship was just about to exit through the second enormous shaft of the Excalibur’s landing bay. Eddie was increasing the engines’ blast up to the maximum and steering the ship outward to the halcyon space.
Tredd jumped into his seat. ‘Are we through yet?’
‘If you need to pee, go to your quarters,’ Eddie said without lifting his eyes from the view ahead.
Tredd smacked him on the shoulder.
‘And we’re through,’ Eddie said.
Tredd felt a light relief. They were in a vulnerable spot, but at least they were out. ‘Did you observe the lightning behind us?’
Eddie tapped the controls. ‘I did…’
‘What was it?’
Eddie leaned away from the controls and turned to Tredd. He shook his head. ‘Dunno, pal. My guess is that the pull-and-lock system was tampered with, and when we lifted off, it short-circuited.’
Perhaps Jill had arranged something, but surely she wanted to keep it quiet. Perhaps the fireworks were the result of something gone wrong. Tredd hoped Jill was all right.
‘We need to move fast,’ Tredd said. ‘Have you set the pinch to Spit City?’
‘Of course,’ Eddie said, looking at an information screen, ‘but I need to gain some distance first.’
‘Understood,’ Tredd said, and leaned back, his thought
s with Jill. She had set them free. She was real, but he had left her behind. It almost felt like it would have been better had she stayed Commodore Conrad, the navy officer. But this had been Jill Faith, and he had lost her again.
He had also lost Tommy. Tredd hadn’t had a chance to understand the events that led to Tommy kidnapping Aino. The standoff chat had provided nothing, and afterwards Tommy had become senseless. That too was a mystery. After waking from the stun, he had babbled the same verse over and over. It was not because of the stun from his Light Burst – Tredd had checked the Dawn Network for records of such a side effect, but found none – and it was too real to be an act. Bells had declared him free of nanobots and other bugs, but did she tell the truth? Perhaps they both worked for the Dawn Alliance. The whole tale of the Shade goddess started smelling like a sham.
As he was pondering, he saw on screen that they were gaining distance from both the Excalibur and the Dawn Central. Then he saw something he hadn’t wanted to see. ‘Are those what I think they are?’
‘Blast,’ Eddie said, and pulled up a close-up of the information screen. ‘Two flocks of Eagles. We can’t jump if they’re on our tail.’
Eagle was military jargon for an EG-L fighter, one of the most common Dawn Alliance Navy one-man fighter crafts, typically flown in groups of five. There were ten after them. It wasn’t good, but it was no less than Tredd would have expected.
Tredd touched the stubble on his chin, considering his options. ‘How long until they reach us?’
‘A minute, max. What do you want to do?’
The Rutger had a few missiles plus a peashooter hooked up to a centralised control system – utterly useless against even just one Eagle. Their game had to be an escape, not a head-on fight. However, unless they could pinch, the Rutger had no chance of outrunning the Eagles. They needed a miracle.
‘Raise shields, but hold with the shooters,’ Tredd said, standing up from his seat. ‘I want you to play along with them to give us a bit of time.’
‘Got it. And what are you gonna to?’
Tredd opened the door, and said to Eddie, ‘This is her chance to show what she’s got. Keep the Eagles company until I return.’
TREDD FOUND Evie and Aino playing with the fat cat in the galley. Evie sat on a chair and held out a piece of string above the cat, which lay half on its back and half on its side on the floor. The cat tried to grab the string with lazy sweeps of one of its front paws, but couldn’t reach it as Evie always pulled it up.
Aino sat on the floor and giggled. Seeing Tredd come in, with excitement in her voice, she said, ‘We’ve named it Peaches.’
Tredd felt good to see her merry, and Evie too. He had doubted her since she had snuck in, but now she was becoming one of the most valuable members of his crew. The cat also looked content – too content. ‘Looks like it’s had a peach too many.’
Aino and Evie both smiled. As Evie was distracted, Peaches caught the string from her hand. It fumbled the string between its front paws and its mouth, clearly enjoying its catch.
‘We need a hand in the cockpit,’ Tredd said. ‘I’m hoping you can help us.’
‘Sure.’
‘I’m actually asking Aino,’ Tredd said, bending down to take the string from the cat. He offered it back to Evie.
‘Oh,’ Evie said as she took the string.
‘Aino,’ Tredd said, offering his hand, ‘would you mind joining us in the cockpit? And Evie, you are of course welcome to join us too.’
Just as he finished the sentence, their ship shook with a thunderous rumble.
Aino clattered down to the floor, and looked up at Tredd. ‘What was that?’
‘The navy has sent fighters after us and, by the sounds of it, they’ve caught us,’ Tredd said, making Evie gasp. ‘We can’t pinch away if they’re too close. I was hoping you could give us some distance. What do you think?’
‘I don’t know…’ Aino said, her face showing defeat.
Tredd kneeled before her. ‘We cannot outrun or fight them. Unless we can figure out another way, we’ll be back in their hands in no time.’
The ship shook again. Aino pushed her palms against the floor to keep still. Tredd leaned against the counter.
‘Please try, at least,’ Evie said, holding on to the table for support as the ship shook. ‘Peaches and I will come with you.’
‘I can try… but I’m not sure if I can.’
Tredd held out a hand. ‘I believe in you, little one. Whatever happens, I will make good my promise to take you home. Whatever it takes. Come on.’
Aino grabbed his hand and stood up. ‘Thanks, Trissy.’
Evie looked on in wonderment, but Tredd knew. It was Jill’s doing, and it made him feel incredibly sentimental. This was Jill’s way of saying remember me, but she didn’t have to – Tredd was already in love, and heartbroken, but he needed to push forward. Aino had become the bond between him and Jill.
‘Let’s go then, we don’t have much time.’
Tredd led them up towards the cockpit as quickly as possible. As they were just about to get in, the ship shook again, this time so hard they hit the wall by the corridor. Tredd opened the door.
Eddie lay face down on the desk.
The shields were blinking red at 5%.
The leader of the flock was on the screen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
‘NO!’ Eddie shouted as he saw the black walls and the numbered doors. He had blacked out at the crucial moment. The shields were gone, and he had just gotten a connection to the flock leader to negotiate. Now he was out.
What would happen to me in this world if I died in the real world? Would I die here too, or would I be suspended in this room forever? Eddie suspected the former.
If I died, the rest of the crew would die too. It was a depressing thought.
He could only hope the Eagles held their fire.
He sat on the black chair that stood in the middle of the room. He looked around. Everything inside his blackout cube was the same as always: four black walls, doors on two of them, window on one, and a clock opposite the window. The black floor and black ceiling sucked in the white light bleeding in from between the corners.
As always, he made his round, testing if the doors numbered one or two would open. They did not. No surprises there.
He felt nervous. He might be going back to a disaster, or worse yet, he might not be going back at all. He glanced at the analogue clock on the wall and let out a tense sigh. There was only a minute to go, but he had noticed it could translate to any amount of minutes in the real world. Sometimes in this room time ran faster, sometimes slower. Will I make it back in time?
He looked out of the window to the infinite reaches of unknown space, and as he did, he felt that the strange stars shone brighter than they had ever before, but he also realised he had always felt that way.
There had to be some method to this madness. It was so frustrating that he could not figure it out. He could always figure things out.
The second hand of the clock moved up to twelve. It was time to go.
EDDIE WOKE up to someone shaking him.
He pushed himself up and looked around. It was Tredd. Aino was also there, and so was Evie. They all stared at the screen with worried expressions.
Becoming present in the current reality, he realised the shield indicator was flashing red, and there was the Eagles flock leader on the screen – his face completely covered by a performance-enhancing helmet of black and blue.
‘You’re not going to destroy Aino,’ Tredd said to the pilot on screen. ‘You need her alive.’
‘The Admirals have decided the optimal course of action based on the scenario analysis, and have agreed that destroying you all is preferred option over letting you go,’ the man behind the faceless helmet said. ‘I ask you again, follow us back to the Excalibur or be destroyed.’
There was a moment of silence as Tredd stared at the screen. Then, with surrender in his voice, he said, ‘All right
then, we’ll follow you back. Eddie?’
‘Yeah…’ Eddie was relieved to be back among the living. However, once they got through this, he expected to have a difficult discussion with Tredd about his blackouts.
‘Set us to follow the lead craft.’
Eddie nodded. He selected the communicating craft and set the Rutger to follow it. The flock leader acknowledged and disappeared from the screen.
‘Now,’ Tredd said. ‘Aino, we need to get these fighters as far from us as possible…’
Eddie realised what Tredd was trying to do. He wanted Aino to use her skill of moving stars on the fighters. Eddie hadn’t thought it was possible, and apparently neither did Aino, as she looked up on the screen and said, ‘I’m not sure I can do so many.’
‘You can do it, girl!’ Evie held her from behind by the shoulders.
Aino stared at the screen that showed the real-time positions and data for all the ships around them. Then she closed her eyes. She clenched her fists and the muscles in her face tightened. Every muscle in her body seemed to tense. Eddie could almost feel the vibrations she was emitting.
Evie leaned over Eddie’s chair and whispered, ‘Is it working?’
Eddie looked up at the radar, wishing to see the Eagles gone, but they were holding their positions, moving back towards the Excalibur. Eddie shook his head. ‘No, it seems to—’
Eddie was cut off by the sound of Aino’s quick breath whizzing through her teeth. Then it started to happen. The Eagles started moving away, slowly at first, and then suddenly they scattered like particles of an explosion. In an instant they were gone.
Aino opened her eyes. She breathed heavy, and looked around from under her brow.
‘They’re gone.’ Eddie felt his voice tremble with the awe of what he had just witnessed.
Aino slumped back, catching her breath, and rested her palms on her forehead. ‘I should recharge…’
‘That was amazing!’ Evie jumped over to hug Aino. ‘How did you do it?’
Aino gave a shy smile. ‘I think about them hard, so hard I feel connected, and then I push with all the power I’ve got.’
Starcrasher (Shades Space Opera Book 1) Page 24