Mervyn led them through the network of air ducts until he found their way blocked by another grill. He kicked at the grill until it shattered. Before him stood the towering fusion reactor which powered the ship at super-luminal speeds. Loren opened another service hatch and logged on. ‘Mervyn, there are four bolts. To undo them you turn the wheel on the bolt, wait for the piston to rise, then turn the piston anticlockwise until it clicks. Then wind the piston down again until it locks home. Got it?’
‘Check. We’ll take two each.’
Mervyn squirmed through the opening in the grill and stood in the engine room.
The towering fusion reactor dominated the room: millions of clear marbles stacked in a hollow cylinder and held together by magnetic forces. A skeleton of lasers flickered at the column of marbles, heating the specks of plasma at the centre of each ball to millions of degrees -- a galaxy of miniature stars in a gigantic jar. Magnetic fields, around and through the centre of the column, simultaneously channelled the heat and the super-luminal particles away from the generator. This fusion engine provided the warship with power and propulsion. Four locking bolts, spaced at equal distances round the generator, held the marble column in place.
‘Come on, Loren, but mind yourself on the edges of that grill.’
Mervyn whirled at a sound behind him. The main doors snapped opened. To his horror, the Naga stood in the open doorway backed by a squad of puncheon.
‘You’re good I’ll give you that, kiddies, but too obvious? I could have destroyed you in the air ducts, but I need to know who you’re working for.’
‘Loren, he’s guessed our plan,’ Mervyn hissed over the bionet.
‘Hang on. Merv, let’s see what a level five security can do.’ She tapped frantically at the display. The main doors snapped shut again trapping the Puncheon outside, ‘Gotcha. Uh oh, someone’s trying to override my command.’
‘You stay here and fight them off while I unlock the bolts.’ Mervyn sprinted towards the first locking bolt. He almost made it too, but the sight of a blaster levelled at him from the other side of the room brought him skidding to a halt.
‘Nowhere to run this time, Runt. Tell me who you’re working for and I’ll let you go.’
Mervyn doubted the Naga would ever let him go. He backed away slowly, ‘Why do you want to kill me?’
‘I don’t, I just want to know who you are working for -- then you, and your friends, can go safely on your way,’ the Naga said reasonably and followed.
‘You’ve been trying to kill me since you first saw me. In fact, you waylaid that Silvin trader just to find me. Why? What’s so important that I must die?’
‘It’s nothing personal, kid, just politics. Anyway, now I have your father I no longer need you.’
Mervyn backed away again; ‘You’d already captured my father when you picked us up near Pershwin, yet you still wanted rid of me.’
‘How little you understand. There are forces at work in this Galaxy you know nothing of, and they fear you.
‘I’ve not done anything.’
‘They fear what you might do in the future.’
‘You tell me who these forces are that want me dead, and I’ll tell you who I’m working for,’ Mervyn lied.
‘Just give me the name, Muon, or I’ll finish you right now!’
Mervyn bumped up against a control consul -- trapped. Beads of sweat budded on this brow, but he felt strangely calm -- detached from the scene of his imminent death. They had tried, and so nearly succeeded -- if only they’d been a few seconds faster. He glanced down at the console and a single word leaped out from a button beside his hand: gravity. Without stopping to think he punched it.
Instantly he was weightless. So was the Naga. One moment he stood firmly on the deck the next the slightest movement sent him drifting. Surprise flicked across the Naga’s giant face, chased away by fury. The Naga fired, and the console beside Mervyn exploded throwing him, the Naga, and the blaster in different directions across the chamber. The Naga flailed wildly after the blaster, desperately trying to control himself in the zero gravity. Mervyn was in his element -- the engine room had become an enormous swat pool. He pirouetted towards the wall, pushed off gently, and sailed behind the reactor, hiding himself from view.
He somersaulted down to the nearest locking bolt and turned the small wheel attached to the side of it. A shining piston rose slowly upwards. When it would rise no more he grabbed it with both hands and turned it. Clockwise or anticlockwise? He tried both until a solid clunk sounded round the chamber. He wound the piston back down until it clicked home. The top of the piston turned red -- unlocked. Without warning, a photon blast scattered a shower of white-hot marbles from the fusion column. They seared across the room like bullets -- something else to avoid. The hole filled instantly as the marble column collapsed to fill the space.
Mervyn’s jump took him right to the ceiling from where he could look straight down into the white-hot centre of the reactor. It was so bright he had to shield his eyes from the glare. The Naga had retrieved his blaster, but was still struggling to control his movements in zero-g. He jerked the blaster up for a shot at Mervyn, but the movement threw him backwards into a cartwheel. Mervyn grinned and took the opportunity to sail right over the reactor and unlock a bolt on the opposite side. He was out of sight again before the Naga recovered control.
As he tried to leap to the third bolt, a photon blast sizzled past his ear. He retreated and tried the remaining bolt. The same happened again -- this time the blast threw him into a back flip. The Naga wedged himself into a cavity where he could cover both the untouched locking bolts.
For the moment Mervyn gave up his attempts on the remaining bolts: it was too dangerous. He needed a distraction -- something to occupy the Naga long enough for him to unlock the remaining two bolts. While he was thinking the door jerked open, but slammed shut again almost immediately. How long could Loren hold off the Puncheon?