After a while longer, Patrick had finally finished pressing the last of the symbols on the pilot’s display and Zeeree had taken over priming the main systems.
‘How much longer till we can take off?’ asked Patrick.
He had nothing left to do now and although he was a bit tired and sore, he didn’t like the idea of just leaving Zeeree all by herself and going back to his quarters. At least, not until the ship was back in the relative safety of space.
‘We will be able to take off momentarily,’ replied Zeeree in her calm tone. ‘I am bringing the short-range thrusters online now.’
As soon as she said this, a low hum began to fill the cockpit.
‘Primary thrusters at seventy percent. Ninety percent. Primary thrusters are now at full power. Initiating Lift-Off.’
The ride was so smooth that Patrick couldn’t even feel any motion but he could tell that they were moving because he peered at the main view screen which showed the ground falling away and getting farther and farther away by the second. Around ten minutes later, Zeeree had switched to the ship’s main engines and they had successfully made it back into space, moving slowly away from the planet Antorii Two on a random trajectory.
‘So is that it? Are we safe now?’ ventured Patrick tentatively, well aware that the last time he asked this question it turned out that they were in danger but they just didn’t know it yet.
‘That depends on your definition of “safe”,’ responded Zeeree with a certain degree of evasiveness.
Patrick sighed. He was not in the mood for playing any games.
‘Is anybody coming after us?’ he asked, mildly irritated.
‘It is a possibility given that we have the artefact from Nexus One onboard and it can be tracked from very far away with the right scanners. However, I do not believe anyone with hostile intentions is closing in on our current position.’
‘I guess that will have to do for now,’ said Patrick glumly.
He didn’t like the thought of constantly being chased around the galaxy for some stupid hunk of rock, no matter how valuable it might be to some people. As far as the human was concerned, the sooner that they managed to get rid of that thing the better. Patrick leaned back in his chair and let out a loud yawn.
‘I believe you require some rest,’ observed Zeeree as she studied the tired human with her bio-sensors.
Patrick let out a loud breath and blinked a few times as he fought to keep his heavy eyelids from closing. He could feel tiredness catching up with him, as well as his stomach rumble in protest at not having seen any food for hours and hours. At that moment, he longed to slip into a nice warm bath in a peaceful room and just go to sleep for a while. Sadly, he knew that this was another fantasy that was not to be fulfilled.
‘I think you’re right, Zeeree,’ Patrick admitted as he slowly got out of his chair.
He unconsciously ran a hand through his thick mop of dark brown hair and yawned a second time as he trotted over to the cockpit exit hatch.
‘I’m going to go and lie down for a while. Can you handle running the ship for a few hours by yourself?’
‘Of course I can. Rest well, Patrick,’ said Zeeree in as soothing a voice as she could manage.
Despite at times preferring solitude and being left alone to do whatever she wished, a large part of Zeeree actually longed for company and organics such as Saleek and Patrick provided her with interactions that she most definitely enjoyed (apart from the odd joke or comment that went over her head). Despite other AIs’ distinct lack of empathy, Zeeree herself had plenty of it and she felt a strong desire within her to form connections with others. She had always felt slightly different to most AIs and she didn’t fully understand why. In any case, her caring for Patrick and Saleek was completely genuine and although it was sometimes difficult to get that across, she wanted them to realise that.
Patrick responded with a warm yet tired smile and said, ‘Thanks, Zeeree. Wake me if you need anything.’
‘Understood.’
Patrick had made it almost all the way to his quarters when Zeeree’s voice came floating down the corridor. It appeared to be laced with nervousness this time, rather than caring.
‘Patrick?’
The human stopped and sighed.
‘And I was so close to my bed as well,’ he muttered quietly. Then, loud enough for Zeeree to hear him, he added, ‘What is it?’
‘I did not wish to alarm you at first, which is why I did not say anything. However, I believe we are being followed by a vessel.’
Whilst such news would typically make Patrick’s blood run cold and his adrenaline levels spike, at this point he was too tired for even that response. He only wanted to be left alone so that he could sleep and recover.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked, stifling a yawn.
‘Affirmative. When we were leaving Antorii Two, there were multiple ships arriving and leaving the planet, in addition to several more ships in orbit. Several ships were on intercept vectors with us but as we were so close to the planet I simply assumed that they were coming in to land. However, now we are some distance away from the planet and all but one of the ships have entered orbit around Antorii Two. That remaining ship is on a direct collision course with us and is accelerating rapidly.
‘Figures,’ murmured Patrick morosely. ‘OK, I’m coming back up to the cockpit. Hang on.’
Around forty five seconds later, Patrick once more entered the cockpit.
‘All right, what have we got?’ he demanded.
He had no idea what to do, he had never been in command of a ship before (he hated flying for goodness’ sake!) so he had no choice but to play it by ear.
‘The ship appears to be a freshellion short-range attack craft. I do not know where it has come from. It has a top speed way in excess of our own. It is also far more manoeuvrable than this vessel and its armament appears to consist of medium lasers and missiles with unknown warheads.’
Patrick was shocked and also a little confused.
‘Wait a minute...what is an attack craft like that doing coming after us? We haven’t done anything to the freshellions...’
Patrick tailed off as he remembered that he did not know everything about Saleek’s past dealings, not by a long shot.
‘...have we?’ he finished. ‘Zeeree, has Saleek pissed off many people?’
‘In a word, yes,’ answered Zeeree with a small digital chuckle. ‘However, he has never had any dealings with the freshellions of which I am aware. I am now detecting a larger freshellion ship on long range scans; it is likely the mother ship to which this attack craft belongs.’
‘Great. Just great. Any reason why they might want to attack us?’
Zeeree was silent for a moment as she considered this.
‘The only rational reason I can think of is that they have somehow found out that we have a valuable artefact on board and they are coming to take it from us. The freshellions are not a particularly well liked species in the galaxy – they are opportunists, scavengers and double crossers. They are very selfish and think only in terms of what positives they can obtain from situations. If they think they can steal a valuable artefact from a poorly armed ship and subsequently sell it for great profit, they wouldn’t think twice about attacking it.’
‘Well, what are our options then?’
‘In this situation, very limited,’ confessed Zeeree. ‘We are unable to outrun that craft given its superior manoeuvrability and speed. We do have some weapons onboard but as an AI I am prevented from firing them by failsafe protocols and I assume you are not trained in using them?’
‘No, I am not!’ exclaimed Patrick almost indignantly as he began to get worried. ‘So, we can’t outrun them and we can’t fire any weapons. What can we do? Can we go back to the planet and land?’
‘We could. However, we would be a much easier target for them to find and attack if we were on the planet’s surface. They could easily track our descent and monitor where we landed with their scanners.’
r /> ‘So, are you telling me there is nothing we can do at all? Do we just sit here and wait for them to attack us?’
Patrick’s voice was getting shriller and louder as panic started to take hold. He badly wished that Saleek was here instead of him.
‘There is one option available to us. We have the ability to make a jump to super-space.’
‘OK, fine. Well then, let’s do that!’
An alarm began beeping in the cockpit, sounding approximately once a second.
‘Priming jump drive. Beginning charge. Jump drive currently at five percent power and rising,’ stated Zeeree coolly. ‘There is one other matter which must be attended to, Patrick.’
‘What is that?’ asked Patrick.
‘The jump drive is useless without designated coordinates for a destination. I need to know where to bring the ship back into normal space, otherwise we could wind up in the middle of nowhere, or in the middle of a star.’
‘Well, I can’t do the calculations!’ protested Patrick. ‘And what is that beeping sound anyway?’
‘That alarm is indicating that the pursuing ship will be upon us within approximately thirty seconds.’
‘Oh, shit. Well, what can we do?’ panicked Patrick, wishing that Saleek was here to take care of things.
‘Tell me a destination to calculate!’ insisted Zeeree, beginning to get seriously nervous.
She said nothing to the human, but her sensors told her that the incoming ship had charged its weapons and was now mere seconds away from them. With Saleek in charge, she was usually confident in the lyan’s ability to get them both out of sticky situations. With the inexperienced human in charge however, she was far less confident.
‘I...I don’t know most of the systems around this part of the galaxy...’ stammered Patrick.
‘Just pick one!’ hurried Zeeree.
The alarm ringing throughout the cockpit started to beep very rapidly.
‘I....uh....’
Suddenly there was a loud CRACK sound and the ship rocked slightly from side to side. Patrick instinctively held onto the armrests on his chair to keep from being thrown from it.
‘What the hell was that?’ exclaimed the human in shock.
‘Weapon impact on our hull. They are firing lasers at us,’ reported Zeeree. ‘Hold on. Incoming transmission.’
The image of a pink-coloured, flabby alien with large teeth and hairy snout for a nose appeared on the main viewscreen. It was wearing a helmet and appeared to be in the cockpit of the attack craft, surrounded by lots of flashing screens and controls.
‘I represent the Freshellian Confect. You have an artefact aboard your ship that we want. Power down your engines and prepare to be boarded,’ the pink alien commanded in a wobbly, somehow slimy voice.
The view screen suddenly returned to the blackness of space stretching out in all directions and the audio cut out.
‘That was the entire transmission. Not very chatty, are they?’ commented Zeeree as her face popped up in the bottom-right corner of the main screen.
‘What do we do now?’ asked Patrick, his eyes darting from Zeeree to his station’s control panel and back again.
‘We make a choice and we make it now. I’ve been in plenty of chases and conflicts,’ Zeeree said, pausing momentarily as she wondered if she had again said too much, before continuing regardless, ‘and if we wait for them to make the first move, it puts us at a tremendous disadvantage. We must act now, Patrick.’
Patrick stared hard at the buttons and flashing lights of his control panel.
She’s right. This is it, he thought as his tired muscles tensed up again and he mustered his remaining strength.
The human’s face became a picture of pure concentration as he focussed on what was about to happen.
Suddenly remembering another thing Saleek had said before in the cockpit, Patrick said, ‘Zeeree, activate the ship’s energy shield.’
‘Shield activated,’ replied the AI. ‘Now that they know we have some defensive capabilities, they will attack us in an attempt to disable them. We should change course and accelerate to confuse them,’ she added.
‘Good idea. Do it!’ agreed Patrick from the pilot’s chair. The human felt an unseen force tugging him backwards into his seat as the craft changed direction and began to go faster.
‘We’re moving away from the attack craft, but it won’t take them long to realise what we’ve done. I anticipate they will catch up to us in approximately thirty five seconds,’ announced Zeeree.
‘OK,’ said Patrick as he tried to think of a nearby system that they could jump to.
Alas, his tired brain refused to cooperate and his mind went blank. All of a sudden, the human desperately wished he had paid more attention in galactic geography class back at school.
‘Main engines are at one hundred percent power and stable,’ reported Zeeree. ‘This is as fast as we can go in normal space. The attack craft is pursuing us. I estimate they will catch up in about twenty five seconds.’
‘What is the status of the jump drive?’ asked Patrick, raising his voice to be heard over the loud rumble of the main engines, which were being pushed to their limit as they propelled the ship forwards.
‘Jump drive is at fifty percent power and rising,’ answered Zeeree.
‘Damn it, there’s no way the jump drive will finish charging in another twenty seconds. We’re not going to make it, are we?’
‘It is not over yet. The energy shield should protect us from a few direct hits.’
‘How many is a “few”?’
‘Difficult to say,’ said Zeeree honestly. ‘The ship’s internal battery is down to eighteen percent power because both I and the shield were active on Antorii Two for quite some time. That power drain means that the energy shield is currently operating at only forty one percent of normal strength.’
‘This day just keeps on getting better and better,’ muttered Patrick sarcastically.
Saleek’s ship rocketed through space at considerable speed, but it was no match for the nimble, quicker and smaller attack craft. Moments later, the smaller ship had caught up to the larger one and maintained a distance of a few kilometres. The edges of the attack craft’s wings began to glow a deep crimson colour as its weapons reached full charge. A split second later, a brilliant beam of red energy lanced through space and struck Saleek’s ship just above the engine exhausts. The glowing shield of yellow energy surrounding Saleek’s craft wobbled and flickered as the crimson beam dissipated harmlessly with an angry crackling sound.
‘They are attacking again. Our shield is holding,’ reported Zeeree.
‘How long till we can jump?’ asked Patrick desperately, holding onto his chair for dear life as another impact was felt in the cockpit.
‘Jump drive is at seventy five percent power and rising. However, this craft is badly in need of a recharge and refuel. The main battery is now down to nine percent charge and the engine’s fuel injectors are operating at temperatures above maximum tolerance. We can only maintain our current speed for another few seconds before we risk causing serious damage to the engine.’
‘Damn it!’ cursed Patrick as he slammed a clenched fist into the nearest control panel like he had seen Saleek do earlier.
He found himself instantly regretting that action as the control panel was as hard as solid rock. The human winced and gingerly cradled his now-throbbing hand in his other. Another beam of bright scarlet light streaked through the blackness of space, homing in on its target. A moment later it found it and erupted in a flash of red-white energy which, for a moment, completely engulfed Saleek’s ship. The blast rocked the ship again and this time Patrick felt the temperature in the cockpit rise noticeably.
‘The shield has failed. Any more impacts will result in damage to the hull,’ announced Zeeree.
Patrick realised he had to try something, anything that would give them a fighting chance of not becoming a floating debris field over the next few minutes. Relying heavily on
what he had observed Saleek doing and what little he had gleaned from watching action holo-films as a teenager, he commanded Zeeree to bring the throttle down to zero.
‘Are you certain?’ queried Zeeree as she cocked a delicate blue eyebrow in surprise.
‘Yes, do it! It might be the only way to save our engines and if they go offline, we’re toast!’
Zeeree looked a little confused.
‘I fail to see what grilled bread products have to do with our current situation...’
Patrick shook his head violently in exasperation.
‘It’s...it’s an English expression, god damn it! Just do it!’
‘Throttling down,’ said Zeeree.
The loud roar of the main engines stopped almost immediately and the resulting silence was just as defeaning. Saleek’s craft suddenly slowed down and the attack craft, which had been zig-zagging behind them whilst firing, shot off past them at full speed.
‘Bring us about,’ said Patrick.
‘To what heading?’
‘I...don’t know, just change our trajectory!’
Saleek’s ship turned about one hundred and twenty degrees to starboard.
‘Now, bring the throttle back up to seventy five percent,’ commanded Patrick.
‘Main engines now at seventy five percent power,’ informed Zeeree. ‘The attack craft is turning around and is manoeuvring to intercept. Estimated time till they are in weapons’ range: twenty seconds.’
‘Do you know any evasive manoeuvres?’ asked Patrick hopefully.
‘I am programmed with a database of over one thousand different space-combat scenarios.’
‘Great. Then use them! Shake off that pursuing craft!’
Patrick felt the ship move to the left, then to the right, then he felt his stomach rising in his chest as the ship dove downwards all of a sudden.
‘I have initiated evasive manoeuvres but I think we have upset the Freshellians piloting the attack craft in our attempts to evade them. They are flying more aggressively now and they appear to be throwing everything they have at us. I am detecting multiple missile launches and they are firing their laser weapons too.’
Patrick looked at the main view screen but there were so many moving images and so much information scrolling across it that it made him feel quite sick, so he returned to looking at the blinking lights of his control panel and tightened his grip on the chair’s armrests. Several bolts of crimson energy impacted on Saleek’s ship with an angry crackle and a bright eruption of sparks.
‘We’re taking damage from their lasers,’ reported Zeeree. ‘Their missiles have locked onto our exhaust signature. I am unable to shake them.’
‘How much longer till those missiles hit us?’ cried Patrick.
‘Approximately fifteen seconds,’ came the reply.
Patrick’s blood pressure skyrocketed and his eyes widened as adrenaline coursed through his body.
‘Status of jump drive?!’ he yelled desperately.
‘Jump drive now at ninety percent power,’ said Zeeree. After a few moments pause, she said, ‘Jump drive at ninety five percent power....jump drive now fully charged and ready.’
‘How long to missile impacts?’
‘Eight seconds.’
‘Then use the jump drive! Jump! Now!’ screamed Patrick as a shrill alarm began beeping rapidly throughout the cockpit.
Zeeree weighed up her options in a fraction of a second. She hated doing this, it went against her safety protocols to protect the ship and those who travelled aboard her but she saw no other option. Even though she was risking potential death and destruction at a later time, right now it was preferable to immediate destruction within the next six seconds.
After a faint digitised sigh, Zeeree said aloud, ‘All systems secured. Initiating blind jump to super-space.....now!’
There was a huge flash of blinding white light and all of a sudden, Saleek’s craft disappeared from normal space, leaving the missiles to shoot through space aimlessly at no target.
Chapter 17