‘Faith, can you contact Haakk and let her know that programme beta 99 is now fully operational and to send up the two security contingents and then can you patch me through to Jon.’
‘Affirmative. First Officer Haakk has been informed– Jon is not responding.’
‘I imagine she’s a little busy,’ said Andy. ‘You hadn’t forgotten there’s still three members of crew on our ship.’
‘What, two young girls and a pacifist Theo against three trained soldiers?’ said Ralt. ‘That’s only going to end one way, isn’t it? Now, I want you to drop your weapons and walk down to the first cabin on the right there,’ indicating the corridor with the hand weapon.
‘What about me?’ asked Pol.
‘You too,’ said Ralt.
With the rifles placed on the nearest console, the three of them walked slowly down to the cabin and entered, closely followed by Ralt.
‘You’re to stay in there until my forces get up to the ships, then you can train us in the operation of your ship.’
‘Good luck with tha––’
The door slammed shut and cut Ed off mid-sentence. Hearing the lock clunk he felt around with his DOVI but found just a sea of white noise.
‘Today soon went to shit, didn’t it?’ said Andy, opening all the drawers and cupboards.
‘What are you looking for?’
‘Anything useful that could open that door or to use as a weapon.’
‘What, something like this?’ said Ed, producing his revolver from a shoulder holster within the Theo suit.
‘Ah shit,’ said Andy, smacking himself on the forehead. ‘I forgot mine.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Ed, looking thoughtful. ‘There’s only one of the bastards here. It’s the girls I’m concerned about.’
‘Yeah – if Jon has released those other two nut jobs, they could be in the poo.’
‘Won’t that weapon be affected the same way as the rifles?’ asked Pol, as she reclined on a leaning chair in the corner.
‘Fortunately not,’ said Ed, checking it had the full six rounds chambered.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said.
‘For what?’ asked Andy.
‘I’m embarrassed,’ she said. ‘This is not who we are as a race. I really thought this behaviour would be a thing of the past once we joined the GDA.’
‘Oh, believe me, it will be,’ said Ed. ‘Once the council finds out what’s been going on here, it’ll be the end for the Obsidian bullies. As it stands, they’re already responsible for the deaths of over three hundred thousand human lives.’
Andy disappeared through into the bathroom and could be heard banging and swearing.
‘What are you doing?’ said Ed, poking his head around the door.
Andy had managed to rip a large panel off a side wall and was tearing out some sort of fibrous insulation material packed in behind.
‘Give us a hand,’ he said. ‘If we can get through to the next cabin, it shouldn’t be locked.’
It took them ten minutes to dig their way through to the panel on the other side. Even Pol got stuck in with her four hands.
‘Look at her go,’ said Andy. ‘She looks like a human excavator.’
‘I hope this isn’t asbestos,’ said Ed, waving the dust out of his face.
‘We could always bury it in the back garden,’ said Andy.
‘I won’t tell the health and safety officer if you don’t,’ Ed whispered, with a smirk.
They all stood back from the now uncovered panel from the bathroom next door.
‘I’ll boot it out if you loiter with your cannon,’ said Andy. ‘Just in case Ralt’s lurking.’
It took three kicks before the panel yielded and crashed into next door’s bathroom. Ed waved the pistol around the small room in a two-handed grip, but found no target.
He crept through and found the cabin also deserted. Once they were all together, Andy tried the door and, finding it open, quickly peeked out both ways.
‘There’s no one in the corridor in either direction,’ he said.
‘What about the bridge?’ Pol asked.
‘The door’s still open, but I can’t see it all from this angle,’ said Andy. ‘You’ve got the only weapon, so you should take point,’ he said to Ed.
‘Thanks, mate,’ said Ed. ‘You’re all heart.’
‘You’re welcome.’
They filed out of the cabin one behind the other and crept along the side of the corridor towards the bridge. It too was empty.
‘Faith, where is Captain Ralt?’ asked Pol.
‘Captain Ralt is in hangar two.’
‘Can you discontinue programme beta 99, please?’
‘Negative, only Captain Ralt can discontinue programme beta 99.’
‘Nice try,’ said Ed.
‘Isn’t hangar two where the Moguls are?’ said Andy.
‘Yeah – I imagine she wants to get rid of those bastards as much as we do,’ said Ed.
‘What are you going to do about Ralt? We can’t just shoot her,’ said Pol. ‘She needs to order Faith to shut down beta 99 first.’
‘We need some way of forcing her to,’ said Andy.
‘And quickly,’ said Ed. ‘She has reinforcements coming up from the planet.’
‘Faith, is there a specific emitter somewhere on the ship you’re using to instigate programme beta 99?’ asked Pol.
‘Oh, good question,’ said Ed.
‘Affirmative.’
‘What does it look like?’
An image of what seemed to be a circular swelling in a ceiling materialised in front of them.
‘Where is it?’
‘Main engineering, section E4m.’
‘Can you show us where that is on the ship, please?’
The now familiar holographic image of the Faith appeared in the centre of the bridge. A small section right at the stern flashed red.
‘It would be, wouldn’t it?’ said Andy. ‘That’s nearly seven kilometres away.’
‘Faith, what’s the quickest way to get down to engineering?’ asked Pol.
‘Mono-train.’
‘There’s a train!’ exclaimed Andy. ‘Where the hell is that?’
The passageway on the starboard side of the ship began to flash red.
‘I always presumed the other side of the ship was a mirror image to the one we know,’ said Ed. ‘But it makes sense. Have a pedestrian walkway on one side and a train on the other.’
They all picked up their discarded rifles and made their way down the corridor, heading for the first time towards the starboard side of the ship.