phil jones2 (17 page)

That was when the number of blasts promptly doubled.

Phil's eyes widened at the sight in his view screen, there was no way they were going to survive such an onslaught for much longer. That was assuming that Trigger could avoid the first barrage, which was looking increasingly unlikely as the lasers grew larger and larger on the view screen.

A high keening noise broke out at the front of the cockpit, then the craft started ducking and weaving through the folds of space as if it were possessed.

A flash to the right of the ship was quickly followed by a similar one to their left, then they were engulfed in light and the sounds of laser fire.

'Keep us away from those lasers, Hawkins!' Phil shouted at the man, making him flinch somewhat and redouble his efforts. 'Smith, how long until we can retaliate?'

'Thirty seconds, Captain. Targeting their systems as we speak.'

Time ticked on at a languid pace, every moment stretching out in a flurry of fire and complex manoeuvres to avoid it from the increasingly frantic flying fingers of Ensign Trigger Hawkins.

Then the barrage stopped altogether.

'Smith, report! Have you disabled their weapons systems?'

The Agent took his time responding, then finally spun around in his chair. 'I didn't get a single shot away, Captain. They appear to have ceased firing upon us for reasons unknown.'

Phil didn't think that they'd had a change of heart, something else was going on here and he needed to find out what.

'Captain, our speed is decreasing.' Annika informed him.

'Hanniman, report!' Phil shouted, his throat beginning to get hoarse.

'RJ was pretty banged up sir and Darwin has a concussion, but other than a few wounds they should be just fine.'

It was then that he remembered that Smith was now in charge of the engines.

'Agent Smith?'

His temporary Engineer suppressed his sardonic smile and tapped a few buttons. 'The engine systems have been unharmed in the attack, in fact none of the shots from the Voravian sphere hit us.'

'So why are we slowing?'

Smith shook his head. 'Unknown, Captain. It could be some kind of jamming device that's slowing our progress.'

'Like a tractor beam?' Phil asked.

The security officer looked at him curiously. 'Agricultural vehicles have little bearing on our current predicament, Mr. Jones.'

In spite of their precarious situation, Annika let out a laugh. Phil relaxed a little, it was good to hear a bit of mirth after everything they had been through.

'I'll explain later, Agent Smith. So what you're saying is that there's no way to release us from this jamming device?'

Smith pondered over the question briefly. 'I could try and target what my scanners indicate are their vital systems, we may be fortunate enough to disable their device in the process.'

'Make it so.' Phil said baldly.

Agent Smith pressed a series of buttons, and nothing happened. Phil waited a little longer as the man repeated the same motion over the terminal before turning to face him once more.

'It's jamming our weapons systems as well, isn't it?' he said, feeling the glove tighten at the assertion, it seemed to have taken control mid-way through their crisis, sending thoughts unbidden into his mind to shout out at his crew.

'Your assumption is... valid, Captain.' Smith replied, a hint of surprise in his voice.

'We're being dragged back into the mothership!' Annika cried, pointing wildly at her console to a series of numbers that Phil didn't understand.

The screen switched to rear view on Annika's command and he now saw what she was panicking about. A giant hole had appeared in the center of the sphere and they were being sucked directly toward it. Weaponless, powerless and incapable of escape, they could only sit and watch as it grew larger.

'That's no moon...' Phil muttered to himself. 'Does anybody know if this ship has secret smuggling compartments under the floors?'

This brought the ghost of a smile to Annika's lips, she looked at him gratefully for reasons he couldn't figure out. His question had been valid.

Smith on the other hand took his query seriously. 'This is a Star Command vessel, Captain Jones. It has no need for secreted compartments.'

Phil sighed, he should be terrified or at least scrambling to the armoury to fetch some weapons to defend himself with. Instead he remained at his seat and watched as they were drawn toward the mothership at a faster rate with each passing moment.

It was vast, and Phil had trouble believing that the bumbling lizard creatures he had faced off against from before were responsible for building such a wondrous monstrosity. It blotted out the enormity of space with its slate grey complexion and otherwise featureless surface.

The hole they were being sucked toward was entirely dark, there was no telling what awaited them inside but Phil suspected that there were millions of Voravians with a grudge to settle.

Okay, so maybe he did feel just a little terrified now.

'Warning: ventilation systems pumping in toxic gas.'

Phil instinctively looked up in the direction of the sound, only to find himself staring at the ceiling. It had been the computer that had said that.

'What do you mean, toxic gas?' Annika asked, a hint of worry in her tone.

'Ventilation systems have been re-programmed to pump toxic gas into the cockpit and Engineering room.'

'Override!' Smith shouted, clasping a hand to his mouth and nose instinctively.

'Cannot comply.' the computer responded cheerily, as if it had informed him it had just made jam sandwiches for everyone.

'This is the Captain.' Phil stated obviously. 'Override the ventilation system immediately.'

There was a brief pause, as if the computer were giving this some serious thought.

'Cannot comply.' it repeated.

The world seemed to spin dizzyingly, Phil felt as if he were falling into the black hole that the ship was headed toward. He made a brief effort to fight his way to his feet, watching the crew around him doing much the same with no success, then he slumped in his command chair and saw no more.

Chapter 20

Skittering! Amorphous! Steam!

E
nsign Trigger Hawkins, formerly of the SC Scavanger, was in an unfamiliar place.

While he had been in a great number of new places of late and somehow survived each transition, this locale differentiated from the others because quite frankly he couldn't remember getting there.

The high dark walls were barren and no ceiling appeared to be in sight, they appeared to be made of some strange metallic substance and didn't yield to his hesitant touch.

'Well that's just great.' muttered a voice from nearby.

Trigger yelped and jumped vertically into the air at the sound, a familiar position for him.

'Relax Ensign.' RJ said, 'it's only me.'

His racing heart eased slightly at the appearance of the man who had helped saved them from the pink aliens of Vardell VIII.

He had also called him Ensign. That was twice now, counting the Captain, that someone had actually got his rank right! It was incredible! In addition to this wondrous feat, Hawkins also appreciated having someone who was vaguely competent around, his options had been severely lacking since his commission to the Scavanger.

'What are we doing here?' he asked, hoping that RJ had some answers for him.

The man adjusted his hat and stared up at the walls with an appreciative whistle that echoed upward into the unknown. 'Beats me, son. Looks like it's some kind of Voravian structure though.'

He walked over and tapped the steel-like wall with the toe of his boot, it was solid the whole way through. 'We're probably somewhere inside that big ol' sphere that they sucked us in to.'

Hawkins' eyes continued to search frantically around him, trying to divine some kind of exit to their imprisonment. None was forthcoming in revealing itself.

A strange smell wafted across the room, he spun suddenly and realised it was coming from RJ.

'Are you... smoking?' he asked, aghast at the man's barbaric habit.

RJ nodded to him and offered the blunt. 'Want a reek? Helps calm my nerves.'

Trigger declined wordlessly, the man's seemingly unflappable nature had put him at ease initially but without any immediate escape he was beginning to panic once more.

'Do you have a plan to get out of here?' Hawkins asked, his fingers nervously twisting themselves.

The pilot considered the question for a moment, then took another drag of his cigarette before putting it out behind his ear. Trigger wondered how the man avoided setting his hat on fire.

'It seems like the Voravians have stuck us down here for a reason, otherwise they would have simply lumped the rest of the crew in here with us. I don't see anyone else in here, do you?'

A faint skittering sound answered his question, they were most definitely not alone.

'What was that?' Hawkins cried, instinctively moving closer to RJ.

'Calm yourself, Ensign. No sense in getting worked up, sounded like some sort of bug to me.'

But Trigger Hawkins was an expert on bugs, especially bugs from space. He had seen the files, he had terrified himself with his morbid curiosity and calculated the maximum size of each one he could possibly come into contact with.

The skittering sound repeated itself, this time it was substantially louder.

'What are we going to do?' Trigger moaned.

'Well now.' RJ replied, staring around him in appraisal as if he were surveying the décor of a room. 'looks like we can't do much of anything until we find out what's making that noise.'

Trigger grabbed the lapels of his suit and tugged him closer. 'Don't you understand? It could be a giant space bug come to eat us in its pit!'

RJ's gaze soured slightly, Hawkins let go of him immediately.

'It may well be a giant space bug, Ensign. If that's the case then it has to come out of somewhere in order to get here. The Voravians certainly didn't throw us down this shaft vertically, otherwise we'd be dead already, so that means there's gotta be a way out by my reckoning.'

His words made sense, and his calm yet firm voice combated the worst of Trigger's fears. The man had a point, unless the creature came from a different part of the pit altogether. One without any exit.

A small squeaking sound of a hinge indicated the arrival of their skittering friend, its legs digging into the solid walls of their confines as if they were made of something entirely softer.

'Look at the size of that!' Trigger gibbered, pointing upward and completely redundantly, as RJ had already turned and scouted the beast.

He did the strangest thing then, he laughed.

'What a stroke of luck we've been given, Ensign! It's an albino rad-scorpion!'

Only the most poisonous scorpion in the entire quadrant, Trigger thought to himself miserably. Here he was thinking that RJ had some degree of sense, clearly he had been wrong.

Seeing the look on the other man's face, RJ explained himself. 'The albino rad-scorpion is blind and deaf, it senses its prey through the fear it emanates. So long as we don't fear, we'll be entirely safe.'

'I bloody know that!' Trigger practically screamed, shaking on the spot in terror. 'I'm an expert on lethal bugs!'

The scorpion lifted its irradiated head and started to clamber its way down toward their position.

'Arrggghhh!' Trigger informed it, seemingly forgetting that it was deaf and had no way of replying to such a communiqué.

'Ensign!' RJ shouted, making a strange movement with his hands and standing all-too near the scorpion now. 'Control yourself and jump to safety!'

Trigger looked at him in disbelief. 'Are you crazy? That thing is right next to you! Look out!'

RJ sighed in frustration. 'It won't harm me in the slightest because I'm not afraid of it.'

'Well bloody good for you then!' Trigger shouted hoarsely, his voice scaling upward horribly in fright.

'You can do this Ensign. It won't get you if you're quick enough.' RJ replied calmly, refusing to get angry at the almost-crazed shouting.

Trigger didn't mention how he noticed RJ was no longer telling him not to be afraid and simply concentrating on not getting him killed because of his fear.

With a cold clarity that rarely came to him, Hawkins knew that he had to either jump or die.

His legs turned to jelly as he stared at the pale white carapace of the creature as it seemed to slow in confusion. Was his resolve causing it to falter or did it simply wait for him to run past it before it attacked?

As if sensing the last thought, the scorpion proceeded toward him, having made the floor now and completely ignoring RJ who was stood prone behind it.

'Come on Ensign, you can do it.' the man offered in scant encouragement.

Trigger looked down at his sweaty palms and then back up at the small hatch that RJ was stood underneath with his arms braced. He refused to look at the creature any further, an amorphous white blob in his peripheral vision that slowly grew larger with each passing moment.

With a desperate shout, Ensign Trigger Hawkins launched himself forward at high speed, his legs somehow pumping him in the right direction instead of caving in underneath him. He vaguely heard RJ shouting encouragement as he grew closer, or was it a shout of warning?

He made it to the man's clasped arms and used them as a stepping stone, propelling himself high into the air and directly toward the hatch with a scream.

A white tail streaked out and he could feel the air hissing around his trailing leg. Tucking it in as he rolled at the last minute, he felt the burning sting of venom splashing against his calf, then collided with the hatch and was free of the pit.

He turned in the small shaft and wiped the venom clear of his leg before it could eat its way through to his skin. Then he sat for a time, wondering what to do now, where was RJ?

A set of fingertips punched their way through the flap of the grate and then slipped away, causing Trigger to jump and smack his head painfully on the low ceiling.