“You opened the whole thing up to the public. You let anybody show up. There was less security for this ship than there is in a candy store. Again, not on me. You should be thanking me for showing that someone much worse could be on board, maybe sabotaging things. All I ever did was mop the floors sometimes. At this point, I’m basically doing you all a favor.”
“I appreciate the reframe, but the fact remains you are an unauthorized passenger on this vessel, and we are mere months away from landing on a planet that needs to be settled. Your presence here could have very well caused serious issues.”
“I’m not here to hurt anyone. I’m just here for a good time. I wanted to be part of all of this. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
“You were discovered by Thor Falkbeck,” she says. “Just today, he claims to have realized who you were, and the fact you are not on the ship’s manifest.”
I realize Thor has changed the story to protect his interests. He doesn’t want them to know he spent days banging the stowaway. I don’t know why he’s being cagey about that. It’s not as if he knew right away I wasn’t supposed to be on board. Maybe he feels that way. Maybe he told them that.
“Yes,” I say. “He’s the real sleuth. Saw me today, sprung me right away.”
She nods and makes some notes.
“What is your previous work experience?”
“I spent a couple years herding goats in the far lands,” I say.
“And?”
“And I spent a couple years herding goats in the far lands.”
“No schooling?”
“My parents died and I didn’t feel like it.”
She makes a note. “We don’t have many goats on board, Miss Weltheim. We might be able to use you in maintenance again once you have served your time in the brig.”
“Really?”
“It’s a waste of resources to keep someone locked up,” she says. “That said, the captain is eager for you to serve time by way of understanding that you have committed a crime.”
Red Alert!
Red lights start to flash and the ship shudders. The officer packs her little tablet up and gets the hell out of the brig fast. I stay where I am because the floor is rolling around like waves and though my people have always been seafarers, I have no sea legs.
I grip the metal bench as the ship shudders. A holographic projection appears on the wall. I remember them talking about this; it’s so that everyone can respond appropriately without being specifically told what to do. Also, if you see a bit of the ship break off, don’t go over there.
The holographic line of the ship is showing multiple impacts across the hull in a pattern that can’t be natural or random. We are under attack. More juddering ensues as the ship responds, various shields and weapons assuming new locations. Hatches on the hull are opening, and gun nozzles are extending. We’re going to fight back.
“We are taking fire from a Vikar warship,” the captain announces. “All hands to battle stations!”
“Get fucked,” I mutter to myself. I’m glad he’s taking fire. It’s just unfortunate that I am also under attack at the same time.
There are more impacts, and there’s more shuddering. The door of my cell bangs around a bit every time the ship lurches one way or another. I could probably escape now, but where would I go? I am in the frying pan and everywhere else is fire.
“All hands!” The captain calls for aid. Not sure what all hands are going to do, but judging by the fact that a large part of the ship is now flashing red, I have a feeling they are down quite a number.
This is terrifying, but it’s one of those things that is too big and too scary for a human mind to really come to grips with. Our brains are made for responding to middle-sized scary things. Natural disasters are probably the biggest things we contend with naturally.
I am stuck in this ship, clinging to this cell, and something outside is trying to tear it, and me, apart.
You don’t really have a sense of speed in ships. You’re traveling at an incredible pace, but it doesn’t seem like anything is really happening. That’s the typical experience. The one I am having now is very unusual. Everything gets very loud, very frenetic. We are shaken around like marbles in a glass jar and there is a roaring sound that intensifies to a point I am sure it will deafen me, and then we are falling.
It’s funny, to suddenly be very certain that you are going down, after days of not feeling any particular direction at all. We are falling as fast as any collection of people and things can fall.
Mayday Mayday Mayday
I can’t do anything to help, but to be fair, neither can anybody else. When something the size of a spaceship is headed toward the ground, that’s beyond most anyone’s control.
