Jack lunged the moment they looked away. Not at them. For the hanging cargo hook clipped to the wall. He yanked it free and slammed the release. A net of empty cargo sacks dropped from overhead, tangling the enforcers in a flailing heap of armor, curses, and bruised dignity.
Madelaine stared at him as if impressed, but wondering at his skill for dumping empty cargo sacks on their enemies.
Jack grabbed the sling again. “What? I’ve been around Aunt Dixie during every charity rummage sale fundraiser setup. I know a useful pulley when I see one.”
“Of course you do.” And this time, Madelaine laughed.
It was quick, breathless and completely inappropriate, given their current location and dire surroundings. It was one of the very best sounds Jack had heard.
They ran the last stretch to the ship. Jack keyed the hatch. It opened too slowly for his taste.
“Come on, come on,” he muttered.
As soon as the gap was wide enough and even before the ramp was fully settled on the ground, Madelaine leapt onto it, yanking her end of the sling partly aboard. Jack followed pushing the carrier forward onto the ship inside as far as it would go. They unloaded Bert and the other two cubes unceremoniously next to the ramp opening of the ship.
Together they pushed the hover sling off the end of the ramp and let it float away as a shot struck the dock wall beside them.
Jack ducked. “That was close enough to part my hair.”
“That means it’s past time to go.” They ran back up the ramp and Madelaine slapped the hatch control. The door sealed.
She pushed one of the bauxite cubes into the receiver at the base of the control panel, leaving the other two for Jack. He shoved them into the storage locker, fast as he was able, as Madelaine got the ship ready to leave.
Once the two cubes were secure, he ran for the cockpit.
Jack dropped into the co-pilot’s chair as Madelaine threw the ship into launch prep. The engines coughed, then caught as the fresh cube fed into the system.
The fuel readout surged from the red it was when they arrived to a lovely green. Jack had never loved a color more.
Dock clamps began to release, then stopped with an ugly grinding sound.
Madelaine’s hands flew over the controls. “They’re locking us in.”
“Can you override it?”
“Not yet. And I don’t think I want to go out and try the lockpicks this time.” She quickly typed rows and rows of codeinto the ship’s onboard computer, but every time she hit Return, it said Denied on her console.
“Let me try,” Jack said. Rapidly, he keyed in several secret computer codes that might work. Usually, they overrode everything.
The loud click of their ship being released from the dock sounded like music.
“Got it,” he said when his console read Accepted. The ship shuddered and drifted away from the dock and all of the station enforcers who watched in impotent fury.
“Great job, Jack. When you said you worked with computers, you didn’t say you were a wizard.” Her fingers worked to get them flying away from Crooked Halo Station.
“A self-taught wizard, thank you very much.”
Madelaine tried to punch it, but they didn’t move.
“Now what’s wrong? Why aren’t we moving very fast away from this terrible space station?”
“I don’t know.” Madelaine reset and tried again. The engines whined but nothing happened. They were free from the dock; why didn’t they move?
A message flashed on the viewscreen:Station tractor beam engaged.
“Space Potatoes! They are really playing hardball, aren’t they.” Jack tried to use his computer codes to get Crooked Halo Station’s tractor beam to release them, but everything he tried laughed at him.
“Now what?” he asked, throwing his hands up in frustration.
