Page 38 of Across The Stars
“Guessing we’re in their cargo bay,” Quinn said, prying a metal panel off the floor as a means to defend herself like it was a shield.
Sam found a wrench in a toolbox and I grabbed a hammer from the same set.
“What if…” Sam said, burping. “I just throw up on one. Maybe I’ll scare them off. I had eggs for lunch.”
“How did you get on the Nexus with that kind of sensitivity to motion?” Quinn asked.
“False IDs,” Sam blurted like it really was the end and she wanted to get it all off her chest.
Quinn rolled her eyes as Zen’s monotone voice spoke over the commotion of heavy machinery.
“There are organic bodies approaching,” he said.
“Zen? How are you still here?” Quinn asked.
“I am designed to have a secondary power source that activates in such events. I am attempting to bring the ship back online. Currently, the ramp controls are being overridden.”
“Override the override.”
Zen’s voice fizzled out as if he was being shut down again. I shook, grabbing Sam’s hand as the sound of hydraulics hissed on the back of the shuttle. We all huddled on the opposite side like chicks crowding for warmth. The ramp unlocked and began to lower, letting in a faint, greenish light and heavy humidity from outside. We stood close together, nervously lifting our weapons in anticipation.
“Ok, Innifer,” Sam said in a loud whisper. “You can kickbox. Kick their asses.”
I flared my nostrils, squeezing my hammer tight. “I only did it for a couple of months and then I ran out of money for classes,remember!” I said through my teeth, wishing I’d committed to it now.
I frowned with regret just as a tall shape cast a shadow over the interior of the shuttle. Humanoid. Two arms and two legs and a non-cone-shaped head, as far as I could tell. The figure stepped through the entrance wearing a pair of black pants and a sarong of some sort around his hips made of a leathery material. He looked male, but he was backlit enough to hide a lot of other details. And for all I knew, males and females looked the same where he was from. He was built with a solid frame and wore a heavy jacket that was littered with trinkets and patches. From the shadows of a hood that sat over his head, I could see two gold, glowing eyes and a mask that covered the bottom half of his face.
Sam let out a loud scream, making me jump out of my skin. At the same time, Quinn charged forward wielding her floor panel. She was a tall girl and by no means soft, but she was dwarfed by the alien. She swung at him and with a subtle sidestep, the alien avoided her and tore the panel from her hands. She stumbled forward and the alien threw the metal aside, crouched, and scooped her right over his shoulder. She started kicking and shouting, flailing her legs and arms all over like a fish flopping on a hook.
“I swear on your ugly mother, I’ll kick your ass!” she screamed. “Put me down!”
“Quinn!” I yelled.
Sam went nuts, throwing her wrench at the back of the alien’s head, but he paid her no mind. As Quinn was hauled off, two other figures with similar builds stepped onboard. Sam started chucking tools in their direction, filling the shuttle with a loud ruckus as the metal bounced around on the floor.
Before the two alien men could get very far, a strange alarm started to pulse throughout their spacecraft. They looked startled for a moment and then retreated from the shuttle.
“What is that?” Sam asked.
I ran for the ramp, peering out to find Quinn, but the green light outside the shuttle was blinding now. I shielded my eyes, unable to pick up any details of the ship we’d been sucked into. I was determined to rush out and kick every alien in the balls—assuming they had balls—to get Quinn back, but as soon as I took a step, Zen came back online. The lights followed suit.
“Closing the ramp,” he said.
“No!” I argued. “Quinn’s out there!”
“Emergency procedures are activated.”
“Zen!”
The docking door began to rise and I moved forward to escape the shuttle when Sam took hold of my arm and yanked me back.
“Sam, what the hell!?”
“We need to get out of here. Are you insane?”
The door hissed closed and sealed. I spun on my heels, jerking my arm from Sam.
“You think we can fly this thing?” I said.
