"The Seventh Siren - Chapter 1 part 3" by Jessica Warner

Not long later, they heard the hatch open, and something quite heavy was thrown through.

  ‘You reckon that’s the pilot?’

  ‘Might well be, yeah.’

  Saira and Darr had gone along too, in case he turned out to be unconscious and needed carrying. All three passengers returned to the mess hole, and sat down expectantly.

  ‘Give him a minute…’ Darr advised.

  The pilot stumbled in. He glared at them out of cloudy eyes. If he had been a beggar, Laura might have thought he was quite well dressed, and if he lived on the street she might have considered that his hygiene wasn’t too bad.

  ‘You all got tickets?’ He demanded. His voice seemed to grate on the way out.

  Six tickets were casually flung onto the table. He squinted, and counted them.

  ‘Six.’ He observed.

  ‘Yes…’

  ‘Is there supposed to be more?’ Laura asked.

  ‘Yeah. There’s nine, but two dropped out. We got one more.’ He informed them.

  ‘We’d better not take off just yet then.’ Said Toben.

  ‘Why not? You were three weeks late, they’ve probably given up!’ Claudia pointed out.

  ‘Seems a bit harsh.’ Toben argued. ‘I know if I was waiting three weeks and then you left without me, I wouldn’t be too happy.’

  ‘Oh, just take off.’ Saira told the pilot. ‘You won’t lose any money, they’ve already paid.’

  ‘But still…’ Said Toben doubtfully.

  Laura didn’t say anything. She thought it was wrong to leave a passenger behind just because you couldn’t be bothered to wait, but then if the assassins from the Goroni Syndicate had somehow found out where she was, it would be all too easy for them to book themselves onto the flight. She didn’t want to speak up for this unknown passenger, in case they tried to kill her upon boarding.

  ‘Agh.’ Grunted the pilot. He turned and vanished.

  ‘Was that a yes or a no?’

  Without warning, the artificial gravity lights came on.

  ‘That was a yes.’ Said Ryan. ‘Brace yourself-’

  Seventh Siren’s gravity boosters were slightly out of sync.(*1) Everyone somehow knew this would be so, and clung on, but still had to duck as all the utensils and loose debris hanging around the mess hole whipped over their heads.

  That was takeoff. Laura was very glad when it was over, but then remembered they’d have to do it again when they picked up the final miscreant for transport tomorrow. She planned to be under the bed when that went on.

  Of course, it wasn’t all that difficult to be a shuttle pilot, because everything was controlled by commands sent from station’s docking computers into the shuttle’s internal navigation system. (*2) Legally, a pilot had to be able to fly the ship out of danger manually in case of computer failure. Looking at the pilot, Mr “Gritt”, Laura wasn’t alone in her doubts about his capabilities. Computer failure would likely be fatal then. Not that this was terribly unusual, just…even more fatal?

These things Laura let her mind run over as she sat back in her room once the whole takeoff escapade was over. Saira had turned over and apparently gone to sleep the instant she got in. So Claudia and Laura talked, then Claudia talked and Laura listened, then Claudia talked and Laura pretended to listen, then without warning Saira swung off her bed, swore, and left.

  ‘That was fairly random.’ Claudia observed.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘I thought she was asleep.’

  ‘Yeah. Me too.’

  ‘Strange lady.’

  ‘No doubt. Well, have a nice sleep Claudia.’ Laura arranged herself on her bunk, and made sympathetic noises to Claudia’s complaints.

  And finally, the Seventh Siren was quiet, racing past the stars.

Maybe an hour passed. But Laura couldn’t sleep, couldn’t even close her eyes. And this wasn’t actually to do with the mattress (which might have been glared at by a Gorgon). She was too preoccupied to even notice.

  The shuttle was late. I had to stay a day in the spaceport. Plenty of time for someone to catch up. I tried to cover my tracks, but I know nothing about tracking. They could easily be onto me, even here.

  Yes, okay, she told herself. I’m being totally paranoid. But I’d rather be paranoid and alive than cocky and dead.

  Besides, I’m not paranoid, I know they’re after me…I expect that’s exactly what paranoids say, so I’ll just stop thinking it.

  Right, this is no good, she decided finally. I’ll have to go and check the sensors if I’m going to get any sleep. She got up, and moved silently to the door. Claudia didn’t even shuffle in her sleep. She was unnaturally stiff. Guess she can’t sleep either. Terrible actor, Laura thought, opening the door and slipping out.

  It wasn’t far to the cockpit. She knew it’d be empty. It didn’t really need somebody monitoring it the whole time, although Pilot Gritt probably didn’t monitor it any of the time, Laura thought with a sinking heart. She’d really rather not die yet, if it was at all possible.

  Laura eased open the door and was about to step inside. Before she got the chance to do so, she jumped like no innocent person can.

  ‘What you up to?’ The quiet voice had said. Laura turned too quickly.

  It was Saira, apparently just come from the mess hole, standing not far from the cockpit door. She didn’t look or sound in the least accusing. Laura decided to try the honest truth.

  ‘I was going to check the sensors.’

  ‘Check the sensors.’

  ‘Yeah. To see if there were any unscheduled ships in the area.’

  ‘To see if we were being followed.’

  ‘If you like. What are you doing here then?’ Laura countered. A sort of an indication towards a smile appeared on Saira’s face.

  ‘Go in and check it then.’ She prompted. Laura did so. Her eyes scanned over the instruments, all reporting standardised speed, no debris to avoid, and no off-course ships. Nobody. All clear.

  ‘Nothing.’ Laura reported.

  ‘Good.’ A sort of understanding passed between the two as Laura realised Saira had been doing exactly the same thing. Neither asked any more questions, but they returned to their room and nodded each other a goodnight.

A little while before she dropped off to sleep, Laura heard footsteps pass the door. The weak light coming from the corridor flickered for a moment as the passing figure blocked it out. Too tall to be Toben, but not quite quiet enough to be Ryan, whom Laura had noticed made very little sound other than from his mouth (which more than compensated).

  In just about the amount of time it takes to check the sensors, Laura heard the footsteps return. It was only then that she thoughtfully drifted into sleep.

  But Claudia still hadn’t relaxed.

(*1) EXCERPT FROM “A Reawakening Coma Patient’s Guide to the New Improved Universe!” BY J.WARNER:

On all standard shuttles, artificial gravity engages during flights, and the strength is changed when the shuttle speeds up or slows down. This is to prevent the entire contents of the shuttle (including the passengers) from being turned into a thin paste on the back wall, or bursting out through the hull.

(*2) EXCERPT FROM “A Reawakening Coma Patient’s Guide to the New Improved Universe!” BY J.WARNER:

That is, some little program says “Hey, it’s safe to take off!” And another one says “Righto” and gives the shuttle a nudge. Then the shuttle takes off. All the pilot has to do is apply for space on the route, whichever route s/he might be taking, and everything like speed and direction is controlled by an on board computer, assisted by transmissions from beacons along the way as necessary.