The CHANGI BULLET

Chapter 22 - Onwards

By order of Ari and Ezra, Alexander had nothing further to do with the prisoners. Any food he prepared in the galley was taken down by Roach and Medina. Any doctor visits were supervised with the two security men having their weapons drawn. Professor Stokes sank into a depressed silence, while Yuri said nothing, as if he were in police custody.

Ezra got over the fight. He was beyond ready to hit landfall, by then, wanting off the Izzati. But that comment about there being another saboteur, a sleeper, niggled away at him. Apart from feeding the prisoners, Roach and Medina were assigned the tasks of sticking with Ari and Inggrid; if a saboteur took out the rest of the flight crew, then they were going nowhere fast. Of course, who was to say either of his men was not a threat, themselves, but he had to draw the line somewhere.

Cerys sat with Ari in the cockpit and sent her dispatch back to Changi.

The crew of the Izzati were woken from our hibernation early due to belligerent alien beings deliberately crashing their small ships into us. Our security team fought them off. Unfortunately, we lost Petrik and Vincent in this event. Recently, in an act of clear sabotage, Professor Stokes and Yuri Vitas attempted to endanger the Izzati. They were restrained and are now under house arrest. Everybody else is well. Doctors Ghosh and Haller have performed their duties efficiently. The two remaining engineers are keeping Izzati on course. Charles is happy with his garden. Professor Birney is continuing to work, despite his colleague's behaviour. The last chef, Alexander, is providing for us. Our security team are doing their best to protect us. Pilots Ari and Inggrid are ready to take us in closer. I am well. And Shiro is well, also. - - Cerys Pugh.

Back at SEASA, in Changi, there was a mad scramble amongst the technicians.

'Who is this Shiro?'

'What does she mean?'

'Have we had any mention of Shiro before? Call the Acting Director, Mr Dovo.'

'Shiro? Is that code for something?'

They enjoyed the magical spectacle of passing by one of the gas giant planets, with its two moons.

'What's that called?' Ezra prompted Cerys for guidance.

'Cimol.'

'What's wrong with one of those moons for us? I'd be quite happy there. Rizki could open up his hotel. He can take me on as a hall porter.'

'No chance of life, I think.'

Ezra stared at Cimol, watching the hypnotic, slowly swirling, yellow and red clouds of what he assumed were toxic gasses. It was so beautiful. They had seen other marvels on their journey to that point, but from further out. Ezra still just liked the enormity of it all, space, and when he did happen to go to one of the portholes he tried to take in as much of it as he possibly could.

'So, we go on, Cerys.'

'Ari says six more days.'

'Who are you with, Cerys?'

'I beg your pardon?'

'What are you? English Secret Service? With the Indonesian military?'

'I'm with the Batavia Post, as you know.'

'Apart from that? The way you like to fight gives it away.'

She laughed. 'The way I like to fight? Ezra, clearly you've never been out on a Friday night in Wales.'

He giggled, and pulled her into a shoulder hug.

'There goes Cimol. Never to be seen again like that again, ever.'

'Why do you suspect me, Ezra?'

'Because you don't write anything down, you don't record things on a machine, and Cimol goes by without you taking one photograph.'

'Ah!' she teased. 'The Izzati is constantly photographing everything as she moves along. What do you think about that fact?'

'Is it, really? I didn't know that.'