All gages redlined. The cockpit echoed with alarms and over pressured gages. Three minutes at full burn and using alternating power created unpredictable pockets in the ships function. Eventually he expected the ship would sputter and stall but still Hank held course as long as he could. The Pirate ship skillfully slipped back into position. Knots within reach Hank counted to three then pulled left.
The ship moaned at the abrupt change at the same time a second hook extended towards them. It skimmed past the side camera but clear of external damage. The Pirate ship pulled the arm back in as it recalibrated a third approach. Even if he had the power, Hank knew he wouldn't fool them a third time.
The first sputter vibrated the controls and across Hank's seat. The engine was waning. Hank wiped the colony location from the navigation. He reached under the main console and grabbed a fist full of wires. With a yank he dislodged them from their proper place. His harness unlatched with a click and he ran from the cockpit down the octagon hall, through the mess and down into the farthest shuttle.
The engine seized and threw the ship into a drift propelled by its remixing force. Hank stumbled sideways but managed to remain upright. A groan of detaching came from the left side of the ship as the first shuttled launched. Each emergency ship would disembark in order. The shuttle at the end of the row would be last, making it still possible to board.
"Hank!" Kate shouted from the open shuttle doorway, waving frantically. Hank jumped over the fallen debris, and made it to the door as the first grappling hook connected. The entire hull creaked and lurched to one side. Hank pushed to the open doorway, Kate caught him, and pulled him securely into her arms.
The doors sealed closed behind him.
Heavy breathing filled the dimly lit shuttle.
"When do we launch?" A stray voice whispered from the front of the shuttle.
"The inner doors have to close first." Brighton explained. "Wait for it, then I can activate the launch sequence."
"Did everyone manage to get on? The kids?" Hank searched each face until he found them. Harvey and Carter held hands, but worry creased Harvey's expression and there were tears in his eyes.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Hank asked looking at his wife.
"We couldn't find her," Kate said in a harsh whisper.
He searched again. Each face, in the dimly lit shuttle but he couldn't find hers. Those big unique eyes were not among them. "No. You were looking after her." Hank pulled his wife away in order to properly see her face. It was streaked with tears. "Is she on another shuttle?"
SLAM. Knock. Knock. Knock.
The desperate rap on the door behind Hank sucked the air from his chest. The inner doors hadn't closed, leaving the small circle window with a clear view of the hall. The 10 year old girl, much more petite for her age than any of other child on the ship. Her long slick black hair fell loose over her shoulders and her small pale hands tightly holding a crate of peaches.
Hank pushed his wife back and pressed his hands against the cold metal, "Open the door." He shouted. He tried to wedge his fingers in the thread of the airtight door.
It didn't budge.
"Open the door Brighton."
"Hank." Brighton's voice cracked. "Emergency protocol is locked. We can't."
The whole ship shuttered again as the second grappling hook attached. It was lower than the first, causing the ship to swing around. The crate fell from Monti's arms and she pounded on the door with both fists.
Inside Hank pulled at the door, knowing it wouldn't move but willing it to open. She was small, even if the opening was slight she could slide in. Tears slipped from Kate's eyes as she gripped Hank's arm and squeezed.
"Please stop," She begged her husband.
"You sent her for supplies, then closed the door!" He didn't know who he was yelling at. "No I have to let her in!" Hank pressed his code into the door panel. It flashed red in defiance.
On the other side his little girl was doing the same. Clawing, and pulling and banging but nothing changed. The door continued to deny her entry. Until suddenly a smoky smell filled the shuttle. Like a recently fired weapon the smell had a taste of gun powder or heated metallic particles.
Hank jumped back to see the metal door change from gray to red, as if it were being held inside an intense flame.
Kate gasped, her hands clasped over her mouth.
Monti was making a hole. Hank had seen her use this ability twice before but in the rush of adrenaline had forgotten all about it.
She could do it. Monti could get in.
Hank's heart started to beat again but then his wife threw herself on the window.
"Stop! You'll kill us all!" Kate shrieked pounding on the window as she pleaded. "Please stop. Please." She sobbed.
"No!" Hank pulled his wife away and pressed his face up to the window. "You can do it. Keep going."
But it was too late, the temperature in the room no long felt hot. With her hand still pressed against the door the red reversed. Instead of growing and melting away the metal, it rapidly cooled. The door creaked against the added pressure as the metal particles tightened.
Hank pounded on the door. "No. Come through. You can close it from this side." He begged, but the 10 year old was done. Monti backed slowly away from the door her hands hung defeated at her sides.
His chest tightened as the girl lifted her head. Those brown-maroon swirled eyes finally looking up at him. The panic was gone, her expression cold and emotionless.
The thick steel inner doors hissed as they slowly pulled toward each other and closing off Hanks view into the hall.
"No! Monti!" Hank called again he desperately pounded on the window. He has seconds to see her, second of her to hear him before they were closed off forever. "I'm sorry, Lady. I am so sorry."
Through the sliver of space that was left between the doors Monti's calm demeanor was startled by something unseen. Her hand clawed at her throat. Silently gasping for air.
Tears breached Hank's eyes as he watched her fall to her knees. Writhing and suffocating ...
The doors sealed.
She was gone.
And it was all his fault.
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Space Pirates
Science FictionExcerpt. His chest tightened as the girl lifted her head, backing slowly away from the door. Those brown - reddish eyes finally looking up at him. Her expression blank, her body communicated no words, and that panic that had been so urgently presen...
