Pirate (LGBT - Sci-Fi - Romantic)

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen 

The Avata cruised slowly through a particularly well populated part of the asteroid belt and came to a gentle stop near one of the largest asteroids Connell had seen so far. It must have been a good half a kay long and almost as wide. He could see a large smooth surface directly in front of them, obviously man made. Mars, who was still wearing Connell's wristcom, entered a series of instructions into it and the door ahead of them opened to reveal a large cavern, big enough to house the entire ship. A faint green glow came from the surrounding walls, emitting just enough light to see where they were going. Mars steered the Avata gently into the cavern and docked neatly. The door shut behind them and there was total silence. 

"Welcome to my humble home," joked Mars. He entered a few more instructions into the wristcom. "If we just wait about ten minutes, we'll be able to breathe out there," he told Connell. "I had the chamber sealed and an oxygen recycling plant installed. Much easier than trying to manage in space suits. This is not my principal base but we should be able to spend a few days here in reasonable comfort, if we need to. " 

Connell was staring intently at the view screen. He could see a short platform surrounding the cavern, bridging the gap between the ship and the inside of the asteroid. Rock walls pressed in on them ahead and on their right, but to the left, the wall was further back and he thought he could see an uneven pathway leading off towards what looked like a series of small rooms or caves. Despite himself, he was reminded of the holovids he had watched as a child. He was in a pirate's secret lair. He knew there would be no piles of gold and treasure but he was still looking forward to exploring. 

"Did you make much of this yourself?" he asked. 

"Most of this cavern, and the caves to the left were already here when we found it," the other man explained, "but we made some improvements to make it more habitable. I'll show you around in a few minutes. In the meantime, let's go and look at the damage to the ship," Mars suggested, a little grimly. "Might as well see what we're facing." 

Both men stared in dismay at the gaping hole in the Avata. Not only had the entire hatch been wrenched away, but it appeared the panels around it had been torn off, leaving a hole the same size as the departure bay, a good three metres square. Everything inside the area he had sealed off had been sucked out into space. Mars swallowed. They had been damn lucky to make it this far. He wasn't at all sure they could repair it. 

Connell had no doubts at all. It would take nothing less than a fully functioning repair yard to fix this. 

He looked briefly around the basic facilities and knew immediately that the Avata wasn't going to be making anymore FTL jumps through space. The most it was likely to manage, would be a gentle cruise similar to what they had used to navigate their way through the asteroids. And that was presuming they could restore power to the space drive. 

The two men worked on the ship for several hours. Mars had shown Connell around the rest of the base but it had not been the fun activity Connell had been anticipating. It had been pure and simply an assessment of what facilities were there, that would be useful. After a brief survey, Mars found himself agreeing that there was no point in trying to fix the hole in the Avata's hull. It just wasn't possible with the equipment available to them. That meant that all their energy went into identifying the problem with the space drive and attempting to get it working again, at least enough to get them as far as Bast or Mut, whichever was nearer when they were ready to move. Either journey was likely to take several weeks, even at their top speed. Both men wondered grimly if the food and air recycling plants would manage the long trip, after all neither had been used much for the year the ship had been docked on Aykut. 

"Any luck?" asked Connell. Mars pulled his body out from the hatch containing the space drive where he had been having a look with his own eyes instead of the ships diagnostics. Not surprisingly, he hadn't seen anything that could be causing the problem, no loose wires hanging, powerboards blackened, nothing meaningful to the naked eye. He hadn't really expected to find anything but he couldn't stop himself from looking. 

"Nothing. I just don't know enough to see what the trouble is. Croydon was the expert on the Zeron, I could do with his help now!" 

Connell handed Mars a couple of ration bars, nutritious certainly, but not particularly enjoyable to eat. The food recycling plant would definitely be the next thing on his agenda. They stood munching, unwilling to take the time out yet for a proper meal, although Mars wasn't sure what else he could do. He hadn't been able to fix the space drive. As it was, the Avata had enough stored power to get them about halfway out of the asteroid belt but not much further. 

"I've been thinking," said Connell. "What about the nanobots? Won't the Patrol be able to track us here?"  

"I don't think so. One of the reasons this asteroid makes such a secure hideout is the high lead component in the rock. It blocks any transmissions from us." He smiled ruefully. "Great for hiding from the patrol, not so great if we need to get rescued." 

He finished the ration bar and stretched, arching his back and rolling his neck. He looked at Connell. No point in sugar coating the news. "I'm sorry but I don't think I'm going to be able to fix this. We might be better off putting our energy into checking the air and food units. It looks like we might be stuck here for a while." 

The other man grimaced, he had been suspecting as much for the last half hour as he listened to Mars' muttered curses. The pirate continued apologetically, "I'm sorry Conn, I shouldn't have dragged you into this." 

"It's not your fault, it was my idea to try and help you escape. It didn't work, that's all." As far as Connell was concerned, they were equally responsible for this mess they had got themselves in. Mars knew that wasn't true. It was pretty much all his fault. 

"How long can we expect the nanobots to keep broadcasting?" Mars asked. 

"Major Rice told me about sixty days from insertion. That would give us only another two or three days at the most. Why? What are you thinking?" 

"I'm thinking that our only way out, might be to get the Patrol to rescue us. If we can get the Avata back out into space soon, the Patrol will be able to pick up our nanobots transmissions again. I imagine they won't lose any time tracking us down!"  

"You mean give yourself up? Surrender? After all this?" Connell couldn't believe what he was hearing. 

Mars' eyes flickered for a moment before he said cheerfully. "I've escaped once, I can do it again. They won't hold me for long, you'll see." 

That tiny flicker had given him away. Connell knew immediately, Mars was planning that only one of them would be rescued.