тнє ℓαѕт qυєєи // тнє ∂σ¢тσя

42

"Call the others, I'll get you out." Theta runs to the door to area 30, "What's he doing?" A man asks, "No, don't!" Theta opens the door and is knocked down by the blast of heat. Erina puts on a welder's mask and shuts it again. "But my ship's in there!" I smack my forehead, he always parks in places we can't get to when we're in danger. "In the vent chamber?" A man asks looking at us like we were idiots. "It's our lifeboat." I muttered out, "It's lava."

"The temperature's going mad in there. Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising."

"Channelling the air. The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get."

"We're stuck here."

"So, we fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun. Simple. Engineering down here, is it?"

"Yes."

"Impact in forty twenty six."

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"Blimey, do you always leave things in such a mess?" Theta mutters as we enter a room that was a mess, "Oh, my God." The captain gapped in shock, "What the hell happened?" The engine is a collection of bits and pieces. "Oh, it's wrecked." The first man gaped, "Pretty efficiently too. Someone knew what they were doing." I spoke looking at it with a frown, "Where's Korwin? Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?" The captain looked around, "No." A man shook his head back, "You mean someone did this on purpose?" She goes to the intercom. "Korwin, Ashton? Where are you? Korwin, can you answer? Where the hell is he? He should be up here."

"Oh, we're in the Torajii system. Lovely. You're a long way from home, Martha. Half a universe away." I chuckled towards her as she rolled her eyes with a scoff, "Yeah. Feels it." She mused back, "And you're still using energy scoops for fusion? Hasn't that been outlawed yet?" I asked them causing them to pause, "We're due to upgrade next docking. Scannell, engine report." I glared at their suspicious looks, "No response."

"What?"

"They're burnt out. The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online."

"Oh, come on. Auxiliary engines. Every craft's got auxiliaries."

"We don't have access from here. The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship." The captain speaks, "Yeah, with twenty nine password sealed doors between us and them. You'll never get there in time." The second man scoffs at the dreadful thought, "Can't you override the doors?" Martha and I asked together as I rubbed circles on my stomach. Theta immediately taking notice as he moved over and ripped the sleeves off my dress, I gapped but didn't say anything. "No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed." The group look at us before looking away, "So a sonic screwdriver's no use." Theta muttered.

"Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance." The man spoke in defeat, "Oh, listen to you. Defeated before you've even started. Where's your Dunkirk spirit? Who's got the door passwords?" I asked them as I crossed my arms over my chest, "They're randomly generated. Reckon I know most of them. Sorry. Riley Vashti." Riley introduced himself, "Then what're you waiting for, Riley Vashti? Get on it." Theta pushed with a smirk, "Well, it's a two person job. One, a technish for the questions, and the other to carry this. The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, Captain?"

"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?" Riley puts a massive backpack on. It contains a portable computer and a keyboard. "Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice." Martha stepped up, "I'll help you. Make myself useful." I raised an eyebrow but she just nodded to me causing me to nod back, "It's remotely controlled by the computer panel. That's why it needs two."

"Oi. Be careful."

"You too."

"McDonnell. It's Ashton."