HAWK

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: CACHE (3/5)

An eight-foot square section of the ship's side split from the rest of the hull and slid up over the roof revealing the main cabin within. The door had barely finished opening before Kas had pushed her cart inside.

The hold wasn't very large; it was barely half the size of the Calista's. It was a strange shape too, like a diamond. One of its pointed ends looked like a doorway to the cockpit. Mack stepped in after Kas and started the door closing.

'Give me your WASP mask,' he instructed her. 'Quickly!'

Kas didn't question him; she found the two clasps under her jaw and pulled them open. The mask split as she lifted it away from her head and handed it to Captain Mack who took it without explanation and ran to the cockpit.

Kas turned back to the cart and hit the switch on the left of the handle. The top unfolded and suddenly Worm was looking up at her from within, still wearing her little white containment suit.

'Heya, ki--' Kas started, but Worm had already sprung from the cart like a frog and wrapped her arms around Kas's neck tight enough to choke her. Kas was touched but she had no time to spare for emotional reunions. She pulled Worm's arms away and lifted her onto the floor.

'It's good to see you too, kiddo, but we're not out of danger yet. We've still got work to do if we want to escape.'

Worm nodded, but Kas could see tiny tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

'Balera!'

Captain Mack was shouting for her. Kas ran to the doorway and entered the small cockpit, followed closely by Worm. Mack was sitting in the pilot's seat, scratching his head and looking at the controls.

'What is it?' Kas asked.

'You got any idea how to start this thing?'

Kas's eyes bulged. 'You telling me you don't know how to fly this?!'

'I've never even been inside it before!'

Kas looked at the control deck and shook her head. It was a layout unlike anything she'd seen.

'Haven't you asked Astrid?'

'Can't, she's downloading.' He jerked his thumb to the far side of the deck and Kas saw the WASP mask sitting on top of it. The visor was awash in yellow code, much like how Hik's used to be.

'Downloading what?'

'Herself. She's transferring her consciousness onto the ship. Can't ask her anything till she's finished.'

Kas heard a shuffling noise and turned to see Worm pulling off her containment suit behind her. 'Kid, you're up!'

Worm nodded and pushed past her to get a good look at the ship's controls.

'What's she doing?!' Mack exclaimed as Worm began fiddling with the control panel. He was about to pull her away when Kas stopped him.

'Leave her! She's got a much better chance of working this thing out than we do.'

Mack and Kas watched in silence as Worm practically sniffed her way to a bank of switches hidden near the base of the control panel. She flicked them on and grabbed the control column, pulling it up until it made a loud click. A hum filled the cockpit that sounded something like a plasma weapon being charged before it tapered out to silence. Worm turned to Captain Mack with a big smile on her face.

'Did she do it?' he asked, but by the time he'd got his words out, the viewport had lit up with a flow of yellow text. It scrolled by too fast to read, but it looked like some kind of boot-up procedure.

'Good work, Worm,' Kas said. Worm gave her a thumbs up then stepped aside. The three of them watched the text and waited for it to end - but it just kept going.

And going.

'Uh, Captain?' Kas muttered.

'Yeah?'

'Has this thing ever flown at all?'

Mack's silence didn't instil Kas with much hope. The yellow text ended as abruptly as it had begun and replaced itself with a bright yellow HUD that was a little more reassuring. In the centre of the viewport were the words:

F-88: INFINITY FIGHTER

READY

'OK,' Mack breathed. 'I think we're good to--'

The siren was so loud Kas could almost feel it in her bones - and that was from inside the ship. Outside, the sea of engineers had clamped their hands over their ears while a storm of flashing red light drenched them in chaos.

'Attention!' bellowed a shrill voice from the heavens.

'Oh no...' Kas murmured. It was Governor Swanne.

'We have a rogue visitor on Eidol! She has stolen highly sensitive property and is attempting to flee! She is travelling with a small girl. Seal off the hangar and capture her at any cost! Use of all weapons is authorised - do not let her escape!'