Free Embarkment 2577 by Maria Hammarblad Page B

Ima
and Jia’Lyn wearing robes, a lieutenant whose name I couldn’t remember, and a
few I didn’t recognize at all. My outburst made everyone stare.
    Ima flapped her tail. “If I didn’t know
better, I’d say it is a furry version of Alex.”
    “Yes, furry. I’m a goddamn teddy bear,
and the fur is warm, so tell me how to open this stupid thing!”
    Adam looked at me, blinking, as if
trying to get the pieces together just to find it didn’t quite compute. No help
to get there. The Captain regained his composure the quickest. “You need a
code. Try the security override. Press the green button, then 1, 5, 5, 2, 7,
and the green button again.”
    The force fields turned off, and I
mumbled, “Thank God.” I couldn’t wait to hand the rescue operation over to
someone else’s hopefully able hands.
    The first person passing by got the
rifle, and I sighed with relief as I pulled the headpiece off. Even breathing
was difficult in the suit, and the patch had to go. The alien version of my
voice freaked me out.
    Blake hurried up to the door and locked
it from the keypad. Should I tell him the computer was off-line? Nah, he’d
discover it on his own. I ignored the commotion and looked for Adam. He could
provide comfort, and at least imagined safety from the chaos.
    My android friend remained in the cell,
watching me with a frown. I’d be the first to acknowledge my being there,
attempting to rescue them in a silly masquerade suit was very backwards. When I
met his eyes, he took a few steps forward and hugged me tight.
    “Are you okay?”
    He seemed so big, strong, and certain. I
wanted to bury my face against his chest and tell him he must take care of me,
tell him I never wanted to make another decision in my life. Too needy. “No.
I’ve never been this afraid. How ‘bout you, are you okay?”
    Adam released his grip on me, but kept
his hands on my shoulders for a moment. “I’m fine. I had to surrender the ship
not to get my entire bridge crew killed. I lost a couple of ensigns, but I’m
fine… I was worried for you. I’m surprised to see you.”
    *****
    Time is relative. It seemed like an hour
before Blake took control of the situation, but it was probably a matter of
seconds. He held his hands up, and everyone hushed. “Alex, what’s it like out
there?”
    I frowned and struggled to give a
helpful answer. “I didn’t see much of anything on the upper decks, but there’s
a lot of movement down here. They’re moving people off the ship.”
    “That makes sense. They probably want
the ship empty and ready for sale. Alright people, we need a plan.”
    Jia’Lyn tried the consoles, and
reported, “The main computer is down, Captain.”
    I forgot about that, distracted as I was
with feeling a little safe. His words created a big lump in my throat. “Anya
was in there. She helped me with all this.”
    Adam murmured, “She’ll be fine,
sweetheart. We just need to take the ship back”
    He’d never called me sweetheart before,
at least not that I could remember. Was it a slip, or because he knew I needed
comfort?
    One of the younger officers said, with
enthusiasm, “We’ll take the ship back, and then all we need to do is get the
people back. Right?”
    He wore a uniform, and must have been on
duty on the bridge, or in engineering. An advantage to being pulled out of bed
in the middle of the night…
    “And how exactly are you going to
accomplish that? Run out there with one Logg suit and one rifle?” Calling Ima’s
voice irritated would be an understatement.
    Someone said, “We need to get to the
bridge, and get the computer back online.”
    The Captain looked at me and I raised an
eyebrow, very unimpressed. I’d hoped my part in all this was over.
    Adam pushed me in front of him and
rubbed my shoulders. Having him so close made me feel better. He seemed so
neutral and ready, even at a time like this. His voice got everyone’s attention.
“If you’re up to climbing there’s a maintenance shaft