“We are ready to assemble and test,” Tom said.
“And not a moment too soon,” Mark, one of the most skilled mechanics said.
Mark was quite right. We were weeks behind schedule and we could end up with a flyer squad surveying the area any day now.
“Let’s get everything ready then,” I said and turned to leave. “Send out scouts with walkies so that they can warn us if we get any visitors.”
“Why the hell are we listening to the kid?” David asked. He was one of the cell leaders from a nearby village, and other self-proclaimed leaders voiced their same concerns.
I froze where I was and turned to glare at David and every one of them who’d questioned me. “Because the kid is the only one who knows how to get the ship through the force field. And how to stay hidden long enough to fly by the flyer outpost and their carrier surveying our solar system.”
They all remained silent. They would not overtly agree with my assessment, but they knew better than to challenge me. Without me, they stood no chance, as much as that angered them.
“If there’s nothing else, get to work,” I muttered and turned to leave, not stopping again at their mumbled words of rebellion.
I hadn’t been wrong when I’d told Samandriel it was impossible to get them to work together. Impossible until you dangled the possibility of successful off-world flight in front of their eyes. It was a constant battle though, keeping them in check. They challenged me every chance they got, insisting I would just reveal all my knowledge and stay where I was, while they took off on the ship I’d made a reality. Fat chance of that ever happening! I had plans for where the ship was heading and what was going to happen if we succeeded.
Once again, I was tempted to indulge in thoughts of what came after escaping Earth. I shut down my mind, refocusing it on the upcoming test run. Every time I was enticed to daydream about my end game, I found it harder to pull back and focus on the here and now. So far though, I’d managed just fine to ignore that far away future altogether.
It took us the rest of the day just to carry every piece on the hotel rooftop. The mechanics had developed a system to pull everything up, but it was rudimentary and slow, if we wanted everything to reach its destination undamaged. Once everything was in place, we secured the parts and shielded them from the elements. You never knew when a dust storm or acid rain might hit.
When the sun set, we took a break for the night. We could have worked in shifts, but flashlights and torches in the middle of the night were too much of a gamble. The flyers could spot them from miles away and they’d just get us killed. The only place where any electric lighting was allowed was the basement.
The Freedom Alliance spent two more days putting the ship together properly and I did my best to provide instructions and explain the schematics. Endless security, endurance, and integrity tests followed the successful assembly of each section.
It wasn’t the largest ship I’d seen in pictures, but it still took most of the huge hotel rooftop. It was built for a crew of thirty men, half the crew in stasis half awake and manning the ship. The bird didn’t require such a large crew to pilot or provide maintenance, so it was easier and more effective to have living quarters and stasis capsules for only fifteen on a spacecraft that big.
“All ready to be tested,” Tom said, an ear to ear grin twisting his face. The man looked more threatening smiling than he did when he was frowning.
“It will have to wait for tomorrow.” His immediate growl told me he wasn’t very happy with my assessment, but I chose to ignore it.
“We are already pushing our luck,” Fred jumped in, taking the side of who he perceived as the meanest bastard on deck, as always.
“I know that,” I pushed through gritted teeth, turning to face my uncle. “That is why I don’t want to start jumping on the thin ice we’re standing on by lighting up the engines and the ship’s navigation system at dawn. How easy would you say it would be for the flyers to spot the lights?”
Fred sighed and nodded, breaking the deafening silence that had engulfed the rooftop. “All right, let’s all get to bed then. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”
They all turned to leave and I grabbed Fred’s upper arm before he had a chance to follow them. “I don’t care what your instincts tell you and in whose good graces you want to be. Challenge me again and I will make sure you are found and executed regardless of the outcome of this operation.”
His smirking face turned to me, but something froze the grin in place. His eyes bulged out and he quietly nodded. I released him, pushing just enough to lurch him forward, then I went back to inspect the ship one more time.
WE GATHERED ON THE roof, looking on as a handful on engineers and mechanics shouted commands and diagnosis results at each other. The tension was thick, and despite my general aloofness, I was as impatient as they all were. I needed the test to go well as much as anyone. The ship needed to start its engine and pass all pre-flight tests. And it had to happen today. Some of the far south Freedom Alliance outposts had reported flyer grid searches. We were out of time.
The engine sound levels weren’t supposed to be very high, but flyers weren’t known for being half-deaf. Three separate explosions were scheduled to happen at the same time as our engine test was supposed to be performed.
With a final nod, Tom signaled the countdown to ignition. Everyone went quiet and I saw some of them holding hands. All eyes were on the men inside the ship, the huge trapdoor left open for us to watch.
At the agreed upon time, Mark entered the ignite command. Some of the outside lights flashed, while the inside turned dark. We all waited for more, but nothing happened. Cursing loudly, Mark tried again and again. Nothing.
If I weren’t so upset with our failure, I would have sighed in relief. If any of the subsequent attempts would have worked, we’d have been dead meat. The explosions, if on time, would have happened already and there was nothing left to cover the noise we’d make.
After another few moments of tense silence, everyone broke into swearing and questions. It was a loud mess of voices merging their anger, disappointment, and disbelief. Some of those who’d challenged me again and again ran towards me, pushing each other and pointing fingers.
I couldn’t think, I couldn’t even put faces to voices and understand what they were saying. It was all background, disturbing noise to me. “Quiet,” I yelled, louder and harsher than I had ever addressed anyone in my life.
They stopped and I used their temporary bewilderment to make my way to the ship. Mark and Tom were just coming down, both seething with anger. Tom opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off with a similarly loud, mono-syllabic request for silence.
“Mark, Tom, take an electrician right now. Start checking every system, every locking mechanism, every hatchet, and all engines, FTL or not. I want you to make sure everything is working properly and not cut out from the navigation systems. You have three hours.”
“Three hours? Are you insane?” Tom yelled.
“The bombs went off. The flyers are already doing their full-scale checks. They are not stupid, they are not blind, and they certainly aren’t slow.”
“That still doesn’t make what you ask possible for a three-man crew.” Mark shrugged and looked away.
“Then get together two more teams and get on with it!”
“Why the rush?” Tom asked. “Not like it matters if we take three or five hours. If they get here, they get here and we are done.”
“We still have a fucking chance!” I hissed. “You do the check up and fix anything that needs fixing. In three hours, we start again. If it works, the crew flies out tonight.”
Everyone started talking at the same time. We weren’t ready, this was not the plan. Like I didn’t know it! Tough shit, we were out of options.
“We make it work or we disassemble everything and carry it downstairs. It’s either that or blowing up the place to hide our tracks.”
“Blow it all up? A
re you insane?” Fred shook me harshly and I nearly let fear overwhelm me.
“What the hell do you think will happen when the flyers get here? We’d all be dead.” I shrugged, showing more nonchalance than I’d ever felt in my life. “It takes a full day to disassemble and move everything down to the basement. We don’t have that time with the bombs and the flyer distraction.”
“What about the stealth mode?” Fred asked, pushing himself closer to me.
I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath to calm myself. “That only works when the engines are on, genius.”
Tom and Mark nodded, avoiding Fred’s eyes. They were both frowning and clenching their fists, and if they found any reason to, they would have pummeled me into the ground. But they all knew I was right.
“If there’s nothing else, I suggest you two get your teams and start checking this ship piece by piece. Three hours, gentlemen, stop wasting them.”
They grunted and glared, but relented and did as they were told. When they were far enough not to hear me, I turned to Fred and handed him a list I’d made.
“What’s this?”
“That’s a list of who’s going with me.”
Fred gasped and faced me, his eyes looking like they were about to pop out of his head. “I’m not on it.”
“Of course you’re not.” I waved off his snarl and grabbed his shoulder. “I am going to board that ship, I am the only one with the needed knowledge. We can’t leave our family with no males around.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but he agreed in the end. Despite his dream of flying out of this damned place, my uncle was still a coward. And a patch job of a ship drifting through deep space required a little more courage than he could muster.
“They won’t like it,” Fred warned, shaking his head.
“No, but they will agree to it.”
“You put too much faith in your own abilities. You’ve picked the best in every field. If you fail, there will be no one else to build a ship.”
That would have been an issue if the men in question hadn’t been so desperate to be on board. “Do you think anyone will say anything to Mark and Tom’s face? Who would be dumb enough to try and stop either of them?”
Something entirely new lit up my uncle’s eyes. I’d never seen a similar glimmer in my whole life. I wondered briefly what it was. Maybe pride. Maybe some sort of awe at my ability to keep such a crazy mix of people under control without getting lynched. Or maybe it was envy of what I’d achieved. I could have asked him, or I could have observed him a while longer to figure it out. I however realized I didn’t care, so I left him there, stunned and wordless, and went about my business.
We all knew the hasty departure we were planning was a long shot. Just in case we’d fail, every available hand was on standby. If the ship failed again, we’d start disassembling immediately. We’d start with the core, paramount parts, and leave the replaceable bits for later. In case of a flyer attack, we’d blow up what was left and hide in the basement. The jammer was still in place, but the chances of going about undetected were limited.
I knew Fred and Mark had worked on more decoys, but I couldn’t worry about that now. More people would die foolishly for a lost cause, trying to steer the flyers away from us. It was their choice to be here and risk a death sentence. I tried, but failed to bring myself to feel sorry for them. Who I felt sorry for were their families. Wives, husbands, children, in-laws that would feel absolutely worthless and helpless. I knew from personal experience how much it hurt to feel second best to the crazy dream of playing adventurer.
I took a few moments to assess everyone. They were all anxious, but focused at the same time, their eyes trained on the few teams moving about the ship. Some were angry, some fidgety, some were ready to take action and get things done. But no one was thinking of anything else but this project. Nothing was as important as their mission. Get off world, fly around aimlessly, searching for an undefined something. Probably a better life, hope, or at the very least, less bleakness. What they all failed to see was that the solutions they were desperately working for were not out there.
Space exploration held no new answers for the human race. We’d been there repeatedly, we’d travelled every which way in the known Universe. We’d learned nothing. Our need to own, control, and ultimately destroy had followed us every time. And we’d very nearly taken everything down with us. Yet we stubbornly tried doing the same idiotic thing, hoping for a different outcome. I’d read that in the past such an approach was considered the definition of madness. I could see why.
The only different thing they were doing this time was to follow my lead. I wasn’t an aimless drone like the rest of them. I knew exactly where I was going. I had the maps of all known flight routes etched in my mind forever. There was clear purpose guiding me on my mission. Of course, they did not know that. No one knew. Well, maybe one flyer had guessed it at some point. Samandriel was sharp and an excellent judge of humans, apparently. Yet he’d only scratched the surface. He’d managed to guess what I was up to. But he’d never dipped below the surface. My why and how and when and with whom, all those very important questions, he had no idea how to answer.
I felt sorry for him, more so than for my fellow conspirators. He’d really tried to connect with me after his initial attempt at laughing in my face that morning in the hotel room. After seeing the damage Michael’s cowardly exit had caused, Samandriel went above and beyond to get me to respond in some way. He was too late, though. The moment Michael left, everything changed. I changed, my goals and needs changed, and the aftermath was this ship which was the closest the humans had ever gotten to breaking the exile on our own planet.
The more time passed, the more restless the crowd became. The dead silence turned into whispers, then the humming of murmurs, then hushed conversations. It had now escaladed to angry voices overpowering the short, shouted exchanges between the teams inspecting the ship. They had no one in particular to be angry at, but if we failed, they’d sure as hell try their best to find some culprit to take it out on.
The only reason this might all end up in something other than an all-out boxing match was the flyer threat. They’d have no time to let out their anger, we had to disassemble everything fast or blow it up. That should distract them long enough. And by the time we were done and the flyers were near, their outraged fists would once again raise against the enforcers. Flyers were to blame for everything going wrong for the Freedom Alliance. They were always the convenient scape goats. In the end, flyers were alien, all-powerful, the faces of our oppression.
I sighed, suddenly relaxed beyond belief. I’d never had much sympathy for these people. I had even less now. Seeing them come together like this made me realize how much we’d all achieve if they’d applied themselves half as much to anything else. We’d been well on our way to far better lives than we were currently experiencing.
It didn’t matter though, they would help me turn my crazy plans into reality. Maybe not today, maybe not anytime soon. But it would happen someday. I’d take off on a ship and put it all into action.
“Found it!” Mark cried out, startling me out of my reverie. I ran to him and his team and waited for the explanation. “There are some wiring issues for one FTL engine and another sub-light one. We did not detect it initially, but it can be fixed.”
“How long?” I asked.
“An hour, maybe longer.” He shrugged, but it didn’t make him look any less worried.
“We’re cutting it close,” Tom said, propping his hands on his hips.
“I know.” I tapped my chin, taking a few seconds to think things through. “Start working on it immediately. Get some men to reach out to whoever is still connected to us through the secure radio frequencies. We need to track flyer movement and find out how much time we have.”
Mark and Tom turned on their heels without another word. They jogged back inside to where they’d found the glitches. I knew they wouldn’t trust anyone else than their most sen
ior electrician to supervise the repair work, which was probably why it would take them so long. I also knew I wouldn’t have decided differently.
Fresh hope washed through the crowd, the anger dissipating almost completely, and their voices going back to casual conversation levels. It was almost pleasant. One could even forget there were flyers fast approaching our location.
Moments later, I’d come to believe my thoughts had jinxed us. One of the guys rushed up the fire escape, shouting my name and flailing about like a headless chicken.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, trying my best to keep my voice steady.
“Flyers! They’re coming. Two hours max and they’ll be here,” he explained through heavy pants.
“Not exactly a surprise,” I snarled. “Get everyone here.”
“Mark and Tom too?” someone asked from behind me.
“No. Let them work in peace.”
I waited quietly until they did as I’d asked. When we were all gathered on the roof, I waited for them all to quiet down before speaking.
“If you were planning to send out decoys, now is the time to get them on their way. Clearly, we have no time to disassemble. Everyone here needs to leave. If you’re not on the ship crew, you have no business sticking around. Unless you want to be dead in the next couple of hours.” I stopped long enough to survey the crowd. They looked none too happy, but no one was challenging me. “Fred, where are you?”
“Here,” he shouted from a few meters to my right.
“Divide everyone into groups and send them out in different directions. Maybe some of you manage to survive the night. Flyers are big on fairness. If they don’t catch you dirty handed, they might spare you.”
My uncle nodded, so did others. Yet no one was moving.
“Now, people, now! Move the fuck out if you want to live,” I shouted. The sharp tone had the intended effect. Spurred into action, the roof cleared. What would be the remaining crew crowded together to the side of the ship, looking grim. Our chances getting slimmer by the minute.
Angel's Feather (Flyer Chronicles, Book One) Page 8
