by Wayne Rohrer
Chapter 13 – Complications
They were still confused about the sudden hostility of their hosts on Twilo. What was that about? They had come in peace, tried to be polite, and they had only come seeking information. They were still discussing what might have gone wrong when Giselle was rocked by a neutron explosion close by.
“Giselle?” Gizmo yelled ducking.
“Checking sir.”
Just then another explosion rocked Giselle again, this time closer than the last one.
“Can they ‘see’ us Giselle? Didn’t you engage cloaking?” Gizmo yelled.
“Cloaking engaged sir. They shouldn’t be able to read our location. Wait. Wait. It appears a small beacon has been attached to the aft underside. I am unable to disarm it at this time. We will have to land somewhere to remove it.”
“You were supposed to keep everyone away from you. How could this have happened?”
“Replaying video now sir. Got it. It was attached by a mechanical arm rising from the hanger deck floor. It should be easy to remove once we land. It appears to be a magnetic device.”
“Take us to the nearest planet with a hospitable atmosphere and set us down at a local bar. I want a place with a lot of space going vehicles. We can’t go back to The Colony with a tracking device,” Gizmo said.
“Landing now sir.”
Once on the planet surface, Gizmo was the first out the door. He went immediately to the rear of Giselle and quickly located the small beacon. It was easy enough to remove but now what to do with it. His first inclination was to place it on another vehicle and be out of here as fast as he could. Once he thought about it though, he decided that would be hardly fair to the owner of the vehicle he attached it too. They could become unsuspecting victims for something they had no knowledge of. He had to find somewhere else to put it – fast. He didn’t know if they were even now being pursued or not.
Marco squeezed himself into a garage at the back of the bar and explored the contents inside. His eyes adjusted almost instantly to the diminished lighting and he saw the space was used as a storage area. It took him a few minutes to search the space for a suitable object but just as he heard Gizmo calling him, his eyes settled on the perfect place for the beacon.
He went to the garage door and called Gizmo to look at his find. Gizmo had come up with nothing outside and knew time was quickly running out so he followed Marco into the darkened garage. His eyes did not adjust as quickly as Marco’s had but when he finally focused on what Marco was pointing at; he knew it was the perfect solution.
In front of him on the work bench was a model spaceship. After a quick inspection, Gizmo realized it was a very basic but operational model. They could attach the beacon, take it into space with them and release it on a course that would lead their attackers on a course away from them and The Colony.
Gizmo wasted no time attaching the beacon and together they snuck back out of the garage and boarded Giselle again. Giselle reported an incoming ship from the direction they had just come from. It was unclear if it was their attackers from this distance but they couldn’t hang around to find out.
Giselle was immediately in hyperspace again and moving fast. Gizmo and Marco both watched the screens as the incoming spaceship turned in their direction. That pretty much confirmed they were being followed.
“Giselle,” Gizmo said, “eject the toy spacecraft on a fast trajectory away from us as fast as possible and engage cloaking. Then stand by from a distance and let’s watch what happens.”
“Understood master.”
“Giselle, I thought we talked about this. Now is not the time but we will talk again.”
“Sorry sir.”
With the model spaceship and the beacon quickly disappearing in the distance, they sat quietly by and watched. Presently there was a blinding explosion and the model disintegrated. Hopefully their attackers would now leave them alone.
They watched as their attackers turned and headed back the way they had come.
§§§
Now back at The Colony, it had never looked so good to them. They were more than happy now to resume their orientation. A safe environment and a regular routine is just what they both needed. They had much to learn before they wanted to go exploring on their own again.
§§§
THE END
