The Inner Ring (gxg)

Chapter 38

Lena got a final kiss from Miles before getting her spacesuit back on, and then made her way into the airlock. Once she was astride the sled, she opened the outer airlock and backed the sled out. She pushed the sled to max power in her haste to get back to the ship. Part of that was the excitement of the new discoveries, and the rest was the anticipation of dealing with Brody.

She parked the sled in the cargo hold and then cycled through the airlock and into the ship. Unclamping her helmet, Lena kept it in her hands since she had every expectation of heading right back to the other ship. She headed up to the bridge, hoping everyone was still there. Sure enough, they were all grouped around the pilot's chair, waiting for her.

"Guys, that ship is amazing! It puts that other one to shame!" Lena gushed as she strode onto the bridge.

"What's going on over there?" Brody asked. "What happened to Vanessa?"

"She stayed over to see if she could communicate, we have a little bit of a language barrier," Lena lied smoothly. "But get this, they're humans!"

"Seriously!" Emily asked. "Humans?"

"Yep, they could walk down any street in the world and blend right in," Lena assured them all.

"You know, if they have a language issue, I might be able to help. I haven't had a chance to decipher everything on the original ship, but I could on this one," Brody offered.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to feel obligated."

"Oh, come on, we all want to see that ship!" Xavier teased them.

"Fine, if you want to go, I'll give you a lift," Lena offered with a smile. Brody was so predictable. "I'll meet you at the sled."

She didn't have much of a wait before Brody came out of the air lock with a bag slung over his shoulder. "Okay, I have what I need," he stated, and climbed onto the sled behind her.

"Emily, we're headed over!" Lena said over comms to the bridge.

"Roger, give us an update when you can. Be safe!"

The ride back to the alien ship was silent. Lena had no reason to talk to Brody, even if he was obviously nervous and fidgeting behind her, she wasn't going to be the one to try and make him feel better. She brought the sled up to the airlock and pressed the button on the panel to open it, then slowly maneuvered the sled inside.

When Vanessa saw the sled lift off, she immediately patched into the bridge comms, and dialed up Emily. Transferring the video to the bridge video display so she could show it to Xavier. Hopefully, they'd all be on the same page after they viewed it.

"Let's go check this ship out," Lena suggested.

"Do I look like an idiot to you?" Brody asked, moving away from her with one of the alien rifles in his hand. No doubt it had been in the bag that he had brought. "I know who's in there, you've been way too happy since that ship showed up."

Lena just smirked at him. "Well, you did videotape your confession, which no doubt is on its way to earth now that Vanessa sent it to Xavier and Emily. So, really, what can you do now?"

Brody looked enraged, but his mind was looking furiously for a solution. "I don't need a plan; I can do and go wherever I like if everyone is dead."

"With what pilot?"

"Lena, if I'm the only one left, any company on Earth would give me the basic instructions to point the ship home and then send me a pilot when we got close," Brody sneered back at her.