SIREN

Chapter Eight

Hammers, screwdrivers, power tools, chains, bolts, screws, even a pair of furry dice, all sailed around the hangar. The cloud of various objects hung above us, looming just inches over our heads.

Harsh spotlights bore down on four lustrous spaceships positioned in the centre of the room and to the left of them; a set of yellow robotic arms lay dormant with tools resting in their claws. A collection of red oil drums, stacked right to the ceiling, covered the far wall and a set of computers fixed upon a modest metal desk beeped for our attention.

Sam admired the room with a sly grin. He clapped once and said, 'Right, we're not going to get anything done unless I get the front door open. Hold tight for a second.' He moved to the workstation and licked his lips.

I watched Sam labour for a while and then decided to leave him to it. I rose to the ceiling and tried to get a good look at the room. 'I never came down here often,' I confessed, 'I was too busy working with Doctor Richards. Seems a shame. This place looks like it could be a lot of fun.'

'It was, before we got hit by space rocks,' Sam said as he smacked the control panel with his gigantic palm. 'Argh! Stupid junk!'

'What's up?' I said, catching a nearby girder and threading my legs around it.

'Ah, it's nothing. It's just stupid protocols. Things Hoshi added, even though I told her not to.' He wiped his forehead and shook his hand to get rid of the sweat. 'I mean, what if we want to get this place open in an emergency? She just didn't think it through!'

I frowned. 'What protocols?'

'Hoshi made it so that if the ship gets damaged, the hangar locks down. There are a lot of dangerous things in here, you know? Like, really dangerous. I mean, yeah, you won't need the Eagles when we have escape pods, but the door release, I mean, that's integral, right? But would she listen to me? Nope! It's, "No, Sam, we have to use prevention!" I'm the weapons expert, and she's talking to me about safety!'

'So we can't open the doors? We can't get out?'

'No, we can, it's just the central console needs to double-check everything first. Oxygen levels, gravity, structural integrity... It's like a paranoid team member.'

I ogled the dangling Eagles. Their folded wings had various logos and flags stencilled onto them. I caught sight of the Union Jack and felt a pang of homesickness. I shuffled from my beam, flung myself towards the nearest Eagle and clung to the chrome pole bolted into the hull. With a small pang of anxiety, I worked my way down to the roof.

'Careful, Fletcher, that's American engineering you're touching. Might break at any moment.'

'Very funny,' I said, running my hand along a ventilation port.

'You think you could still fly?' Sam wondered. 'I remember you being pretty good.'

'Oh, I was better than good,' I chuckled, 'remind me again how I broke your record?'

'One,' Sam held up a finger, 'there wasn't an official time taken, and two,' he held up another finger, 'you cheated by using the secondary engines around that last turn.'

'That wasn't cheating! That was using everything around me to my full advantage. Big difference.' I pointed at the Eagle below my feet. 'We're taking this one, right? Jaq is taking another.'

'That seems to be step one of Olga's master plan, yeah,' he said. The computer beeped and Sam's eyebrows bounced. 'Look at that, quicker than usual. Maybe Hoshi upgraded a few things before we left. Right, let's see what we can do...'