SIREN

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I felt tears form in my eyes. 'Captain!' I moaned as I spread my arms. 'The Conductor is dangerous! He's going to kill everyone!'

'Everyone here?' the Captain snorted, 'I'd like to see him try.'

'No! Everyone on Earth!'

Her smugness vanished. 'How?'

'When I leave your world, my ship will produce a large amount of radiation.'

'How large?' Doctor White asked, peeking over the Captain's shoulder.

'Enough to kill everyone!' I wailed, 'we have to stop him!'

The Conductor's neck extended upwards. 'You will not stop me. Your leader agreed to reclamation. It has been arranged, and now it will occur. Your reactions are unimportant.'

'Hey,' the Captain approached The Conductor with her chest puffed. 'I said you could salvage our ship and get us home. I never said anything about Earth being put in harms way.'

Someone's footsteps echoed around the room. The consistent slap of foot to metal reverberated and stopped the conversation dead. We all turned to see Sam arriving at the top of the spiral, panting with red cheeks.

'Has anyone...?' he said, and then stopped to prop his arms on his knees. 'Has anyone seen Hoshi?'

'I thought she was with you?' Doctor White said.

'No, well, yeah, sort of.' He pinched his chest plate and pulled it back and forth, airing his chest.

'What does that mean?' Captain Maximova asked.

'We went for a walk, and had a look around, and that went well, and then I was about to put the moves on her and she told me to close my eyes and count to ten and when I opened them I—'

'You took your time to seal the deal, eh?' Doctor White laughed and jutted his chin, 'you're hopeless!'

'So she's missing?' Jaq said, shoving Sam. He wobbled onto his back foot.

'Hey! She's not with me, and she's not with you, so yeah.'

The Conductor waded away from his podium. 'Your crewmember is safe within my quarters. We discussed her future, and she wishes to come with me. I will take care of her.'

The Moon, in all its cratered glory, appeared in the air. The scars of a thousand fallen asteroids lined its surface. The dark side of the satellite circled past us and kept on moving.

'We're running out of time,' I said, feeling my insides turn ice cold. 'We've just passed the Moon.'

The Captain growled and snatched The Conductor's neck. The alien gasped in fright. 'Where is my Hoshi?'

'She... She is below... Inside my cell...'

'Jaq?' Captain Maximova barked. She didn't take her eyes off The Conductor.

'On it.' Our mechanic took off without a second to lose.

'If you've hurt her...'

'She is... A friend...'

The Captain dug her fingers deeper. 'And what does that make me, huh? We had a deal!'

'You did not ask... For a detailed plan...'

'Captain...' Doctor White touched her shoulder.

'How dare you!' The Captain shook The Conductor like a rag. 'We trusted you!'

'Too late,' The Conductor stated and reached for the nearest screen. His fingers strained and clawed the air.

I watched everything unfold with a growing pain in my stomach. I wanted to do something, but my brain had shut down. I could only watch and foster the anxiety inside.