Ethereal Lives: A Romantic Sci-Fi Novel

Chapter 13

Ariane paid careful attention as Jas explained how he steered the ship. Though, she appeared relaxed she was really memorising everything he said. It would be needed when she finally escaped.

"It all looks very easy."

Jas snorted. "It may look easy, but I assure you, it's not."

"But the machine does most of the work for you."

"And who do you think controls the machine?"

"Well, anyone can do that." Ariane scoffed.

Praid sat behind her sniggering, but she kept a straight face and retained eye contact with Jas. His eyes narrowed. She could see fury burning in them, but that was okay, he was heading exactly where she wanted him.

"Fine," he snarled.

Ariane held her breath in anticipation of his next words.

"If it's so easy then you-"

"No!" The word was barked, interrupting Jas in the middle of saying exactly what she wanted to hear.

Spinning in her chair, she glared at Ax, who was strolling towards them purposefully. "Do you mind? We were talking."

"Yes, I mind. Stop it!"

Ariane frowned. "Stop what?"

"Jas may be oblivious to how your mind works, but I'm not. You're trying to get him to let you fly the ship. And you nearly succeeded." Ax said narrowing his eyes at Jas whose face had turned bright red.

She widened her eyes aghast and held her hands up. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Jas were you, or were you not about to offer Ariane the chance to fly the ship?"

If possible, Jas turned even redder before giving a curt nod.

Ax rolled his eyes. "Just as I thought."

Ariane huffed and flopped back into her seat. "I only wanted to have a little go."

Ax stared at her for a few minutes before once again addressing Jas. "Where are we?"

She sat silently in her seat as they discussed the coordinates. When Ax spoke again, she thought she had misheard him. "What?" she asked in astonishment.

"I said you may fly the ship for a few minutes."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," he said in an exasperated voice.

Ariane squealed with delight and jumped from her seat, throwing her arms around Ax in a quick hug. "What do I do?" she asked Jas, swiftly letting go and taking her seat once more.

Jas explained the controls again before allowing her to sit in his place. She stared at the monitor, unable to prevent her grin. She was actually going to fly a spaceship.

"Okay," Jas said a few moments later. "I'm going to take the autopilot off. Now obviously we are in space, so we won't fall or anything. You just need to make sure we stay on course."

Jas flipped a switch, and she held onto the controls tighter. She had to admit to a bit of disappointment when the ship just carried on floating through space as it had before. Testing the controls she moved them to the right. Apart from feeling a slight movement, nothing really changed. "Well, this is boring."

Ax laughed. "What did you expect?"

"I thought flying a ship would be more exciting." Flipping the autopilot back on, she stood from Jas's seat. "You can have it back."