Danger Magellan's Invasion of Earth

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"I'll go fix it," Raquel said as she glided out of the room. The alarm continued to blare, reminding us that something was wrong with the engine.

"No, I'll do it," Danger said. "You can stay in here with Nora, Arthur, and Tanaquil."

"Why don't we all go together?" Tanaquil suggested. "Except for me, of course. I'm boycotting nuclear reactors to protest the poor treatment of the Zoryic workers who create them."

"You're in a nuclear-powered ship right now," Danger said. "That makes no sense whatsoever."

"It's not like I can just jump out at this point," Tanaquil said. "Anyways, can the rest of you check on the reactor?"

"That's a horrible idea," Danger said. "There's not enough room in the service compartment for all of us. Besides, Arthur would be pretty useless back there."

"You wouldn't be saying that if it turns out that the Illuminati hijacked our ship," Arthur said. "I'm the only one on the Eclipse who knows their secrets."

"Fine," Danger said. "On the off chance that the Illuminati is causing our engine problems, we'll come and get you."

"How about just Tanaquil, Raquel, and I fix it?" I said. "We're the only ones who have been in the service compartment before."

Tanaquil shook her head. "I'm boycotting nuclear reactors, remember?" she said.

"Then it will just be Nora and I," Raquel said. "That works."

"Sounds wonderful," I said as I floated a little closer to Raquel.

Raquel drifted into the other room, and I followed her. Both of us put on our spacesuits while Arthur, Danger, and Tanaquil waited near the dashboard. I could barely hear anything over the alarm, so I watched Raquel closely, hoping that she knew what she was doing.

Once both of us had our spacesuits on, we entered the service compartment. Raquel opened the door, and once I was inside, I closed it. The alarm wasn't audible inside the service compartment. "Thank goodness I can hear again," Raquel said.

"Yeah, that alarm was really annoying," I said.

"Now we just have to figure out what's wrong with this thing," Raquel said. Both of us studied the reactor for a moment, but nothing appeared to be wrong. The mechanisms that powered the ship looked exactly the same as they did on the day that we found Tanaquil.

"It could be a false alarm," I said.

"No, it's not a false alarm," Raquel said. She placed a gloved hand over the containment vessel and then jerked it away. "I think the core might be overheating."

"Is that a problem?" I asked.

"It's a big problem," Raquel said. "If the core heats up any further, the fuel could burn through the containment vessel and leak all over the ship. That could kill all of us before we even make it out of the Alsafi system."

"How are we going to stop it then?" I asked.

"I think I have an idea, but we need to turn the reactor off first," Raquel said. She reached towards a switch and turned it off. The reactor slowly shut down, and Raquel glided closer to the condenser.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked. "Won't that turn off the engine altogether? The ship could break down, and then we'll never get to Sidhe!"

"Relax, Nora," Raquel said. "It's just for a few minutes. The power in the ship will go off, but we'll be fine." She observed the condenser for a little while. "Just as I thought," she said. "There's not enough coolant in here." Raquel put more coolant into the condenser and then turned on the switch. The reactor roared back to life, and Raquel and I left the service compartment. The alarm had turned off, and the Eclipse seemed to be in working order once again.