In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 5: Abrupt Departures

"Gravity, antigravity and inertial drives have run test cycles, all show ready. Hull integrity check came back positive." Joseph was listing off test results to Tyrone, who sat in the pilot's position. Allison was mostly just listening as they went through pre-flight checks. She only understood about half of what they were saying.

"Fuel looks good, autopilot off, throttle at minimum. Firing standard engines." There were two light thumps as Tyrone entered the command, and then a quiet, pleasant hum filled the ship. "Port engine green."

"Starboard green." Joseph leaned back. "Now we just have to wait while they spool up."

"And hope the inertia drive can keep the trees in one place."

"That too." A startled look crossed Joseph's face. "Oh, Allison, I forgot to mention that to you. Did you put all your things away in your cabin?"

"Not everything." She half-rose from her seat. "That's important, I take it?"

"For anything that isn't soft, yes. Even if we aren't maneuvering hard and the inertia drive is keeping up, things can jump around a bit. It's rare for things to move more than a couple inches, but if you didn't put things like your computer in some kind of latched compartment, it would be best to go do that."

"Okay. I'll take care of it."

She walked swiftly down the corridor from the cockpit. It went straight back about two thirds of the distance to the cargo bay with rooms on either side, then branched into two corridors at forty-five degree angles to the original that finished the distance. Her cabin was down the angled corridor on the port side.

Allison scooped her computer off the bed and stored it in the top drawer of the cabin's small desk, then looked around for any other unsecured items. There were a few more things to straighten up. It only took a minute to store them all and lock up.

She looked guiltily at the wardrobe as she latched it. She'd left her other possessions unsecured, but had carefully hung, folded and stored every piece of clothing she'd bought that day. It had been fun and a little exciting, but she'd clearly spent far more time on it than necessary. She couldn't have known it would matter though, and Joseph had implied as much. It had been a pleasure to pick out the nice things she actually liked to wear instead of the work clothes she'd brought from home.

In the months working behind the bar in the strip club she'd been glad to have them, of course. She'd always felt the need to cover as much of herself as possible, both to separate herself from the girls on stage and to keep the patrons from noticing her. Happily, those days were over now.

As she closed her cabin door and started back to the cockpit, she had a sudden, instinctive perception that something was off. Some slight sound or odd air current alerted her to something behind her. Just as she turned to look, she saw a hand reaching around to cover her mouth!

Allison lunged forward, away from her would-be captor. The split-second reaction didn't quite carry her away from the man. She felt a hand seize a handful of the left side of her shirt, and the one reaching for her mouth grabbed her shoulder instead. But her mouth was still free. She shrieked at the top of her lungs.

The man attacking her cursed. Joseph yelled something from the cockpit, but the words didn't register. She tried to break her captor's hold on her, but couldn't. She screamed again, then he managed to clamp one hand over her mouth.

A brief struggle followed, as the man tried to seize her around the waist with the other arm while she tried to twist out of his grip. They turned an awkward circle as they struggled, and when he finally managed to restrain her they had turned around so that she was facing down the corridor to the cargo bay. He started dragging her backwards up the corridor toward the corridor intersection, and she wondered irrationally through her panic if he was lost.