The Space Between

Chapter Twenty: "Chasing Dream Chaser"

Sean tried not to lose his lunch as he was slammed into the back of his seat more. His chest felt like it was being crushed. He was afraid to exhale incase his lungs didn't refill with air. He had never been so terrified in his life as the shuttle rocketed up through the clouds. Over the coms of the shuttle, a voice began to state in a stern voice. "Dream Chaser, you are committing a felony. You don't know what you are doing. Land before you reach ten thousand feet!" Sean could barely move, but Logan put on a headset and stated into the mic defiantly. "Ground Control, that is a negative. You want me down you are going to have to come up here and get me!" Sean turned wide eyes on Logan. Why was he instigating them?! The man on the other end suddenly asked in a perplexed voice. "Logan? What the fuck are you doing?! You get your ass back here! That shuttle hasn't been thoroughly tested! You are going to get yourself killed!" Logan growled darkly, before hissing back into the mic bitterly. "What are you going to do, General? Ground me? HA! I'm going to get my dad. You wanna stop me? You're going to have to shoot me down!"

Sean yelped in horror at Logan's outburst. Over the com, the man was silent a moment before he stated out emotionlessly. "Teenagers... So be it. You leave me no choice. Goodbye, Logan." The com disconnected and Sean yelled out. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Logan kept his eyes on the window, telling him in a growling tone. "Relax. What can he do? Send the Space Police?" Logan chuckled, causing Sean smacked his scaly arm and yell out. "THE SPACE FORCE ARE THE SPACE POLICE, YOU IDIOT!" Logan's grin faded as he mumbled out in realization. "Oh... Oops." Sean wanted to strangle Logan as he retorted bitterly. "OOPS?! YOU CRAZY SON OF A-!" Sean was cut off by an alarm beginning to blare in the shuttle. Logan looked over the proximity scanners. Sean heard the sounds of jets and cursed under his breath. Over the coms, another man announced to them seriously. "This is the U.S. Air Force. Lower your altitude, or we will be forced to shoot you down. This is your last warning." Sean looked to Logan, who looked around the controls wildly for something.

Sean asked him what he was looking for, when Logan flipped a switch and told him in a rush. "Sean, take over!" Sean yelped in stunned horror. Logan gestured with his tail to point to the lever and the second wheel in front of the passenger seat, telling him sternly. "Just hold them like this! We can't afford to lose speed!" Sean replaced his hand on the shaking lever to hold it in the up position, while pushing his wheel up too with his other hand. Logan flipped a switch, then got out of his seat to look at a panel behind his chair. Sean glanced back, asking a little shaken up. "What are you doing?!" Over the coms, the man told them. "You have reached ten thousand feet. You have left us no choice." Sean saw the dots on either side of the shuttle suddenly hang back. Another alarm began to blare, and Sean yelled out. "Logan?! Something is happening!" Logan slid a panel aside to reveal a weird set of controls, Logan read the weird language on the controls, answering in a distracted voice. "They are targeting us with their missiles." Sean couldn't breathe. He didn't want to die like this! The scanner began to beep loudly as two missiles from the jets started to race after the shuttle.

Helpless, Sean just started telling Logan how much feet was left between them and the gaining missiles. Logan pulled up a lever and turned it until it locked. Pulling a glowing white cylinder out, Logan told him to keep telling him the feet. At two feet, Sean screamed, and Logan shoved the cylinder back into the wall. From the shuttle a pulse blasted out. Sean peeked at the scanner as the alarms went silent. The dots for the jets and missiles suddenly started to fall back rapidly. Logan leaned between the seats to check the scanners, before cheering out. "HA! Have a nice fall, assholes!" Sean glanced at Logan as he slipped back into the seat, asking him perplexed. "What did you do?" Logan flipped the controls back to him, answering a little breathless. "EMP charge. Something we perfected to help us get off planet quickly. Most shuttles have them." Sean relaxed his shaking arms as Logan took over. He hadn't had an asthma attack in years... but he felt like one was coming on. Logan didn't help by telling him a little worried. "The Air Force won't follow us as we get out of their air space, but... as you said... The Space Force might. And since they know who I am, they won't send humans after me."