Flauraan

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

We discovered two humans once we reached the room designated C16; the female scientist and an injured, middle-age male with fair hair and an augmented eye. She had him propped against the wall and drinking from a small water pack she’d had clipped to her belt. With a quick study of his body, I determined the man’s ribs were crushed and his head was mildly bruised. Nothing fatal, of course, but very painful and certainly injuries that would hold you back from opposing a Weraynian.

“He’d just come out of the power stacks when I found him.” the man was saying, hand pressed over his dented ribcage as he croaked the words out. “I tried to stop him, but he dodged each shot I fired and crumpled my gun as if it was paper. He sent me flying down the hall with a few blows and kicked me in here when he passed. I could barely move, the pain was unbearable!” he squeezed his eyes shut and flinched as the memory stirred horrifically in his mind. The female stared down at him sympathetically, as she poured some of the water onto a strip of cloth and pressed it to his forehead. He relaxed a bit. “I was here for so long, I thought I was dead. I heard the announcement though; is it true? Are we causing a war?”

The female’s eyes were watery as she shook her head. “I don’t know. Don’t worry about it. It’ll be alright.”

“I don’t think it will, Heather.” The man replied, pulling himself straight-backed against the wall. Huh, I thought on an unrelated note, so that’s her name.

“We still have a chance to stop the Weraynian.” Reeina told him. He turned his head to face her, taking her in. Despite the physical similarities between our species, it was clear from his expression that everything about Reeina screamed ‘ALIEN’ to him; the way she held herself, her eyes, expression, and tone of voice. I wondered vaguely if I seemed alien in the same way. “There is still a slim possibility of success. Don’t give up just yet.”

The man smiled weakly. “I see you Paladanians are nicer than we were told.” He joked, and then he stuck out his hand for Reeina to shake. She obliged. “The name’s Lee, senior technician on the Eridanus II. Not that that means anything anymore.”

I caught Reeina’s eye; she was clearly thinking the same as me – a technician? He should know the command codes!

“Hi Lee.” I butted in quickly, waving my fingers in greeting. “Um, I’m Abigail, and this is Reeina. Pretty important question; would you happen to know the captain’s command and override codes? It could be vital.”

Lee seemed taken aback, but after thinking for a moment he nodded. A rush of excitement coursed through me. “Yes, actually, I do.” He reached his hand gingerly into his coat pocket and extracted a digital badge. “Could you turn it on, Heather?”

The scientist, Heather, took the thin device with Lee’s face and credentials on the front of it and pressed a button on the side. On a sliver of display above the identification, symbols rolled across and Lee reached out, scanning his fingerprint and choosing from options to access the codes. The digits of the command code popped up on the screen and Lee then pressed the device tightly into Heather’s fingers.

“There, those should work.” He said. “What do you need them for?”

“Regaining control of the ship.” I answered shortly, then turned to Heather. “My friend Sophie, not sure if you know her but nonetheless, she is hidden aboard the pilot deck with her scanner connected to the main CPU. She needs those codes to do anything with it though. If you go up there, and knock on the cupboard with the red handle, she’ll probably answer. If not, just read out the codes. It should work. Then just stay with her until she’s done but be on guard for the Weraynian. If you can go by the circuit control room on the fourth floor, and pick up the friction stabiliser, a little rod-shaped device of Sophie’s, that would be great too. Is that okay?”