The house was a cozy space with three
rooms leading off the main living/dining room. A decent but not extravagant
meal was laid out on the table. There was another, younger woman standing in
the adjacent kitchen with an apron around her waist and a teapot in her hand
that she had just taken off of the stove. She turned around to see the group
come in. “Can you call the kids in here, Laura?”
“Mabel,
“You fought pirates?” the nine year old
asked Jessica with wide eyes. “Was it fun?” Jessica couldn’t help from
chuckling a little at the girl’s excited question.
“No ma’am, not at all. It was very
dangerous. We could have gotten hurt really easily.”
“Oh,” she responded, somewhat
disappointedly. “I thought it’d be real neat.”
“Oh it was quite an experience, but don’t
try it. It wasn’t cool.”
“U’kay.”
“Why’re they after ya fer,” asked the
young man.
“Jessica is the daughter of the district
manager at our base camp,” answered Sean. “And the pirates captured her for
ransom. Now we’ve escaped from them and they want us her back.”
“We? Where do you
come into the pic’sure, Mr. Westcliffe?”
“I was just passing by and found her,”
Sean answered humbly.
“Actually,” Jessica cut in, “he rescued me
from the pirates and he’s also responsible for saving my like since then.” The
young man (who’s name, they found out, was Andrew) whistled in awe and the
other
“Nice job Mr. Westcliffe,” Andrew said.
“You didn’t have to tell them that,
Jessica,” Sean said, flushing.
“You deserve the credit, Sean,” she
replied, regarding him fondly. “Everybody should know how heroic you’ve been.”
“Far be it from me to argue with such a
lovely young girl as yourself.” He broke into a sneaky
grin. Everybody else in the room started laughing.
“Sean!” Jessica said indignantly. “Look,
just because I embarrass you, doesn’t mean you have to do the same to me.”
Although her voice was annoyed, she was smiling as at the same time. Mabel
chuckled to herself.
“It’s okay to admit the truth, hon’,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Right,”
“Ahh! No, you’re
all embarrassing me,” Jessica exclaimed. The
“Hey did ya hear ‘bout tha
“Really?” asked Mrs. Hopkins with much
interest.
“Well I’ll be!” said Mabel, shaking her
head.
“Neat!” said the other girl that hadn’t
spoken yet.
“Earth pets!” joined the young man. “They
weren’t never good fer nuthn’. Azura animals are always
much less troublesome. Our pets may be ‘spensive to
keep but ‘least they behave!”
“That so sad, really, if ya think ‘bout
it,” said Laura Hopkins. “Mrs. Ferguson really loved those birds.”
“She must’ve loved that cat more if she ‘sisted on keeping it around s’ much,” commented Mr.
Hopkins.”
“Now
“Well she better not have too many more ‘sfortunes or she ain’t gonna have
not more pets left.” The
“Yeah, we should get you kids outa here
perty soon. I b’leave we have a skiff that ya’ll can
borrow. Let’s go take a look.” The rest of the
“Neat, a gun! Can
I hold it?” she asked. “I’ve always wanted to hold one!”
“No Peggy,” corrected her father. “These
are grown up things. I told ya ‘bout this b’for.”
“You said I can’t hold our guns but these are their guns,” she argued. Jessica laughed
and bent down beside her.
“Let me explain this, Peggy,” she said.
“You see, even though this gun is mine, it is still just as dangerous as your
parent’s guns. The rules for certain objects are the same even if someone else
has that object.”
“They are?” Peggy seemed totally
surprised.
“Yeah. If I give
you a toy to keep, then it’s yours, right?”
“Right.”
“Well let’s play pretend and say this rock
is a toy.” She picked up a rock and handed it to Peggy. “Now it’s yours.”
“Okay.”
“Now if I take it away from you…” she took the
rock back from her. “I have it.”
“Hey! That’s mine.”
“See? It’s still the same rock, that’s
yours, even though I’m the one who has it now. And now since it’s yours I’ll
give it back to you.” She gave it back to Peggy.
“Oh, I see now!” thank you, Jessica.
“Don’t mention it little lady.” She patted
her on the head and stood up. She saw a look of great respect crossed the faces
of all present and especially to her delight, across Sean’s.
“Let’s go check out the garage now, shall
we?”
“Hello, Joe!”
“Oh, hello,
“These two kids with us need a ride. Do
you have a skiff that they can use?”
“Wall, le’see…I
was just working on Old Lightning this afternoon and I think she may be
flyable. Can’t e’zactly ‘member I if I finished her
or not. I’ll go check. Joe went into a stall nearby and pulled out a worn skiff
from it on a wheeled trailer. Sean and Jessica looked at each other and back to
the junky vehicle that stood before them. Both wings were patched with pieces
of aluminum. The windshield was badly scratched, and the floor was rusted out
in several places. Joe noticed the skeptical look on their faces.
“Hey kids, she may not look like much on
the outside,” he explained. “But no skiff that I ever fixed has failed me b’fore. She’s the most reliable skiff that I’ve ever flewed too. I jus’ fixed the engine with new parts so the
outside don’t make a difference.” They thought for a moment.
“Okay, we’ll take it,” declared Jessica.
“Great, here’s the code key. Hop on in.
Bring it back when you find the time.” Jessica stepped into it first and ran
the key code through the starter slot. The engine rumbled to life as Sean
joined her. Many goodbyes and “come back soons"
were exchanged between the various people and then Jessica piloted the skiff up
and out of the valley and they were off. After Joe had watched them leave, he
turned to
“Uh…who were those kids anyway,
* * *
“We offer forty-five million, Boss.” Kelly
was getting very frustrated and so was Boss.
“Forty-five million?
We’re so kind as to lower our demand from seventy to sixty million and this is
how you express gratitude?” Bosses face was getting redder by the second. “Fifty-eight million or nothing!”
“Forty-seven million, Boss.”
“I know, why don’t I
just go stick a gun up to Jessica’s head right now and blow her stinking brains
out all over the floor! Is this what you want? IS IT? Because I will do it!” Boss slammed his fist down on his keyboard and
cut the link. Kelly threw up her arms in exasperation and sat down in a chair
with her head in her hands.
“Minister?” said the commando captain who,
along with his men, had been careful to stay out of view during the pirate’s
transmission. “By the lowering of their demands and Boss’s increasingly erratic
behavior, we should consider the possibility that they no longer possess the
prisoner.” Carol’s was immediately listening intently.
“What do you mean,” she asked. “Could they
have ki…killed…?”
“No, Mrs. McKinley,” he broke in. “No one
is assuming that yet. We merely have to consider the possibility. She may have died or maybe…she escaped.”
“Now, Captain,” Kelly joined. “You know
that is pure speculation. We cannot say anything right now; we don’t have
enough evidence to say either way. Mr. Milton?” She turned to her advisor.
“I’m afraid I have to agree with the
captain here. We should seriously consider it.”
“So you mean go ahead and send the
commandoes in to take them out?”
“I think that’s a great idea,” the captain
broke in again.
“NO!” declared Kelly. “If she is there, in this state of mind the
pirates will certainly kill her on sight of our transports. We have to look and
listen closely for more clues before we jump to conclusions.”
“I’m afraid I have to agree with the
Minister on this one,” said Mr. Milton. “We should watch and listen a little
bit longer. But I must add that we are running very low on time. This is the
third time that they have threatened to kill her.”
* * *
Jessica flew the rickety skiff over
valleys ridges, and patches of brush. The sun was beginning to rise on the
horizon.
“Hey Sean,” she called to the back of the
skiff. “Have you had any luck masking our signature yet?” Sean looked back at
her with a haggard face. “No Jessica, I’ve been trying all morning. This
obsolete model just doesn’t have the parts that I need. Mainly its engine
cooling system doesn’t have a proper heat shield, and one of the coolant
tubules is clogged. If I cut the tube while we’re in flight it’ll empty the
entire coolant tank and that would not
be good. You’ll just have to keep up the speed even though it’s getting pretty
hard on the engine. How are our azurigine levels
right now?” Jessica checked the fuel gauge.
“We have three-fourths of a tank left,”
she reported.
“Good, that’s plenty.” Sean returned to
the copilot’s seat beside Jessica. Jessica continued to scan the ground for
landmarks that would lead them to
“Great, Jessica! Now, where exactly is
“Just ahead, Sean.
Just ahead.” Within a few minutes, Jessica’s
excitement was replaced by great distress.
“It’s supposed to be here! I know it was
here! Where is the Azura Flier?”
“You can’t find the ridge either?” Sean
asked.
“I’ve seen a little debris here and there
but all these ridges look the same; I can’t tell which one is which.” Sean
chanced to look in back of them and was dismayed at what he glimpsed.
“Jessica, we have pirates on our tail
again. I can barely see them but they’re there. Six craft…four skiffs and two
hoverjets. They’re gaining quickly.”
* * *
Clinch sat in the cockpit of the lead
skiff along with several pirates, his eyes fixed intently on the target ahead
of them. “Ah! There you are, girly!” he said with a snicker and a sadistic
smile. “Come to papa! You didn’t really think you could get away from me that
easily!” He then pressed a button on his control panel in order to contact the
skiff that was flying along side his. “Hey, Simon!
What do you say we speed things up a bit?” The lieutenant promptly answered him
on the other end.
“No, lets let
them flounder in their imminent demise for a little while first and then go in
for the kill.”
“I like the way you think, Simon! Great idea!”
* * *
“Oh no, Surely
they’ve picked us up on their PWLS by now. What should we do? We can’t leave
“If we keep circling this area they’ll be
on us in less than five minutes,” Sean argued.
“I’m not ready to leave
“He could be dying right now. I don’t know the true extent of his
injuries but believe it was more than just a broken leg, he didn’t seem quite
himself the morning after we crashed.”
“If we let the pirates catch up with us
then we may never get to him. This skiff doesn’t have any weapons and we can’t
fight twenty plus pirates with just two rifles.” Jessica looked longingly out
over the ridges and hills one last time for any sign of
“We’re safe, for now. They aren’t gaining
anymore.”
“Excellent,” said Jessica. “We may reach
BC3 yet! If the engines hold out, we should be there in about half an hour.”
* * *
“Fifty-three!
That’s all we have at our disposal in the entire solar system!”
“Do you take me for a fool!
You are the richest corporation on Azura, harvesting millions of tons of
azurestone a day! I know you have
more, lots more!”
“Boss…can you excuse us for a minute?
Something has just come up. We’ll get back to you in a second.” Kelly cut the
visual feed but kept the connection with the pirates open. “Kurt, how close are
you and your team to finding the one who tampered with our database?” Kurt sat
at the main computer at the back of the room with several other experts. “I’ve
been following one promising lead,” Kurt answered “but somebody seems to be
fighting against us on the other end! Whoever it is it's really good too, we
can’t get past his lockouts.”
“Keep up the work.”
“We will.” Kelly resumed the feed.
“Boss…” but he cut her off. “All right,
that’s it! We will not play this game
or be treated like this anymore! If you don’t want to pay the ransom, then we
don’t want to pay you the prisoner! This is your last warning!” Kelly cut the
connection completely and called the captain into the room. “Captain,” she said
sternly. “Get your men together, you’re going in. I, for one, have seen
enough.” Carol’s face was as white as ashes as she listened to the whole thing,
and it turned even whiter when she heard Kelley’s declaration.
“But we can’t! I thought we established
what will happen if we do that.”
“Mrs. McKinley, we can’t afford this much
longer. We may lose her if we don’t act right now. Plus, we haven’t found the
criminal or criminals responsible for Jessica’s predicament in the first place;
the one who allowed the pirates to find out exactly who she is. These
commandoes here are the best in Holocomm; as I assured you earlier, they have
had years of rigorous training. They know how to do their job; they will
succeed.” Carol looked to Peter for his judgment.
“Kelly’s right, honey,” he answered as he
put his arm lovingly around her. “The pirates have crossed the line repeatedly,
and we can’t trust them anymore.” Carol thought about it for a moment and then
reluctantly gave her consent. The commandoes began to assemble and leave the communications
room, led out by the captain. “God will protect her, Carol. He has always taken
care of us before; it’s time to give it into his hands.” Carol gripped her
husband’s hand and they began to pray for all they were worth.
“Kurt,” Kelly said, turning to him. “Where
is the Commissioner? He’s supposed to be helping you.”
“I don’t know, Minister,” Kurt replied. “I
haven’t seen him for a long time.”
“Has
anybody seen the Commissioner lately?” Kelly looked around the room to the
various personnel. Nobody volunteered any information.
* * *
“Jessica,” called Sean. “They’ve slowly
been getting closer for the past twenty minutes. They’ll be in firing range any
second now.” Jessica pushed the throttle up as far as she could, and then she
noticed that she had already done that several times and any further tries to
go faster were futile. She turned her attention ahead, scanning the horizon for
Base Camp 3. “Do you see BC3 yet?”
“According to the PWLS we’re very close
but I don’t see it yet…wait. I think I see it. Yeah, I see BC3!” At that
moment, the afterburners began to make a horrible grinding sound and smoke
began to billow from one engine. “The engines are overheating,
I have to turn the afterburners off! Agh! But we’re so close!”
* * *
“We’re approaching BC3, Boss,” Simon
reported.
“By all means, do not let her reach the camp!” Boss ordered. “I don’t have to tell
you what will happen if she gets to safety.”
“Yes, Boss. Let’s speed this up, Clinch!”
“Yes, sir,” Clinch acknowledged.
* * *
Two military transports were being loaded
with their deadly cargo. Peter and Carol stood at the window of the Comm. Room,
looking on. The captain’s deputy and his guard were the only members of the
commando team that were staying to oversee the operation from Base Camp 3. The
last few commandoes were still getting their equipment ready to load. The last
thing that anybody was looking at, at this moment was the PWLS, which shone
brightly, and had been shining brightly for some time with seven rapidly
approaching blips. Everyone present soon became aware of a change in the color
of the sky. The commandoes outside looked up into they sky and saw an ion bolt
flash high up in the atmosphere.
“BC3, we have a problem!” reported the
captain to the Comm. Room. “You’re not going to believe this, but it looks like
another ion storm forming. I estimate about ten minutes before it gets really
serious.”
“Another ion storm?” Kelly asked, running over to the PWLS
screen to confirm the storm. “What the heck? There’s not only an ion storm
approaching, but we’ve also got seven craft coming right for us!”
* * *
The afterburners on the skiff were now
fully shut off. The pirate fleet now closed in mercilessly upon the derelict skiff.
Clinch fired a few potshots at the skiff, trying to hit the engines.
“Sean, jump in the seat. We’re going for a
ride.” Sean didn’t need to be told twice. He hurried to the seat beside Jessica
and strapped himself in. Jessica pulled back on the stick, driving the skiff
into a steep climb. She tried to steer into the rapidly fading sun as her
pursuers tried to follow. Not expecting this, the pirates took a few seconds to
react, falling behind. They soon followed suit and began to track her again.
The clouds cleared momentarily allowing the sun light to beam straight down
through it. Like Jessica hoped, Clinch and the others lost sight of her.
Cursing angrily, Clinch let the nose of his hoverjet down. He looked up
afterwards to try to spot her again. He couldn’t see her yet.
“Where is that twerp?” he said, squinting
in the blinding light. He soon got his answer; Jessica came rushing down at a
full dive straight towards him. “Oh, $@#*%!” he yelled, swerving out of the way
along with the entire formation that he was flying with. Jessica quickly pulled
up and continued on her way. It took a few moments for the pirates to recover
during which they fell significantly behind.
“Take that, fiends,” Jessica shouted
joyfully. Furious, Clinch pushed his throttle all the way up and initiated full
after burners. He began to catch up with her again. The Base Camp was in full
view now.
“She’s almost there! Clinch, Simon: Shoot
to kill! Repeat, shoot to kill! It’s tool late to catch her now. BC3 will certainly
raise the force field because of the storm any minute now. I don’t have to tell
you that what will happen if gets to the base camp in time. Blow her and her
friend out of the sky.” Clinch smiled evilly and spat on the floor of his
craft.
“With pleasure!” he sneered. With Simon
close behind rapidly approached Jessica and fired furiously at her. Jessica
tried to dodge she found the control stick stuck. She pushed and pulled
franticly as hard as she could but it wouldn’t budge. She quickly turned to
Sean for help.
“Sean, can you please look outside and
check the ailerons? Find out why I can’t move,” she shouted, trying as hard as
she could to keep calm.
“Both the ailerons and the elevators
aren’t moving at all,” he answered. “That last maneuver must have sapped Old
Lightning out of her last breath!” Old Lightning being immobilized, Clinch’s
bolts hit her repeatedly. The skiff was already low to the ground from the
dive. Sean and Jessica braced for the impact. The skiff skidded and bounced
along the ground, and finally hit a rise in the plain and stopped still.
Quickly checking to see if they were still half alive, Sean and Jessica leapt
from the wrecked skiff and began to run as fast as they could towards Base Camp
3. They didn’t have enough time to grab their rifles because Clinch followed up
immediately behind firing deliberately at them. Jessica noticed that these
weren’t tease shots anymore.
“They must be really angry now,” Jessica
exclaimed. “What’s driving them to try to kill us? I thought we had a major
ransom on our heads!”
“Die, wretch,” yelled Clinch. “You’ve gone
too far this time!” Clinch fired again, narrowly missing his targets. As Sean
and Jessica continued to flee their pursuers, the clouds began to clear and
wide sunrays came streaming in through the gaps. Jessica looked up to behold
the beautiful kaleidoscope of changing colors that the sun revealed as the
light hit the moisture that had gathered in the air due to the storm.
“Look Sean,” Jessica called to him. “The
Azura sun is lighting our path to safety! Jessica felt more serene in this
moment than she had ever felt before. She barely noticed her fatigue anymore.
She could only see the base camp and the bright, bright sun. “Thank you God!
Thank you for the hope you give your children!
* * *
“We have to raise the force field, now!”
Kurt was talking to the employee in charge of power management, who was in the
base control room, through the intercom. “The storm is getting very bad!”
“Right away, Kurt,” he responded. Outside,
the power generators began to hum loudly and the field emitters began to glow
blue.
* * *
Clinch flew over Sean and Jessica and
joined with Simon to attack them together. The border of the camp was only
thirty feet ahead of them now. Clinch and Simon came up close behind them
again. Clinch centered his crosshairs directly upon Jessica’s head as he
speedily but carefully flew on. He kept his nose perfectly horizontal so he
would be sure not to miss.
“I have you now!” As he was saying this,
Clinch heard a low hum coming from the base camp. He stared as the force field
began to materialize. Sean and Jessica dove headlong through the parameter just
as the field closed behind them. Terror crossed the faces of Clinch and Simon,
and they pulled the throttle down to zero and jerked back on their stick as
hard as they could, but it was too late, they were going much too fast. In that
instant the sun seemed to disappear as quickly as it had come.
“AAAAGHHH…” Clinch screamed as he covered
his face with his arms. The hoverjet and Simon’s skiff slammed into the force
field at full speed, exploding in two great balls of flame. Flaming debris
rained down onto the grass. Jessica listened to the explosion, but didn’t look
back. She knew where she wanted to go. She headed straight for the Comm. Room.
Sean tried to keep up, but was amazed at Jessica’s burst of speed. She left him
in her wake. She shot around a corner and entered the field where the
transports still laden with the somewhat disappointed commandoes waited. They
were startled to see somebody streak past them so fast that they couldn’t even
tell it was a person. She rushed up the stairs and into the Comm. Room.
“What in the world was that?” one of commandoes asked his
partner.
“Gee, I don’t know, Bill,” he answered.
Immediately afterwards Sean came around the corner. “Freeze!”
Bill ordered. All the commandoes trained their rifles on directly on Sean.
“Don’t shoot!” Sean said, stopping and
raising his hands. “I’m with her.”
“Her who?”
“That girl that just ran
by.”
“Oh, you mean that streak that just
entered the Comm. Room?”
“Yeah, that was Jessica McKinley, and I’m
Sean Westcliffe. Just look in the database and you’ll see that I’m a resident
of this base camp.”
“Jessica McKinley? That’s impossible.”
“No, really! I
rescued her from the pirates and we’ve been running from them ever since,
honest.” One of the commandoes searched through the data pad that he was
holding and typed in “Sean Westcliffe.” Sean’s picture and profile came up on
the small screen.
“Bill, he’s telling the truth,” the other
commando announced. “He is who he says he is.”
“Okay, come with me to the Comm. Room,
Sean and let’s see if that really was Jessica McKinley. You’d better not be
lying. But even if it was an imposter, we have men inside that will have
already taken care of her or him or whoever.”
“Yes, sir,” Sean answered. Bill and four
other commandoes jumped out of the transport and headed up the Comm. Room steps
with Sean behind him.
Peter and Carol snapped around to see
Jessica burst through the door and stand there, panting, just as Kelly had
contacted the pirates again. “Did you miss me?” She asked between breaths
smiling. Peter and Carol stood up in amazement.
“Jessica! What…how…?” Carol shouted out in
joy and disbelief. Jessica ran into the open arms of her parents and they
embraced her. “Jessica, I can’t believe it! How did you escape?” Peter asked
her, passing the back of his hand in a caress across her forehead. “We thought
that those pirates were going to take you away from us!” There were tears in
the parent’s eyes. Everyone else in the room looked on with equal amazement.
This entire scene was played out directly in front of the main screen. Boss’s
eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw Jessica alive and safe. Just
then, the three commandoes and Sean ran into the room. The commandoes had their
rifles raised but then let them down when they noticed Jessica safely with her
parents.
“Well, I’ll be!” exclaimed Bill. “You were
right, Sean.”
“Where’s
“He wasn’t captured, mom,” Jessica
answered. “I left him in a cave when I left to try to get back and that’s when
I was caught. He was hurt after we crashed during the ion storm but I wasn’t
able to find him again on the way back here. We have to go look for him right
away. I’m not sure how badly he’s hurt.”
Bill's countenance suddenly changed to one
of sternness as the scene that he was witnessing touched him and he promptly
turned to Sean who was standing just behind him.
“Come on,” Bill said resolutely. “We’re
taking a couple of transports out to look for him, ion storm or no. We’ll fly
low so we can avoid the bolts.” Jessica saw the objection already forming in
her parent’s expressions.
“Please Mom, Dad, I’m the only one who
know the area where he is, let me go. I’ll be safe in God’s hands, He’s carried
me this far.” Carol and Peter relaxed a little and nodded in agreement. Carol
took Jessica’s hand in hers.
“Jessica,” Carol answered. “If God has
carried you this far then He must have a lot of confidence in you,” Carol
answered with the utmost pride in her daughter. “Your father and I can give you
no less. Go. Come back soon. As always, we’ll be praying for you.”
“Your mother is very wise, Jessica,” Peter
said. “May God protect you in your search.”
“Sean, you can come with us if you want,”
suggested Bill. “After all, you are the one who saved her. You must have been
through a lot together to get back here.”
“We sure have,” Sean responded.
“Wait, Sean rescued you, Jessica?” Peter
asked with much interest.
“It’s a long story; I’ll tell you both
about it when I get back.” Carol griped Jessica’s hand and let it go as she
turned to leave. Bill, Sean, and Jessica along with several more commandoes
boarded the transports outside and started to lift off. Kelly turned her
attention to Boss after they had left.
“Well, Boss,” she said. “Looks like you’re
out of luck. We’re sending over commandoes and we’re taking you out! Have a nice day.” Not knowing what
else to do, Boss quickly cut the link. Kelley called the captain to report to
her in the Comm. Room
“Captain, while the others look for
“Yes, Ma’am.” The
captain left the room again.
“Tell them to lower the force field,” Mr.
Comm. Director.
“Done, Minister,” Kurt reported, still
working with his computer team to catch the mysterious data thief. Suddenly,
something on the main computer screen caught Kurt's attention.
“Minister!” Kurt
called urgently. “You’d better come look at what the
team and I have just discovered.” Kelly hurried over to look into his screen.
“We’ve finally broken past our little impostor’s lockouts.” Kurt continued.
“Now the records show that the main Azura database was accessed from this
terminal at the time the database security sub-systems were breached.” Kurt
pointed at the information indicated on his screen.
“Oh my!
That’s…the Commissioner’s personal console!” Kelly exclaimed in shock.
“Yes, and until now, we haven’t been able
to tell whose codes were used to get into the database. Yep, they are the
commissioner’s personal codes.”
“Where is he now?”
“Still no sign of him ma’am…Minister, we
are receiving a report of an unauthorized shuttle launch from the main hanger.”
“Who is it?”
“The control tower reports…it’s the
Commissioner’s shuttle!”
“Well stop him!”
“I’ll commandeer a couple of commando
hoverjets to track him, immediately.”