We're all going on a summer holiday

<snip>
Picking up their guns and with White Wolf carrying Stanley, they headed off in the direction that Jay and Seymour had disappeared off to.
</snip>

Small fires guttered here and there in the darkness, casting a dim, ruddy glow around the smoke filled devastation of the Drive Room as the small group picked their way through the glass and debris, making their way back outside,
“Smegging hell” Cass muttered , hugging herself as she gazed around her gloomy, ruined surroundings “This place is buggered”
“Ah, don't worry about it” White Wolf waddled along next to her, smiling beatifically “The fail-safe's should have kicked in, so all being well: We'll be able to control the ship from almost anywhere onboard, now”
Cass raised her eyebrows and glanced out of the corner of her eye at the outsized hamster
“Or at least we could if any of the systems were actually online...” she observed pointedly
“Well, there is that” White Wolf admitted “I can only assume that Seymour or Jay must have forced a system reset after all that weapons fire we heard earlier”
“Yeah” Phi agreed, following along behind them, picking her way through the carpet of debris and shattered plexiglass “I was wondering about that; I hope they haven't come to any harm”
Cass scowled
“Bugger Seymour! This was his fault, and he's been nothing but a pain in the arse since we came out of stasis; moping around, being rude and demanding, and moaning about everything he thinks he's lost”
“Well, these last couple of days haven't exactly been a bundle of laughs” White Wolf observed archly
“Yeah, okay” Cass admitted “We're kinda hanging on by our fingertips here; but it sure as hell beats debasing yourself just to survive, and you've got to admit: It is exhilarating, isn't it?”
“That's perhaps pushing it a bit...” Phi started as they made their way out into the corridor
“Ms. JONES? MR. WOLF? MISS MOREAU? ANYONE THERE?”
“Yeah, over here Seymour” Cass yelled in response “And can I just say on everyone's behalf how utterly thrilled we are to hear that you're still alive... Is Jay there with you?”
“Yeah, yeah, I'm here” Jay replied as he strolled into view through the dust and smoke, Seymour trailing along behind him, and paused to gaze around the smoking ruins surrounding them
“Jeez, I leave you alone for ten minutes...” he sighed after a moment “You've been busy, I see?”
“Just a bit of accident” Cass replied, an involuntary smile creeping to her lips, at having Jay safely back with her
“So what the hell just happened with you?” she demanded, quickly changing the subject
“Well...” Jay started, looking disparagingly around at the destruction and slowly shaking his head “Destroying the drive room kind of helped to save us; but we had to reset everything to stop Holly shooting the shit out of us after that; hence the lights and everything else all being offline”
“Yeah, we figured something like that must have happened” Gomez nodded “So what's the plan?”
“Our plan” Seymour interrupted proudly “Is to take a nice weekend break from the Blue Dwarf while the systems finish rebooting and come back in a few days when everything's back online!”
“Yeah, that's right” Jay nodded “We found a habitable planet only a couple of days distant from here, so we thought it'd be a great opportunity to take a bit out time out and go source something a little more nutritious and better for out guts than mushy peas”
“We're going planetside!?” Cass beamed in excitement, her eyes sparkling with delight “Smegging A! I can barely remember the last time I breathed fresh air! Let's go!”

Digging through a supply cupboard they found further down the corridor, the group quickly located a small cache of working torches and began making their way down towards the flight decks
“Can we go to a beach!?” Cass pestered “Do we have any beer?”
“Maybe...” Jay began cautiously “We don't actually know what's down on the planet yet... Only that it's habitable”
“Cool”
“It might be dangerous?”
“That's ok, we'll just snag us a few bloody big guns to bring along”
“Oh, for God's sake” Seymour grumbled “I think I preferred her when she was just being miserably cynical; I hope she's not going to be like this all the time!”

It was nearing the evening by the time the group finally managed to make their way down to the nearest flight deck, having had to double back a couple of times to circumnavigate obstacles that were blocking their path, and on one occasion, even having to take shelter in the service crawlspaces, to hide from one of the massive solitary beasts that roamed the ships corridors, it's plaintive and confused bellowing making it easy to avoided, even in the darkness

“Any chance I could have a go at flying the Starbug when we get out into space?” Cass asked Jay as they approached the access door to the flight deck “You know: Where there's nothing to hit? I've never tried it before...”
“Yeah, I don't see why not” Jay shrugged as he hauled the door open, his nanosuit's enhanced strength helping him achieve the otherwise difficult job with relative ease
“Oh” Cass frowned, catching sight of what lay in the hangar beyond
Jay straightened and turned, following her gaze
“Ah” he said

<tag>What's in the hangar?</tag>

< Prev : Wasting Time Next > : Cat and Monster.