The not-so-tough get going
<snip>
"Um... Holly," he began, "what have I been working on? ... I mean if
I --"
He was interrupted by a voice which, considering what it was saying,
was entirely too chipper.
"Auto destruct sequence initiated. Initiated destruction in 30
minutes. 29 minutes, 55 seconds and counting."
<end snip>
------------
Who: Marcus McJohn and Holly
Where: Blue Midget approach Plebe
When: 29 minutes later.
------------
As the tiny ship approached the planet's atmosphere, Mark McJohn was trying
to think of how to explain to the rest of the crew how he, after being
locked in his cabin deliberately for everyone's wellbeing, had not only
escaped and recieved a work order, but had managed (or was about to manage
in 40 seconds) to blow up Blue Dwarf.
Fifty seconds later, he had a new, even bigger problem. Despite all the
warning regulations against it, he was trying to land the ship while trying
to get an explanation out of Holly, who was currently inhabiting his watch.
Which meant he was flying Blue Midget one-handed.
"Why didn't the bomb go off?" he had asked, not unreasonably.
"What bomb's that then?"
"The auto-destruct bomb."
"What auto-destruct bomb?"
"The one we're running away from."
"What one we're running away from?"
"The ship's auto destruct sequence. I activated it, and now both of us are
trying to get away from the ship before it explodes. Which, acutally, it
didn't do for some strange reason, the cause of which I'm trying to
ascertain from you. That bomb."
"That one?"
"Yes, that one. What happened."
"I got rid of it."
"What? How?"
"Gordon Bennett! Would you let a crew of lunatics near an auto destruct
bomb? I disconnected it yonks ago."
"But why didn't you --"
At this point, Blue Midget crashed through one of Castle Cack-of-Doom's
battlements and came to rest, upside down, in front of the Blue Dwarf's
crew. McJohn extracted himself from the crashed ship in a manner which was
an excellent--if involantry--imitation of Bugs Bunny's arrival on the Moon
in "Haredevil Hare".
He staggered diagonally up to the Captain and saluted. Just before
collapsing, he managed to say, "Third Systems Technician McJohn reporting
for duty, ma'am."