Escape from Mirth

Toufah piloted the craft through the asteroid field mimicking an asteroid. He powered down the ship’s engines to avoid detection by ColCon’s energy-scanning systems, and navigated with the gas boosters instead, shooting occasional bursts to bump and drift their way from rock to rock to the jump-point. With the basic survival systems running at reduced capacity, it was hard to steer when breathing 75% of optimal oxygen. The craft slammed hard into an asteroid and jolted him back to focus.

“Keep it together,” Duvya said. The collision had thrown her from the navigation panel into the BatteryBank. It blinked twice, once green, then yellow. She recovered to her position and picked up her tablet and stylus from the floor. “Act like an asteroid. Don’t become one.” She returned to writing the navigation code by hand. She had to do it analog because the power-down restricted access to the ship’s computer navigation system.

“Don’t worry about it. Just a couple more rocks to go.”

“Seriously. One digit off here and we miss the target and gravity pulls us right back down to Mirth.”

Mirth. Hardly. They were indentured servants to the colonizers. Slaves. Livestock. Machinery. Less than livestock; when livestock escaped, it wasn’t tortured. Less than machinery; when machinery broke down, it was repaired, not disposed of. Toufah’s partner, Duvya’s son, everyone, needed them to make it out. The last words his partner said echoed in his head the way Duvya’s son’s eyes did in hers.

Toufah glanced at the BatteryBank, then back at her. There was still enough power, maybe. “Just focus on the code.” She was busy at the tablet. He cleared his throat and steered the craft gently to the next asteroid.

“I am,” she said under her breath. By the time he boosted them to the next asteroid, she sent the code to him for his review.

A green light appeared at the pilot station indicating the code in Toufah’s inbox. He scanned it quickly, and all the bones were there. He could make it work.

“How does it look?”

“Good enough. Right in time, too.”

“It’s got a few details missing. I’ll keep working on it until the jump-point.”

“Don’t bother. Go check the detection monitor instead.”

“We’re fine. We’ve gone this far without being detected. I’m just going to tighten it up. Make it perfect.” She ignored him and went back to writing.

The cabin was silent as Duvya wrote and Toufah flew. All of the standard hums and buzzes from the operational systems were muted from the power-down. Instead, pings of debris colliding with the shell of the spacecraft, and an occasional scrape from getting too close to an asteroid were the ambient sounds. If there were any incoming ColCon craft, they wouldn’t know until it was too late.

She heard Toufah shift forward in his seat. Click. Click. Click. The cabin lights came on and all systems started booting up. “Whoah! What the heck are you doing?”

“We need to power up before the jump-point.”

“Now? Asteroids don’t power up! Asteroids don’t give off energy fields.” He must know this was a sure-fire way to get them noticed. So was hanging out in one spot for too long. “Hold on! Code’s not ready!”

“You already gave me the code. Get to the detection monitor and keep a lookout.” He switched the piloting systems from “Standby,” to “Ready.” The BatteryBank light flashed three times now: green, then yellow, then orange as power surged to the engines and operating systems. The air recycled itself, and the oxygen climbed to 100%. He inhaled deeply, but wasn’t relieved the way he’d hoped he’d be. “This better work.”

She only coded with more intent, with renewed passion.

Crossing his fingers, he engaged the engines without her consent. “Time to go,” he said to himself. The ship accelerated forward, out of the jump-point, into the vastness before them. The sudden burst of power drained the BatteryBank and it flashed red now on all operational systems. “BatteryBank Critically Low,” it signaled.

The warning light flashed in front of Duvya. It was the only thing that could have pulled her away from her purpose. “Red? We can’t be at red! What did you do?!”

In the Commercial Lane, Barge traffic was light. Only a couple barges occupied it. SB2654, outbound, was slowly making its way to the interception-point. SB9731 headed back to Mirth.

“We’ll make it. Trust me. I know what I’m doing”

“No you don't." Her eyes were dangerous and her body rigid. He was poised for her onslaught and dressing down, but instead of accosting him for diverging from the plan, she turned back to her tablet and scribbled furiously.

“Duvya, stop. You don’t need to revise the code. I took the BatteryBank into consideration in my jump time.”

She growled and hurried. She still had time, she told herself. They still had enough in the BatteryBank. The code wouldn’t be complete, but it’d be good enough to get her where she needed to go. “You messed this all up, T.”

Toufah watched her, wondering why she was still working on code and not biting his head off. “What are you doing? Look! SB2654 is approaching. We’re going to make it.”

Desperately, she connected the tablet to the navsystem and the new code uploaded and overrode the last. The ship lurched and threw them both to the floor as it changed course. Immediately after, everything powered down. The cabin lights went out, the emergency lights came on, and the BatteryBank’s lights went dark. “What did you do?”

She felt the slowing of the craft. He was right. It was too late. SB2654 came and went in the commercial lane, outbound, heading farther away from them and farther away from Mirth. SB9731, the incoming barge, passed as well. They wouldn’t intercept either one. She looked at Toufah, but saw her son. “I had to try. I couldn’t leave him.” She felt the craft slow to a halt, and the gentle pull towards the planet.

“He counted on you. They counted on us.” Toufah forced a swallow. There was nothing to do but wait and let forces beyond his control take over. He sat back down for the ride back. “They didn’t even need to catch us,” he said. “It’s almost like we deserve this.” He watched the observation panel, resolute, as Mirth enlarged in the frame.