I arrive back in a flaming temper. Flanagan is deferential and helpless. “Thank God you’re here, Lena, you’re the only one who knows what to do!” he says. He’s right, of course, but his arse-licking flattery offends me.
Grudgingly, I type in the code and access the Beacon. Then I rig the Beacon to connect with Flanagan’s coordinates. His strategy now seems clear. He has targeted the Beacon to link us remotely with his home world of Cambria. This is the culmination of his lifelong dream of revenge.
As I work, the crew gradually gather in the control room. When I look up, they are all staring at me.
“You’re back, huh?” says Jamie tauntingly.
“I would never abandon my loyal crew,” I tell him. He openly sneers. He probably did the sabotage job on the yacht. Little brat. Oh, how I would love to seal him into an enclosed space filled with flesh-eating maggots and leave him there.
“Do you think I’m cute?” Jamie asks me abruptly. I am brought up short. I study him – his tousled hair, his freckles, his cheeky grin.
“Not in the least, worm,” I say. His face falls.
“We won’t have much time,” I tell Flanagan crisply.
“I know,” he replies, lowstatusly and humbly.
“They’ll be sending rescue vessels.”
“It’ll take them forty-eight hours to reach us.”
“Leaving us forty-eight hours to escape.”
“There is no escape. Forty-eight hours, and they have us. It’s a suicide mission.”
What!
“And why should I agree to that idiotic idea?” I snap.
“You don’t have to. You’ve shown us what we have to do. Now, you can go. Take the yacht. We’ll make sure you have sufficient oxygen this time. Nice meeting you.”
I make a petulant face. “Go!” he insists. “We don’t need you any more!” Lena, this is a patronisingly obvious piece of manipulation.
“Go you cowardly bitch!” Jamie snarls.
“Please go,” says Flanagan. “Save yourself! I couldn’t bear you to be hurt.”
“Lena,” says Kalen, imploringly. “You’ve done enough, it’s our battle now.”
“It probably won’t work anyway,” says Brandon snidely. “I mean, what would you know about quantum engineering?”
A sheet of flame hits the ceiling. Globules of fiery tears drip from ceiling to floor.
“Lena,” hisses Alby, “I admire you sssso very much.”
“I’m staying,” I tell Flanagan, stubbornly. Oh, Lena.