Chapter 47: Stuck Between Mom and Dad
It seemed like I was flying through space forever. I knew that wasn’t possible, after all, I could see the tiny dot on my screen getting closer and closer to the pinned coordinates of the X94 fighter craft. But that still didn’t change the feeling like I was just standing still.
"Time to target: 10 minutes and counting. Probability of success is at 49.00023%." The mechanical voice inside my helmet cut through the silence. I think I would have to see what I could do about adding music or even a movie to this thing if I were expected to be flying through space again.
"Understood," I said, the sound of my own voice startling me. I really would need some type of distraction before I went crazy.
"Target should be appearing on visor in 5...4...3...2...1." On the screen in front of me, a tiny silvery-white object appeared. Squinting my eyes, I tried to get a better look at it.
"How are we going to get into it?" I asked out loud, not certain about that aspect of Jun Li’s plan. Sometimes it sucked to be the muscle in a partnership, as I was just learning now.
"The back of the ship has a ramp, you can use the control panel to lower the ramp," said Jun Li’s voice, cutting through the conversation between me and my helmet.
"Nice to hear your voice," I said rolling my eyes. It would have been nice to have had a conversation with him at any point prior to this in this trip, but he remained stubbornly silent the whole time.
"We have a problem," said Jun Li, cutting to the chase.
If he was only going to bring me bad news, maybe he should just have remained quiet.
"What’s the problem?" I asked with a sigh. The ship was becoming bigger and bigger as I got closer to its location.
"I detect six lifeforms onboard," admitted Jun Li.
"How can you detect that? I thought your scanners wouldn’t work properly due to the nebula’s instability."
"I attached a scanner to the drive holding the program," said Jun Li a little shyly. "But that is beside the point. The issue is with the 6 Sisalik inside the fighter craft."
We were now close enough that I could make out the small spaceship a bit better. It was hard to describe what it looked like, except to say that the movies didn’t seem to get it too wrong. The craft was slick, with no sharp points, only smooth edges that came to a rounded point at the tip. I could only assume that that tip was where the command deck was, but other than that, I had no idea what I could expect inside.
"Any suggestions?" I asked both Jun Li and my helmet. I was hoping that one of them would have the answer because I had no idea. After all, I was not the brains of this operation.
"Need more information," said my helmet.
"You can see if there is a slot by the ramp control panel that you can place the program in. It should get me into the system enough to be able to control the ramp."
"If you open the ramp with life forms inside then the probability of death is 100%," responded my helmet. For some reason, I was beginning to feel a bit redundant.
"That is the optimal outcome," said Jun Li, reassuring my helmet.
"Understood. Decreasing thrusters, coming to back ramp of fighter craft," said my helmet. I really felt like a child being stuck between my mom and dad as they had a conversation about me over my head but without my input.
My suit drifted along the side of the ship and I could see the six Sisalik sitting around what looked like a conference table in the middle of the fighter. There appeared to be a window at the top of the ship along with two long rectangular windows on each side. It really gave new meaning to a sunroof, that was for sure.
"Will they see me?" I asked out loud, not knowing who would answer.
"No, the matte black of your armor blends perfectly with the surrounding space. They cannot see you," said Jun Li in a reassuring manner. He really was trying to make me feel better after screwing me over.
"Would you like to engage camouflage mode?" asked the helmet, also adding her two cents to the issue.
"No need, as long as they can’t see me, there is no point in wasting power," I said shaking my head. I steered myself towards the back of the ship and saw the rear ramp that Jun Li was talking about.
"Prepare for magnetic hold. Initiating in 5...4...3...2...1."
All of a sudden, I was pulled towards the side of this ship. My fingers and the tips of my toes clung to the ship like a spider trying to climb up a wall.
"She can’t insert the disk with both hands stuck to the side," said Jun Li, sarcastically making a point.
"Right hand, disengage."
I was hoping for a countdown again, but as soon as my helmet finished her sentence, my right hand was flung away from the ship jerking my shoulder in its socket. "I need to know how to get in here!" I grumbled no longer as in awe with flying through space as I was an hour ago.
"Insert the program into the slot in the control panel," answered Jun Li as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious. I cannot see a control panel, let alone a slot to put the drive into," I snapped back, looking around the closed ramp for something that, in my mind was a control panel.
"What do you mean, you cannot see the control panel? Is your helmet deficient when it comes to vision?" asked Jun Li.
"Vision is set to 150%," snapped my helmet. I had originally thought that it was nothing more than a simple command program, but the more time Jun Li spent with it, the more it took on AI, and therefore human, characteristics. I didn’t know how happy I was with that idea.
