The Gravediggers of Orpheus [5]
A Sci-fi flash fiction. An entry to the SciFriday.
In case you want to know what happened before…
[5]
“Hold on! We’re going down!” Derek shouted holding the steering wheel steady. The last few minutes had passed like a feverish nightmare. They’d been rammed by a Ghoul patrol ship. The Ghouls would not respond to the Vulture’s attempts to communicate. The dispatch’ couldn’t help either.
“Nobody attacks the Gravedigger ships! Idiots! Can’t they see we’re registered Gravediggers?!” Derek had screamed, whilst steering the old vessel away from the Government’s Ghoul ship.
If anybody, Derek could manage to save them from the attack; he was a top-notch pilot. He couldn’t avoid the Ghoul’s missiles; Vulture05 was too slow to manoeuvre. Derek did his best, but a blast hit the back of the ship, shaking it to the core.
“We’re going down!” Derek yelled, looking back. His team was tucked into their seats with safety belts, but what about doc Liz and the survivors?
No time to think. Derek steered the ship to an emergency landing.
“Impact in 3…2…1…” he bellowed.
He banged his head against the wheel from the ferocious impact.
The red emergency lights blinked when he opened his eyes.
“You alright, Cap?” Joe, one of the Gravedigger’s shook him, “the bots isolated the fire, but we ain’t flying today…”
“Yeah, must’ve passed out,” Derek turned to see his crew. Joe was as big guy, he seemed fine, but what about the rest?
“The Baby!” Derek exclaimed when he saw the guys were alright.
All got out of their seats and ran down the black-and-red blinking hallways. The doors kept swooshing. Derek himself rammed the ones stuck from the impact - nothing could stand in his way.
“Liz?! You okay?! The baby? Sophie?!” Derek cried out at the sight of the ship’s physician. He hugged her without a word.
“We’re all good! I got them to the operation room and fastened them into med beds.”
“Thank you!” Derek blurted and ran right past her into the operation room.
The baby, howling and wailing, was safely fastened in the incubator box. Sophie by her side strapped to a med bed.
He rushed to baby Annouk and took her out of the glass box. The little one calmed down instantly.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Derek held Annouk close to his heart.
He sat down on the side of Sophie’s bed.
“What was that, Captain?!”
“The Ghouls attacked us for no reason. Must’ve been some glitch in their system,” Derek murmured and looked down at the baby, yet again blushing. Damn, he was the Captain, why was he acting like a shy schoolboy?!
“You’re bleeding!” Sophie touched his forehead. Derek looked into her eyes but couldn’t say anything - even the impact of his ship hitting the ground didn’t make his heart pound as hard as Sophie’s touch.
Doc Liz entered.
“Come, Captain, let’s take care of you!”
“It’s nothing, Liz!”
“Come on, no one on this ship will be left bleeding as long as I’m alive!”
Derek wouldn’t dare to disobey the grey doc. He gave baby Annouk to her Mama and followed doc.
***
“I don’t think it’s just a glitch, Cap, the attack,” she said whilst taking care of Derek’s wound in the operation room 2.
“What else could it be, Liz? The Ghouls are idiots.”
“No… I hate to say it, but I have my suspicions. It’s about Sophie…”
“What are you saying?” Derek frowned.