Tic Toc Chapter 1

Chapter 1
The soft soles of her shoes made little sound as she carefully moved down the corridor. Jakes heavier boots made a small thump with each step, but still they managed to remain unnoticed as they moved through the ship. They were near the dining room now, it was the most dangerous part of the mission, but the timing was set, everyone should be either eating or at their work stations.

The central spine corridor went the length of the ship, broken in a number of points by airlock doors and monitored by cameras all the way through, people were continuously moving through. Staying out of it had been difficult to plan, they had used the basic design layout, but after spending a few days on the ship, it was obvious that this craft had been altered significantly since it first left the build dock. It took another week of wandering around to figure out the new plan, and they were still uncertain about the secure area and the escape pods.

“Last turn” Jake whispered.

For the 5th time Marle sighed in frustration and slightly shook her head, Jake just didn’t understand that things that might have worked in jungles and urban battles would just make them seem more obvious here. They couldn’t creep around looking suspicious, they needed to look like they belonged, and they did. They both had valid tickets and cabins, they just weren’t here for a holiday like their passports said, it was about business, all business.

Glancing around the corner Marle spotted a camera above the hatch she reached into her bag for her PDA with which she took an image of the camera. Selecting the cameras lense on the image she then beamed a design for a sticky aerofoil onto the film with its target imprinted, it only took seconds for the nano film to transform, and she flicked it into the air where it flew directly to the lense which it folded over. They waited 3 minutes for an image to be absorbed then Marle beamed an instruction up to the film. It began to display for the lense an empty corridor as Marle and Jake walked up to the hatch unobserved. Setting her PDA against the controls of the door, it’s lock pick program ran and there was a quiet click as the door unlocked.

Moving into the room, Jake headed straight for the white boxes with the large Red Cross on them. He quickly checked the item number against the one he’d been given and began to fit them into his back pack. Marle moved around looking at the other goods in the secure area. There was a case marked with the Diamond Merchants Seal, and another with the Technology Group Seal, she quickly tucked those into her bag and Jake was ready to go.

“Are you right?” she asked

“Yeah” Jake grunted as he set the bulging back pack more firmly on his shoulders, “but let’s not take too long, I want this out of here”

Marle led the way out the hatch relocking the door behind them, when they had turned the corner she beamed back with her PDA, and the nano film slipped off the lense then dissolved into the atmosphere as it fell toward the ground.

Back through the ship they went, carefully moving through the outer corridors until they came to the nearest escape pod. Marle opened the hatch and slipped in, Jake quickly following. Moving to the controls Marle connected her PDA to the AI control and started altering the commands to let the capsule drop out of hyperspace so it could be picked up by their own ship the “Goanna”.

“Right, that should be it, time for dinner” she sighed and they moved back to the hatch, only to find it closed and locked.

A solid clunking sounded and they felt the pod lurch as it was released by the ship.

“Aaargh” Jake cried “Belt in, I have been through this before, it is going to hurt when the boosters kick in”

Strapping in, Marle tried to work out what had gone wrong; she knew that she had set the timer for the launch to go off in 3 hours time, while Jake and her were to be dancing in the lounge with a very obvious alibi. This didn’t make sense. The escape pod lurched then stopped. Marle and Jake looked at each other; Jakes left eyebrow rising as he waited for her to explain what was going on.

“ATTENTION THE ESCAPE POD” a voice boomed out of the speaker. “you have no reason to be in that pod, and we will not be recovering you back to the ship, until we dock. You are under arrest for piracy and theft. We have been following you since you broke the seal on the secure area. Clever bit of work that, we wouldn’t have known you were there but for our backup systems”.

Marle and Jake looked at each other and started to unbuckle, “Aaargh,” she cried, I think I am having a fit, and my medicine is in my cabin, you have to get me back or I will die”

“Oh my gods” Jake said urgently, “she is turning purple, quick bring us back, quick”

“We have a video feed inside that capsule” the voice said with a trace of amusement, “you will be remaining there”