CHAPTER 6
I spun the Sixty-Nine around and headed right back, towards whatever we were headed back towards. I couldn’t see them now. Just looked like empty space.
“Audrey, are you able to help Slinkie to target the main ships?”
“Yes, Captain. Thank you for acknowledging me as a separate but equal part of the ship.”
Great, I had the Emancipated Program on my hands. “Yes, fine, good. Trying to stay alive here, Audrey. Think you can help accommodate that desire?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Slink, calibrate the cannon for short, spraying shots. I want a machine gun, if you can do it.”
“If it’s a gun, I can do it, Nap.”
“Great. Fire when ready. Oh, and Audrey? Please feel free to let us know when we’re overstraining the engines again. Preferably before we’re less than a minute away from exploding.”
“Noted, Captain.” Well, at least the auto-helper still called me Captain. It hadn’t always been this uppity or demanding. Or capricious. At least, I considered sharing imminent destruction as late as possible to be capricious. Maybe Randolph found it sexy.
“Firing now, Nap.” The ship shook, but I could tell Slinkie had gotten the gun set up like I’d wanted. There was a steady stream of white bursts flying out towards nothing. The same nothing we were heading for at top speed.
“Nap, are you just planning on us going out in a blaze of glory?” Randolph sounded against the blaze of glory idea.
The laser shots hit. Explosions lit up in front of us. “Nope. I’m planning on playing chicken.”
“Isn’t that a sort of archaic choice?” Slinkie sounded just this side of freaked, even while firing. She must have estimated our chances at less than nil.
“Yep. Old and yet still effective. Right, Governor?”
“I don’t care for your insinuation, Alexander.”
“I’ll worry about it if we’re still alive in five minutes.” It’s hard to fly evasively while programming the hyper-drive at the same time, but the desire to survive and potentially have sex with Slinkie was a strong motivator.
Our laser shots were hitting and where they weren’t they were identifying escape options. There seemed to be a narrow space between two of the ships—if there was a net there, Slinkie had ripped it to shreds. But from the way the laser shots were sailing, it looked like empty space. And our only option.
I kept the Sixty-Nine at full speed, heading towards what I was hoping was one of the main ships. They weren’t firing at us much, more warning shots than shots intended to destroy. The Governor appeared to be right—they wanted the ship. My ship. No one was going to take my ship until they pried my cold, dead body out of the captain’s chair. Which was probably the idea, only the attackers might have been open to a warm, dead body. I was open to neither.
“Nap, what are you doing?” Randolph’s voice was moving up into the register where it seemed like he was trying to hit the high notes to cover the female singer’s part of the opera.
“Nap, I’m with Randolph. We’re going to hit the ship in a second.” Slinkie sounded stressed again.
“Slink, keep shooting. Randolph, shut up.”
“Ships are veering off to avoid head-on collision, Captain.” The auto-helper sounded calm. As always. Sadly, it didn’t make me relax. Then again, I was better under pressure.
At what I took to be the last possible second, based on laser hits, I jerked the Sixty-Nine to the left, spun sideways, and headed into what I was now actively praying was really a path through.
“Audrey, as soon as we’re through these other ships, I want you to let me know.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Nap, what are you doing?” Randolph’s voice was back to semi-masculine.
“A little trick I like to call ‘staying alive’.”
“We’re through the ships, Captain.”
“Hang on, gang.” I hit the hyper-drive button and we jumped.