Chapter 33

Cora was finding it hard to breathe. She and Levi were both crammed into a utility closet that they had jumped into to avoid a squad of guards coming around the corner. She wriggled her arm free to get a look at the holo-map on her comm.

The image flashed up in the cramped space between them. "Looks like this corridor is clear," she said quietly. "If we can get to this block here, we should be able to access the vents." She highlighted the area they needed to head for.

Levi slid the door open a crack and double-checked the corridor. "All clear," he said, slipping through the gap in the door.

They sprinted down the corridor to an intersection and then pinned themselves against the wall to check that both directions were clear before they crossed to the next sector.

Cora paused to check the holo-map, and it was lucky she did. Squads were approaching from both directions. Have they locked on to our location?

"In here," she hissed, opening a door at random.

They both bolted through the door into a store room. Racks of ration packs and various equipment were neatly stacked on racks. "Some of this stuff looks useful," she said, stuffing ration packs into her pocket.

"Let's not hang around here," said Levi. "We need to get clear of this sector. Crew members are swarming everywhere here."

Cora flashed the holo-map back up. "Hey, look, there on the map. It's a service hatch, in the corner there. You think we can get through?"

The hatch itself was set low to the floor, and it was tiny—no more than a service point. It did not look designed for crawling through at all. They removed the grill and looked dubiously at the space they would have to crawl through.

"What do you think?" Cora asked. "Looks like it's only a few meters like this, and then it enters into the main service channel."

"I can try," he said, crouching down. "But it's going to be tight."

"Let me go first, and I can make sure."

"Okay, but be careful," he said with concern.

Cora squeezed herself into the gap. It was a little tight for comfort even for her, so it would be much harder for her big Lorr lover. She wriggled her way along the duct, using her comm as a flashlight. Just before it opened up into the main tunnel, the roof narrowed.

"Damn," she said. "How the hell will he get through that?"

She maneuvered her way into the wider tunnel and took a measurement of the narrow aperture with her comm. She wasn't sure how much room his horns would take up, but it looked like it could be close.

She made her way back to Levi and told him the bad news. "I've always wanted my horns to be bigger," he said. "I envied my older brothers for their horns. But sometimes I think they're more trouble than they're worth."

"Let's measure them," she said. "Just to be sure." She scanned his horns with her comm unit. "They're about two millimeters smaller than the gap. It's too close. Let's go around through the corridors." She pulled up the holo-map, but the situation outside their hiding place had gotten even more dire. Crew members prowled everywhere, or so it seemed.

"I've got to try it," he said. "I think I can do it."

Cora was dubious, but Levi insisted he at least try. She scrambled down the hatch first and wriggled into the tunnel beyond.

It seemed like ages before Levi came into sight inching his way through the cramped space. He already had no room to maneuver, and she seriously doubted he was going to make it through the last meter, which was even narrower.

"You're coming up on the tight bit," she warned. What if he gets stuck? What if he can't move? They'd be doomed, she realized.

"I don't know if this is a good idea," she said, panic rising up in her throat.

"I have to try," came the muffled reply from the tunnel.

All Cora could do was watch with bated breath as Levi inched his way through the mouth of the duct. He was slow and methodical, and for several moments, she truly believed she would have to run for help. But eventually, he made it.

If there had been room in the service tunnel, she would have thrown herself into his arms in relief. But even in the wider vent system, there was no space for bonding.

Progress after that was fast and safe. They had no problem finding their way with the holo-map guiding them, and before long they were at the escape pods. The area beyond was clear of all crew members. Not even a skeleton crew was there. So they slipped unseen through a service hatch.

"This way," said Cora, taking point.

She led them to the bay where the pods were stored and scanned the security pad with her comm set. It only took her moments to bypass the security system, and they were through into the airlock room that contained the small escape pod.

Levi climbed in and surveyed the controls. "Looks pretty standard," he said. "Can you do something to seal off this area after we eject?"

"Already working on it," she replied from the seat next to him while punching commands into the onboard computer system. "I can't find a cloaking system on this, which is a shame. We'll just have to take evasive action if they follow. I've tried to hide the launch from the mainframe, but I don't know if it will work."

"As long as we get a bit of a head start, we should be able to make it. I've just got to get this baby up to warp speed before they mobilize." Levi sounded more confident than Cora felt. She had disabled the warp drive on the mothership, so they shouldn't have problems with that. But she felt sure they would have emergency launch protocols for the other pods.

Levi turned to her. "Ready?

"Ready," she replied.

The doors opened onto dead space between solar systems, and the myriad stars looked distant and cold. The engines of the pod fired into life, and the pod ejected from the mothership.

"Unauthorized launch detected. Pod 364K12, respond," came a Jorvlen voice over the radio.

"That was quick," said Cora. "My launch masking obviously didn't work." She punched in more commands to the onboard. "Ah, there's the problem," she said, biting her lip in concentration. "They've got a tracker on board. Should have thought about that, I guess."

She swiftly disabled the tracking system, but it was too late. Several pods could be seen dropping away from the mothership.