Toll had slept in the crew and guest
quarters of the recycler station more times than he could count. It
was most likely the closest thing he had to a home. It was past
midnight surface time and the station was quiet. He had been sitting
on his bunk for hours going over every aspect of the plan. The worst
part about this was the plan could be summed up thusly: 1. Plug ring
command console into Rusty's dad's cruiser. 2. Make a run for the
ring. 3. If successful, see what was on the other end of the tunnel.
Still, he ran through each moment of the process in his mind and then
he ran through the plan backwards. The high orbit flight restrictors
would not be in range of the ring between three thirty and four am.
And so far every part of the plan had worked perfectly. He was awake
on time, mostly because he had not slept. He had made his way without
incident to the docking bay where Rusty had parked his father's
cruiser . He dropped into the pilot seat and initiated engine start.
Instead of the intense high performance hum of the engines starting,
a video message popped up. It was Rusty's father.
“Rusty! You bring my cruiser back
right now! I don't care what time it is! In fact, no! Don't touch
anything! I'm having a tow service come get the cruiser and bring it
back! You can find your own way home!” The video message went dark
and Toll scrambled out of the ship and practically ran to Rusty's
bunk.
“Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup!” and
vigorous shaking is what Rusty woke up to.
“Toll, what the hell? Aren't you
supposed to be gone by now?” Rusty wiped sleep from his eyes and
sat up on his elbows.
“That was the plan but your dad has a
remote lock on the cruiser engines, which is NOT the plan!” Rusty
sat up so fast he hit his head on the bottom of the bunk above him.
“What do you want me to do about it?
I told you he would never let me take it.” Rusty tried to roll over
and go back to sleep. Toll forced Rusty to roll back over and face
him again.
“I need you to come and disable the
engine lock so I can go.” Toll smiled a very fake smile.
“And go with you on your stupid
adventure that's going to get you five to ten in prison? NO!” Rusty
rolled back over again.
“Please Rusty, this is my only
chance! You can take my space suit and hop out before I take off,
then just tell everyone that I kidnapped you and stole the ship.”
Rusty crossed his arms and put a weak pout on his face. His
resistance lasted less than ten seconds.
“Fiiiiine.” Rusty surrendered. Toll
jumped up with excitement.
“I knew I could count on you!”
Rusty nodded and grabbed his shoes. Toll grabbed him by the hand and
dragged him out of the room. “Shoes are useless in zero gravity,
come on!” The pair race out of the room.
Back in the cruiser Rusty sat in the
passenger seat working through the computer interface. He was in the
zone, zooming through screen after screen. Toll waited nervously. His
suit communications activated and Mew's sleepy voice came through
clear.
“Toll, do I want to know why there's
a tow service requesting access to the bay you're in right now?”
Toll grabbed at the collar of the suit Rusty was wearing, choking him
away from the interface.
“Mew! Nothing to worry about! Total
misunderstanding!” He did everything he could think of to stress
the calm in his voice, which just made him sound more stressed.
“Yeah, right. I'm coming down there.
The automated defense systems are on, don't go anywhere.” The
channel went silent and Rusty laughed.
“Great plan man.” his fingers
flying over the screen.
“I hate you.” Toll ran out of the
ship.
“Where are you going?” Rusty
yelled.
“Buy us some time!” Toll yelled
back.
