The Invisible Planet

Part 4: Hijacked

"Please remain calm. Help is on the way."

Angeline winced at the pain in her head.

"Pl-l-ease remain calm. Help-p is on the way."

She opened her eyes, but they wouldn't focus.

"Please remain calm. Help is on-n-n the way."

The glitching voice was coming from her ComWatch. With a groan of frustration, she lifted her left arm and slammed it down against the floor. "Just die, already," she mumbled.

"Pl-l-ease remain calm. Help is on-n the way. Pl-l-ease r-remain calm. Help-p is on the way."

She pulled herself to her knees, grabbed the pistol from the closet, and fired a laser point blank into the center of the cursed device.

"Please remai—"

With a screech of rage, she pulled the trigger repeatedly until she felt the laser burn deep into her flesh. She gasped in pain and held her arm up, staring at the mangled — and quiet — ComWatch.

"Fucking finally," she muttered, getting to her feet with a wince.

"It came from this way," she heard a voice say from down the hall.

In a moment of panic, she pressed the button to close the cabin door — immediately realizing she'd made a mistake.

"Hey! Anyone in there?" a man was knocking on the other side.

"Look, the wires," said another.

She held the gun up toward the door.

It hissed open and both men jumped back in surprise, the first with his hands up, and the second on the floor.

"Close the door. Close the door!" the first one cried. The second one lurched for the pad and touched the wires again, and the door slid closed.

"Can she open it from the inside?" he asked worriedly.

"I don't know."

"One of us should warn the others."

"Shit," Angeline muttered. She turned to the control dashboard and looked over the lights on the clear glass. It was a public transport ship. Galactic law mandated enough escape pods for every life form on board. She could fly them past Glacia and jettison the passengers safely to the planet's surface.

She moved to switch the auto pilot off, blocked by a verification screen.

Scan Required

With a frustrated groan, she turned and pressed the button on the intercom. "This is your captain speaking," she said in as sweet and robotic sounding voice as she could. "Will the ship's attendant please report to the cabin? Thank you."

A moment later, there was a quiet, cautious knock.

"There's two wires beneath the touch pad," she said. "Touch the ends together to open the door. I don't want to hurt you, but I do have a gun, and I will shoot anyone who tries anything stupid."

The door slid open a moment later to reveal the terrified attendant held by her arms like a shield by one of the men who had opened the door earlier.

"Send her in and close the door," she ordered, waving the gun at them.

The man shoved the girl forward and the door slid closed. There were tears in her eyes.

"What's your name?" Angeline asked quietly.

"Emani," the girl answered.

"I'm Angeline, and I'm not gonna hurt you," she assured. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I just need to get past the reach of Azuri law."