Chapter Seven ~ The Space Station

 
 
After they disembarked from the spaceship, Carolyn followed Reed across the giant docking bay and through some double doors and down a long hallway. There were scores of people dressed in military uniforms all looking like they had something very important to do. A few nodded in acknowledgment to her as she scurried after Reed who was practically running. He finally got to a large office and stopped long enough for her to catch her breath.
 
 The room was filled with high ranking senior officers all lounging around, drinking coffee, eating donuts, chatting with each other. Reed scooped three pastries off the counter, poured some coffee, and threw himself on the sofa. “Oh, help yourself” he called out gesturing to her. She supposed he had forgotten she was with him.
 
 She grabbed two doughnuts and a cup of coffee. She looked around for a place to sit and the only open spot was at a folding table across the room. She wandered over pretending she wasn't freaking out and sat down and began stuffing the sugary sweetness into her mouth. It was of course at this moment that a two-star general headed over to ask if she was the new pilot.
 
 Sputtering and trying to choke down what she had just bitten off, she stood, saluted, and nodded. “Yes sir”. Doughnut bits flew everywhere. “Sorry sir.”
 
 He put up his hand “No worries Major, we're just glad that you're here. I thought we were going to have a hard time getting another pilot so quickly. Or at all for that matter after the incident yesterday.”
 
 That again.
 
 “Well, no one really filled me in on anything that happened other than a pilot was needed and sent me.”
 
 The general shook his head. “Yes, it was quite an unfortunate series of events. Lost the pilot and the load of cargo as well. Luckily though there was no real damage to the outside of the mothership. Maybe a scorch mark from the explosion but otherwise it's just business as usual. But in any case, glad you're able to be here and fill in the gap. We've got a deadline to meet before the whole place shuts down for maintenance in three days so we need to get as much merchandise up and out of here as possible. Now enjoy those donuts.” And off he went to make small talk with the other generals.
 
 Carolyn wasn't sure which was more disturbing. The fact he just called this place the “mothership” or how he completely dismissed the crashing death of a pilot as if it was nothing more than a broken dish or lost key. Suddenly the doughnut wasn't nearly as appetizing and she began to wonder what was happening with Lucas. She left the rest of her food untouched and went in search of someplace private that she could try to get a hold of him.
 
 She casually wandered into a side room that was dark and quiet and closed the door after making sure no one was paying attention to her. Inside she pulled the walkie out of her pocket, stuck in the earbud, and started clicking at the button. Just a couple of clicks to alert him and then wait for an answer.
 
 Almost immediately Lucas answered, “Can you talk?” he asked.
 
 “Yes,” she whispered loud enough for him to hear her but not so loud as to be heard outside of the room. “Where are you?”
 
 “Somewhere on the same level that we landed on. I'm in a cage.”
 
 “What? You're in a cage? What kind of a cage? Can you get out?” She heard talking in the background and Lucas mumbling something about yes, whoever it was could have a go at the walkie when he was done with it.
 
 “Lucas? Who's there with you?”
 
 His voice came back clearer. “I'm stuck in here with a bunch of the affected. They all woke up once we got stuck in these cages. Now they're all smiling and asking me questions like how has my day been so far and what are my plans for later.”
 
 “What did you tell them?”
 
 “I've let them know my day so far has been shitty and my plans for later are somewhat limited. What do you mean what did I tell them? They don't care. They don't even know they are in a cage.”
 
 “Ugh you're right, that was dumb. Can you get out?”
 
 “No, I can't get out. I'm locked in and so are hundreds of other people. Maybe thousands. But I'm the only one who seems to care.”
 
 “Do you know what they are doing with all of you?”
 
 “No clue so far but I gotta get out of here before whatever it is that's happening to these people happens to me too.” There was a commotion in the background and Lucas whispered “I gotta go” and then silence.
 
“Lucas? Lucas, are you there? Crap Crap Crap” Carolyn shoved the walkie back into her pocket and snuck back out into the break room. No one seemed to have noticed her absence. Her head was spinning. How was she supposed to rescue Lucas when she didn't know where he was? This was supposed to be a fact-finding mission. They were supposed to find facts and then high tail it out of there. No one had given a thought to what was going to happen if someone got locked in a cage.
 
 She searched out Reed who was busy telling a story about how the group he was with had taken out some of the unaffected on their way to the airport today. Telling how he personally found them and led the chase until they were “all laid out on the highway”. He and his buddies were laughing about it when Carolyn interrupted them. She was trying hard not to show her disgust. “Ah, here is our new top gun pilot now,” Reed said, motioning her to come and sit among them.
 
 “Yes hello,” she remained standing but nodded at the group of men “Um, I was wondering when we were going to be making a return trip?”
 
 Reed checked his watch “Probably we'll be taking the next transport back once it arrives. So I'm guessing maybe four hours? Do you have someplace to go? Maybe a hot date back on the planet? And if not I'm sure one of these fine gentlemen could arrange something.” He laughed loudly as did the men he was sitting with.
 
 She smiled and laughed along with them while telling them to go fuck off in her head.
 
 “Oh no, nothing like that. I was wondering how long I've got to rest up here. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night so I wanted to see if there was enough time for a power nap.”
 
 “Oh of course, yes yes plenty of time.”
 
 “Is there a place I could go where it's quiet?”
 
 “Down the hall, there are some barracks specifically for us. Out the door and take a left. Down a few hallways on the right.”
 
 “Thank you.” she again nodded “Gentlemen, it was nice meeting you.”
 
 She walked away mumbling it would be nicer to throw them out an airlock.
 
 She casually left the room and headed down the hallway. Mostly keeping her head down so as not to have to interact with anyone.
She stopped at an intersection and something brushed up against her leg. Startled, she looked down and saw a bright red metal container with 2 wheels. A door on the top slid open and a bright blue light scanned her briefly.
"Sorry Human" , it said in a loud computer voice.
The door closed again and the giant bread box rolled off down the hallway.
She stood blinking after it until she shook herself back into reality and continued on. When she made it to the room with the beds she slipped inside and looked around. Thankfully no humans or talking metal things were in there. She grabbed the walkie and clicked it several times. Nothing. After a second set of clicks was also met with silence she realized she was going to have to go and see if she could find Lucas on her own. She peeked around the corner and seeing no one was in sight, she headed further down the hallway trying to keep a questioning look on her face so if someone asked her why she was there she could say she was lost.
 
                                 ****

Back in the "people pound" Lucas stood surrounded by smiling, happy affected people. Making small talk about nothing and shaking hands with each other. The holes were big enough between the cages that they could include their neighbors in the festivities as well.
 
 He hung up on Carolyn because floodlights that were hanging on the ceiling came on and on the far wall large doors swung open and the room began filling up with people. They all began filing down the aisles, stopping to look into the cages, talking amongst themselves. A number of the groups had military men walking with them but Lucas could not make out who was who and could not hear anything they were saying.
 
 He kept tucked in the middle of his group watching what was happening. Everyone kept moving closer and closer until he heard a group coming down his aisle. He strained to see who it was without looking obvious. There was the voice of someone who was definitely speaking English, then another voice speaking an unfamiliar language. There was a pause then a computer voice spoke, in English again. This went on for at least 10 minutes as whoever it was leisurely made their way towards his cell. As they got closer he kept listening to the strange voice and trying to decipher what language it was. It flowed almost musically with no guttural sounds like Russian or German. But definitely not a Spanish or Italian dialect. He could just make out the English speaker telling whoever it was that “these were some of the finer examples of the day's offerings” then the other person saying something and then the computer voice coming back with a negative comment that they were looking for bigger examples. Much bigger.
 
 As they came into view Lucas suddenly realized why he couldn't make out the other person's language. Because it wasn't a person. It was an alien. Yes, a real “oh Holy Mother of God” alien. It didn't look too terribly different from a human. But there was a certain set to the eyes and placement of the ears and size of the nose that was absolutely not human. There were two of them strolling along with the actual human whose badge identified him as Captain Eyland. They were peering into the cages, poking at the people inside who were reaching out and offering up a handshake. One of them asked (via the voice translator device the Captain was carrying) if they had another holding area with bigger merchandise. BIG BIG he repeated holding his hand up above his own head (Lucas assumed this was male but really had no context in which to make an educated guess).
 
 Captain Eyland explained that these were the average size and while he might be able to handpick some larger specimens, there really wasn't anything substantially larger. But assured them that they were strong and able to carry out whatever work the buyer had in mind. The one alien made a facial expression that Lucas guessed was a frown and waved at the Captain's translator indicating he wanted him to turn it off. The captain nodded and clicked a button with his thumb. The second alien began chattering away moving his head in odd motions while the first one mirrored the movement back at him. They went back and forth a couple of times then motioned towards the translator and Eyland clicked the button again. This time when alien number one talked the device began to repeat his words in its expressionless voice.
 
 “We were under the impression that there would be bigger models. We need very large individuals for the work. And certainly no females. There does not appear to be anything that will meet our needs. We will take our business elsewhere. Thank you for your hospitality.”
 
 Eyland looked slightly disappointed. He said he could look into it and maybe find something more to their liking, but they had already turned and were quietly moving down the aisle away from him. He hurried after them and soon they were all out of sight.
 
 Before Lucas even had time to process what he just heard another group rounded the corner and stopped at the cage next to him. Captain Walton was conversing with a set of different looking aliens who also were close to human form except they had some sort of tattoo or spots or something he couldn't quite make out running along their hairline and down their necks. As they were gesturing he could see they had the same spots on the back of their hands too. Their eyes were absolutely colorless which gave them a haunting appearance. They were very interested in the younger people. The computer voice emotionlessly told Captain Walton they would be interested in taking as many younger specimens as possible. That their ship could hold probably fifty. They were pleased with what they had seen so far.
 
 As that group continued down the aisle, another set of looky-loos wandered past. This time it was someone who didn't even look old enough to be in the military helping the distinctly non-human shoppers. This group (there were at least four of them but they were standing so close to one another it was hard to tell) had a distinct blue tint to their skin, three fingers on the end of their arms and something close to light blue hair growing out of the top of their head and fixed into a complicated bun.
Lucas felt like he needed to faint or scream or any other number of emotions welling up inside of him but he knew if he did anything it would alert the others to the fact he wasn't like everyone else in here so he blinked very hard, bit the inside of his cheek and tried to breathe calmly and quietly. This group was going on about how they needed smaller “specimens” because the mines where they were going to be used had very small tunnels. They preferred full-grown “specimens” so they wouldn't get too big and then become worthless. Their helper assured them they could sort out some small “specimens” that would stay within the specified size range. The group all spoke at once so the translator could not seem to keep up with them so it simply kept spitting out different words that were not in any logical order. They continued down the aisle with their helper trying to get them to speak only one at a time.
 
 Lucas's mind was reeling. Aliens... ALIENS were buying people. And it didn't sound like they wanted them to keep them for company on the couch while they watched a movie. He thought back to when Rob made a joke that they were all going to end up picking cotton on some distant planet and realized that he was totally correct. These aliens who were in command of this ship were slave traders. And the humans of earth were their latest commodity.
 
 Were they going to sell every single human on the planet? Or when interest ran out would they put everybody back who hadn't been sold? He desperately wanted to call Carolyn but knew he couldn't risk it.
 
 He pushed his way to the back of the cage and leaned into the corner. He didn't think he could take any more of this without losing what was left of his sanity.
 
                                      ****
 
Meanwhile, Carolyn carefully wandered the hallways. Trying to look like she belonged and wasn't searching for something she shouldn't be searching for but ready to say she was lost if someone questioned her. There weren't many people though and the ones she passed seemed too busy in whatever paperwork they were looking at to pay her any mind. She saw a few more rolling red boxes but since she didn't bump into them they didn't feel the need to scan her and apologize.
 
It wouldn't be a stretch to say she was lost because she wasn't sure she could find her way back to where she was supposed to be at this point. She was trying to do a grid search but she couldn't keep track of how many hallways and corridors she had gone down. After she estimated she had been searching for the better part of an hour she started hearing voices down a passageway that she thought she had already searched. As she headed in that direction the voices got louder and louder until they were right around the corner and sounded like they were coming her way. She looked around and tried a door which opened and she ducked inside. The bottom of the door had a large vent and looking around she realized it was a utility closet with brooms and cleaning supplies. She backed up behind a metal shelf as the voices passed by. And then they stopped. Directly outside. She couldn't hear them too well so she crept closer to the door trying to be as quiet as possible.
 
 The first man was going on about how much longer this whole operation was going to take. He was ready for this all to be over and was concerned that his family back in California was actually going to be OK as promised. The lady he was talking to said he shouldn't worry because everything so far had gone as planned.
 
 “What if they don't follow through with their side of the bargain?” he asked.
 
 “Why wouldn't they? They promised us that if we cooperated then our families wouldn't be harvested. That's why they got sent away before all this started.”
 
 “But what if this gas has some long term effects? How do we know everyone will be OK years down the line? My wife was pregnant when this thing started. That's one of the reasons I agreed to help them. To assure safety for her and the baby. But after seeing how many people they are taking I'm totally second-guessing my whole going along with this thing.”
 
 “And what was your choice? Stand up for what we both know is wrong and get sent off to some other world and have, who the hell knows what happen, to us? Sometimes you have to do what's wrong to save yourself.”
 
 “That sounds an awful lot like the 'I was just following orders' excuse.”
 
 “Just take your daily pill and shut up before someone hears you talking like this.”
 
 “Yeah and another thing, obviously those pills aren't foolproof. Look what happened to that pilot yesterday. He was just doing his job, flying that shuttle and suddenly his pill wore off and he started rambling a bunch of nonsense over the com and then he ran that thing right into the side of the ship. Blew up on contact and took everybody with it. I don't know, man, this whole thing is just too weird for me. I just want to do my job and go back home and get back to a normal life.”
 
 “Is there going to be a normal life after all this? I don't really think so.” The lady sighed deeply then they started walking again.
 
 After their voices faded away, Carolyn opened the door and checked to make sure the hallway was empty then continued on towards where the pair had come from. She walked two more corridors and suddenly as she turned a corner she noticed several pairs of double doors open to a huge well-lit room with a commotion coming from inside. She couldn't figure out how she hadn't heard anything before but now there were voices talking over voices and as she approached the opening she realized that this was where Lucas had to be. She saw row after row of cages all filled with people. Just like Lucas said. She stood in utter disbelief. She didn't think anything was going to surprise her anymore but unfortunately, she kept being wrong about that.
 
She didn't know what to do except take a deep breath and head straight into the commotion. "Head up and look confident" she repeated to herself several times. She entered the room pretending she was supposed to be there. She quickly walked down a few aisles and turned right, walked down another couple of aisles, took a left then slowed down a bit so she could take in what she was seeing. Literally hundreds of people caged like animals in every direction. And if what she heard was true, then these people were all slated for “harvesting” (was that the word the lady used?) by aliens and being shipped off to someplace else. And all the humans working with them knew about it. They KNEW about it. What was she going to do? How was she going to find Lucas before they "harvested" him?
 
 She was so busy trying to work it all out in her head that she barely noticed that there were several groups of people wandering in her direction. Stopping to look into the cages, chatting then moving on. She looked over and was about to smile when she got a really good look at who was there. Not humans. Definitely not humans. But there was a human in each group. Just walking with them, holding some sort of device. Like it was the most normal thing in the world. She had to turn around quickly so as not to give away the fact that she was feeling a bit like she was going to faint. At that moment her pocket crackled twice and she grabbed for the walkie to keep it from bringing attention to her.
 
 She plugged her earbud in and turned away from the group behind her and whispered “Lucas are you OK? I'm in the room with cages.”
 
 “Yes, so far I'm OK. All the people I'm in here with won't shut up so it doesn't look weird that I'm talking to no one. If you're in here have you seen the um... well what I think are... you know... aliens?”
 
 “Yes yes, oh my god. We have to get you out of here. Where are you?”
 
 “I don't know. Somewhere in the middle of all this. I don't know how I'm going to get out. The door is locked. A few minutes ago someone came and took 2 whole cages of people out and away. The guy told them they were going to eat so they all followed him but I know that's not what they were doing. Just before that one of the aliens pointed out that they wanted the whole cage of them and then the guy came and took them so now they're gone and I don't want to get sent away on some alien ship.”
 
 “Relax. It'll be OK. I won't let that happen. But I've got to think. Figure out a plan. Lemme get back to you in a few minutes. Hang tight.” She clicked off her walkie before someone wondered what she was doing. One of the ladies in the cage right in front of her was listening and smiling. “We're going to go eat soon too,” she said. “Are you hungry? You could come and eat with us.”
 
 “Oh thank you,” Carolyn said. “But I ate already. You enjoy yourself now.” And she turned and hurried down the aisle.
 
 Now she was thoroughly lost in the sea of cages and she was surrounded by groups of aliens with their human helpers. She was trying to avoid them so they wouldn't ask her questions but they were pretty engrossed with their shopping so it was easy to slip from row to row looking for Lucas. She couldn't stay here all day because if she didn't show up to fly back to earth they were going to come looking for her. She was already worried they were going to find out she wasn't “the pilot” they were expecting. She decided she would give herself another half an hour to search then she'd have to head back and work out a different plan.
 
 What different plan she asked herself. You don't have a plan if you find him now. She hushed herself and kept looking, trying to use the grid approach again. The minutes ticked by and nothing. There was just too much ground to cover. Suddenly her walkie crackled and Lucas' panicked voice whispered in her ear.
 
 “They're coming for me. Some aliens were just in front of this cage and said they wanted us. US! That includes ME! The Captain sent for one of those guys to get us ready to go. I don't know what to do. I don't know how I'm going to stay calm enough for them not to notice me.”
 
 “I'll save you, don't worry, I'll figure it out somehow. Just stay calm. I'll go to the front where they are walking the groups out and see what I can do.”
 
 “Oh no, here he comes. The guy is coming to take us” and then the walkie went silent.
 
 Carolyn headed towards what she hoped was the front without looking like she was lost and rushing. She smiled absently and nodded at several people trying to keep the panicked look off her face.
 
She found the front doors and slipped outside and around the corner to wait. Several groups of affected came through before she saw the group Lucas was in. Everyone he was with was just shuffling along completely oblivious to their fate. Lucas saw her and she noted that his eyes were wide with panic and he was trying to walk very slowly, probably hoping he could drop out of line unnoticed. Two guards were watching each group, one at the front and one in the rear so that was not likely to happen.
 
 Carolyn casually started wandering along and struck up a conversation with one of the guards from Lucas' group.

“So are all of these guys on their way directly to a ship?” she checked his badge “Randy?”
She hoped she just sounded curious and not nosy. The guard smiled broadly at her and just seemed happy that she was talking to him. “Oh no, ma'am. They go to a holding room first. We get them prepared for transport then another team comes in and loads them.”
Carolyn was livid with the way this guy was talking about people like they were nothing more than merchandise. Not humans with lives, family, feelings. But she choked the anger down and continued to chat. This time a little louder. “So what do you do for a distraction around here?” She emphasized the word distraction so Lucas could clearly hear it. “I mean you have to take some time off right? Is there a place you can go when you need a DIVERSION?” If this guy had a brain in his head he would have noticed the emphasis she was putting on certain words but he just kept talking like nothing was weird.
 
 “Well, they have a rec room back near the hangar. They've got pool tables and tables where you can play cards. I think there's a basketball hoop too. They even have a big screen TV to watch some movies. First-run movies even.”
 
 “Wow, that sounds fantastic. You know cause sometimes you need a way to DISTRACT yourself.” She locked eyes with Lucas over Randy's shoulder. Then suddenly his eyes widened and he held up one finger. Then he slowly reached down to his pocket and pulled something out. She looked at his hand and he was holding two small glass vials and a couple of round balls with what looked like fuses sticking out of them. She had no idea what they were. Lucas waved his hand in front of his wrinkled up nose and then mouthed the word “bomb”.
 
 Carolyn looked back at Randy who was still going on about the things to do on his time off. She plastered an interested expression on her face and nodded and mumbled something about how fascinating that sounded. She kept an eye discreetly on Lucas who was digging around in his pocket again, trying to stay as hidden as possible. He pulled something out and started fumbling with whatever he was holding. Suddenly bright pink smoke started pouring out of his hand. She saw him toss what she assumed was a smoke bomb then fumble around some more until purple smoke started mixing with the pink. The giant cloud of colors enveloped everything. Guards started yelling and coughing and running around.
 
Lucas scooted through the group over to Carolyn who was gagging. “I've got stink bombs too,” he said, “head for the hallway and don't breathe.”
 
He threw the glass vials onto the floor and stepped on them hard with the heel of his boot.
 
Even though Carolyn had taken a breath, she couldn't hold it very long because of all the smoke. When she gasped for more oxygen the smell hit her and she gagged uncontrollably. Lucas grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the hallway. There was widespread confusion as the guards were trying to corral the affected who had started dancing around, hooting and hollering and grabbing at the guards and swinging them in circles like they were square dancing. Carolyn could hear Randy yelling for someone to do something, and someone else screaming about the smell, and another voice calling for the area to be put on lockdown.
 
They were running away from the commotion just as everyone else was running towards it. There was so much chaos no one was paying attention to them.

“How do we get to the shuttle?” Lucas asked, sucking wind pretty hard.

“I have no idea” Carolyn huffed back. I can't remember how I got here.”
 
 “Wonderful!"
 
 They kept running straight down the hall bumping into people going the opposite way. Suddenly Lucas tripped and fell. As he was scrambling to get up, Carolyn realized he had run right into a box with wheels. This one was bright green. Its top door opened, the blue light scanned him and she could hear the computer voice say "Sorry Human". Lucas stood staring at it.
"What the hell was that?"
"Ignore it and keep going," Carolyn urged as she grabbed him by the arm."Do you have any idea how to get back to the ship?"
“I'm pretty sure if we just keep going this will take us there.” Lucas managed to get out.
 
 “I hope so. What are we going to do once we are there? I don't think I can fly that thing all by myself.”
 
“We'll figure it out then, just keep going.”
 
 And they did keep going. Hallway after hallway until somehow they ran right into the hanger bay. There were very few people in there as most of them had gone to see what all the commotion was about. They stopped long enough to get their bearings and find their shuttle and headed towards it and ran right up the ramp. Once inside they took a deep breath and tried to gather their thoughts.
 
 “Now what,” Lucas asked? “I'm a fugitive.”
 
 “Well, no one knows you're a fugitive. They don't know who set all that stuff off. For all they know it was a prank by one of the guards.”
 
 “True, but what about you?”
 
“I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be,” she said. “At my shuttle ready to go back to earth. But we need to hide you. I don't know if any guards are going to be coming back with us. Are there any cargo areas in the cabin?”
 
 “I don't know. I'll check. Watch the door to make sure no one comes up here.”
 
Carolyn turned to the door to keep watch when suddenly her stomach did a double flip as she saw Reed heading up the ramp. “Shit, shit shit... Lucas! Reed is coming. HIDE!” She fake whispered but it was too late Reed was walking through the door. He stopped at the entrance and looked from Carolyn to Lucas “What's going on here? Who is this? Isn't this the guy who they saw running away from the chaos near the holding pens? Are you helping him?” He stepped inside and put his hand on his sidearm.
 
 Carolyn looked from Lucas to Reed and back again. She couldn't think fast enough. Should she deny everything? Admit to everything? There wasn't enough time to think. “This isn't what it looks like,” she stammered.
 
 Reed moved his hand from the gun to his walkie and pulled it off his belt. “I think we better report this and find out exactly what it does look like. I have a feeling you are in some serious trouble, girlie.” As he lifted the walkie to his mouth and turned to walk out of the cabin, Lucas hit him in the head with a fire extinguisher that had been hanging on the wall next to the cockpit. Reed crumpled like a rag doll.
 
 “Get him and pull him inside before someone sees us,” Lucas said as he grabbed one of Reeds' legs and started yanking. Carolyn picked up the other leg and between the two of them they dragged him into the cabin, his head bumping the door frame on the way and Carolyn closed the door.
 
 “Oh lord that was quick thinking,” she said, reaching down to make sure Reed was still alive. “But now what? We are literally sitting ducks here. And what are we going to do with him?”
 
 “You can't fly this thing at all?”
 
 “I've watched Reed fly it up here but I didn't understand most of what he was doing. This thing isn't exactly like the planes I fly. And again I ask, what about him?” She pointed to Reed who looked like he was going to be taking a nap for quite a long time.
 
 “I don't know. I didn't think that far in advance. I just knew that we couldn't let him contact anyone. It was a knee jerk reaction. I've never actually hit anyone before. I mean I almost hit Rob with a loaf of bread when we first met but that was different and I only threatened him.”
 
 Carolyn stared at him with a perplexed look on her face. This really was going from bad to worse. “OK, just be quiet for a minute and let me figure this out.” She lowered her head, closed her eyes as tightly as she could, and tapped her forehead with her finger repeating “think think think” over and over again.
 
 Suddenly she looked up. “OK, I've got an idea. No idea if it'll work or not but we gotta try something.” She hurried into the cockpit and came back with a fatigue jacket and tossed it at him. "Put this on and help me get him up.”
 
 “What are we doing?” Lucas asked, pulling the jacket over his shirt.
 
 “Just follow my lead and let's hope no one notices that you aren't completely dressed.”
 
 Carolyn slid open the cabin door then grabbed Reed under his arms and had Lucas do the same. They hauled him out and down the ramp. There was almost no one in the hangar bay. Everyone was probably still where all the commotion had been. Carolyn looked around for someone to call to as they were dragging him. She spotted a guard and hollered “Help” loud enough to get his attention.
 
 The guard came running over “What happened Major?”
 
"Captain Reed collapsed just as he was entering the shuttle,” she said. "I don't know what happened. I think he hit his head when he fell.” She kneeled next to him acting as if she was trying to wake him up.
 
 The guard grabbed his walkie and called for help. Lucas tried to look as nonchalant as possible but he was mostly just impressed with the act Carolyn was putting on. A colonel and his aide came running out of one of the hallways.
 
 “What happened? Does this have anything to do with what happened near the holding cells?”
 
 “No,” Carolyn said, “He and I are supposed to be flying back to Earth and just as he got into the cabin he fainted and hit his head.”
 
 “I've alerted sickbay and they are on their way here. Might take them a few minutes because there were several injuries from that incident. Smoke inhalation and the like.”
 
 “I'm not fully proficient in flying the shuttle, sir. Is there someone who can fly back with me?”
 
 “Oh, no need for that Major. There is an autopilot that will do the whole thing for you. It's designed in case of an in-flight emergency. It's programmed to take over if it detects trouble. It's not 100% foolproof, as we found out yesterday." He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. "But that's neither here nor there. There is a large red triangle directly overhead where you sit. Slip your flight key into it and it will engage immediately. Push the flashing button on the console and sit back and it will take you right back to your home base.” He shook his head a bit. “Not sure why it didn't take over yesterday but I'm sure that was just a fluke.”
 
 Carolyn was trying to think fast again. A flight key? She didn't have one of those. She looked down at Reed and saw a small bunch of what looked like plastic discs hanging from his belt. They were attached by a clip and possibly accessible if no one was looking.
 
 “Well thank you, sir,” she said, starting to get up then she pretended to slip and fall directly on top of Reed. Her whole body landing on his torso. “Oh my gosh, I'm so clumsy." As she struggled to get her footing she reached down and unhooked the discs and slid them into her pocket. All the men standing around grabbed for her and scooped her up.
 
 “OH thank you, gentlemen,” she said, brushing herself off. “This day has just been so stressful.”
 
 The group all agreed there was nothing to worry about and asked her if she was OK again. “Oh yes. I'm much more worried about poor Captain Reed. You all get him to where he needs to go and I'll get on with my duties. I'll be sure to check on him when I get back. Tell him I'm thinking about him and sending good thoughts.”
She backed away smiling and then turned and shoved Lucas towards the shuttle making sure he was in front of her the whole time. They got to the top of the ramp and hurried inside and she quickly slid the door closed and bolted it. She went into the cockpit and located the red triangle just where the colonel said it would be. She fumbled with the ring of discs and tried each one until the small red one slid into the slot and the whole ship started to vibrate. She searched the console and found a flashing red button and shoved it probably harder than she needed to. The ship started to rumble and slowly began to back out of its parking place.The loading ramp got shoved out of the way, rocked back and forth and almost fell over.
 
No one seemed to notice as they were all still hovering over Reed who thankfully still looked completely passed out.
 
 “Lucas, sit down and buckle up, we're about to blast out of here.”
 
 Lucas appeared at the cockpit door. “Can I sit up here with you?”
 
 “Help yourself but hurry up, you don't want to be standing when this thing takes off.”
 
 Lucas flung himself into the open chair and slid the strap around his waist. He watched out the window as the ship finished backing up and then began moving forward towards the bay doors. It slid through the invisible barrier between the inside and open space.
 
 “I will never get used to this,” he said as the shuttle turned and began to glide quietly along the outside of the giant spacecraft that went on as far as they could see until it disappeared into the darkness. They passed countless small lit windows and if he looked closely, Lucas thought he could see people walking around inside.
The small ship turned away from the larger one and the moon came into view. So close it felt like they could reach out and touch it.
“Did you ever think you'd see the back of the moon?” Carolyn asked
 
 “I never thought I'd leave the surface of the planet.”
"Neither did I."
   
They continued to fly parallel to the moon until the earth came into view.
 
The shuttle stopped abruptly and hung suspended in space. It began to turn slowly until it was facing home. The control panels were lit up and flashing. The screens were scrolling through checklists. The whole craft was vibrating. Each screen began turning green. One after the other until they were all green and without warning, they were launched towards their destination. Lucas felt his internal organs compress into a giant pancake and he smacked his head on the back of the seat groaning that he had forgotten to keep his head back again. He sat plastered to the back of his seat unable to move as they picked up speed heading for earth. He was able to turn his head and look at Carolyn who was also smashed into the back of her chair.  

“We better hope Reed doesn't wake up and tell everyone what happened before we make it back or else we're going to have a welcoming committee that neither of us is going to like.” she managed to say.
 
 “I was just thinking that.” Lucas agreed.
 
 Gradually the acceleration slowed and they both were able to sit up and watch the earth getting closer through the front window. “What are we going to do when we get back?”
 
 Carolyn sighed deeply. “We'll have to make it back to the hotel without getting caught and tell everyone what we found out. Then contact Frankie and friends and tell them what we found out. Then we need to figure out how we're going to stop all this.”
 
 “How on earth are we, lowly humans, going to stop a shipload of slave trading aliens? We don't even know if they have weapons, which I'm sure they do. We might as well be those little ants that wanted to move a rubber tree plant. High hopes but no hopes at the same time.”
 
 “I have no idea but I'm sure we're going to figure it all out. We have to. We can't just let them scoop us all up and send us to the far reaches of the universe never to see home again. Someone will have an idea and it'll all turn out OK.”
 
“You sound like Jilly. You both have a lot more optimism than I do.” Lucas said. “But if you think we can do it, maybe we can."
 
 Carolyn reached out and took his hand. “We can. I know we can. We just saved you from certain doom didn't we? We thought on our feet then and we can do it again.” She squeezed his hand and he squeezed hers back.
“I certainly hope so,” he said.