Chapter Fourteen ~ The Getaway

Lucas hit the ground hard. He knew better than to struggle so he lay there praying Jilly made it to the ship.
The guards cuffed him and dragged him to his feet.
"Where's the girl he was with?" one of them said looking around.
At that moment Joe appeared pretending to be out of breath.
"They're getting away," he panted. "They're in that ship!"
He pointed at the transport that had already started to lift out of its parking spot.
"I tried to stop them, but the big guy shoved me down the stairs. There's nothing we can do now!"
The group watched as the ship moved slowly backwards then headed towards the large bay door. One of the guards lifted his rifle to shoot at them.
"NO" Joe shouted. "Are you trying to put a hole in the hull? Or have the bullet ricochet off something and hit us? Go alert command that we've captured the man they've been looking for and to be on the lookout for anyone else he may have been working with. I'll take him to the brig for questioning."
"I'll accompany you Major," one of the guards said, stepping forward and starting to take Lucas by the arm.
"No, no Sargent. I can take care of this young man myself. It's more important for you to alert command and since none of the communications are working you each can spread the word twice as fast. Now get moving."
Joe swung around, grabbing Lucas by the arm and marched him across the bay towards one of the far doors. He didn't look back over his shoulder but was silently pleading that the guards listened to him and didn't try to "help" him any further. He pushed the door open and once inside he allowed himself to breathe, just a little. He cracked open the door just enough to see the guards hurrying off in the other direction.
"OH my God... Oh my GOD!" Lucas whispered "Thank you, holy crap."
"Don't thank me yet. We gotta get outta of here somehow and our ride just left. I have no idea how to fly anything, everyone is going to be looking for you and those two bombs are about to go off and after that who knows how long this station is going to remain viable."
Lucas was hopping around trying to get his arms out from behind his back. He fell to his knees and ended up rolling around on the floor kicking and flailing.
Joe grabbed and hauled him up. "You'll never get it like that. We'll figure something out but we have to get moving. But in the meantime," He took off his jacket and draped it over Lucas' shoulders.
They started moving quickly down the hall, heads down, neither knowing exactly where they were going or how they were going to get out of the seemingly impossible situation.
They reached a larger open area and Joe shoved Lucas behind him and they both pressed themselves up against the wall and watched. People were running around, several men were at a computer console on one of the tables in the middle of the room. They both saw one of the guards that tried to arrest Lucas come hurrying in from another door. He was talking to each superior officer he came to. Pointing behind him and gesturing.
"I don't think we better go in this direction," Joe whispered.
As they turned to head back the way they came, they heard the first bomb go off far in the distance and could feel the shock wave move through the floor. Every single person froze in place. There was a solid chunk of time where there wasn't a single sound. People just waited.
Then the second bomb exploded, closer this time and panic engulfed the room. Women screamed, a couple of men did too. An alarm started wailing in short angry bursts and a wave of people headed blindly in every direction.
"I'm rethinking that setting off bombs was a good idea," Joe said.
"You and me both," Lucas said, struggling again with his handcuffs.
"We gotta get you out of these and find a way off this station."
They joined a group of people who were scurrying out of the room.
"Let's get over to one of the security offices and see if I can get a handcuff key."
"Do you even know where that is?"
"Not exactly, but I think I might sort of know the direction it's in."
"You're not instilling a lot of confidence in me right now," Lucas said.
People were pouring out of offices, yelling if anyone knew what was happening. When they reached a corridor that Joe thought he recognized, he grabbed Lucas and turned into the stream of people coming towards them. They bobbed and weaved against the crush.
"Everyone is leaving and we're the only ones trying to get in." Lucas yelled over the blaring siren.
"I know, but if we don't get you out of those cuffs we're going to be in more trouble than we already are."
"I don't see how that's possible."
After shoving their way along two hallways Joe stopped suddenly and ducked into an office. "This is it," he said.
He started digging around an office desk, opening and closing drawers. "Got it!" he shouted triumphantly as he pulled out a ring with a number of small keys on it.
Before he could get back around to the other side of the desk, a very large man in a security uniform stepped into the office.
"What are you two doing in here?"
"Oh, Sargent," Joe said putting on his best, 'I'm not doing anything wrong' face, "I'm escorting my prisoner to the brig, but I don't have any keys to open the door once I get him there so I was hoping to find some." Even as it came out of his mouth Joe knew he was screwed.
The security guard was already reaching for his gun. "I know who you are," he said, turning to look at Lucas. "Your picture is all over. They say you're the one responsible for what's going on here. For that sabotage on the 5th level. I bet you set those explosives too. What say we don't bother with the brig but just take care of you right here and now." As he lifted his gun and pointed it at Lucas, Joe whacked him on the back of the head with a coat rack that had been in the corner.
The guard stumbled forward and ran headlong into Lucas knocking them both to the floor with Lucas trapped underneath him. The guard dropped his gun and it skittered across the floor and stopped directly at Joe's feet. Joe scooped it up and ran for Lucas, shoving the hulking guard off of him.
The guard was holding his head, rolling around yelling for help. Joe hauled Lucas to his feet and pulled him out of the room and they took off down the hall. Joe was running and fiddling with the ring of keys. He grabbed Lucas' hands and started jabbing the key into the lock.
Lucas slowed down but Joe yelled "NO, just keep running!"
Joe poked and shoved at the handcuffs until a key went in and the cuffs popped open. Lucas grabbed his wrists, rubbing them as they picked up the pace. "Thank you!" he yelled. "Where are we going?"
"As far away from that guard as possible!"
"After that?"
"I'm still figuring it out."
"Well figure faster."
They eventually got back to a hallway filled with running, panicking people. They slowed down as they joined the crowd.
"Maybe we can just stay with the group and blend in." Lucas suggested.
But as he said it several guards standing at the end of the hallway saw them and started yelling and pointing. No one in the crowd cared as they were more preoccupied with getting away from the blast area. Joe grabbed Lucas by the arm and pulled him in another direction.
They could hear the guards yelling "Stop or we'll shoot!"
"I think we're in trouble," Lucas said
"You have a gift for understatement."
They continued to push through people heading the opposite direction until Joe saw some double doors down a side hallway with no one in it and made a beeline towards them. He grabbed the handle, flung the door open, relieved it wasn't locked and pulled Lucas in behind him. He slammed the door closed and stopped to take a breath. He leaned over huffing and trying to get his breath when he heard Lucas gasp.
He looked up and realized they were in another giant room filled with cages. But this time it wasn't filled with humans it was filled with creatures. Large ones, smaller ones, some covered in hair, others looked slightly reptilian.
Both of them stood and stared without moving.
"Oh. My. God." Lucas managed.
The creatures backed up in their cages, obviously scared of them. All but one who came to the front of its cage and reached a large shaggy paw out towards them, and cried out as if for help.
Lucas started to walk towards it when Joe grabbed his shirt. "What are you doing?"
"It's scared" Lucas said.
"So am I. Can we go now?"
"We have to help them. This station is falling apart and no one is going to come and let them out and if it ends up blowing up we'll be the ones responsible for them dying."
"The ones responsible are the monsters that collected them and put them in here."
"But if we can help them we have to"
Lucas slowly reached out and touched the giant furry paw. The paw closed gently over his hand and Lucas looked into its eyes that were watering as if it was crying. "It's OK, buddy," Lucas said quietly, taking his other hand and rubbing it on it's arm.
"Are you out of your mind?" Joe whispered loudly. "That thing is big enough to rip your am off!"
"But I don't think it will," Lucas said "I can see it in its eyes. It just wants out of here." He started looking around the cage to figure out how to open the door.
"You are not going to let them out of there. We already have humans after us we don't need to add aliens to the mix,"
"They won't come after us. We need to give them a chance to get out of here too. I'd never be able to live with myself if I knew I just left them here to die."
"If we don't figure out how to get out of here you won't have that long to live with yourself no matter what you do."
Lucas found a bolt lever at the bottom of the first cage and he slipped it sideways and then pulled it up and the door swung open. He went to the second cage and did the same thing. When he was on the third cage he realized none of the occupants had moved.
"Tell them it's OK, tell them they can leave."
Joe just stood not moving.
'What's wrong, come on, you said we don't have much time."
"I'm waiting for them to come out and get me. I figure if I don't move, maybe they'll ignore me and eat you instead."
"Very funny, now come on help me to get it done faster."
Lucas had opened the doors to at least 10 cages when there was another large explosion which rocked the entire station. That triggered the occupants of the cages to suddenly make a run for the door. Joe ducked and covered his head as a wave of bodies swarmed around him. Lucas grabbed one of the cage walls until the room stopped moving then quickly finished opening the last few cages and watched as the last of the prisoners bolted out of the room.
"See I told you they wouldn't hurt you," Lucas said triumphantly.
"But that doesn't solve the problem of how WE'RE going to get out of here."
Now two different sirens were going off and over the loudspeaker came a voice "Attention, Attention, All personnel report to hangar bay two on level seven immediately for evacuation. This is not a drill."
"There" Lucas said "We report to hangar bay two on level seven and we evacuate with everyone else. We just blend in with the crowd."
"I don't see any other option at this point."
As they were carefully peering around the door into the hallway to see if the cost was clear, Lucas was bumped from behind so hard he stumbled forward into the corridor. "What the hell?" he said, swinging around only to come face to face with the furry alien that he had just set free. It shoved its face up against him and nuzzled his neck.
"Oh great," said Joe "It likes you."
Lucas reached up and rubbed it's ear. "Go on buddy, you're free. Go find your friends. Shoo... shoo!"
But the alien only shoved into him harder, lifting up his paw and nudging Lucas' hand.
Joe started down the hallway. "Come on, we gotta worry about ourselves. It'll find its people. We gotta get moving."
Lucas tousled it's ears "It's OK, you're OK now. Go find your way outta here." And started after Joe.
It didn't take him long to realize the alien was following him. Loping alongside him. "No NO," Lucas said "Shoo-Shoo" and tried waving it off.
That only made it bounce along faster. "Oh great," panted Joe "We're trying to blend in and we've got a giant dog, monkey thing that thinks you're its savior."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"I'm still working on how we're going to get out of here. I don't have the brain power to add another problem to my to-do list."
They had both picked up the pace and were jogging along with their new companion. They reached a hallway that previously had been full of people and now was completely empty.
They turned and kept running. They ran until they came face to face with the same guard who was chasing them earlier. He pulled his gun and pointed it at them. "STOP!" he yelled.
Lucas and Joe came to a screeching halt. The giant monkey dog tried to stop too but had no traction on the floor and mowed both of them over and then took out the guard as it kept sliding. As everyone was rolling around trying to get back on their feet. As the guard stood up he grabbed a billy club off his hip and started hitting the creature in the face. It started crying out trying to block the blows with its paws. The guard kept swinging until he was blindsided by Lucas and the two of them tumbled across the hallway giving the creature time to scramble away. Joe hit the guard in the jaw with his fist and as soon as he made contact realized it was a mistake as pain coursed through his hand. It only succeeded in making the guard angrier as he rolled on top of Lucas and started punching him. Joe had managed to get up and was trying to pull the guard off of Lucas but he couldn't get a grip.
Suddenly the creature was there shoving Joe out of the way with its giant body. It grabbed the guard with its paw and flung him across the room. The guard hit the wall with a tremendous thud, fell to the floor and lay there in a heap.
Lucas pulled himself up off the floor and both he and Joe stood staring at the unconscious man. Lucas ran over and turned the guard over.
"What are you doing?" Joe said in a panic.
"I want to make sure he's not dead."
"Well, is he?"
Lucas checked his neck.
"He's got a pulse."
"That means he's going to wake up any moment. Let's get out of here."
Lucas ran over to the monkey dog and threw his arms around his neck.
"NOW what are you doing?" Joe said "We've got to run!"
"If it wasn't for him we'd be the ones laying on the floor or possibly shot. I'm thanking him. And I'm naming him Oliver."
"Name him Shirley for all I care, let's just get out of here,"
They both started running, Oliver following closely behind.
They wove through the station which except for the blaring siren and repeated warnings to evacuate over the loudspeaker was eerily quiet.
They reached the hanger bay and saw to their horror that almost all the ships were gone. The ones left had guards standing at the bottom of the stairs helping people board.
"We're never going to be able to get on one of those," Joe said
"Now what?" Lucas asked, looking around.
"I don't know. But we better think fast before we're stuck here forever."
Oliver was hopping up and down on all fours. He ran down the hall then ran back. He picked up his giant paw and touched Lucas on the shoulder and pulled on him. Then he ran down the hall again and let out a plaintive cry.
"I think he wants us to follow him" Lucas said
"Well I can't think of a better idea than following a monkey dog  deeper into a space station whose life support is most likely going to fail soon, so why the hell not." Joe said and took off running down the hall leaving Lucas trying to catch up.
Oliver kept a steady pace making a turn every so often. When they passed one hallway Lucas saw smoke pouring out of one of the rooms.
"Joe!" He called
"Yes I saw it," Joe called back "let's hope your friend here knows where he's going."
Oliver suddenly came to an abrupt stop and looked from Lucas to a closed door and back again, whining.
Lucas grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open.
"The room's empty buddy," Lucas said. Oliver kept whining.
Lucas walked in further and saw another door partially hidden by a file cabinet. He went to that one and when he opened it there was a single cell and inside was a tall pale skinned alien with long flowing silver hair and a flat nose leaning against the bars. It jumped up and cowered against the back wall, covering its face.
"It's OK," Lucas said gently "My name is Lucas. I'm here to help you. I'm not a bad guy."
The alien slowly looked towards Lucas
"That's what everyone has told me" it said in a soft, feminine voice that had a slight accent that Lucas couldn't quite put his finger on. "And yet here I am in a cage."
"I'll get you out," Lucas said. "Joe!"
"What?" Joe yelled from the other room. "I know I don't have to tell you but we need to hurry!"
"I know, but there's someone in here and we have to get them out. Where are those keys you found?"
Joe rushed in holding the key ring he still had in his pocket. He looked at the cell and stopped in his tracks. "OH" was all he could say.
Lucas grabbed the keys out of his hand and started poking them at the lock. "This rescue mission has turned a whole different corner than I first imagined" Joe said.
"Who did you think you were rescuing?" the alien asked.
Joe stood staring with his mouth hanging open. "You speak English" was all he could manage.
"I can speak all your earth languages. That is why they keep me. My species can speak any language once we have heard it spoken to us. My name is Barami."
"I'm sorry," Joe said. "I mean I'm sorry you are a prisoner. What's happening here is horrific. That's why we are here. There's a group of us who are trying to stop it, but I think this place is going to be non-functional sooner rather than later so we need to hurry."
Lucas was still sticking the keys into the lock and nothing was working.
"In the drawer," Barami said "There are keys in there."
Joe reached around the desk and pulled open a drawer and found the key ring and tossed it to Lucas.
First try and the door swung open.
"Let's go!" Joe said
"Do you have a way out of here?" Barami asked.
"No but Oliver led us here to you so maybe he thought you could help."
"Oliver?"
"He's the monkey dog we rescued from another cell. Where is he anyway?"
"Oliver!" Lucas called as they were heading out of the back room
Oliver was standing guard in the hallway. When he saw Barami he leapt forward and began wagging his whole body.
Barami tousled his ears. "This is Oza-koo. He is a Brookana from  Talmaria. They are kept as pets there but the Flomasi, the ones who run this station, use them as food. This guy is too young to eat so they have been keeping him until he is older and bigger. I've been traveling with him for quite some time now."
"As absolutely fascinating as this is," Joe said, "none of it is going to mean anything if we don't get out of this tin can."
"I had a ship, but I don't know if it's still here. I can show you where it was."
"Lead the way," Joe said.
Barami set off down the hall at an incredible speed and everyone followed her trying to keep up. As they went, they could hear what sounded like small explosions coming from somewhere deep in the station. They saw smoke billowing and curling along some of the ceilings.
"This isn't looking good." Joe called back to Lucas
"That depends on how you look at it" Lucas said "Looks like we are accomplishing what we started out to do. We just should have been on the ship halfway back to earth by now."
Just when they thought they couldn't possibly go any further, Barami stopped at a large set of double doors with a sign that read "DO NOT ENTER AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY"
She pulled on the handle anyway and the door slid sideways into the wall revealing another huge hangar bay. An extremely loud siren went off  and a computer voice started yelling "WARNING WARNING unauthorized entry. WARNING WARNING."
Barami continued forward, ignoring the voice. There was no one inside but there were at least a dozen ships parked along the back wall. Each was quite different from the other.
"This is incredible." Joe noted as he jogged along after Barami, who seemed to know exactly where she was going.
"There it is!" She exclaimed, pointing to a small angular craft half way down the row. It sat directly on the floor with no wheels and she was able to walk right up the outside door.
She placed her hand on a panel to the left and the door lit up and slid open. "Hurry," she called "They will come."
She disappeared inside and Joe, Lucas and Oliver followed her. To the left was the pilot's seat and to the right there were a number of seats for passengers.
"Sit down and buckle up" She said. Oliver whined. "Yes I know you don't fit. So just hang on". She ruffled his ears and sat down placing her hand on a flat panel until the whole dashboard lit up. She started flipping switches and pulling levers as the ship shook itself awake. The door slid shut and started backing away from the wall. Oliver crawled between the seats.
"Look," Lucas called and pointed out a side window.
Guards were running into the room, guns drawn.
"What happened to “all the people evacuate now” orders?" Joe asked
"I don't think the guards count as people"
"Well whatever they are, they are shooting at us."
The ship made a three point turn and headed towards the door.
They could hear bullets hitting the outer shell.
"I'm guessing the hull is bulletproof?" Joe called out
"For the most part," Barami called back
"Better than not," Lucas said
The ship was gaining speed as it aimed towards the bay doors.
"I hope they haven't closed down the barrier," Barami said.
 "Hold on just in case."
Lucas closed his eyes and Oliver hid his head under one of the seats. Joe stared out the front window figuring he wanted to die with his eyes open.
The ship  headed straight to the opening and passed directly through.
Joe let out a woo-hoo.
"Don't be excited too soon," Barami said and pointed off to the right where two small ships were approaching quickly.
"What is wrong with these people? The station is literally burning from the inside and they are worried about us." Joe said bobbing around trying to see what was coming.
Barami turned the controls hard and the ship tipped onto its side and took off in the opposite direction from the approaching craft.
The whole cabin shook as something hit it from behind.
"Are they shooting at us too?" Lucas asked
"It would appear so," Barami answered. "I shall attempt to outrun them."
Oliver tried to crawl further under the seat but he was too big. He whimpered loudly and Lucas rubbed his butt that was sticking up in the air. "It's OK buddy. We're going to make it" Although he didn't sound very sure of it himself.
Their ship wove from left to right, heading towards the moon. Every so often they could feel the ship vibrate as they were hit from behind. Joe could see the moon getting very close and just as he thought they were going to hit the surface, Barami pulled hard on the controls, and spun around and headed back, directly at the approaching ships. She slid between them as they whizzed past and both Lucas and Joe pressed their faces to the windows in time to see both ships try to stop, but they were going too fast and impacted the surface and both of them tumbled, nose over tail along the ground until they skidded to a stop just out of sight.
"Oh my God! That was amazing!" Lucas cried "Holy Cow!"
Oliver lifted his head to look around.
"We need to get out of the area," Barami said "The station is starting to fail." She gestured towards the giant behemoth hanging in space and there was smoke billowing out through exhaust ports. There were still a few ships streaming out of the bay doors and lights in a number of the windows were flickering.
Suddenly there was an explosion that blew a hole in the side of the station. The sudden decompression sucked whatever was directly inside right out through the hole. They could see the station rock ever so slightly before settling back. Oliver whined and put his head back under the seat.
"We need to be far away in case the whole thing blows," Joe said.
"I shall do my best," Barami said, poking at buttons and pulling on levers then sliding her fingers along a lit up computer screen.
The ship hiccuped then began to pick up speed. She made a turn back towards the moon "I will try to put your satellite between us and the station."
"Good idea," Lucas said, still rubbing Oliver to keep him calm.
Joe watched out the back window as the station slowly became smaller behind them. He saw another explosion, then another. He was so busy watching that he almost missed a small squadron of ships in a V formation heading their way.
"L-L-L-OOK!" He called out pointing. "Barami!"
Barami turned her head and said something in another language that didn't sound very friendly. She worked on the dashboard again and the ship picked up speed.
"I think they're shooting at us," Joe said
"Why do you say that?" Lucas asked
Something hit the outside of the ship and it swung side to side with the impact.
"No reason," Joe said, grimacing.
Oliver had managed to stuff himself even further under the seat.
Their ship pulled away from the 5 following them, and Barami swerved left and right to make them harder to hit. She began swooping towards the moon.
"I can't do the same maneuver as before," she said over her shoulder. "It doesn't work when there are more than 2 ships. I have to try something else."
The ship kept going straight towards the surface until Joe felt he could reach out and touch it. Barami skimmed along, adjusting for crater edges. The other ships were slowly gaining on them.
"They're getting closer," Lucas warned.
"That is what I am hoping for." she said.
"Oh Lord," he said as he buried his head on Oliver's back.
What Joe assumed was some sort of laser fire streamed by the windows. "Their aim isn't very good," He said
"Their weapons are made for shooting at much closer range," She explained.
As the ship got closer, Barami slowed down ever so slightly until they were within a few hundred yards.
She reached over and rested her hand lightly on a lever, waiting. When Joe was sure the other ships couldn't get any closer, Barami pulled the lever and he could see several round objects drop from underneath them. She pulled hard on the control handle and the ship turned almost vertical and shot away at a pulse pounding speed. The round objects hit the ground and exploded, sending a wave of moon gravel and fire in every direction. He saw the ships swerve to avoid the debris. One hit the ground, one turned hard and shot off to the right and the others got lost in the smoke.
Their ship kept going, staying well ahead of the billowing dust.
"Did we do it? Did we get rid of them?" Lucas asked
Joe had his face pressed against a rear window. "I don't see them," he said.
Lucas stood up, craning to see out the window.
Suddenly the entire ship was knocked sideways and Lucas fell backwards over his seat.
"We missed one," Barami announced "The biggest one, with the biggest guns.'"
"Of course," Lucas groaned, pulling himself up. Oliver had managed to get most of his giant fluffy self under the row of chairs and was visibly quaking.
"I will continue to attempt to outrun them."
"Good plan." Joe slid into a seat and held on.
Barami took the ship into a dive and swerved towards the station.
"Maybe we don't want to head back towards the ticking time bomb." Joe suggested
"I am hoping they also do want to get near so they might think twice before following us."
The station had smoke coming out of every vent and every so often there was an explosion that blew out one of the windows.
"I certainly wouldn't want to follow us," Lucas said, holding onto the sides of his chair so tight his knuckles were white.
Barami turned the ship hard and skirted along the underbelly through belching black smoke.
She came out the other side and hugged the outer wall heading towards the far side. Suddenly, out of the smoke, the other ship appeared heading right towards them, shooting a barrage of laser fire.
"Do you have weapons?" Joe asked.
"My ship is made for agriculture. It has no need for guns"
"Until now."
Their ship was hit several times causing it to shudder.  Once again Barami started yelling out loud in another language ending the tirade with "This has to stop!" She pulled back on one of the larger levers on the control panel and their ship picked up speed.
"Is this a good time to play chicken?" Joe yelled
"If they do not turn they will be sorry!" She yelled back
Joe closed his eyes this time deciding he really didn't want to see his demise coming.
The ships rocketed through space directly at one another, the other continuing to shoot. Joe opened one eye, was immediately sorry that he did and ducked down and covered his head with his arms.
Closer and closer until at the very last moment Barami pulled the control lever, slid her fingers across a computer screen and shot straight up while dumping some sort of white foam out from under the wings. "Take that you slimy bastard!" she yelled
Joe and Lucas both opened their eyes in time to see the other ship  flying blind below them. It rocked to the right, then the left and back to the right again, but too far this time and hit the side of the station which sent it reeling into space, venting gas, nose over tail until it exploded in an intensely bright fireball.
"Serves you right!" Barami said. "Now maybe we can get you both back to your home."
She swung the ship towards the moon and picked up speed. She had to fly low under the station and just as they were clearing and coming out the other side, there was an incredible explosion. The pressure of the blast turned them sideways and pushed them along ahead of the cloud of debris. Barami frantically tried to regain control but the ship was not responding.
"What's happening?" Lucas asked
"I've lost control" she said "I can't stabilize us. If I don't fix it we're going to be pushed right into the moon."
"This just keeps getting better and better."
They were moving faster and faster and starting to tumble when an explosion bigger than any of them had ever seen in their lives erupted from the very center of the station. Barami began throwing every switch and pulling every lever she could. Joe reached out and grabbed Lucas by the hand. Lucas put his other arm around Oliver who was still mostly shoved under the seats.
"I hope at least Jilly and the others make it back home again" Lucas said. "And I hope she knows how much I love her."
And at that moment the blast wave took over the ship and everything went completely dark.