Lucas hit the ground hard. He knew better than to struggle, so he lay there, praying Jilly had 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 came running over, out of breath.
“They’re getting away!” he panted, pointing. “They’re on that ship! 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 backward, then turned toward the large bay door. One of the guards raised his rifle.
“NO!” Joe shouted. “You want to punch a hole in the hull? Or have a ricochet take one of us out? Go alert command we’ve captured the man they’ve been looking for, and 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.
“No, no, Sergeant. I’ve got this. It’s more important you alert command—and since communications are down, you can spread the word faster. Now move.”
Joe grabbed Lucas and marched him across the bay toward a side door. Once inside, he shut it and finally let out a breath. He cracked it open just enough to see the guards hurrying off in the opposite direction.
“Oh my God… oh my GOD,” Lucas whispered. “Thank you—holy crap.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Our ride just left, I don’t know how to fly anything, everyone’s looking for you, and those bombs are about to go off. After that? Who knows how long this place stays intact.”
Lucas tried to wriggle his arms around to his front, hopping around until he fell and started flailing on the floor.
Joe hauled him up.
“You’ll never get it like that. We’ll figure it out, but we need to move.”
He shrugged off his jacket and draped it over Lucas’s shoulders to hide the handcuffs.
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. They both pressed themselves against the wall and watched.
People were running around. Several men were gathered around a computer console on one of the tables in the middle of the room. They both saw one of the guards who had 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 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 and asking 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 toward them. They bobbed and weaved against the crush.
“Everyone’s leaving,” Lucas shouted over the sirens, “and we’re the only idiots trying to get in!”
“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, Sergeant,” 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 in trouble.
The guard turned to Lucas and reached for his weapon.
“I know who you are. Your picture is all over the place,” he said. “You’re the one behind that fifth-level sabotage. I bet you set those explosives too. What say we don't bother with the brig and just take care of you right here?”
Just as he raised the gun, Joe hit him in 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 and trying to get up, as Joe hauled Lucas to his feet and pulled him out of the room.
They both took off down the hall.
Joe was running and fiddling with the ring of keys. He grabbed Lucas’s 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.
“Come on, come on!”
He kept trying until a key went in and the cuffs popped open.
Lucas ripped them off.
“THANK YOU! Where are we going?”
“As far away from that guy as possible!”
“And after that?”
“I’m 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. They were too 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 pushing 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 toward 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 catch his breath.
Then he heard Lucas gasp.
Joe 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 vaguely reptilian.
Dozens of eyes stared at them.
All of them were prisoners.
They all shrank back against the walls except one.
A large, shaggy creature stepped forward and reached out a massive paw, making a low, broken sound.
Lucas moved toward it.
Joe grabbed his shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s scared.”
“So am I. Can we go now?”
“We have to help them. This place is falling apart. No one’s coming for them, and if it blows, we’re leaving them here to die.”
“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. Lucas looked into its eyes, which were watering as if it was crying.
“It’s okay, buddy,” Lucas said quietly, taking his other hand and rubbing it on its arm.
“Are you out of your mind?” Joe whispered loudly. “That thing is big enough to rip your arm off!”
“But I don’t think it will,” Lucas said. “You can see it. 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. He slid it sideways, pulled it up, and the cage opened.
“Out you go,” Lucas encouraged.
But none of the creatures moved.
“Tell them it's okay. Tell them they can leave.”
Joe just stood there, not moving.
“Come on. You said we don't have much time.”
“I figure if I don't move, maybe they'll ignore me and eat you instead.”
“Very funny. Now come on. Help me get it done faster.”
Lucas had opened the doors to at least ten cages when another large explosion rocked the entire station.
That did it. The creatures surged forward all at once.
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.
“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 evacuate with everyone else. We just blend in with the crowd.”
“I don't see any other option at this point.”
As they carefully peered around the door into the hallway to see if the coast was clear, Lucas was bumped from behind so hard he stumbled forward into the corridor.
“What the hell?” he said, swinging around.
He came face-to-face with the furry alien he had just set free.
It shoved its face against him and nuzzled his neck.
“Oh great,” said Joe. “It likes you.”
Lucas reached up and rubbed its ear.
“Go on, buddy. You're free. Go find your friends. Shoo… shoo!”
But the alien only shoved into him harder, lifting its paw and nudging Lucas’s hand.
Joe started down the hallway.
“Come on. We gotta worry about ourselves. It'll find its people. We gotta get moving.”
Lucas tousled its ears.
“It's okay. You're okay now. Go find your way outta here.”
He 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.”
That only made it bounce along faster.
“Oh great,” panted Joe. “We’re fugitives 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 picked up the pace, jogging along with their new companion.
They ran until they came face-to-face with the same guard who had been 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. It slammed into both of them, knocking them off their feet, and kept sliding, plowing straight into the guard.
The guard staggered, recovered, and yanked a billy club from his belt. He started swinging hard, hitting the creature in the face.
It yelped, raising its paws to block the blows.
The guard kept swinging until he was blindsided by Lucas. The two of them tumbled across the hallway, giving the creature time to scramble away.
Joe rushed in and threw a punch, instantly regretting it as pain shot through his hand.
It only succeeded in making the guard angrier as he rolled on top of Lucas and started punching him.
Joe frantically tried to pull the guard off Lucas but 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 pushed himself up.
Joe stared.
Lucas ran over and flipped the guard onto his back.
“What are you doing?” Joe snapped.
“Making sure he’s not dead.”
“Well—is he?”
Lucas checked his neck.
“He’s got a pulse.”
“Which means he’s going to wake up any second. Let’s go.”
Lucas ran to the creature and wrapped his arms around its neck.
“NOW what are you doing?” Joe said. “We have to go!”
“If it wasn’t for him, we’d be the ones on the floor. I’m thanking him.”
He paused.
“And I’m naming him Oliver.”
“Name him Shirley for all I care. Let's MOVE.”
They took off running with Oliver following.
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 hangar 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 lifted his giant paw and touched Lucas on the shoulder, pulling 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 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.”
Oliver kept whining.
Lucas walked in farther and saw another door partially hidden by a file cabinet.
He went to that one and opened it.
There was a single cell.
Inside was a tall, pale-skinned alien with long, flowing silver hair and a flat nose leaning against the bars.
It jumped up and retreated to the back of the cage, putting its hands up.
“It's okay,” Lucas said gently. “My name is Lucas. I'm here to help you. I'm not a bad guy.”
The alien slowly looked toward him.
“That's what everyone has told me,” it said in a soft, feminine voice that had a slight accent 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, pulling out 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,” she said calmly. “My species can speak any language once we have heard it spoken to us. That is why they keep me. 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, but nothing was working.
“In the drawer,” Barami said. “There are keys in there.”
Joe reached around the desk, opened a drawer, and found another set of keys. He tossed them to Lucas.
First try, and the door swung open.
“Let's go,” Joe said.
“Do you have a way out?” 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.”
“Oliver!” Lucas called.
Oliver had been standing guard in the hallway. When he saw Barami, he leapt forward and began wagging his whole body.
She smiled and rubbed his ears.
“This is Oza-koo. A Brookana from Talmaria. They are kept as pets there, but the Oday Ursue 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.”
Barami set off down the hall at incredible speed, and they all 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.
“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 farther, 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 aggressively loud siren went off, and a computer voice started yelling.
“WARNING. WARNING. UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY.”
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 said 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 halfway down the row.
It sat directly on the floor with no wheels, and she walked right up to the outside door.
She placed her hand on a panel to the left. 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, pointing out a side window.
Guards were running into the room, guns drawn.
“What happened to ‘all personnel evacuate now’ orders?” Joe asked.
“I don't think the guards count as people.”
“Well, whatever they are, they're shooting at us.”
The ship made a three-point turn and headed toward the bay doors.
They could hear bullets hitting the outer shell.
“I’m guessing your hull is bulletproof?” Joe called out.
“For the most part,” Barami called back.
“Better than not,” Lucas said.
The ship gained speed as it aimed for the opening.
“I hope they haven't closed the barrier,” Barami said.
“Hold on, just in case.”
Lucas closed his eyes, and Oliver hid his head under the seat.
Joe stared straight ahead, figuring if he was going to die, he wanted to see it coming.
The ship headed straight toward the opening and passed directly through.
Joe let out a whoop.
“Woo-hoo!”
“Don't get excited yet,” Barami said, pointing off to the right. “We’re not alone.”
Two small ships were approaching quickly.
“What is wrong with these people?” Joe said, bobbing around trying to see what was coming. “The station is literally burning from the inside and they’re worried about us.”
Barami turned the controls hard. 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.
“They're shooting at us!” Lucas yelled.
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Joe snapped, grabbing onto his seat.
Oliver whimpered, trying to wedge himself farther under the chairs. Lucas reached down, rubbing his back.
“It’s okay, buddy. We’re going to make it.” But he didn't sound very sure.
Their ship wove from left to right, heading toward 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, spun around, and headed directly at the approaching ships.
“Where are you going?” Joe squeaked.
She slid between them as they whizzed past.
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.
They impacted the surface and 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 toward the giant behemoth hanging in space. Smoke was 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 whimpered 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.
Barami made a turn back toward 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 from side to side with the impact.
“No reason,” Joe said, grimacing.
Oliver had managed to stuff himself back under the seat.
Their ship pulled away from the five following them, and Barami swerved left and right to make them harder to hit.
She began swooping toward 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 two ships. I have to try something else.”
The ship kept going straight toward 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.
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.
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 backward 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 said, sliding into a seat and holding on.
Barami took the ship into a dive and swerved toward the station.
“Maybe we don't want to head back toward the ticking time bomb,” Joe suggested.
“I am hoping they also don't want to get near it, 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 toward the far side.
Suddenly, out of the smoke, the other ship appeared heading right toward 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 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.
Then, 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.
It hit the side of the station, sending 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 toward the moon and picked up speed.
She had to fly low under the station, and just as they were clearing it 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.
