Thursday Taster 60: Parallel Slip

Hello and welcome to a new Thursday Taster, the day when awesome writers all over the blogosphere come together to give you tasty bits of their last fiction. You can find the list here.

Things are really becoming super scary on the space ship and it's even worse because Frederique can only have little glimpse of what's going on at a time. Scary!

Tucker doesn't even stop me but I can see on his face that first he is scared and second that even if I get us out of his mess he has something prepared to get me fired.

"Can I get fired?" I asked softly.

"What?" Fin answered.

"Never mind," I said. I don't push him to my control panel, there are tons of people around it, that would be useless I have no clue how to use it anyway. But there is something wrong with the girls. They are on there bike but not moving. I put my hand on Klara. She seems to be unconscious and I wonder for a second if that's what I look like when I'm blacking out. She has a piece of bread in her hand. Poison, is my first though.

"Take Debby away from the bike," I said.

"How can they be sleeping?" Lieutenant Fin asked but I don't bother to answer. I have other things to thing about. I saw motorbikes before, I know where is the button to go backward. I think going backward is the first thing I have to do, backward, turn around and then get out of here as fast as possible.

But there are so many buttons and I have no idea what they are for. I still get on the bike leaving Klara on the floor.

"Captain, what are you doing?" It's Tucker's voice behind me but I couldn't care less.

"Are you with me?" I said to Lieutenant Fin seeing him hesitating.

He looks at the start getting closer by the second.

"Yes," he said getting on the bike. It's a small yes, a very small one but it's all there is.

"Do you know how to ride this ship?" I asked hoping for a good news.

"No," Lieutenant Fin said with the same carefully measured voice.

"Then that makes two of us," I answered.

I put myself in position. The bike is more comfortable than I expected. I like to lie on my belly, that's generally how I sleep even if it's not the moment to fall asleep. I'm preparing for a race. I wondered why my other self thought it was a good idea to have me here at this moment but I can't figure it out. I place my first hand on the handle, it's hot and I feel somehow electrified. I place my second hand and everything changes. There is a screen in front of me, with a green grid in a strange system of coordinate that I can't recognized.

"Someone turn off the alert," I yelled. It's everywhere in my ears and I can't concentrate. The temperature too, it doesn't seem to get easier. I looked toward Fin but he seemed to be as perturbed as I am. I need a clue, I look at his fingers but he is not moving.

"Think, think, think," I repeated to myself and then I saw it in the corner, a purple star blinking near some words. I press the button with the same symbol and text appear on the screen. We are being pulled by the gravitational field of the star. It's asking me if I want to land there. I chose no, hell no, why the hell would I need to land on a star. I wonder why this is not automatized, I wonder why that question even exist and if I survive this I'll make sure to have my answer. 

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