Gillian
Dalox’s eyes burn into mine for what seems like the longest time.
I’m not quite sure what’s going on in his head, but I am willing him to make the right decision.
I am not going to guess. I’m just going to hope.
Dyris said there were many others of her clan who felt what Dyana was doing wasn’t right but weren’t prepared to challenge her after what she had done for them, and honestly, I can understand it.
I wasn’t quite prepared for how many, but if he can get this bucket of bolts in the air, then we’re gone, I guess.
“Then they can come,” he says, a curl of smoke coming from his mouth. “I can’t stop them.”
I fling my arms around his neck as there is a low murmuring cheer through the aircraft, followed by a crash and a number of growling squeaks.
“Does this belong to anyone?” One of the largest females I’ve seen has Deus by the scruff of his neck, his feet off the floor as he waves his arms and legs like a stranded beetle.
“He’s with me,” Dalox says. “And we should get out of here. Can someone release the wires holding this thing in place?”
“Already done,” a voice calls from the back.
“Then throw out anything not coming with us, and we’ll see what this ship can do,” Dalox growls. “Gillian, with me. This is going to take two of us.”
“I told you, I can’t fly a space ship,” I say as he grabs my hand and pulls me over to the console.
“Have you ever flown one?”
“Well, no.”
“Then how do you know you can’t?”
He sort of has a point, but also I don’t want to kill everyone on board in a fiery crash.
Even if those on board are, in fact, Sarkarnii, and would probably shrug off any fire.
“I need you to moderate the engine strength based on the blue line. They need to stay under it, and you have to hold them back as we take off, understand?” Dalox says as he uses a single digit to make the green lights underneath the blue line go up and down on the screen.
“Okay,” I say. “Are you sure there’s not someone more qualified?”
Dalox looks over his shoulder. “The warriors need to make sure this thing doesn’t fall apart. They know what to do.” He looks back at me. “Are you ready, my Gillian?”
“Er, no, but I doubt I’ll ever be. We’d better go.”
I’m looking ahead of us, through the viewing window, and it looks like there are lights coming our way.
“Then we will go,” Dalox says, and the ship shudders as the engines whine.
I watch as the green lines rise up, and then I push at them with my fingertips as they reach the blue line.
It’s weirdly harder than I thought it would be.
The green lines want to go over the blue ones and I’m struggling to hold them back.
When I look up, we’re off the ground. Ahead of us, the lights from the ship pick out the vegetation we’re rising through until we breach the canopy.
Which is when the first bolt hits us, rocking the ship from side to side and sending my green lines going wild as I try to hold them in place and grasp the console I’m working on.
“I’m going to go higher. They’ll follow in Sarkarnii form, but we can outpace them once we’re in the atmosphere,” Dalox shouts out to me.
“We will try to stop them,” Dyris says, her tail lashing behind her as she heads through to the back of the ship with Dyoti following.
“No, don’t…” I call after them, but it’s too late, and I’m struggling still with the task set by Dalox. “They can’t go. Dyana will…”
“Dyana will indeed attempt to stop us, but she will not be successful,” Dalox says, his teeth gritted.
“How do you know?” I call back.
He nods at a screen between us. “Deus.”
I take my eyes from the lines for a moment to see the dark Sarkarnii clinging onto the hull with one set of claws and the biggest ray gun I’ve ever seen in the other.
Looks like it’ll take one batshit Sarkarnii to deal with another batshit Sarkarnii.
I turn my attention back to my console as another bolt hits us, and we rock from side to side once more, this time a little more violently.
All the Sarkarnii brace themselves against the walls, a riot of scales, tails, and wings, as if they’re bracing the structure itself.
“Hold on,” Dalox says. “We’re going to…”
There’s another shudder through the hull and then the sound of something which sounds like a sonic boom.
“Try again. I hope to the ancestors Deus is inside because once we’ve done this burn, we’re not going to get another chance.” He looks over at me. “Let the engines ride, my Gillian. Give them everything we have.”
He nods at my console.
“Over the line?”
“Over the line, as far as it will go.” Dalox grins at me.
“Everyone grab hold of something,” I yell back into the cabin as I swipe the green lines higher and higher, feeling the buck of the ship as power flows through it.
“Here we go,” Dalox roars and punches something on his console.
The ship leaps forward like a hare out of long grass ready to stretch its legs for the first time in spring. A leap of faith and one which will, I hope, take us away from Dyana and my new friends to a new life.
Then I have to work out exactly what I’m going to do about my feelings for Dalox.