“Are you sure he'll be safe?” Asked Shelly quietly. “If there's turbulence, I mean.”
“He'll be safer than us. There's no room for him to shake around in there.”
Light from a bright flash outside was cast across all the passengers. Liam and Shelly looked through the porthole to see the starboard side of the defence platform they had just passed explode violently sending debris out in all directions. Hundreds of small ships darted away, the sun reflected off their silver hulls as they moved in a unified formation.
“They're coming for us!” Shrieked a woman somewhere ahead of them.
“Oh my God, oh my God!” One man repeated as he rocked back and forth in his seat.
Panic gripped many of the passengers as the cloud of small, three meter long oval silver drones darted and swerved towards the starliner. Other passengers sat quietly praying, gripping the hand of a loved one while the rest simply watched.
“Why are they attacking us? We don't have any weapons,” asked Shelly, she was more reasonable, but still barely hiding her fear.
“Eden machines believe humanity is the destroyer of the natural order and kill them wherever they're found,” Liam whispered. “This isn't normal, they should not be out this far.” He continued. Suppressing his fear was not his way. He had acknowledged that it was something he was feeling before they had hidden Lawrence. After acknowledging it he behaved calmly, taking regular breaths and relaxing as much as possible. All his senses were focused on the situation at hand and finding any way to improve their position in it. As the drones came within firing range, he could think of no way to accomplish that.
Light emitted from the hundreds of small ships and the starliner shook violently, tossing anyone who wasn't strapped in around the cabin freely. Their helpless bodies were flung into other passengers, against the deck and into the bulkheads. Bones cracked. One was killed instantly as she went headlong into the ceiling, breaking her neck. The inertial dampeners on the vessel weren't tuned for combat.
A sudden rush of air told Liam that part of the ship had decompressed. Seconds later the lights went out and the air was still again. Emergency backups came on, bathing the cabin in a pale, dim light. He looked out of his porthole and took a deep breath. He couldn't see any drones but that didn't mean much, they could have been coming around for another pass.
Shelly's hand gripped his.
“Breathe deeply, slowly. The only thing we can change right now is how we endure. Stay calm so we're ready to act when it's time,” he advised quietly.
She took in a deep, shaky breath. Shelly couldn't help but laugh at herself as she exhaled, her breath came out interrupted by her nervous tremors. “A few more years and I might have that down.”
The next few minutes passed very slowly, the sounds in the cabin were agonizing. Crying, whimpering, and whispers filled the compartment. Liam watched through the porthole, sparing a calm glance towards Shelly who was being as patient as she was able. Her eyes were wide, sweat adorned her forehead and upper lip.
He looked back and caught sight of what he was hoping for most, signs that the ships were leaving. A small flash in the distance could have been interpreted as just that. He concentrated on making out the smallest detail, he could just barely see the drone carriers in the distance. They were just glittering silver shapes reflecting the yellow light of the distant sun. Then they were gone. He blinked and looked closer just in case his eyes were playing tricks on him. “They've left,” he whispered.
“They're gone?”
“They are. Those drones belong to the carriers that appeared before this started. If they've left that means the drones are gone as well.”
“Now what do we do?” Shouted a voice from behind him. It was the same woman who had been panicking at the slightest sound or creak all along.
Liam was finding it a little difficult to remain calm and kind towards the impatient, panicky passengers and was thankful for his training. “Now we survive,” he said firmly. “Can anyone see any of those drones?” He asked in general.
The passengers in the cabin looked out their portholes and returned a general negative, except for one who wouldn't stop repeating; “they're coming back, they're coming back to finish us. They're coming back-”
Before anyone could start general panic or chaos could get a grip on the long, darkened cabin, Liam picked up his tool kit and looked to Shelly. “You can let Lawrence out, I think the worst is over.”
She stood up and started opening the overhead compartment. “What are you going to do?”
“I'm going to find out what's happened to us. Then I'll find a way to start broadcasting our status on an emergency channel.” He waited to see that Lawrence was all right. The little fellow was a bundle of nerves and practically leapt into his mother's arms but was unharmed.
Liam walked down the aisle towards the front, where he could see a steward's alcove.
A stewardess stopped him; “Where are you going sir?”
“I'm going to patch into the ship systems and see what our situation is.”
“Please return to your seat.”
“Do you have the emergency beacon up and running?” He asked in a low whisper.
“That's none of your concern sir,” she said to him automatically.
He sighed and tilted her chin so she was looking straight into his eyes. “I'm a systems engineer with two doctorates. Now tell me, do you have emergency communications?”
She looked back at him, stunned. “No sir, we don't,” came her whispered reply. All the passengers nearby were staring at them. “We haven't been able to contact the bridge,” the stewardess whispered.
Liam lifted his tool kit, a hard shelled case half a meter long, and smiled. “Show me to your terminal.”
She nodded and turned, running to the front.
“I'm going to get our communications working and we'll have help here as soon as possible. Please stay calm and cooperate with the staff,” Liam called out to everyone loudly before taking long strides after her.
He rolled the sleeve of his robe up as he arrived at the systems alcove and plugged his personal engineering system into it. The holographic interface appeared above his wrist and he turned it so he could see the ship's general status.
“How are we?” Asked the stewardess.
He checked a few more details and shook his head. “We'll be fine, only I'll have to access the communications systems directly. The command deck is gone.”
“Gone?” She asked, wide eyed. “What about the command crew? Everyone else up there.”
Liam looked her straight in the eye. “If they wear vacsuits built into their uniforms like you do, they could be okay but there's no way in knowing how much time they have left.”
“But if the communications routing system and main systems have been destroyed-” she didn't finish the thought.
He could see her spirits falling and gently put a hand on her shoulder. “All we can do is make sure everyone knows we need help and take care of whoever we can. The communications pylon is still there. A quick trip out the airlock and I'll be able to hook directly in and tell everyone that there are at least five hundred people here who need help,” he said in a reassuring tone.
She sighed and nodded. “You're right. We have emergency vacsuits.”
Liam let his robe fall open to reveal his own dark grey containment suit. “I never travel without one,” His voice was quiet, calm, positive. He made it easy to believe everything was going to be fine.
The look of relief on her face was unforgettable, and she collected his robe and belt with a smile as he took them off and handed them over.
He brought up his headpiece, which had been affixed behind his neck like a hood, sealed it and opened the inner airlock door.