Version Innocent

Chapter 45

  Quig bounded through the door, startling the three of them as they were relaxing in the messy office. “We’ve go to go,” Quig blurted out, pointing his finger at the door.

  “Why, what’s happened?” Sam asked, getting up too quickly and smacking his head on the ceiling, which to his relief was fairly soft.

  “The Powel made orbit twenty minutes ago,” Quig announced.

  “Why didn’t you notify us?” Terra asked angrily. If he had endangered them, she vowed to teach him a lesson he wouldn’t forget. Imagine getting them all caught because he had to run errands.

  “Didn’t have a choice,” Quig replied. Clearly, he wasn’t going to explain his actions. “Let’s go, a hopper is fueled and ready to leave now.”

  They were all up and headed towards the door. Quig led them out of the building and across the small dome to where the two hoppers were sitting. There was a door blocking the entrance to the boarding tube which Quig opened by placing his hand over a small plate. After a few seconds the door opened, and he pushed off into the tube. They all followed the few meters into the open hatch of the hopper.

  Once inside Sam felt immediately heavy again. Almost tripping over his own feet, he managed to catch himself on a small cargo box that was in the cargo hold.

  “Sorry, I didn’t warn you. Simulated gravity in here,” Quig explained, rushing to the lift column at the center. “Come on,” he instructed as he was rising out of sight.

  Sam followed him, Terra and Jeff right behind. They entered a small passenger compartment with a dozen restraint chairs lining the walls which were transparent to the icy landscape all around. Sam stood and stared at the city dome that was so near.

  “Take a seat. I don’t have time to explain right now,” Quig said, head up into the cockpit. They all took seats quickly, and after a few moments the engine burned, and they lifted away from the surface.

  “Why the big rush?” Sam yelled up at Quig.

  “The Powel dispatched a launch ten minutes ago which just landed at the spaceport. I assume that they’re sending someone to look for you and me,” Quig called down. The hopper continued to move away from the city in a powered ascent that would have them at escape velocity very soon if Quig didn’t ease back on the throttle.

  “We’ll be over the horizon in a minute,” Quig said. “I’m going to have to do a breaking burn, though, so we don’t fly off.”

  “Where are we going?” Terra yelled up.

  “You’ll see. We’ll be there in about ten minutes,” Quig responded loudly.

  Sam hoped that the launch from the Powel hadn’t noticed their departure and that they would escape yet again. “How do these guys keep finding us?” Sam asked, directing his words to no one in particular.

  “I don’t know. Either we’re bugged or someone is selling us out, but I can’t imagine who.” Terra was looking quite disturbed. “They arrived just after us, so they knew that we’d departed when we did.”

  “Maybe it’s just good intelligence,” Jeff offered.

  “It’s possible,” Terra said skeptically.

  “Maybe we’ve lost them now?” Sam said, not believing it as it came out of his mouth.

  “Doubtful,” Terra replied with a shrug. The hopper spun about. The moving scene disoriented them and then the thruster kicked back in. They were diving towards the lim of the icy Jovian moon