The Hidden Treasure of Darfor

  ***

  Patrick trotted back up to the cockpit at a leisurely pace. When he got there he saw Saleek looking equally relaxed as he was leaning back in the pilot’s chair with his feet resting on a control panel. The spiky alien nodded a silent greeting, which Patrick returned before moving to sit down on a nearby chair.

  ‘Are you ready for this then, Patrick?’ asked Saleek as he removed his feet from the control panel and sat up properly in his seat.

  ‘As ready as I’ll ever be,’ came the honest reply.

  Saleek smiled and flicked a switch on his console.

  ‘OK Zeeree, we’ve travelled far enough, we should be in the Antorii system by now. Bring us back into normal space.’

  ‘Acknowledged,’ said Zeeree as her face popped up on a monitor at the rear of the cockpit. ‘Charging jump drive for return to normal space.’

  Patrick was not sure exactly what he was looking at on his station monitor, but several red lines were moving upwards and a set of numbers next to them were growing too.

  That must be power being diverted to the jump drive, he thought to himself. I’m going to learn how to use modern tech, even if I have to teach myself aboard this ship, he decided.

  ‘Jump drive ready. All systems secured. Engaging drive. Returning to normal space in three...two...one...now.’

  Once more the main view screen was filled with white light so intense Patrick feared his retinas were going to be burnt to a crisp by the time this whole adventure was over. Just as suddenly as the light had flashed into existence, it disappeared, leaving the view screen to resolve an image of bright starry dots in a sea of black.

  ‘We made it, dude. You can relax now,’ said Saleek.

  Patrick looked at him quizzically, then exhaled loudly and realised that he had been holding his breath the whole time.

  I’ve got to stop doing that.

  ‘Zeeree, what’s our position?’ asked Saleek as he began tapping away at the pilot’s controls, his eyes focussed on his mini-holographic display.

  ‘Calculating,’ replied Zeeree. A few moments later, she said, ‘We are in the outskirts of the Antorii system, approximately five hundred million Drekkma from Antorii Seven.’

  Saleek whistled. ‘I guess we’ll be taking the scenic route to Antorii Two then.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ queried Patrick.

  ‘It’s possible to jump back into normal space anywhere in a star system, but ‘cause we were in a rush to make the jump thanks to that pursuing ship, we couldn’t be any more accurate with our calculations. I guess the outskirts of the system are better than coming back into normal space in the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘If I did not know better, I’d have thought that was a comment on my navigational skills,’ said Zeeree in a huff.

  ‘You know what? I couldn’t have done any better myself,’ said Saleek with a confident smirk on his features.

  A large image of Zeeree’s face appeared on the main view screen, fixing a hard stare at Saleek.

  ‘OK, fine. If I had to do the maths, I’d probably have brought us back into normal space in the middle of Antorii’s sun! You happy now?’

  ‘I’m not entirely unhappy,’ said Zeeree with a slight smile as her face faded from view.

  Saleek turned to Patrick and whispered, ‘Dude, do yourself a favour. If you ever get your own ship, stick with the standard onboard computer. Don’t get an AI’

  ‘I heard that,’ said Zeeree, her voice coming from the rear of the cockpit.

  Saleek and Patrick shared a laugh as the craft flew onwards into the Antorii system, the main engines reliably pushing the ship forwards with a low rumble.

  Chapter 10