Twinks in Space: Destination Unknown - Part One - 36. Chapter 36 - Preprogrammed Flight

“Does the computer have any way to cancel this hyperspace flight?” Lyoth asked.

Stawren was standing at one of the cargo ship’s computer terminals, scouring its information. “No, it’s entirely preprogrammed.”

“Does it say where we’re going?”

“It’s got a destination,” Stawren replied, “but it’s just a code; 9R7.4W is all it says. Oh, gods, and this also says there’s a 22-hour flight!”

“Huh, guess we’re going someplace far away,” Lyoth stated. “Any chance it has listed how fast we’re going?”

“Yeah, but only 3.7 light speed.” Stawren turned away from the computer. “How bad is your arm?” she asked, stepping up to Lyoth and examining his bandage.

“I’ll admit that it’s pretty uncomfortable,” he confessed. “Wait,” he interjected, “check the computer again and see how many guards are stationed on this ship. If it was only those three who we’ve already taken out, along with these crewmembers,” he added, nodding toward the corpses that were slowly bleeding out on the bridge, “then we’re golden, but we should know if anyone else is onboard.”

“That’s a good idea.” Stawren approached the computer again and punched into the crew log. She looked pleasantly surprised with the results, and she turned back to Lyoth. “It’s just the two of us,” she informed him. “You know, there must be some sort of kitchen. Shall we go find something to eat? We can try and hunt down some painkiller, too.

“Twenty-two hours,” Lyoth said with a frustrated sigh, “yeah, I could go for a snack.”

The pair of them left the bridge, and down the hall they found the crew’s sleeping quarters. There was also a tiny room with stored food and a cooking unit.

Lyoth opened a cupboard and rolled his eyes. “Oh, great, more ration packs.”

Stawren had more success in another cabinet. “This will do nicely!” she declared, pulling out a package of dry pasta and a sealed jar of sauce.

She set a large pot of water to boil. Their meal was nothing special, but they both enjoyed it. Afterward, Stawren encouraged Lyoth to lie down, and he decided that was a good idea. They were not able to find him any painkillers. While Lyoth rested, Stawren explored.

The ship’s cargo hold was locked and Stawren wondered if even Lyoth could break into it. She found a large weapons locker that was not locked, and it was full of blasters.

“Don’t mind if I do,” she said to them. She grabbed a carrying case and filled it with guns. She left the bag in the hallway and continued her exploration of the ship. Without access to the cargo hold, Stawren’s search was limited, and she soon made her way back to the bridge.

Like she had done with Lyoth in the streets of Boullia Bay, she dragged the corpses into a side room off the hall. Stawren then stepped back up to the primary computer terminal on the bridge and said to it, “Just you and me now.” She had a flash of inspiration. “But it doesn’t have to be!” She activated the ship’s hyperspace communication terminal and punched in the code to connect with Neptithia.

“Hey, kid!” Neptithia answered. She scrunched up her face, trying to figure out what type of room Stawren was calling from. “Where in the universe are you?”

“That’s actually what I was hoping you can tell me, auntie Thia. Lyoth and I needed to find a quick way off a rock full of unfriendlies, and we stowed away on a cargo shuttle that’s now traveling through hyperspace. I’ve got a destination listed in front of me, but it’s just a code. Hoping you can dig into things on your end and tell me a little bit about this trip or where we’re headed.”

Neptithia was already punching commands into her comprehensive programs. “On it! Let’s see what we can glean about your current whereabouts. Alright, I’ve pulled up a map with the ship. Looks like it’s heading toward a quadrant with several populated galaxies. Any of them could be the destination. What else can we find out?” Neptithia was quiet for a moment, and then she said, “Well, that was easy! I found the code for the ship’s cargo hold. Maybe if you see what it’s hauling, that will reveal its destination. I’m sending you the code.”

“Got it,” Stawren replied. “Stay connected and I’ll be right back.”

She ran down the hall to the locked door and entered the code. The latch released and she pushed the door open. Lights blinked on as Stawren entered.

The cargo hold was enormous; it made up most of the ship, and it was packed with square crates from the floor to the ceiling. A narrow alley was left down the middle of the space and Stawren peered into it. The shuttle was full of an almost uncountable amount of identical boxes.

“Stawren, can you hear me?” came Neptithia’s voice.

Stawren looked around. “Yes, can you hear me as well, auntie Thia?”

“Loud and clear, kid. I’ve tapped into the ship’s intercom system as well as its security cameras. Doesn’t look like there’s a monitor in that room where you could see my smiling face, but I can see yours!”

“Why don’t we find out what’s in the crates?” Stawren asked, disengaging the latch of one and lifting its lid. She gasped. “These are assassin viper androids!” She looked up at the room’s camera. “Auntie Thia, you need to figure out where this ship is going. There are a lot of assassin vipers onboard.” She stared down the narrow corridor between the stacked crates again. “This cargo hold is huge! I have no idea how many there are in here, but the whole ship is packed with them.”

“14,863,” Neptithia stated, “and they’re headed for the planet Xanithon. I managed to crack the ship’s logbook and data manifold.”

“Xanithon?!” Stawren was shocked. “Who on that densely populated planet ordered almost 15,000 murder-bots?”

“Oh no,” Neptithia’s voice said over the speakers, “hello, Lyoth. I woke you up?” There was a pause. “You were shot?! I’m so sorry!” There was another pause. “She’s in the cargo hold.” Neptithia then said, “Stawren, it seems I used all of the ship’s intercom speakers and woke up Lyoth. He’s on his way to you. I’ll see if I can find out about any other shipments of killer androids.”

Lyoth stepped into the doorframe of the cargo hold, and Stawren asked, “How are you feeling? How’s your arm?”

He shrugged and winced at moving his shoulder. “It’s not fun,” he said through his teeth. Lyoth looked into the crate Stawren had opened. “Assassin vipers, lovely.”

“And my aunt Thea figured out where this ship is headed. Someone on Xanithon ordered 15,000 murder-droids.”

Lyoth frowned. “I don’t like that one bit. Neptithia, are you still there? Can you hear us?”

“Loud and clear,” she repeated.

“This ship is on a preprogrammed flight. Any chance you can disengage it? Let’s send it somewhere else. Maybe we can crash it and destroy it with everything onboard.” Lyoth continued. “Also, with no one piloting this thing and no one to check in, there’s a good chance the people on the other end who are supposed to receive this shipment will know there’s something up with the shuttle before we arrive.”

Neptithia replied without hesitation. “Sorry, you two, but there’s nothing I can do about the space flight. The programming is automatic. I also can’t determine where on the planet you’ll be arriving, so I have no one specific to send a message to dissuade any concerns. I have no way of letting whoever ordered those things know that there’s an error with the onboard communication system; that would at least buy you some time without arousing suspicion.”

Lyoth reached with his good arm into the crate Stawren had opened and gave the assassin viper’s neck joint a twist and pulled off its head. “One down,” he stated. “Neptithia, is the timeframe accurate? Is there really a 22-hour space flight ahead of us?”

“There is indeed,” her voice replied over the speakers. “Well, now it’s closer to twenty-one and a half hours.”

“Okay,” he said, and he sighed. “Do you know any high-powered people on Xanithon who you could contact? The planet should be warned of what’s coming.”

“That’s a tricky one,” Neptithia replied. “I don’t think that I do know anyone on Xanithon, but I’ll put out some statements over the media platforms I use. The planet is in a crowded quadrant of space, so I’ll see if I have contacts in any nearby systems.”

“Good, thank you,” Lyoth replied. “I wish there was some way to prevent the person who ordered these from getting them.” He paused and added, “Stawren, I think I’m going to try and get a little more rest. My arm is pretty sore. Thanks, Neptithia,” he called, and he headed back out of the cargo hold.

“Auntie Thea, why don’t I let you go? I can call you back if anything else comes up.”

“Sounds good, kid. You should get some rest too, while you can.”

“Yeah, as crazy as all this is, I think the next day of travel is gonna be boring.”

Neptithia chuckled and said, “Take it easy, kid. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Bye, auntie Thea!”