Page 14 of Rescued

“No, stay here, and stay quiet.”

I nodded, but I pulled my feet back into my seat and brought my knees to my chest. All this moving in the shadows stuff was making me anxious, and now there were secret signals and men with big guns, and it was all getting to be a bit too much. I forced myself to take deep breaths. There was nothing to worry about.

The lights flickered back on, and Herod was on his feet.

“Don’t move,” he repeated before leaving me alone in the cockpit.

I nodded, but the spectacle of ships outside the window was so stunning, I wanted to get closer. Whatever this place was, it was grander than anything I ever could have imagined.

Somewhere behind me, the cabin door opened, and Herod greeted someone. There was a short conversation and then the sound of scraping as the cargo hold was unloaded swiftly.

While I waited, I looked around the cockpit at the menagerie of buttons and knobs arrayed before me. I didn’t know what all of them did, but I did know a thing or two about fuel systems, and it was obvious to me that this ship was still not running at its best.

Checking to make sure that Herod was still occupied, I plopped back down in my seat and pulled up control windows, reading the reports as they came across. Just as I’d expected, the ship was still running too rich, and it was causing hot spots in the fuel system, burning off excess fuel at random intervals. I shook my head in disbelief. What kind of captain would allow his ship to get to this condition?

I began making adjustments, absently chewing my lower lip as I focused on a particular problem area. I was so intent on solving the puzzle, I didn’t even hear the door opening behind me again.

---