Warship by Peter Anghelides

Author:Peter Anghelides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Blake’s 7
ISBN: 9781781780329
Publisher: Big Finish Productions, Ltd.
Published: 2013-02-28T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Close Encounter

Vila wondered if it was too late to escape the limpet bombs. They scratched and scraped their way across the hull toward him. Their antennae twitched as they sought out their targets. He and Jenna were only part way to the airlock door, and the creatures had already closed in. One of them perked up on spindly legs, eyed him with its antennae, and then exploded in a ball of flame.

Vila reeled back, throwing his hands up to ward off the explosion. He heard a spattering of fragments strike his helmet. It was a disconcerting noise from outside his personal bubble in the quiet of space. He rolled forward, over and over, away from the blast. He was frightened that his suit might be holed. Even more terrified that he would bounce away from the hull and vanish helplessly into space. Tumbling forever, until the air in his suit was exhausted and he died a cold, lonely death.

‘Vila!’ Jenna’s concerned shout brought him back to reality. And grabbing a nearby handle brought him back into contact with the hull. He had rolled within reach of the airlock. Jenna was forty metres behind him.

He tried to calm down, so that he could listen for tell-tale suit alarms or a sudden, increased rush of air. All he could hear was the sudden, increased rush of his own breathing. And then Jenna’s voice again.

‘Vila, you’re all right. It wasn’t close enough to rip your hull suit.’ And then, in case he’d forgotten: ‘Open the airlock door!’

He stared back at her. The first thing he noticed was a fine line across his helmet. Not a reflection of the Liberator, as he first thought. When he focused more closely, there was a second line that stretched to meet it. With a thrill of horror, he recognised that there was a crack in the visor of his helmet.

Beyond that, the limpet mines had moved into the gap between him and Jenna. The nearest was only a metre away. It had popped up on its stilt-like legs, and slowly rotated to survey the area. Vila saw the dark circle where it had originally burrowed into the hull, its thin limbs still clinging to the torn metal.

He thought it should be easy to dislodge it, simply by activating his sub-atomic probe on one or two joints. But the probe was not in his toolkit. Because he’d handed it to Jenna earlier, when she offered to help him.

The creature turned to look directly at him. Assessing him before it blew up in his face, Vila supposed.

Well, he wasn’t prepared to let that happen. He seized his toolkit by the strap, swung it in an ungainly circle around his body, and slammed it against the alien. The antennae shot protectively back into the creature’s body, but it didn’t compress its legs fast enough. The toolkit slammed into its side with a very gratifying thump. The thin legs buckled and bent. Vila gave the toolkit another great heave, and this time the blow severed the creature from its legs, and it tumbled off into the darkness.

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