Astronomicon: Icarus

31 - Explosive

Both men returned to the ladder and headed back up to the control room. They arrived to find Iolo hunched over the centre console, studying several screens. Captain Taylor was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's your Captain?" demanded Captain Stirling.

"He's helping search the rec room and the storage rooms for more bombs," replied Iolo. "I've run full diagnostics on just about everything on the ship. I can't find anything strange."

"Just the bombs then?"

"Other than the bombs, I mean," he smiled wryly.

Felix emerged from the tunnel to the cockpit, looking nervous and clutching something black, "Is this one of them?"

"Show me!" ordered Captain Stirling, bounding towards Felix.

"It was attached to the side of my seat. I didn't see it at first."

Captain Stirling snatched it from Felix's grip and flipped it over to see the display. Barely ninety seconds left.

"Is the airlock ready?" asked Iolo.

"No time," replied Captain Stirling. "Call Lieutenant Walker. Tell her to get here ASAP."

"I'm here!" replied Walker, just arriving at the door from the accommodation section.

"Excellent," he smiled, "Any way to disable this device in the next eighty-two seconds?"

"Show me!" she replied urgently, hurrying towards him.

He met her halfway, handing the device straight to her. She flipped it over a couple of times, studying its shape and thinking for a few seconds.

"There's only one way I can think of. Have you got a microwave oven in your canteen?" she asked Iolo.

"Er... yes," Iolo replied, looking puzzled.

Lieutenant Walker did not reply, but instead immediately turned and set off at maximum speed to the central corridor. Captain Stirling followed her as they passed the first three doors and then turned left into the very small canteen. Beside a small area of belted chairs and bare metal tables, was a counter with food warming compartments and mounted above that were two small microwave ovens.

Walker launched herself across the small room and landed against the counter, her mag-boots clamping her feet onto its front surface. Wasting no time, she popped open the door of one of the microwaves and pushed the device inside. Slamming the door closed she set the basic timer for two minutes and hit the "Cook" button.

Captain Stirling clunked across the canteen and arrived beside her.

"Is that a good idea?" he asked, peering in through the window in the door.

"No, but I can't think of a better one," she replied.

"I always thought it was a bad move to heat explosive charges?"

"Technically, yes," she replied, "But the timer circuit should dislike the microwaves more than the C8 inside this probably does."

"Probably?"

"It's difficult to be sure, but we'll know one way or the other in the next few seconds," she laughed nervously.

They watched the black plastic begin to bubble as the device slowly rotated in the centre of the oven, held in place by precise jets of air around the outside edge of the oven. The oven's display showed that the device had been heating for just over a minute. The black plastic casing began to smoke and blister. After a while, the bomb's display flickered and went out. Soon the black plastic case was distorting and bubbling until, on hitting ninety seconds, Walker opened the door and the oven cut out.