I love Falling from Space

Chapter 6

She was behind the shuttle when three cars pulled up to the front of it. Spade heard gunshots and she ducked. Hopefully they couldn't see her. She heard the ramp come down and a couple people walk in. Her hands were feeling around for the panel and- there we go. Then Panel hit the ground. It's sound echoed in the silence. She heard someone come around the back of the shuttle. She took the panel off the ground and inched around the side of the shuttle. Spade saw a man with a gun and she threw the panel at him. He crumpled to the ground.

She ran back to the wires and yanked them all out. The lights on the shuttle went out. The sun was going down so she couldn't really see anything. Then the emergency lights went on.

But there were none in the shuttle, she thought smiling. Spade heard shouting from the inside and realized that the ramp was down. She ran to the front and pulled the lever so the ramp would go up. It did thankfully. At the last second, she jumped in.

Spade pressed herself to the wall as tightly as she could. It was all dark so that was her advantage. Two people came running past and were trying to pry open the ramp. She continued down the hallway and slipped into the bathroom. Two more people came by with flashlights. A voice came over the intercom again. Takeoff time is two minutes.

Spade grimaced. There had to be a distraction so she could get to the cockpit. She took off her purse and emptied it out. The remaining stuff she put in her pockets. It was a medium purse so Spade held it by the handles like a bat. She poked her head out of the doorway and tiptoed to the cockpit. One person was at the main controls. She swung her purse at his head and he crumpled in the chair. Spade kicked him over to the next seat and sat down. Her fingers worked very fast trying to turn the rocket off.

10, 9, 8,...the voice said over the intercom. When Spade thought it was ready, she pushed the button right as the intercom said, Lift off.

But there was no lift off.