The Iron Hallway

Chapter 13

Keira, Hannah, Jedrek, and I emerged from the hatch that led to the turrets and found ourselves back on the main floor of the Sand Dollar. Jedrek's regular impassivity lingered on his face, as did Hannah's habitual glee. Keira appeared visibly shaken by her brush with death, and I suppose I looked much the same, despite the fact that my peril had been far less than hers. 

"We should go check on Aaron." she said before she began to lead us down the hall. 

As we passed the door to the lounge room, the door opened, and Khemera stepped out. I gasped. My hand jumped to my mouth at the sight I then witnessed. A bloody, gaping hole cursed me with its gory appearance where his right eye should've been. 

"What...what...happened?" I shouted at the old man with wild gestures of my hands. 

Khemera grunted. "A blasted piece of metal shot through the floor into my eye!" 

Keira flinched. "C'mon, and let's see if we can get Sila to help you out!" 

With that, we raced up into the cockpit, where Aaron stood over Sila's shoulder and frowned at the control panel. At the sound of our footsteps, he turned to the entrance. 

He widened his eyes at the sight of Khemera. "Goodness gracious! Sila, take care of that for him!" 

The robot rose up and sat Khemera down in one of the seats in the pit. Then it grabbed a med-kit and opened it up. The old man was obviously in great pain, despite the fact that he contained it all within himself and verbalized none of it. 

I laid a hand on Khemera's shoulder and said, "You'll be alright, I'm sure of it." 

He glanced at me with his remaining eye and appeared somewhat grateful. "I'm sure I will be." 

"Alright, guys," Aaron began, "if you can, gather around." We gathered in a huddle around the copilot's seat Aaron now sat in. "So," he spoke, "I'm still looking over the damage report, but it appears several pieces of shrapnel have penetrated the ship's hull." 

"Oops, that was my bad." Hannah admitted sheepishly. 

Aaron laid a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry yourself too much about it. I'm sure you were just doing what you could to fight them off." 

A hint of her signature grin returned. "You betcha." 

Aaron smirked and turned back to the readout. "Here's our biggest problem: Two out of our four fuel tanks have been punctured. We can continue without repairing them, but we'll have to stop more often to refuel, and the ship will also become very unstable." 

I scratched my chin. "It's probably for the best that we stop for repairs, then. How long will it take?" 

The man shrugged. "It could take hours, it could take days, it could even take weeks. It depends what resources are available to us." 

Keira cleared her throat. "We're also missing one turret, as well as the glass enclosure for another." 

Aaron raised an eyebrow. "What happened?" 

"I got blown out." she replied, a quiver to her voice. 

The brawny man quickly rose from his seat and pulled his sister close to himself. He closed his eyes and kissed her forehead before releasing her. 

"Well," Aaron began, "touchdown for repairs it is, then. Keira, take the copilot's chair if you don't mind. Baird, Hannah, and Jedrek, you'd best head down to the lounge." 

"It's not safe in there!" Khemera groaned, "That's where it happened!" 

"Oh, never mind then." Aaron replied, "Just...hang tight, guys. I'll try to make this landing smooth. Now Keira, see that sandy flat there?"