Skylar Holmes: The Last Hope

3. OUTRAGEOUS, YES: RECKLESS, NO

WHEN SKYLAR OPENED her bright pea-green eyes, she was in a darkened room, with just enough light to sense it was indeed the Main Cargo Bay Office.

"Gosh ... that's impressive. I didn't feel a thing."

Piron appeared beside her without a sound almost as if she had developed an instant shadow.

"That is you, isn't it, Piron?"

"It is. I kept my eyes open throughout the teleportation. The instant I felt the square button click, I found myself here. No other sensation did I feel."

"I felt nothing too. Amazing. I wasn't totally sure the bracelets would work. I actually thought their owners, the soon to be visiting aliens, might have made the whole thing up to con us into thinking they were superior to us. I thought the aim of the intervening Equalisers might have been to put us in possession of that knowledge. Instantaneous teleportation by thought. Jolly spiffing or what?"

"It's flabbergastingly incredible, Skylar. Given the power the imminently visiting aliens will obviously have over us, I agree now that you were right in stealing the bracelets. Just like that, I'm all in. Especially now I can see this is no wild goose chase. Quickly now, Skylar, let's see if we can locate the location finder pads, then we will be able to teleport to places we've never been. And with my shapeshifting ability, I can surreptitiously survey any visiting place first."

"Yes, and with your molecular structure, there won't be many environments harmful to you. You could even teleport to the centre of a star. Could you teleport inside a black hole, do you think?"

"Who knows? I would never take such a risk. After instantaneous teleportation, if I were to miss the exact centre, I wouldn't like to suffer instantaneous spaghettification—even if such a process might be harmless to me."

"I see. Anyway, Piron, can you please make a dull light. Something that won't indicate someone might be in this office if a security guard looks through the Main Cargo Bay door window. And use a creature form that also has good hearing so you can listen out for the sounds of anyone who is entering the Main Cargo Bay."

"I can comply ably with that request. Witness a shapeshift into a firebat. It's like a cross between an Earth firefly and Earth bat, hence the Earth given name. But it is a form I will not be able to talk in. The vocal chords are just too dissimilar to an Earth mammal's."

A blurry split second later and Piron was in the form of a firebat, landing on Skylar's right shoulder. He looked like a leathery-skinned bat, but each of his eyes radiated out a soft beam of blue light as if they were a pair of flashlights, providing enough light for Skylar to quickly locate the main office computer pad and set about some of her highly advanced hacking.

In a matter of seconds, Skylar's fingers were dancing their magic over the office's main computer pad, which gave enough light off its screen to allow her to work even without the aid of Piron's firebat eyes.

"As suspected, this computer device is completely insulated from the Faraway's computer network system," reported Skylar. "That explains categorically why I have always failed to remotely hack it. But nothing can stop me now. What's more, my ongoing hacking cannot be detected. Three cheers for Main Cargo Bay privacy laws!"

Minutes later, Skylar's fingers halted in their flurry of activity ...

"Ah, I've found them, Piron! See? Trunk H?" Skylar pointed out the relevant line of text to Piron, still in his firebat form. "The farthest trunk from where we swiped the bracelets. That's good news."

Firebat Piron intentionally toppled backwards off Skylar's shoulder. And after a single firebat back somersault and twist, skilfully landed on his feet back into his familiar sixteen-year-old boy form to stand inches to the side of Skylar. "Why is it good news?"

"Because I think if we can steal two of the location finder pads, given they are distant from the bracelets, I reckon there's a greater chance the aliens will believe they had mislaid two bracelets and two location finder pads."

"But why?"

"Because they will suspect only the ranked crew. And as the ranked crew did not steal or know of any potential theft, the aliens, who will definitely have a way of scanning the crew's minds, will deduce them to be innocent. So, whatcha know, Joe, they'll have to conclude some sort of mistake in transport may have been made, or something like that. We need to be ready to act on their reaction. Perhaps we can in some way help to convince them the pair of missing bracelets and their accompanying location finder pads were not stolen."

"Can't see how we could do that," mumbled a perplexed Piron.

"Neither do I at present. But some sort of opportunity is bound to present itself. It'll be thinking on our feet time."

"The only opportunity I can see arising is one where we get to scarper off the Faraway with our teleportation bracelets and their accompanying location finder pads."

In the dim light given off by the computer pad screen, Skylar looked Piron directly in the eye and shook her head in jovial pity. "You need to get out more, my dear, Piron. Expand your horizons. Improbable opportunities can only be found if you develop the ability to seek them."

"I find it difficult to get out more as I live on a starship."

"Honestly, Piron, you are often too literal for your own good. Search for the metaphor in my words. There's usually one or two lurking about—if you catch my drift."

"Hmm, anyway, Skylar, let's just get the location finder pads before we push our luck too far."

"They're in an identical looking small hard plastic blue box to the box the bracelets were in. You've seen an image of that box when we discovered the manifest list?"

"Yes. I was paying attention. I have to, in order to keep an eye on your often reckless antics."

"My antics ... outrageous, yes: reckless, no."

"What's the difference?"

Skylar raised her eyebrows. "The former is likely to result in an exciting and interesting successful escapade." Skylar lowered her eyebrows. "The latter is likely to result in an exciting and interesting but short-lived unsuccessful escapade."

"If you say so." Piron rolled his eyes dismissively.

"Off you jolly well go, Piron. Teleport to just in front of Trunk H and search for the blue box. It'll be the only blue box in the trunk. Meanwhile, I'll shut down this computer and remove any evidence I've been on it, then I'll come and join you on the property trunks' platform. There's enough light from the computer pad's screen for me to see what I'm doing. And when the screen is off ... well, I don't need any light to teleport."

Without further ado, Piron paused as if he was thinking of the Trunk H area, then he pressed the square button on his teleportation bracelet ...

Skylar, who had been looking keenly at Piron in the light of the computer pad screen, found herself in an instant looking at a filing cabinet behind where Piron had just been standing. She nodded her head in admiration at the remarkable technology of the teleportation device. "Sweet as a nut."

A few minutes later, after competently shutting the computer pad off and returning it to its original undisturbed state, Skylar teleported by thought out of the Main Cargo Bay Office and appeared in an instant in front of the property trunks' platform ...

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I hope you enjoyed this Chapter. I welcome any votes, comments or constructive criticisms (style, spelling, grammar and punctuation errors).

T. J. P. CAMPBELL.