Wanderer - Millennium

Chapter 2-3

After a few minutes Kaira decided she could risk a little movement. She managed to shuffle around in the small space so she could look through the thin gap between two of the barrels. That let her see the entrance to the Glimmer’s hold and some of the docking bay outside.

She froze as she saw someone striding up and into the hold. It was Tarkus, and he was looking her way. She immediately squinted her eyes almost closed, terrified he’d see her eyes reflecting the light from the bay.

He stopped at the entrance, looked around, tutted, then strode towards where she was hiding. No! He’d spotted her! She was so close she thought she’d succeeded, but she must have given herself away somehow.

She hunkered down even further, trying to make herself as hard to see as possible. She hoped desperately that she was wrong, but he was clearly walking right toward her hiding place.

He approached… reached where she was… and carried on straight past. From the sound of his footsteps he only took another ten or so steps, then she heard something clanking.

“Bloody loaders never secure things properly,” she heard him mutter.

Then he was striding back past her hiding place, casting his eyes around the cargo hold. Everything else seemed to meet with his approval because he walked back toward the docking bay’s external entrance and entered commands on the console there.

Moments later the ship started to vibrate. Kaira watched as the external airlock doors drew closed and finally slammed into place. Only a dim light remained in the docking bay and she could no longer see Tarkus, but she heard his footsteps and then the sound of the internal airlock doors closing followed by him walking through the bay.

She heard another door hiss as it closed before slamming with a clang, shutting off the remaining light and leaving her in total and utter darkness.

Silence fell for several long seconds, then it was shattered by the sound of heavy duty pumps kicking in. For a moment Kaira frowned, not understanding what was happening.

Then it hit her. The air was being pumped out. The cargo was going to be transported in a vacuum. If she didn’t do something, and fast, then she was going to die!