FIVE of THIRTY-TWO
"Right. Can we recap this one more time?" Katie asked, leaning against a thick pillar of metal which protruded from the wall behind. By this point, we were nearing the end of our descent, and the five of us were now gathered in a nearby external airlock, awaiting the go ahead from Andi to step outside.
"If you insist." I said impatiently, with a subtle roll of the eyes. I had already explained this to Katie twice, but for some reason, she wasn't as… optimistic about our chances as I was. Having said that, though, I must admit that even I wasn't totally convinced this plan would actually work.
"Andi's going to take us down in the quietest part of the city." I explained. "Hopefully, it'll be some low-security port with minimal dock staff. Once we're down there, we need to make our way to the Greater Manchester Ship Port in the city centre. That's where we'll find the Angelica."
"And how do you propose we get to the city centre?" She asked, immediately turning her attention to this gaping hole in an otherwise reasonable plan.
"Well…" I said slowly, still not quite sure of the solution to this issue myself. "We'll take a car or something. Shouldn't be too hard to find a-"
"Hang on a minute." She interrupted, taken aback by the proposal. "You mean to say we're going to steal a car?"
"No, Katie," I replied sarcastically, "I thought I'd just pull twenty grand out of my wallet and buy a car!"
"No need to get cocky." She remarked. "Just making sure we're on the same page. And in any case, I don't wish to be an accessory to grand theft auto."
"Don't wish to…" I repeated with a sigh. "You may not have notice Katie, but we are essentially harboring a fugitive as it is. I don't see what difference stealing a car's going to make if we get caught, do you?" I looked at her condescendingly, but she offered no witty response on this occasion.
"And anyway, we can't take public transport, can we?" I continued. "The only way we can get there without Xena being noticed is by car."
"Fine." Katie finally relented. "If it's our only option, we'll take a car. But I'd still like to make it perfectly clear that I wholeheartedly object to this sort of thing."
"Understood." I replied with a sigh. "If we get caught, I'll make it known to the authorities that you had moral objection to stealing the car that you stole."
A short while later, Andi announced that we were now less than five minutes away from our landing site. Whilst I continued to worry that Andi had made completely the wrong decision, and we were inevitably going to step out onto a military airfield or public runway, Xena and Katie gently cradled the children in their arms. I chuckled slightly as Xavier started to cry, and Katie demonstrated to Xena the correct procedure for calming him. I was confident she'd be a brilliant mother, once this was all over. Once we'd made it onto the Angelica, and we could settle down in peace. For now though, we had to concentrate on successfully navigating our way through the bustling city. The key was stealth. To fly under the radar, as it were. Use inconspicuous transportation, stick to the side roads rather than the enormous quadruple-carriageways. But this… 'brilliant' plan could not unfold until we had made a safe and unremarkable landing in the suburbs. And as the entire ship suddenly trembled with a loud thud, and the whir of landing gear resounded from the floor beneath us, I could only hope that we had made that landing. The airlock began to hiss loudly, before the first door slid slowly open. We all stepped through into the tiny chamber as the door closed silently behind us, and the second, external door then began to open.
"So where are we, Andi?" I asked, trying to catch a glimpse of the outside world as the enormous slab of metal slowly drifted aside.
"We are currently outside Hangar 12 of the West Manchester Shuttleport." She replied chirpily. "It is an uncontrolled open airfield which sees regular operation from less than twenty visiting ships a day." A sigh of relief washed over me when I heard this. Despite my concerns, Andi had done it. She'd managed to find somewhere quiet and unguarded. With a little bit of luck, we wouldn't have much trouble from anyone. And so, as the airlock door finally came to rest, I carefully crossed the threshold, and stepped out into the open. The steps down from the airlock to the ground were quite steep, but with some caution, I successfully made it to the bottom, and, for the first time in nearly thirty years, I finally set foot on real, solid ground.
"Well," I called out, turning back to the ship and looking up into the airlock. "Here we are. The beautiful dwarf planet of Sedna."
"What a deplorable shit-hole." Katie remarked, looking out across the airfield from her higher vantage point. At first, I thought she was being a bit rash about the whole thing, but when I looked around at my surroundings in more depth, I realised that she was right. The tarmac beneath us was cracked and torn up in places. The hangar behind was made of rusted, corrugated iron, with large holes in places. And above as, towering floodlights provided a dim light source, flickering constantly, one or two of them not even lit at all. Yes, it truly was an abysmal landing site.
"Well, at least we won't be here for long." I sighed, trying to make the best of a difficult situation. "Now, Xena. You stay here for a minute while me and Katie go and find a car. We'll bring it closer so you can get in without anyone seeing us." Xena nodded, carefully taking Amanda from Katie's arms. As she rocked the two children carefully in her arms, Katie stepped away, and made her own descent down the steps and onto the tarmac of the airfield.
"Let's go." I said enthusiastically, already making my way down the runway towards the hangar behind the Andromeda. "It shouldn't take us too long to find something roadworthy."
"Let's hope not." Katie replied, jogging to catch up. "I want something that looks good, though. Decent speed, too. And no wheels, obviously."
"Hold on." I interrupted, placing a hand out in front of her as I spoke. "We're not car shopping, you know. We'll take what we can get."
"Sorry." She retorted cockily. "I'm just saying, you know, if we're really going to steal a car, we might as well make it a good one."
"And I'm just saying, if you want a good car, you should go out and buy one." I replied bluntly. Katie simply glared at me in response. But it was true, after all. We couldn't really afford to be picky about which car we stole. We just had to find whatever we could, and take it. Plain and simple.
A minute or two later, we had reached the far corner of the hangar behind the ship. I gestured to Katie to wait as I peered around the corner of the rusted metal building. My eyes immediately fell upon two vehicles which were parked against the back wall of the hangar.
"I think we've found what we're looking for." I called over to Katie. She slowly came out from around the corner of the building, and her eyes met the two vehicles. Without hesitation, she ran over to me, her face lit up with elation. I immediately knew which of the two she was more interested in.
"Is that what I think it is?" She gasped, her voice filled with childlike enthusiasm. She pointed to one of the two vehicles. It was a yellow sports car, sleek, stylish and most likely immensely speedy. It had a convertible roof, two brown leather seats, and, as is always the way with sports cars these days, no wheels.
"That's a Cridlington Mach-S!" Katie blurted out joyfully. I simply looked at her in confusion. "Oh, Matthew, don't tell me you've never heard of it?"
"I'm afraid not." I said truthfully. I wasn't really that into cars, truth be told. As long as it could get me from A to B, I'd settle for anything.
"It was the first production car to break the sound barrier!" She explained eagerly. Of course, I was immediately unimpressed by this information.
"Tell me, Katie," I said with a tut. "Where exactly would one go in order to be able to actually travel at supersonic speeds on a road?"
"Well… you can't." She replied hesitantly. "But that's not the point, Matthew. The point is, you could travel faster than the speed of sound. Potentially."
"Potentially?" I chuckled, shaking my head. "Who in their right mind would waste their money on a car which could potentially travel at Mach 1?"
"Mach 1.24, actually." Katie replied, correcting me. "And anyway, it's a nineties classic. Collectors would go mad for a car like that."
"Yes, but we're not collectors, are we?" I remarked. "We're criminals, there are five of us, and we need to be inconspicuous. Which is why, Katie, we're taking that one." I pointed to the vehicle parked beside the Cridlington Mach-S. It was a small white van, with four thick black tires wrapped around its dull grey wheel rims, a small, square bonnet poking out from the front, and windowless double doors at the back. In short, it was atrocious. Perfect.
"You must be joking." Katie scoffed, staring at the van in disgust. "You really think that we should take that? An Antorani Erinome van?"
"It's perfect, Katie." I replied plainly. "Is it inconspicuous? Yes. Will we all fit in? Yes. Will anyone be able to see Xena hiding in the back? No."
"Will we get to the other side of the planet before the end of the week? No." She retorted sarcastically, clearly unimpressed by the idea.
"Come on now, Katie." I said with a sigh. "You do understand that we can't take the sports car, don't you?"
"But it's a van, Matthew!" She whined, quite adamant on the matter. "It's big, it's slow, it's uncomfortable."
"It's unremarkable." I insisted. "We'll blend in with the crowd. Whereas in… that thing, we'll stick out like a sore thumb."
"But-" Katie tried, however I was quick to interrupt, as I was fast losing my patience with her by this point.
"Katie!" I snapped, becoming agitated. "We are taking the van, and that's that, so will you please shut the hell up about the fucking sports car!" She was rather taken aback by this outburst, her eyes wide in shock, her mouth slightly agape. Then, her expression turned to one of discontent.
"Fine." She muttered in annoyance. "We'll take the stupid van. How exactly are we going to get into it anyway?"
"Leave that to me…" I assured her, reaching into my pocket and producing a small metal paperclip. Katie simply stared at me in confusion.
"A paperclip?" She asked, furrowing her brow. "What use is that going to be exactly?"
"We can pick the lock on the back doors with it." I explained, already bending the paperclip into a long, straight piece of thin metal.
"Wouldn't you be better off with one of these?" She asked, pulling a handful of hair pins out of her own pocket.
"Probably." I admitted with a quick nod. "Oh, we'll need a screwdriver, too. Might have one in here somewhere." I fiddled around in my pockets frantically, trying to find anything I could that'd do the job. Thankfully, I found a tiny, flat-headed screwdriver tucked into a pocket on my arm. I pulled it out, and led Katie over to the van, hair pins in hand, to attempt to pick the lock.
"Have you ever done this before?" She asked as I shoved the screwdriver as far into the tiny keyhole as it would go.
"What, stolen a car you mean?" I replied, taking one of the bobby pins from her hand and jamming it into the lock beneath the screwdriver.
"No, I mean have you ever picked a lock?" She explained. As she spoke, she quickly glanced over her shoulder to make sure nobody was about.
"No." I told her honestly. "I've seen it done in films and that, though. And let's be fair, how different can a film really be to real life?"
"Fair enough." She replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I suppose sometimes it does feel like we're living in a film, doesn't it?"
"I don't know." I sighed, fiddling desperately with the screwdriver and the bobby pin. "Maybe a sci-fi novel. Or novella, at least." Finally, I heard a loud click from inside the lock. I quickly pulled the screwdriver and the hair pin out from the keyhole and handed them to Katie. Then, I wrapped my hands around the two door handles on the large double doors, and pulled back on them. The doors opened wide, revealing a spacious, empty interior.
"There you go." I announced, turning to Katie with a smile. "Plenty of room for everyone. Now, in you get."
"What, you want me to climb over the seats?" She asked, peering into the dingy inside of the van. "It's a good job I'm wearing trousers then, isn't it?"
"Just get in." I repeated with a chuckle. "I know it doesn't quite suit your tastes as a car fanatic, but it's really not that bad, is it?"
"I suppose not." She agreed, slowly clambering into the back of the van and making her way towards the front seats. "And I'm not a car fanatic!"
"Oh, please." I said bluntly, following her into the van and slamming the doors behind me. "Oh, that's the Cridlington Mach-S, Matthew. It's a nineties classic, Matthew. Collectors would go mad for a car like that, Matthew." I continued to mock her jokingly as I lifted myself over the back of the seats, and soon found myself sat behind the Antorani Erinome's enormous steering wheel. Now all I had to do was start it.
"Now, where's the ignition in this thing?" I asked, looking around the underside of the steering wheel for another keyhole.
"Right there." Katie replied with a sigh, pointing to a small button on my left which was labeled 'ignition'.
"Yeah, that's the one." I said foolishly, pushing the button firmly down. The van's engine turned over a couple of times, and then started with a groan.
"You can actually drive, can't you?" She asked, looking at me with a concerned expression on her face.
"I'll have you know, Katie," I assured her confidently. "That I'm perfectly qualified to drive in all environments between naught point eight and one point two G."
"Sedna's gravity is one point four G." She replied bluntly. "It's the strongest anywhere in the Solar System, in fact."
"One point four G?" I repeated, astonished. "Blimey, it's a wonder you're not all four foot two!"
"The gravitational stabilisers are too strong for the planet." She explained. "Believe me, it's been petitioned. A lot."
"I thought it felt like I was carrying an extra stone or two when we landed." I smirked. "I'm surprised we can even stand up straight."
"In any case, you need a special license to drive here." Katie told me. "An OA Interplanetary Standard license won't cut it."
"Well, we're already criminals." I announced with a grin. "Might as well add 'insufficient driving license' to the list." She nodded in agreement, returning the grin. I carefully took one hand to the steering wheel, and the other to the gear stick. Finally, after positioning my feet above the appropriate pedals, I pulled the stick into the reverse position, and slowly backed the van away from it's parking space. And with that, we were away. All we had to do now was pick up Xena and the kids, then we could finally head to the Greater Manchester Ship Port and board the RCS Angelica.