The collision of his head with the hard ground jarred him back into unhappy
consciousness, and he raised his head, which someone wearing cement boots
was dancing a hornpipe on, expecting to see the doors continue to close.
They were motionless. He began to let out a sigh of relief when he caught sight of Mac's horrifed face in the gap. It was completely motionless. Not just shocked stillness; it wasn't natural enough for that. Something strange was going on.
Before he could work out what, a strong set of jaws clamped onto his shoulder, and a number of long green whiskers worked their way into his left ear. He felt himself lifted from the ground, then the cat leapt. He was vaguely aware of the sensation of passing through a confined space before it all became too much for him, and he lost his unsteady and unwilling grasp on wakefulness.
Mac could not believe her eyes, a state of affairs to which she was becoming quite accustomed. One moment she had been staring dumbstruck at the love of her life failing to make it the last few paces to relative safety, the next he had been lying at her feet, being gently nuzzled by an alien creature that had taken a liking to the pair of them. And her internal clock was quite insistent on the fact that no time had passed between those two moments.
She felt the ship lift off, the doors now closed. Aiax and Harm Sr were nowhere to be seen, and had apparently had the presence of mind to head for the bridge to get them the hell out of Dodge before things became painfully interesting.
Aware that there was nothing she could do to hasten their departure, she fell to the deck next to Harm, taking his head into her lap. His face was worryingly pale; blood still oozed slowly from his arm.
She swore softly. "Damn it, Harm, no wonder you got hurt so much in the last few months if you spent the whole time pulling stupid stunts like this."
She expected no answer, and received none. Sighing, she pressed her hand against Harm's wound in an effort to stop the bleeding.
A footstep sounded near her, and she looked up into Harm Sr's eyes. "Are we safe?"
"Not yet, we'll be far enough from the planet for safe hyperlaunch in a few seconds, apparently. We should just make it, and from the looks of it, Anubis isn't going to get out of the way in time. He doesn't know about the bomb, he's just going straight in. I asked about whether his shields could cope with the explosion, Aiax says there's no shield in the universe can handle that much naquadah blowing up at point-blank range. Well, he didn't say point-blank range, but that was the general idea."
The ship seemed to stretch briefly, and Mac nearly collapsed over Harm. "That was hyperlaunch I take it?"
"Yeah."
The ship then rocked. A spasm rippled through Harm's body, and the furry green creature licked his face in what was probably supposed to be a reassuring manner.
"That wasn't hyperlaunch."
"No. I'll go talk to Aiax."
Harm Sr vanished back in the direction of the bridge, leaving Mac once again alone with Harm and their companion.
"Hey Flyboy. We could use a little of your luck here. Looks like we might not be out of trouble yet."
It was a few minutes before Harm Sr returned, a harried look on his face.
"Hammer? What's up?"
"The hyperspace conduit, and don't ask me what that is, hadn't quite closed behind us when the bomb went off. That meant we got some readings of what happened to Anubis' ships, and it looks like we wiped out most of his fleet, including his flagship. No way to tell whether he was on board though, or if he had time to get off somehow if he was. Bad news is some of the explosion hit us. Luckily it didn't penetrate any important parts of the hull, but our steering and anti-gravity controls are pretty much out of whack. We're headed for Earth and can drop out of hyperspace when we get there, but Aiax has no idea what will happen then. We'll probably be in for a pretty rough ride, and we can't just beam off the ship. For one thing we don't know if the beaming technology's still working, for another we can't just leave this much naquadah floating around uncontrolled near Earth."
Mac looked back down at Harm. "See, Sailor? We're really gonna need that luck."
They were motionless. He began to let out a sigh of relief when he caught sight of Mac's horrifed face in the gap. It was completely motionless. Not just shocked stillness; it wasn't natural enough for that. Something strange was going on.
Before he could work out what, a strong set of jaws clamped onto his shoulder, and a number of long green whiskers worked their way into his left ear. He felt himself lifted from the ground, then the cat leapt. He was vaguely aware of the sensation of passing through a confined space before it all became too much for him, and he lost his unsteady and unwilling grasp on wakefulness.
Mac could not believe her eyes, a state of affairs to which she was becoming quite accustomed. One moment she had been staring dumbstruck at the love of her life failing to make it the last few paces to relative safety, the next he had been lying at her feet, being gently nuzzled by an alien creature that had taken a liking to the pair of them. And her internal clock was quite insistent on the fact that no time had passed between those two moments.
She felt the ship lift off, the doors now closed. Aiax and Harm Sr were nowhere to be seen, and had apparently had the presence of mind to head for the bridge to get them the hell out of Dodge before things became painfully interesting.
Aware that there was nothing she could do to hasten their departure, she fell to the deck next to Harm, taking his head into her lap. His face was worryingly pale; blood still oozed slowly from his arm.
She swore softly. "Damn it, Harm, no wonder you got hurt so much in the last few months if you spent the whole time pulling stupid stunts like this."
She expected no answer, and received none. Sighing, she pressed her hand against Harm's wound in an effort to stop the bleeding.
A footstep sounded near her, and she looked up into Harm Sr's eyes. "Are we safe?"
"Not yet, we'll be far enough from the planet for safe hyperlaunch in a few seconds, apparently. We should just make it, and from the looks of it, Anubis isn't going to get out of the way in time. He doesn't know about the bomb, he's just going straight in. I asked about whether his shields could cope with the explosion, Aiax says there's no shield in the universe can handle that much naquadah blowing up at point-blank range. Well, he didn't say point-blank range, but that was the general idea."
The ship seemed to stretch briefly, and Mac nearly collapsed over Harm. "That was hyperlaunch I take it?"
"Yeah."
The ship then rocked. A spasm rippled through Harm's body, and the furry green creature licked his face in what was probably supposed to be a reassuring manner.
"That wasn't hyperlaunch."
"No. I'll go talk to Aiax."
Harm Sr vanished back in the direction of the bridge, leaving Mac once again alone with Harm and their companion.
"Hey Flyboy. We could use a little of your luck here. Looks like we might not be out of trouble yet."
It was a few minutes before Harm Sr returned, a harried look on his face.
"Hammer? What's up?"
"The hyperspace conduit, and don't ask me what that is, hadn't quite closed behind us when the bomb went off. That meant we got some readings of what happened to Anubis' ships, and it looks like we wiped out most of his fleet, including his flagship. No way to tell whether he was on board though, or if he had time to get off somehow if he was. Bad news is some of the explosion hit us. Luckily it didn't penetrate any important parts of the hull, but our steering and anti-gravity controls are pretty much out of whack. We're headed for Earth and can drop out of hyperspace when we get there, but Aiax has no idea what will happen then. We'll probably be in for a pretty rough ride, and we can't just beam off the ship. For one thing we don't know if the beaming technology's still working, for another we can't just leave this much naquadah floating around uncontrolled near Earth."
Mac looked back down at Harm. "See, Sailor? We're really gonna need that luck."