Blake sat trapped in the cargo room. His situation had worsened. Cay and Cooplan had entered a few minutes earlier and tightly bound and gagged him. Clearly, they did not want him making any noise. But who would they care about overhearing him? Unless… someone was coming aboard, someone who knew him. Blake's heart began to pound. Could Avon have found him? It seemed unbelievable. Yet, with Orac's help, was it possible? Perhaps they were looking for him and he could escape with Tamsen.
Greggs, Cooplan and Cay waited at the airlock.
"When the opportunity presents itself, Cay, I want to you to damage their airlock," ordered Greggs.
"Sir?"
At that moment the hatch began to slide open. Tarrant and Avon walked through. Greggs led them to the bridge.
"We got pretty badly damaged during the war and replacement parts are very difficult to come by," Greggs said. "We're hoping that the people we are meeting next will be able to offer us some new equipment."
Tarrant looked around. "Yes. It's a good job these old fliers were built to last. Your cargo is through there, I assume?" He pointed to the door in the bulkhead.
"Yes. But during flight it does not have an atmosphere so it's not safe to enter."
"Right. So what do you need help with?"
As they discussed various problems and possible solutions, Avon walked about the flight deck. He quickly assessed the sealed door. There was no way to know if what Greggs had said was true but he didn't trust the captain and he had to know what was on the other side of the door.
"Why don't you take the captain back to Liberator, Tarrant? I'll see if I can get any backup systems running."
Greggs eagerly agreed telling Cay and Cooplan to accompany him. Greggs seemed too eager to Avon but he let it pass. All that concerned him was opening the cargo door. Besides, he doubted if Greggs could get up to anything nefarious with Tarrant keeping an eye on him. The crew was on high alert with orders for immediate teleport should anything untoward happen. Avon spoke into his bracelet.
"Vila, Avon. I need you across on the Dublin. I'll need your expertise with the backup systems. Bring your box of tricks."
A short time later Vila entered and nervously regarded the door, "Avon? I don't like this."
"You're not required to like anything. Get that door open."
Vila looked at it and made his usual comments about it being an extremely difficult task.
"Often these doors are sealed for a reason, Avon. The other side may not be pressurized. It's a terrible risk."
"Not compared to you not opening it."
Avon let the threat sink in. Vila sighed and moved across to the door's code box.
Blake felt the gag loosen and he took a hurried breath. Stale air had never tasted so good.
"You must come with me. Now!" whispered Tamsen.
"Why? What's going on?"
"More people have arrived. They mean you harm."
"What? How do you know? I think they could be my friends!"
Tamsen explained what she had overheard. That from where she had laid, she could only see one man but she believed the others were beginning to try and open the door to where Blake was imprisoned.
"The man I saw was tall, with short brown curly hair. He was their leader. They called him Tarrant. The others I could not see. Come. I will show you."
The bonds securing Blake's feet and body fell away. Tamsen's description did not sound like any member of the Liberator's crew and, reluctantly, Blake turned to go with her. Tamsen quickly led him to the back of the room where she removed a broken access panel and crawled into the gap. Once through, the passage became a little wider and the two of them were able to make their way further into the ship. After they had turned a corner, Tamsen stopped and motioned for Blake to be silent. She pointed towards a ventilation panel at the far end of the shaft and Blake inched towards it. Peering through, he saw Greggs, Cay and a tall man –Tarrant he assumed- walking down a short grey corridor. He sighed and returned to Tamsen. "You're right, I don't want to meet these people. I'm better off staying hidden and looking for a chance to escape. Where can we hide?"
As the door eased open, Vila smiled and stood aside. Then, somewhat belatedly, took a huge mouthful of air, in case the cargo hold was not sealed. Cautiously, Avon entered, his eyes alert for any sign of a prisoner. The room was fairly small and lacked hiding places so in moments they had checked the area.
"What do you make of this?" Avon asked Vila, picking up the ropes which had held Blake. Vila looked at them and raised his eyebrows.
"It could…" he began but then he heard voices coming from the main deck. Quickly, they both dived out of the cargo hold, Vila activating the door's shutting mechanism.
A moment later Greggs and Tarrant entered the bridge.
"Did you have any luck?" asked Tarrant. Avon shook his head.
"The secondary circuits are in need of a complete overhaul. I'm afraid there's not a lot we can do."
"I've arranged for some spare parts to be brought across. Cooplan and Cay are collecting them now." Tarrant said. "We can help to install them, if you'd like."
"That's a very kind offer but you have done more than enough already. I'm sure you are eager to get underway," answered Greggs.
Avon looked at Tarrant and shook his head minutely. But despite Tarrant's more insistent offer of aid, Greggs' mind would not be changed. Just as Avon was considering forcing the issue, his bracelet pinged.
"Avon, Cally. We need you all back on Liberator."
The urgency in her voice told Avon all he needed to know.
"If you had lived on that planet for as long as I did, and seen the changes, you would have learned to be concise with your words and movements," said Tamsen. "I saw too many friends recruited to gangs because they were too slow. I kept my conversations short and my actions simple. I stayed alive."
Blake looked at her wondering how long she had lived alone.
For as long as Tamsen had hidden aboard the ship, she had never needed to think about anyone else's safety. She was slight, agile and did not seem to mind the enclosed spaces she had to crawl through in order to access areas of the small ship. As far as Tamsen knew, there was only one other exit from the maze of ventilation ducts and that was the way she had first entered the ship; the main engine housing. Obviously, during flight, it would be impossible to leave that way. So although he was free, Blake reflected bitterly, he was still trapped. He attempted to make himself comfortable in the small area Tamsen had made her home.
"What's wrong?" aksed Avon as he rushed onto the bridge.
"5 pursuit ships just entered the edge of Zen's scanner range," answered Dayna. Tarrant gave Zen the order to disengage from the flier as he moved to the flight controls.
"Unable to release. The airlock will not close. Repair circuits activating," reported Zen.
Avon spun round and raced back to the airlock. Now that the door was half-closed he could see the problem.
"Greggs or one of the others has smashed the door relays. How long until those pursuit ships are in firing range?"
"9 minutes."
"Right. The repair circuits are working. I'm going to see if I can speed them up a little by replacing some of the relays manually." He clicked the intercom off and raced to the store room.
"I did a thorough job," said Cay. "There's no way they will have enough relays in stock, especially as we have taken several for our ship."
"Good," smiled Greggs. "The Federation will soon be able to claim Blake and the Liberator. A most satisfying day's work."