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It took four hours for the other passengers to be loaded back in their pods. Those who put up a fight were quickly put down with a smack across the face from a blaster pistol butt. Everyone else followed suit after seeing that.
With a limited amount of time to hide, I darted inside the flight attendants’ quarters. Their pods were larger than ours with wardrobes and cabinets along one wall. I hid inside one and huddled in the corner. I covered myself with one of the dresses.
I held my breath when the quarters’ door opened, admitting the flight attendants who were forced into their own pods at gunpoint. I didn’t move a muscle until they had been put to sleep and the hideous Changelings marched out.
I waited another ten minutes to ensure the coast was clear before I climbed out of the wardrobe.
The flight attendants looked calm and peaceful inside their pods.
Should I wake them?
They would know the best way to escape and get out of here.
But the controls looked complicated. If I pressed the wrong button, I could end up locking them away forever.
And what about the passengers locked up in their pods?
This wasn’t my world. This was not my technology. This was not my war.
I had no idea what I was doing or what I was facing.
I decided against it. The more of us there were, the easier it would be to catch us.
I’d seen how the Changelings treated those who defied them.
I needed to focus on getting myself out of there. Then I could report to the Titans back on the surface about what I’d seen. Surely that would be more useful than getting smashed in the face?
The only solution I could think of was to head to the pods, try to activate one, and use it to return to the planet.
I peered around the doorway and down the gangway.
I listened but heard no thumping footsteps. Every now and then, I heard a screech that made me shudder, and that disgusting chitter noise these creatures made.
I crept down the gangway one careful step at a time, keeping a close eye on my rear, and the thousands of pods I passed on my way back to the escape pod room.
There were so many of them. So many I was leaving behind…
But I kept going.
There was nothing I could do for them.
My own pod was empty, the lid still up. They would be out there now, looking for me, scouring the ship for the missing passenger.
Maybe I wasn’t the only one that’d escaped. Maybe there were others.
But as I moved down the gangway, I noticed no other empty pods.
I reached the evacuation room. It seemed a whole lot larger without thousands of passengers crammed inside it.
I checked along either wall, the other doorways, stairs, and gangways, but I couldn’t get a good view of the landing above me. Someone could be watching up there and I wouldn’t even know it.
I would have to risk it.
I peered across the open space between me and the escape pods on the other side.
The doors were still open.
I was relieved. I thought the Changelings might have locked them down.
