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I took a deep breath, pushed off the wall, and bolted across the open space.
I fought the urge to check over my shoulders and dived inside the first pod I came to. I stood to one side of the door and waited to hear for any sign or signal that one of the Changelings had spotted me.
I heard nothing.
But that didn’t mean they hadn’t seen me. They could be out there now, creeping up on my current location.
“Move!” I told myself.
Ten empty seats. Did it matter which one I took?
I opted for the one closest to the door. It was harder for any passing Changelings to see me from there.
I strapped myself in.
“Computer,” I said self-consciously. “How do I launch this escape pod?”
“The escape pods have been deactivated,” Computer said.
My heart sank.
Of course it had. That was the reason they had left the doors open.
“Is there a way to re-activate them?” I said.
“Negative. The captain has issued the command. Only someone of a superior rank can override his order,” Computer said.
Shit.
There go my hopes of an escape.
“Computer,” I said. “I want to send a message to someone on the nearby planet. Can I do that?”
“Negative. All communications have been blocked at the captain’s orders. If you wish to overturn his orders you must have a rank higher than—”
“Yeah,” I said, dejected. “I get it.”
I released the restraints and ran my fingers through my hair.
There had to be another way out of there. There just had to be!
I just wasn’t seeing it.
But maybe I didn’t need to see it…
“Computer,” I said. “This ship has been hijacked by Changeling soldiers. How do I escape without them noticing?”
“The ship has not been hijacked,” Computer said. “The captain has not issued a distress signal. If you would like to lodge a complaint against the captain or our service, please send your correspondence to—”
“Never mind,” I said.
Either the captain was in on it or the Changelings had hacked into the system.
Either way, there was precisely zero I could do about it.
I wasn’t exactly a computer whizz back home so there was little chance I could do anything useful with this futuristic technology.
There had to be another way out of there.
