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"Explain!" Captain Ellabee suddenly snapped. I looked up in shock before realising that she was talking to Atina and another Kyven, both of whom were now showing on a screen.
"The sensors must have been malfunctioning," Atina reported in a calm, professional voice. "I only got an alert when we were already too close to the moon. I'm going to run a full diagnostic once we're out of harm's way."
"And how are we going to get out of harm's way? Half the predictions say we're going to crash."
Goosebumps puckered all over my arms. It was worse than I'd thought.
"We're about to execute manoeuvre alpha-22," the male Kyven explained. "That should let us use the moon's gravitational pull to our advantage and slingshot around it. We'll be off course for a bit, but it will only be a minor delay."
"What are the chances of success?" the captain asked sharply.
Atina didn't cringe under Ellabee's scrutiny. I was proud of her even though I barely knew the pilot. "Eighty per cent."
"Not good enough. Where's Lini?"
This was quickly turning into a full-on disaster and part of me wished I was back in the lounge or wherever Sahra and Abby were, delightfully oblivious to the impending doom. I glanced in the direction of Atina's cockpit, still holding on tightly to little Jiji. The pink fluff ball seemed to have gone to sleep and was now softly purring. At least I could take care of her.
A green alien with a wild mohawk on their otherwise bald head rushed past me, a concerned look on their face. "Here, I've run an initial status report. There's an issue with our network's connectivity, the power has been cutting out temporarily and it's messing with the system."
A look of rage darkened the captain's face. "Rak! You're kidding me? I just had Queri check all of this, he assured me it was all fine and charged me an outrageous fortune for it as well, that bastard. When I see him next, I'm going to rip his bowels out with my bare hands. Wake Inil and get me a solution."
I almost screamed when two eyes opened on the back of Lini's head. A mouth appeared, one without teeth, which was quite possibly the weirdest thing I'd seen and I'd seen a lot of weird things since I got onto that first spaceship. The two-faced alien put its hands on top of the control panel and the eyes on the back of his head glowed red.
"Electrical disturbance detected. Affected ports are A4, 234, and T9. Affected bays are C1, C22, and L4," the mouth said in a monotone voice. "Attempting to reroute energy to affected areas… Reroute failed."
I probably shouldn't be here but the safety belts strapping me in were preventing me from leaving. At least I could see Atina, or rather, the back of her head.
Captain Ellabee paced back and forth with nervous energy. "Okay, start manoeuvre alpha-22."
"Aye, aye, Captain," Atina and her co-pilot said from their respective cockpits, both of them fully focused. Even though I hadn't known her for very long, I felt a little bit better knowing she was steering this ship. She felt like someone reliable who wasn't just going to let us crash.
"Turning off stabilisers in three, two, one—"
The pressure in the ship shifted and I was almost thrown from my seat, only prevented by the safety straps. My eardrums pulsed painfully as we seemed to rise rapidly. A sharp turn made Jiji fly from my arms and it released a long panicked noise that struck my heart. I reached out to her and she came tumbling back towards me as the ship tilted in the opposite direction. This time, I grabbed hold of it and held it tightly in my lap as I curled around it. I wasn't sure exactly who was getting more comfort from this but at least I wasn't alone.
Suddenly, the pressure disappeared and the ship levelled out much to my relief. I opened my eyes, not yet daring to breathe.
"Manoeuvre alpha-22 was successful," the monotone voice of the green alien declared. "Disengage safety system."
The belts strapping me into the chair without an inch of wiggling room unclicked and I jumped up, glad to be free again.
Captain Ellabee wiped a bead of sweat from her blue forehead. "Great, well done, everyone. Set the course for the nearest maintenance station and someone go check on our cargo, especially the livestock in the bays."
While she barked commands, I quickly hurried towards Atina's cockpit with Jiji still in my arms. The pink fluffball instantly jumped onto the pilot's shoulder and rubbed its body against her.
"Hey, little one." Atina turned around, looking slightly paler than before. "So that's where Jiji went."
"I held onto her for the whole thing. Her? Him?"
"It," she replied, tickling the pet affectionately. "The animals from Kwilen don't have genders. Are you okay? I'm sorry, I should never have brought you here."
"It's okay, it wasn't your fault."
"I'm not so sure about that. Katak and I did the preflight checks and walked around before we departed. Everything looked fine, so I don't understand why there was a system failure. This could've ended really badly, we could've crashed."
I placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping she understood it as reassuring. "But we didn't. So where is the nearest maintenance station?"
"Sivilia, it's a remote planet, mostly used for agriculture. If we need to replace parts of our ship, it's going be a pain."
