As the pilot fought a mutineer the ship rolled and bucked uncontrollably, twisting too and fro in the air currents when it switched between its three flight modes. The crew were tossed like ragdolls as Rosie writhed, but eventually the ship settled into a steady ascent.
The moment the ship began ascending Sleepy picked herself off the floor and quickly moved towards the heart of the ship. If she could get control of the engine then she could find out what the issue was. Quickly donning her jacket, she moved off to her target with Laurence in tow and saw the ship in disarray.
There was a flashing red light that blinked through the hallway as the two of them ran through the ship. It put an ominous tone to the sounds of shouting and metal hitting metal above the two of them, but they still had no idea what had caused the sounds. Normally the ship was quiet thanks to a sound dampening array that covered its body, mainly to block out the sound of the wind that whipped by outside the vessel. Today, however, it was alive with the sounds of shouting and crashes.
Sleepy’s bare feet slapping against the hardwood surface was the only constant or clear sound that the pair could hear as they ran. Both of them could tell something was wrong, but not knowing what just lead to the two of them being more cautious than reckless. Had they known about the situation in the bridge they would have likely run there instead of the engine.
“So why are we going to the Engine?” Said Laurence. He floated along beside Sleepy as she ran, easily keeping up with her while barely touching the floor. A small amount of force would allow Laurence to push ahead quickly and simply glide for a few seconds while keeping up with his friend.
“I can find out what's wrong with the ship there and fix it. Most people don't realise, or care enough to know that engine controls the arrays on the entire ship. In fact the ship itself is basically excess weight that the arrays in the engine have to deal with.” Sleepy would not tell anyone, but she was immensely proud of the engine of the vessel. It had been a complete mess when her brother had first got the ship, and only through painstaking effort over two years had she fixed all the arrays back to the way they were when the ship had been created.
Mere moments after they spoke, the two of them arrived at the engine. Laurence pushed open the door and saw the hundreds of brightly shining array batteries, many of them pulsing with use. Sleepy pushed three glass beads near the entrance and two screens formed from water flowed into being.
“What I'm doing,” She began, “is checking that the arrays are working by looking at the path of energy from all the batteries,” She pointed at the left screen, “and looking at the other screen to see if there is any physical da-.” She trailed off. On one of the images fluttering in the liquid screens was the bridge of the ship. It was cut to bits and covered with blood as the nine people within the vessel fought. There were bodies in the floor but it was impossible to tell whether they were alive or dead. The only thing that could be easily seen was that Jonas’ side was losing.
Laurence stood back and watched as Sleepy swung her fist through the screen. It simply split and reformed after her fist passed through it impotently, only adding to her frustration. She turned round and surveyed the room in front of her looking for something, anything, that could get her brother out of this mess he was in.
“I need to help him...” She muttered, more to herself than to anyone else. She ran around the room looking for anything at all that could save get brother from harm. “Laurence, you're smart and I'm panicking. Please help me save my brother. I need help.” Tears began to well up in her eyes as she saw another person from Jonas’ side cut down. It was now four versus two, with the majority of the crew stuck behind a barricaded door into the bridge.
Laurence frowned. He did not understand why Sleepy wanted to save her brother so much, but his father had told him to always try to help your friends when they are in times of need. After a few more seconds he said, “Find out what Yannis wants and agree to it. If I can't get to your brother in time that is going to be the only way of saving his life.”
“Okay,” Sleepy replied, “what are you going to do?”
“Deal with the problem by cutting out the rotten part.” With that Laurence turned and ran out of the room. He was in an odd predicament where he needed to run as fast as he could, but if he actually did that then he would slow himself down by making his footing far more unstable. Instead he performed that strange gliding skip that he had used to keep up with Sleepy. He would push off from the ground and propel himself forwards at high speeds, slowly slipping closer to the ground before pushing off again.
The moment Laurence left the room the intercom crackled to life on the ship. Sleepy’s voice flowed through the ship like sweet molasses as she said, “Yannis, this is Sleepy. Why are you fighting my brother?”
He paused a moment, letting one of his men smash into Jonas’ final ally. The man crumpled once his chin came into contact with the end of his enemy's metal pole. It was now one versus three. He picked up the stone he had seen Jonas use earlier on in the day and spoke. “Dunwu,” He said, “I am tired of treating a clown like a leader. I am tired of stepping round him when something violent needs to be done. If we kill the creature out there then we are free to take your friend and his half-breed nanny wherever they want, but the man leading all of us is a failure. Fire at the beast.”
“Why would I fire at the creature? it's not like I can fire from here.”
“Rubbish. I know you control all the arrays in the ship from your little room. Do it now or your brother dies.”
Sleepy saw Yannis’ cutlass swing towards her brother, slowly and purposefully. She scanned the other images on the screen but could not see Laurence. With less than a second to go before her brother died she grabbed the bead to fire the lightning cannon on the bow.
As the cannon swivelled and lined up its shot Laurence reached the final hallway. People instinctively moved out of the way of the door as he arrived because of the force he was running with. He summoned Jormugand, igniting the hammer, and slammed through the door as the first salvo fired off.
The blade continued to edge closer as the cannons rocked the ship, never wavering, continuing to approach Jonas’ neck. Even after the barricade behind the three standing members of the ‘kill it’ faction exploded, it continued its uninhibited path towards the death of the captain. It only stopped when it was forced upwards by Laurence. Disregarding everything else in the room, Laurence rolled through the debris, severed Zoo’s arm at the elbow and cleaved his hammer. The arc picked up all three men and the moment he has them in his control he just hammered them into the floor.
Yannis was in extreme pain, but the moment he heard Sleepy’s voice crackle over the intercom he focused his thoughts. “Target hit.” She said, a bitterness permeating her voice that was unmissable. The fog began to dissipate and the sky cleared. It was beautiful to be able to see the sun again. After everything that had happened, Yannis felt that he was right. He began to laugh. He had won.
Moments later, the intercom once more crackled into life as Sleepy swore. A screech unlike any other rocked through the air. It was as if a thousand thunderbolts had descended upon the ship and the sky was angry. “This is behind us.” The young woman said. The fear she was feeling was palpable, and easily audible, even over the foreign screaming. As she spoke, screens of water rose all over the ship. They showed one image, that of a giant storm front approaching the vessel. What scared Sleepy was the giant snake leading the storm, screaming its lungs out at its child now slung across its back and at the ship that dared to injure its spawn.
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