“I’m wondering,” Ekaterina said, “why there aren’t safeguards in this ship to prevent us from doing exactly what we are planning.”
“They never thought their slaves would rebel,” Rodriquez said. “And, apparently, they never did.”
“I find that hard to believe,” I said.
“Maybe more or regular sessions with the ‘educator’ or ‘electronic lobotomizer’ kept the slaves passive,” Rodriquez said. His voice was angry.
“Perhaps,” I agreed, watching the jeweled and crystal spires come closer.
“Let me know when we are in weapons range,” I told Ekaterina.
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
I smiled at the “sir.”
I didn’t know how fast this ship flew, but it took almost ten minutes to get to the city. It kept growing and growing in size.
The view lurched.
I looked behind us. There was another ship there that had apparently fired upon us.
“Status?” I demanded. “Ekaterina, return fire.”
“We don’t seem to be damaged,” Elisa reported. “We apparently have some sort of force-field type of shield.”
“The shields won’t hold up forever,” I heard.
“I’ve hit them,” Ekaterina crowed.
“Hit them again,” I said. “Shoot them down.”
“They’ve hit us,” Elisa reported as the ship’s view lurched again. “And another one is coming up. I don’t know if we can hold out between two of them.”
“And a third is coming,” I heard.
I thought for a moment. “Ekaterina, do as much damage as you can to that city before they kill us.”
She looked at me then in a soft voice said, “Yes, sir.”