Julius Rosenthal will make candy no more and other short stories by Nicholas Russell (young adult books to read .txt) 📗

breath when she felt it. The tingle of hair free of gravity floating about her face she pulled herself into a tight ball and prepared to push off. Hesitating Ram looked up and took bearings before jumping.

Using all of her strength Ram pushed away and shot towards the ceiling. She didn’t look back for fear of losing sight of the opening, it wasn’t large barely a meter round. Drawing closer she felt the gravity system’s starting to kick in pulling first her hair and then the fringes of her clothes. The central computer wouldn’t allow the antigravity system to be taken off line for very long.

Ram reached out grabbing a support beam across the ceiling just as the artificial gravity kicked in completely. As her fingers had wrapped around the beam it felt like a docking crane had taken hold and was doing its best to pull her down. There was a quite crunch followed by a deafening scream. Making the mistake of looking down Ram’s head began to swim she quickly closed her eyes and tightened her grip. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again and slowly looked down. Gruber was on the ground one leg twisted at an unnatural angle.

She looked away pushing back the thoughts of what could be her own demise. The access way was locked with a hinge on one side and a locked handle on the other. She still had a pistol and was close enough that she could probably hit the lock, but the sounds of Gruber twisted and dying clouded her mind. Slowly Ram loosened her grip and let herself hang down. Pulling the pistol from her pocket and taking aim fired.

The lock shattered on impact and sent hot shrapnel in all directions slicing Ram’s check. The grated opening dropped almost a quarter of an inch and before Ram could do anything but brace for the hit. The latch gave way and the grate swung down slamming into her. The impact knocked the pistol from her grasp and slackened her grip. There was barely enough time for her to grab one of the slates with her free hand before she lost her grip on the support beam. While the angled slates didn’t come to a point it was close enough to one that it sliced into Ram’s fingers as her full weight pulled against her hand.

Ram used her uninjured hand to brace herself as she slipped her feet into the grooves and moved her weight to her feet. Peeling her hand from the grate, Ram clenched her fist tight hoping to slow down the bleeding. She shimmied to the side trying to keep her balance while trying to move around the grate. Her hand left a thin trail of blood where ever she touched she wanted to wrap her hand to stop the bleeding but now wasn’t the time. She reached the edge and carefully moved to the opposite side of the grate. She started to hear shouting from below but ignored it and began to climb the grate like a ladder. She heard the first shot as she pulled herself into the vent, she felt the impact from the second as she was sliding her legs in. The blast was from an energy pistol the shot was a near miss but close enough to burn Ram’s pants and leg.

The vent was tall enough for her to move at a crouch, allowing her to move along its full length at a good pace even with the twisted ankle. As she reached the end Ram was greeted by another covering sealed from the outside. Shaking seemed to do little to the lock a few swift kicks may have loosened it, but her ankle and the height size of the shaft. The slats were wide enough for Ram to slip through if she was careful threading her legs through first she slipped through and into the engine room.

The automated lights flickered on starting with the ones directly above and then moving out to lighting the entire room. Technically the room was open with the engines main unit taking up a long track along the center with three power controllers along each side. She immediately started looking for some way to shut the engines down. The full engine was mostly external with only a few access panels on the interior. Looking at it she could see three panels on each side. All the panels had clasp keeping them closed despite the rigors of space travel.

The panels along the closest side were locked so Ram moved around to the opposite side. The first and third panels were locked but the middle was accessible. A small strut held the door open as Ram stared at a panel of back lit switches. Back in flight school she had taken basic courses in Engine repair - they taught you enough to get a busted ship to limp home, she failed that class. And standing here now Ram wished she had paid closer attention. Starting at the top she went down the line filling each switch as she went. She was halfway through the panel when a violent shudder shook the ship knocking her to the ground.

As Ram started to pull herself to her up the lights flickered two or three times before blinking out. The room air began to feel humid as the moments past she sat still shrouded by the deep black praying for vivid red of the emergency lights. As seconds turned into minutes the air around became hotter whatever she had done must have worked. The ship beneath her feet didn’t hold the same sense of moment it did before the lights went out. The room was quite Ram’s every breath seemed to echo endlessly until the silence was finally