Astraeus 5 Read online

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  Sarah was relieved. She had just had a reply from her Captain and after reviewing her report, he had agreed that help was needed. He had asked for the navy to assist and they were sending a battlecruiser to them. Fortunately, it was currently nearby but it would take up to two hours to arrive.

  She called the others back to the bridge and told them what had been agreed "You’ll be pleased to know, gentlemen, that the cavalry is on its way, in the form of the battlecruiser HMS Sea Lion and will arrive in the next hour or two. While we wait, I would like us to search this base. In particular, I want to find the cells, so we can find Will Hunt and, if we can, find any offices or communications facilities, to see if we can gather any intel. There was no sign of anything in this hangar, so I suggest we go straight through to the rear. Billy can come with me to look at the rear of the hangar, while Sergeant McDowell can take Parsons and go down the left side when looking towards the rear. Norgrove and Harling can make up the final pair and go down the right side. Keep in touch and be ready in case you come across non-friendlies. Sergeant, is the prisoner secure and safe?"

  "Yes, Lieutenant. At the moment, he’s asleep, having had a good meal and a drink" replied McDowell.

  They all paired up as instructed and, having put on their helmets, left the ship together and walked towards the office that Billy had left only a few hours earlier and where he had last seen Will.

  As they entered the rear hangar, Sarah was relieved that the lights came on automatically. At least they wouldn’t be searching in limited lighting.

  As they headed into the hangar, Billy heard Sergeant McDowell exclaim "Just look at all this stuff. They certainly mean business. The sooner the navy gets here, the happier I’ll be."

  Sarah asked "Before we start our search, can we look to see if we can get these hangar doors open, so it will be easier to clear this place when the navy get here?"

  A few minutes later, Parsons spotted a green control lever just beyond the far end of the door. He pulled it towards him and the door slowly opened, with much creaking and small patches of dust falling. Inside, he found another lever and, having also pulled that, the doors to the front hangar also opened.

  Now that doors had been opened, as they headed for the rear of the hangar, Sarah and Billy spotted an airlock door. "Looks like we might be in business" said Sarah.

  As they went through the airlock, they entered a corridor leading in both directions. Sarah checked the sensor readout on her right wrist. "Breathable air, so we can take off our helmets." Once they were removed, she continued "Hmm, a bit stale but better than nothing. We’ll try this way. It looks as good as any" said Sarah, heading to the right. As they passed down the corridor, they opened all the doors they passed but were unable to find anything of interest. However, as they passed through the large door at the end of the corridor, they could tell immediately that this office was occupied by someone of importance.

  There were no doors set into the sides of the rear hangar, so it didn’t take long for the other two pairs to join Billy and Sarah in the large office.

  "Sergeant, I would like you, Norgrove and Parsons to search this room for intel. Looking around, there would seem to be plenty here. See if you can get any information on their plans for our universe." Turning to Harling, she said "Harling, I’d like you to join Billy and me, so we can look down the other end of this corridor."

  With that, she left the room, trailed by Billy and Harling.

  As they passed the airlock, they again started to open doors. When they reached the door at the end of the corridor, they realised they had found the cells.

  "Wonder which one Will’s in?" said Billy. "Once we get in here to investigate, we’ll just have to hope we get lucky. Fortunately, there aren’t that many cells. Let’s just hope there aren’t too many prisoners in here if we get it wrong."

  "If we can wait ‘till night time, we might find them asleep" suggested Harling.

  "That would be true if we knew when their days and nights were. While we use one set of time rules, they may use something completely different for all we know" pointed out Billy.

  "Our prisoner might be able to help out. If nothing else, his timepiece will tell us what time it is in his universe. That would give us a fifty fifty chance of hitting night-time if we chose a time that would either be afternoon or early morning" said Sarah. "On the other hand, the sooner we can clear this place out, me included, the happier I’ll be." Bending to talk into her radio, she said "Sergeant, how’s the intel search going?"

  "We’ve already gone through most of the furniture and are getting ready to take the computers, so should be completed in ten to fifteen, Ma’am."

  "Good news. OK. I think there’s a limit to what we can do at this end. We’ve found the cells, so know where to look for Will. Sergeant, we’ll join you in a couple of minutes, so we can get everything ready for the navy."

  An hour later, they had transferred all the intelligence they could carry onto the patrol ship. Norgrove and Harling were taken to the two the enemy ships, in case they needed to be moved in a hurry. Norgrove was also guarding the prisoner, who had remained on board due to the lack of a suitably-sized spacesuit.