As Qula said this, the buzzing sound of the drones emerged from northeast direction.
“Are these the drones?” Flyn murmered. His feeling of superiority from moments ago had vanished quite rapidly.
“I think so”. Qula, who had appeared to be a person not easily rattled, looked slightly uneasy herself.
“Look! Over there!”
Flyn glanced to the left. Wary of what was to come. He knew that any moment, fifty rather deformed slugs could barge in. Maybe the AIs would come too, but the slugs were the problem here. They were incorruptible and quite aggressive, even. Without a doubt, they would eliminate him within seconds. Any intruder was one too many. And then what they would do with Qula . . . she was an insider. A mole. They would take her to the torture facility. Cover her with slime until she stared hallucinating, and then . . . he did not want to think about the possibility. It had been his decision to intrude this settlement, her life ending like this would be unbearable.
“What is it? I don’t see anything!”
In confusion, he turned his head back, being unable to see something else than the prominent white door in the room that had to protect them from alien attack. Against these creatures it would not stand a change, though. However, before he was completely able to turn his head back in its original position aimed at the direction the buzzing sound came from, he was blocked.
Was it a stick? A sharp object was piercing his cheek. Then again not extremely painful, but definitely an weird sensation. It also blocked him from being able to turn his cheek further. For seconds, he just froze in extreme confusion. Blood was rising to his head.
“Qula?”
Suddenly, as fast as it had initially appeared, the pressure on his cheek was gone. He immediately turned back further, just to see Qula with a big smirk on her face. Her finger still dangling mid-air, not even trying to hide the fact that she had been the instigator of all of this.
Instantly, Flyn’s confusion and quite frankly, terror, embarked in fury.
“Why… why would you even do that?”
“I was just trying to light the mood” Qula said with sparkling eyes. It was that annoying, satisfied-with-herself look on her face that put him off the most.
“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? WE’RE GOING TO DIE!”
“Tsk. Tsk. Were you always this pessimistic? Remember, if there’s a way in, there’s a way out”
Upon this, Qula jumped off the table they were sat on. Her demeanour that he had perceived as anxious a few minutes back seemed to have completely vanished. It had all been an act, just to mess with him, he supposed. Then again she had looked a bit unsure before.
Meanwhile Qula was swiftly pressing a combination of numbers on the dashboard of the Ship, which was now silent. Clearly, it did not do well in these crisis situations. He would talk to Ship about that, since the snarky comments from it were getting out of hand lately. “OK, time to go!” Qula yelled, interrupting his train of thought. “What.. how… are the explosives gone?”. “Naturally”. Qula chuckled. “It was easier than I thought, actually. But come on, no time to have our little tea party. “Prepare for take off”.
Flyn let out a relieved sigh. She would be a handful this journey, but she did save his life just now.