“ACCESS GRANTED.”
The door slid soundlessly aside.
“Christ, man,” Jessie whispered, awestruck. “How’d you manage to do that?”
I smiled in what I hoped was an enigmatic way. “Easy, I hacked the list.”
“But —”
“But what? It’s uncrackable? Nothing is if you try hard enough. Now get your arse in there before a security patrol notices.”
We hustled into the antechamber and waited for the door to close behind us. The SecForce glyphs glowed a gentle burnt amber against the brushed metal walls.
“One door down,” Jesse said, “one to go. Then, bingo. Shambhala 752B, here we come!”
We’d been talking about this for a few months; that we’d break into one of the ship’s armouries, grab a couple of energy weapons, then steal a shuttle to get down to the surface. This was the most dangerous part of the plan, the first piece. If we were caught in here, we’d certainly be leaving the ship, but via an airlock to the void. Suffice to say, that wasn’t quite the escape we had planned.
But we’d made it past the first obstacle. The second door slid aside leaving us wide-eyed at the amount, and variety, of guns. Quickly, we grabbed two pistols – easy to hide in our backpacks– and some additional powercells, then made our way back out to the corridor.
Nobody gave us more than a passing glance as we strolled toward the docking bay, even though both of us were convinced we were visibly oozing guilt. The cleaners’ uniforms we’d lifted from the stores got us onboard a small craft, and from there it was simple.
“Aren’t the bridge going to wonder why we’re leaving?” Jesse asked, wiping his forehead.
“Nah, man,” I grinned. “Sorted that too. We’ll be on the surface boozing it up within an hour. Then, well, then we’ll go find some entertainment.”
He grinned back at me. We weren’t sure why no-one was allowed to the surface anymore, but everyone had a suspicion that it was because those high up in command wanted to keep the pleasures of The City exclusive to themselves.
“Ship, initiate launch and head for the surface,” Jesse said, and the airlock slid closed.
“FUEL LEVEL TEN PERCENT, INADEQUATE FUEL FOR RETURN TRIP,” said the shuttle’s computer.
“Proceed,” I said. “We’ll refuel at The City when we land.”
Thirty seconds later we were out of the launch bay and headed planetside.
“Strange they ain’t trying to bring us back,” Jesse said.
“Nah, I blasted them with override codes. They think we’re part of the Elite caste. Rumour has it they go on little jaunts like this all the time. We’re fine.”
We travelled the rest of the way in anticipatory silence until the ship’s onboard computer spoke.
“LANDING SEQUENCE COMMENCING. ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS NO LONGER SUPPORT LIFE. FUEL AT ONE PERCENT. SHUTDOWN COMMENCING. LIFE SUPPORT POWER REMAINING: TWO HOURS.”
“Where’s The City?” asked Jesse.
“NO LIFE IS SUPPORTED ON THIS PLANET. THE CITY IS A MYTH. SHUTDOWN COMPLETE.”
The screens darkened.
