I let out a curse. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire! Blast, I think they invented that saying just for this occasion!”

I had no idea how I was going to get out of this one. My name was Trouble, and by golly, if I didn’t find it in spades. At least it would be faster than the Breakers. That was a plus. On the bright side, the very bright side, the sun was growing closer but I wasn’t a quitter.

“Think. Think! Come on Ginny, use your head!” I looked around the bridge. My eyes landed on the Captain.

“Okay, ships damaged, the crew is dead. I can’t control the ship or—wait, shuttle bay!” Most large ships had a hangar with shuttles. If I could get to it quick enough, I might be able to hack one and fly it out of here before the gravitational pull of the sun made escape impossible.

I snatched the keycard from the Captain’s corpse, taking his very expensive-looking quantum communicator while I was at it. I rushed back to the ship computer I’d hacked, pulled up a ship schematic, and quickly memorized the route to the hangar before darting to the exit.

Running through the ship, trying to ignore the dead bodies and puddles drying blood, I made quick progress. Even the bulkhead doors didn’t slow me down much. The captain’s keycard overrode the lockdown and the doors opened.

I was panting in my spacesuit. The heat made sense now. Even the frinkin’ sun wanted to cook my goose. I was halfway to the hangar when an automated voice sounded from the ship's internal speakers.

“Warning, warning. Prepare to repel borders. Hostile ship approaching. Warning—”

I ignore it. The blasted ship was a little behind the times. The borders had already come and gone. I glanced at one of the dead intruders. Well, some of them left. For many this would be their final resting place, but not me. I was going to escape. I wouldn’t die here.

A jolt ran through the ship. I was almost to the hangar now. “What the heck was that?” I demanded.

The unhelpful automated message continued to repeat. “Warning. Warning. Borders have landed in the shuttle bay.”

Wait. That was new. “What? You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered. “Where did they come from?” I’d glanced at the sensors before making for the hanger, there were no other ships in the system. There was no way anyone could be here fast enough to board Triv's prison ship already. It wasn’t possible. Even if a ship had arrived since I left the bridge, there was no way it could have traversed into the system so fast and be landing borders already. We were practically in the star’s corona. No ship could exit the hyperway that close to a star.

I continued to the hangar. It was my only hope at this point. Borders or not, I had a strong suspicion they wouldn’t be picking up hitchhikers, which meant I was on my own, as usual.

The final corner came into view. I was practically swimming in my space suit due to all the sweat pouring off me. Metallic footsteps clued me in that something was moving up ahead. Blast, was that computer right? I couldn’t believe it. I risked a glance.

Six smoke-gray colored war machines were moving to exit the hangar. One looked directly at me and raised its arm holding a weapon. A powerful built-in weapon deployed from its shoulder and spun to track me.

“Target acquired,” a robotic voice said.

I jerked back from the corner and cried out in surprise. An eerie tone sounded and then a two-foot hole was blasted from the corner where my head had just been. I screamed and stumbled back as melted slag splattered the far wall. I tripped and landed hard on my buns. That saved my life. A line of superheated plasma cut through the bulkhead above my head, slicing through the metal like butter and continuing through the next wall without any apparent effort. If I’d still been on my feet. I’d be beside myself right now. In pieces.

Shimmying backward I scrambled to my feet and fled back the way I’d come. What the heck are those things? The clomping sound of metal footsteps added urgency to my mind. I made haste and dove into the first open door I saw. I wasted no time looking for another way out. The problem was that it was a storage room with only one exit.

“Blast!” I cursed, at this point, it didn’t matter if I made noise. I was dead. That thing would find me in seconds and then carve me apart with whatever that crazy weapon was. I spun to face the door. The small sidearm in my hand seemed totally inadequate to face the war machine. I hurried to the door and pressed my back against the wall next to it. My heart pounded as the footsteps grew louder and louder.

This is it, Ginny, focus. You can kill the scary robot monster! Okay, shut up brain. Not helping! A shadow fell over the opening and then the war machine jumped through the opening.

Nope! Not happening! I dove behind it out into the hall, not even trying to fight the thing. I rolled over to the door controls and slapped my hand on the button to close the door. It turned to face me as the door descended. The bottom of the door slammed into the war machine's head knocking it to the ground face down. Its handheld weapon was knocked free and slid across the floor.

This is my chance! I’d planned to just close the door behind it and just slow it down, but it had seen me and spun around, getting hit when the door closed instead.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Die!” I shouted and opened fire with my pistol at point-blank range. I aimed for the head.

Three shots hit and did nothing.

“Blast it!” I screamed on the edge of hysteria.

I kicked its face doing exactly no damage to it and leaving my foot bruised and aching. I had just one shot. It had dropped its handheld weapon. I heard the eerie tone building and dove to the floor to grasp the fallen weapon. I rolled onto my back as I brought the weapon to my shoulder. The weapon was surprisingly light but felt durable.

The tone blared and the shoulder-mounted plasma beam fired. If I’d been the target I’d be dead. Instead, the automated war machine turned the door to slag. I still only had seconds. It cut through the door even faster than the wall. I fumbled with the unfamiliar weapon, trying to figure out how to use it. A glance at its hands showed me a similar arrangement of fingers so when I felt a nob under my thumb, I pressed it.

The weapon thumped lightly against my shoulder and a blue blast of energy shot out. It hit the war machine in the head and nearly took it to clean off. I fired twice more at the body and the plasma weapon finally fell quiet.

I was shaking so badly I could barely get to my feet. I’d seen six of those things and there could be more. I blinked rapidly as sweat stung my eyes. I had to go. It was now or never. If I didn’t get off this ship now, I would be dead. Clutching the weapon tightly, I hurried toward the hangar bay again.

Somewhere inside the sun:

Sensors detected a ship approaching. Dormant systems powered up and the limited AI calculated an unfathomable number of variables every second. Mission parameters were paramount. Stay hidden and wait for further orders. Centuries had passed but no orders came. The AI faithfully obeyed its directives. Never once had it been discovered. Little had to be done to stay hidden in the corona of the sun. Nothing had ever found it, until now.

A ship was on a collision course with the vessel. It would be discovered. That was unacceptable. The AI ran millions of calculations. The approaching ship would be destroyed, but it might damage the vessel. Time had taken a toll on the old vessel. Time had degraded it badly. It could no longer just blast the ship apart. Moving the vessel would violate its standing orders.

The approaching ship would find the vessel. The vessel must remain hidden, the mission was paramount. The two conflicting facts couldn’t be ignored.

Running hundreds of simulations it settled on the one course of action that met all parameters given its limited resources. Six of its eight remaining security bots were loaded onto a shuttle and sent to intercept and divert the ship. All its other security bots had fallen into disrepair. Time conquers all.

The shuttle was launched, and the security bots were delivered. Soon after boarding, one of the security bots went offline. The AI wasn’t concerned, the approaching vessel altered course. Pleased with the results, even if one more of its machines had broken down, the AI had completed its objective. It issued the recall order and settled in to continue its long wait.

Aboard the Triv Prison ship:

I ran for the closest shuttle. None of the war machines were in sight so I took a chance. The shuttle doors were open. I didn't know why and I didn’t care. It would save time trying to gain access and I was out of options. Between killer machines and the blazing sun, I decided I’d long outstayed my welcome.

I ran up the ramp and slapped the controls to close the hatch. I was surprised to find the shuttle still powered up. With a grin, I slid into the cockpit seat and then froze. All the controls were covered in a fine layer of dust.

“What the heck?” I stared at the unusual controls, but they seemed intuitive enough. Shaking off my misgivings, I realized I had access. I immediately dove into the system and quickly found the system's personnel files. I typed in my name and added myself to the shuttle’s crew. That would allow me greater access and hopefully, will enable me to assume full control of the ship without spending hours trying to hack it. The open access was a godsend.

“My lucky break,” I muttered only for the system to demand a DNA sample. “What? How am I supposed to do that?”

A blue circle lit up beside the pilot's seat. It pulsed brighter to draw attention to it. Even covered with some dust it was easy to see. There was a shallow recess in the center of the circle of light and I reached out to wipe the dust off. A pin stabbed into my thumb and I jerked my hand away.

“Ow!” It didn’t hurt that much, I was surprised more than anything.

The console chimed and a soothing feminine voice sounded. “Welcome, Crewman Gypsy Peligro. DNA sample accepted.”

“Um, thanks. Now, it’s time to go.”

“Assets remain aboard the hostile ship. Voice authorization is required for launching without all active bots onboard.”

“Launch authorized,” I said as evenly as I could. I’m in those crazy war bots shuttles! I desperately didn’t want to be there when they came back.

“Access denied. Lieutenant or higher rank required to launch without all assets abroad.”

“This is an emergency!” I said on the edge of total panic.

“Mission parameters completed. All assets returning to transport.”

“Scan for active personnel!” I shouted. “I’m the ranking crew on the scene, override delay. Get us out of here immediately!”

“Scanning for active personnel. Scan complete. Active crew: one. Designated acting caption. Access granted. Launching immediately.”

I sagged in my seat. That was close. I almost felt like I could hear the clomping sound of metallic footsteps coming for me but that was silly. The engines powered up and the ship lifted. We glided smoothly out of the hangar. I was surprised at how quiet the engines were.

“Switch to manual control,” I said.

“Manual control engaged.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“You’re welcome, Gypsy Peligro.”

I was surprised at the response. The interface was quite personable for a computer. I turned the ship's nose away from the sun and pushed the engines to the max.

“I’m finally getting out of here!” I let out a shaky laugh. “Note to self, never steal from a—”

“Manual control disengaged. Command AI assuming control.”

“What? No!” I cried as the ship made a 180-degree turn.

At first, I thought it was heading back to the Triv prison ship, but it was much worse. It flew right past the stricken ship and sped directly toward the sun.