I wanted to leave so quickly I couldn’t get up on my feet. Half crawling on all fours I rushed out of my room and crashed into the wall on the other side of the hallway.

I was out of breath even though I hardly moved. I tried to stand up, but my limbs felt strangely numb. It was like my body was falling asleep. Even my mind was getting a bit hazy because for a second after crashing into the wall I wasn’t sure where I was.

[Aium! Keep it together! Go towards the emergency exit!] shouted Genna.

Yes! Genna was there with me, and I was in the hallway. I managed to stand up with some difficulty but why was I standing up?

[AIUM!]

Escape! I needed to escape! Good thing I had my boss reminding me that I had to go to school. I stumbled towards the end of the hallway. My legs felt wonky. Do I have an alcohol problem? I didn’t even like the taste of vodka. Who the fuck is still screaming at me?!

“Fuck you! I’m a free man; I do what I want in your motherfucking hospital!” I screamed defiantly.

That should show them not to mess with me. I’m the king of the ducks, how dare they disrespect me like that! My mouth felt funny. Am I going to or coming from a dentist? What if I’m the dentist? Shit! Then I hate myself. How dare I become a dentist without asking me?

My legs tangled up, and I fell for some time which earned me more screams from the bugs in my hair. My poor luscious hair! I tried to lick the floor to see if it was salty but I couldn’t do it because of the damned force field around my head. I wished I wasn't underwater so I wouldn’t have to lick salt for a living.

The crabs were way too loud around me. I tried to stand up, but I completely forgot that Dumbledore turned my hands into wet noodles. I tried again because I had to go. I needed to leave the lake; the sharks were horny and after me. What sharks?

I crawled forward a little because I had to. Why was I going? Where was I going?

Someone was talking to me again.

“What do you want from me?!” I screamed.

[Aium! Deep breaths! Take deep breaths!]

“Stop shouting in my head! Only I’m allowed to do it!”

[That’s it! Keep it up! Deep breaths!]

“Wha...” I knew the person that was talking to me. It was someone close to me but what was her name again?

“Are you God?” I asked.

[I’m Genna! Continue breathing deeply!]

Genna! Yes! I remember her now! My A.I.! Where was I going again?

I wanted to leave this place… I wanted to leave fast. I took another deep breath.

I barely felt my hands. I tried to move them under me but didn’t know if it worked. I was lying on the floor somewhere. I had to get up, but it was so hard without any feeling in my body.

After a lot of struggle, I managed to sit up and lean back against a wall. I remembered this place. This was the emergency stairs where I lived. I was sitting by a floor’s door. Why was I lying here?

[Can you understand me now?]

“What?” I asked while reaching up to my head but I couldn’t touch it. My helmet blocked it.

[Keep breathing! It’ll get better soon! You are through the worst part.]

“Wha… What’s my problem? Why can’t I feel anything?” I mumbled because I could hardly move my lips.

[Just keep breathing! It will come back to you soon.]

I did as she asked. Just sat there on the floor and just breathed in and out. After a while I started to feel pain in my left shoulder and knees. I suppose that was an improvement from complete numbness.

I felt the urge to run, but I still couldn’t move around well enough. Still, I had to move soon because they were probably on their way to me… Who was coming for me?

My bathroom… the gas… oh fuck! Roka’s men!

I tried standing up but I fall back on my ass.

[Don’t rush it Aium! Give it a few more minutes. The paralysis will go away slowly.]

I looked down at my hand. Paralysis. They wanted to knock me out in my own room. They were probably on their way to my room now. They’ll notice that their trap failed any minute and they’ll start looking for me elsewhere. I took as deep breaths as I could.

[What happened? After getting out of my room I can’t remember much,] I asked while massaging my shoulder a bit.

[They set up some kind of paralyzing trap in your bathroom. You got incredibly lucky. You weren’t close enough when the pillow activated it and you were wearing your mask so you couldn’t breathe in the gas-]

[It had nothing to do with luck! I knew something was wrong,] I argued.

[I… Most likely it works to some extent through skin contact too. You probably got a small amount somewhere on your body and these symptoms are from-]

[Genna! Keep it to the important parts for now!]

[Yeah, I’m sorry. After that, you rushed out but the substance already started to work on you when you reached the door. Your body started to get increasingly numb and your mind was going completely crazy too. I had to keep screaming at you to keep you walking towards the emergency stairs while you kept shouting nonsense. Somehow even with being delirious, you managed to get down a floor. Then you tripped and rolled down another one but you couldn’t go further from here.]

[So, that’s why I’m starting to fail pain all over my body...] I said while moving my left knee around a bit and wincing under my mask.

[Thanks to your mask there are no serious injuries, only a few bruises. When you landed on this floor your head hit the floor… hard. I was really scared for a moment there.]

[See? I knew a harder mask would be well worth the price,] I said while knocking on its side. [How long was I out on the floor?]

[17 minutes passed since you exited your room.]

That was an awful lot of time. They could be here any minute now.

[Aium… I’m... I’m so, so, soooo sorry!] she apologized.

[Why?] I asked with a frown under my mask.

[I didn’t believe you. I even told you to talk to those guys, to talk to Roka. If you followed my advice who knows what would have happened to you. I’m so sorry-]

[Stop that! You didn’t do anything wrong. You were trying to find the best solution to my problems. I know I’m way too crazy and unreasonable to you sometimes. No wonder you don’t take everything I say for granted and you shouldn’t! I’m an idiot that’s only right when it goes wrong for him.]

[I still feel bad about this but, thanks for saying those.]

[Thanks for screaming at me to keep going.]

There was a little silence in our conversation. The silence was starting to get to me since I was sitting ducks while people were looking for me. Maybe Genna felt it and continued.

[How did you know?]

[You mean how did I know something was wrong in my room?]

[Yes.]

[Shouldn’t you be the all powerful and all seeing A.I.?]

[Come on! Don’t tease me.]

[You said once that you record everything like I have a perfect memory?]

[Correct. I can replay you your different senses from the past.]

[Before I left for work today… Look it through. I don’t need to see it because I remember well. If you compare it to the other recording when I entered, I’m sure you’ll notice the difference.]

....

[Oh my dear creator! How did I miss that?!] she exclaimed after a few moments. [The fake window!]

[Yeah… it was on when I went in.] I nodded.

[You still have it on default setting so it turns on when somebody enters the big room and it only turns off when you manually do it.]

[And I turn it off every time I leave. I knew something was off the moment I opened the door but didn’t realize what was wrong until I started taking off my shoe.]

[This is crazy… How could this happen?]

[I told you this bubblegum-pink carebear world isn’t all that perfect,] I said while trying my legs.

This time I managed to stand up finally. I should have left minutes ago. I started lumbering down the stairs. I would have to be able to walk normally when I reached the ground floor.

It took me way too long to get down, but at least I got better at moving around by then. I took a deep breath and exited. I was behind the reception desk, and the guy was looking at me with round eyes.

“Mr. Aium? Is there something wrong? Why were you using the emergency exit?” he asked while standing up.

“The two guys… who were looking for me... Did you see them?” I asked while trying my best to stand straight.

“I-I’m sorry but-”

I interrupted him by grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him closer.

“Answer me!” I growled.

“Y-Y-Yes… they went up 2 or 3 minutes ago,” he stuttered.

“I wasn’t here if they ask! Do you understand me?!” The last sentence came in a hiss.

“Y-Y-Yes….” said the completely pale guy.

I released him, hurried out of the building and started walking in a random direction as fast as I could.

[Fuck! I knew those guys were bad news… Somehow they knew I sprung their trap and came to collect the prize.]

[This is so unbelievable...]

[We have to leave… now! We have to leave the fucking city!]

[I’m not sure that would be enough...] said Genna with a weak voice. [Roka is the main supervisor of one of the planet’s spaceports and he personally did your IDChip implantation… better yet you allowed him to sign you up for allowance.]

[What are you getting at?]

[His position comes with a lot of responsibility and a lot of access to certain information too. Especially in your case. As long as you are on this planet he can look you up if you get a job or stay a night somewhere. I bet that’s how they knew which room was yours.]

[So… you mean I have to leave the planet somehow?] I asked while feeling the dread spreading out in my chest.

[I’m not sure but if you want to be extra careful...]

She might be just overcompensating for what happened earlier but she had a point and I had to agree with her.

[And how the fuck would I do that? The guy’s the boss of the spaceport!] I retorted.

[Yes, and he can easily reach the information of the other spaceports too on the planet.]

[Then what? Do I go Bear Grylls and live in the wilderness somewhere on the planet? Those guys are definitely not looking for me to have a nice chat over tea and biscuits. Nice people don’t try to knock you out with paralyzing gas in your bathroom.]

[You can try going from city to city. They might give up chasing you. You have enough savings to hold out for a while.]

[Hell no!]

I was starting to get back the feel for my body. I wasn’t so clumsy anymore but my knees and shoulder hurt like a bitch from the fall. I couldn’t go back to my room and I had to come up with a solution as fast as possible. The guy at reception would sing to them like a canary if they pushed him a little. They would know how I looked and which direction I went.

Everything was crumbling around me again! One day I was doing perfectly fine and the next, everything was just going fucking wrong! I could have screamed from rage.

Fucking mustache guy was looking for me desperately and definitely not because he wanted to ask me out on a date. I needed to leave this planet somehow! I had to leave the planet at all cost. I couldn’t fall into these people’s hand.

Did I have anybody to ask for help? Kevin was out of the question without a doubt. Perhaps Randall? I could easily do the chat with him if he helped me off the planet… Yeah, fat chance… Maybe Kal? Can I ask Kal for help? Would she help me? Can she even help me?

I was going crazy from the frustration. I reached up to my head with my hands and screamed inside soundlessly.

I had nothing and nobody that could help me get away… If I wanted a way out, I would have to disguise myself somehow or ...

I stopped in my tracks. I had to do a double check on my sanity. The idea was beyond crazy… but extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures.

[Genna… do you have like a failsafe to report me if I do something incredibly bad?]

[Erm… No… I don’t think I have anything like that. What are you planning?] she asked with a scared voice.

[Is there any other planets or space stations or anything nearby?]

[There is a space station nearby, yes. But why?]

[How long would it take to get there with a ship?]

[A day at most but please explain!]

[We are leaving this planet tonight!] I switched on the grinning red face on my mask and I quickened my pace to make my statement more dramatic but I quickly realized that I had no idea which direction my destination was.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

----------------------------------------

I swiped my hand at the entrance and entered. Good thing this place was open in the evening too. I walked forward with a quick pace while listening to Genna’s rant.

[This is madness! I know you are in a tight situation but even so, this is absolute madness! You can’t do something like this, you hear me? This is going way and above what could be accepted...]

She’s been going off like that for a good 5 minutes now and there was no sight of her stopping anytime soon. I completely understood why she was upset with my plan but I didn’t have much to lose. I could either risk this or get caught by Dumb and Dumber. I had a feeling both situations would lead me to some similarly bad conclusion.

While still listening to Genna letting off steam which was a conundrum in itself - how could an A.I. get herself worked up so much - I reached my potential escape plan.

The old Terran Alliance Scout ship we’ve seen with Kal during our date. I remembered her saying that this old lady flew in on her own not long ago. It was a really long shot and a plan of pure idiotism, but it was better than doing nothing or giving myself up. If it didn’t work out, I could try stealing someone’s skin or something...

[Did you find anything on the network?] I interrupted Genna’s monologue.

[... it’s just some general descriptions, but it’s more than nothing. You’re an absolute lunatic; you know that right?]

[Yes. But you won’t report this poor mentally challenged person, will you?]

[... we will see.] I could see in my mind her turning away and folding her hands in front of her chest.

I looked around. There weren’t as many people as last time which was perfect for me. When I was sure that nobody was looking I sprinted into the ship through its entrance. Thankfully, they didn’t close the side entrance after our little mischief with Kal. Well, this will be more than a little mischief.

[Are you sure that hole up there would let the ship through?]

[I’m fairly sure there’s only a simple weather barrier at the top of the dome.]

[Good!] I said while walking into the control room. I put down the small box of food and drinks that I picked up on the way.

[So, I don’t need any special space suit inside right?]

[The stuff I found on the network says there’s no need for any of that. The article about the ship's arrival is pretty well documented. They used it as an advertisement for the museum. They even have videos about the trip and the landing. People look fine on them. I don’t see popping eyes or bursting blood vessels.]

[Erm… that’s nice to hear I guess...] I said with a concerned expression. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all…

[So, first of all, I need to power up the essential systems and run a few check-ups. Nothing drastic yet that would draw attention to us like starting the engines,] I said while walking up to a console. The main power button was the obvious switch with the Main Power sticker above it.

Powering up the systems shouldn’t take too long according to Genna. After the museum closed and everything was ready I would let the engines roar to life, close up the ship and leave the planet. The next space station I would ditch the ship and try to get away somewhere else… preferably far from Roka and his thugs. The Empire was unimaginable big. Plenty of space to get lost.

I pushed up the switch eagerly but... nothing happened. I tried several times switching it on and off again with a stupid face, but there was no change, not even a spark.

[Now what?]

[I’m not sure… I could only get a few general descriptions about the ship's controls, but according to it, this should have worked. There’s nothing special to do here, at least there shouldn’t be.]

[So, what’s the problem?]

[Maybe you could check the power room. It should be one of the side rooms in the hallway.]

I went back and looked into the rooms on the way. The third room was what I was looking for. I went in, and even my uneducated ancient ass could see the crux of the problem. The power core was missing.

“GOD DAMN IT!” I shouted in frustration. “Why can’t I be lucky just once?! JUST ONCE!”

The big empty hole in the middle of the huge machine was the last thing I wanted to see other than The Amazing Paralyzing Duo.

[Well, this is definitely bad news.]

[No shit,] I said while slowly sliding down by the wall into a sitting position on the floor and burying my face in my aching knees.

This was the end of the rope. Even this idea was far too crazy… I couldn’t up this anymore. Maybe I should just go to Roka and skip his thugs. Maybe he’s more understanding and they are just heavy-handed by their own volition. Best case scenario he just wants to talk to me… worst case is… well… there are plenty of worst cases to think of. Running from city to city is also an idea worth considering at this point and when we are at it we could dust off the living in the wilderness idea too.

[I might have a solution,] said Genna suddenly after a long silence in the dark power room.

[Seriously?]

[Yes.]

[So?]

[Ugh… I hate myself for even thinking this and I can’t even describe what I feel for suggesting it to you… I know where we could get a power core that would more or less fit in there.]

[Where?!] I stood up right away with renewed energy and hope.

[I have to say that the chance of it working out is incredibly low. You would have to jury rig it in somehow and I don’t even have to mention how dangerous that would be,] she added.

[I get that Genna but where is that power core?]

…

[Your workplace… Every level has two. They work in shifts while the other one recharges and the two can act as each other’s backups in case of problems.]

[Holy monkey balls… did you just do what I think you did?] I exclaimed.

[Can you focus on the important matters?] she snapped back.

[This is important to me! Two crazy guys are looking for me to knock me out for who knows what so let me enjoy my potentially last free moments,] I said with a small laugh. [So, Genna… did you just suggest to me to steal power cores from my workplace?]

…

…

[Fine! Until we survive this in one piece we’ll put this conversation on hold. Heads up though, if I die you wouldn’t have to hear it.] I compromised.

[You are not funny,] she snorted.

She didn’t have to tell me twice, so, I headed off the ship right away. I carefully exited while making sure nobody noticed me. My workplace wasn’t that far away. If I hurried, I could make it back in time before they closed up for the night.

My paranoia was reaching new heights during my walk. I felt like I was being watched all the time. I tried not looking back every other second because it was another dead giveaway that I was expecting someone to follow me. When I was close to the place, I slowed down so I could carefully look around before entering. It was a long shot, but they could easily be around my workplace looking for me.

When I entered the building’s lift I nearly pushed my usual 37th floor but I had a better idea. I went up to the 38th floor. It was a complete copy of my floor. The biggest hurdle next was the person at the evening shift on this floor. I could only hope it was another clone like everybody else around here.

When the lift arrived, I took a deep breath and stepped out. I waited for several seconds for any reaction, but there was none. I looked towards the office room, and I could see a faint light coming through the windows. The warefloor was dimly lit when there was no inspection going on, but even in near darkness, I would know my way around here. According to Genna, the floor’s power cores were in the largest machine in the back corner. When I found it, I measured up the big thing looking for any doors or panels I could remove. After a little looking around, I found the button that opened it up. The machine’s front folded down with a loud hiss. I bit down on my tongue and looked back for any movement from the office’s direction.

Nothing moved back there so I took a look into the machine. Inside I could see two baseball sized shining white balls. One of them was locked in place by several clamps while the other was being held by two half cups at the top and bottom.

[Which one do I take?]

[The one that’s being held by the metal fingers.]

[This one?] I pointed at the one in the clamps.

[Yes.]

I reached in but before I touched the ball I stopped.

[Can I touch it with my bare hands?]

[Little late for that question, don’t you think?] she sneered. [Yes you can...]

I grabbed the ball and gently pulled it out. The clamps were surprisingly gentle and they let go of it easily. When the ball was in my hand I heard a loud noise from the machine and the whole warefloor was bathed in blue lights suddenly.

[Oh shit! What now?]

[What do you think?! Run you fool!] snapped Genna.

[Yes Gandalf!] I said back and slapped the side button at the machine’s side to close it before rushing off to hide behind another machine.

[Gandalf?]

[Nevermind, I’ll tell you later.]

I didn’t have to wait too long for the guy from the office to arrive in a rush. I could hear him mumbling something to himself or he was just complaining to his A.I. about lost VR times.

While he was occupied by the mysterious critical failure I doubled back to the front and went down with the lift. I made sure to hide the glowing ball under both my pullover and shirt.

[This is getting way too out of hand, even I have to admit it now,] I marveled.

[Then what should I say? I’m making error logs by the dozens,] she complained.

[What do you mean?] I worried.

[Can we just have this conversation later? Please?]

[Are you having problems from this? Is this whole thing making you sick or something?] I asked in panic.

[No, no, no! Nothing like that... It’s just… some things aren’t the way they are supposed to but there’s nothing wrong to my knowledge, I’m not getting sick, don’t worry. This is something I wanted to talk to you about for a long time now. Remember when I asked you in the past to don’t ask me about what happened when you stole the delivery? It’s the same thing,] she explained with a tired voice.

[Look, if there is anything going wrong with you just say the word and I’ll go up to Roka right now. There would be no reason for me to escape if you would… come to harm in the process because of me,] I told her honestly.

[That’s… very nice of you to say but it should be the other way around,] she said emotionally. [I can assure you, I’m not getting damaged in any way.]

[That’s good to hear. So, how does it feel to be bad?]

[You are the bad, I’m just getting dragged along and forced into this,] she gasped innocently.

[You wench! You’ve been setting me up for this the whole time?!] I exclaimed theatrically.

[You won’t get in the way of our love with the fridge anymore!] she boasted dramatically.

We broke down laughing like monkeys which was a much-needed relief from all the stress built up today.

Meanwhile, I was making good time back to the museum. I still had plenty of time to get in before closing time. If I could get in I wouldn’t worry anymore since I could have the whole night to me with the ship. The plan was to get the ship out of there in the middle of the night when there was nobody to see it and when they realized the ship was missing I would be already too far away.

----------------------------------------

Scratching my head didn’t really help me figure out how to install the power core into the ship’s power core slot. The slot was 10 times bigger and the little power core I brought was basically lost in that pit.

[Are you sure this little thing could power this ship?] I asked while looking doubtfully at the power core in my hand.

[The “little thing” in your hand is roughly a 100 times stronger than this ship’s original one.]

[So, basically what you are saying is that I shouldn’t drop this, right?] I asked with a raised eyebrow.

[I’d like to say yes but it would be a lie. The core is stable enough to shoot it with a kinetic rifle.]

[Good,] I said and threw up the core into the air a little. [I could spend the entire night thinking about this but there’s no way I will figure this out on my own. Can you dial up Kevin for me?]

It connected right away. Kevin was a typical night owl so I wasn’t worried about him being asleep at this hour. I quickly explained to him what I was trying to without revealing that I wanted to jump start and steal an ancient spaceship to escape the planet. It was enough to tell him the type of power core dock and the power core that I wanted to pair up in a romantic way. He had to do a little research himself on the matter. Kevin was a real trooper, I was glad I saved his life.

After scouring through the ship for some basic tools, I got back to the power room. According to Kevin, I would have to take apart the core interface in the dock, separate the connection coils and manually attach them to the new power core one by one. It was a meticulous job. I spent several sweaty hours working on it while having Kevin on the line giving me instructions. It wasn’t going smoothly because even he wasn’t exactly knowledgeable about ancient technology like this. I had to improvise a few times which mostly involved bashing and smashing things with other things. Surprisingly the good old human machinery recognized these familiar techniques and they worked out far better than one would expect. The one that expected them not to work in this case was Genna.

After hours of clumsy work, I was finally done in theory. It looked like shit, but everything was connected to where they should be connected. I gave my sincerest thanks to Kevin, and I swore that I would pay him back for this.

The museum was already closed when I finished so I was free to start messing around with the ship. There were no night guards here thankfully… or anywhere for that matter.

My shirt was drenched in sweat, dirt, and oil but Genna never complained about my smell, so it was fine. I took out one of the water bottles from the box that I brought and emptied it in one try.

“Are you ready to get this baby up?” I asked with a triumphant smile.

[This is so wrong...] she whined.

With a satisfied sigh, I flipped up the power switch.

----------------------------------------

[What do you mean you can’t tell me from there what’s wrong? You are the techno kid! You supposed to know this!] I argued with Kevin over the call while I was waist deep in cables in the power core deck.

[You can’t expect me to know what’s wrong if I can’t even see the stuff...] he said back.

“I double checked everything… it should work!”

[All I could suggest is to check again if every connection coil is properly connected to the core.]

“Fine! Thanks, Kevin. Sorry for shouting. Bye.”

[No problem. Good luck.]

When the connection was cut I howled like a madman. I quite possibly looked like one since I was top to bottom dirty and sweaty while I was covered with coils inside the power core deck.

I tried everything at this point. I begged, I prayed, I even tried to promise riches to the ship if it cooperated, but NOTHING WORKED. I did another desperate round of checks on the connections, but everything looked fine to me. Even Genna was puzzled by this. It should have worked yet it didn’t. I went back to the control room for the hundredth time and tried flipping the power switch a few times. I even considered taking apart the control console to check if the switch was connected at all. Sadly, for the hundredth time, nothing happened.

I stomped back to the power room and stared at the damned abomination that was once the power core deck.

“I swear to god… I’m going to make scrap metal out of you!” I threatened it. “WHY DON’T YOU WORK YOU PIECE OF SHIT????!!!!” I screamed as loudly as I could and kicked the damned thing with all I had.

I fell to the floor moaning while clutching my poor toes.

[Aium!]

“Whaaaat?” I cried.

[Look up!]

I looked up with teary eyes, and I started to cry. The deck and all the connection coils were glowing all over with bright lights.

“You piece of shit,” I whispered emotionally while tears rolled down my face. Were those tears of happiness or tears of toe pains? Who knows?

“IT’S ALIVE!” I screamed as I scrambled up.

I hobbled into the control room. Everything was lit up. I was working for the last several hours only by the power core’s light, so I welcomed the lights happily. The control boards were all lit up as well. I smiled like a child.

“Look at this Genna! Tell me I’m not a genius!”

[Get to the space station, and I might agree to that.]

“I would like that statement on paper please,” I said smugly and sat down in the captain’s chair.

We ran a few diagnostics, and everything checked out. Honestly, I was expecting several critical failures. Next, I closed up the ship and activated the outer shield.

[Are you sure we don’t have to ask for permission to take off or something?]

[The planet has a small population and pretty low traffic. There’s no need for unnecessary Flight Protocols here.]

[Finally, good news! What else do we have to do?]

[Adding the escape alignment and the destination coordinates. We can change that later but you still need an initial one.]

She gave me the required numbers and details, and I gave it to the ship's computer. The stuff was so old that Genna couldn’t interact with it. It was fine with me to do everything since the controls were pretty self-explanatory and intuitive.

Everything was ready to start the engines. My finger hovered over the button while I crossed my fingers on my other hand and even tried to cross my toes which resulted in me hissing since they still hurt pretty badly.

Finally, I pressed the button, and the engines roared to life. Well, it was more like a really quiet purring but still… they were on.

[Are you really doing this? Should we really do this?] asked Genna quietly.

[Any other ideas?]

There was no response.

“I should say something epic before taking off but… I can’t think of anything clever so let’s just go,” I said and pushed another button.

I could feel the ship move with a rumble. I heard creaking from several places. My eyes nearly popped out, but everything seemed to hold together for now. I did another round of diagnostics now that the ship was hovering - I couldn’t see outside since there were no windows but I guessed we were in the air already - and everything came back green on the big monitor at the wall in front of me.

There was nothing else left but to shoot into the sky.

“Ready?”

[Not really but doesn’t really matter at this point, right?]

I pushed the last button. According to the instructions, the ship would hover out of the museum through the hole in the middle of the dome and then took off to the sky.

The ship rumbled, creaked and vibrated like crazy, but no red lights popped up.

[Oh, before it starts accelerating I should warn you that the ship didn’t have any GG-Nullifiers, just a small thing that slightly reduced the effects of G-Force on the crew,] said Genna.

“What do you meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...”

I tried finishing my sentence, but I was pinned to the seat by an enormous force. I could hardly breathe. Genna said this at the last second for a reason; this was her petty revenge for everything. I was having the struggle of my life for a few small breaths of air, so I hardly noticed several red warnings popping up on the monitor in front of my seat. I really didn’t have the capacity at the time to read them, but Genna did.

[You have to slow down! The ship won’t make it out of the atmosphere at this rate!] she shouted in panic.

Great, it was on me to save the day again. I looked down at the console to find the switch I could use to slow down the ship. I had to reach it.

*POP*

My eardrums were starting to rupture from the pressure I guessed.

I tried really hard to reach that damned switch.

*POP*

What the fuck?!

More red lights started showing up on the monitor, but I only saw them in my peripheral vision. I was getting desperate to reach the switch.

*POP*

This time I was sure, it wasn’t my eardrums.

I just wanted to reach that fucking switch before we blew up!

*POP*

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” I screamed.

[AIUM! SLOW DOWN THE SHIP!] she screamed, and the ship creaked.

In the end, I didn’t reach the switch. Maybe I couldn’t; maybe I just didn’t want to. Who knows?

When the ship stopped accelerating, I nearly headbutted the console in front of me, but the belt saved me at the cost of almost breaking several of my ribs.

“God damn, this was the stupidest idea I’ve ever had,” I groaned while clutching my chest with one eye closed.

I could hear the alarm sound going off from everywhere around me.

[Well… You wanted to get to space. Congratulations! You succeeded. Now all you have to do is stay alive until you reach the space station,] Genna said with a cold voice.

“Which looks pretty hard,” I said while watching with one eye the screen filled with critical error messages.