They only rested a few minutes before continuing on. Shining his light ahead, Will looked back at Debra. “Almost there.”

The maintenance tunnel ahead turned to the right at a thick metal strut which connected the upper and lower sections of the ship. However, there was a gap in the wall where they met. Will headed for it. He handed his backpack to Debra.

“It’s going to be a tight fit,” observed Will. Turning sideways, he worked his way inside. In a minute he reached his hands out. “Pass me the backpacks.”

Once Will had pulled them in, Debra squeezed through the opening. It was one of those unused spaces which often occur when a large structure such as a spaceship or building is constructed. It wasn’t a large space, about eight feet square and barely four feet high. A few other struts jutted into the space with the metal plate connecting them providing a floor.

“Good thing I’m not claustrophobic,” noted Debra as she shined her light around their temporary home.

Will nodded. “Yeah, but we’re out of sight if they should decide to search the ship for us.”

Debra pulled out the scanner. “Let’s see if we can find out what’s going on.” She pressed some buttons looked at the readings and then pressed a few more buttons. “The metal here is causing too much interference. I can’t get any readings.”

“Not ideal,” replied Will, “Once things have a chance to settle down, I’ll head outside and see if the scanner will work there. However, for now all we can do is get settled in.”

Debra started taking out some of the nutribars and water containers from her pack. “So we’ve got about two days before we reach Earth.”

“Assuming they don’t decide to try and chase those escape pods,” answered Will. “However, we haven’t felt them changing course so they must have decided it wasn’t worth it.”

Will waited four hours before risking a move into the maintenance tunnel to use the scanner. Debra handed him the scanner and a blaster after he’d pushed himself through the tight opening. “Be careful,” she whispered. He nodded and began crawling.

He crawled slowly, doing his best to keep quiet and stopping every few feet to look at the scanner. He’d moved about twenty feet from their hiding place before he could get a clear reading. He stared at the readings for several minutes, committing them to memory. Then he turned around and headed back.

Debra was waiting at the opening, a blaster in her hand when he got back. He gave her his blaster and the scanner before coming back in.

“Did you get any readings?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “I did pick up ten life form readings which means the two men who were by the cargo bay are okay.”

“Good.”

“Couldn’t get exact locations,” continued Will, but I read three people in the engineering section and the rest are in the forward section of the ship.”

“That would mean they think we left the ship?” asked Debra hopefully.

“I think so,” answered Will with a relieved smile. “If they thought we were still onboard they’d certainly be looking for us.”

They did their best to make themselves comfortable which wasn’t easy. The ceiling was too low for them to stand and there was barely enough room to stretch out on the floor. They’d also left the sleeping mat in the cargo bay so had to sleep on the cold hard metal floor, using their packs as a pillow. As before, only one of them slept at a time. However, more often than not, they were both awake.

To pass the time they talked.

“So after your pirate crew disbanded, what’d you do?” asked Will.

“Oh, just odd jobs here and there. Some legal, some not. Served on a few ships. Wasn’t an easy life and the money was crummy. However, being a deserter, it was probably the best I could hope for.”

“So is that when you decided to come see me?”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “I’d seen the newscasts about your exploits. You were always fighting some king or emperor. I figured they probably had a lot of expensive stuff lying around that could use a new home.”

Will laughed. “Surely you had to know I wouldn’t get involved in something like that?”

“You don’t know unless you try” answered Debra with a mischievous grin. “And when I saw the dump you lived in I was sure I could convince you.”

Will put his arm around her. “Well, I’m just happy you were there to kick some sense into me.”

She smiled and gently rubbed his arm. “Oh I’m not quite done yet.”

Will took several more trips out into the maintenance tunnel to check on the ship’s crew. There was still no sign that they suspected Will and Debra were still on board.

Will unwrapped a nutribar and stared at it. “This is supposed to provide enough nutrients for a full meal,” he said. “You’d think they’d make some effort to make it appetizing.” He took a bite and began chewing.

Debra had to take a gulp from her water container before she could answer. “It wouldn’t be that bad if they weren’t so dry.”

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“I guess we should be happy we have something to eat.”

Debra looked over and smiled. “I know, but I could really go for a nice juicy piece of fruit.”

Will looked into his backpack. “No fruit here, but I’ll see what I can do when we get to Earth.”

She laughed. “I’ll hold you to that.”

As they sat there, Will took the scanner and brought up the ship’s schematics. “Unfortunately, this maintenance tunnel doesn’t have any access to the ship’s exterior,” he explained. “The only way out other than the hatch we used to get in here is through the cargo bay.”

“If we can get to the cargo bay. Why don’t we go out the way we came in?” asked Debra.

“Won’t be able to get through,” he said. “Blowing up the sensor power junction would have caused quite a bit of damage.” He gestured at the scanner. The closest hatch from there which can get us outside is in engineering. Once the crew leaves the ship we should be able to get there.”

Debra shook her head. “We’ll have to move fast,” she said. “They usually start unloading the cargo as soon as the crew leaves the ship.”

“Okay then,” said Will with a nod, “we’ll start heading for the cargo bay while we’re landing.”

So they waited, each trying their best to get some sleep, but having little success. Both sat up, a surge of excitement going through them as they felt the ship begin to slow down. “Shouldn’t be long now,” said Will.

“Good,” answered Debra as she tried to stretch. “I can’t wait to be able to stand up again.”

The full backpacks they’d brought on the ship with them were now nearly empty. Most of the nutribars and water had been consumed. They consolidated their remaining equipment and money into one of the backpacks. The empty one, they just tossed it to one side of their small enclosure where they’d been putting their nutribar wrappers and empty water containers.

Debra looked over at their pile of trash. “A treasure trove for future generations,” she said with a laugh.

Will zipped up his backpack. “I’m sure it will be a surprise for whoever finds it,” he chuckled.

The ship had now begun to shake due to the turbulence of re-entry. “Let’s go,” said Will as he pushed himself through the small opening into the maintenance tunnel. After Debra handed him the backpack, she followed him through and they began crawling. As they crawled, the ship stopped shaking and they could feel it slowing down as it headed for a landing.

Just as they reached a hatch, a load hum could be heard as the landing thrusters came on. Within a few minutes the ship bounced slightly as its landing gear hit the ground and all went quiet as the engines shut down.

Debra brought out the scanner and turned it on. “Hopefully it won’t be long,” she said. “I know on my cargo ship, we couldn’t wait to get off the ship once we landed.”

She looked down at the scanner and nodded. “They’re starting to disembark. The crew members from engineering are heading up to the forward section of the ship.”

It was twenty minutes before the last of the crew had left the ship. “All clear,” announced Debra.

Will pulled the latch and the hatch slid open. Looking out they saw the hatch was located on one of the cargo bay walls with a ladder heading down to the floor twenty feet below. There was a large hole in the wall where the cargo bay door had been. It had rough edges with the metal of the door bent outward into the corridor.

As soon as they’d climbed down, Will immediately headed for the door.

“Wait,” called Debra.

Wil stopped and looked at her. “What is it?”

She gestured at her black overalls. “It daytime. Don’t you think this outfit would be a little conspicuous?”

“Good point,” agreed Will and he unzipped the overalls and stepped out of them revealing his normal clothing underneath. Debra did the same. She gave a sniff to her clothes and wrinkled her nose. “I’ll need a shower after this,” she observed.

They stuffed the overalls into one of the cargo lockers and went out into the corridor. Moving quickly, they headed for the engineering section. Reaching it, Will pressed the button to open the door, but nothing happened.

“It’s locked,” he said.

“Is there any other way in?”

“No and if we try and cut our way in, they’ll know we’re here,” explained Will in an annoyed tone.

Suddenly a grinding sound could be heard. “That’s the external cargo bay door,” said Debra. “It won’t be long before they start unloading the cargo.”

Will thought for a moment. “Let’s get back to the cargo back,” he cried and he started running. Debra immediately followed.

When they got to the cargo bay, they saw the exterior door which nearly filled one of the walls of the bay was about a third of the way down. Will immediately ran for the lockers and started going through them. He stopped when he reached a locker which had several tan sets of overalls hanging up. He grabbed the smallest and handed it to Debra.

“Welcome aboard,” he said quickly. “You’re now a member of the crew.”

Debra started putting on the overall. “Thanks.”

As Will finished zipping up his overall, he grabbed a couple of hats from the locker and plopped one on Debra’s head. He put the other on his own head and pulled it down over his forehead. There was just enough time to stash his backpack in the locker and shut the door before the exterior door was fully open.

“We need to check out this damage,” he said in a loud voice as he walked over to the door and began examining it.

“Right,” answered Debra. “We’ll need to get a repair crew in here fast if we’re going to maintain our schedule.

They could now hear footsteps behind them as the workers who’d be unloading the cargo started coming onboard. “Hey!” called one of them. “What are you doing here?”

“Assessing this damage,” answered Will in a firm voice. “Once we’re done, we’ll get out of your way.”

Several people walked over and stopped by Will and Debra. They stood there staring at the damaged door. “So it was you guys?” said a large burly man with a balding head and a thick beard.

“You heard,” answered Debra.

“Who hasn’t,” answered a woman. “Will Power stowing away on your ship.”

“And look at what he did,” snarled Will. “The Captain blew a gasket when he saw this. He wants to wring that Power’s neck.”

“Did you see him?” asked a young man, wonder in his voice.

Debra shook her head. “We weren’t on security detail. However, the guys who were said he didn’t show himself.”

The sound of a large truck could now be heard.

“I think we’re about done here,” said Will. He looked sideways at the burly man. “We’ll grab our stuff and get out of the way so you guys can get started.”

“You should see the damage he caused down the corridor,” declared Debra. “It’s not going to be cheap to get all this repaired.”

As Will and Debra walked over to the locker to retrieve the backpack, the people they’d been speaking with went over to examine the door. They were soon joined by a number of other workers.

Will gave Debra a smile and they headed to the ramp which led outside. Walking down the ramp they could see a large truck waiting near the bottom. They gave a wave to the driver as they walked past the truck.

“Looks like Lendar Field,” reported Debra. She gestured at a long row of buildings. “The exit’s on the other side of those warehouses.”

Will walked towards one of the carts used to get around the landing field. The cart was about six feet long and had four seats. “This’ll help.”

Reaching it, Will and Debra got in. Will pushed the ignition button and there was a whirring sound as the cart’s electric motor sprung to life. Will drove away from the ship and headed for the warehouses.

“What now?” asked Debra.

“First we have to get to the capital,” answered Will. “And once there, we’ll have to figure out how to take care of Grandle.”