The console flashed again; this time the sensor grid showed a number of new contacts. They were identified as U.S. military craft and they were making their way towards the Jabberwocky.

  "Computer, how long until incoming ships intercept?"

  The computer beeped and went blank for a few seconds; it flashed on again with the screen reading, 'ETA : TWELVE MINUTES.' The speakers tried to audibly read the print but it only came out as a garbled mess. She looked at the broken body of her friend and knew what she had to do.

  "I'm sorry, but I know you would understand."

  Ramirez reached down into hidden panel between the two seats, lifting away the casing, and began entering code on a small keypad. She pulled a lever and watched the panel light up.

  The LCD flashed, '10:00' and began to count down. She ran into the back.

  The bed Gryphon had been strapped to had broken loose from it's moorings. He was struggling to regain consciousness from beneath it. With a piece of jagged shrapnel she found on the floor, she cut loose his restraints and helped him off the floor. He yelped in pain when he tried to put weight on his left leg; a jagged piece of one of the metal tables had embedded itself in his thigh and blood was freely flowing around it.

  "What ... what the hell happened?"

  Ramirez reached down, took hold of the broken fragment and looked up to see him nodding his head. She pulled and it came free with a wet pop. Tears welled up in his eyes as she patted him on the shoulder.

  "We lost control of the Jabberwocky and crash landed back on the Earth."

  Ramirez moved over to Heather, taking hold of her arm; it was dangling from her body in a sickeningly similar way to Matthew's.

  "Heather? Are you okay?" She nudged her upside down form and hoped for the best.

  "Yeah, help me get down please."

  She took her makeshift knife and freed Heather from her chair, gently lifting her to the ground.

  Gryphon stood back up.

  "Where are we?"

  Ramirez examined Heather's eyes for signs of a concussion.

  "Judging from what time it is and the weather, I'd say we're either in the United States or Mexico. The computer had a sensor map up but I couldn't read the labels before it gave out. How are you feeling Gryphon?"

  "Pretty good considering. How about you Heather?"

  "I'll be okay once I get my equilibrium back."

  "Guys," they both looked at Ramirez, "we have to get out of here."

  "Why? What's up?"

  "The military is on it's way."

  "Can we get the ship back up and running?"

  "The front end is crushed and power is gone. I've set the ship for auto-destruct. We should have about six minutes left."

  "Jesus Ramirez, I guess we better get going. Where's Matthew?"

  She looked down and couldn't bring herself to look Gryphon in the eye.

  "He's dead."

  Heather brought a hand to her mouth and took in a quick breath. She turned her head to hide her welling tears. Gryphon stood speechless.

  "A boulder came through the bulkhead and crushed him."

  "Well, we have to get him out of there. We have to take him with us."

  "There's no time, those ships will be here any minute and we can't allow the Jabberwocky, no matter how badly it's messed up, to fall into their hands."

  "I don't care! We have to bring Matthew back with us! I'm not leaving him out here! I'm not leaving him to blow up with the ship!"

  "Gryphon we can't, we don't have the time to pry his body loose before the ship goes and we have to destroy it. That's protocol."

  "Fuck protocol! I'm in charge here and I say we take him with us!"

  "Gryphon, no!"

  "Get out of my way."

  Heather turned and tried inaudibly to plead for some sane resolution.

  Gryphon took hold of Ramirez's arm and tried pushing her aside; he grabbed him by the elbow and pushed down, easily flipped him. He landed on his back and felt the air push out of his lungs. She lifted his shoulders up on her knee and wrapped her strong arms around his neck.

  "I'm sorry about this Gryph, but you don't give me any other choice."

  Ramirez began to squeeze. She could feel his pulse weaken as it tried to flow beneath her flexing bicep. Gryphon gasped a few times and fell back into unconsciousness; his eyes flitting up into his skull. She grabbed an arm and hoisted him up over her shoulders, grunting under his weight but holding on to him firmly.

  "Come on Heather, we're getting out of here."

  "Hold on, I need to grab something." She ran to one of the cargo hatches.

  "Hurry."

  She opened the door and pulled out the tapes from their trip inside the alien craft.

  "Let's go." Heather pulled a few levers and blew open the hatch. They ran out into the sunlight, scrambling to put as much distance between them and their damaged ship as possible. After a few minutes of hard travel they turned and watched it explode. A large crimson fireball engulfed it in it's flame and quickly consumed it whole.

  "Goodbye Matthew." Heather looked at Ramirez, her tanned skin glistening with the sweat of her exertion. "What do we do now?"

  "I don't know."

  Smoke curled into the air from the incinerated wreckage. Ramirez looked far into the distance. A few black spots had appeared over the hills and were approaching rapidly.

  "That would be our new captors."

  "Wait a minute," she turned to see Heather pointing above them, "what's that?" Something was descending from above, the clouds parted and they began to hear the roar of it's engines. "Should we run?"

  "Where to?" The ships over the hills loomed closer. The ship above slowed down as it approached the ground; a hatch in it's side opened and it touched down. It sat there for a few seconds as the engines continued to burn. A speaker crackled and a husky male voice boomed out.

  "Get in!"

  The two women looked at each other.

  "Your Captain sent for me. I'm with the Ceres mining colony."

  They quickly entered and the hatch closed. The ship began to ascend and quickly lifted it's way into the atmosphere just as the military craft entered weapons range. They did not pursue.

-     -     -

  "They've left the exosphere sir. The military doesn't seem to be pursuing."

  "They probably want to see if the can sift anything out of the wreckage," the Captain smiled as he scratched at the scar on his face, "good luck. Thanks Meredith. try hailing them."

  "Actually they're hailing us sir."

  "Up on screen."

  The stars fizzled away and Heather's pale, but still lovely face, appeared before them.

  "Hello sir."

  "Heather, not that I'm not glad to see you, but one of the two bridge officers should be reporting. What's up?"

  "Gryphon is out again and Ramirez is tending to him, she had to take him down."

  Robert smiled.

  "Ramirez knocked him out?"

  "Yes."

  "I love that woman."

  The Captain put a hand on Robert's shoulder; a gesture he took with pride.

  "Where's Matthew?"

  Heather hesitated, her jaw trembling.

  "He ... died ... in the crash ... sir."

  The bridge went silent. Meredith opened her mouth in a silent scream; Robert took hold of his console and squeezed it in an effort to keep from crying out.

  "Uh, um ... Heather I'm sorry," the Captain could feel bile bubble up into his mouth, his mouth twisting at the acrid taste. "When can we expect you to rendezvous with us?"

  "At our current speed we should be there within two hours sir, I'm afraid we're not as fast as the Necronomicon."

  "Good, we'll keep a light on for you."

  The screen went blank. The Captain slumped down in his chair and no one said anything. After a few minutes he stood and began walking to the door of his office.

  "George, you have the Bridge."

  "Sir ... yes, sir."

  The doors closed behind him. He plodded over to his desk, resting his head on it's cool wooden surface, and began to weep for his friend.

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