Last Flight For Craggy (12 page)

'Got some bad
news. There's been a missile launch on Earth.'

'Shit,' said
Cragg.

'Are they back
at war?' Dillow asked.

'No, Dillow. At
first we thought it was a misfire, but it's tracking our Big
Bird.'

'Stella. You
said there's a missile tracking Big Bird? Confirm, please.'

'Confirmed,
Dillow. It's following the ship, but gradually gaining on it.
Estimated time of impact, sixty seven minutes.'

Cragg sat back
down. 'Seventeen minutes, Fawn. We have a window of seventeen
bloody minutes between reaching the ship and the missile hitting
it.'

'Sounds about
right.'

'You still
think this is a job for Rocky?'

Dillow said,
'Maybe him being younger he will be a bit quicker than you.
Maybe...'

'Maybe he'll
get himself blown to kingdom come.' Cragg took hold of her hand.
'Fawn. I'm eighty four. I've had my time. If I snuff it, no big
deal. Keep the boy out of harms way, yeah?'

Dillow said, 'I
can't make a decision like that.'

'Fawn. You're
the captain here. This is what captains do.'

Cragg kicked
off. 'Rocky. Come on. Take a seat.'

'How long have
we got?'

'Not long. The
captain and I have been talking things over. There's been a bit of
a development. It kind of changes things a little.'

Rocky sat down
between Dillow and Cragg. 'Go on.'

Cragg told him,
'It seems somebody on Earth decided to launch a missile at Big
Bird.'

Rocky looked at
Dillow, who merely nodded. 'When does it hit?'

Cragg said,
'We'll get about seventeen minutes to take over the ship.'

'That,' said
Rocky, 'is not a lot of minutes.'

'Agreed,' said
Cragg. 'So, this is the plan. I space walk over to the ship. I'll
be able to concentrate better, knowing you are looking after
Dillow, here, right?'

'But...'

'Hear me out. I
get over to the ship. You are the back up plan. If I'm struggling,
you come over and show me how it's done, I'll step out of the way.
Fair enough?'

'But...'

Dillow stepped
in. 'Rocky. I'm relying on you. I need you with me.'

'Okay. I guess
that's a plan.'

Lance Dillow,
Anton Forbes, Wendy Breeze and Stella were watching the screen in
Dillow's ship, the Eye.

Dillow said,
'Craggy's going to try to take over the ship?'

Breeze said,
'That's what Fawn said. I think they're trying to keep the boy
safe.'

Forbes said,
'She has to get her ship away from the target ship. If that
missile's nuclear and they're too close...'

'My daughter
wouldn't do that,' growled Dillow.

Forbes said,
'Craggy's been round the block a few times. He'll tell her to do
just that. He'll tell her to get the hell out of the way.'

Dillow stood up
and paced like a tiger, a long extinct tiger. 'I hate not being
able to do anything.'

'We all do,
Lance,' said Forbes.

'Look,' said
Breeze. 'I see the freighter.'

Dillow spun
around. 'Fawn?'

'Yes,' said
Breeze. 'I'll zoom in.'

The Earth
filled the screen. The twin blue plasma thrusters from the
freighter, glowing like mad wild flowers in a black garden.

'Any sign of
the Big Bird?' asked Forbes.

'Not yet. We
should see it in a couple of minutes.'

'Seven minutes
and they should be by the ship,' said Stella.

'There it is,'
said Dillow. 'See it?'

'Yes,' said
Forbes. 'Zoom in, Breezy.'

Breeze zoomed
in so she had a clear view of both ships. The freighter looked tiny
next to Big Bird. They watched as Fawn did a smooth U turn to be in
the same direction as the target ship. She moved in, matching the
speed at the same time. For a second, it looked as if they were
going to collide, but they missed. They were side by side, and the
seconds were flashing by.

'The airlock's
opening,' said Stella. She zoomed in closer and they could see the
suited Cragg leap out of the airlock, the safety line trailing
behind him.

'That is one
brave old coot,' said Dillow.

'He always
was,' said Forbes.

'Easy, Fawn,'
said Dillow.

The ships were
matching speeds with minutes to go before the missile was to catch
up with them. They watched the tiny figure floating in space, the
thin line securing him to the ship. It took two painfully slow
minutes for Cragg to reach the hatch of the big ship. He wiped his
gloved hand across the locking sensor. Nothing happened, and they
could imagine a frustrated Craggy, swearing at the hatch, demanding
that it opened. He tried again and on the third attempt, the hatch
opened. Cragg unhooked the safety line and climbed inside. The
hatch closed up, locking him in the ship.

'Go, Craggy,
go,' said Forbes.

'Look,' said
Stella. 'The missile.'

'Why isn't Fawn
getting the hell out of the way?' said Forbes.

'I told you.
She's my daughter. She won't leave Craggy.'

'That missile's
closing in,' said Breeze. 'Come on, Craggy.'

Forbes called
Fawn. 'Fawn. That missile's on your tail. Get your ship out of the
way.'

'No way. We're
in this together. That's right, isn't it Dad?'

'Your
call.'

'Yeah, like
you'd ever leave an officer of yours to slug it out on their own.
Craggy's my friend. He would never leave me, I'm not leaving
him.'

Stella said,
'Does Craggy know what he's doing?'

'You explained
the procedure to him before he jumped over. If anyone can do it,
Craggy can.'

'Four minutes
until missile impact,' said Breeze.

'Come on,
Craggy,' yelled Dillow.

Cragg stared at
the array of lights, sensors and things he couldn't even put a name
too. Not normally a man of a nervous disposition, it started to
concern him that he was sitting in ship with a missile with his
name on it, about to do away with his problem of early
retirement.

'Stella?'

'Here, Craggy.
See a pale red sensor right at the top?'

'Got it.'

'Take your
gloves off. Now, wave your palm over the sensor, about two
centimetres from it.'

'Which hand.
Left or right?'

'Either.'

Being right
handed, that was the one he waved over the red sensor. Nothing
happened.

'Stella?'

'Again,
Craggy.'

With a silent
prayer to the god of all astronauts, Cragg tried again.
Success.

'Gone
green.'

'You now have
control.'

'Music to my
ears. Now which one of these is the gas pedal.'

'Craggy?'

'Which is the
go faster button?'

Stella said,
'There's a long narrow sensor right along the bottom.'

'Got it. It's
got a red bit at the left hand side.'

Breeze said,
'Two minutes to missile impact.'

'Thanks for
that little reminder, Breezy,' said Cragg.

Stella said,
'Palm of your hand, left to right.'

Cragg did as he
was told. He couldn't get the sensor to respond and after much
frantic gesticulation, the sensor things happened. The ship slowed
down instead of speeding up.

'Oops!'

'Craggy...'

'I know, I
know.'

'Hurry up,
Craggy,' said Forbes.

'Keep your wig
on. Here we go.'

Forbes and the
others stared at the screen as the ancient missile ate up the
precious distance. Suddenly, there was neck jolting acceleration
and Craggy said, 'Whooowowoo.'

Forbes yelled,
'Fawn. Get the hell away. NOW!'

She didn't need
telling twice. With a scary turn of speed, she was away in the
opposite direction to Cragg. It was anyone's guess which ship the
missile would follow. It wasn't anything personal, but it chose
Cragg.

'I'm going to
follow Craggy from a distance,' said Fawn.

She followed
Cragg and the persistent missile from a safe distance but something
didn't look right.

'Craggy. You're
heading for Earth.'

'No shit.
Stella. Where's the steering wheel?'

'See a ring
shaped sensor in the middle?'

'Yep. I can
take it from here.'

'Craggy,
Before...'

The big ship
did a loop-de-loop not recommended in any training manual. Not to
be outdone, the missile did the same. Out of the loop, Cragg lost
control, and put the ship in a spin. His desperate waving at the
sensors, any sensors, had the observers staring open mouthed as the
ship missed a dead satellite by a hairs breadth. Missing that was
one thing, but he was still heading for Earth.

Fawn yelled,
'Craggy. Pull away from there.'

'Good idea.
Wish I'd thought of it myself.'

A wrong turn
and Cragg was still hurtling down to Earth. The enticing
gravitational pull wasn't helping. Six people yelling advice at the
same time was doing strange things to Cragg's mind. It had been a
very long time since he had taken any ship into Earth's atmosphere.
He remembered it involved lots of heat, precisely calculated
trajectories, slow speed, and something really important.

'Must not
crash. Any brakes on this bus?'

Stella yelled,
'Long sensor right hand side. The other right, Craggy.'

'Glad we
clarified that.'

At a blinding
speed, hurtling to the ground with a missile still on his tail,
Cragg didn't fancy his chances of surviving this one.

'If I don't
make it, will somebody feed my goldfish?'

'You don't have
a goldfish,' said Forbes.

'So buy me a
bloody goldfish.'

The ship
started to level off, but at the speed he was moving, it looked
like being a hard landing. The ship skimmed the ground cutting a
swathe through some rare patch of forest. The tenacious missile,
glowing an ominous orange from the heat, was closing in again. As
the ground gave way to ocean, Craggy contemplated trying for a soft
landing in the water. Before he could decide, he was back over
land.

'Time to get
out of here.'

Then he saw
something familiar. Westmont. The volcanic capitol of the West. The
very people responsible for his present predicament and not top of
his greeting card list, lived there. An idea formed in his mind. It
required split second timing and consummate piloting skills, but
Cragg went for the seat of the pants, blind faith and sheer luck
option, instead.

'Bye, bye.'

At the second
before crashing into Westmont became inevitable, a flick of both
wrists and the ship did a subtle left banking manoeuvre with an
upward blast from the plasma thrusters. The missile didn't quite
make it. All Forbes and the others saw was the explosion on the
side of Westmont.

'Oh, Craggy,'
gasped Stella.

Lance Dillow
placed a comforting arm around her. 'He was one hell of a guy.'

Forbes added,
'He went out doing what he loved the most.'

Fawn Dillow
held her head in her hands, letting the tears flow.

Rocky said, 'I
should have been the one to go.'

Dillow looked
up at him. This boy. A ninety two average. In the simulator. Even
if he could grow whiskers, she would never have sent him out there.
It was a job only a real man like Craggy could even try to tackle.
She looked at the screen and could see the black smoke making it
look for all the world as if the dead volcano had suddenly come to
life.

Cragg was still
demanding some kind of cooperation from the unfamiliar
controls.

'Another couple
of years at this, I might just get the hang of it.'

The Earth
disappeared below him, and the ship took to the heavens, keen to
leave hell behind. He carried no guilt for slamming the missile
into the mountain. At best it would create a little confusion and
maybe give the inhabitants headaches. It was all about sticking
them with the middle finger salute. All he had to do now, was to
make it home in one piece.

'Hi. Anyone
around to help an old man across the road?'

A chorus of
“Craggy” made his ears ring.

'What? You
didn't think I would make it or something?'

'I never
doubted it for a second,' said Fawn Dillow.

'Bloody liar.
To be honest, I'm kinda lost. If I circle the Earth, think you can
find me?'

'See if you can
get yourself Moonside.'

'Any indicators
on this thing?'

'Just do
it.'

Cragg slowed
things right down, and on what he admitted to himself was an untidy
flight, got the big ship Moonside. His heart sank when he didn't
see the freighter anywhere. He had survived by a wing and a prayer,
and he didn't fancy pushing his luck. He needed help.

'Craggy here.
Anybody home?'

'We see you,
Craggy,' said Fawn Dillow. 'Just try to cruise and we'll be right
with you.'

'Cruising.'

The small
screen was an add on, supposedly unnecessary on what was intended
to be a pilot-less ship. It didn't afford much of a view from the
cramped flight-deck. He didn't have to wait long before he saw the
freighter loom into his line of vision.

'Hi,
Craggy.'

'Hi. Nice to
see you again. Take it nice and slow and I'll follow you home.'

'No you won't,'
said Dillow. 'You are out of there and Rocky's taking over.'

'He is?'

'I am,' said
Rocky. 'You've done a fantastic job, Craggy, but I know those
controls. I don't think you are quite ready to land that ship in
one piece.'

'That makes
perfect sense, Rocky. Come on over.'

Dillow lined up
the two ships and matched speeds. Cragg saw the freighter airlock
open and rookie Rocky Ramshorn standing on the edge. He dived off
into space for his first ever space walk. The safety line trailed
behind him as he crossed the gap between the ships. As he
approached, Cragg opened the airlock hatch and with much relief,
prised himself out of the seat. Hanging outside onto the side of
the hatch, he waited for Rocky to reach him, stretched out his arm
and grabbed the slack line and reeled the rookie in.