[Galaxy Of Fear] - 08(27)

Tash nodded. “I’ll try to slow them down. You get to work.” She shook her head worriedly. “You know Zak, you wanted to fix your mistake all by yourself. Well, here’s your chance. Don’t let us down!”

Zak didn’t bother to reply. He had already snapped off the maintenance panel, and found himself staring at the wiring he had damaged a few days before. Uncle Hoole had been able to replace the blown circuits, repair the damaged power couplings, and get the engines ready for re-ignition. Now all Zak had to do was repair the damage he had originally caused.

“Hurry, Zak!” Tash called.

He glanced back down the corridor. Tash was standing in the hall pressing a tray against the air vent. Zak thought he saw something small crawling across the ceiling over her head.

Zak tried to concentrate. He could do this. All he had to do was concentrate.

“Zak!” Tash urged. He heard her smash her palm against the wall, killing something.

Zak replaced several wires that had shorted out, and popped a power coil out of its small casing. Using a wire brush he cleaned it off, then replaced it.

“There!” he said.

But the ship was still dead.

“Hurry!” Tash pleaded.

He had no time to look back at her. He’d forgotten something. His eyes settled on the green-and-white cable. Of course! It was the same wire he’d moved the other day-it was still connected to the wrong socket! Zak plucked it out… then paused.

Where did it go again?

He’d forgotten where he’d moved it from.

“Aggghghhh!” Tash yelled.

“Now or never,” he muttered. He closed his eyes and tried. to remember what the maintenance panel looked like just before he’d messed with it. Then, opening his eyes, he chose one of the open sockets and jabbed the wire into the connection.

Lights went on all over the ship.

“Got it!” he yelled.

Zak bolted down the hall. Tash was still there, struggling to keep the vent blocked with one hand as she used the other to swipe a dozen drog beetles from her face and neck. Zak paused to pluck two beetles from her hair, then ran to the cockpit and dove over the pilot’s chair to reach a tiny control knob.

“Vents closed!” he called out.

They were sealed in tight.

It took only a moment to help Tash kill the rest of the beetles. Then they activated the engines. A moment later, the Shroud was airborne.

Thunk! thunk! drunk!

The ship hurtled through a kilometer-long wall of insects, cutting a wide path through the dark cloud. They could see nothing through the viewscreen-the bodies of living and dead beetles covered the transparasteel window.

As Tash piloted the ship, Zak used the scanner to lock onto Hoole’s readings, and they guided the ship toward the workshop.

“How are we going to get them out of there?” Zak asked.

Tash grinned. “hey, you’re already the hero. Leave the piloting to me.”

Smoothly, Tash guided the Shroud to a gentle landing-only a few inches from the workshop door. Zak ran back and opened the hatch just as two figures stumbled out of the doorway. The figures plunged through clouds of beetles toward the entrance to the Shroud. Grabbing their outstretched hands, Zak hauled them onboard.

As the ship rose into the air again, Zak was on his feet, slapping away the bugs that had clung stubbornly to Hoole and Sh’shak.

Like a warrior counting his trophies, Zak counted as he stomped the biting insects.

By the time Hoole and Sh’shak were cleaned off, he was grinning. He had killed exactly thirty.