‘Well, we can use the robot arm to place it into the docking bay. Then we shut the inside doors and open the outside doors, and it will get flung away. It won’t travel very fast away from the ship though, so it will take time to reach a safe distance.’
‘Time we might not have,’ said Zak desperately.
‘No. It might be better to prevent the hijackers from leaving somehow. Then they’ll have to defuse the bomb,’ said Herbet. ‘Of course, if they can’t defuse it, that’s not a good idea.’
‘Okay,’ said Zak. ‘Let me think about this for a minute.’
Zak took a deep breath, and tried to quell the rising sense of panic. He had to come up with a definitive plan, not just act on impulse. He thought through the hijackers’ plan, and considered what opportunities he had to disrupt it. He recalled all the useful bits of information he had picked up in the last few days, and even took Herbet’s suggestions into account. Ideas began to flit around his mind, and one quickly evolved into a plan. As he reviewed the plan, a sense of excitement grew. He believed it was a winner.
‘Hey,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a plan. But instead of stopping them, it means getting them to leave as soon as possible.’
‘How would that work?’ asked Herbet cautiously.
Zak explained the plan in more detail.
‘Clever. Very clever,’ said Herbet. ‘The dangerous bit is causing the disruption in the first place. Let me give you one piece of advice – don’t get in the firing line of a machine gun. You say you play games a lot, but forget what you’ve seen in games. This is real life. These guys won’t miss – one burst of gunfire and you’re dead.’
‘Er.. okay,’ said Zak. The advice took him by surprise, but he didn’t dismiss it.
‘Good luck Zak,’ said Herbet. ‘You can do it.’
‘Thanks,’ said Zak. He paused for a moment, on realising that he had a growing respect for Mr. Herbet.
He stood up in readiness to initiate his plan. The first step was to access Cargo Hold, and give the computer a single command. That took him just a few seconds.
