Ben Hammott - Salvage

“Mission accomplished, Captain.”

Slightly surprised by the man’s relaxed demeanor after such a harrowing ordeal, Brusilov and Sergei looked at him.

Richard smiled. “Now, as much as I would like to stay and accept your no-doubt generous hospitality for saving your lives, I need to get aboard that helicopter.”

“Richard!”

Richard turned to the voice, flicked back a clot of gunk-congealed hair and smiled. “Lucy! Well, this is turning out to be a day of surprises. Jane and Jack are around here somewhere in a helicopter, which I assume is here to pick you up.”

Lucy took in Richard’s filthy, disheveled state and nodded. “I thought you left the spaceship ages ago.”

“I did, but the Americans needed my help. But what about you? The last time I saw you, you headed into space with Haax. Didn’t you like it?”

Confusion appeared on Lucy’s face. “I’ve no idea what you are on about. Who is Haax?”

Babinski joined them and looked at the approaching helicopter and then at Richard, wondering how he had gotten aboard.

The helicopter appeared alongside the ship and the back door slid open as it edged nearer to the rail. Jane leaned out, showed surprise at recognizing Lucy, and shouted, “Quick, get onboard, Jack can’t hold it here for long.”

Lucy crossed to the captain. “Thank you for your help Captain, and please thank your crew for me.” She gave him a quick hug and slipped the second alien pistol into his hand. “From what you told me, the Americans already have enough alien weapons, so they won’t miss this one.”

Brusilov nodded. “Thank you, Lucy, you are an amazing woman and I wish you a safe journey and a long life.”

Richard, impatient as always and keen to get off the ship, grabbed Lucy’s hand and pulled her towards the helicopter.

Pounded by the rotors downdraught, Lucy climbed over the rail. Richard looked worriedly at the two-foot gap between the ship and the helicopter, and the drop into the ocean below as it raised and lowered with the ship’s movements. It would just be his luck to fall and drown when he was so close to reaching safety.

When Lucy noticed Richard’s worried expression, she grabbed his shoulder and shouted to be heard above the deafening thrum of the helicopter “Time your jump when the ship is at the top of its rise and you’ll be fine.”

Richard nodded.

When the ship reached the top of its peak and began to drop, Lucy pushed off from the rail and dived through the door of the helicopter. Jane grabbed her and pulled her inside.

When the ship rose and dropped again, Richard jumped for the opening and slipped when a strong gust sent the helicopter speeding towards the tall crane. Someone grabbed his arm and pulled him inside as Jack quickly compensated and steered the helicopter clear.

Jane grabbed the door handle, nodded her thanks to the Russians as the helicopter swooped away and closed the door.

Brusilov, Sergei, Babinski and the other Russians on the deck watched the helicopter grow distant. Brusilov turned away and gazed at the scattered wreckage from the barge littering the deck.

“Well, that’s it, thank God. All of the aliens are dead now. Babinski, have the men clear off the wreckage and we’ll head home.

Richard nodded at Jane. “Thanks for saving me, back there.”

Jane huffed as she wiped clean the foul stains transferred from Richard’s filthy clothes to her hands. “I would say you’re welcome, but I’m not sure you are.”

Richard smiled. “We do tend meet under the strangest circumstances lately. I came to help the Americans, but what are you and Jack doing here?”

Jane smiled and threw Richard’s line back at him that he had used when he surprised them in the ice cavern, “You didn’t think I’d let you have all the fun, did you?”

Richard groaned.

Jane turned to Lucy. “You didn’t like outer space then?”

“Richard asked a similar thing, but I have no idea what you are both on about. The last thing I remember is we were running through the spaceship and then I awoke to find myself locked in a room and practically naked.”

“Someone took your clothes,” said Richard, picturing Lucy in her underwear and liking the view.

She eyed Richard suspiciously. “Well I certainly didn’t take them off.”

Richard smirked. “As much as I would have liked to see you so scantily dressed, it wasn’t me.”

“You fell and banged your head, Lucy,” Jane explained. “You were unconscious and we all would have been killed if we carried you, so we hid you in the room―fully clothed I might add―and planned to come back for you when we had escaped from the monsters chasing us.”

“But you never did,” stated Lucy. “Thanks.”

“But we did. We came back and you walked out of the room. That’s when Haax, a small friendly alien, turned up and saved us. We used his scout ship to escape and he took us to base camp.”

“And then you went with him into space,” added Richard.

Lucy shook her head. “Well obviously I didn’t, because I’m here.”

“But if it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

Lucy shrugged.

Fighting the strong gusts that shoved the helicopter to the side and threatened to ditch them into the ocean’s cold embrace, Jack turned towards the American ship. As they flew over the expanse of drifting ice, his passengers joined him in staring down at the small drifting icebergs that had for thousands of years entombed the alien spaceship that now rested on the seabed far below.

AS THE STARLIGHT skirted the edge of the ice field created by the breaking up of the iceberg, the Hunter clung to the small wave-tossed chunk of ice with its eyes focused upon the approaching ship. When it worked out the vessel would pass by too far away for it to reach, it dived into the sea and swam to another piece of ice directly in its path. It climbed to the top and watched the vessel glide nearer.

Crewman Graham Walker, the man ordered to take position on the bow with a radio and report any stray lumps of ice in the ship’s path large enough to damage it, gazed out at the field of mini-icebergs. Like most aboard the Starlight, he had witnessed the spectacular breakup of the enormous iceberg and the huge alien spaceship rising majestically from the sea before it started on its final journey to the cold, dark seabed. He diverted his gaze to the small iceberg the wind and waves drove towards the ship. Though the size of a bus, it posed no threat to the ship even if it struck, but the bow wash would steer it clear like the others. He fished a packet of cigarettes from a pocket of his warm padded jacket, slipped one out and turned away from the wind to light it. As the lighter’s flame burst into life, something grabbed him from behind and yanked him over the rail. He screamed as he fell and grunted with pain when he struck the ice and slid down its side into the cold embrace of the ocean.

Lieutenant Miller, the CO of the first watch team, gazed past the tarpaulin-shrouded form of the impressive alien scout ship, and cocked an ear to the wind. Though he thought he had heard someone scream, the wind and rolling ship created so many sounds it was difficult to hear anything over the creaks, groans and the flapping of the covers covering the two salvaged alien spaceships. Duty required him to check it out and informed Patterson and Sawyer of his intentions.

“I’m moving to the bow for a scout around.”

“Copy that,” replied Sawyer. “Roaming to cover your base.”