“The Spare Part”
Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!
Prompt: “I need another one.” — suggested by Lexi
“I need another one!” Greta yells as the ship tanks to the left. She grasps the controls as she tries to pull us away from the asteroid that we just impacted.
I grunt as I hit the wall, spikes of pain shooting up my shoulder. I push off and stumble across the deck towards her.
“I’m trying to find one!” I scream, desperately rifling through the pile of spare parts. Geez, you’d think that, as chief engineer, I would’ve been able to find the part easily. But nope, it seems like no one on the Galaxy ever cleans up after themselves. I’m going to have to have a word with my officers after we get out of this mess.
The door slides open and I turn to see Hermann entering the bridge. He looks completely panicked, his face white and his eyes wide.
“Hermann, get over here,” I snap.
He doesn’t move and I roll my eyes. He may be young and inexperienced, but that isn’t any excuse from just standing there like a deer caught in headlights while our ship is falling apart.
“Hermann!” I repeat, more loudly this time. “Get your butt over here right now!”
This time, he snaps out of it. He races over to me and stands at attention. Or, at least, he tries to stand at attention. He ends up almost falling over and I shake my head at him.
“Where are the spare bolts?” I ask him. I point at the bin of spare parts that we have available on the bridge and I snap, “They aren’t in here, and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’re kind of in desperate need of one right now.”
Hermann’s face somehow pales even more and he mumbles something under his breath.
“What was that?” I ask him, keeping my voice low to make it known to him that I’m growing impatient.
“It’s in the engine room,” he whispers, refusing to meet my eyes.
I stare at him. “Why?!” I practically screech.
He starts stuttering something, but I cut him off. “Never mind that. There’s no time.”
I look at Greta and yell, “I’ll be right back. I know where they are.”
She grunts in response as she fights with the controls.
I race out of the bridge, Hermann at my heels. Sure, it might’ve been faster to ask one of my officers to bring the bolts to me, but at this point, I’m not sure if I trust any of them to get the job done correctly.
I finally reach the engine room. I burst inside and order Hermann, “Go get them.”
He scurries off and returns within seconds. I’m glad that he finally has a grasp on the urgency of the situation.
I run back to the bridge as fast as I can, cursing my short legs.
Just as I’m about the enter the bridge, the entire ship shakes. I’m knocked off my feet and I tumble directly into Hermann, pinning us both against the wall.
I hear an earsplitting creak and that’s how I know:
We’re too late.
Final Comments: Okay, so I’ll admit that the prompt didn’t fit perfectly into this story. Also, I will say that I’m not the most well versed in starship construction, so I’m not entirely sure what type of part they would have needed (hence the bolts). However, it was lots of fun to write a starship story!
Overall Rating: 😃
