The Pursuit (5)

"Lenny." Peri called out the Novakid while John was concentrated in maneuvering the ship to make it difficult for the enemy to lock on their guns at the spaceship, "You're a good sharpshooter, right?"

"Good?" Lenny switched his sight from the Navigation Console's screen. He stared at Peri with a prideful smug as he declared, "The adjective, 'Good,' is not enough to describe my abilities. I'm the best in the universe."

"Yeah, yeah." Peri rolled her eyes at the smugness coming from Lenny before speaking, "If you're the best, then answer me truthfully. Can shoot homing missiles in outer space?"

Lenny's expression froze for a second before he hesitantly replied, "Well...I never tried before, but I think... probably...maybe...I should be able to pull it off."

"Oh..." Peri exclaimed before saying with a provocative smile look on her face, "You didn't sound very convincing with your answer just now. I thought you were the best..."

"I'm the best!" Lenny said, "But there are limits of how good a person can be, okay? Firing at a missile traveling that fast and with unpredictable movements, it's... it's impossible!"

Peri's expression suddenly turned serious as she spoke to Lenny, "You better make possible, or else, even if John finds a way to increase our speed and get further from our pursuers, we would still be shot down by the missiles."

"But..." Lenny tried to argue, but he knew that she spoke the truth.

Although it might exist another way, they simply couldn't just think of one in the spot.

Their biggest problem was the homing missiles. Bullets and energy beams have predictable and linear movements, which make it possible to dodge by using some evasive maneuvers. As for homing missiles, it was a lot more complicated.

Usually, the way most spaceship deals with such missiles is by launching a bunch of scrap metal at the rear end of the ship, and by doing this, one of the shards would hit the rocket and explode it before it could get close.

John's ship simply didn't have something like an ejector or hatch at the rear end.

They did have some things to throw away from the hatches at the side but surely wasn't enough to make sure to stop the missile while dodging the incoming bullets and energy beams.

Lenny thought about it, but still couldn't come with a better solution, "You're a madwoman, I have to say."

"Why so serious?" Peri's face broke into a smile, "It's just like practice to you, right?"

Lenny's mouth twitched, [I know what she's thinking, but this is precisely why I'm afraid...this woman is crazy.]

With a long sigh, Lenny turned around and stopped by the door of the cockpit, "Then...wish me luck."

"Powerful and skillful people don't rely on luck." Peri said, "They trust in their own ability to go through even the hardest and impossible trials in front of them. Lenny, I don't think you need luck..." Peri flashed a faint, mysterious smile.

In the face of Peri's answer, Lenny just turned his head around and spoke in a low tone, "Damn, I just asked for you to wish me luck, that's all."

Peri watched as Lenny disappeared from the room, and the automatic door closed, leaving only John and her inside.

She looked at John that seemed to have completely sealed off from the outside as he concentrated in piloting the ship and thinking on the way to speed up the ship.

With a wild twist in the joysticks, the ship turned around and dodged a burst of bullets that came from the fleet pursuing them.

Although some of the projectiles managed to hit the shield, the damage was neglectable, for the most part.

If the fleet keeps shooting a burst of bullets as they get closer, the damage would continuously pile up and end up creating cracks in the shield around the spaceship. That's why John was getting more and more nervous.

"SAIL." John called out the spaceship's AI.

"Yes, Protector?"

"Is it possible to activate some kind of turbo with our engine to increase our speed?"

"..." There was a moment of silence before the robotic voice answered, "Yes, it is possible. It would increase the speed for almost thrice the current speed..."

John was joyful for a second before SAIL crushed his hopes with the rest of her answer, "...but for only 2 minutes. After this amount of time, the engine and power generator could fail at any given moment, and there exists a high probability of it exploding. Chances of survival if such explosion occur...close to 1%. Most probable scenario, everyone on board would die."

John's fist over the Navigation Console tightened, "Only 2 minutes..." He grimly thought.

Although speeding up thrice was very good, he didn't know the range of the FTL Jammers the enemy was using, if he really took the risk to activate the overclock, it exists the chance of them unable to flee, the engine exploding, or the scenario that John wishes to see, they successfully escape.

"Warning! Side hatch has been opened."

It was a gamble that John had in his hand.

"Side hatch has been closed."

"Wait..." John suddenly thought of something, "SAIL, can the time be increased if I stop the usage of power within the ship?"

"Yes, by turning off all unnecessary power usage, the overclock could go on for a few more seconds before the engine reaches critical and could explode at any moment. Probable amount given: 5 to 10 seconds."

John clicked his tongue.

*Crack*

*BOOM*

The ship violently shook as they were hit by one energy beam.

Such a powerful beam could easily penetrate the weak shield around John's spaceship.

Red alerts appeared on the console as it showed the damage they received from the direct hit of such weapons.

"Damnit." John cursed as he recovered himself.

While he was occupied thinking of a solution, they were hit and taken such substantial damage.

"Warning!" SAIL spoke, "Direct hit detected. Damage partially absorbed by the Forcefield. Forcefield capacity dropped to 54%. Remnants of the highly concentrated laser beam penetrated the shield. Thruster 6 has been destroyed."

"What!?" John checked the console and saw that the sixth thruster had stopped working.

Such blow wouldn't change their speed in the space's vacuum if they were simply going straight in a line, but since John had to keep turning and twisting, the loss of a single thruster could be fatal as it would make maneuvering and acceleration a little slower, slower enough for them to be hit by a few more bullets and energy beams.

[There's no more time to hesitate!] John's eyes flashed with determination as he opened his mouth to speak, "Peri, put on the-"

The moment he turned around, he saw that Peri had a small grey cylinder on her back.

Of course, John recognized the object, it was one of his ship's Breathing EPP.

He was about to ask for Peri to put on a spacesuit, but from the looks of it, it was unnecessary.

"I heard your conversation with the AI." Peri explained, "I can probably guess what you are going to do."

"Well..." John embarrassedly scratched his head as he remembered the fact that he was so focused that he ignored Peri's existence and only talked with SAIL, "This at least spare us time."

Breathing EPP. EPP stands for Environment Protection Pack, which basically is a device that creates a thin barrier between the wearer and the outside to protect him/her from planetary hazards and dangerous environments, such as lava, poison, radiation, and lack of oxygen.

Each EPP had its use, the one that Peri was using could carry a specific amount of breathable air to explore, or survive, in places that don't have air.

Such device wasn't that expensive, but John didn't have one, at least not until Lenny left behind some tools to John before he disappeared.

Peri couldn't have taken John's, as his EPP was inside his PIPS.

So, John could only assume that Peri had her own.

It wasn't strange. After all, such device was crucial to explorers and anyone with a sane mind that would risk traveling in outer space.