Tattered Can

"I guess, for now," Hyker said later. "The Federation doesn't care about this plane let alone the rest of us."

"Why do you think like that?" Oryza asked in between busy monitoring every flashing dot on the big screen in front of her. "The captain already said this, right? Do not be careless!"

"Don't be so stiff," Hyker chuckled. "Didn't you see?"

The man's gaze turned to the left again, where the shape of the Earth's ball was still the same, covered in red because of the blazing magma from within the Earth itself.

"In the middle of this mess," Hyker continued. "There is no time for them to keep an eye on this SC45 aircraft. Too small, I guess, won't attract any attention to them."

"I hope you're right," Quinn said. "But I don't want to just die silly. Better be careful."

"Yeah," Hyker chuckled, nodding. "That's sounded good. Just keep your attention on each screen. There's nothing wrong with being careful."

And then, Hyker stepped back into his seat, the main pilot's seat. Half-excited, he flung his hips onto the chair. He grabbed an object an inch from the top of the large screen table in front of him, biting one end of the pen-like object.

While monitoring the other large screen at the top, Hyker leaned back. He watched every screen display on every instrument in front of him.

When Captain Dharma appeared in the main cabin, he found the same anxiety in everyone there. Anxiety leads to fear. The captain understood that.

Who wouldn't be restless, worried, or scared after watching Earth kill all life that came with it, and then kills itself?

From the big screen alone it looked terrible, thought the captain.

Earth now looks like most other exoplanets. Only a dead planet that looks a little pleasing to the eye will never again be friendly to life—perhaps later, and it will take the Earth thousands of years to recover, maybe even millions of years.

That means, maybe the Earth will recover as before after hundreds of thousands of generations, starting with the generation of those who survived the cataclysm.

Who can guarantee humanity will not perish before that happens? Before Earth again offers life with it?

Captain Dharma took a deep breath, and it sounded very heavy.

"Are you all okay?"

Some heads nodded in response to the captain's words, others with faint smiles not knowing what to say. Maybe for now, they are still fine, but what about the next day? And the next day?

Captain Dharma approached Ryan and his friends.

"What were the conditions down there?"

The captain took a deep breath, the fearful reflection of the several people in front of him was able to hit his feelings.

"Everything has been reassembled," said Cinnong, who was sitting on Ryan's left.

"What about the warp ability?" asked the captain.

Cinnong pointed at Ryan who was still watching the condition of the Earth from the big screen on the wall of the room.

"Yan?" said Captain Dharma.

For a moment, Ryan was still lost in his thoughts about the destruction of Mother Earth.

"You want to ignore me, do you?"

"Patience, Cap!" Ryan said then shook his head. "What were you asking about, sir?"

"Good grief," Captain Dharma snorted his hands on either side of his waist. "Warp, Yan. This ship warp machine. Did you manage to upgrade that machine, or what?"

Ryan laughed softly at the concern on the captain's face and attitude. A little too much, he thought. Well, unless those concerns are directed at the Federation's side, their attack on this spaceship itself, and hopefully that never happens.

"Everything's fine," Ryan said later.

"Fine? Just fine?" the captain's brow furrowed.

"We have successfully upgraded the warp engine capability."

"Good!" Captain Dharma took a deep breath. The good news was enough to put his mind at ease, for now. "You are so reliable!" the captain looked at the others, at those who had also been struggling with Ryan. "All of you!"

"Thanks, Cap!" said a few months with a smile.

"How fast?" Captain Dharma asked Ryan.

Ryan frowned, scratching his head. "This cargo plane wasn't designed for fast flights, Cap. Especially the main engines."

"Isn't this plane," Naomi said, pointing to the entire side of the cabin, "just a tattered can? Well, it's only right that this ship won't be able to fly fast."

"Be careful what you say, Naomi!" Yuma snorted as he shook his head. "If this plane hears and she sulks, we're all finished!"

"Why?" said Naomi. "Am I wrong?"

"You just scared the kids," said Boris, pointing at Xian, Miska, Luka, and Ely. "What are you thinking, huh? Bah…!"

"I'm just trying to be realistic, nothing more," Naomi said with a shrug.

Captain Dharma could only take a deep breath to hear the words of Ryan's comrades. Naomi wasn't wrong, this spaceship was just a piece of junk compared to other planes out there, he thought.

Well, it's possible that the owner who bought this plane from the previous Federation's minions turned out to be deceived or something.

His thought, made Captain Dharma remember the figure of the fat ruler, the original owner of this spaceship.

How is he now?

The question flashed through the captain's head. Can he survive? Escape with another plane, maybe?

But, I don't think that's possible, Captain Dharma thought.

The problem is, that other regional rulers who also have spaceships are quite far from the Pangandaran area. And the fact that the Earth was going on a rampage was just moments after Captain Dharma and the others had reached Earth's outer orbital zone.

There's no way the fat pig has enough time, he thought.

So, yeah… the remaining possibility, the Lord of Pangandaran must have died along with billions of other people, along with the death of the Earth itself.

At the very least, it's a fair price for a greedy bastard like you, the captain muttered to himself.

"And, then?" The captain's gaze returned to Ryan. "What level of warp machine abilities did you upgrade?"

Ryan looked into the captain's eyes, smiled again, and shook his head again. What did he expect? he thought.

"Only up to level three," Ryan replied. "Forcing it higher will only make this plane explode."

TO BE CONTINUED ...