Julius Rosenthal will make candy no more and other short stories by Nicholas Russell (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

A smile flicked across Masons face. When the voice started again there was a distance between it and the microphone, the voice was muffled but when amplified you could make out the words “out an airlock I swear...”

A grunt followed, and then some more yelling. Mason was enjoying the moment not even trying to attack. Though the line was still open a silence fell over the speaker. Ram was weighing her options. There was nothing else she could do in here, Mason would see to that. A cry of agony broke the silence followed quickly by Conklin’s battered voice, “Ram, please stop what you’re doing and tell them how to fix it.”

Mason walked past Ram and activated the engine room’s mic, ”I got it from here Captain.”

Ram took a few steps back and took a stance to defend herself. Conners started towards her when she first hear it a small squeak. It was two steps before Conners heard it. He ignored it at first but with the next step came the alarm.

“EMERGENCY SYSTEM ALERT... ENGINE SHIELDING FAILURE GRAVITY WELL FORMATION DETECTED....”

The electronic system started to loop after that but Ram didn’t notice it since she could already feel the gravity well pulling at her clothes. She looked to Conner’s and saw the panic on his face Ram used it for all she could. “You trained at Mckellan right, so you must have seen the spec.”

“That is not going to happen here, you are going to tell me what you did and I am going to get the systems back online and contain it.” Mason took a step forward when a thud – barely audible above the alarm echoed across the room. Both turned to see the pieces of the shattered flashlight dance across the wall trying to find an opening as the rapidly forming gravity well grew larger,

“I figure five maybe six minutes till it’s too large to contain.” Ram turned her attention back to Conners, though his was still focused on the small scraps of metal as the moved about. “If you hurry you can get to the escape pod before the Captain, you know as well as I do he will leave you in a heartbeat.”

Mason turned and fled without saying a word and Ram didn’t waste any time getting back to work, while she may have knocked a few minutes off the time they didn’t have to much more. She returned to the middle hatch and lifted it open. Ram was pretty sure it was too late too late to stop it, but maybe she could slow it down. Every flight school had a gravity well in its training area. Ram had been lucky enough to watch her schools form. She had known the pilot of the other ship and could hear him screaming right up until the ship collapsed on him. . She could feel the gravity well growing stronger and her only hope was to start flipping the switches back on.

There was a loud boom and the plastic casing surrounding the lights shattered. The pieces fell half way to the flood before rushing to the back wall showering Ram in bits of jagged plastic. The shards slashed dozens of ragged gashes along Rams arms and neck. All the switches were on and nothing had changed. She could feel the gravity well growing stronger with every second that past.

Ram was through the door before it was even halfway open, the escape pods were her only hope as well. She could hear the crunch of metal behind her as the bulk heads began to tear away sucked back into the gravity well. She was pushing her body as hard as she could, she knew she couldn’t beat Mason there but was hoping against the laws of physics. There were three turns between the engine room and the escape pods - it was meant to give the crew time in case of a fire – now it though it just seemed foolish. Ram made the first turn but she slipped on the second slamming into a steel wall. Taking a second to catch her breath Ram started again she couldn’t feel the Gravity well but knew that wouldn’t last much longer.

As she rounded the final turn Ram found the room flooded with a bright green light – the green light signaled the pod had already been fired. She continued to the door out of a futile desperation, hoping they hadn’t fired the locks yet. The small plexi-glass porthole was empty showing only the dead of space,

Her breath came in ragged gasps as Ram slumped to the ground. With Her ankle throbbing and her hands trembling as the adrenaline began to wear off Ram realized she never would read her daughters letter. Masons body was laying arms splayed about a still smoldering wound in his upper chest. With her foot throbbing Ram was finding it hard to concentrate. “Yeah they shot him as he was trying to bored captain said...”

The unexpected voice sent Ram scurrying across the floor. Conklin looked bad, he had a hold on one arm keeping it immobile and his face had been worked over pretty good. Ram was about to speak when he started up again ”Captain said, well I couldn’t hear what the Captain said but they just shot him.”

Ram got to her feet and started towards Conklin when he said something that hadn’t crossed Ram’s mind, “At least those people in the hold won’t know there about to die.”

Ram body began moving before her mind could catch up as she grabbed Conklin’s collar dragging him towards the cargo bays. They moved through the ship quickly, all of the crew seemed to have evacuated with the captain. Ram explained her plan as they moved. They would pull two people from their pods and take their places before blowing the cargo bay doors. As long as the