Asteroid Pursuit - 1st Place

Cade pulled the controls hard to port. The Z9 shuttle shuddered as a laser burst passed within a micrometer of the hull. Cade righted the ship, veering starboard.

“Increase speed by three decicrons,” suggested a sultry, computerized voice.

“I would but somebody—not mentioning any names here Z—is not running at full speed.

“If someone performed regular maintenance on me, I might.”

Cade snorted as another laser burst from the Krimulons zinged the port wing, rocking the ship. Cade fought for control.

“How about a radiation burst?”

“Nope. Those fuel injectors you refused to replace are not functioning at optimum capacity.”

“Well, it’s the Ulinium in your hull those scavenging Krimulons want, old girl, so you’d better give me something.” The shuttle quivered, and a partial radiation burst left a space cloud in their wake. The decicron meter crept up one notch, their pursuers receding on the screen.

Cade held no hope of maintaining the distance. Studying the navigation display, he spotted a long shot. He banked starboard heading toward the Nescarion Astroid Belt.

In another kiloparsec, Cade was zipping past the outer ring. The larger ship could not hope to pursue them.

Cade dodged several asteroids before a large one slammed into the belly of his shuttle. Alarms blared, warning of impending atmospheric loss.

“Z, seal off the lower pressure plating.”

“I’ll try, but you know this is all your fault, right?”

“Not the time for an I told you so!”

“Time to ask for an upgrade of my propulsion system?” Cade let out the breath as he heard the plating engage. In another heartbeat, he’d be free of the Asteroid belt and safe.

“Baby, as soon as we reach Base 5889, you’ll have your heart's desire!”

“I am recording this, you know.”





Word count = 295

Submitted for "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 

Must be less than 300 words and contain the phrase "This is all your fault."