Arvan was thinking as fast as he could.
‘Arvan, if you do not eject in the next forty seconds you will be killed when the Bluesonic core explodes.’
‘But Kal, I’ll drown in the ocean if I eject now, we’re too far from the island. There must be something else I can do?’
Arvan, desperate not to panic was running out of options. He was full on regretting his decision to follow the distress beacon co-ordinates, even though it was his job. As a band three Tiritane Explorer, he was duty bound to offer help in any way he could.
‘Kal, what if we blow the emergency release bolts on the engine housing and separate the hull from the cockpit? We could glide the cockpit section towards the island and the seawater will cool the Bluesonic core. We might even find a way to reattach it later.’
‘Ok, it might work. You’ll have to glide on manual as the instant loss of power will render me inactive, you will be on your own Arvan.’
‘Do it, do it now!’
‘Primed and set for three, two, bye Arvan.’
All the bolts blew at once with the hull falling away seconds later. As the cockpit nose sprang up, Arvan fought hard with the control column determined to level the craft off. Kal could be annoying and often sarcastic but Arvan was going to miss his ship’s AI.
You can read the rest of this story in my book: The Old Jack Tales
Available on Amazon