Roughly half-an-hour earlier Tilly was wondering through her side of the crew’s quarters. She was feeling particularly lazy today, and she was thinking that sooner or later she’d have to get around to doing her routine mechanics check, however there was something else on her mind.
She went to knock on Mr. Dunstan’s door but found that it was already slightly open – the door swung across on its hinges when she touched it. She thought nothing of it at the time. “Riley,” she called. “Listen, um, I know this is a little out of the blue but I was wondering if…” She glanced around and realised that the cabin was completely empty. “Oh.”
She trotted down the main stairs and into the map room, however she failed to locate Riley at his post by the controls either. Now she was very perplexed. She approached Professor Goodwin. “Professor,” she said. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Riley, have you?”
“Oh, yes Miss Eveans, he was here just a few moments ago. In fact, I believe he had gone looking for you, but he obviously didn’t find you.”
Tilly blushed. “He was looking for me?”
“Indeed. He said there was a light blinking in the cockpit – something to do with the Rosanne’s performance. I suppose he just wanted to check with you that the engines were running fine.”
Tilly stepped away, with a thought as to where she might now find him. “Oh, thank you, professor.” If Riley was looking for her then the first place he might have checked would have been the engine room, so that’s where she went.
She slipped through the doorway and into the comfortable confines of her workplace, but when she saw that all the lights were gone and replaced with those sinister emergency lights, she became a little more frightened. “Riley?” she called, as she snuck through the maze of pipes and valves. “Riley, are you in here?”
There was no response, not even a sound. And then she found Riley lying face down on the floor, arms over his head, as if he were sleeping. The icy shock of the sight knocked Tilly back, and she would have screamed if a massive hand didn’t appear from behind to cover her mouth. “Hush now…” said Mr. Bowler. “Don’t worry about your friend, he isn’t dead, but don’t test me otherwise he will be. I’ve been instructed to stop your ship from reaching its destination. Mr. Backhaus wanted me to kill you but quite frankly I don’t give a damn what he wants.” He pushed the end of a gun into her back and nudged her towards Riley. “Now, go stand in the corner with your friend – and don’t try anything or I’ll shoot the both of you.” He then proceeded to attach a stick of dynamite to the Rosanne’s primary engine before turning his gun back on Tilly. “Drag his body into the other room – quickly now.” She did as he asked, and realised that Riley was a great deal heavier than he looked. When that task was done Mr. Bowler had her light the explosives and sabotage the main engine – which went down with a very loud and very noticeable bang!
“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Tilly asked as he led her to the cargo deck down the main hallway of the engine room. “The others will come looking for you now.”
“And when they find us they won’t in a positon to do anything about it.” Rex prodded the gun further into her back and she winced and shivered with fright. She realised then that he intended to steal one of the dive suits to escape the Rosanne. Was he going to take her with him as insurance? Tilly never got the chance to find out.
Suddenly the door to the engine room swung open and there stood Elsie and Fiona – with wide eyes. Tilly shrieked as Mr. Bowler turned around and jammed the pistol into the side of her head.
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