Inside the spaceship of the "Ten," silence reigned.
Well—silence, if you ignored the shouting.
"Let go!" barked Itsum, gripping the control wheel with both hands.
"You let go!" snapped Leku, yanking it the other way.
The ship tilted, rocking like a boat at sea. Somewhere in the cargo hold, a crate slammed to the floor.
The ship kept flying forward—autopilot had been on the whole time, but neither of them remembered that.
"I'm stronger, so I get to steer!" shouted Itsum, pulling the wheel down.
"I'm smarter, so I get to steer!" fired back Leku, pushing it up.
As a result, the ship began spinning in circles like a giant carnival ride.
"Do you even understand what we're doing right now?!" yelled Itsum.
"Yes! Proving your arms are weak!" Leku screamed, refusing to let go.
The onboard warning system beeped:
"Warning. Dangerous rotation. Crew blackout risk: 78%."
"See? This is your fault!" Itsum jabbed a finger at the screen.
"No, it's yours! If you'd just given the wheel to the smarter man, we'd be fine!"
For a brief moment, both froze. Silence fell across the cockpit.
Then they both pulled even harder.
Whoosh!
The ship, still spinning wildly, flew straight into an asteroid field.
"Well, that's it. We're going to die," muttered Leku.
"At least I'm steering!" shouted Itsum triumphantly, smashing Leku's face into the dashboard.
By some miracle, the ship twisted through two massive rocks and shot back into open space, leaving behind only chaos.
Paris slammed his hands on the desk, nearly breaking the comms device.
"Prime! One! Where the hell are you? How much longer is this gonna take?"
On the other side, Leku picked up. His voice was calm, almost too calm.
"We have secured the cargo. A few boxes. We are transporting them to the drop point. Estimated time: five to six hours."
Paris's eyes went wide.
"FIVE to SIX hours?! Are you insane?! A round trip should take one hour at most! ONE! What are you doing, sightseeing?!"
In the background, Itsum leaned closer to the comms, grinning.
"Technically, we're not sightseeing. More like… arguing while moving at half-speed."
Paris facepalmed so hard the sound echoed in the command room.
"Unbelievable… Fine. Put Kadichu on. At least he explains things properly."
There was a pause.
Leku and Itsum slowly turned to look at each other.
"…He's not with us," they said at the exact same time.
Silence.
Paris blinked.
"…What do you mean he's not with you? He was supposed to be ON that ship!"
More silence.
Then the dragon's distant voice crackled through another line, completely unrelated to the comms:
"Correction: Kadichu is currently in the kitchen. Raiding the fridge. Again."
Paris's left eye twitched.
"I'm going to kill you all when you get back."