Download the Book - Islam and Science Fiction

At that, Annette looked at her monitor and saw who it was. She
went berserk, screaming "Paula, NO!" and buried her head in her
arms. She made no move to save her friend.
Paula screamed back. "Don't listen to them! They're the
murderers! Do what you have to do!"
Three seconds later, Shahid pulled the trigger himself.
Ten seconds later, three red grapes, burdened with all the plastic
explosives they could move, floated through the service hatch. They
smelled faintly of fingernail polish.
Erica rolled slowly to face the bridge. Balanced between moving
too slowly and being noticed, between having her eyes closed to slits
and not being able to see through the tears, between hatred, fear, and
grief, she touched the keys to maneuver one grape behind the head of
each terrorist.
She detonated the devices. They exploded simultaneously, taking
everyone by surprise. The terrorists tumbled across the deck,
crashing into the walls or floor, as the crew gathered their wits.
"Well," Raj said after a few seconds, "don't just float around,
grab them, for Pete's sake."
The crew secured the three unconscious terrorists, and checked
their pulses.
"This one's dead."
"Aw, too bad."
"This one's wasted too. You oughta see the back of his head."
"Wait a minute, this one's still alive."
"Damn, missed one," Erica Thompson said in disgust.
From the Confessions:
My new name means Servant of the Father of Flame. I chose it
to remind me of who I have become.
I now know that we had no chance of succeeding from the start.
The reasons are many.
First, we were caught by a well laid trap. I think I know how it
worked, but I will not discuss it here, for fear of compromising future
security. What I will say is this: the security was far better than my
contemptuous opinion led me to believe. Had that trap failed, there
were probably several more which would have worked. I also suspect
it was no accident that I lived. They needed the ringleader to bring
back to Earth and put on trial.
The second reason we failed was the courage and compassion of
the crew, a factor I didn't just underestimate, I totally discounted.
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