Chapter 37
Attayear***Update 2/4 – please make sure you start from chapter 36!***
They found out pretty quickly the next morning that the UN forces were in the process of securing Pyongyang when Minseok managed to convince Yixing and Taemin that they needed to check in at a hospital and get their injuries looked at (the mystery chef asked about Jinsu’s arm again and whether or not it might be wise to go to hospital – Jinsu wrote back a simple no). Yixing had horrendous burns from the lithium explosion and Taemin had narrowly missed being killed by the part of the engine that had taken Chanyeol out as it was dislodged by the first blast, but his legs had been crushed and he couldn’t walk. Between the deaths and the injuries, there were no able-bodied adults on board except for Minseok, and Jinsu could see his cool and capable façade beginning to crack. The responsibility was weighing heavily on him.
The Attayear’s remaining engine had been left on, because otherwise they wouldn’t have the power necessary to start everything up again, and Minseok thought it was more practical for the hospital to get everybody in a stable enough condition for them to last the short amount of time home it would take to get there – only, regardless of whether or not the Attayear could move (which it could, but only at half power with only one engine), there was still the matter of sorting out the Tardis coding so that landing back in present time was actually possible. He wasn’t sure how long that would take, but reckoned to Jinsu that since he’d been able to achieve a near deadlock with that part of the code, given a few hours, he should be able to find some way to strengthen it, meaning that by the time the injured people were in a condition to leave hospital temporarily, he’d probably have it cracked.
“I’m just going to drop these two off at the hospital,” he said, Taemin draped over his back like a ragdoll. “Look after the place, would you?”
That was code for you and Baekhyun stay in the control room, okay?, which Jinsu wasn’t particularly keen on doing unless absolutely necessary, so she went to find Jongdae. He seemed to sense she was still a bit out of things and gave her an earbud to his iPod, allowing her to burrow into his side as she listened to music and attempted not to cry.
Before long, Baekhyun came looking for her.
“You’re supposed to be with me in the control room,” he griped, barging unceremoniously into the room.
“Leave her alone,” Jongdae snapped. “She’s going through a rough time.”
“Chanyeol was my best friend, but even I recognise that times are bad and we all have to pull our weight. Grieving needs to come later.”
“Jinsu and Chanyeol are related. Re-la-ted. Give her some time, you inconsiderate jerk.”
Jinsu rested her head gratefully in Jongdae’s lap, no longer interested in the music. Baekhyun hesitated and swallowed.
“Park,” he said in a much quieter voice. “It often helps to be busy when you’re grieving. It takes the edge off things.”
“Leave me alone,” she mumbled, echoing Jongdae’s earlier sentiment. Baekhyun left.
It appeared that all true disasters came in threes. First the virus, then the explosives, and this time, it was the UN troops. When the Attayear was hidden by the early morning mist and then the torrential rain that lasted until well past noon, it didn’t particularly matter that there was a massive two-storey monstrosity that had appeared just a couple of streets away from the town hall. However, when that two-storey monstrosity was in the way when soldiers wanted to get through in the afternoon in better weather, and when those soldiers assumed that the shiny exterior panels were armoured (which they more or less were) and that this thing blocking their way had to be some kind of war weapon the communists had cooked up, it did. The gunfire was what alerted the Attayear’s remaining occupants to it. Running on autopilot, Jinsu went down to the main deck to see if Minseok was back and knew what was going on.
What she found was a frantic Baekhyun backed up against the main motherboard and hemmed in by Minhwan, Seungho and Jisung, Junho hovering just behind. Minhwan’s fists were in Baekhyun’s collar, and Baekhyun looked distinctly uncomfortable.
“They have tanks facing us and think we’re some kind of Soviet war weapon!” Minhwan snarled just as Jinsu entered. “Get us out of here!”
Baekhyun shook his head frantically. “We’re all going back together. Minseok hyung will sort it out when he gets back.”
“He might not get back,” Junho said bitterly. “Have you seen how many soldiers there are in this street alone, Byun?
“We can’t all go back together if we’re dead,” Jisung added.
“Nobody here knows how to fly this d*mn machine!” Baekhyun cried. “We’re missing our chief engineer and our chief computer technician – we can’t go anywhere without them anyway!”
“And whose fault is that?” Minhwan retorted at once. “Your family caused this mess, Byun, so you’d better sort it out. Isn’t nine lives on your hands enough without adding to that?”
Baekhyun gave him a hate-filled glare, and Jinsu could have sworn his eyes were filled with tears.
“ing useless,” Minhwan scoffed, shoving him back into the motherboard and stalking off, the other three trailing after him. Baekhyun threw out his hands to catch himself, staggering as he tried to regain his balance. The single remaining engine responded to whichever buttons and dials Baekhyun accidentally moved, sounding lonely and forlorn.
It was Baekhyun’s sudden look of horror that stopped her from crossing the room and made the lightbulb go on as to what was happening. As bright light grew around them and they headed into the Dive, the only th
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