They weren't leaving. I don't know what my voice sounded like, but it made Ian give me a very odd look. The alarms sounded again before I figured out how to hit a man who's hiding behind a defenseless infant. It's a lot easier going into a freefall chamber than it is going out of one. I can do it gracefully when it matters, but when I'm in a hurry I don't worry much about appearances.
People have different ways of doing it.
For me, the quickest is a curled-up dive, elbows, knees, and head tucked in, so that when I enter the gravity field I have plenty of forward momentum to roll onto my feet and come up running. I did it that way, and got to the control chamber in time to see another flat black shuttle hurtle like a broad-winged shadow across the glittering starfield, swooping in for the kill. The first lasers hit us before I could reach the weapons panel. Reproduction and distribution specifically prohibited. All rights reserved.