Perhaps the fact that Elaine had been crouched behind Guybrush's seat saved her life. The pulse laser had punched through the viewscreen a foot above Guybrush's head, spreading slightly as it did so, and hit the metal wall behind them near the ceiling. The slightly dusty air diffused the laser beam, illuminating the entire room with faint red light.
"What-" said Wally.
The laser beam started to move down. Slowly it descended on Guybrush's head like a flaming electric guillotine. Guybrush screamed and scrambled out of his seat, flinging himsef against the wall on Wally's side of the cockpit. Elaine rolled over beside him.
"Keep flying straight toward the laser!" shouted Guybrush.
"We can't!" shouted Wally. "It'll blow us up if-"
The room was filling with thick toxic-smelling smoke. The wall on the far side of the viewscreen had a vertical, molten slit in it. Metal dripped on the floor. How far had the laser penetrated into the ship?
"It's on continuous beam!" shouted Guybrush. "If we move off course it'll slice us up!"
Wally swallowed, and moved the flight yoke slightly. The laser halted its downward course a few millimetres above the top of Guybrush's seat.
Guybrush saw Elaine looking at him. "Just trust me," he said. "We haven't got any choice."
"Well, we better get another one soon," said Wally above them. "Because we're gonna hit that asteroid in about fifteen seconds."
"Change direction!" said Elaine sharply. "If we're fast enough-"
Guybrush cut her off. "It'll track our path and destroy us. There's no evasive action possible against-"
"Then how can we-"
"You're-"
Suddenly the idea hit him. If he'd been standing he would have fallen over. "THE PORTAL STONES!!" he bellowed.
No time to calibrate direction. Wally stabbed their rigged-up transportation button.
The asteroid got closer. Wally remembered the two second delay it took to get the portal stones warmed up. The next two seconds were the longest of his life. He could only sit there and watch as the asteroid blew up in their faces.
They transported.
Guybrush and Elaine picked themselves up off the floor. The smoke in the
cockpit was beginning to disperse. The air wasn't noticably thinner. They'd
survived.
"How'd you know what to do?" asked Elaine.
"I've had experience with those kinds of defense systems before," said Guybrush. He looked grimly at her. "Upchuck uses them."
Nobody said anything to that. "It looks like we've got ourselves a competitor," said Guybrush.
"I'm tired," said Wally suddenly. He stood up, and his face looked drained. "See you all later." He left the cockpit without another word.
"What's with him?" asked Elaine.
"Well, it has been a long day," said Guybrush.
He stepped forward and looked at the viewscreen. No doubt about it, it was just pure luck they were still alive. Although there was more to it than that...
Elaine stepped up beside him. "I just realised," she said. "This viewscreen is just glass, isn't it?"
"Yeah," said Guybrush. "Boss Hog is probably only one of about ten fighters that still has a glass viewscreen. Everyone else is on computer display. Plus this particular viewscreen is really old and distorted: that's what diffused the laser beam. If it hadn't, the pulse laser would have blasted clean out the other side of the ship."
Guybrush suddenly felt a flash of love for his ship. She'd survived an attack that would have destroyed any other pirate ship. He sat down in his chair and took the controls.
He paused.
Suddenly he realised he didn't have a clue where they were, or where they should go. His arms were shaking from the adrenaline, and he realised he, too, was very tired.
He stood up. "I think it might be a good idea if you flew for a bit," he said to Elaine. "I need a rest."
Elaine looked strangely at him, but took the seat gladly enough. Their near miss had got her blood pumping. "Where do you want us to go?" she asked.
Guybrush paused in the doorway. "Eh, anywhere," he said.