The Doomsday Ship

By: John Whitman
Published by Bantam Books
June 1998

Bug swarms, space slugs, brains on legs, mad Imperial scientists--Zak has had enough! He's glad to be on board the luxury space yacht Star of the Empire, where at last there's peace and quiet . . .
Until--"Abandon ship! Critical meltdown!" As a blaring siren sounds, panic stricken passengers rush to get off the ship.
Everyone evacuates . . . everyone except Zak and Tash.
But to their relief, nothing happens. There's no meltdown, no explosion. Everything is fine.
Except that the ship's exits are sealed and all communications have been shut down. Zak and Tash are trapped.
And they are not alone.

Excerpt

Trapped!

    Tash and Zak started toward the docking bay at a run, their footsteps echoing loudly in the empty hallways. But they had only gone a hundred meters down the hall when Zak suddenly slowed to walk . . . and then started walking on tiptoe.
    Tash slowed down beside him. "What are you doing?"
    "I just thought of something," he said in a hushed voice. "If someone sabotaged the ship, they did it for a reason." He wanted to add,"They might still be on board."
    But he never got the chance.
    A strong hand reached down from behind and clamped down over his mouth.