makes sense. “Okay, I’m guarding Vel.”
More like the other way around, but the bounty hunter is kind enough not to say it aloud. The automated system has opened the doors into the station for us, but I can’t see beyond a turn in the dark corridor. A wisp of something brushes my face, like a spiderweb, but when I turn I can’t see anything. Maybe it’s nerves.
Nobody speaks as we push onward. All my aches and pains fade to a low hum. The instincts that have kept me alive for thirty-three years kick to the fore, leaving me clearheaded and alert. I feel Vel at my back, like he’s my mantid guardian. Shit, he might be for all I know.
In my right hand, I feel sweat forming around the shockstick. The air doesn’t smell right as we move deeper, following the external corridors toward the inner reaches of the station. The security doors are all stuck wide open.
Yeah, something’s definitely wrong.
As we come into the commissary, I see the place has been ransacked. Crates and barrels torn open, but the supplies have been left behind. What the hell were they looking for? Chem? Contraband? Anyone with half a brain knows you aren’t going to find that on an emergency station. Smugglers avoid these places like the plague.
Here, you can fuel up and buy paste, maybe some organic for the kitchen-mate if they’ve stocked up recently. You can also find basic medical assistance. And that’s all a station like this offers.
Sweet. Something smells sweet and raw. Almost like a butcher shop gone bad.
Overhead, the lights flicker and go out.
Wordlessly, Vel produces a torch-tube from his pack. Ever prepared, he is. When he bends it, the chemicals mix and emit an eerie yellow-green glow. The silence is starting to get to me. I can hear the hum of distant machinery, but no human movements, no voices echoing.
Just silence. Darkness.
Vel raises his light just as I step into a puddle of something dark and sticky. Blood. Oh Mary, it’s like being trapped on the Sargasso , but without the overlying stench of burnt meat.
I feel March curl his hand around my shoulder, reassuring me. “Did anyone else bring light?”
Like a stupid newb, I have to shake my head. Apart from the shockstick I didn’t bring a damn thing. Sweat rolls down my spine, pools in the small of my back. My jumpsuit sticks to me, and I’m sure I stink of fear.
You’ll be fine. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. His presence fills my head, pushes back the panic. Maybe they’re empty promises, but March has never let me down.
Jael has been oddly silent, so he startles me when he finally speaks. “I’ve been through something like this before,” he says, as if he doesn’t want his voice to carry.
I still don’t hear anything. It’s as if we’re being hunted, unseen predators creeping closer while we wheel blindly in the dark. At this moment I’d sell my soul for a pair of night-vision goggles.
“What happened?” March asks. “Where?”
The guy just shakes his head. “I don’t want to upset anyone.” I glare, not that he can see me. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out he means me. Before I can tell him off, he continues, “If I’m wrong, then there’s no need for me to talk about it.” His voice grows taut. “And if I’m right, then Mary help us all.”
----
CHAPTER 16
From behind, l hear the sound of the inner docking doors clanging closed. Now we’re effectively separated from the others until we find a way to get them opened. Divide and conquer. It’s the oldest trick in the book, but we couldn’t have taken a new mother and her child with us to explore the station.
Our fate hangs on Dina’s preventing Surge and Kora from stranding us here. I have a lot of faith in our mechanic, but we may have stuck her with an impossible task. They have a pilot and a jumper on board, but I hope they won’t want to risk scrambling their daughter’s brains.
Transport companies won’t have
More like the other way around, but the bounty hunter is kind enough not to say it aloud. The automated system has opened the doors into the station for us, but I can’t see beyond a turn in the dark corridor. A wisp of something brushes my face, like a spiderweb, but when I turn I can’t see anything. Maybe it’s nerves.
Nobody speaks as we push onward. All my aches and pains fade to a low hum. The instincts that have kept me alive for thirty-three years kick to the fore, leaving me clearheaded and alert. I feel Vel at my back, like he’s my mantid guardian. Shit, he might be for all I know.
In my right hand, I feel sweat forming around the shockstick. The air doesn’t smell right as we move deeper, following the external corridors toward the inner reaches of the station. The security doors are all stuck wide open.
Yeah, something’s definitely wrong.
As we come into the commissary, I see the place has been ransacked. Crates and barrels torn open, but the supplies have been left behind. What the hell were they looking for? Chem? Contraband? Anyone with half a brain knows you aren’t going to find that on an emergency station. Smugglers avoid these places like the plague.
Here, you can fuel up and buy paste, maybe some organic for the kitchen-mate if they’ve stocked up recently. You can also find basic medical assistance. And that’s all a station like this offers.
Sweet. Something smells sweet and raw. Almost like a butcher shop gone bad.
Overhead, the lights flicker and go out.
Wordlessly, Vel produces a torch-tube from his pack. Ever prepared, he is. When he bends it, the chemicals mix and emit an eerie yellow-green glow. The silence is starting to get to me. I can hear the hum of distant machinery, but no human movements, no voices echoing.
Just silence. Darkness.
Vel raises his light just as I step into a puddle of something dark and sticky. Blood. Oh Mary, it’s like being trapped on the Sargasso , but without the overlying stench of burnt meat.
I feel March curl his hand around my shoulder, reassuring me. “Did anyone else bring light?”
Like a stupid newb, I have to shake my head. Apart from the shockstick I didn’t bring a damn thing. Sweat rolls down my spine, pools in the small of my back. My jumpsuit sticks to me, and I’m sure I stink of fear.
You’ll be fine. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. His presence fills my head, pushes back the panic. Maybe they’re empty promises, but March has never let me down.
Jael has been oddly silent, so he startles me when he finally speaks. “I’ve been through something like this before,” he says, as if he doesn’t want his voice to carry.
I still don’t hear anything. It’s as if we’re being hunted, unseen predators creeping closer while we wheel blindly in the dark. At this moment I’d sell my soul for a pair of night-vision goggles.
“What happened?” March asks. “Where?”
The guy just shakes his head. “I don’t want to upset anyone.” I glare, not that he can see me. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out he means me. Before I can tell him off, he continues, “If I’m wrong, then there’s no need for me to talk about it.” His voice grows taut. “And if I’m right, then Mary help us all.”
----
CHAPTER 16
From behind, l hear the sound of the inner docking doors clanging closed. Now we’re effectively separated from the others until we find a way to get them opened. Divide and conquer. It’s the oldest trick in the book, but we couldn’t have taken a new mother and her child with us to explore the station.
Our fate hangs on Dina’s preventing Surge and Kora from stranding us here. I have a lot of faith in our mechanic, but we may have stuck her with an impossible task. They have a pilot and a jumper on board, but I hope they won’t want to risk scrambling their daughter’s brains.
Transport companies won’t have
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