The rear hatch was closing, increasing the muted alarm of the people. It was a relief that this reduced the amount of chill air flowing in. Riina felt the heat come on and let her faceplate go back.
With some caution, the group began to follow suit, taking tentative breaths.
The door to the cockpit slid back, revealing Lt. Dish in the opening. With some amusement, Riina noted the male spines straightening at the sight of her.
“Can I help?”
“Please,” Riina said. She moved toward the end of the left row and was helping two people get strapped in when it happened.
A seismic disturbance rocked the shuttle. She staggered and felt herself gripped by Tim, her face pressed into his chest.
“Lifting off,” Trac said tersely over the comm. “Hang on if you aren’t strapped in.”
Riina couldn’t see who was and who wasn’t secured. Tim’s arms tightened around her as the shuttle lifted off and accelerated forward.
How did he manage to brace himself? she wondered. She lifted her chin and caught him looking down at her, a look in his eyes that made her heart speed up.
“Riina.” His voice was hoarse.
“Incoming,” Trac called, over the comm and through the still open hatch.
The shuttle banked sharply. And this time it tumbled them—and everyone not secured—to the floor.
14
Tim twisted his body, so that Rinna fell on him and not on the metal flooring or on any of the others tumbling around them.
The lights flickered and he registered another side swipe singe them by whatever it was the entity was firing on the planet. The shuttle rocked, causing more of their passengers to emit cries of distress.
One arm around Riina, he grabbed the arm of someone sliding by him and stopped their movement.
He couldn’t tell if Lt. Dish was okay, but when the lighting steadied, he saw her sitting on the lap of a man who did not look sorry to find her there.
Dr. Walker had a grip on the one he called Lira. Tim tipped his head to the side. The grip was what he’d call one of intent. And the look in their eyes also indicated intent.
He looked back at Riina, wondering if his gaze betrayed intent? He felt it. But did she feel the same intent for him? He met her gaze and his brain stalled. He hated to assume too much, but it rather looked like…intent.
The shuttle rocked from side to side again.
“We need to get people secured before someone gets seriously hurt,” Riina said.
He told himself he heard regret in her tone and saw it filter into her gaze when he released her. He shifted her to the side, got up, and helped her up. They both turned to the task of helping their passengers get into seats and strapped down. Tim noted that Harold, who hadn’t been tumbled in any direction, was also lifting people into seats and securing straps with detached efficiency.
Having been a robot himself, he wondered what Harold thought about all of this. But this was not the time to get a report from it.
Rinna directed Lt. Dish to get the first aid kit and then he suggested—also with intent—that both females return to the cockpit and strap in. He would finish up here.
Drun rose up in his face. If he’d been strapped in, he’d figured out how to get loose. Now he rocked with the shuttle’s movement, grasping an overhead handle.
“I wish to monitor our progress,” he stated with belligerence.
Tim nodded and pointed him toward the cockpit, then knelt in front of a woman who’d cut her head. He extracted materials to help. The woman next to her assisted him.
Their curious gazes made him uncomfortable, and he finally said, “What were you doing out here?”
They both looked surprised. “We came to meet aliens.”
“Really?” He twisted to look at Dr. Walker. He’d understood from the briefing that no one knew they were coming except Dr. Walker, Lira and her father.
