I pull the tablet out of my boobs, tapping the glass screen, which is covered in sweat. I valiantly choose to ignore that, because we have bigger problems.
A female voice crackles through the speaker, tinny and garbled. “The old hangar doors are forced open on level three. We bypassed the lock mechanism from orbit. We have a fleet waiting. According to the station blueprints, there is an old transport shuttle sitting in bay four. You have exactly three minutes before the automated backup power kicks in and seals it off again."
Pol grabs Selene by the waist, and Ty-Rok scoops up Lucy like a sack of potatoes. The ground panels are peeling back, revealing the actual metal structure of the satellite.
"The emergency shuttles are down the starboard corridor," Pol yells over the sirens, his tattoos flashing under the red backup lights. "I recognize this space station model. I had a job on one like this, years ago.”
"Get us the fuck out of here," I yell back, Vael tossing me over his shoulder unceremoniously.
We’re a ridiculous parade of three winged aliens carrying three filthy humans.
We scramble into the hangar just as the artificial gravity begins to sputter. I begin to float off Vael’s shoulder, and his wings pump behind him, momentum driving us forward.
Pol slams his hand into the manual override of a blocky escape shuttle.
Lucy is crying, and I can’t tell if she’s scared or relieved, but I’m still too frozen with fear Ken’s going to appear again to do anything but let Vael manhandle me.
The hatch seals behind us with a pneumatic hiss, and Vael clamps me down into a bulky metal chair.
"Hold on, my love," Vael growls, locking the harness over my shoulders.
My love. He hasn’t called me that before, and I blink up at him. He settles in the chair next to me, his big red wings at an awkward angle as he tries to strap himself in.
Pol and Selene are in the cockpit, Ty-Rok holding Lucy as she continues to cry, a soft mewling sound that reminds me just how badly I’ve fucked up. Another glance at Selene and Pol show that the two of them do know what the fuck they’re doing, and I let myself have a kernel of hope.
I reach my hand out, Vael’s closing over mine.
The automated launch sequence hits, the pod plunging into darkness, lights flashing all along the flight panels. The engines roar, the hangar doors blow open, and we rocket out of the hellish space station straight into the void.
I think I preferred the tequila-drenched version of my first space voyage to this.
CHAPTER 33
POPPY
The minutewe pop into orbit, a Suevan ship tractor beams us in, and then we somehow warp back to their planet before I have time to wrap my head around the fact we’re safe.
I have a feeling that’s going to take a long time to catch up.
Suevan tech, it turns out, is way better than anything we have on Earth.
When the heavy hatch of our shuttle finally slides open, it doesn't reveal a sterile white room or a digital camera drone.
It reveals sunlight, crashing through the larger doors of the Suevan ship.
Real golden sunlight warms my face and smells of fresh, sweet grass and damp rain-soaked earth.
"Poppy!" A familiar, breathless voice screams my name from the edge of an emerald-green meadow.
I stumble out of the shuttle, my bare feet sinking into the cool soil of Sueva. Standing at the perimeter of a beautiful settlement is Ellison. Beside her, a green alien holds her waist, a look of relief on his handsome face.
And love. He’s looking at her like she hung the moon.
Running right behind them, her bob swinging around her chin is Lily, with Zan at her side like a protective purple shadow.
"Ellison! Lily!"
I run across the grass. We collide in a tangle of human limbs and laughter, dropping directly into the grass.
