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9
"What the—"The deck slanted and I was thrown painfully against the rail. Tears of pain sprang to my eyes. I blinked and cleared them as the bucket and lights slid through a gap and were gone.
We were plunged into darkness.
Slek said something which sounded like, "Not again," and grunted. He reached for my hands and pulled me to him. His arms went around me and he held me while the ship canted the other way.
"Fuck." I gasped as we hit the wall, although he shielded me from the worst of the impact. "Your bones are still—"
"I'm fine. We need to get out of here."
An alarm sounded once, twice. A voice thundered out speakers a metre or two overhead.
"All personnel and passengers, make your way to the pod bay, immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat, make your way to the pod bay and prepare to evacuate the ship. This is not a drill."
"Getting out of here is a good idea," I said. Blood slammed through my ears, which rang from the volume of the warning. The silence which followed was almost as loud.
"Yeah." Slek grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.
I turned the light on my watch and he did the same with his.
"Don't let go," he said.
He didn't need to tell me twice. Truthfully I wasn't sure I could release my grip on him if I wanted to. The warmth of his skin helped keep my fear at bay.
He tugged me back toward the hatch which led out of the engine room. Thank goodness we didn't have to climb a ladder to get down, although the hatch was small. Designed only for maintenance and not regular traffic, we both had to duck while we stepped over the threshold. My heart hammered all the way, sure that with one more cant in the wrong direction, we'd be flung off the railing and into the engine.
We stepped out of the hatch and into the chaos of confused passengers and ship personnel.
"It must be bad if they aren't calling for you to fix it," I said, breathless with fear and adrenaline.
"All the more reason we should hurry." He pulled me between two dazed looking Centaurians, who seemed to have been woken from a deep sleep by the alarm.
"Brinley," I said quickly. "And Danec. What if they're asleep?" I couldn't leave them.
The alarm sounded again, even louder out here than in the engine room.
I winced at the noise. "On second thought, I doubt they would sleep through that." Still, I scanned the corridor ahead for a sign of either of them.
"Slek," I said after a few moments.
"Yes, Edie?"
My tongue darted over my lips. "Please tell me there's enough pods for everyone."
The woman in front of me turned and gave me a horrified look before she hurried on.
"More than enough," Slek assured me. "Frey-T learnt that lesson after the first ship needed to be evacuated."
"Was it called Titanic?" I asked ironically.
He gave me a funny look. "No. Dreevam, after our first president."
"Ah. Ow." A man from Agus stepped on my toe in his attempt to push past us. "We'll all get there."
No sooner had I said that than the ship rocked again. We were thrown against each other, and the wall.
Someone screamed and I realised it was me.
