AllFreeNovel
Share Us
9
We didn't haveto wait long. Four or five minutes after we came to a stop, the other pod drew up alongside us.
"Oh look, roadside assist is here," I muttered. Yeah, people still drove cars on Earth, but the joke went over J'avet's head.
Brinley looked too anxious to even smile. "I think it's more like carjacking," she said.
"Right." I grimaced. "We packed blasters, didn't we?"
"Yes, but you won't be using one," J'avet said. "You'll shoot off your own foot. Or mine."
"Hey, I've used blasters before, and we're both still intact." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Actually it was you who almost shot off my foot."
He looked back at me, face entirely expressionless. He didn't even look slightly apologetic.
I guess we were fighting for our lives at the time. Better I lose a foot than my life, although neither was ideal.
"You and Brinley will go to the bunk room, out of the way," he said. "E'rel and I will deal with the Iri."
I wanted to protest. I could kick ass too. Had I not proven that several times already?
On the other hand, I knew that look on his face. He wasn't going to give even half a hair’s width.
Forget stubborn as a mule. Stubborn as a Parvoran; they're much worse. I had a feeling E'rel was just as bad.
"Fine," I said reluctantly. Only because the metallic clang of clamps attaching one pod to another echoed and sent chills up and down my spine.
The Iri would be through the door in moments.
I followed Brinley into the bunk room, but we left the door open. Honestly, I wasn't sure it would close, unless it had a manual setting somewhere I didn't know about. Now was not the time to go searching.
The pod's lights blinked and the air got heavier.
I was no engineer, but I had a feeling the Iri hit more than the fuel tank.
"I'm starting to think we weren't supposed to reach Agus," I whispered. It felt like a lifetime since I boarded the shuttle on Earth. I was scared then, but the trip should have been simple and straightforward. A hop to Moon Station, a trip on Infinity for a couple of weeks, get off at Agus.
No fuss, no muss. Instead, it was nonstop fuss and a lot of muss.
"We'll get there," Brinley assured me. "Although, by the time we do, we might be the ones doing the teaching. We've done quite a bit of on the job training." Her English accent sounded stronger now, with her anxiety.
I gave her a wry smile. "You're not wrong there, mate." I accentuated my Australian accent.
She smiled in return, then we both ducked down and watched as the pod door started to glow.
E'rel grabbed a device from his box of Slek-tech and tossed it to J'avet. He picked up one of his own and a blaster.
With straight backs, both guys faced the door, blaster in one hand, device in the other.
"What is that?" I asked.
"I'm not sure," Brinley replied. "But they're both hot fully armed like that."
I grinned. As it happens, she was right. Maybe now wasn't the time for those kinds of thoughts, but they came in my head, um, into my head, anyway.
The door glowed brighter.
I squinted.
