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He nods, his eyes still glued to the screen. “Agreed.”
?????
We remain where we are until the suns rise. I doze. I don’t know if Ryle gets any sleep at all, but he needs less than I do. We part ways so he can collect what he needs, and so I can fetch some supplies of my own and finally confront Faith with what I’ve found.
She’s just rising herself in the bridge, sipping from a pouch of coffee. I wonder briefly what our supplies are like. We shouldn’t be concerned yet, but, there will come a day...
That’s a problem for later.
“Faith?”
She waves me in. The bridge is a mess. There’s a crumpled pile of sleeping bags on the floor in the furthest corner. The space is littered with discarded water and ration pouches. And the viewscreens and panels are in shambles. Motherboards dangle from both pilot’s station, cables and wires hang from the ceiling. Everywhere I look, some panel is pried open, and some gauge is blinking warnings.
“It’s a disaster,” she confirms when she sees my face. “So many parts just burnt out. We’ve got the ship’s main computer online, though, so that’s a huge help. It can tell us what’s wrong.” She takes another sip from her straw, swallows hard, her eyes glassy. “What’s wrong is everything, though.”
“And I’m not showing up with good news,” I say with a grimace.
She closes her eyes and sighs heavily. “What is it?”
I give her the shortest version that I can - I strongly suspect that there’s a massive storm coming, full of rain and floods and a tornado - or more - and that we have to abandon the campsite and get inside the caves before it strikes.
“Macie.” She says my name like I’m an unruly kindergartner. “I think you’re overwhelmed. You found some scary drawings, that’s all. Look at the sky. We’re fine.”
“It’s fifteen days away,” I say. “And the weather can change very quickly. We’ve already seen it happen.”
She runs a hand over her eyes. “You’d have us abandon the ship on your interpretation of this... ancient comic?”
“Let my team investigate more. We’ll go down to the caves, see what else we can find.”
“You don’t see how busy we are? It’s all hands on deck, here, Macie.” As if on cue, a deep rumbling makes the floor vibrate beneath our feet. “That’s the bulldozer. We’re clearing a path to the engine. Starting today. I can’t spare the hands.”
“Just me, then. You won’t miss me at all. I’m a nerd with weak arms.”
She considers this for a moment. More than anything, I think she’ll be glad to just shut me up. “Don’t tell anyone else,” she says. “I don’t want to start a panic. Understand?”
“Yes. Of course.”
She sighs again. “Take that alien buddy of yours. We can’t lose you. No more deaths.”
“No more. Promise.”
