AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She paced her cell, looking for weaknesses in earnest. If she’d been Ternetzi, she could use her body like a tool. Shove her fist in the right hole and short out some wires, launch the door open, and give herself freedom. But she didn’t have those options. She had a tablet. Some clothes. A half-eaten box of nutrient paste.
Astyanax’s cell was wired a little more securely than hers. They studied one another. One of them had to get out, but she wasn’t sure what he’d do if he was the first to escape.
She stared at the door, pressing her hands to the glass as she tried calling out.
“Caligher?”
Hair-raising silence.
“Cal?”
Nothing.
“What do we do?” she whispered.
“We find a way out,” Astyanax said. “Or we die.”
* * *
She blotted out hours from her mind and they slowly turned into an eternity of days. There was water on tap, but there was no food. The uncertainty of what had happened to Caligher drove her out of her mind.
The delirium of starvation wrapped around her, and there were moments when she stopped feeling the hunger pangs. Where she was simply giddy and weak and warm.
The pirate remained enraged the entire time. He loathed Caligher. Hated her for falling for Caligher.
Out of the blue, something changed. The pressure of the ship shifted and she knew something big was about to happen. But she was fading and miserable and she barely reacted.
Astyanax’s voice was thick with contempt when he spoke.
“Good news, human. Your mothership found us.”
She blinked, emerging from a daze. “Really?”
“It’s towing us in.”
Her scattered synapses collected for the briefest of moments, long enough to wonder what would happen to Caligher. He couldn’t be dead. He wouldn’t have jumped off the ship and abandoned them.
What happened?
Her heart ached like a knife had been pushed through her sternum and slowly twisted. This waiting, this sense of helplessness, was agonizing. It felt like nothing would ever be okay, and it was enough to make her break down and beg for mercy from the cold universe.
“How do we stop that ship?” the pirate asked.
It took her a few moments to realize he was talking to her. “Hm?”
“You intended to shut it down. What was your plan?” When she paused, his tone grew biting. “Tell me, human. Tell me or I’ll tell your human captains all the wonderfully creative ways you’ve betrayed them.”
That barely frightened her. She was dead certain they would figure it out. What frightened her was never finding out what had happened to Caligher—or watching them drag him away.
“I planned to go after the weapons. Will you help me with that?” she asked.
“If it’s possible. I expect I’ll be moved from this cell to another. How exciting,” he said flatly.
She withdrew her tablet, rallying for her brain to work even without carbs, and explained the structure and weaknesses of the warship. Her voice floated beyond reality.
After a few minutes, he said, “We’re close to the big ship now.” Cold, numb terror filled her veins, helpless and prolonged. She shivered, but she was practically dead inside. “You love your bounty hunter?”
“Yes…”
