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Patrick’s voice was metallic. “You’re the one who wanted to go to space so bad. You threw it all away forthis.”
PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR.
Her tears poured down her cheeks because she didn’t want to die! She did NOT want to fall into that icy black pit. Nothing had ever been so certain to her. And she didn’t want to feel her insides bulging out and breaking. Or the agonizing struggle she wouldn’t be able to stop her body from doing.
Like drowning in ice water at night, but so very much worse. Because at least water didn’t physically destroy a person as it put them to sleep.
Her dead crewmates slammed into her thoughts. The way they’d fought to live as she’d watched them asphyxiate. That was going to happen to her.
It would be a bad death. And she couldn’t stop it from coming.
Lucca woke up.
CHAPTER5
CALIGHER
“Runs too hot,” Morwong grunted.
Wingless was propped up like a prize in his garage. Every hatch was cranked open, every system penetrated by wires and probes, and the merchant circled it with a metal prod in hand, eyes wild with lust for the ship.
He poked at it and something sizzled. Then he muttered, “Need another few days for that.”
It was utterly demoralizing.
Caligher’s tail started whumping on things. Morwong shot him a sharp look. “Don’t get sassy with me. You did this to yourself.”
Caligher stopped his tail-thumping only to cross his arms over his chest. He watched Morwong prod the signal lights until they fluttered.
“Hmmmmm…”
“That’s cosmetic,” Caligher dismissed. Hewasbeing patient.
“Caligher, I could give you this prod and a sheet of steel and there would be little difference between this andthat.” He shook his stick and thought he was making a point. Then he frowned, eyeing his tablet. “I’ll need a five-moon month to get it running—”
“A what?!” Caligher sputtered.
Caligher’s skin prickled with an unpleasant tightness, with the uncomfortable sense of the walls closing in. His eyes flew to the open mouth of the garage and he debated making a run for it.
He didn’t immediately freak out. Not outwardly. “I can’t wait a month,” he said as calmly as he could muster.
“You’ll have to cope,” snapped Morwong.
Fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck—Fuck that.No. Absolutely not.
“The pirate,” Caligher gasped. He didn’t manage to complete his sentence—he’d lost his breath and was about to keel over. Morwong watched him grip the hull of another ship hard enough to warp the metal. “He could—hurt so many people.”
Morwong’s eyes were penetrating. “If the two of you couldn’t take him on, youneeda better plan. Flying off on a broken ship is how you lose not only your life—buthers.”
Something could have happened to Lucca, but still…
“It’s eating at me.”
“I know that,” Morwong said more sympathetically. “But it’ll eat at you forever if your recklessness gets her killed. And it’ll pissmeoff if I find out a pirate turned you into gelatin.” He hardened his expression. “Take a real break. For the love of all the damn stars, I’m begging you to stop and heal.”
Caligher deflated, sensing it was a losing battle. How was he supposed to last a month in this place? He shut his eyes and nightmare-images flashed in negatives behind his lids. Featureless walls, white and bright and sterile.
