AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My blood turned cold.
The stepladder clattered behind me as I raced for the door. I shouldered it open and stepped on a piece of broken crockery.
The ceramic shards lay scattered, powder drizzling as if it were raining. But none of that caught my attention.
Maisie lay on the floor, unmoving, curled into a tiny ball, a fist pressed tightly to her chest. She lay still.
Too still.
“Maisie?” I said, dropping to my knees beside her. “Maisie?”
I clicked my fingers and poked her gently. She didn’t respond. I pressed my fingers to her throat and felt for her pulse.
There wasn’t one.
4
NIGHTEKO
I placed the white sheet over Maisie’s delicate face. All her warmth had drained, turning her skin dull gray.
In my culture, we left the deceased’s eyes open so they could forever watch the stars circling above. This was not the human custom. Alice insisted on closing Maisie’s eyes. It made her look like she was asleep and hadn’t left this world.
The crew looked somber, their hands clasping their hats before them. I nodded, and they stepped forward to pick her tiny body up before gently placing her inside the escape pod located in the engine bay, in an object Alice called a coffin.
Save for Stryder, who stood at my shoulder, my entire crew was inside the escape pod. I felt a sudden spike of adrenaline at the idea of slamming my fist on the controls and locking them inside and hitting the launch button. Then, my mutinous crew problem would be solved.
Except I would still have to recruit a new team. And they would want the same thing, the thing I could never bring myself to provide them…
The tension in my shoulders eased as the crew stepped from the pod.
After the initial shock of learning Maisie had died, I felt certain she would have wanted a traditional human funeral. She’d always been old fashioned like that. Then I realized I knew next to nothing about human death ceremonies. Thankfully, Alice took over the arrangements.
I was about to step forward with Maisie’s worn mop and bucket when Alice placed a hand on my arm. She did it so the whole crew noticed. Then she took the items off me and placed them in the coffin with Maisie. I knew she would have wanted to take them with her. It wasn’t like any of us would use them.
I was supposed to be badly affected by the sickness. I was supposed to look weak so when the Challenge came tomorrow, I could play against my crew’s expectations and defeat them. But it sure wasn’t easy. A Titan was supposed to be strong at all times. Allowing myself to appear weak didn’t come naturally. It could mean the difference between life and death. Here, among my mutinous crew, it was weakness that would ultimately prove my strength.
Alice leaned forward to kiss Maisie on the cheek before stepping back. She returned to my side and placed her hand on my arm. I liked the feel of it there.
Maisie had died from something called a ‘heart attack.’ It was common enough among humans. Either they were born with a heart defect or they became too old for their heart to continue pumping. It was a tragic way to die.
Stryder moved to the controls and looked at me to give the order. I stared at Maisie in the pod. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let her go. Maisie had never been anything but kind to us all. She took care of us when we were sick, fed us when we were hungry. She cleaned up after us.
How would we cope without her?
Alice’s face was pale and she couldn’t watch. I felt the urge to wrap my arms around her, but to show emotions was a weakness my race didn’t tolerate. It wasn’t the kind of weakness I should present to the crew either.
Alice squeezed my arm, giving me the courage I needed to nod.
Stryder pressed the button and the doors slid shut. He pressed the button again, and the pod ejected Maisie into outer space. She would sail among the stars for an eternity. She was likely to outlive us all.
It was little consolation. I would still miss her more than my heart could stand.
After Maisie’s funeral, I stood at the window in my quarters, looking out over the vista of planet Tordal, my homeworld. I had many memories of it, and not many I wanted to keep. I shook my head of them and focused on more important things.
It was only when your health was threatened that you truly appreciated it. For the first time in weeks, I could think clearly and move without agonizing pain. The whole time Maisie thought she was helping me recover, she was unknowingly bringing my doom. Her meals were so delicious, it was almost worth the pain.
I could discuss money and strategy matters with Stryder but Maisie was the crew’s heart. For the longest time, she was the only person I could speak honestly with on all subjects.
