Rogue by Alex Schuler

Author:Alex Schuler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-06T10:18:41+00:00

chapter 18

Jonah lost himself in the ship’s labyrinth. No matter how much time he and his crew spent looking, the twisting metal halls only grew larger around them. At moments he lost focus on what direction was up, simply following the ship’s shifting gravity until he entered a room where the floor curved away.

Soon, he found himself in a massive spherical room, about the size of a basketball court, plus seating, with a series of concentric rings set into the ceiling. He’d passed by it before but could never figure out what it was for. This time, a catwalk had appeared over the concave depression that filled most of the center of the room, spanning the diameter with a ring section in the middle.

He stepped forward and grabbed the railing. Cold, like everything else on the ship. He pulled his hand away, leaving a red smear. Rivera’s blood. He should’ve stopped to wash it off, but his mind spun at a million miles an hour. He wiped his hands on his shirt, again without thinking, and groaned.

He wandered to the middle of the walkway and leaned over the side, letting his mind drift. Something had struck the bottom of the dome far below, leaving a messy smudge and a collection of metallic shards. Some of those pieces had made it onto the walkway, even though it was fifty feet up.

Something had been blown apart. Pure, kinetic energy tearing through matter. He’d seen buildings the same way. He’d seen people the same way.

Damn. Why am I thinking this now?

It’d been years since he’d remembered his time as a war reporter. The journalist’s life was far behind him. It needed to stay there. He took in deep, lung-filling-to-bursting breaths until his mind turned dark again, and time drifted away.

Soft thumps padded down the walkway, and he saw Cora approaching, her arms tucked behind her back like she was trying to act casual. All that wandering, and he still got found quickly.

“Is Rivera okay?” Jonah asked.

Cora stopped partially across the walkway. “He was laughing about it. Couldn’t be that bad.”

“I’d never done something like before. But that man, he’s so . . .” He squeezed his fist until his fingers ached, the drying blood flaking off the skin. A towel landed on his head as Cora passed behind him.

“So that was something.” She leaned her back on the railing.

“You should go.” The towel scratched against Jonah’s skin as he dabbed at the blood, leaving behind red stains in the creases of his palm and around his fingernails.

“You’re not a bad person,” Cora said.

“I just slammed a guy’s head against a wall.” Jonah looked around for a place to dispose of the towel. Finding nothing, he tossed it to the ground.

“At least you feel bad about it.”

“Is that the bar we’re setting now?”

“Come on. I saw you swim like Aquaman to help Kiki.”

“She’s a kid in a wheelchair. Anyone would do the same.”

Cora curled her upper lip. “You’d be surprised.”

Sounds like there are worse sharks in the boardroom.

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