Shadows in the Snow (Shadows in the Stars, Book 2) by T.W.M. Ashford

Author:T.W.M. Ashford [Ashford, T.W.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

TWELVE

They followed the Kerulian through more abandoned corridors, always a few careful steps behind. A handful of cables and router boxes along the route were sparking, which meant at least some of the ship’s generators were still operational.

“She’s lying,” Gecki muttered under her breath. “Another crew got here before us. She’s leading us into a trap.”

“Then why did the person on the other end of her radio tell her the noises she heard were just caused by vermin?” Sheni whispered. “If they broke in like us, they’d be on high alert. She isn’t even armed. And it’s not like we saw any other rovers parked outside the ship, is it?”

Gecki grumbled to herself, which was about as much a concession as Sheni was going to get.

“What’s your name?” he asked their guide. “Did I hear your friend call you Lerrin?”

“Yeah, that’s me. And who are you?”

“I’m Sheni. This here bundle of laughs is Gecki, and that’s Alan. So, Lerrin. How’d you survive the crash?”

“How do you know I didn’t drive out here through the storm and get stuck?”

Gecki growled. She already didn’t trust Lerrin, and now the Kerulian was trying to avoid answering their questions.

“Nah, you’re right,” Lerrin said, sensing how close she was to having her oesophagus torn out. “I was on the Lucky Quark when she went down. Don’t ask me what happened, coz I don’t know. I think the captain wanted to skim the atmosphere, give the guests something cool to look at. Got too close to the storm and the whole ship got pulled in. But that’s just what I heard. Captain’s dead and I was in my room at the time.”

“How the hell did you survive, though? We passed one of the ship’s guards. They weren’t so lucky.”

“You found a body? Huh. I thought we’d got everyone. Not easy to reach every section of the ship, though. Most of us don’t come down here much anymore.”

Gecki bared her teeth and bunched her claws into fists.

“Got everyone?”

“Yeah,” Lerrin replied, raising her feathery eyebrows. “Like, cleared all the bodies out. It’s not all that hygienic, living in a graveyard. And to answer your question,” she said, turning back to Sheni, “I was asleep in a cushioned bunk. Nothing hard to break my neck on, thank the stars. The ship fought against the storm the whole time, trying to launch itself back into orbit, so the impact wasn’t as fast or hard as it could have been. Still enough to leave the Quark a lame wreck, though.”

“Hasn’t done you too much harm,” Gecki said, relentless in her attempts to cast doubt on Lerrin’s story. “You’re still breathing after… how many years has it been? Three, three and a half? Long time to hold out on a dead ship. Surprised you never considered leaving.”

“Only every damn day. We tried sending someone to get help, but they couldn’t make it more than five minutes in that storm before they crawled back suffering from hypothermia. The only lifeboats on board are ships, not buggies, and they’d fare even worse in this atmosphere than the Quark.

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