The Disasters by M. K. England

Author:M. K. England
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

Twelve

THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE STARS is just as disconcertingly sudden as their disappearance, but their pale winking light is a relief nonetheless. Several glowing lights on my console blink for my attention; we’re running hot, but as we seem to not be crashing, leaking atmosphere, or dying, I take a few indulgent seconds to sink into my cushy pilot’s chair and let the adrenaline drain from my system.

I’m sure I’ll start shaking any moment now, for but the time being, everything is clear. Calm. Quiet. Nothing but us and the stars, drifting along in shared silence. I nudge us gently out of the jump arrival zone—no use getting killed by a jumping ship right after our daring escape—then collapse against the headrest.

A shuddering breath breaks the silence beside me, and a wet sniffle comes from behind. A sudden pressure burns behind my eyes and in my throat at the sounds, live and pained. Case leans with her elbows braced on the console in front of her, head in her hands. Her chest and back rise and fall with deep, fast breaths, just this side of hyperventilating. I want to reach over to her, run a hand through her hair or rub her back as it heaves with sobs, but there’s an entire center console of controls separating us. At least these aren’t panic-attack sobs—just regular, completely understandable thank-god-we’re-alive tears.

The brief stillness doesn’t last.

The click of Zee’s safety restraints pulls me back into our current situation. Now that we’re relatively safe, drifting alone through the black, all I can think of is the drying blood that stiffens the shoulder of my shirt. I flip a few switches, venting some of our excess heat into space and engaging the autopilot, then pull myself out of the pilot’s seat, moving to help Zee with Rion’s unconscious form. Between the two of us, we manage to get him unbelted and back over our shoulders like before, his head lolling to one side. It takes a lot of awkward sideways shuffling down the cramped central corridor, barely wide enough for two people, and several wrong turns, but we eventually find what could generously be called a medbay.

It’s more like a storage closet for medical supplies that happens to be large enough for a single bed. I prop Rion’s limp form against the wall and support him as Zee rolls the bed into the hallway; there’s no way we’d be able to maneuver him in such cramped quarters. She lowers the bed so we can ease him down, then rolls it back into the tiny room and drops into a crouch beside him.

Seeing Rion lying there, his eyes closed, complexion ashen and dull, hits me far harder than expected.

The medbay barely has standing room for two, so I back myself into the doorway, available but unobtrusive while Zee works, deliberate and careful. My body must recognize that I finally have a moment to myself, because a wave of dizziness slams into me, and I have to close my eyes and lean my forehead against the doorjamb to regain my balance.

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