story. I can’t fix this.
I saunter to the bridge so as not to expend an iota more energy than I have to, and sink into the captain’s chair. Although I didn’t expect Ar’Tok to still be waiting, he’s desperately calling my name.
“Star! Please answer me! Are you alright?”
“Oxygenator isn’t working,” I say, trying to keep my anxiety down so I don’t use more air than is necessary.
“Can your mech fix it?”
“I’m alone on this vessel. I am the mech. No.”
“Get off the comm with me and call the authorities for help!” he orders. “No. Tell me your coordinates and let me do it.”
“I’m human. No one would come help,” I explain as calmly as I can.
“Your coordinates!” he roars. “I’ll come get you.”
I hear him calling his captain and pilot to the bridge. I know the outcome even though he doesn’t. The Feds aren’t going to waste an ounce of fuel to go out of their way on a fool’s errand to rescue a little Earth female.
I don’t say any of this, though. I don’t want to waste my breath.
After he calls his captain, I tell him my coordinates, then let my fingers fly over my keyboard as I send out emergency messages on the off chance someone will rescue me. It’s all I can do.
Ar’Tok
“What’s the emergency?” Captain Zar demands as he flies through the bridge’s double doors.
“Emergency hail from a lone human female.” I wait a few modicums until Axxios, one of our pilots, joins us. I tell him her coordinates and the situation.
Axxios has already slid into the pilot’s chair and is punching her coordinates into the computer.
“With hyperdrive at top speed, we can be there in just under thirteen hoaras,” he says.
“Please, Zar,” I ask.
I’m relatively new on this ship full of escaped slaves. They rescued me and a few others, then commandeered the ship we were being hauled on. They scrubbed that vessel of all identifying information, renamed it the Devil’s Playground, and stationed half their fighters on each ship. We’ve stayed side-by-side in space, making certain we have competent staff on both ships before we separate.
I learned comms, trying to make myself useful, hoping they wouldn’t evict me from the ship at the first stop.
They seem to have accepted me, although I steer clear of everyone as much as possible. But rescuing someone they’ve never met? For no reason other than I asked? It defies logic.
“Yes,” is all Zar says before Axxios kicks the vessel into hyperdrive. “Now, Ar’Tok, tell me who this female is, what you know about her, and what’s the emergency. Before you do, call the Devil’s Playground and let them know why we’re speeding away from them.”
“I still do my job when I’m working at night,” I explain after I inform the other ship where we’re going. “But I . . . found a female I talk to sometimes.” Growing up in prison, I learned how to lie well at a young age. The less I admit about how long and how frequently I speak with Star, the better.
“We were talking tonight, just for a minima or two, and her oxygenator malfunctioned. She says she has twelve hoaras of oxygen left.”
“Ar’Tok,” Zar says, his voice tight with disappointment, “you’re a valued member of our team. We don’t expect you to work every minima of the day and night. If you talk to a friend on comms, you’re not breaking any rules.” He pinches the bridge of his furred, feline nose.
“Sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry. Call Savannah to the bridge. She’s the best mechanic we have. Perhaps she can help your friend fix the issue.”
My stomach tightens into a ball of writhing snakes. Is he going to call off the rescue mission?
Moments later, Savannah runs onto the bridge and begins a technical conversation with Star, whose comm is still open.
“That female knows her stuff,” Savannah says when she signs off, “she’s already tried everything I suggested.”
Captain Zar and Savannah leave the bridge; now it’s just Axxios and me.
“I’m putting in headphones to listen to music,” Axx says. “You talk to your female in private.”
“Timetable?” I ask.
“Ten hoaras, fifty minimas,” he says sadly.
I look at the counter I set the moment Star told me she had twelve hoaras. It says ten hoaras and ten minimas. Barring a miracle, we’re going to arrive forty minimas too late to save her.
It doesn’t surprise me when a giant fist squeezes my heart. I’ve known I had feelings for Star since shortly after we began