more harm than good. The only thing I can do that actually helps is move my arms or legs into it when he tells me to.
“Ancient piece of shit,” he mutters.
“Ancient?”
“This ship moves fast,” he says, “but thirty-six light years is incredibly far. It took hundreds of years for the ship to get here...technology has advanced a lot since you left. This suit is ridiculous.”
He connects a metal ring to my knee. He has to squeeze my thigh, and then my calf, to get it on. His grip is strong, and I almost wish he’d have to grip a bit higher up my leg to--
I look down at my jumpsuit through the ring of my spacesuit. The helmet’s not on yet, so I can still see my jumpsuit when I look down into the spacesuit.
Catherine Green.
My name is on my suit. Why is that…?
“Got it,” he says. “You’re all sealed up. Now we just need to get the helmet on you.”
“How is it that you needed to rescue me specifically, and out of thousands of people frozen on here, it just so happened that I was the only one already awake? They gave you my name, and then you come onto the ship--and big coincidence--I’m already awake?”
He stops moving for a second, completely frozen. He moves again, maybe two seconds later, and gets the helmet.
“I put a virus onto the ship’s computer. It woke you in advance.”
He fits the helmet over my head. He struggles to connect it into the metal ring, but eventually it gets in after some fighting with it. He turns it until it clicks. As soon as it does, there’s a hiss of air. Some pump in the back of the suit has turned on, and I can feel the vibrations as it releases oxygen into the suit and helmet.
“And Jason?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Unlucky, I guess?”
There’s something on his face. Impatience, and not just because we have to hurry. Impatience with the act he’s putting on for me. Freelancer?
“You’re a pirate,” I say. “A space pirate.”
“Hey now,” he says, his voice becoming way too patronizing.
Shit. I did it again. I fell for the wrong guy. Tech bro. Rock star. Pirate. What’s next? Serial killer? Genocidal Dictator?
“All right,” he says, smiling, thinking he’s still got me wrapped around his finger. “We’re going to open this door, and when we do, all of the air is going to rush out of this corridor. I’m going to just open it a crack so we don’t get sucked out. After thirty seconds or so it will be vacuum, then I open it all the way, and then…”
He keeps talking, but I’m forming a plan. He’s really stressed about time. It sounds like he needs to be off the ship before the “defense grid” turns on. Probably he needs to be on his ship and far away, even. From the way he’s talking, there’s not much room for error, and he can’t waste any time. All I have to do is stall a bit. The defense grid shouldn’t hurt me, since I was on the ship and I’m a human.
I don’t know why I was on this ship. I don’t know why Jason was willing to use me as a hostage. I don’t know much of anything, but staying on this ship is probably a much smarter idea than blindly trusting the sexy space pirate who smells really fucking good.
I could just take the helmet off. Crack it. But what if he just risks it anyway. Makes me go into space with a cracked helmet? No, I’ll wait till he’s not looking, and just…
8
Krakon
I feel much better when her helmet is on. Knowing she’s safe.
Idiot.
Why do I feel such a strong urge to protect her? Because she’s worth a fortune. When I’m rich, I can rub it in the faces of every other pirate in the swarm. They’ll wish they had come along with me on this job.
It’s not because I care about her.
“Alright,” I say. “I’m going to blow the airlock.”
I turn around and she’s halfway back to the other door through which we just came. I guess the bubble popped. She’s not as stupid as I thought she was.
I sigh. It doesn’t really matter. I’ve already got her suited up and she won’t get through that door. Not when the panel on the other side detects vacuum.
I hit the button to open the door in front of me into vacuum. I let the door open a bit more