Fated Mate Conquered - Luna Voss Page 0,30
on a closed channel and wait for weeks until someone comes to help us?” I ask. “Unless one of you wants to suit up and have your first-ever experience in zero-G doing complicated ship maintenance?”
Turan opens his mouth and closes it. I can see that he knows I’m right, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.
“I know what I’m doing,” I assure him. “I’ve done this before.”
He steps closer to me. “I don’t want to risk my mate,” he says quietly. “I’m supposed to protect you.”
I can’t help but smile at his protectiveness. “You won’t be risking me. It’s perfectly safe. I’ll be back in no time.” Truthfully, I am slightly exaggerating the ease and safety of this procedure, but it makes me feel good to be the sole solution to a problem right now. All of a sudden, I’m important.
Turan bites his lip, looking conflicted. “You can go,” he says finally. “But your safety is paramount. I don’t want you taking any risks. I’m going to be on the comm with you the whole time, and if I tell you to come back inside the ship for any reason, I need you to obey.”
I nod, pleased that he’s trusting me like this. “Okay, let’s do it. You, uh. You brought spacesuits and oxygen, right?”
“Yes,” says Rojan quickly. “We transferred all the equipment from the prison ship onto this one. Here, I’ll show you.”
I get up and follow Rojan from the bridge, preparing myself mentally for an unexpected jaunt into open space.
“You’re sure you’re going to be safe?” Turan asks as we stand outside the airlock. I’m wearing my spacesuit and holding my helmet under my arm.
“Absolutely,” I say, hooking up the tether to my suit. The tether cable, which keeps me attached to the ship, is my last defense against the risk of floating out into open space should I lose control.
He cups my face in his hands for a moment, his expression grim. It’s as though he thinks he’s sending me into battle. And then he nods, and helps me put the big, bulbous helmet over my head.
“Ready to depressurize the airlock,” says Geddion. Turan gives me a final look, and then steps out to stand next to Geddion and Rojan. I take a deep breath as the airlock door closes behind him.
“Ready to go, Kora?” Turan asks me through my in-helmet comm system.
I give them the thumbs-up with my space glove. “Ready.”
Through the window on the airlock door, I see Geddion press a button on the panel in front of him. A moment later, I hear the hiss of the room around me depressurizing to match the vacuum of space. And then everything goes quiet, except for the sound of my breathing and my own beating heart.
Turan’s voice crackles through the eerie silence. “Kora, can you hear me?”
“Yes,” I confirm, giving the thumbs-up again. “Loud and clear.”
“Okay, good,” he says. “Before we open the door to the outside, can you check your tether for me one more time?”
I give the tether a hearty tug, showing him that it’s holding firm.
“Okay,” says Turan. “Opening the door.” He nods to Geddion, who touches the control panel, and I turn around to see the airlock door sliding open, nothing but twinkling stars and crushing darkness on the other side.
For a nervous moment, I stare off into space, cowed by the vastness of it. There’s something about those infinite depths I’ve always found a little bit terrifying. And then with a deep breath, I step out of the airlock, find the first of the handholds placed along the side of the ship, and start cautiously making my way to the back.
I’d forgotten how creepily dark space is. All I have to see by is the light on my helmet, which illuminates a bright circle in front of me. When I look off into the distance, the light disappears, with nothing to reflect it.
“Kora, status update,” orders Turan the moment I exit the ship.
“Everything’s fine,” I tell him. “Heading in the direction of the vents now.”
“Go nice and slow,” he says. “We’re not in any hurry.”
“You know,” I remind him, “even if I did lose my handhold, I’d still be tethered to the ship. I’m really not in any danger.”
“Still, I don’t want to take any chances,” his voice crackles back.
Despite my flippancy on the comms with Turan, I move as slowly and carefully as I can as I head toward the vents. Floating helplessly off into space, even attached to