The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance #1) - Dianne Duvall Page 0,119
She glanced back at Abby, her tiny, fragile body barely discernable in the big bed, then turned back to the men. All stared at her. “What will we run out of first—fuel, food, or water?”
Taelon sighed. “The transport doesn’t run on fuel. It runs on power cells that are more like your Earth batteries. They’re very compact, so we have enough spares to get us there. And the atmospheric generator will continue to provide us with life support as long as we have functioning power cells.”
Ari’k spoke. “The food and water, however, will last a little less than two months.”
Shit. “We can stretch it, make it last.”
Ari’k nodded. “Such was my thought. If the four of us”—he motioned to his fellow Yona warriors—“do not partake, the nutritional supplies should last you, Prince Taelon, and the baby long enough to reach the Segonian base.”
She blinked. “What?”
A muscle in Taelon’s jaw twitched. “They’re refusing to eat or drink anything. They want all the food and water to go to us.”
She stared at the soldiers. “You’ll die if you don’t eat or drink anything.”
“Yes.” Ari’k confirmed emotionlessly.
She shook her head. “No way. Fuck that. We’ll just ration it. We’ll figure out how little we have to eat and drink each day to survive and just consume that.”
Ari’k shook his head. “Our duty is to ensure Prince Taelon—”
“I know what your damn duty is,” she snapped. “And it isn’t to keep us comfortable and well fed. It’s to keep us alive. I’ve gone hungry before. Many times. I can do it again. I’m still nursing Abby, so she’ll be okay as long as I consume enough to enable my body to continue producing milk. You will not starve yourselves so we can live.”
“I agree,” Taelon said.
Ari’k opened his mouth to speak.
Lisa cut a hand through the air and beat him to it. “What if you all die of thirst next week and some Gathendien ships show up and attack us? How will you protect us then? Taelon can’t fly the transport and blow them all out of the sky at the same time. And I’m guessing it will take me a lot longer than a week to learn how to help him.”
Ari’k glanced at his fellow warriors.
“None of you,” she insisted, “are killing yourselves. Period. So Sodu, get your ass back in the control room and work on the comms. The rest of you… figure something out.” She looked at Taelon, silently asking him to back her. These men had risked their lives to save them. There had to be another way.
Taelon took her hand and glanced at the men. “You heard her.”
Sodu headed for the control room she still thought of as a cockpit. The others followed.
Taelon drew Lisa close and wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t want you and Abby to suffer,” he whispered.
“We won’t. We’ll get through this.” But her words held more confidence than her thoughts.
Lisa was terrified.
Chapter Twenty
A week later, Taelon smiled and helped Lisa climb out of the roungkrup, which she more often than not called a ball turret. “You did well.” When she had asked him to teach her how to use it, he had eagerly complied. If something should happen to him and their Yona guard, he wanted her to be able to defend herself and Abby. Her hands were too small to comfortably fit the controls and she often mentioned wishing she could use something called a joystick instead, but she was a quick learner and was progressing well.
She wrinkled her nose. “I need more practice.”
His smile turned wry. “You’ll have plenty of time for it while we head for Mila 9.” Time he was already utilizing to teach her to pilot the transport. That would take longer because there were a lot more controls and the universal translator the computer medic had implanted in her only translated audible language. It didn’t render her capable of reading Lasaran text.
Sodu was having little luck repairing long-distance comms but steadfastly continued to try. Taelon had always thought the Yona’s inability to feel emotion regrettable, but he had to admit he envied their inability to feel frustration and impatience. Worry and helplessness.
They had begun to ration food and water the day Lisa refused to let the soldiers deprive themselves of nourishment. About halfway to Mila 9, they would travel close enough to Kuiper Comet 21 for Ari’k to land on it and extract a goodly supply of ice. Once thawed, their filtration system would remove deuterium from