particles. They must have been doing something right in Sector 2, if the lack of pollution was any indication. Not all early colonists had been concerned with sustainable development, thinking there were infinite planets out there to appropriate. There weren’t, but some people hadn’t figured that out before driving their new homes into the ground.
The crew and Big Guy came up behind me, taking their turn at relishing having an open door—inhaling, testing out the atmosphere on their senses, taking in the view, and squinting against the brightness reflected off Albion City’s countless windows.
Fiona sucked down air until her chest lifted and expanded so much that even Jax had to look. “Well, that does a body good,” she announced.
I nodded. The air on Albion 5 didn’t smell bad at all. Not as good as anywhere in Sector 12. Better than on Hourglass Mile. About like Starway 8, thanks to the orphanage’s first-rate ventilation system.
Behind us, the Endeavor belched out the recycled air we’d been breathing for months. My lungs felt different already, expanded. It was time to renew. Rebuild. Figure out life. I rolled my shoulders to relieve some of the tension. Maybe I’d even understand myself one of these days.
I left the others to enjoy their first taste of Albion 5 while I ducked back into the ship to change out of my flight suit and wash my face. What I found in my room was even more of a mess than the ruined starboard door. There was a big hole in the wall, and many of my belongings had been sucked out into space. I’d lost bedding, books, and a lot of clothes. Anything that hadn’t been screwed down or locked in the closet was gone.
I pieced together a decent outfit from what was left and then turned my back on the shambles of my once-tidy living space. I refused to mutter even a single curse. We’d survived. Period.
We needed to know what we were dealing with in terms of time and cost, so I steeled myself for a thorough look around the Endeavor. An hour later, I couldn’t fathom how we’d survived. Shot full of holes, we’d traveled at warp speed and then put the ship through the heat and pressure of atmospheric entry. Not to mention the fact that we’d jumped right into a black hole.
The repair budget was going kill us, even if the Black Widow hadn’t.
From Jaxon’s colorful language as he inspected the inside and outside of the ship along with me, I was pretty sure he agreed. Big Guy came along, too, looking stoic. He grunted every now and then. He seemed to know his way around electronics and fixed a few things while Jax and I took inventory of the more significant problems.
I limited the list of issues to actual structural damage on the Endeavor, although it seemed as though it should have included a lot more, like how to take back having revealed my true identity, and what the hell to do with the stolen lab.
Miko found us finishing up in Cargo Bay 3 and insisted that the Endeavor wasn’t the only one that needed recharging. We ate a quick meal all together and formed a plan. I would head into the city immediately to see about parts and repairs while Jax got busy on the damaged circuits. No matter how exhausted I was, there was no waiting until tomorrow to find a repair person for the Endeavor. Whether we stayed a while or left Albion 5 quickly was fluid and would depend on how things went. Being able to go was a must, which meant patching holes and fixing the electrical problems.
Fiona opted to stay on board and set her lab to rights after all the hard bumps we’d just experienced, and Miko and Shiori almost never left the ship. The Endeavor, or right next to her, was where they felt the safest.
Everyone came to see me off after lunch, even Big Guy, who’d declined to eat with us. Anxious to get going, I hopped down onto the platform and then bounced a little, getting used to the gravity level here. It wasn’t far from the universal standard used on ships, but there was a slight drag on my weight that would take some getting used to.
The heat from the dock’s dark surface rammed into me from the feet up as I reached into the shadowed doorway to grab the go-pack I’d snagged from my closet. I double-checked the pack