while the asteroids skidded past us. And we bucked and twisted like a rodeo bull.
The crash came when I started to see Lain flagging. More of those damned alarms started going off. Nial started chasing his tail trying to determine the location of the damage. I could feel Rian wanting to jump in to help, but he sat it out, like me. Passengers. That was all we were.
“Now, Lain,” Meida yelled, his red face blazing furiously. God he was scary when he was angry.
Lain shot him a wide-eyed look that held enough guilt to sink us. “Okay. Handing over in 3-2-1-Now!”
Meida’s body became a reflection of Lain’s, a beautiful red dancer, taking on the danger outside the ship. Lain collapsed into his seat, his whole body shaking and limp.
I wanted to go to him. I wanted to soothe his shattered nerves. I couldn’t, of course. If I released my harness I’d be bouncing off the ceiling in an instant. Or off the wall or console. The rollercoaster ride didn’t stop because Lain collapsed.
“Status,” Lain gasped out.
“Damage to rear shields. Some hull damage but no breaches. Life support undamaged.”
Lain sighed again, this time less shakily. “Good. My mistake might not cost us.”
No one commented. All eyes were on the viewing screen as Meida danced us around one asteroid and over the next. We seemed to get more hits, but nothing like the one that had set off the now-silent alarms.
I was exhausted just watching. How much longer? How wide is this belt? I knew we were flying at an astronomically fast speed, but an asteroid belt could be hundreds of miles wide, couldn’t it? Or is that thousands of miles. I had no idea about distances in space, or even speed. Could they reach the speed of light or was that impossible, as Einstein had postulated? Questions for another day, I supposed.
If there was another day.
Another jolt told me we’d sustained another hit. But no alarms went off, so it couldn’t be too bad. Ahead, I could see the unbroken darkness. The end of the asteroid belt.
We’d made it!
Meida was soaked in sweat, but his movements were still graceful and precise. The long black braid all warriors wore, so different to the renegade’s short spikes, swung like a pendulum as he worked. I wanted to run my fingers through that jet black mass. I wanted to pull on it until Meida groaned.
It was happening again. My hormones were going into overdrive on me. This was not good!
The frantic bumps and jolts lessened. In another minute we were out, flying straight and even again. We gave a communal sigh of relief.
“Let me take over,” Rian demanded, unhitching his harness so he could go to Lain’s chair.
After a moment’s hesitation, Lain gave up his place and Meida gave over control of the ship to Rian. He looked so different to his brothers, now. Tall and slim, his body covered by a robe rather than the half naked display the Danans put on.
Yet his movements were no less graceful, if a lot less energetic now we didn’t need to maneuver around so much. I loved the silver sheen of his hair and the beauty of his pointed face.
Lain collapsed into the seat beside me. “I’m sorry, podmate. I nearly got us killed.”
I turned from Charsus to Lain. The big blue Danan looked utterly desolate.
“You held on to the reins a little too long, but you were right to do it before that. Meida wasn’t as good as you. It wasn’t a dick move as I first thought,” I consoled.
“Dick move? Oh, right, I think I heard Mother say that a time or two. Arrogant, right?”
“Rightish. But you got us through almost to the end. You did well.”
He seemed a little happier with this pronouncement. I wasn’t used to someone treating my opinions as worthwhile. Toby had treated me like a cute little pet he could spoil or ignore, depending on his mood. My opinions on pretty much everything were discounted. I got to praise him, admire him, and look good on his arm. That was it.
God, the closer I looked at my relationship with Toby, the more holes I saw in it.
‘You are an intelligent woman,’ Charsus said into my head, even as his body worked the ship’s controls. ‘Any male who doesn’t value you, is not worth your loyalty. Or interest.’
I didn’t expect to hear this from Charsus. Though I lusted after his body, I’d found his emotional distance disconcerting. I never knew