drown. “If we can’t stop the water, we need to get out of the room.”
“Yes!” She grinned right along with him and swam up towards the window. But opening it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
They banged against it, and Solan even grabbed a chair to try and shatter it, but with the water as high as it was, it was impossible to get the leverage.
Lena swam away while Solan continued his assault to no avail, and a minute later she was back, holding a pointy knife and a mallet she must have found in one of the drawers.
“I’m not sure stabbing it will do the trick,” he had to say, though at this point any idea was worthwhile.
She bumped him out of the way and he floated back. “Let me try.”
He watched her work. She used the pointy edge of the knife to score the bottom of the window, making a small indent and really digging it in there. Then she took the mallet and hit the hilt, sending a jolt through the glass. It didn’t break, but cracks started to appear, and Solan felt ready to hope. Maybe this was it.
Lena had to kick her legs to stay in place and he got behind her, wrapping himself around her waist and wedging his legs as best he could against the wall. She took another swing and more cracks appeared. On the third swing, the glass shattered. Lena carefully began to clear it away and the water drained out the window.
Then the room lit up with normal lights and the water stopped pouring in from the ceiling. As soon as the water got below the height of the window, the glass seemed to magically repair itself and Solan realized that Lena hadn’t broken the actual window, but one provided by the simulator.
“Challenge completed successfully,” the voice of their computerized tormentor announced.
Lena whooped in joy and swung towards him, throwing her arms around his neck. Solan was already hugging her back, having not let go once they were no longer in imminent risk of drowning. He squeezed her tight, relief and joy mingling in a heady mix of emotions. Finally, a win.
After a few minutes, they let go, and he was relieved again when the kitchen door opened. They dripped water down the hallway and Lena was starting to shiver.
“So the window was fake but the water was real?” Lena asked. “How do these simulations work? We don’t have anything that sophisticated back home.”
Home. Of course she still thought of Earth as her home, even if she’d never return. Why did that make him feel strange? Solan ignored it. “I’m not sure,” was his answer. “I never bothered to learn much about the simulators. They’re mostly just used to play games.”
“One hell of a game,” she muttered.
He smiled.
The green light shone bright when they were back in the room and tension leeched out of them when they saw it.
“I’m going to warm up in the shower,” said Lena, giving an exaggerated shiver. She looked at him for a long moment, and he was sure she was about to say something, but eventually she turned away, leaving him alone.
Very well.
Solan stripped off his shoes and pants, his shirt abandoned back in the kitchen, and grabbed a towel from one of the drawers. He’d barely managed to pull on a dry pair of pants when Lena came out of the bathroom.
“The water’s not working. I guess pumping a million gallons into the kitchen is kind of wasteful.” She shivered and stripped off her top before reaching for a towel.
Solan had to tear his gaze away, but he’d be thinking of the brown skin of her chest whenever he closed his eyes.
“We’ll warm up faster if we lay together.” He didn’t even recognize the sound of his own voice and he must have been mad to offer it.
Lena’s gaze snapped up and she looked at him for a long while, as if she was waiting for him to retract the statement.
He didn’t. Instead he sat down on his bed and pulled the blanket back. He realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt, but he didn’t grab for one.
Lena shrugged and slipped her pants off, stalking towards him in just her underwear. It was every fantasy come to life and the kind of torture Solan couldn’t imagine.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She climbed in beside him. “Relax, soldier. More body heat, more warmth. That’s science.” She didn’t seem at all self-conscious of her near nudity,