me.”
She follows me. Right into the closet. But I can’t get away. I would have to turn and duck into the maintenance passage. And there is no way I’m turning my back on this crazy glowing girl.
Because she is glowing now. Just being in the same room sets us off.
So I’m out of options. I hit the closet wall and stop. She does not stop. She saunters right up to me like she is a predator and I’m her prey. “What are you afraid of, Crux? Hmm?”
“I’m not afraid. I’m just… you’re not her, Corla. You’re just… not her.”
“Who?” The word snaps out of her mouth like a whip. “You have another girl?” Her eyes blaze silver white. So bright, I have to lower my eyelids to slits and look away. Then they dim. “Who cares.” Her voice is softer now. “Whoever she is, she hasn’t got a chance in space of holding your attention after tomorrow. Once we join together, Crux, you’re mine forever.”
I give up. I just give up. I close my eyes, let my head fall back against the wall, and sigh.
What the fuck am I doing?
You’re learning.
“What?”
“What?” she coos.
“What did you just say?”
“I said, you’re mine forever.”
“No, after that.”
She frowns and purses her lips. “Nothing.”
“You said, ‘You’re learning.’”
“I did not.”
“I fucking heard you, ya crazy glow show.”
“You can’t talk to me that way. Do you have any idea who I am?”
“Yeah, you’re the queen who ruined my life. Here’s a screen flash for you, Corla. You’re no one to me. Tomorrow we fuck, I get you pregnant, and then I take off and never see you again for twenty years. And then…” I laugh. “Then… this is the best part. Are you ready?” She scowls at me. “You come into my station frozen, bitch. And even though I’ve been thinking about you for twenty years—craving you so hard, I never had another woman more than once—I didn’t even thaw you out. I took your cryopod out to a security beacon and left you there. Alone. For a whole year. And you know what? After this little trip through time, or whatever the fuck I’m doing here inside this spin node, I’m never thawing your ass out.”
“The fuck is your problem?” she growls.
I point at her. “You, Corla. You’re my problem. I’d take boring Carla over your insane princess piece of ass any day. Better yet, you know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna go back through my little vent, meet up with my brothers, stick them on a ship the same way I did twenty-one years ago, then we’re blowing this fucking place. We’re outta here. I’m done, bitch. I’m so done. I hope you have another soulmate out there somewhere. Or hey, here’s a thought. You could just marry your sicko father!”
She raises her hand. I see it coming towards me. Her whole body is lit up like the sun.
But I can already feel that all-too-familiar pull of time.
And let me tell you—when I get sucked out and away from her, I feel nothing but relief.
Until I realize I’m alone in utter blackness.
CHAPTER NINE - CRUX
I hold my breath, waiting. I begin to count to keep track of moments. And when I get to three hundred, I say, “Hello?”
My voice booms unnaturally loud and an echo comes back at me from across a distance. But once the echo fades the silence resumes.
I hold my breath again, straining to hear something. Anything. Because it feels like there’s something out there.
A ticking. Or a dripping. Or neither of those things. Something else. Something small, but meaningful.
“It’s Time.”
The lights flash on. One large round spotlight that—when I shade my eyes and look up at it—doesn’t seem to have an origin. There is blackness above it. But in the glow below there now sit two couches. Both quarter circles, empty, and facing each other.
I whirl around to look behind me, searching for the person who owns the voice. But aside from the two couches and the spotlight, there is nothing in this room but dark, empty space.
And it’s in that moment when I realize… I’m not in a room.
“What?” I ask back. “Time for what?”
“Oh,” the voice says. And I recognize it. There is a surge of relief when I recognize it. “No. That’s not what I mean. I mean… OK, what I don’t mean—perhaps that’s the better place to start—what I don’t mean is that it’s time for something.”
A man walks forward into the light. He’s very big.