Page 59 of Enthraller

“The runner is . . . gone.” Cora peered through the small porthole set in the air lock door, and then moved aside for Wren to get a look.

The runner was more than just gone. It was a tiny debris field all on its own.

As she stared at it, another runner rose up from beneath the obs station, and she inhaled sharply. Her team.

“Your friends?” Cora asked, catching sight of the small craft. Her voice was full of relief.

“Yes. Hopefully they can get us off of here.” She waved, and the runner edged closer, looking for a place to dock.

“What’s wrong?” Cora tried to look over her shoulder.

“I think the docking equipment was destroyed along with the runner.”

Bailey got close enough that the runner ground against the station with a shriek of metal, and then she was forced to pull back.

Wren eyed the air lock. They would have to walk the line. And to do that, they’d need air masks at the very least, but preferably suits.

She moved to a door set in the side wall, opening it up, and found there was a small change room that contained hooks for three suits, but only one was left.

She looked at the empty spaces for a beat and then glanced over her shoulder. “I think I know what happened to Garner and Kailis,” she said.

Cora stared into the space. “Bastards,” she breathed. “They left us.” She looked from the suit, to Wren, to Ludlow, lying on the floor, and bit her lip.

“You get in the suit,” Wren told her. “I’ll look for air masks for myself and Ludlow.”

She didn’t wait for an answer. Time wasn’t on their side.

There was nothing inside the small change room other than the single suit, so she ran out of the bay and down the corridor, looking for any hint of a cupboard or room which might have masks and other equipment.

She had just entered a small control room when the world went strangely silent, and then she felt a whump in her very bones.

She was thrown upward, spinning as she went, and suddenly she noticed there were thick, silver bracelets on her wrists, and something crawled over her forehead, like a band.

She reached up to touch it, and felt the smooth, cold slide of metal. She blinked, lifting her arms to get a better look at the cuffs that had appeared on them, and then something hit her, hard, and she spun.

The obs station was below her. She looked at it in surprise, trying to work out what was going on.

And then, as if a cosmic hand reached out and yanked her back to reality, she sucked in a terrified breath, and spreadeagled her arms and legs.

They had been hit again, and she wasn’t walking the line. She was out in space with no tether whatsoever.

How?

Save your breath, her nanos said.There is only so much air we were able to trap in with you.

She looked down at herself, and saw she was covered in a filmy, body-hugging suit.You?she asked.

Us, her nanos agreed.We are stretched to our limit.

She saw something floating lazily below her, and the shape of it had her turning her head sharply to focus on it.

Ludlow, skin coated in ice crystals, spun slowly past her.

The others?she asked.

She was starting to feel lightheaded. Breathing was harder, and she looked around for any sign of the runner.

Dread gripped her at the thought of it being ripped apart like the bay had been.

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