Page 107 of Bound By Stars

“Dad did this.” Asha touches Tar’s hand. Before either of us can stop her, she’s sprinting after Skye. “I have to help her!”

I rake my fingers through my hair. “We can’t just go running all over the ship. We need a plan.”

Tar brushes past me and faces Weslie. “That fire is the least of our problems. It hasn’t even activated the extinguishing system. I’ll try to override it from the door’s control panel. You have to override the emergency system, or the ship will go into auto-reboot, and with all the damage, all the systems might not come back online. We have to keep it running long enough to get everyone off.”

“How long can you hold it off?” I look between the two.

Tar frowns. “Not long.”

“Take ILSA. It’ll go faster,” Weslie says.

“Gladly.” He waves ILSA over.

She follows him to the door, stopping before the threshold, and pivots back around. Her face screen blinks.

“What are you… Oh, right. End silent mode.” Weslie answers her visual plea.

“Do not die while I am away.”

“I’ll do my best, ILSA.” Weslie smiles and nods before hurrying to the captain’s station.

I follow behind her. “What do you need me to do?”

She stops and grabs me by the shoulders. “Go with them. People listen to you. When we get that emergency door open, you’re the best one to deal with the chaos. You have to lead them across the arboretum to the second-class pod bay. Down the stairs we took the night of the Gala. And make sure they are packing the escape pods like Tar said.”

I shake my head. If we split up, there’s no guarantee we’ll make it long enough to find each other again. “I’m not leaving you.”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

I already thought I lost her once. “No. We stick together.”

“If you leave them to handle that crowd, they might not make it off this ship.”

I know she’s right, but I can’t force myself to leave. “Curran can go.”

“I’ve never been below first class,” Curran says from the surveillance desk. “Which stairwell?”

“There’s no time. You know where to lead them. Curran can stay with me.” Taking my face in her hands, Weslie kisses me before pushing away. “I’ll see you soon.”

I grab her and pull her back to me, lacing my fingers into her hair and kissing her deeper. My clenched eyes burn. This feels like goodbye and nothing in me wants to leave her. Chest heaving, I pull back just enough to meet her eyes. “We’re getting off this ship, Weslie. Together.”

She nods once.

Tearing myself away, I rip the fire extinguisher off the wall and race out the door.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Weslie

Six days to Mars

The screens at the captain’s station show alerts and updates, but there are no controls. More of a display than a command station. I push out of the seat and run down the steps through the middle of the room to find a workstation with door controls.

“Slow down. You’ll fall down the stairs and break your neck.” Behind me, Curran’s footsteps are as slow and casual as his tone. He must be in shock, the seriousness of our situation too much for him to process.

“I got it. Thanks.” I slide into a chair and click the keys, trying every command I know. Error. Error. Access denied. Error. Access denied. “This isn’t going to work.”

I stand and head back up the stairs.

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