Page 20 of Caldar
Optimistic, because that implied she’d be free of this space coffin in the future and painting again.
Yeah, gonna go with optimism.
“A medical kit is built into the pod,” Caldar said.
“Oh, good. I guess it’s not like we have room to use a kit now.”
“Indeed. Sleep will help. The Mahdfel have a superior rate of healing. As my body heals, it will push out the bullet.”
“You sound so matter-of-fact that I can almost ignore the arrogance.”
He laughed softly. With her ear pressed to his chest, it sounded like rumbling thunder. “See? We are already bickering. All is well.”
“Agree to disagree there,” she said.
“Try to rest.”
Sleep did not come easily, but eventually her eyes grew too heavy to remain open.
CALDAR
An indeterminate amount of time passed. Caldar shut down the pod’s internal clock and other functions to conserve power.
Sonia slept, her head resting on his chest. That pleased him more than he had any right to be. He drifted into a shallow sleep.
It was strange. He had spent a lifetime on his own. He had never felt the absence of others to be a lack before. Certainly, he never expected how easy it would be to sleep with another in a single bed or how correct it felt.
The pod jolted.
“What’s happening?” Sonia asked, her voice thick with sleep.
“We have been acquired.”
The pod jerked and moved, no longer drifting and bouncing off debris in the void. When motion ceased, they waited. Whoever collected the pod made no effort to open the object. After a period of sufficient time, Caldar opened the pod.
The lid released with a pressurized hiss.
“Let me go first,” he said.
“How? I’m literally on top of you.” She moved to climb out, her elbows jabbing into him with surprising force.
Caldar pulled himself to his feet, his injured leg protesting. The wound reopened. He felt fresh blood slowly trickle over the dried blood.
Lights flickered as he exited the pod, revealing a storage hold filled with other emergency pods from theAllure of the Stars, in addition to broken and abandoned equipment.
“This looks like a haunted warehouse,” Sonia said.
“It is where they collect garbage to be vented into space.”
“They put us in with the garbage. Charming.”
“Fortunate. Our pod could have been placed at the bottom of a stack of pods, unable to exit. Or in a holding area with guards,” he said.
She made a noise that he assumed to be agreement because he was terribly agreeable and seldom wrong.
“Sit. Where’s the first aid kit?” Sonia said.
“I can retrieve—”
