Page 15 of Caldar
Caldar bit down on his own respirator. She had no idea where he got them, but she was too thankful to ask. In theory, the ship had emergency kits stashed all over the place. Did she see a bright red box? No.
Gravity was out. Lots of things were out.
Sonia looked up at the smashed doom. Shards of glass floated in the air—well, in the void. But that didn’t make sense. If the ship was breached, then all the glass should have vented into space. Yet tiny pieces of glass drifted by, mixed in with broken furniture and abandoned glassware.
Caldar’s hair floated around him like a halo. Her own short twists drifted above her head.
He tugged at her arm, pulling her away from the railing. With a kick, he launched them across the room. Progress was slow going. There was so much stuff.
And bodies.
And blood, drifting along in perfect blobs.
She refused to think about what just brushed against her foot.
Don’t look. Don’t look.
She looked.
It was a hand. Only a hand.
Sonia wrapped that image up in a tidy package and shoved it way down, compartmentalizing the fuck out of it. There’d be time to freak out later. Right now, everything was awful, and it wouldn’t be less awful if she lost her shit.
Keep it together.
Caldar pulled her through the ballroom, twisting his body to shield her from collision. Debris bounced off his back. Sonia closed her eyes, allowing him to guide her through the wreckage. He moved from point to point, pushing off the walls, the floor, and any solid object available. His experience was obvious.
Her only zero-gravity experience was a special room in the spa. Even then, she had to strap her foot into a special harness on the floor. There was absolutely no free floating on board theAllure of the Stars. Still, it was a good way to stretch out her back and shoulders. Sitting hunched over a tablet all day wrecked her upper back.
The preposterousness of the situation struck her as funny. Grim dark, sure, but there was no accounting for humor.
CALDAR
He needed to get his mate secured in an emergency pod, and then he could tend to his leg. The lack of gravity eased the pain, but he had lost a lot of blood. Too much blood. His senses were dulled, and he moved sluggishly. He would need to rest soon.
They entered a lobby. Large pieces of furniture, mostly lounge chairs and sofas, were bolted to the floor. Pillows, pamphlets, and other assorted detritus drifted in the space. Traversing the lobby was easy as they moved from bolted down chair to table to another chair. Sonia’s hand never left his.
Soon they were at the sealed threshold. Emergency doors closed off the area, sealing the breach and stopping the depressurizing. It was a standard procedure that was good for the ship but unlucky for everyone caught on the other side of the door. At least the ship’s crew managed to do one thing correctly.
Inadequate shielding.
Slow response time.
No defense to prevent incoming teleportation.
Caldar kept a list of the ship’s numerous faults. Security was so lax that he had effectively been a stowaway for weeks and no one noticed. Frankly, the fact that theAllure of the Starshad avoided a major disaster until now was nothing short of miraculous.
He was right to come aboard. Sonia could be upset with him all she liked, but the ship’s crew was incompetent. If Sonia wished to continue her travels throughout the quadrant, he’d purchase her a ticket on a vessel that satisfied basic safety standards.
Better yet, she’d travel with him on his ship. He currently did not have a ship, but that was a minor detail.
Focus. Get Sonia into the emergency pod, then plot—plan—the future.
Removing the control panel to override the door’s locking mechanism was not a delicate procedure. Caldar smashed his fist into the panel. It cracked. Pieces drifted away.
Access granted.
He was not normally so sloppy in his work, but they were racing against a countdown. The ship’s integrity had been compromised. The Suhlik teleported in, grabbed passengers, and teleported away.
