He glanced over his shoulder and saw two of the bridge crew were beginning to move restlessly.
It was time to go.
He peered into the airlock and saw a neat pile of helmets and boots.
Velda was already perched on the edge of the hole, and she dropped in, careful not to land on the equipment.
She made room for him, and he dropped in beside her.
“You’ll have to crouch,” she said. “So do I, but you might need to actually sit down.” She put her hand on the airlock lid. “I’ll wait until you’re ready because it’s pretty dark in there when the door closes.
He sat, swapping out the boots he was wearing with the heavier pair Velda had brought for him in quick movements, then pulled on the helmet and the gloves.
As soon as he nodded to her she put her own helmet on and activated the airlock again, so it closed above them.
She was right—they were plunged into absolute darkness for a few minutes, and in that time she sat beside him and found his hand so she could hold it.
Then the floor beneath them lit up a fluorescent blue, and she hopped up into a crouch.
“Grab a handle,” she said. “This thing was obviously designed for people who had an actual line attached to them before they opened up. And we don’t have one.”
He saw there were handles all around the chamber and held on to the closest one. Velda was already holding one, and she activated the lower lock.
It jerked open and then lowered, lowering them with it, with two struts keeping it attached to the ship as it exposed them to space.
Just beneath the disc they were standing on was the runner, holding in place, and Velda grabbed a strut and stepped out onto the runner’s roof and then crouched, grabbing a handle there, and moving out of the way so Ethan could join her.
Once he had, she sent the airlock back up into place and then he followed her to the airlock she’d left open on the runner.
He kept his breathing easy and even, and waited for her to get in before he followed.
As he climbed after her, away to the left, he saw a ship heading toward them.
It was, without a doubt, the Caruson warship they had left earlier.
He dropped in, and pulled the lid closed behind him, plunging them into darkness. “The Caruson are here.”
“Damn. I wondered whether it was them fooling with the power, or you.” Velda felt around for him, and he reached out and grabbed both her hands.
“It was the Caruso. Looks like Nirro changed his mind about taking the Raptor back.” He had seemed angry about leaving Sylvester to get away with the ship, and maybe, in the end, he couldn’t accept it.
“It could be he didn’t know about the backdoor into their power systems until after he let us go,” Velda said. “He’d only just taken control of the warship, after all.”
The light in the airlock came on, and they both removed their helmets as the door unlocked.
Ethan dropped down and raised his arms to lift Velda out. He wanted to stand and just hold her, but the Caruso might not be quite so friendly with them this time.
Things had obviously changed.
They needed to go, and go now.
37
“Velda Shanïha.”The voice coming through the comms unit was clearly Nirro’s.
“Captain Nirro.” Velda leaned forward. “I see you decided to come back for the Raptor after all.”
“I discovered there was a way into its systems that I wasn’t aware of before,” Nirro said. “It was too tempting not to exploit.”
