“Can we survive outside?”
“Maybe?” I threw up my hands. “This scanner is damaged. Either way, we’d need shelter fast, and even then…” I trailed off, staring at the readings.
“Even then, what?”
“Even then, I’m not sure how long the shelter would protect us.”
The ship groaned around us, and I felt us losing altitude fast. Through the viewport, I could see the planet’s surface rushing up toward us—barren rock and twisted metal structures that looked like they’d been abandoned for decades.
“Hold on,” Torven said, and I heard the grim acceptance in his voice.
We were going to crash. There was no avoiding it now.
I watched Torven’s face as he fought with the controls, trying to angle our descent and use reverse thrusters to lessen the impact. His jaw was clenched with concentration, his skin shifting through vivid flame tones, mannerisms I was beginning to recognize as his emotional tells.
He was terrified. But he wasn’t giving up. “Brace yourself.”
As we plummeted toward the surface, I realized something that should have scared me more than it did: I trusted him. This male who’d been nothing but gruff and professional with me, who’d criticized my equipment choices and questioned my methods, wasgoingto save us.
The ship hit the ground with a force that rattled every bone in my body.
Then everything went dark.
CHAPTER 3
ZARA
Iwoke up to the taste of blood in my mouth and the sound of metal groaning. For a moment, I couldn’t remember where I was or what had happened. Then it all came flooding back—the storm, the crash, Torven.
“Captain Korvath?” I called, my voice coming out as a croak.
“Here.” His voice was strained, but he was alive. “Are you hurt?”
I took inventory of my body. Everything ached, and I was pretty sure I had a concussion, but nothing seemed to be broken. “I think I’m okay. You?”
“I’ll live.”
It was clear that the ship wouldnot. The hull was largely crushed. If the entire crew had been in here, at least half would be dead. The seats that Cleo and I had been in were on the other side of the cabin, smashed up against the compacted wall. I turned my head to look at Torven pushing a piece of debris off him and standing up. My heart clenched. Therewas blood on his forehead, and his left arm was hanging at an odd angle.
“Your arm—”
“It’s fine.” He moved with a careful precision that meant he was hurt worse than he was letting on. “We need to assess the damage and figure out our next move.”
Of course. Even injured and stranded on an alien planet, his first instinct was to take charge and protect everyone else. It should have been annoying. Instead, I found it oddly comforting.
I managed to get out of my restraints and peered outside. The viewport was made of some thick, clear alloy that was actually ametal, despite being transparent. It was cracked, but not shattered, and that was a good thing because the wind outside blew with the force of a hurricane. And this wasinsidethe “quiet area” that both Torven and I had detected. A tall metal structure soared to the left of us, but I couldn’t see much of it at the angle we were at. It had to be the weather station. Odd, but it looked abandoned—overgrown, damaged, with no signs that anyone had been here in a long time.
The ship moaned as the wind pummeled it, but Torven stretched and rolled his shoulder, popping it back into place with a disgusting-sounding crunch. All he did was wince and rub the joint a little with his opposite hand before jerking his head toward the back of the ship. “Let’s go check the damage.”
The cargo hold was a disaster. Most of the survival suits were destroyed. All that remained were a few cracked helmets and one glove. Equipment cases were scatteredeverywhere. Some of them had split open and spilled their contents across the floor. My carefully organized scientific instruments looked like they’d been hit by a tornado.
“Well,” I said, trying for humor even as my stomach dropped, “I guess we found out which three pieces of equipment were most important after all.”
Torven gave me a look that might have been amused. “Any of it salvageable?”
I knelt down and started sorting through the wreckage. Some of the equipment was clearly beyond repair, but a few of the more robust instruments had survived the crash. I gathered what I could carry into a functional pile.
“Some of it,” I said. “Enough to analyze atmospheric conditions and maybe get some basic weather predictions.”
