Elodie sat forward and wiped her face and blinked the ash from her eyes. Gunner watched grimly as she lifted the sleeve of his jacket to reveal a splotchy bruise blooming along her forearm. His fingertips trailed it softly and checked again that nothing was broken.
“You’re,” cough, “heavy.”
“It’s the metal, babe.”
“That...” She winced and drew the sleeve back down, “I guessed.”
“Tell me you’re okay.”
She sniffled. “I’m okay. Are you?” Her eyes slipped over his welted shoulders.
“Don’t worry about me, I heal fast and my body has already numbed the pain.” She continued to eye his singed flesh and he added, “My skin will grow back shortly.”
“Lucky.” Elodie swallowed. “The others? My dad!?”
He didn’t give a damn about the others but he straightened anyway with gritted teeth and went back to where the explosion went off. He encountered most of the men before he re-entered the smoke. Those closest had suffered third-degree burns and some broken bones but others had made it through safely and were now helping those who were hurt. He deployed the remaining androids to protect them and find medical supplies.
He went to Chesnik last and checked him personally. The man let Gunner review his injuries in stony silence. Gunner couldn’t let Ely’s father die on his watch. Once he got the man safely away and reassured him that Elodie was okay, he made his way back to her side.
She sat with her back up against the wall, blinking the smoke and burn from her eyes.
“Your dad’s fine, better than most, and everyone is alive.” He crouched in front of her. One of his androids appeared with a medical kit. Gunner snapped it open and rummaged through to find cleaning cloths, pain-killers, and two small cans of healing serum.
The ship suddenly groaned around them and they both raised their head to look around. It was followed by a vibration that shuddered the floors and walls.
“What was that?” Elodie asked, her voice uneasy, as she sat away from the wall.
“I don’t know.” He moved closer to her anyway. “Yet.” Several minutes passed as they waited for it to happen again but it didn’t.
“You’re not good at this, are you?” she asked.
His attention returned to her. “What?”
“Helping others.”
“No,” he agreed.
She laughed softly and he pulled the top of the can off.
“You said time would stop for you if you willed it. I still disagree with that. More now than ever.”
Gunner shrugged and moved her clothing around to spray her skin. “I’m a selfish fucking man.”
Elodie smiled. “I guess that makes me selfish too... because I wish you could stop it again. ‘But time stops for no man.’ No woman either,” she finished, ruefully.
Gunner ran his hands up her arms and through her short hair. “That, Elodie, is where you have never been more wrong.”
Her eyes met his. “Prove it,” she whispered. “Prove it and make time stop again.” The ship trembled as she spoke and they both tensed and braced for another sudden impact. He pressed her back into the floor and shielded her again until the shuddering was over.
“What is that? That’s the second time now...”
“I’m not sure.” And that concerned him. When he tried to seed himself back into the ship, he flinched. His energy stores were nearly drained. The microchips in his nanocells were using what was left to repair his body.
As if on cue, Elodie grabbed his hand and brought him back out of the digital space. She moved around him, drawing the medical kit near her, and used the second can of serum over his back. He dropped his brow forward and closed his eyes in pleasure, reaching out to grip her ankle, making sure she wouldn’t leave him as he slipped back into the ship.
“The beacon!” Elodie jerked and his hand tightened on her leg. Gunner rose to his feet as she moved to look around for the gadget as if it would magically appear.
“Let me check,” he told her and went back to the wreckage. He found the gadget against the wall. Elodie was behind him when he turned around. She grabbed it from his hands and flipped it back on. He felt the signal come off it immediately and the static noise refilled his ears.
