It took several minutes toying with the lock, but with both of them and the abandoned tools they had picked up on their journey into the innards, they unlocked the mechanism the old-fashioned way.
A cold breeze hit her in the face, along with stale air and dust.
Elodie took in a deep breath as she stepped in, seeing the array of lockers first, straight across, and the scuffed up shelving on the wall beside it. It was all so normal. So like any other ship she’d ever been on. The ping of a siren and a flashing red orb jutted out of the wall above her, and it was the only connection to the rest of the ship.
The door closed behind with a thud and she moved deeper into the space. Behind the lockers was a mostly empty storage room, and beyond that was a lounge.
“Dad, come look at this,” Elodie called. Chesnik stood up from the lock he was reinstalling on the door.
The lounge was small but luxurious compared to the brig, with one steel table and four stools rooted to the ground, and a replicator. Elodie scrambled toward it and powered it on. Her heart pumped at the prospect of food. The panel lit up and the codes and choices were all there for the world to see. She saw stars in her eyes and for a brief moment, everything was right in the universe.
“Try it,” her dad urged. They were kids in a candy shop as she coded in the machine for coffee.
It thumped and ticked, the smell of burnt dust filling her nostrils, but a gel produced itself with clear, brown liquid within. She picked it up and marveled.A food replicator.
“Well?”
She plopped it into her mouth and moaned as the fake, fabricated, magnificent taste of black coffee spilled out and over every inch of her mouth.
“Coffee,” she told him, eyes half closing in pleasure. Chesnik slapped her on the back and she let out a laugh. It startled her.
“Good thing your old man is looking out for you.”
“Yeah.” Elodie took a step back. “Yeah,” she repeated.
She followed him into a side room that was lined wall-to-wall with empty bunk beds, and back out to the door next to it that led to a small washroom.
She sank to the floor, staring at the turned-off faucet.Water. Fresh, running water.Moisture beaded her eyes and a warm arm went around her shoulder, joining her on the floor. Her tears fell like how the water would soon flow over her.
“It’s okay, Ely. It’s okay. For now, we’re safe. There’s no two better people who know how to get lost in a ship than us. We’re safe.” Tears continued to fall and she scrubbed her face. “I would’ve never left you. I would’ve found a way to get you out, regardless of the opportunity that presented itself. Luck is on our side. It always has been and it always will be.”
He tried to comfort her but it only made the floodgates open further. “That’s not it...” she began.
“You’ve never left me, not once in your entire life, not once. I’m not a great man but I sure as hell got lucky enough to have a great child. Ever since your mom died...”
“Please.” She didn’t want to hear it.
“I ran and I took you with me, forced you into a life that you should never have experienced, and for all the stress of having you there, I loved every moment. I couldn’t do what was right and leave you behind. I tried. I made all the wrong decisions, knowing it was my way of trying to run away. But when it came down to it, it wasn’t enough and I brought you along on all my bad decisions.” His hold on her tightened. “And our luck hasn’t run out. We’ll get through this too, make it off this ship, and before you know it, this’ll all be a bad dream.”
Elodie nodded, uncomfortable. The warning sounds pinged in the background. She pressed a hand into her heart and hoped it’d stop hurting—that the wariness would go away.
One drop of water emerged at the edge of the faucet and her gaze zeroed in on it. Waiting for it to fall.
“We stick together, okay?” Chesnik said. “You’ll never leave me?”
Gunner’s face, welted with bruises, swollen, staring at her with impassive, dark eyes shot to her mind.
“Never,” she whispered.
He gave her another squeeze and then stood up, bringing her with him. “It’s settled then. I’m going to crack open the replicator and see what we have in terms of reagents. You go ahead and get cleaned up, you smell like a pig.”
“As if you know what a pig smells like.” A smile tugged at her lips. “Do you really think it’ll be okay?”
“If I have any say in our fates, yeah, it’ll be okay.” He patted his newfound gun and turned to leave. Her gaze followed him until she closed the door and silence filled the space.
The only telling sign of an emergency was the flashing red light on the ceiling. Elodie stared at it as it stared back down at her.
Red like his eyes.
