I know how to survive in a spaceship, small or large, but on a planet? With weather and nasty animals that might want to eat me?
Eww, no. No thanks.
I want to live. I want to continue living, and having survived so much already, I plan on doing my best to do that. With or without Darolus. Though, now facing this strange world alone, I wish it were with Darolus. Feeling a pain arise in my chest, I try not to glance behind me at the path that will take me back to him.
I’ve always been brave, why is it hard to be brave now?
Regardless, I stomp to the ship’s side entry hatch when. Right before I touch the outside operating panel, the door shoots open and Annora comes flying out. She embraces me hard, knocking me back several steps andwooshingthe air out of me. “I thought you were dead! We searched—we all looked for you for days, except you were gone! Oh my god.” She squeezes me hard and pulls back, scanning me over and frowning. “You look really, really tired, and pale, and far too skinny but okay. Are you okay?” She peers over my shoulder. “Where’s Weston, Mickie?”
I wait for her to look back at me to slowly shake my head.
She stares at me, searching my eyes as her brows slowly furrow. “Wait… No… Wait…” Her face falls.
“Both of them are dead,” I tell Tata, lifting my chin toward her now that she’s standing right behind Annora in the shadow of the ship.
Annora buries her face in her hands and takes a step back. “No!” Tata catches her as she falls into the older woman’s arms. “No, no, no!”
With a grim expression shot my way, she leads Annora back into the ship. Glancing over my shoulder, I hesitate before following them on board. When the hatch closes behind me, a sense of anxiety I hadn’t known I was feeling dissipates, but with it, the feeling of loss grows. I follow Tata and Annora into the ship, passing by them when they stop at the inner lounge table to head for some water in the kitchen. Tata sits Annora down and gives her shoulder a long squeeze as the younger woman cries. Meeting Tata’s gaze over Annora’s head, she closes her eyes with a deep sigh.
They both look like they haven’t slept in days. It makes me wonder how bad I must appear.
“I’m glad to see you both.” I fill two cups of the ship’s recycled water for Annora and I and hand the extra to her when I meet them at the table.
“He was supposed to be right back. How?” Annora whimpers, her eyes coming back to me. “He always comes back. Are you sure? Where’s his body?”
Unlike my last two remaining crewmates, I’ve had time to process Mickie’s and Weston’s deaths. I’ve processed the loss of all my crewmates down in Darolus’s nest during the weeks I’ve been gone. Seeing them now, when I’ve already felt like I’ve said goodbye, is a relief that also fills me with confusion. My worry now is about what’s going to happen next.
I miss Blat, Weston, and Mickie. They were all good guys… to a point. Yes, Blat couldn’t get along with anyone except me, and Weston was a greedy prick and was always looking forward to the next score or ship upgrade. But Mickie always had a joke to tell despite his addictions. And his jokes were good.
They knew the work we did was dangerous, that our chances of retiring into old age were slim.
Part of me feels bad for not caring more… until I remember how many people I’ve lost over the years and how messed up my life has been. What I do care about is for those of us still alive. I care about Annora and Tata and I care about…
Darolus.
Feeling the pain in my chest rise again, I rub it away, realizing I still have Darolus’s necklace on me. Clasping it, I close my eyes, praying he’s okay and that I… haven’t seen the last of him.
Now that I’ve found The Wreck and Tata and Annora, maybe I’ll take a chance on going back to him. Maybe he’ll give me a chance to explain more…
I unload the few objects I’d taken from Mickie’s and Weston’s bodies and place them on the table. Annora cries harder seeing Weston’s silver lighter. She curls her fingers around it and brings it to her cheek. “What are we going to do now?” she whines.
Tata sits heavily in the chair next to her. “Nothing has changed since they left, only now we have Sabrina back.”
I look down at them and cross my arms. “I’m really sorry.” Seeing them like this hurts.
Annora wipes at her cheeks. “How did they die?”
My lips part then close, then they open again. Lifting up my shirt, I reveal the two alien guns sitting in the lip of my pants. Taking them out, I slide one to Annora and Tata. “They died trying to save me and they died for these. For you,” I add, trying to lighten Annora’s burden without fully revealing the nature of what happened.
Darolus, Melsya, and the other nagas have been hiding for longer than I know and I made a promise not to tellanyone about them. Though I don’t think Annora or Tata would ever have reason to use the information against the nagas, I can’t be certain. I’d rather not take the risk.
In stifling silence, both Tata and Annora reach for the guns.
“I found these and then I got trapped under the ground,” I lie. “I managed to stay alive because I had access to water and…” my words trail off when I think back on the bugs at the beginning and stick out my tongue. “Weston and Mickie… I heard them and they… they saved me, but when they came down to get me, they wanted to retrieve the rest of the weapons as well?—”
“There’s more?” Tata’s eyes widen on the gleaming silver gun.
I shake my head again. “No, these are all that I managed to get out. One for each of you, to keep or to use as a bartering chip with Mr. Whicker. Whatever suits you. As far as I know, these weapons are worth a lot?—”
