“My sentiments exactly,” Ontarii grunted softly.
“That creature must have shorted something out on the other side.” She pulled back the midsection foil to reveal burnt connections. “Yep. This thing is fried.”
Brook stood up, dusting off her knees. “I don’t have the means to repair it here, and even if I did, I’m not an engineer.”
Ontarii scowled down at her. “There has to be another way out of this room.”
Brook shook her head. “Unless you want to crawl down through the engine to the rear ventilation hatch. We’d have to avoid the energy module on the way down. If we made it past the module, the rear hatch is less than half a meter wide and I don’t know if you could squeeze through it.”
Ontarii’s expression straightened. “Get me there and I’ll make it through.”
“Even if we make it into the hatch, we’d have to crawl through several meters of ventilation shaft until we could get back to the cargo bay.”
“I said I’ll make it. Stop wasting time and start climbing.”
Brook’s hands settled on her hips as she glared up at her companion. “Look, I realize that you’re used to commanding an army of soldiers, but on this ship, I’m the captain. So stop giving orders and start taking them, or there’s no way we’re gonna make it out of this room alive.”
The alien’s mouth opened as if he were going to say something, but he didn’t. His face was as dark as a storm cloud, and his coloring was brightening to canary yellow.
Unexpectedly he laughed. His skin faded back to a light green and he shook his head, closing his eyes and pressing his hand to his face. “Understood, Captain. Lead the way.”
Brook was shocked by the quick turnaround. Her heart froze in her chest when he smiled, revealing even, white teeth, and a surprising dimple on his left cheek. He was even more attractive than before.
Focus, Brook!It took a minute to follow her inner voice’s command, but she finally pulled herself together.This is absurd.I’m about to make a dangerous climb through the ship’s engine with an alien who’s clearly a maniac. What else could go wrong?
She should have known never to ask that question, even if she didn’t say the words out loud. At that moment the ship shifted, shaking back and forth and emitting a loud groan.
“The ship is trying to break the tractor lock.” Ontarii’s face turned grim, all humor lost.
“We better hope they don’t,” she said, slipping under the railing to climb down the small ladder into the engine works. “If they kick on the propulsion, it’s all over. We’ll be burned to a crisp.”
Like Alvarez.Sadness rushed through her at the thought.
“Let’s move,” the major barked.
Brook ignored the desire to snap back and simply hopped off the bottom of the ladder and onto a narrow ledge that circled the outside of the engine. Faster-than-light travel depended on a high-energy source. Her ship ran on fusion power, and although the elements that were used in the fusion process were well shielded, the energy output itself could not be, which meant that during propulsion, this entire room was essentially a ball of energy.
She was careful to tiptoe around the ledge, making sure she didn’t slip. One false step and she’d fall into the core. Although she tried not to look down, she couldn’t help herself. She blinked away from the fusion generator itself, then noticed a small piece of fabric lying next to the generator.
It was a piece of Alvarez’s uniform. Scorched around the edges, it was the only evidence left of her crewmember’s demise.
Brook bit her lip and tried to concentrate on her steps, but her limbs had started to shake.Get ahold of yourself. If you don’t calm down, you’ll never make it out of here alive.
Halfway around the circular enclosure, Brook squatted and pointed to the next step in their progress.
“There,” she said, indicating a shelf that was about two feet long and a foot wide. “We need to step there so we can swing over to that ledge.”
Ontarii frowned. “That isn’t much space.”
Brook shrugged. “It’s all we’ve got.”
She took hold of the one-inch rim around the landing and used her upper-body strength to support her as she stretched her legs out to reach the shelf. Once her feet were there, she pushed off, then slammed into the wall above the shelf.
For a scary second she thought she might slip. There was nothing to grab on to along the slick surface of the wall. But after a moment her balance kicked in and she was able to steady herself. The next part was slightly terrifying. She had to grab a bar that hung about a foot above her head, then slide along it to jump to a platform along the other wall.
As easy as the monkey bars in kindergarten, she thought wryly.
“What’s the holdup?” Ontarii asked, his face a mask of impatience.
