“I’mbusy, Yan.”
Behind them, Jesi made a mad dash towards the computer. TheNicaeatoo furious and distracted with Iris and Yan, and was already stretched too thin to pay her any serious attention. Still, Jesi carved away the few vines that did make it towards her. “Here?” she shouted to Iris, holding the pulsar blade like a stake.
“You’re the engineer,” Iris yelled back, slashing at the vines that were now coming with a newfound vengeance. “Just stab the thing,please—” Before he could finish, a vine, having somehow survived through both the pulsar blade and Yan’s femurswinging, pierced cleanly through Iris’s calf. He cried out in pain and dropped to one knee. “Jesi,hurry!”
NOT SO FAST, CHI—
Jesi squeezed her eyes shut and plunged the pulsar blade into the terminal. In an instant, the hangar lit up with waves of bioluminescence, and every vine spasmed and went taut. In the next moment, everything fell limp. The few fungi that were still glowing were providing too little light. Iris collapsed to the ground and panted through the pain; his trousers were wet with fresh blood where the vine had punctured his leg. It had recoiled with the surge, and now the blood flowed freely.
All in all, not bad, VIFAI said.Could have nicked an artery.
With a moan, Iris got to his feet. He kept his weight off his wounded leg as much as possible.Could have also missed.
TheNicaeawas dead around them. No pulse resonated under his feet. Time was short. The ship would jump to a different brain if it needed to and begin its hunt again. Iris prayed the reprieve was enough for Yan and Jesi to reach the airlock. He took a shaky step, but the moment his wounded leg left the ground, he gasped in pain and toppled forwards. He fully expected to make contact with the ground, but instead, Yan’s arms caught him mid-fall. When Iris found his feet, the engineer instantly let go. “No touching, I know. Sorry,” Yan muttered and took a step back.
“Can I pull it back out?” Jesi yelled in the near darkness.
“Yes.” Iris’s voice was barely loud enough to reach her, but in a second, the faint glow of the pulsar blade lit up her face. “Yan, we better force the door open, like you did with the maintenance room. I don’t know how much time we have before the ship comes back. It sounded pissed.” By the second part of Iris’s sentence, Yan was already halfway to the fuse box, trying to pry it open.
“Here.” Jesi shoved him aside and cut through the lid. “Let me. My hands are smaller.” She got to work with the steady determination of someone who had been in these situations as a mainstay. “Still fewer bodies than my candidacy exams,” Jesi muttered as she got to work.
Keep listening for theNicaea, Iris told VIFAI.Let me know if she pings you.
Oh, you’ll know.
That much was true. Iris’s brain stem pulsed with a low ache, and he rubbed the nape of his neck gingerly. There was no time to rest, no time to even sit down and close his eyes. They were half a step ahead of death. They had no luxury of slowing down. Iris leaned his throbbing left shoulder against the wall and lost consciousness for just a moment. Long enough to recover the smallest bit of usable energy, not long enough for anyone to notice.
When he opened his eyes, Yan was staring at him, but still instructing Jesi on which wires to strip and how to connect them in the right pattern. He patted her on the shoulder as if to say,you got this. “Do you need a moment, Vessel?”
Vessel.Vessel.After everything, it was still professional titles and feigned concern. Iris shook his head. “I’m quite all right. I’ve had worse.”
Your blood pressure is dropping, VIFAI said.Fast.
There’s nothing we can do about that now.
“You look like shit,” Yan said.
Iris looked over Yan. A rogue vine had cut him across the left temple, and blood was still flowing, blinding one of the engineer’s eyes in the process. Wild strands of hair stuck to the sweat along his face and neck. There was a darkened bruise on his cheekbone, where the vines had held him too tightly. Iris would never have the chance to trace that cheekbone now. Withgrowing desperation, he made a point to memorise every line, every smear of dirt on Yan’s face. It could have been so different if only they had met under more favourable circumstances. There could have been time for familiarity to flourish. So much so, that maybe Yan could have grown to call Iris by his name. But if Iris were to have nothing or this, he would choosethis, however momentous and violent. It had still been a gift, a beautiful reminder that life could have been entirely different, that there were people in the world who, despite his peculiarities, wanted to be around him.
“Thank you,” Iris said and gave Yan the smallest of smiles.
“Aha!” Jesi cried out victoriously and took a step away from the fizzling fuse box. The door to the corridor slid open, only to get jammed midway. “Go. Now. I don’t know how long it’ll stay open.” She leapt first through the doorway; Yan followed.
Iris hobbled after them, half hoping the door would crash on top of him, and he would finally be able to rest. “Yan, can you get to the airlock?”
The engineer nodded.
Iris limped towards him and grabbed a handful of his shirt, now torn and muddied. “Listen to me,” he hissed, pulling Yan down to his level. “Take Jesi and get to that airlock. You still have Ordan’s radio. When you get inside, break the fuse box. TheNicaeawon’t be able to pry it open, no matter how she tries.” For a single breath, Iris had to lean against Yan for balance. To pull away was the hardest thing he’d ever done. “I’ll distract the ship long enough so you can call Station. They’ll be able to track your radio from there and to the right airlock. Wait there until extraction. Donotcome back. Do not letanyonecome back. Understood?”
Yan was silent. His eyes traced the outer edges of Iris’s face, never meeting his eyes.
Please, please, please just go.
I can hear you.
With a subtle pleading in his voice, Yan said, “You promised. You said when this was over, you’d—”
“Understood? Go.Run.Don’t look back.” Iris gave the engineer a strong shake.
