Strangely, the sound of the pipes helped. His ability to affect something over his head made him think he was strong and could push the walls back. He wouldn’t let them trap him. Hold him. Starve him.
He focused on finding Ruby. His vision wasn’t the best. It was like the edges had turned white, but he searched everywhere around him as best he could.
Her name. He should be calling her name, but he couldn’t get any words out of his mouth, only disjointed sounds.
The sounds of running footsteps registered in his terrified brain. Whoever they were, they needed to stop moving. They could easily step on Ruby, injuring or killing her!
If he scared them away, his Ruby would be safe.
Another war rattle and roar.
The footsteps got closer. He tried to move toward them, but it was hard to take steps. The roaring was stealing what littleoxygen was around him, and it wasn’t keeping the walls from closing in any longer.
Nothing he was doing was working.
Four Ugarians filled the space in front of him. Part of his fractured mind recognized them, but he wasn’t capable of making use of that information. They stopped a distance from him, watching him with wide, scared eyes.
“How are we going to do this?”
“One of us could circle around through the belly passage and come up behind him.”
“And then what, subdue him from behind?”
“No, of course not. I thought the one behind him could distract him so everyone else could pile on him all at the same time.”
They talked rapidly, making it impossible for him to follow their words. He heard more footsteps but couldn’t see the new arrival behind the original four.
Then a familiar voice joined the conversation. “Damn it, you guys ran too fast! What’s going on?”
Amina?
He took a stuttering step closer to the group. They all backed away. One of them was holding something that looked like a pole. The Ugarian brought it down and pointed it at him.
“Don’t come any closer! I don’t want to kill you, but I will.”
An Ugarian behind the one with a pole spoke quickly. “We need to do something before he attacks us!”
“We could seal off the corridor and flood it with gas.”
“That wouldn’t work; this is a main hall. We’d all have to hide in one of the engine observation rooms to keep from getting hit by the gas too.”
“What about luring him into the galley? That’s easy to seal up.”
Gas? Seals? He didn’t like how they were talking. Especially if the human Amina was really here and not a figment of his panicked brain.
He took another step, determined to see the owner of the soft voice. The Ugarians all stepped back again, taking Amina further away.
No! He’d already lost Ruby, now he was going to lose Amina too.
A roar ripped out of him. The Ugarian with the pole stepped forward and jabbed it at him, as if to drive him back. He grabbed the weapon and tore it from her grip. Uncaring about the shock he received, he tossed it behind him.
“Helmen, get back!” Amina cried out, her little body pushing between the bigger Ugarians and grabbing hold of the lead Ugarian’s shirt. “Talins can—Myrum?”
Hearing her say his name did something profoundly calming deep in his mind.
He would keep her safe, and together they could find Ruby.
It would be better if he could step away from the surrounding Ugarians. Keeping his eyes on her, he sank to his knees and gestured for her to come closer.
