I ignore that and lean slightly to the side so I can see Diaz around McCaughey’s ghost. “I’m here to help. My goal is to get everyone out alive.”
She sneers. “Right.”
“Why the fuck are you so angry with me? I didn’t give you this assignment, didn’t make you volunteer.” I pause, a horrible idea dawning. “You did volunteer, correct?” No one should be ordered into this situation.
Diaz jerks her chin up and opens her mouth.
“Diaz,” Montgomery shouts. When she looks at him, he shakes his head, tapping his helmet, and Diaz’s gaze darts to Reed, who is next to me.
Reed, however, seems oblivious. His face is sweaty and grayish in the interior lights of his helmet, which he shouldn’t really have on. But whatever. He keeps running his hands down his legs, as if attempting to dry his palms even though his gloves are on, or reassure himself that the enviro suit is still in place and protecting him.
He catches me looking at him. “What?” he snaps, stilling his hands in late-breaking self-consciousness.
“First time in a suit?” I ask.
He mumbles something, but based on the movement of his lips, one of the words is “training.”
“Just breathe normally, and try to focus beyond your helmet.” Good advice in any situation, but particularly this one. One of the primary dangers in a suit for a first-timer is focusing on thefaceplate or the way the helmet limits your vision instead of whatever is beyond, whatever youcansee. Too easy to miss a handhold or improperly clamp a safety tether if you’re not paying attention to the right thing. In this situation, being distracted by his gear is only going to make the inevitable disorientation on theAurorathat much worse.
Reed looks over at me sharply. “I don’t need your help,” he says, enunciating each word precisely to be sure I understand.
And that, of all things, severs the leash on my temper. “Yeah, you do. You all do.” I raise my voice so they can all hear me, but I focus my gaze on Diaz. “I know you don’t want to believe me, and that’s fine. But you’re going to see things over there. Living people you love, dead family you’ve lost. Random strangers who have died in horrific ways but are still up and walking around, even when you can see their bodies on the floor. That’s how this thing—whatever it is—works. Maybe it’s a living creature that feeds on fear and confusion.”
Diaz rolls her eyes.
“Or maybe it’s some kind of weird side effect from the off-gassing of a material they used on the ship. I don’t fucking know. But it will happen. And knowing it’s not real, knowing that it’s a hallucination, will not save you. Itfeelsreal. And you’ll stop being able to tell the difference.” At least, if my experience serves.
“You have to keep your head,” I continue. “Don’t shoot at everything that moves or you’ll kill any survivors—”
“Survivors.” This time it’s Reed openly scoffing at me.
Fucker.Maybe it’s wrong, but I’m going to enjoy watching him squirm, just a little bit.
“—and blow holes in the ship that will take out the rest of us,” I finish.
Diaz glares at me like she’s dying to tell me where I can stow my warnings, but she keeps her mouth shut.
None of them say anything. The only sign I have that any of the rest of them even heard me is that they’re all very diligently avoiding looking in my direction.
They probably think I’m crazy. I’m sure they’ve been warned. That’s fine. They’ll see for themselves soon enough.
A loud beeping sounds as the airlock opens on our end of the extendable bridge. TheAurora’s cargo bay doors on the other end are already open.
No one is waiting for us.
Montgomery’s team is first over. I hold my breath, but when their lights sweep inside the darkened cargo bay, the LINA is still there. Holding to the floor. The sight of her shiny, familiar hull makes my stomach ache with homesickness.
I feel the brush of Kane’s shoulder against mine in LINA’s narrow passageways, the corresponding warmth in my chest when he smiled at me.
But I see him, standing in front of me on theAres’s deck, overlapping with McCaughey, the blend of them chaotic and disorienting. Kane waves his hand at me in an urgent gesture, as always, panic etched into his expression.
I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting until the image, memory, ghost, whatever it is, fades. I need to focus.
The airlock bridge is simply an extendable portion ofAresthat connects and seals to an entrance on another ship. Like a big see-through tunnel. A guideline runs on either side to help you move from one ship to the other.
I’ve heard of airlock bridges, but never used one before. In theory, it’s no more complicated than walking across a regular bridge on Earth. But on Earth, you don’t look down and see the infinite emptiness beneath you. All around you.
Diaz’s team is next. Most of them are already on board, opening up their crates and bags, when Reed, ahead of me on the guideline, freezes up. His panicked breathing is loud in my ears.
