"I'll support whatever you decide," I tell her.
Then we are choking again.
When it lets up she looks at me, looks at the slime and his flipper hand poised over the controls and rises. There's a stillness about her and a calculation in her eyes that makes me think this woman is dangerous.
The exact type I want on my side.
"You're dead," she promises Right Slime.
She turns to me as they start up a round of honking laughs. "I'll see you soon," she tells me.
It's the closest anyone's come to comforting me in a very long time and I choke on the rising swell of emotion it causes.
Then she stands up, climbs back in, and engages the controls herself before the slime can do it. There's a hiss of gasses and then she is still. I stare at her sleeping form in shock.
I don't think I could make myself do it, but I admire her for taking that little bit of power away from them.
"I wonder if the captain would take a detour," says Left in a wistful tone and I take a moment to realize they are back to talking about the hunting grounds.
"I'm sure the captain is going to skirt well around the interference and we will be past the planet in a few more minutes," comments Middle. Left deflates. Literally. His mass seems to pull tighter, and he shrinks closer to the ground.
Right blows a very wet raspberry. "Don't you think the conglomerate might notice if the harem's tracking devices all turned off at the same time?"
Great. We have tracking devices.
Nothing about this news is a surprise, really. That doesn't mean hearing it feels any better. I'm distracted by the news and as a result don't move to Ruby's chamber fast enough to help her transition to her new reality. She is screaming after a moment of taking in the environment.
There is no choking gas to interrupt her.
"Delicious," moans out Middle.
I attempt to console her but she pushes me away. She falls to the floor with a sick thud, mewling in pain.
Middle is still making his disgusting noises of appreciation. Left is still whining.
"It's just such a shame to be this close and not be able to pop down to the planet. I hear the resort on the island has any sort of low-tech distraction you could ever—"
He never finishes his sentence.
The ear-splitting alarm that interrupts him makes me startle and look around wildly. The slimes move as soon as they hear it. Left and Right hustle back toward the hatch.
Middle turns to me. The strobing red lights are disorienting, but he has an expression I've never seen on them before.
"She will die if you don't get her back in," he yells at me over the sound of the alarm and Ruby's continual screeching.
A shudder rocks the ship and I believe him.
I turn to her. She's pushed back up against the base of her chamber, her fully red eyes wide and terrified. I try to move toward her again, but she's much taller than me and has horror infusing her limbs and lending her strength.
I go sprawling when she pushes me a second time.
Another shudder and the slime yells out again. "I'll leave her to die."
I scramble up, this time moving fast to get past her flailing arms. I slap her across the face as hard as I can. She stops screaming, startled.
"Stand up," I yell at her in between the sounds of the klaxon blaring.
She does and I push her with all my strength so she falls back into her cryochamber, then I barely move out of the way fast enough to avoid getting my hands crushed by the glass covering.
