The intensity of the tremors eases. “Y-yes.”
“So they couldn’t come, but they knew about us?”
I muster a hum through a fresh surge of agony in my head.
“How long do they have left?”
“D-days.”
Evo continues removing my armor until my worn shirt and cargo pants ripple in the hot air. The heat stings, and it’s wonderful.
He looks at something beside him. “Heart rate is stabilizing. Sounds like there are more humans out there in her condition.”
“Hun…” My dry mouth makes me choke on my tongue.
“You’re moving fast, Evo,” a new voice teases.
Evo wrinkles his nose above me. I can’t sort out what they’re talking about.
“How many in your colony?”
I start gagging on my dry mouth. Evo seems to realize what I need and grabs a bottle from a storage cabinet. Then he eases himself down beside me. “I’m not going to hurt you. But you need help.”
I can’t stop shivering. I was cold for far too long.
Evo props me up, slides his muscled body in behind me, and rests me back against his proud chest. Then he steadies my head with one hand, the bottle with the other, and helps me drink. It is only one bottle, but it is more than I am used to. When I start to splutter and reach a shaking hand for the bottle, he pulls it back.
“Too much?”
I gasp in air as the warm liquid soothes my throat and calms my heart.
Evo’s body is warm against mine, and it makes me sad when he lays me back again.
“Aera?” the other voice calls to me.
I languidly drag my aching vision toward a screen and see another Titan with glowing red eyes looking out at us.
“Where is your colony?”
“Deep Black, beyond the system fringe.”
“How many?” Evo asks again.
“Nine hundred when I left. More gone every day.”
He studies the tablet and reports to another voice coming through the screen of the red-eyed Titan. “About twelve hours, SunFlux flight time.”
Evo studies my tablet. “What kind of power systems do you have? Your SunFlux is not a model we’re familiar with.”
Talking hurts, but I force my ragged voice to work. My people need help. “Because it’s from Earth.”
“Right, but does it take…”
“Alkaline membrane,” I offer. “But a few of the decks have been converted.” I stop for a breath. “They take standard Solcrue Crackle Cells.”
Evo gives me an odd look like he’s never heard the term.
“Compressed Shalecor from Plutoas. The pressure makes it generate heat and electricity.” I stare up at the ceiling of the ship, impatiently wishing I could skip all the details and just get someone en route to my colony. But what they bring is important. “Solcrue utilize both thermal and electrical properties. There is some Shalecor on Earth Minor. They only started mining there because it was an easier world to house humans on. That’s why the CyberGuards were imprisoned on Plutoas, to mine the ore.”
