When the system finishes healing her, it begins a round of modifications that improve circulation with red lights and nutrient-packed needles.
Aera lets out a quiet noise with her next breath, telling me she’s waking up.
“Stay still. It’s almost done repairing you.”
Once the repair program completes, I ease Aera’s head back to the bed, move the arm into the wall, and then sort through the emissary’s private stash of consumables in another cabinet. I grab a wristband IV and a booster dose, then return to Aera’s side.
“I’ve got to take your armor off so I can give you some meds, okay?”
Aera rolls her head on the bed but doesn’t respond. So I do what I must and remove the top half of her StarJumper’s suit. Wrapping the band over her wrist, I slip the booster vial into the additional slot. It thrusts pale green medicine into the IV fluid, but it will help revitalize her.
After covering her with a blanket, I climb through the tilted ship to the smashed nose. Navigation still shows no one in the area. But there’s an outpost not far from our position. There is no additional information except a flickering image and a message:No personnel detected.
Abandoned?
I shake my head.Another time.
Walking through the ship, I gather the necessary supplies to survive for a few days and stash them in the room with Aera. I check on her, then I pack up the weapons I can and lower the ramp as far as it will go. I need to do a patrol of the surrounding area to make sure we’re safe to stay where we are for now.
The sun sets beyond a distant forest as I close up the ramp. I circle the ship at a distance, marching through thegrasses, looking for wildlife, sinkholes, cliffs, Solcrue drones, and anything else out of the ordinary. But this world is quiet.
A soft breeze ripples over the grasses in a susurrus that soothes me like the sensation of Aera’s fingertips gliding over my face. It is a different stimulation, but it brings similar peace.
The night sky fills with stars. I see no ship thrusters, no glints of metal hulls racing around the world, hunting us. As far as I can tell, we are alone on an abandoned planet.
Maybe no one will ever come. Maybe this is it.Just us, an outpost, and a busted ship. A chance at a simple life.
I look down at a soft buzz as a fat little bug with iridescent wings leaves a flower and hovers off toward the forest for the night.
I want so badly to believe it. And, for a long breath, I close my eyes and pretend this is my life. But programming invades everything I enjoy.
Aera needs to get better. I have to find a way to get her off of this empty world so she can find Xiphos and save our kinds from the Solcrue.
I hope Toriszi survived.
A weighted sigh escapes me as I force myself to trudge the rest of the patrol circle back to the ship. Hiking inside, I close the ramp, check on Aera to find her still sleeping, and then make my way to the cockpit.
I begin running ship diagnostics and making a list of things I need to repair. As quietly as I can, I get to work on the most critical systems first. When I can’t keep my eyes open any longer, I walk into the room where Aera sleeps and consider climbing into bed with her.
I can’t. She has not given me permission.I will not treat her like a Solcruean.
I take a familiar seat across the walkway from the foot of the bed so I can keep an eye on her. Then I lean my head against the wall and close my eyes.
Through the watery shadows of rest, Aera appears, leaning over me. Her lips find mine. Heat rises in my body. And she smiles like she knows what’s happening to me.
You wear your heart on your body, don’t you? Whatever you’re thinking is visible to everyone.
I don’t know if it’s what I think she would say or if it’s what my deepest fear is. Vandal would agree with her. But when she straddles me in my mind, I stop caring just to lose myself in her blue eyes.
A sharp noise cuts through my dream.
I wake up to find my head resting in my palm and my elbow on the armrest of the chair. I look up to see Aera has curled onto her side and shivers under the blanket.
I’m out of my seat and walking to her before I can consider if I can even be of any comfort to her.
“Aera?”
“Evo.” Her voice shakes. She reaches for me. “Take it off.”
