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“I’ve got you. I’m coming for you. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“I’m pretty worried about the fact this ship feels like it’s about to fall out of space.”

“You can fix this. Where are you on the ship?”

“The cockpit.”

“Where is your creep of an ex?”

“Out cold on the floor behind me. He hit his head when the ship flipped out of control.”

“Good. Sit in a seat in front of the control panel. To your right, you’ll see three colored bars. What levels are they at and what color are they?”

Ivy settled into the seat and scanned the control panel. “I’ve got them. They’re on level three, and they’re all red.”

“You’re looking at the ship’s stabilizers. If they’re working, they should glow green and the level should be right to the top.”

The ship lurched sharply to the left. Ivy grabbed the arms of the chair. “How do I get them back online?”

“You have to get the ship’s movements under control. It looks like you’re bouncing around out there.”

“No kidding. My stomach is doing somersaults.”

“That might have nothing to do with the ship and more to do with that other... complication we need to discuss.”

Ivy shook her head. She couldn’t deal with the thought of a baby growing inside her. “Not now.”

“Right. In front of you is the navigation system. It could be round or oval and has a cross in the center. Do you see it?”

Ivy nodded. “Got it.”

“There’s a red dot on the screen. That’s you.”

Ivy peered at the screen. “The red dot is down in the left of the circle.”

“Your mission is to get that red dot as close to the center of the cross as possible. It doesn’t need to be dead on, but once it’s close enough, you can reactivate the stabilizers. The ship’s systems are too unstable to engage them. Whatever happened when Marcus hit the control panel messed with the autopilot and stabilizers. You need to steady the ship before you can do anything else.”

“How do I steady it? What controls do I use?”

“Either side of the circle are two arrows. You use those to guide the red dot, which is you, back to the center. Go slowly. They’ll be sensitive.”

Ivy rested her fingers on the arrows and gently stroked them. The ship responded and veered to the right.

“Slowly,” Karn said.

“I am going slowly. I’m barely touching the controls.” Ivy wiped her hands on the stupid sheer fabric of her dress and tried again.

“Think of it as stroking your lover’s favorite part. You don’t want to be too rough and definitely don’t want to use your teeth.”

“Not funny.” Ivy brushed her fingertips over the arrows. This time, the ship’s movements felt smoother. The red dot on the circle shifted closer to the cross.

“That’s it. You’re heading in the right direction. We can see the ship’s movements are less erratic. A few more strokes on the arrows and then all you need to do is slide the three red bars up. If the stabilizers can come online, they will activate.”

Ivy concentrated on the arrows, continuing the feather light touch as she edged the red dot closer to the center of the cross. “I’m as near as I’m going to get.”

“Try the stabilizers.”

Ivy shifted her right hand and slid it up the three red bars. She let out a relieved sigh as they turned green.