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“Take shallow breaths and stay as still as possible.”
“That’s bull. It must be an error. I haven’t been out here long.”
“You’ve been missing for hours.”
Her eyes widened, and she sucked in slow steady breaths. “What in the hell is going on?”
“You tell me. You’re the one floating into deep space.”
“I only wanted a five-minute spacewalk,” Nell said. “After completing my...”
“Completing what?”
“Oh, balls,” Nell breathed out as some of the fog in her head cleared. “Rane, I’ve done something terrible.”
Her mind felt like it was tearing in two. Part of her was convinced she’d done the right thing. She had to jam open the docking bay doors and plant those explosives. The other part was screaming at her that this was insane. What right-minded person stuck explosives to the side of a space station and then floated off into space?
“Nell, you need to tell me what’s going on.”
“I’ve finally lost my mind. Just like all my therapists said I would if I kept pushing so hard.”
“You haven’t. You’ll be fine. Do you know anything about the problems with the docking bay on Prodigy?”
Nell squeezed her eyes shut. It couldn’t be true. She couldn’t have sabotaged Prodigy. “Message back to Prodigy. Let them know the docking bay doors have been disabled from outside the station. And there are two explosive devices on either side of the doors.”
“What the... how do you know that?”
“I bloody well put them there. Hurry. There’s not much time.” Nell flinched and flipped onto her back as the memories slammed into her.
She was in her therapist’s room. Doctor Kingsbury was talking to her and telling her about the explosives. Doctor Non stood to one side, his expression blank.
“Nell, your heart rate is elevated. Try to stay calm.”
“Easier said than done. Get me out of here.” She opened her eyes, and the expanse of space no longer looked welcoming. It looked deadly.
“I’m two minutes away. I’ll get to you.”
She turned and saw a tiny shuttle heading in her direction. It seemed too far away. Rane would never get to her in time. If he did, she’d have to explain what she’d done, and she had no clue how she could. Why the hell had she set explosives on Prodigy?
Her head pounded. She remembered Doctor Kingsbury saying the same words to her over and over again. Remember the code, plant the explosives, and float away. She’d repeated it until Nell believed her.
Nell shuddered in disbelief. Doctor Kingsbury had made her do this. She’d implanted the belief that she needed to attack Prodigy and then float off to a certain death.
Doctor Kingsbury was supposed to help her, not destroy her. The panic she’d been forcing back rammed through her. “Rane, I really need you right about now.”
“I’m one minute away. Hold on tight. I’ve got you in my visual display.”
“How did you know where I was?”
“Your wrist comm. The station’s computer told me you were in the same quadrant but outside its walls. I remembered seeing a spacewalker drift by my room. I pieced it together and figured it had to be you.”
Nell made swimming motions toward the shuttle in an attempt to propel herself closer to Rane. Every single nerve fought her attempt to stay calm. Her mind felt like it would fracture every time an image of Doctor Kingsbury appeared.
“I see you. Hold steady. I’m almost there.”
“Oxygen levels at ten percent,” her suit announced.
“I know. I know. There’s no need to remind me I was almost dumb enough to kill myself.”
