Off Planet

by Aileen Erin

  Eventually, we stopped in front of a door. Ahiga tapped in a code, and it swung open. The room beyond was split into two sections by a counter. The space in front of the counter was empty. Beyond it a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit packed with gear—clothes, weapons, and other odds and ends— covered the walls. A small robot floated in front of them, ready to zoom to work on command.

  All the clothes on the shelves were navy, which was much more my color than the diner uniform’s teal or the noxious orange prisoner gear, and I’d be getting something other than the pajamas I’d been wearing for the last two weeks while traveling. Both were good news. Wins.

  A man stepped away from the counter, giving me a once over. His brown hair was shaved close to his head, and his eyes were a clear-glass blue. After a long second, he turned to Ahiga, and I was glad his attention was off of me. The way he took in each part of me made me think he might’ve noticed what I was.

  “Hey, man. Long time no see.” They exchanged a head nod, handshake thing. “Who’re you bringing to visit me?”

  “We’re gonna need full worker gear for her, Matthew.” Ahiga’s chin jutted in my direction.

  “What’d you do to land work detail?” He crossed his arms as he gave me another stare.

  “None of your business,” I said because it was exactly that. I didn’t want word getting around about how I punched the son of SpaceTech’s CEO, especially when I didn’t know what the base was going to be like.

  Matthew’s fingers moved quickly through the air in a series of gestures before he focused on me again. “I don’t have much women’s gear on hand. I’ll give you what I have and the smallest size of everything else.”

  That didn’t sound promising. “What is he talking about? No women’s gear?”

  “When I was here last, I was busy with the training, but I didn’t see many women,” Ahiga said. “That still the case?”

  Matthew waved his hand back and forth. “Eh. It’s still mostly men here. We have a couple females on detail in the kitchens. One woman medic. A couple here and there throughout the base.” He swiped his finger through the air. “You’ve been slated to the red zone. I need to grab you a suit, too, but I don’t keep those in here. I’ll get it to Tyler before morning. He’s the guy you’re going to be working with.”

  “Okay.” I assumed I wasn’t going to need it before then anyway. I was doing much better, but I still wasn’t up to my normal strength. I needed that twenty-four hours before I started working.

  The bot stopped collecting stuff from the cubbies.

  “This is it.”

  Matthew patted the mound of navy material the bot had collected—one pair of pants, two shorts, one shirt, three tanks, three socks, a pair of flimsy running shoes, one bra, a few pairs of underwear, and one bag labeled toiletries. A duffle sat next to it. I moved before Matthew could. I didn’t want him touching my underwear. The way he was looking at me—assessing my every move—made me uncomfortable enough as it was.

  I shoved everything in and pulled the drawstring, ready to get gone as soon as I could.

  “One last thing. Wrist unit. This one’s totally archaic, but it comes loaded with info on the base, unstable areas to avoid, your work schedule, and you might get updates from your supervisor. If I had a spare contact lens, I’d give it to you, but I don’t. This’ll have to do.” He said it like it was a challenge.

  If he thought I was going to argue with him, he was wrong. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

  I never would’ve traded in my old wrist unit for the implant and contact lens if I’d had a choice. Maybe I could even get the base medic to remove the implant. I didn’t love the fact that the stupid thing was still lodged inside my finger even if it was inactive.

  “I’ve linked the unit to your SpaceTech tracker, which has an odd signal, but I got it to sync.”

  “Thanks.” I hadn’t even felt the chip since Ahiga injected it into my arm. I couldn’t feel any signals from it. I wondered if it was some sort of Aunare tracker, but from what I knew, they didn’t implant any tech at all.

  “Mm-hmm. You make it the year, you can go get yourself a new contact lens, or even get a full lace.” Matthew smiled at me, but his words didn’t ring true at all. The way he kept talking about my implant—or lack thereof—made me wonder what he knew about me.

  There was an awkward silence as I looked back at Ahiga. He gave me a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of his head.

  He didn’t know what Matt’s deal was either. I grabbed the wrist unit and fumbled with the clasp.

  “Come on,” Ahiga said. “I’ll show you to your bunk.”

  I hefted the duffle onto my shoulder and followed Ahiga through the doors without a backward glance. I wanted to ask Ahiga what Matthew’s deal was, but I couldn’t. Not with cameras watching our every move.

  The duffle was much heavier than it looked, but maybe that was just because I was still working through all the cryo drugs. I still felt like my feet were dragging, and I promised myself I’d take a nap as soon as I found my bed.

  We continued through a series of endless gunmetal gray hallways and stairwells, all with polished concrete floors. Besides the gray, the only other color I’d seen so far was the white letters and numbers on different doors. No bright colors. No vegetation. Nothing that could fool anyone into thinking that they were anywhere other than a SpaceTech work facility.

  The only thing that changed depending on our location was the temperature. The stairwells were unbearably hot. Then we’d enter a level of the base, and it’d cool down a bit. I’d heard that it smelled like sulfur out there, but from inside, thankfully, I couldn’t smell it.

  We went up three flights of stairs, my feet clanging on the metal steps. At the top, Ahiga placed his hand on a scanner, then started pushing buttons. “The map on your wrist unit will help you figure out what they mean, but WQ361 is the women’s quarters. It says here you’ll share the space with seven other women, although there’s room for more should the need arise.” He paused his motions. “All right. Hand here.”

  When I didn’t move fast enough, he grabbed my right hand and pressed it to the scanner. The energy passed through me, making my teeth ache. There was a series of beeps, and then it was quiet.

  “Okay,” he said as he dropped my wrist. “You’re good to go. You’ll only have access to the areas that you’re approved for. Restrooms. The mess. Women’s quarters and their adjoining baths. And Cargo Bay One. That’s where you’ll need to report in the morning.”

  Ahiga placed his palm on the door again. A screen lit up, saying that it was alerting anyone inside that someone was coming in, and gave a thirty-second countdown.

  I gave him a questioning look.

  “I’m a man opening the women’s quarters. I have the rank to go into almost any room on this base, but it gives those inside a warning if they need to cover up.” After a minute, there was a series of clicks and beeps before the lock clanked. He swung the door open. “Welcome to your new home.”

  The room was bigger than I expected. Ten bunk beds ran along opposite walls, all of them gray metal with gray sheets and blankets. A few had clothes and personal items strewn over them, giving the room its only hint of life. Thin mattresses were rolled up on the others, resting against the heads of the beds.

  At the end of the room was a doorway, but no actual door. Beyond it was a row of sinks with a mirrored wall above them. I figured the bathroom had to be somewhere past that—hopefully showers, too. I needed one desperately. The smell coming off of me wouldn’t help me make any friends.

  The room wasn’t much, but it was clean and open, which meant it was already light-years better than prison.

  Aside from the things in the room, it was empty. “Where’s everyone?”

  “It’s dinner time. They’ll be in the mess, but I bet you’re not hungry?”

  I shook my head. Maybe it was the heat or the stress of trying to absorb everything about the base as quickly as I could, but I had zero
appetite.

  “It usually takes a day or two after cryo before you’re back to a normal eating schedule. The chambers keep you well stocked with cals to get you through the trip. They always overdo it a bit, and with your reaction to—”

  “Can they hear us?” I asked, cutting him off before he gave away any of my secrets.

  “Against company policy to record in areas where there are bathrooms and changing areas.” He motioned to the other room. “Entrances to the quarters are watched, but once you’re inside, you’re okay.”

  Well, at least SpaceTech wasn’t totally pervy. Now that I was alone with him, I had one big question. “What is it that I’m supposed to be doing exactly?” Matthew had said I was red-zoned, but what did that mean?

  Ahiga wouldn’t look at my face, and that was starting to freak me out. “What?” It didn’t matter what job I had, I’d get through it. I had no other choice.

  He rubbed his stubbly cheek. “You’re going to be on the tarmac and roadways outside.”

  “Doing what?” I didn’t know anything about directing airships, but I was pretty sure that was done from a control room inside the base. For everything else, there should be bots.

  “Icing them down, apparently.”

  I laughed. Was that a joke? “I’m sorry, I thought you said I’d be icing down the tarmac and roadways?”

  “Affirmative.”

  It made zero sense. “Don’t you have bots for that? And hovering vehicles? Do you even need roadways? And what good does icing them down do anyway, when the whole freaking planet is lava? If they wanted a more stable place to put a base, they shouldn’t have built here.” I was out of breath by the time I finally stopped my rant, but I honestly couldn’t come up with a more stupid job if I tried.

  “Yes, there are bots for icing. Yes, the vehicles hover. And, no, we don’t actually need this job to be done. The ships are much faster on smooth roadways, which can mean the difference of getting out of someplace quickly, but they can get around just fine on any surface.”

  I had to be missing something. “So why was I assigned this if it isn’t even necessary?” I was fine cleaning toilets or scrubbing pots in the kitchen or any other menial task, but risking my life out on the surface for something that didn’t even matter? That wasn’t even needed?

  The glow started small at first but quickly turned into light-show Maité.

  “Shit.” Ahiga went to the door and messed with the control panel, hopefully locking it, but I didn’t care.

  I sat down on the edge of the closest empty bunk. “I can’t believe this.” I shouldn’t have been so surprised and pissed off, but I was. I’d honestly thought Jason was going to have me cleaning toilets with a toothbrush, but to risk my life—

  “According to the report on file, all the bots have been called in for maintenance.” His face was getting a red tinge to it as he answered, but his words remained calm. “Indefinitely.”

  I wanted to scream with frustration. “Is Jason trying to kill me in the quickest, stupidest way he can?”

  “Very possibly.” Ahiga’s jaw ticced.

  None of this made any sense to me. “Why ship me here just to kill me? He could’ve done that on Earth.”

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure he has a reason, and whatever it is, we’re not going to like it.”

  “I don’t think I like any reason for me dying.” This was more than iced. For one blessed moment when I stepped off the ship, I’d actually thought that maybe he’d stashed me here so that my father wouldn’t blow up their primary fuel source. But I’d been so unbelievably wrong and stupid for thinking that.

  When my father found out about what I was doing, he’d lose his mind. I had no doubt that it wouldn’t be long before someone purposefully leaked it to him. Jason might even be goading my father into starting the war. “How quickly can you get me shifted to another work detail?”

  “I’m already working on it. My first request to the CO was immediately denied. I’m going to go talk to him now. I’ve messaged Declan, but it might be a bit before he hears. I got an automessage that he’s in cryo right now.”

  This was all kinds of messed up. I was going to be working on the surface of hell. Fine. But Declan needed me to survive for a month, maybe more, and I wasn’t sure that was possible with that job. Even in a cooling suit. I wasn’t sure I could survive a week out there.

  “Did Declan say when he’d be out of cryo?”

  “No. He didn’t say when he went into cryo, when he’d get out, or where he was headed, and before you ask, no. We didn’t get a chance to regroup once we got your sentence. After you were arrested, Roan leaked the footage of the diner and—”

  “Roan did that? I thought Declan had.” When Officer Perez mentioned that the footage went viral, I hadn’t understood how or why, but I assumed it was something Declan or maybe even Jason had done.

  “Roan thought it might help you. He did it before running with your mom, his mom and sister, and Jorge. Declan caught up to them while you were in jail. He planned to get them somewhere safe and then head to wherever you were sent, but he didn’t leave word via our normal lines. I don’t know why the hell—” Ahiga squatted down in front of me and reached for my hand. I gave it to him.

  I’d helped him before, and now he was here for me. At least I had one friend here. That was something to be thankful for. I focused on that and tried to calm the glowing with my breaths.

  He continued. “This work detail assignment is coming from Jason, and since I was denied the transfer so quickly, I have to think that the base’s CO is in the know. I don’t think I’m going to have any luck changing it.”

  “So what then? I’m screwed until Declan gets me out of here somehow? So weeks? Maybe a month?” I didn’t think it’d be possible to sweat more than I already was, but I was wrong. “I’m going to die.” My heart was pounding out of my chest, and if I’d had any food in my stomach, I would’ve thrown up. “Jason’s going to send me out there to burn to death.” I’d dreamed about that during cryo. It had been awful, but I knew that when it actually happened, it was going to be way worse. The walls were closing in on me, and it wasn’t just the heat that was making me dizzy.

  Ahiga grabbed my shoulders and gave them a good shake. “You’re not going to die. You’ll have the suit. I’ll go back to Matthew and check it myself.”

  “What’s Matthew’s deal? Does he have anything to do—?”

  “Matthew doesn’t have any say over the work detail assignments. Something was definitely wrong with him today, but you don’t have to worry about him. He monitors all the supplies on base, and because he does that, he knows everyone that comes and goes through here. He used to be Elite IAF, but he got hurt a while back and scored this cushy job.”

  “Does he know what I am?”

  “He doesn’t know anything, and even if he guesses, it doesn’t matter. You’ll never run into him again. The good news—and it might be the only good news here—is that you really shouldn’t ever see any SpaceTech officers. They’re watching, but they only pop in if someone isn’t doing their job.”

  “So the Tyler that I’m working with isn’t an officer?”

  “No. He’s a convict.”

  At least I wouldn’t have to deal with any officers. I was trying desperately to see the bright side of this, but every time I thought about the job I was supposed to do here, the more I wanted to run. Except there was no place to run to. There was no escaping the base. I was hundreds of light-years from the nearest colony. The only thing on this planet was the base.

  I was stuck. I might not be in a cell anymore, but I may as well have been.

  “You gotta stop freaking out on me. You’re going to be okay. If something starts going bad out there, you come in. Simple as that.”

  I snorted. There was no way Jason would’ve assigned this job for me if it was going to be that easy, but there was no easy way out of this, no matter how much I wanted it.

  “I’m going to figure s
omething out,” Ahiga said. “We just got here. Give me time to work on the CO.”

  What a load of shit this was. Just being on Abaddon was dangerous, but I never—not in my wildest dreams—thought my job here was going to be this asinine.

  “Here’s what you’re going to do.” Ahiga stood up. “You take a shower. You had a hard trip here, so just try to calm down, and then you go to sleep. But don’t skip breakfast in the morning, okay? Your body is going to need all the calories it can get tomorrow, and drink as much water as you can stand so you stay hydrated out there. Water will also help you flush out the rest of the cryo drugs.”

  “Thanks for the tip.” That came out shittier and snappier than I wanted, and I winced. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize. That’ll just piss me off. Pick a bunk and get settled. The glow is lessening, but it needs to get gone before your bunkmates get back.”

  I took a breath in for a count of six. “I’ll work on it.”

  “Good. And check your wrist unit for where to go in the a.m. Don’t be late. I’ll find you when I have news.” Ahiga didn’t wait for me to say anything before spinning on his heel. The door slammed behind him.

  I wanted to run after Ahiga and ask where he was staying, but it didn’t matter. He was an officer here. If they separated the workers from the officers, then it might be a while before I saw him again. He was here to help me, but I couldn’t lean on him too hard or else his cover would be blown.

  I strode down the line of bunks. I didn’t really care which one I had. There were plenty available, so I threw my bag down on a lower one and sat.

  The detail I’d been assigned was total bullshit. Maybe the suits would be enough to keep me alive out there, but Jason had clearly gone out of his way to put me on tarmac detail. Something told me my chances of survival weren’t great.

  So I had to think of something. I stood and started pacing up and down the aisle between the bunks. Now that I was here, the insane idea of going on mining runs sounded less and less crazy. Roan said he thought he could do it, and if he could, then…