Off Planet

by Aileen Erin

  She looked around the room, her cheeks turning pink. There were criminals in here, sure. But most were good people who’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. People who had been taken advantage of.

  “I get it. We’re all here for one reason or another. Maybe some of you were convicted of a real crime, or maybe you’re like me. Maybe you didn’t do anything wrong. Maybe SpaceTech is using you.”

  There were a lot of nods.

  Okay. Okay. This I could work with. “We all know how bad it is on Earth and that the company doesn’t really give a shit about us down there. I shouldn’t say anything about it since we all know that they’re watching us—waiting for the chance to exploit us a little more—but it’s not like my job here can get much worse.” I shrugged. “On Earth, Santiago and I were part of the ABQ Crew. SpaceTech called us a gang or vigilantes, but really we just looked out for those who needed help in our community. I believe that if we’re not happy with how our lives are going, it’s up to each and every one of us to change. To make a difference. Our motto was Survivors Together, because only together will we overcome the hell that SpaceTech has brought into our lives.”

  Doing something that had meaning would offset my stupid job. It balanced things out. “I used to teach martial arts on Earth. I’d be happy do the same here for anyone who wants to learn. I don’t have much time off, but whenever I do, I’ll be in here. Ready to teach whoever wants to learn. Don’t worry about experience level. We’ll do everything in one big group. All you have to do is show up.”

  “What about me?” Ahiga’s deep rumble made me laugh.

  “Seriously. You want me to train you? Aren’t you Elite IAF? Don’t you know, like, twenty forms of martial arts?”

  “Yes, I’m Elite and, yes, I’ve been trained in many forms and types of fighting. But I want you to spar with me. Now.”

  I’d never sparred with anyone as well trained as Ahiga. “Why are you even here? I don’t see any other officers in the gym.”

  “Ahiga and me go way back,” Santiago said. “Ran into him last time he was here. Not a lot has changed since then.”

  “Aside from him being a highly decorated officer and you being a criminal working off a sentence?”

  “Eh.” He grinned. “Technicalities. But he comes to hang with me. I’m way better than the rest of those stuffy officer types.”

  Ahiga strode up to the ring and shoved his massive body through the ropes. “Come on.”

  I glanced around the room and spotted Matthew standing in the doorway. I looked back at Ahiga, and he nodded.

  “Don’t let him stop you.”

  “You sure?”

  Ahiga stepped closer to me. “Yes.” His voice was barely more than a whisper. “If he sees a little about what you are, then I think he might be more forthcoming. We need information.”

  “Okay.” I stepped back from Ahiga. He was big. Probably bigger than anyone I’d ever fought. He’d move slower, but he was trained. So that could come out in a wash.

  This could be fun, but dangerous. If I lost control, if I pushed myself too hard, if I gave in to my instincts, my Aunare would show.

  “We’ll stop before it becomes an issue.”

  My mouth opened to ask him what he meant, but I knew what he meant. He was thinking the same thing I was, but he was going to stop the fight before I showed too much of my hand to the watching crowd. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stop myself, but maybe hiding didn’t matter anymore. “Okay.”

  Santiago quickly headed out, and Ahiga made the first move before Santiago was clear of the ring.

  My body moved as I anticipated Ahiga, but damn it, he was fast. His fist grazed my cheek, and I spun, kicking my leg out, nailing Ahiga in the stomach.

  He caught my foot and twisted.

  I moved with it and flipped.

  I started to move faster and faster. Watching and anticipating. My body grew warm, and I felt at home. At peace as our fight became a true dance.

  I was lost in the moment and started to really let go.

  Ahiga held his arms in the air. “Done!” He yelled as he took five quick steps back and bowed.

  I froze. What? Why?

  The energy from the fight buzzed under my skin.

  Shit.

  I quickly squeezed my eyes shut.

  Six in. Three out. Three in. Six out. Four in. Eight out. Eight in. Four out. Six in. Three out. Three in. Six out. Four in. Eight out. Eight in. Four out.

  “That’s it?” Santiago said.

  I opened my eyes and looked to the doorway. Matthew lifted his chin a little before turning around.

  I shrugged and mouthed “Thank you” to Ahiga.

  “That’s it.” Ahiga’s gaze stayed locked with mine.

  And in that instant—in that one solid look from Ahiga—the click happened. My gut said to trust him, and I did.

  It hadn’t happened with Tyler or Audrey yet. Maybe it would still. But I trusted Ahiga with my life. I was lost in the dance of it, seconds away from showing my true nature, and when I would’ve pushed harder—would’ve shown everyone in the room how Aunare I could be—he stopped the fight.

  Even when trying to keep Matthew’s attention. Even while locked in a fight with me. Ahiga had kept me safe.

  Just like my mom had kept me safe. Just like Jorge and Roan had kept my secret. Just like I knew that Declan came into my life to help me, even if it’d gone sideways. Ahiga was someone I could count on, and in this place, that meant everything.

  He gave me a small, almost imperceptible nod.

  “Thank you,” I said aloud this time.

  Another small nod and he turned, ducking between the ropes, and left the room without another word.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I spent the rest of my day off teaching. At dinner, people looked at me differently. Some with respect. Some with fear. A few with disgust. But I didn’t care what anyone thought of me. Not anymore. Teaching again felt right. So I was going with that. And if Ahiga ever wanted to spar again, I was more than ready. It’d been fun to see how far I could push myself before my Aunare side kicked in.

  That night I woke up three times with nightmares. The first nightmare was bad enough that I’d rushed to the bathroom, puking up what little food I’d eaten at dinner. The scent of sulfur in my dreams had been so real, so strong…

  I felt sorry for waking up my bunkmates, but after my second nightmare, Audrey pushed the bunk next to mine close enough so that she could wake me without getting out of her bed.

  I woke up in a cold sweat just before the start of my shift, dreading putting on the suit. I threw up again before breakfast. And again after breakfast. But I showed up at Cargo Bay One on time for my shift.

  I was a shaking mess as I pulled the damned replacement suit on and stepped out into the elevator. Tyler almost had to come push me out onto the surface, but I managed to save myself that embarrassment, even if it took all my willpower to do it.

  The start of my shift was fine. I sprayed the stupid surface. I wasn’t going to let SpaceTech know how much this job was already wearing on me, but then the cooling unit in my suit broke.

  I was close to the bay elevator, so no harm was done. Barely more than a sunburn. But my second shift scared me. It meant that this wasn’t a fluke. It meant that if I’d been farther away…

  The nightmares after that were worse.

  I wasn’t sleeping and keeping food down was next to impossible. I was surviving on a diet of crumbly bread and electrolyte packets.

  The day after that, my suit held up, but I didn’t. Audrey said the lack of food was a problem, but all the throwing up was worse. An extreme case of dehydration had me spending the night in the med unit getting fluids.

  I didn’t earn a sick day for that one, but by the next morning, I felt physically okay. Audrey had given me some meds for sleep through the IV. They gave me a wicked headache, but I didn’t have any nightmares. Ahiga was on edge, threatening to send word to my father if on
e more thing went wrong.

  By my third day, I knew I had to be prepared for anything. I loaded up on as much disgusting food as I could swallow and drank more water than I thought possible before checking my suit and heading out.

  I was only ten minutes away from my second break when my suit got a crack. I’d never been so terrified. Tyler screamed through my com, yelling that he was coming for me, but I was seven hundred meters from the base. I’d thought the pain with my feet was bad on that first day, but I was wrong.

  I ended up with second-degree burns that covered most of my body, and my lungs were toast. Which meant nanos again. A heavier dose this time.

  Audrey wasn’t sure how I’d made it out alive that day, but I was stubborn. The pain kept me moving. If I hurt, then I was still alive, and I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let Jason Murtagh get the best of me.

  I was given a two-day reprieve after that round of nanos.

  The nightmares made it impossible to sleep. I was becoming a shell of myself, and only the gym and teaching helped me get through it.

  I sometimes wondered why Jason or one of his goons didn’t come after me. I honestly didn’t see very many SpaceTech officers. Ahiga had been right about that. They were busy doing their own thing. After that, I came to the realization that they didn’t need to do anything else to me. They were doing exactly what Jason wanted, and that was torture enough.

  It was one thing to face an opponent head-on, but this was something entirely different. All I could do was wait for something else to go wrong and hope that whatever it was wouldn’t kill me.

  Calling my father was looking better and better, but my rescue meant war, and I felt the weight of so many lives on my shoulders. Why should I be responsible for so many? It didn’t seem fair or right, but I wasn’t sure anything was fair or right anymore. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.

  I was living my days in two-hour chunks, concentrating on surviving to the next break or the end of my shift. The sight of the suit made me sick, and I hated—hated—everything about this stupid planet.

  Today was Tuesday—day eleven on Abaddon—with only two more days until the mining test—and I was back out on the surface.

  Sweat trickled down my face. This was my third two-hour window of the day, and it was nearly over. Only eighteen minutes left. I was watching the clock, waiting for it to tell me that I could go back inside.

  I hit the button on my arm, releasing the water spout so I could take a drink. I was going to make it without dehydrating this time.

  The hiss of the chemicals hitting the hardened crust was mind-numbing. After my second day on the job, I’d started to hear it every time I closed my eyes.

  “How’s it going out there?” Tyler’s voice came over the com. “Suit looks good.”

  I gritted my teeth. “Don’t jinx it.” A lot could happen in eighteen minutes.

  “Just stay calm. So I was thinking that I need your help.”

  “Oh yeah?” I asked, thankful for the distraction. “With what?”

  “Audrey won’t even entertain the thought of a date with me—”

  I laughed.

  “I know. I know. I can’t even take Audrey on a real date here, but I thought if Ahiga could hook me up with—”

  The alarm went off, and my heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t the dinging of the end of my shift. This was the high-pitched squealing alarm that meant something was wrong with my suit.

  “Fuck.” I dropped the hose, letting it hang at my hip as I started to run.

  Tyler had extra coolant in my suit, so it was only 97 degrees inside it, but the alarm wasn’t lying.

  “I’m grabbing my suit.” Tyler’s voice came through my helmet. “What’s it saying?”

  “E94.” The code was flashing on the display inside my helmet. “What does that mean?” It was getting hotter. It didn’t take a genius to realize I needed to hustle.

  I pushed myself—sprinting for the elevator—but I was a good hundred and fifty meters away.

  “The suit has a slow leak. Keep running. You’ll make it.”

  Mother icing shit. Not again.

  “I am.” But I wasn’t going to make it.

  My lungs were already starting to hurt from the heat—125 degrees.

  I wanted to throw up, but that would slow me down. I was already moving slow enough. The suit and the heat made it hard to move, but I pushed myself to run faster.

  I punched buttons on the arm of my suit, trying to stop the alarm, as I moved toward the elevator. I was about to lose this fucked-up game of chicken Jason was playing with me.

  “Tyler!”

  “I’m already in the elevator, baby girl. I’m on my way down to get you with a truck. You just hang in there for me.”

  After my first horrific day on the job, Tyler and Ahiga stayed up all night checking the extra suits that Matthew found to replace my melted one. Apparently, my show in the gym had convinced Matthew to be a little more helpful, but he still wasn’t spilling about the weapon.

  Still, no matter what they did, something always went wrong. Each part of the suit had too much built-in tech. Diagnostics always checked out, but the suits were remotely monitored. It was now clear that someone was watching me during my shifts and causing the malfunctions.

  The temperature was at 127. It was rising two degrees every second.

  “I’m burning up! Please tell me you’re on the surface.”

  “Almost.”

  The steam in the suit was thick and hot. The extra coolant was the only thing keeping me alive, but it was also blinding me. And it wouldn’t be long before the coolant would run out and the steam started boiling—cooking my skin.

  “I don’t know where I am anymore. The fog in here is bad.” I was moving, but I didn’t know if I was even running in the right direction anymore.

  “I can see you just fine. You’re heading straight for me. Keep moving.” His voice was calm and even. I think he thought if he was calm, I would be, too. But I wasn’t calm.

  I clawed at my helmet as I ran, hoping I was still heading the right way. “Get me the hell out of here. It’s too hot! I can’t breathe! I can’t fucking breathe!” The coolant had run out. I was screwed.

  “You wouldn’t be talking to me if you couldn’t breathe. Hang on for me. I’m there in three. Two.” Strong arms caught me as I started to trip.

  I let the weight of my body melt into him as he lifted me up. “Tyler. I can’t. I can’t. I—”

  He hopped onto one of the cargo carts with me on his lap and zoomed off. “We’re not far. We’ll get you out of that suit in a jiff.”

  “Hurry. Please. I’m frying.”

  The tears evaporated before they could roll down my cheek, and for some reason that made me even more upset. I leaned against Tyler, counting my breaths. Wishing I could get out of here. Trying to trust that I’d make it to the cargo bay, but the heat was rising with every second. It felt like fire was licking along every inch of my skin.

  The only thing I could see was the temperature readout. It rose another ten degrees, and I could hear my skin crackle as the heat rose.

  “I can’t keep doing this.”

  “No. I don’t reckon you can. We’re going to have to do something about it.” He drove the cart onto the elevator. It clanged and moaned with the added weight.

  “I’m going to let everyone down if I give up.” That’s what calling my father was—giving up. Like cheating, and gambling the lives of billions on it. And I hated it. But I didn’t want to die. And if I died, my father would start the war, and all those billions of lives would be at risk anyway.

  I whimpered as my lips cracked and the coppery taste of blood flooded my mouth.

  “You’re not giving up! You’re a goddamned fighter. We can fix all of this.” I knew he was looking at the readout of my vitals in his own helmet.

  “You’re sweet, but you don’t need to lie.” My voice came out in a rasp. I breathed in shallow breaths, to take in just enough ai
r to keep me alive, but every inhale was like breathing in embers. “I’m not your responsibility. This isn’t your fault.”

  Tyler started cussing up a storm, but I wasn’t paying attention. A wave of nausea rippled through me taking all my focus. “Gonna be sick.”

  “Shit. Don’t puke in the suit. I don’t want to clean out another one.”

  I tried to laugh, but it came out more like a croak. I’d vomited the day I’d gotten overheated and dehydrated. Puking purple electrolyte gel had been an experience I hoped I never relived.

  “Swallow it down!” Tyler was trying to make me laugh, but the fear in his voice was real and thick.

  The cart jolted under us as we entered the cooling chamber. “Five more seconds and that helmet is coming off.”

  “I don’t think I can make it five seconds.” The gray dots merged into one growing black dot as my breathing grew shallow. “Passing…” I tried to fight it, but the black dot was getting bigger. “Out…”

  “You do what you need to, and Audrey will do what she needs to save you.” I heard the words as if they were far away.

  I tried to argue, but I couldn’t make my mouth move.

  I let the darkness take me and hoped that Audrey would hold off on the stupid nanos, whatever was wrong with me this time. I’d already had enough of those little shits to last me the rest of my life.

  But when I heard my breath wheezing, I knew that I wasn’t going to be that lucky. Not today.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  I came awake screaming.

  “Maité. Please,” Audrey’s voice pleaded with me. “You have to stop yelling. There are patients down the hall. They’re going to hear you.”

  I couldn’t stop, but I was running out of air. My back arched off the table.

  “We gotta hold her down or she’s going to fall,” Tyler said.

  “I don’t know where to touch her. She’s burned everywhere.” Ahiga’s voice was sharp and fierce.

  The air felt cold around my naked body. “Hurts.” I sobbed. “Hurts.”