Off Planet

by Aileen Erin

  “You ready?” Audrey asked as soon as we entered the hallway.

  “I have to be.” I wasn’t sure how I’d survived the last twelve days, but I’d made it. Today was the day I got off this insane work detail. Sure, I was trading it for suicidal mining duty, but there was no way it was worse than the job that ended nearly every day with me in the med bay.

  That mining was safer than my current job still blew me away. It wasn’t that long ago that I was trying to convince Roan how stupid signing up for the mining runs would be, and now I was just praying I could pass the test.

  That and the whole not-getting-caught thing.

  “If you don’t feel ready, you could always wait until next month.”

  The fact that she thought I could last a month was laughable. “And you think this because I’ve been doing so well during my shifts?”

  I was so drained that I wasn’t sure how I was putting one foot in front of the next. My bones felt so heavy that I wondered if they’d turned to metal. I wasn’t sleeping. Keeping food down was a real problem. I’d lost more weight than I could afford. And it’d only been twelve days.

  No. There was no way I could postpone this. “I’m going to make it work.”

  “What if you don’t pass the test?”

  I shook my head. “Not happening.”

  “But what if?”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to live long enough to give it another try.” But with how my shifts were going, that was a bit of a stretch. “But if something happens to me—”

  “I’ll be waiting to take care of you.” She sighed. “I wish I could do something more.”

  I swallowed down my nerves. “You can’t.”

  “I could—”

  “No. Don’t get drawn into something that isn’t your fight. You’re helping me enough already.” She was keeping me alive, even when I sometimes begged her to put me out of my misery. She was strong for me when I wanted to give up, and I owed her my life. I wouldn’t have survived without her.

  We made our way through the hallways to the cargo bay. Tyler was waiting for us at the front.

  “Hey, ladies.” A big grin spread across his face as he rubbed his hands together. “You ready for the big day?”

  I wished I could share his smile, but with everything going on here I could only drum up a wince. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Audrey pulled me into a hug. “Good luck. Gotta run.” She let me go and raced out of the room.

  I paused, watching her race down the hall.

  That wasn’t like her. Usually, she stuck around, flirting with Tyler, before heading to her shift in the med unit. “What’s that all about?” I asked Tyler.

  “She’s just worried for you. Come on,” Tyler said. “Let’s get you suited up.”

  My locker had expanded into five, one for each suit. Tyler also had stocked them full of electrolyte packets for my breaks, which usually got me through the end of my shift. After that, I’d head to see Audrey and get on IV until we all headed to dinner. Unless it was a day like yesterday.

  I still wore clothes under my suit, even if Tyler thought I was nuts. I wasn’t getting naked with all those bots watching. But shoes were a different story. Ever since I burned my feet the first day, I wore the suit without shoes and socks. That way I could be more aware of the heat and hopefully avoid a repeat incident. But this time, I had to leave them on. I’d need them later.

  I put one foot in my suit and Tyler came over to lean against the locker.

  He put one hand over his mouth like he was scratching his cheek before talking. “You know where you’re headed?” he whispered the question.

  I didn’t glance up. Instead, I squatted down, pretending to mess with the boot. “Cargo Bay Four,” I whispered back. “I’ll call you on my com, tell you that I’m getting dizzy. You’ll tell me to go to four. When I get there, I’ll tell Javier that I got turned around and need some water.”

  “Good. Everyone knows about what’s been happening to you. Some even have bets on how long you make it each shift.”

  I snorted a laugh. I knew they were going to be betting on it. I wished someone had at least let me in on it, but they didn’t have anything other than desserts to trade around and I wanted none of that.

  “I warned the other Cargo Bay Heads to keep an ear out for any alarms going off from our bay. I also spread the word to be on alert in case your suit malfunctions and one of them is closer. They’re all good guys and watching out for you in case of something like that.”

  I slowly stood up, pulling the suit up and over my body as I shoved my arms in it. My hands fumbled with the closure, and a bead of sweat rolled down my cheek, and I looked up at Tyler.

  “You need the bucket?”

  I swallowed hard. “I don’t think so.” I didn’t like throwing up, but I’d been doing a lot of it lately.

  “Okay. This is the last time. You can do it.” Tyler straightened. “You ready?”

  I quickly closed up the suit, powered it up, and hit the button for my helmet. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” I grabbed the belt and canister hanging beside the elevator and strapped it on.

  “I’ll be here if you need me.”

  My heart raced as I stepped up to the bay’s door. Each time I stepped into the elevator, it got harder. My whole body shook as I pushed the green button. Steam rose around me as I was briefly sealed in the cooling chamber. Then I stepped into the elevator to head down.

  Fear beat against my brain, making it hard to think about anything else but my suit failing like it always did. The idea of stepping onto the surface again went against every instinct I had, and this time I was going to be walking around the perimeter to the other side of the base.

  I’d never gone that far on foot. If I got stranded out there, it’d take precious time for someone to get to me.

  If I reached Cargo Bay Four today, I could take the mining test. We knew that someone was watching my suit and Bay One. If I went inside too soon or if I left the bay before my shift was over, that would tell whoever was watching that I was up to something. I couldn’t let them find out until the last possible second. I didn’t want anyone to stop me from taking the test, so I had to be sneaky.

  I hoped that whoever was watching me was far enough away from Bay Four that they wouldn’t get to me until I was already done with the test.

  As the elevator reached the surface, I wished I could go under the base. Even if it was more dangerous because of all the cooling systems, it would’ve been shorter. But there were all kinds of alarms under there, and I couldn’t alert anyone to what I was about to do.

  The black surface crunched under my feet as I stepped out of the elevator, and I said a little prayer.

  Please, God. If there is anyone listening, help me do this.

  One foot in front of the other. That’s how I went. I sprayed the 320zpd before I stepped anywhere. Slowly but surely making my way around the base.

  The shift went by painfully slow. I tried to think that every step away from the safety of Bay One meant that I was one closer to Bay Four. To the test. To my freedom. But I hated this.

  Terror made it hard to grip the hose as I sprayed down the hardened lava. I watched for any cracks or sulfur plumes, but there wasn’t a damned thing that I could do if my suit failed me again. I was too far away from Tyler.

  Walk slow, spray as you go. Over and over in my head I chanted Tyler’s words to me from my first day out here. Each minute that passed felt like hours.

  “How you doin’?” Tyler’s voice came through my helmet for one of his routine check-ins.

  “Sweating my ass off as usual.”

  “You watching the time?”

  I wanted to roll my eyes, but I knew he was almost as nervous as I was. The test started in fifteen minutes. It was going to be tight.

  “I’m working as fast as I can.” I picked up my pace, hoping I made it to Bay Four in time.

  “Ain’t good to hurry out there.”

  �
��I have to.” I couldn’t miss the test.

  “Where are you?”

  I came around the side of the base and could finally see the bay door. The elevator was down. Ready. “Feels like the middle of nowhere but—”

  The alarm went off in my suit. I froze. My gaze went to the temp panel.

  101.

  Not bad, but that would change.

  105.

  108.

  I tried not to panic, but the temperature was going up faster than it did yesterday.

  I dropped the hose, letting it hang from my hip, and started running.

  This wasn’t part of the plan.

  No. No. No.

  “Tyler!” I didn’t care about the error code in the suit or wasting precious time trying to figure out why my suit was failing. I had to hurry.

  “Alerted Javier. He’s putting on his suit. How far are you?”

  “I don’t know. Not far. Thirty meters. Give or take.” It didn’t seem like that much, but when the suit failed, it went fast.

  112.

  I ran as fast as I could. I didn’t know this Javier dude. He might be as nice as Tyler said, but he didn’t know me. He had no reason to hustle. Especially if he was betting on me.

  The visor was starting to fog, but if I just kept moving, I’d get there.

  “Baby girl?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Javier’s on the line with us now,” Tyler said.

  “Hola, chica,” Javier said.

  “No me manas. How far am I from the entrance?” I couldn’t see shit now, but I wasn’t stopping.

  “Cincuenta pies. Mas o menos.” I stumbled, and Javier hissed. “No paras, chica.”

  I didn’t need Javier to tell me not to stop. There was literally no chance of that. Especially if I was that close.

  115.

  117.

  “I’m watching you on the monitors,” Tyler’s voice came through. “Two more steps and you’re at the cage.”

  I stumbled and my knees hit the metal, rattling the cage of the elevator. “Bring me up! Bring me up! Bring me—” The elevator jolted up, and I started counting.

  The heat built in my suit, causing the fog to thicken. It was like being in a sauna, and I hated every millisecond of it.

  I collapsed, closing my eyes as I breathed fire.

  Five more seconds until I was to the cooling chamber.

  Four.

  Three.

  Two.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  I crawled inside the cooling chamber. Then a second later strong arms grabbed me, pulling me into the cargo bay. The alarm was blasting as the bots spewed the coolant. I heard some yelling, and then everything started to quiet down.

  I hit the button on my arm, and the helmet retracted.

  “Esta bien, chica?”

  I blinked my eyes open. Javier was leaning over me with his suit half-on and his helmet open. His dark-skinned face was pockmarked, but his eyes were kind.

  I took a breath. That had been closer than I wanted, but I was okay. My skin felt hot, but I didn’t think I had any burns. At least nothing more than a mild sunburn. No need for nanos. If I’d been even ten more meters away, I wouldn’t have—

  My heart stuttered in my chest, and I swallowed hard.

  “Chica?”

  “Overheated.” My voice was raspy again, but I’d been lucky. So freaking lucky. “I need out of this suit and probably an IV. Help me up?”

  He nodded, quickly rising to his feet. He reached a hand down, and I took it. “You just made me a bundle. The wager was high today, but I had you clocking out before your first two-hour block was done.”

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about him betting that I’d be toast so quickly, but he’d just helped me. That meant we were even. “Cool.”

  I looked around as I started undoing the clasps on the suit. This cargo bay was different than the other one. The containers were different colors—red, yellow, black—and much bigger. More like the haunted shipping containers that lined the old train station back home. And the room was even bigger than Tyler’s cargo bay.

  “What’s in here?” I said as I started to shrug out of the top of my suit.

  “Ah. All kinds of things. This half over here is food. Weapons. Medical equipment. The base is a bit of a holding station for a lot of SpaceTech’s goods.”

  That made sense. “And the other half?” I sat down to kick off the boots.

  He gave me a look like I was crazy for asking, but answered me anyway. “Lucole.”

  “Right.” Because SpaceTech didn’t have more than enough in the other bays, but at least that held up with what Tyler had told me. “There’s a lot of stuff in here.”

  “Enough to supply the colonies for a long while.”

  Jesus. That was even more than I thought. “I never realized that Abaddon held so much of SpaceTech’s assets.” This guy seemed to want to spill, and I had about a minute to hear him out.

  “Oh yeah. It’s important. SpaceTech loses this base, the whole thing goes to shit.”

  I filed that away as I finished slipping off my suit. “Well, it’s a good thing no one is coming up against SpaceTech.”

  “Only a moron would even try. Those Murtaghs know what the hell they’re doing.”

  I shook my head. He bet against me and was a Murtagh fan? Tyler needed some better friends. “I better get going. Thanks again.”

  “No worries. Todo está bien.”

  “Right.” Maybe for Javier it was all good, but I was running late. “Mind if I leave this here? It’s basically trash now.”

  “No preocupes. Matt’s coming by anyhow. I’ll give it to him for recycling.”

  I started to leave, but Javier caught my hand. “What?”

  “One second. You’re going to need this.” I was annoyed as I waited for him to come back, but once I saw what was in his hands, I was glad he’d stopped me.

  I took the water tube and electrolyte packet from his hand. “Thank you.” I ripped the packet open with my teeth, downed it in one gulp, and chased it with some water.

  “No problem. Tyler would be pissed if I let you go without it. Guy’s bigger than me, so gotta keep him happy.”

  I gave Javier a nod and exited the cargo bay, checking my wrist unit as I went. I had two minutes before the test started, and it was two floors up. I started sprinting, and my vision blurred for a second. I twisted open the top of the tube and chugged the water down as I ran.

  The door was open. Inside was a small, closet-size room with an old man sitting behind a single desk. It had to be a check-in room. The clock above the desk said I had one minute to spare.

  I couldn’t believe I’d made it. I was out of breath, but I was there on time. “Maité Martinez. I’d like to take the test.”

  “You’re fifteen seconds late.” The old man shook his head at me.

  That was total bullshit. “The clock says I’m on time.” I pointed behind him.

  “My lace says you’re late.” He didn’t even look behind him to check.

  No. No fucking way. I wasn’t having that. “Please let me take the test.”

  He leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands over his stomach. “You’re late. I can’t. That’s the rule.”

  “Even if I was late, which I wasn’t, by your count it’s fifteen seconds.” That barely even qualified as late.

  “Getting longer now…” He was weaving his hands through the air, like he was reading something on his lace and not paying attention to me at all.

  The image of my fingers wrapping around his neck was vivid enough in my mind that I hardly trusted myself. I crunched the empty water tube in my hand to keep from reaching over the table. “Let me take the test. Please.”

  He stared me down and I really, really wanted to hit him.

  “I won’t take up more of your time. You have to sit here during the test time anyway, right?”

  He tilted his head to the side.

  I hoped this guy ended up in a hell w
orse than Abaddon. “How many people are taking it?”

  “None.”

  Then what was his problem? “So it won’t bother anyone that I start late?”

  “It’ll bother me. That means I leave here late.”

  He just made this easy. “Okay. That’s fine. I’ll take time off the end of the test.” When he said nothing, I upped the ante. “I’ll finish thirty minutes early.”

  “You say that now, but you’re not going to do that. You’re going to need that time.” He didn’t look convinced, but I didn’t care about that.

  He wanted to make a deal. I could work with that.

  I propped my forearms on the table and leaned forward. “What do you want?” I was desperate, and he knew it.

  “You’re a woman.”

  As long as it wasn’t anything creepy, I could probably make it work. “I am.” But if he thought he was getting any kind of favors for this, he was dead wrong. He could go ice himself if that’s what he wanted.

  “You know the woman in the lunchroom.”

  Maybe I wasn’t his type. “Eh. We’re not friends, but I bunk with her. You want a hookup?”

  He scrunched up his face, making his wrinkles deepen. “Not like you’re thinking. I want extra dessert.”

  Seriously? This was about the disgusting food? “You can have mine.”

  His mouth popped open. “Why would you do that?”

  I didn’t think he’d appreciate that I thought all of the food here was foul and barely edible. And the things they called dessert? They were an affront to all things sweet. “I don’t care for sweets.”

  “Ah. Watching your figure.” He gave me a long up-and-down look and the urge to wring his neck was back.

  I forced myself to take a second before speaking. Otherwise, I might say something snippy. If dessert was what got me the test, yes. Yes. I was watching my figure. “I’ll give you all of my desserts for my entire one year sentence.” I wasn’t going to be here that long, but he didn’t have to know that.

  He slowly stood from his chair, and I was torn between wanting to pat myself on the back and wanting him to hurry up. “No one’s ever passed you know.”