Broken Episode One

by Odette C. Bell

  Chapter 8

  Somehow it didn’t kill them. He felt it, though, in every bone of his body.

  The transport crashed.

  The thing buckled around him, pipes protruding from the walls like bones from a broken body.

  The ceiling bowed down too, but somehow held its integrity, rather than buckling and bringing the hull down on their heads.

  They were knocked around badly but were lucky enough not to get skewered or squashed.

  Through it all he held onto her, one arm around her back and one hand cradling her head. She held onto him fast, too.

  Then, as the shaking abated, and the ship came to a stop, he loosened his grip and stared around him.

  The corridor was ruined. The ship would be unsalvageable. Yet somehow, somehow they’d survived.

  He tried to sit up. Mimi was still holding onto him.

  “Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay. You’re fine. We’re alive,” he said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

  Her face was littered with scratches, and there was a deep gash in her arm. He knew she was alive, though; he could feel her heart beating through her chest and into his torso as she still held on tight around his middle.

  “Mimi, it’s okay now. We’re alive,” he said in a voice as close to a coo as Josh Cook would ever manage.

  She opened her eyes.

  Those piercing pools of blue stared up at him.

  It was an arresting sight.

  The whole damn situation was arresting. They’d just freaking crash landed and somehow survived.

  She slowly let him go. Shaking, she tried to push up to her feet.

  “Careful,” he warned as he put out a hand to steady her.

  “What happened?” She coughed into her hand before checking on the gash in her arm and groaning.

  “We crash landed.”

  “What? Where? Weren’t we on a transport route?”

  “That’s a good point. I don’t really know. Let’s go find out. If we make it to the bridge—” he began.

  Mimi stopped him with another coughing fit. She doubled over, and he hooked a hand on her arm to ensure she didn’t topple onto the broken, buckled floor.

  He patted a hand on her back. “Come on, we’ll get you to a med kit. I’ve got one in my luggage… wherever that is now. But we should get to the bridge first to find out what we’re dealing with. If I had a scanner with me, I could do it from here.”

  “Klutzo,” she managed through coughs.

  “Sorry, what did you just call me?”

  She pointed behind her to her recording orb. The little device had been smart enough not to get squashed during the crash and was now floating a half meter from Mimi.

  “You gave it a name?” Josh questioned. Though now felt like the perfect opportunity to insult Mimi again – as only fools named soulless machines – it really wasn’t. They’d just crash landed, Mimi was injured, and god knows what planet they’d ended up on. So he held his tongue.

  “Of course,” she coughed again, placing a hand on his arm for support as she finally righted herself, “He’s a friend.”

  “Right… but standard recording orbs shouldn’t be able to scan through this much hull,” he pointed out as he helped her stand.

  “Oh, Klutzo has… added features.” She called the little recording orb over to her with a flick of her hand. “What happened, Klutzo? And where are we? Have we struck a planet outside, or an asteroid? How’s hull integrity? Are there any other survivors?”

  “Hull integrity has failed,” Klutzo informed them in an electronic tone that sounded way too chipper, given the circumstances.

  Josh stiffened, automatically tightening his grip on Mimi’s arm.

  “We have crash landed on a planet. Accessing local information networks,” he informed them as the lights along the outside of his form started to blip between green and red.

  Josh started to relax. If they were on a planet and hull integrity had already failed, it meant the air outside was breathable.

  “I have ascertained we are on Omacka Four,” Klutzo announced.

  Josh immediately tensed up again. “What?”

  “Where’s Omacka Four? I’ve never heard of it.” Mimi turned to look at Josh, her expression worried.

  “It’s a long way from our transport route. How the hell did we get here?” Josh answered. “And are you sure, recording orb?”

  “Yes, I am certain,” Klutzo informed them, “But if you do not trust my assessment, ask the Captain.”

  “He’s alive?” Josh snapped forward.

  “Yes, all the crew of this transport are alive. The main deck and bridge were shielded during the crash landing. Only this area was not.”

  “Oh, that’s a relief.” Mimi let out a tense breath.

  Josh just snorted. There was every possibility that the Captain removed the shielding from the corridor area because he knew Josh and Mimi were there. Though Josh doubted the Captain had any particular beef with Mimi, he could bet the guy was already suspicious of him.

  “Let’s go check it out.” He nodded at Mimi.

  “Right.” She pushed her hair from her face and smiled.

  Christ, they’d crash-landed, and she was smiling.

  What was this girl on?