Selfless Series Box Set

by S Breaker

  Berry chuckled again.

  She spotted Noah’s jacket draped over the table inside the lab, as well as a few of his things scattered on the table. “What were you doing in here?” she asked him.

  “I was trying to fix my HUD before. But I couldn’t. I’d have to get back to my world first,” Noah explained, his tone serious as usual as he shifted things on the table to make space.

  At that, Laney’s expression turned melancholy. “Hey,” she began. “About what that girl on The Aquila said about my world. Is it possible? Could it be gone?”

  Noah’s expression blanked for a moment. “Maybe.” He shrugged. “I admit I already had a similar theory, that your world might be undergoing some type of flux as a result of your displacement. But I didn’t figure it could be happening so fast.”

  Laney took a moment to process the information as that might finally explain why Kevin was doing all that stuff with Darla. They didn’t betray her. They had simply forgotten all about her. She made a face as neither was a desirable outcome.

  “But it didn’t look like it was finished. It was still fluxing when we were there,” he went on with a dismissive tone. “There’s still hope. You can still make it. We should stick to the mission.”

  “Dek sent me Noah’s report.” Berry had a bit of remorse in his tone. “I’m so sorry about what happened on The Aquila with your CCL. I mean, I did program a failsafe trigger on it,” he informed them. “But I never envisioned that it would affect the wearer, much more that it would also shut down your vitals along with it.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Laney dismissed. “The way I figure, that failsafe probably saved my life.”

  “That’s great. Isn’t that great, Noah?” Berry prompted.

  Noah cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. “Sure.”

  “Either way, I’d like to have my brain all to myself again, so if you please?” she quipped as she walked toward him.

  Noah stiffened as she got closer.

  Laney knit her eyebrows as she noticed. She’d been getting some strange standoffish vibes from him, not unlike how he was when they had first met. He hadn’t even looked at her yet since she’d come in.

  “Noah, is everything okay?”

  “It’s fine.” He busied himself prepping the tools on the table.

  Laney watched him with a wary, knowing look. “Look, I can tell when something’s bothering you too, you know?”

  Noah paused, still not meeting her gaze, and when he spoke, his tone was grim. “Dek told me you were already halfway to Betelgeuse when you came back for me.”

  Laney nodded. “Sure.”

  His gaze finally snapped to hers, his eyes sharp. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  She blinked, taken aback. “What?”

  “You took an incredible risk, Laney,” Noah told her off.

  She gave him a deadpan look. “Uh, yeah. To save your life.”

  He grunted in reply, looking away again.

  She looked confused. “Are you mad at me?”

  He shook his head. It was obvious he was trying hard to keep his cool. “Just—don’t do that again.”

  “What, save your life? You save my life all the time.”

  “That’s different.”

  She folded her arms across her chest, giving him an expectant look. “How?”

  “I don’t know!” He threw up his hands in frustration, turning his back to her.

  “A-hem!” Berry cleared his throat loudly as though to remind them that he could still hear everything.

  Laney winced.

  Noah let out a sigh and walked up to the communications panel on the wall. “We’ll contact you again later, Berry.”

  “Okay, but—” Berry’s statement cut off as Noah flicked the switch.

  Inevitable

  “What’s going on, Noah?”

  He pursed his lips for a moment before answering, his voice low. “I want to apologize.”

  “Apologize?” Laney echoed, mystified.

  He cracked his neck in unease. “Back at GNR,” he began. “I shouldn’t have said all that stuff. And I had absolutely no right to ask what I did.”

  “What?” She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, displeasure, annoyance. “Are you—taking it back?”

  Noah glanced over. “When I thought you’d died back on The Aquila…” he began, sounding pained. “That was the worst thing I’d ever thought I could experience. And I should have realized this sooner.” He averted his gaze. “You’re not safe with me. You were right before. We don’t belong together. You have to go home. Be with Kevin.”

  Laney scoffed, looking away, almost in exasperated disbelief. “Oh my god. It’s Casablanca.” She threw up her hands. “I’m in Casablanca right now.”

  His entire posture had sagged. “I can’t protect you. I’ve almost lost you so many times. It’s not good enough. I’m not good enough.”

  She peered up at him. “I don’t care about that. And I can take care of myself. I’m not afraid anymore.” She shook her head. “I can’t leave you again. I already knew it. From the car crash. Halfway to Betelgeuse.”

  “You’re only saying that because of the theory. You don’t even believe the theory.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Laney stated almost carelessly. “Theory or no theory, I’m choosing you.”

  He wavered, a heavy meaningful look in his eyes. “Are you ready for that? Like really ready? You would have to give up everything. Your family, your friends. Your whole world. Are you ready to give all that up? You have a chance,” he implored. “You could have a normal life. I want you to have it.”

  “I don’t want to have a normal life if you’re not in it,” she avowed. “So if you’re asking if I’m ready to exchange all that, then my answer is: yes, I’m ready.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Yes, I—”

  “Well, I’m not!” he cut in. “I’m not ready for you to give all that up.” He blew out his breath in weariness. “You said it yourself. In your world, you don’t have to worry about these kinds of things, worlds collapsing, multiple dimensions. That’s what I want for you. I want you to be safe. And on your world, you will be.”

  Laney felt a constriction in her chest. “No, but—”

  Noah shook his head, reaching up to tuck her hair behind one ear. “Let me do this,” he pled with a small smile. “I’ve been selfish right from the start. Eleanor stole your life. I want to give it back.”

  Laney’s heart went thud in her stomach. His logic was undeniable, but it still stung like hell. She looked up into his eyes and recognized his unshakable resolve.

  Her own eyes were threatening to well up. She took a deep breath to get a grip before managing a compliant nod, and she happened to cast a glance down at the device on her wrist.

  The revolutionary gadget that started it all. Somehow in all the chaos, she hadn’t even noticed that it had started working properly again, as it was probably just the time loop at GNR that had made it go haywire.

  She frowned, picking at the strap since she’d have to take it off too, but she couldn’t seem to figure out how to open the latch. “How do you even take this thing off?”

  Noah’s voice was soft as he explained. “It’s DNA-activated. You’ll have to swipe it to unlock.”

  She undid the latch and detached the Zeta device from her wrist. “Here.” She took his hand to place the device in his palm. “I guess my mission is over.” She looked up and met his intense gaze again.

  “Thank you,” Noah said after a moment, his tone solemn. “For coming to save me. I always knew you had it in you.”

  She bit her lip, stifling her hopeless chuckle. “Well, you know, you can never keep yourself out of trouble without me.”

  At that, he swallowed hard, his forehead creasing as he reached out for her, pulling her against him. She nestled her face in the hollow of his neck, squeezing her eyes
shut, not willing to move an inch otherwise, and she felt him tighten his arms around her.

  “Laney,” he murmured against her hair and she realized his heartbeat was also pounding in his chest.

  She shook her head again. She already knew what he was going to say.

  “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay. You’ll get your cure. I’ll take you back to your world. And it will be just like none of this ever happened.”

  Her chest constricted again at the finality of his words. “I can’t believe this is happening. Why did this have to happen at all?”

  “Look at me.”

  It took some effort to lift her face, but as soon as she looked into his deep blue eyes, she felt a warm rush all over.

  A corner of his mouth turned up, as though the same thing had just happened to him. But there was sadness in his eyes, the sadness of truth, of inevitability.

  He drew a shaky breath in, leaning his face closer, his forehead almost touching hers, before speaking his declaration softly, fervently.

  “I am yours.”

  And Laney’s vision blurred with tears.

  “In any world. In any multiverse,” he went on, heaving himself. His gaze dropped to her mouth and Laney noticed him clench his jaw, as though to try to keep his control.

  Her lips parted as if to say something, but as soon as Noah felt her breath against his, he took her lips in his in a dizzying, all-consuming kiss.

  Sigrid pretended to clear her throat.

  Laney broke off and met Noah’s gaze again.

  “Miss Carter. Dr. Donovan. Sorry to interrupt. The solar output is peaking.”

  Noah straightened up, creasing his forehead in suspicion. “Was she listening the whole time?”

  Laney’s shoulders shook in slight mirth. “I don’t even want to ask,” she said with a sigh. “Well. Before we forget,” she noted in reminder, tilting her head to one side so they could get back to their original business of detaching her CCL.

  Noah signaled a nonchalant shrug, picking up the laser micro-scalpel before carefully disengaging Laney’s CCL. After a few minutes, the gadget let out a long, low beep in deactivation and then dropped into Noah’s palm.

  Laney’s face paled instantly.

  Noah looked alarmed. “What?”

  She put her arms around herself. “It’s so c-cold,” she stammered, shivering.

  He called out, “Sigrid, what’s going on?”

  “Miss Carter’s internal body temperature has dropped seven degrees.”

  Noah could see the puffs of air from her breath. “Why?” he pressed.

  “Unknown.”

  Noah rapped on the door and it slid open. “Dek, something’s wrong,” he alerted. “Laney’s body temp just dropped seven degrees.”

  Dek glanced over, rubbing his chin in thought. “Might be time for that supernova bath. Come on.” He gestured for them to follow him.

  Noah scooped Laney up and followed suit after Dek down the narrow corridor to enter another dark doorway.

  “What’s happening, Noah?” Laney was trembling all over. She felt drowsy, like she was about to black out.

  Noah shushed her. “It’s going to be okay, Laney. I’ve got you.”

  “Noah, bring her here.” Dek waved them over and a spotlight shone a bright circle where he stood just before a round platform with a railing around it raised from the floor.

  Laney moaned slightly, squinting in the bright light, but she felt too weak to move.

  “Laney, this is the viewing turret,” Dek explained as Noah placed Laney down onto the platform. “We use it to study stellar phenomena. It’ll lift you outside the ship. Normally, we enable all the space shielding on it, but for now, we’ll just enable the vacuum seal to make sure you don’t suffocate. You need the supernova energy wave to penetrate one-hundred percent.”

  “Can you hold on?” Noah peered into her face.

  “I’ll t-try,” Laney stuttered as she half-collapsed against the railing.

  “All hands. Brace for impact.” Trin’s voice came over the PA.

  Noah stepped back as the protective shielding slid down around the platform.

  Dek hurried toward a control console. “We have to time this exactly,” he said then called out. “Sigrid, what’s the count?”

  “Solar core collapse in 6…5…”

  Dek pushed a button on his console and Noah watched the bright light from the viewing turret rise. A port opened up on the roof of the deck and the platform with Laney on it slid upward and out of the ship.

  “4…3…”

  Noah’s anxiety levels cranked up unusually high the moment he couldn’t see what was going on with Laney outside the ship.

  “2…1…”

  Noah braced himself against the wall.

  “Core collapse in progress.”

  The ship shook with the initial energy wave that washed over The Dauntless. From the tiny window in the lab, they could see a blinding light fill the blackness of space for a split second.

  Dek was watching a monitor intently. “There, that should do it.” He pushed another button and the viewing turret retracted back down with a pneumatic hum.

  Laney seemed to be standing upright with her back to them, but as soon as the turret reached the floor level, she collapsed in a heap on the floor.

  Noah’s eyes widened as he rushed toward her. “Laney!” He hammered on the turret’s protective shielding that was still closed. “Open it up!” he called out to Dek before looking back over at Laney. “Laney!” He bent down to try to peer at her face.

  She was unconscious. Out of reach.

  “Laney!” He was starting to heave. “Is she okay? Dek—is she okay?” he demanded.

  “Hold on, Noah,” Dek replied calmly as he worked on his control panel. “We need to make sure she’s decontaminated from any harmful radiation before we can retract the shielding.”

  “Laney,” Noah said softly, not taking his eyes off her.

  A console machine beeped twice and Dek nodded in acknowledgment. He pressed another button and looked up as the shielding retracted with a whoosh.

  Noah scooped Laney up in his arms to prop her head on his chest. “Laney?” He shook her shoulder and was somewhat put to ease when he could feel her faintly breathing.

  Laney’s eyes fluttered open.

  “Laney.” There was no mistaking the relief in Noah’s voice. “You’re okay. It’s okay.”

  She moaned, making a face. She cleared her throat, before she looked up, blinking, to meet Noah’s gaze. “Well…” she started, barely above a whisper.

  Noah raised his eyebrows, watching her face, waiting to see what she wanted to say.

  “There’s something I never thought I could check off my bucket list.”

  And Noah’s chuckle rumbled in his chest, even as he moved to pull her closer against him.

  Dek came over and knelt beside them.

  “How are you feeling?” Dek asked as he ran some checks on Laney and clipped something on her thumb that took a small blood sample.

  Laney swallowed. “I… Normal.”

  Dek pressed a few buttons on his tablet gadget. “As far as I can tell, you’re perfectly fine. Your O2 stats are normal. You’re not getting any surges to your core temperature like you’re going to explode in the next thirty seconds. You’re all good.”

  “And the tracking solution?”

  After a moment, Dek shook his head. “Not even a trace. You’re all clear.”

  Laney half-smiled, half-moaned in relief as Noah helped her straighten up.

  “Dek, how did she go?”

  Dek looked up and tapped on his ear communicator. “All good, Commander. It worked.” He grinned, standing up himself. “Tell Sol to fire up the K-drive and set a course to about a hundred light-years away from Betelgeuse. That should be safe enough.”

  “Aye.”

  The next moment, Laney grabbed Noah’s arm, teetering off-balance as the entire ship trembled.

  Noah loo
ked around warily. “Was that supposed to happen?”

  Dek looked worried. “Sigrid, was the blast shielding damaged in the leading edge of the supernova?”

  “Blast shielding at twenty-two percent. Regeneration nominal.”

  “Then what’s going on?” Dek’s forehead was creased.

  Sol’s voice came on the PA.

  “Uh, guys, I’m still checking, but for some reason, the K-drive won’t come online.”

  Dek whirled around to rush out the door without a word, concern written all over his face.

  Noah took Laney’s arm to support her as they followed Dek back to the bridge.

  Trin swiveled around in her chair upon hearing the three of them come through the doorway.

  “What’s happening?” Dek headed straight for his console.

  “Something’s disrupting the K-drive.”

  “Something?” Noah raised an eyebrow.

  Cam looked hesitant as he analyzed the readings on his console. “Um, I have a theory, but it’s not good.” He glanced at everyone’s expectant looks before he went on. “I hate to suggest this but there’s a good chance Laney’s exposure to the supernova is causing interference with the ion reactor. And if we can’t engage the K-drive, we can’t go anywhere beyond sub-light speed.”

  Laney swallowed in alarm, even as she still felt a bit weakened. “If you guys don’t get the K-drive back online before the brunt of the solar wave hits, you’ll all be toast.” She shook her head in resolve. “Noah, we have to get out of here right now.”

  “Agreed.” Noah rushed to grab his jacket from the lab to put it back on.

  “Didn’t want to rush you out but I guess this is goodbye.” Trin gave Laney a short nod from her big chair.

  “I can’t even begin to thank you,” Laney began.

  Dek grinned at Laney. “Hey, maybe we’ll see you again, you never know.” He winked as he moved to strap himself into his chair to get ready for zero-G.

  “Not sure if that’s a good thing. But I’ll be sure to tell Berry to send my regards.” She mocked a salute.

  Noah raised his hand, giving Trin and Dek an acknowledging nod in return. “Thank you,” he bade before ushering Laney out of the bridge.

  “This way.” Laney led the way down the corridor toward the cargo bay where the quantum shear exit trace was.