En Route

by Maksim Malik

  “Um, it could be worse. It’ll leave a scar for sure,” Jana replied.

  “Scar? We’ll just use the MediScan when we’re back on the ship,” Nadani said. “It should fix something like that without leaving any scars.”

  “Sure,” Jana said. She looked uneasy. “Well, I’ve done my best with these.”

  “I’m done on this side,” Nadani said. “How are we going to move her?”

  “I’ll carry her,” Jana said. “You and Kress need to cover us just in case.”

  “Okay,” Nadani said. Then to Trisha she said, “It’ll probably hurt when Jana picks you up. I’m sorry.”

  “I know,” Trisha said and gave Nadani a small smile.

  “What do we do about these?” Kress asked, pointing to the remaining pawns.

  “Leave them,” Jana said. “They might become hostile if we threaten them.”

  Kress nodded. Nadani saw Kress accepted taking orders from Jana right away.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Jana said. “Here we go, Trisha. One, two, three!”

  Away

  Trisha gasped as Jana lifted her, pain spiking sharply. Jana cradled Trisha close to her body, one arm under Trisha’s back and the other beneath her knees.

  “I’m taking Hafeez with me to the ship,” Kress said loudly. “You’re not stopping me this time!”

  “Who said I was stopping you?” Nadani asked. Trisha recognized the anger building in her voice. “If you want to carry him then carry him. We should be safe on the way back.”

  “You aren’t going to stop me?” Kress seemed taken aback.

  “No! I’m not a monster, Kress,” Nadani replied.

  Kress went into the hallway for a moment and came back carrying Hafeez’s corpse. Trisha couldn’t look at his face for long. Unrecognizable would be the politest way to describe it.

  “Carry her over your back. It’s easier,” Kress said to Jana. He had Hafeez’s body in such a position.

  “I’m not risking having those wounds start to bleed again,” Jana said. “I can handle it.”

  “Fine,” Kress said, turned around, and walked out of the room and down the hallway toward the central room with the vertical tube.

  “We’ll swap,” Nadani said from somewhere nearby.

  “Sure,” Jana replied. “I’ll let you know when I need a break.”

  She seems so strong, Trisha thought.

  Jana walked the direction Kress went at a more than sedate pace. Trisha saw Nadani walking next to them, her cheeks glistening in the light from quiet tears. The farther they went the dizzier she got.

  “I’m dizzy,” she said, knowing nobody could help her.

  Trisha marveled at the Squitoes as they walked through the crowd of them. They caught themselves to remain standing if they were pushed out of the way by Kress, but they didn’t react to them passing in any other way. The pawns stood there, silent and still. Their only movement came from their light breathing.

  The central room housing the tube had no aliens within it save for the corpses of the ones killed earlier. Kress went to the tube and entered with rapid, recklessness, Hafeez still on his back.

  “Kress! You’re going to get yourself killed!” Jana yelled. Laughter came from within the tube.

  Trisha closed her eyes for a moment.

  “Trisha, you need to stay awake for this part,” Nadani said.

  “I was just closing my eyes,” Trisha mumbled.

  Her eyes focused as she blinked herself to alertness and found she stared up at Nadani’s face.

  “Hello, lovely,” Nadani said. “Jana is getting into the tube and then I’m going to kind of slide you into the zero grav. What you must do is grab onto Jana’s weapon strap with one or both hands. Both hands would be best. Do you think you can do that?”

  Trisha took some time before answering to analyze the state of her body. She hurt all over. When she lifted her head, she saw bandages covering an overwhelming amount of herself. She counted to twelve bandages before realizing she barely counted even a quarter of them. The dizziness came back with a vengeance.

  “I can try,” she said.

  “Right, let’s get this over with,” Jana said and climbed into the tube. Once inside she circled around so her back faced the entrance of the tube.

  “Okay,” Nadani said. “I’m going to slide you head first toward Jana. Make a grab for Jana’s shoulder strap.”

  Trisha nodded.

  “Ready?”

  “Yes,” Trisha said, uncertain if she was.

  Nadani moved to the tube and carefully pushed Trisha into it. Trisha felt her stomach drop as she had the sensation of falling, but she moved her arm and hand to catch onto Jana, pulling the rest of her body toward her. Then Trisha could only cry out in pain as her wounds protested the action.

  Trisha saw sparks before her eyes and heard her heart thumping loudly in her ears. Her vision grew dim around the edges and threatened to overwhelm her. She focused hard on pushing back the darkness, took several deep breaths, and succeeded. Her ears started ringing though—a high-pitched tinny sound.

  Jana moved down the tube at a brisk pace and Trisha kept herself secured tight onto the strap. She looked below her and saw Nadani climbing down almost beside Trisha. That made Trisha feel better. If for some reason they couldn’t hold onto Jana, then Nadani would catch her.

  “I’m at the exit. I don’t see Kress,” Jana said. “No matter. Trisha, let go of me after you feel Nadani grab onto you. Then we’ll maneuver you around to get you out of the tube.”

  “Got it,” Trisha said breathlessly.

  A strong hand gripped her ankle. Nadani’s hand. Why did she never realize how strong Nadani’s hands were? She waited a couple seconds before letting go of the strap. She would’ve drifted vertically if not for the hand around her ankle. Jana disappeared into the room and soon stood at the opening. She reached out and grabbed Trisha’s wrist.

  “I’ve got her,” Jana said, and the grip around her ankle vanished.

  Jana spent several minutes tugging and pulling her arm, then rotating her body—Trisha had to close her eyes—until Trisha felt one arm beneath her knees and one beneath her neck once more.

  “Don’t—” Nadani spoke once during the ordeal but stopped herself from continuing for some reason.

  “It’s okay. I’m going to pull you out of the tube at a bit of an angle and hope we both don’t go tumbling to the ground,” Jana said. “I’m in a pretty good stance for this though.”

  “All right,” Trisha said and tensed. She wished she hadn’t—her muscles and wounds protested greatly.

  “Here goes,” Jana said and pulled her out of zero grav.

  The darkness around her vision came again; this time it appeared so swiftly she could do nothing but let it pull her under.

  Astromancer

  The rest of the ship they found Squitoes standing stock still, motionless apart from breathing.

  “Okay, it’s your turn,” Jana said to Nadani, stopping in the middle of the final hallway back to the ship.

  Nadani nodded and took Trisha’s limp form Jana as carefully as she could. Trisha startled awake, and Nadani hushed at her.

  “It’s okay,” Nadani said. “I’m here.”

  Nadani started walking and the others kept pace with her. They hit the docks and Nadani noticed the closed docking bay. They would have to deal with that.

  Already trying to figure that out, Adan said.

  Thanks, Nadani replied. She wanted to pick up her pace to get to the MediScan faster but didn’t want to jostle Trisha more than necessary either. She opted for a small increase in speed.

  When they were around thirty meters away from exiting the hallway into the docks, a figured appeared—a human.

  Needles! exclaimed Adan.

  Before Nadani could react, Needles fired. Two shots came toward Nadani. The first hit Trisha’s side and the second must have hit Nadani’s shoulder, for it blossomed into burning agony. She had the sensation of f
alling before she lost consciousness.

  #

  Nadani woke up to familiar surroundings. She was on the MediScan in Astromancer. Swift as she remembered that, an image came to her head: Trisha hit with a blaster rifle shot. She bolted upright, heart leaping to her throat, and saw Jana in the room with her.

  “Where is Trisha?” Nadani demanded.

  “You need to relax and lie down,” Jana said. “The MediScan isn’t finished with your shoulder.”

  Adan, where is she? Nadani asked. She only received silence as an answer, feeling a great sadness emanating from Adan itself.

  “Lie down and I’ll tell you,” Jana said sternly.

  Nadani fumed but complied.

  “We, I mean, she,” Jana stumbled over her words, paused to take a deep breath, and continued. “She—what do you remember?”

  “Needles showed up and shot Trisha,” Nadani said. “And me.” She was on the verge of panic now. “Please tell me, Jana.”

  “Well,” Jana said and sniffed. “Trisha got hit on the side of her chest. It went straight to her heart,” Jana’s voice quavered. “There’s nothing we could do.”

  “No,” Nadani said, shaking her head. She sat upright again. “No, you’re wrong. Where’s Dr. Tysgan?” she demanded.

  “He’s with her—and Hafeez,” Jana said, stepping forward. “You really need to let your wound heal all the way.”

  Nadani swung her legs off the MediScan bed and stood up. She found the top of her plugsuit open and dangling down at her waist, so she put that on and let it seal as fast as it could.

  “The cargohold,” Nadani guessed and pushed her way past Jana and out into the hall. She turned left and jogged a few steps, only to find herself dizzy, and slowed to a quick walk down the corridor to the cargohold. She entered in a rush. Dr. Tysgan turned to face her from where he stood. She glanced at the sorrow on his face and felt her anger dissolve. There on the floor next to him laid Trisha, covered with a blanket, except for her face. Her unblinking eyes stared at nothing.

  Nadani ran to Trisha’s side and collapsed to the ground, letting loose a gut-wrenching sob.

  Not Trisha! This isn’t real! She thought frantically.

  I’m so sorry, Adan said. It’s—it’s horrible.

  Adan’s sorrow made it too much for her to bear. She collapsed to the ground, one arm wrapping over Trisha’s body. She held her tight, not caring who watched or thought her mad.

  “Out of the room,” Dr. Tysgan said in the most commanding tone she ever heard him use. Footsteps—and the cargohold door opening and closing.

  Soon she felt Dr. Tysgan’s hand on her back, stroking from the top down, then repeating. Again, and again. It did nothing to calm her.

  Why did it have to be her? Nadani thought. It should have been me. It should have been me.

  One of them shot Needles, Adan said to her a few minutes later.

  I don’t care, she replied harshly. I just want Trisha.

  #

  Nadani woke up later, chilled to the bone and curled up next to Trisha on the floor when she heard the cargohold door slide open and closed. She heard light footsteps coming to her. Dr. Tysgan then. Or Jana.

  “We’re still on the Royalship,” Jana said. “You’re the only one who can fly this ship. Do you—can you—?”

  Nadani felt numb inside and out. Like it or not she was responsible for everyone’s life on the ship. She nodded, which triggered more tears—quiet ones this time—warming her face for a moment before they cooled, and her cheeks grew chilled again.

  “Let me help you,” Jana said and squatted next to Nadani, helping her get into a sitting position. Nadani’s shoulder pained her. There would be time to heal that later. Jana helped Nadani stand, keeping her steady as she wobbled a little, shivering.

  “I love you, Trisha,” she said aloud before turning and leaving the room. She had Adan lock the cargohold, so nobody could disturb Trisha—or Hafeez for that matter. That was another one she was responsible for.

  Nadani went past the lounge—seeing Dr. Tysgan with his head buried in his arm on the armrest did not make matters any better—to the bridge and straight to the pilot’s pit. She climbed into it and closed it, watching as darkness descended for a moment before screens, lights, and other displays lit up both in the pit and in her mind.

  I could really use Park’s help figuring this out, Adan said. But I’m onto something.

  Nadani nodded and primed the ship—ready for takeoff at a moment’s notice. She waited patiently. One minute passed. Two minutes. Two minutes turned to three and Nadani could not help but focus on the cam targeting the cargohold.

  Got it! Adan exclaimed, breaking Nadani’s focus. She fumbled and lifted off, heading to the now opening bay doors at breakneck speed. Astromancer burst free from the Royalship and she readied the com to request a docking pad. Confusion struck her as she did not see the blue skies and white clouds of Verga she expected.

  All she saw were stars—stars all around them. Nothing in sight but the Royalship and the void.

  Epilogue

  Shirui woke up unwillingly, her head in splitting pain as though a large vehicle hit her. She tried to piece together what happened, but her memory was fuzzy.

  You shot Trisha Nakamara fatally and wounded Nadani Jagi, Pulman said. Ah, Pulman, thank goodness it was there! Trisha was Jagi’s girlfriend, Pulman added.

  Oh, that’s unexpectedly good! Shirui said. Her thoughts were coming together more solidly now. What happened to me?

  One of them returned fire with a weapon set to stun, Pulman said. You would be dead otherwise.

  Interesting, she said.

  Jagi had more people than we anticipated, Pulman continued. Vergan army, by the looks of it—though I am uncertain how she managed to bring them all the way here.

  We must make it to the docks before they leave! Shirui exclaimed, picking her rifle from the ground and struggling to her feet to move as fast as she could toward the docks.

  I am sorry, but it has been four hours since the incident, Pulman said. They are long gone by now.

  Oh, Shirui said, slowing down. When she entered the docks, she found Astromancer to be gone but Harmonic Essences still awaited her, intact.

  I am sorry I did not take over when I saw so many people, Pulman said. It sounded and felt apologetic to her. There was no way to cover up its feelings.

  That’s okay, she said. We hurt Jagi—in more ways than one. And besides, I’ll come up with a way you can make up for it later.

  I shall look forward to that, Pulman said.

  About the Author

  Maksim Malik lives in North Carolina and writes with a cat blocking the screen a good portion of the time. He has a neurological disability and spends most of his time writing, gaming, and reading.

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