Chapter 148

Chapter One Hundred Forty-Eight

The Badger rolled to a stop with an ear-piercing squeak, which roused Connor from his groggy state. After groping around the harness for the release, he shoved out of the seat and staggered to the sliding door.

Each step reminded him of how badly he’d abused his body on the planet—aches and pains; a musky and grungy funk that was inhuman; and the blurry vision.

Yemi slapped the dashboard. “Yemi drives fast!”

Connor threw the door open and breathed in the air—still terrible yet fresher than the stuffy vehicle interior. “You did. How long do we have?”

“Yemi puts kilometers between the Badger and bugs.”

Kilometers would be impressive if their pursuers weren’t tireless and relentless…

…and if they didn’t still have so much to unpack.

There were only five of them still fit enough to do unpacking, and Lem would need to head to the archaeologists’ ship infirmary immediately.

Things would have to be left behind.

Kalpana hopped out, holding Lem’s assault rifle low ready. “I’ll secure the ship.”

“Thanks.”

It was a bad idea, just assuming everything was safe, yet Connor had fallen into that thinking. His thinking was as blurry as his vision.

He stumbled over to Selen to check her vitals, then did the same with Elise.

Lem was already unstrapping the archaeologist. “She is stable, although the mixture of drugs I administered will leave her in a terrible state for a while.”

“A little pain isn’t much of a price to pay for stopping the necrotizing and killing the implanted eggs.”

“The efficacy of the treatment has yet to be confirmed. However, if you are offering to take the pain for Elise, she might take you up on your offer.”

Connor stepped aside as the android lifted the archaeologist from her bed and shouldered it back up to its locked position. It looked like the synthetic human was smiling.

“Was that humor, Lem?”

“An attempt at levity to lighten the mood, Lieutenant.”

“Keep at it.”

Once the android was out of the vehicle, Connor unstrapped Selen and cautiously took her from her bed. Her vitals were weak but stable. She might look terrible, but she had a chance.

He followed Lem through the cargo hold and up to the infirmary. It was smaller and simpler than the Lucky Sevens’s facilities, but there were basic monitoring and operating systems.

Connor set Selen on one of the foldout beds and strapped her into place. “I’ll prioritize the medical gear.”

Lem turned from Elise’s bed. “Is it safe ensuring the captain survives?”

“Safe?”

“Her condition is fragile at best, and my impression was there was uncertainty as to her mental state.”

“You’re worried that she might order you to do something?”

“It would be unprofessional of me to ask you to—”

“I understand. All right. Here’s my order: Keep her sedated. List her as suffering emotional trauma that requires rehabilitation. I’ll take on the role as temporary lead. Everything goes through me. Yemi is my second.”

“Thank you.” Lem bowed slightly. “Captain.”

Things had deteriorated between the crew and Selen, and they apparently weren’t going to take the idea of possession as an excuse. Connor needed to remember that.

When he got to the cargo bay, Vicente and Yemi were securing crates against the bulkheads.

Kalpana came down the ramp a moment after Connor. “All clear.”

“Something finally went our way, I guess.” He smiled, then hurried outside.

The crates and bags taken from the infirmary were his first concern. He could barely manage them all in one trip.

Connor waved at Vicente as they passed. “Food and weapons next.”

“You got it, Boss.”

On the way to the infirmary, Connor ran through the next priorities. Vicente and Yemi would be able to handle any remaining ammunition and weapons. The ship would be able to keep them alive, although they’d be sick of the food soon enough.

Tools, then personal gear had to be the next priorities.

People would be upset if they lost special belongings, but they were dealing with survival now.

Connor dropped everything off in the infirmary, then hurried back out as quickly as his blurry eyesight allowed.

He could only hope that was something Lem could fix.

At the top of the cargo bay ramp, Connor froze.

In the sky, dark shapes winged toward them.

Kalpana put a hand against the small of his back. “Oh, no.”

“Are they the scorpions or the tentacle things?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Tell Yemi to get the rockets going. Vicente and I can try for one more load.”

But even as Connor hurried down the ramp, he knew that was going to be tricky. Dark forms were separating from the woods now, too.

Inside the Badger, he realized how vital sharper eyesight was. The seats and floor were covered with personal bags. Some might be junk, others might be treasures.

They all looked the same to him.

He ducked close to a bunch of bags and squinted.

Fluorescent hair dye protruded from one, propaganda posters of the Moon Corporation stuck out of another: Tim and Tom’s belongings.

Connor’s heart ached as he tossed the bags into the passenger seat.

Another bag held Drew’s toolkit, then another a uniform from Gregor’s days in the Coil military, and another Martienne’s leather pilot jacket.

These had been his crew, his team…his family.

Selen’s actions had taken those people away.

Aubriella, Rudy…

Connor had to believe in redemption. He had to.

He grabbed as many bags that might belong to the survivors and hurried to the door, just as Vicente reached it.

The big man opened his arms. “I got it, Boss. We gotta go.”

In the distance, the monstrous beings closed.

“Go. I’ll be right behind you.”

Connor risked another handful of bags, then hightailed it up the ramp.

The monsters were close, their stench and strange noises filling the air.

He tossed the bags through the inner airlock hatch and slammed the outer airlock hatch shut just as the first winged things swooped down.

Rockets roared, and the clumsy ship shuddered.

Yemi’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Yemi launches now! Crash couches!”

That meant heading for the cockpit.

Connor staggered and stumbled around, bouncing off bulkheads and crates. Loose gear flew out of hastily secured crates, battering him.

A ship with better thrust would be at risk with so much unsecured material.

Enjoy the silver linings, he told himself.

Finally, he reached his seat on the bridge and strapped in.

Blood trickled from fresh scrapes and cuts.

From the pilot’s seat, Yemi shook his head. “Yemi pushes rockets hard. Yemi pushes ship to return to Mara before systems fail.”

As if to support the pilot’s words, the ship shuddered.

Connor tensed. “Mara?”

“Yemi uses only coordinates navigation computer knows.”

The only place they could go, and it was where Connor faced immediate arrest.

He relaxed as much as he could. “Just get us there alive.”

At least the team would be safe. Everything else was secondary.