Page 98 of Chosen By Swift

She shook her head and made a shrugging motion. She couldn’t hear him. The radio communication between their two suits wasn’t working, and there was no time to troubleshoot.

Holding her gaze, he said, “I love you, Alys.”

And then he pushed her out of the ship.

The sight of her terrified face would haunt him until his dying day. Eyes wide, mouth open in a scream, she tumbled out of the ship and into the dark night sky.

He jumped a few seconds after her and was momentarily confused by the darkness. They had left mid-afternoon from the outpost. He expected sunshine or at least the last rays of sunset. Finally, he realized they were on the other side of the planet, experiencing the darkness before dawn.

The stark whiteness of Alys’ suit glowed in the near distance. There were flashing green lights on her limbs, and he realized she was flailing and panicking as she fell. He couldn’t be angry with her for not following his instructions to stretch out her limbs. She was having a normal human response, and she needed him to save her.

Swift zeroed in on the flashing green lights. Angling his body like a missile, he streaked across the sky to catch her. The training from his dozens of high-altitude jumps kicked in, and he straightened his legs, pulling his arms in tight to make himself smaller and sharper. Alys loomed bigger and bigger as he zoomed across the sky, and finally, he caught her.

They impacted much more roughly than he intended, and he worried that he might have hurt her. She sagged in his arms, and he wasn’t sure if she had passed out from the collision of their bodies or from her spiraling flips as she flailed wildly. Holding tight, he wrapped his legs around hers and embraced her as tightly as he could.

He glanced at the altimeter on the left wrist of the suit. They still had quite a way to fall before they could safely deploy their chutes. He controlled their descent as best he could. Down below, he saw what looked like a stretch of pale sandy beach and then nothing but dark water for miles and miles. A water landing might have been less dangerous in better circumstances, but he felt sure that tonight, their safest bet was the beach.

He angled their bodies in that direction and glanced at his altimeter every few seconds. Considering the failed radio communication, he was concerned the auto deploy function on their suits wouldn’t work either. Not willing to take the chance, he checked the altimeter again and again until they were nearly at the deployment range.

Unwrapping his legs from her body, he yanked on the parachute deployment handle and let go. He flew back as her chute erupted from the back of the suit and caught the air, hauling her up into the sky as he continued to sink. When he was certain her canopy had completely unfurled, he pulled his chute cord and jerked upward as well.

Alys sagged under her chute, clearly still unconscious. She wouldn’t be able to steer herself toward the beach so he used the toggles on either side to direct his chute toward hers. He managed to swoop in just behind her and used his legs to catch her again. His thighs burned as he held tight and steered them away from the ocean and toward the beach with his parachute.

Their speed was still too high as they approached the ground. There was nothing else he could do about that. At the last second, he let go and watched Alys drop to the sand like a rock. He hit a few feet away from her, his feet sliding in the sand until he came to a full stop. He jettisoned his parachute and rushed to catch Alys. Her chute had caught the wind, and she was being slowly dragged off the beach and into the water.

He grabbed hold of the front of her suit and jettisoned her chute. It flew off into the night, disappearing over the ocean. Grunting, he hauled her onto the beach and as far as he could away from the water before he collapsed. His entire body trembled with anxiety and fear as he ripped off his helmet and crawled over Alys.

When he removed her helmet, he winced at the blood on her face. She had a small gash on the front of her head, above her eye. Probably from whacking into the visor of her helmet. He felt around the back of her head and didn’t find any other injuries.

She made a sad little whimpering sound before opening her eyes and focusing on his face. Her brow was furrowed and then her eyes suddenly widened and she bolted upright. “Swift!”

“Shh,” he urged and embraced her. “We’re okay, baby. We’re okay.”

“You pushed me,” she sobbed.

“I know. I’m sorry.” Guilt tore at his heart. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she wept. “I wouldn’t have jumped. Pushing me was the only way.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, hating that he had added to her terror. “I’m so sorry, Alys.”

By now, he was crying, too. He clutched his wife, rocking her side to side as they tried to process the absolute nightmare they had just survived. Above them, the ship broke up into pieces, many of them on fire. They fell toward the ocean like meteors. It would have been beautiful if the circumstances hadn’t been so horrific.

Carefully, he helped Alys out of the suit and led her a little farther away from the water. He peeled out of his suit and joined her on the beach. Sitting behind Alys, he dragged her between his legs, urging her to lean back against him. She sagged into his embrace, and he kissed her cheek. “Search and Rescue will find us soon.”

“Swift?”

“Yes?”

“I know this is a really bad time, but I need to go,” she said meekly.

“Go?” Confused, he asked, “Go where?”

She shot him a perturbed look. “Swift.”

“What? Oh.” He finally understood. “Right. Um—okay. Let’s head into the trees.”

“I’m sorry.”

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