Page 32 of Bound to the Bounty Hunter

While rummaging through the debris, I noticed a metallic glint. I brushed aside broken glass, revealing an intact centrifuge. “Arkon! Look at this!”

He appeared at my side, holding a box of undamaged chemical supplies. “Found these in a locked cabinet,” he said with a grin.

Hope blossomed in my chest. Maybe we could make this work after all.

Arkon squeezed my shoulder. “You’ve got this,” he said. Our eyes met over the pile of debris between us. Despite everything, I found myself smiling. His unwavering faith in me was infectious.

We cleared a space and began setting up a makeshift lab area. As we worked, Arkon uncovered a backup power source. Withbated breath, I connected it to a critical piece of equipment. The machine hummed to life.

My excitement grew as the lab took shape around us. We might actually pull this off. I turned to share a triumphant grin with Arkon, only to find him already watching me, an intense look in his eyes.

“I told you that you could do it,” Arkon said, his voice warm with pride.

I looked up at him with gratitude and something deeper, more intense. Then a sudden, sharp crack echoed through the lab, shattering the moment and sending us both spinning towards the sound.

ARKON

My body moved before my mind caught up. I lunged for Samira, wrapping her in my arms and shielding her as dust and debris rained down from above.

“Are you injured?” I asked, scanning her for injuries.

Samira coughed, waving away the dust. “I’m fine. What happened?”

I looked up at the ceiling, noting the new fissure that had formed. “Structural collapse. This place is even less stable than we thought.”

Samira’s eyes widened as she took in the damage. “The equipment-”

“Is secondary,” I cut her off. “Your safety comes first.”

I released her reluctantly and surveyed the lab. Most of the debris had fallen away from the workstations, but several pieces of equipment lay toppled or cracked.

“We need to stabilize this area,” I said, already moving to clear the larger chunks of rubble. “Can you salvage what you can of the equipment? Your samples are still safe in your pack, right?”

Samira nodded, hurrying to right an overturned microscope. “Yes, they’re secure. But without proper equipment...”

I paused in my work, meeting her gaze. “We’ll figure it out. First, we make sure this place doesn’t come down on our heads.”

As I cleared debris, a plan formed. “I’m going to reinforce the structure. There should be materials around the outpost we can use.”

“How?” Samira asked, carefully stowing a cracked datapad.

“Drones,” I replied. “If I can cobble together some micro-drones, they can help us shore up weak points in the ceiling and walls.”

Samira’s brow furrowed. “That’s... ambitious.”

I allowed myself a small smile. “Says the woman synthesizing a counteragent to a galaxy-wide mind control conspiracy.”

That earned me a laugh, the sound warming me more than it should have. “Fair point. What do you need?”

“I’m going to scout the outpost, see what I can scavenge. You focus on getting your lab functional again. I won’t be far.”

I hesitated before leaving, an irrational part of me not wanting to let Samira out of my sight. But sentiment wouldn’t keep us alive. I pushed down the feeling and headed out into the unstable corridors.

The outpost creaked and groaned around me as I navigated through the ruins. Every sense was on high alert, ready to detect the slightest tremor that might signal another collapse. I found a storage area filled with broken equipment and began sorting through the wreckage.

Circuit boards, power cells, small antigrav units – piece by piece, I gathered what I needed. It took multiple trips, my arms laden with components each time I returned to the lab. Samira looked up from her work, a smudge of dirt on her cheek that I fought the urge to wipe away.

“Any luck?” she asked.

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