Page 68 of Star Prince

Tee made a strangled scream and rammed the bottoms of her feet on the door. “No!”

“ABANDON SHIP. ABANDON SHIP.”

The hatch sealed shut with an ear-popping hiss, and the life-support system inside the pod took over. The air was dry and stale-smelling. Ian sucked in huge, lung-filling gulps. “By your right arm—the manual release—pull it!”

Tee yanked the release handle.

His heart pounded like a sledgehammer.

The pod detached with a jolt and floated free, bobbing in space like a fishing lure in a rippling pond.

“This thing has propulsion jets. Somewhere.” His fingers searched an unfamiliar control panel. The manufacturer had familiarized him with the pod’s operation once, on the starship’s maiden voyage. “There.” He activated the nozzles and used a tiny joystick to back away from theSun Devil—even at full speed, maybe too slowly to save them, should the ship blow.

Tee must have read his thoughts. “At least this way we have a chance,” she insisted. “On the ship we’d have none.”

They braced themselves for the explosion, huddled together, eyes shielded. But all that thundered around them was their labored breathing.

TheSun Devilheld together.

“Well,” he said. “It looks like we’re still in the game.”

She huffed. “You’d better believe we are. We’re going to get back in that ship and start her up. I’ll have you on Earth before Randall’s engines grow cold.”

He didn’t know whether to shout a war cry or kiss her senseless. “Let’s do it.”

They fell away from each other and went to work. Ian fired the steering jets rearward, stopping their backward movement. Holding the joystick, he tapped the steering jets, expelling just enough force to start the pod moving toward the ship. Tee crouched by the porthole to offer additional visual guidance. It was a fair distance to the ship, and therewas no guarantee they would make it; the little pod wasn’t designed to fly long through open space.

“We’re not getting any closer,” Tee observed, frowning.

He gave the jets more fuel. But theSun Devilmaintained its position relative to the pod.

“We need more,” she said.

“Fuel’s almost gone.”

“Already?”

“We traveled a good distance, though it doesn’t look like it.”

She stared outside, her expression grim. “TheSun Devilis drifting away from us at a greater velocity than this pod can manage.”

If they didn’t catch up with the ship, they would be stranded in the pod that, unlike theSun Devil,held a very finite volume of air. “How much time do we have if we’re stuck in here?”

Tee held her tablet with trembling hands that revealed the truth about her outwardly cool and calm demeanor. “Approximately five standard galactic hours.”

Five hours. The clock was ticking.

He gave the jets another spurt of propellant.

“Low fuel,” cautioned the onboard computer in a soft, feminine voice.

“We’re gaining on her now,” Tee said excitedly.

Ian manipulated the joystick. “I played a lot of Nintendo as a kid,” he said. He sent more propellant into the jets.Come on, come on.

Adjacent to his joystick, a red light blinked in warning. “Jesus, not yet.”

The jets drained the last of the fuel. Ian threw up his hands. “That’s it,” he said.

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