Page 56 of Sol Survivor

“A female.”A man with blue hair and eyes smiled at her.“Welcome to the Ivoyan ship,Aroagni.”

He held out his hand, but she stared at it.This was insane.She’d gone and lost her mind, something she hadn’t anticipated.Maybe she was re-inhaling carbon dioxide, triggering hallucinations.The man dropped his hand, a frown knitting his brow.

“Juunn, take care of our guest.I need to check on the shuttle.”The blue-man jogged through a door, disappearing.

Juunn, the green-haired man, crouched beside her, his eyes glowing like brilliant peridots.“You are safe.We mean you no harm.”

She chuckled.Now that was funny.They wouldn’t harm her.She would make fargen sure of that.Scrambling to her feet had them stepping back.She unclipped the helmet and tossed it aside, relishing the satisfying thunk as it landed on the metallic floor.When she climbed out of her suit amid snaps and zips, it was under their vigilance.

“What does it matter if you harm me?I’m dead, after all.”Now that she was free to move, she tapped her chin while studying them.“Or will I bleed in hell?”She had moments ago been in pain, so bleeding was a possibility.

“She has lost her mind,” a black-haired man growled.He gripped his blaster.“I say we kill her.Whatever she has could be contagious.”

Kill her?When she was dead already?Maybe she had to fight her way to heaven?She nodded.That would be the most probable.“Try it, big boy.”She grinned, raising her fists in front of her as if she could dodge a blaster shot.A tingle raced across her skin as it hardened then shimmered like armor.Right, Drafe’s gift to her.She wiggled her nose, willing her silly tears to fade.All her hope for a future with him was gone.She’d wasted that opportunity for a position on theMula Pesada.What a fool she’d been.

“This is nonsense, Ulvus.She is a guest.”Brown rested his hand on Ulvus’s shoulder.

“She could explode, Igar.What do we know.”Ulvus glared at her with yellow eyes so like Drafe’s.

The moment Ulvus reached for his blaster, she struck, taking him to the grated floor.Juunn and Igar jumped back, then lunged forward when Ulvus groaned.

She tutted.“Oh, no, you don’t.Come closer, and Iwillkill him.”She wiggled her foot pinned to his throat, barely able to resist his squirming attempts to rise.

Igar held up his hands.“We mean you no harm.Ulvus was jesting.He would never have killed you.”

Ulvus garbled words, but the fury in his pale-yellow eyes was incongruent with Igar’s soothing tone.

She sighed.“I have killed before.I had to, you see.Twice I wanted to, but every time was to survive.”She leaned an elbow on her knee and peered at Ulvus.“If I free you, will you promise not to attack me?”

He narrowed his eyes while trying to shove her off him.Had she not used her cybernetic leg to balance her, he could have.Shewasfar lighter than him.

“Foqen agree, Ulvus, or die like this.”Juunn threw his hands in the air.

Lights flickered, and all raised their gazes to the ceiling.

“Aehort Uz’s intervention will bring dishonor on your tribe,” Igar growled at Ulvus.

With a roar, Ulvus punched her thigh, buckling her leg and bringing her knee down onto his chest.No pain radiated outward from his hit, as if a child had patted her.He grunted and shoved her off him, then rolled away from her.Juunn hoisted her up and shoved her behind him.Thinking this situation resolved, especially when Igar and Juunn formed a muscled wall between her and Ulvus, she lowered her fists.A fresh ripple of tingles preceded the fading of her armor, and she splayed her fingers to better admire the pearlescent light display across her skin.

Leaping to his feet, Ulvus barreled between Igar and Juunn.Their reaction was impressive but not swift enough.Ulvus swung a fist, catching her across the chin.Her head snapped to the side.Pain exploded to the rear of her skull.Her vision spun as a deep agony pulsed in her jaw.While chuckling, she staggered back but caught herself before falling to a knee.A champion never showed weakness.Her armor spread like a bolt from a taser blast.Too fargen late.

While she massaged her jaw with a thumb, she poked the area with her tongue.“It’s been a while since I’ve tasted my blood.”All lies, but confidence planted doubt and fear in her opponents.A habit she had yet to break.

Ulvus struggled against Igar and Juunn, who flanked him.

She smirked.“Why, thank you, gentlemen.”

Bursting forward with her cybernetic speed, she kicked Ulvus in the gut, driving him back.Such force would have taken down a human.Ulvus stumbled but righted himself.She didn’t hesitate.Using his knee to launch herself into the air, she flung out her arm to collide with his throat.She landed in a roll, vaulted to her feet, then faced him.

He clutched his throat, gasping and fighting for air.Dropping to his knees, then his hands, he gagged like a robo-cat coughing up a fake furball.

“Relax, he won’t die.Just minor asphyxiation.”She pointed to her inhuman arm.“If I’d hit him with this one, then yes, he’d be dead.Now, where the farg am I?”

Juunn and Igar blinked at her, gaping like whale skeletons.The lights flickered again.Juunn dipped to help a glowering Ulvus to his feet, whose cheeks had paled to a dark gray.

“We good?Or do you want me to kill you?”She grinned.“Let me know, and I’ll schedule you in.”She was being too sassy, but farg, she was tired, thirsty, and wanted answers.

Blue-man burst into the room, but that wasn’t what snagged her attention.Behind him was a man she had intimate knowledge of.Farg, hell is mean.Her heart swelled, and she hurried to calm it.He was a figment of her imagination.By no means was he the real Drafe.

---