Page 28 of Tempting Jupiter
“Press down,” she instructed.
He did and the metal alloy wall in front of them hummed to life. Tiny droplets of charged silica appeared across it, like dew clinging to leaves. It spread to a thin layer then the colors changed to form the external view display.
Jupiter straightened suddenly. Seneca strode quickly to his side.
“Neat, huh? I remember the first time I saw one of these,” she teased. “I thought it looked like the hull was melting away and that we’d go flying out into space.”
“If that were the case, we would have felt a change in air pressure,” Jupiter said, voice flat.
She met his eyes over her good shoulder. His face showed no hint of emotion, but that fact spoke volumes. He was being brave. “Not impressed, huh?” She hoped to lighten the mood, but his features remained stoic.
“There are many things we’ll have to learn to survive outside the hell of Roma,” he said. “But we are not completely ignorant.”
The flatness of his voice almost crushed the satisfaction she was feeling at seeing the empty space around them. “I never thought you were, Jupiter.” She turned to break free of his hold.
He let her step weakly free of the safe circle of his arms. She lurched her way through the wreckage, clinging to whatever she could reach, to retrieve Bug. By the time she reached its hiding spot, Jupiter was there too, lifting her back into his arms. She pulled Bug free from the snarl of exposed wires, then spoke without meeting his gaze. “Thanks. Back to the pilot’s panel, please.” When they reached it, Jupiter put her back on her feet. She placed Bug on the console. She adjusted its position and began a power siphon.
“Now what?” Jupiter asked, some of his stiffness gone.
Good question. There was still too much to do and too much that could go wrong, but sharing her concerns would benefit no one. “Now, we find out if we can fix this hulk, at least well enough to maneuver, before Fitz or Stone realizes you weren’t in those escape pods and comes back.”
Seneca leaned a hip against the opposite end of the control station as he watched her work. “How long will that be?”
“With any luck, they’ll still be at odds and slow each other down. And I programmed a little surprise into the pod systems that should cause a minor explosion if they try to bring one of the pods onboard. Not enough to do serious damage, but enough to cause some confusion and make a mess. That’s if they try to bring it on board and if they don’t take precautions against a power overload.”
“What are the odds they won’t take precautions?” Seneca folded his arms across his chest, but the move looked all wrong on him.
“They won’t expect you to know how to rig something like that, but they should at least be considering that I might and that I might have been with you. And since they’re a professional salvage crew, I’d say the odds are pretty damn long against us.”
Jupiter gently squeezed her good shoulder. “Now who’s the pessimist?”
Chapter Thirteen
TheRenegade
EarthAllianceBetaSector
2210.148
Seneca watched the way Jupiter interacted with the woman. He’d never seen him show anything but hate to humans, but it wasn’t Jupiter’s concern for her health that surprised him the most. It was the easy verbal sparring, as if they’d known each other for years.
“You think you can fix the ship?” Jupiter kept a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m no mechanic,” she said. “So if there’s anything big wrong, I doubt I’ll be able to do much. On the other hand, I’m a wiz at computer systems. There’s obviously some systems damage, but I may be able to reroute things enough to get the ship back in functional condition.”
The woman was swaying on her feet. She’d avoided the seat, but eventually had no choice but to use it. She needed rest and time to heal, but time was something they didn’t have.
Jupiter paced as the woman worked. Yes, they’d followed Mercury as pack leader, but they were used to doing their own share of the fighting. Waiting made Seneca feel useless. It had to be even worse for Jupiter. It didn’t take long before more lights and computer displays began to flicker on. A shudder rumbled through the decking and then faded away.
Feeona turned her chair to face them and rested her forearms against her thighs. She’d started to shake again. “I have good news and bad news.”
“What’s the bad news?” Jupiter’s scowl had deepened.
“The maneuvering thrusters aren’t responding at all and the standard space drive is only functioning at half capacity. It won’t get us anywhere.”
Seneca hoped the rest of her news outweighed the bad. “You said there’s good news.”
“Sure. Lots of it. Like, no sign of Fitz or Stone yet.” She tapped the console with one hand. “TheRenegadehere has enough power to continue to run the grav drive and enviro for the next year or so.”
