Page 47 of Into Orbit
‘Soil islovely,’ I argued. ‘Full of things that feed my Forest. Black and thick and comforting. Moon dust is dead. Itsticks. And it gets everywhere.’
‘Like sand at the beach.’
‘Exactly.’ I paused. ‘Except I don’t know what abeachis.’
‘Hmm,’ she said, and brushed a kiss across my forehead. ‘We should find one. You’d look hot as fuck in a bikini.’
On the screen, the Pods slid open, and their pilots and seconds stepped out. The screen darkened their helmets, so it was impossible to tell who was who. They worked together to unhook the ice nets, then began floating the blocks towards the Darnagh ship.
‘Do all moons have low gravity?’ Maeve asked curiously.
‘They vary, usually depending on size. But this one is only slightly larger than your Earth moon, so the force is quite similar.’
The side of the Darnagh ship slid open, revealing its storage bay. The bay was surprisingly empty; I’d have expected travellers this far out from the centre – and Darnagh this far from their home planet – to have extensive cargo, but the bay was clear except for a few crates.
There were no Darnagh to be seen.
I frowned, then glanced across at Adair who – to his credit – had his shadow-green eyes trained on the screen, rather than me and Maeve. ‘Where’s their cargo?’ he muttered. He met my frown with one of his own. ‘Wouldn’t they come out to meet the beings saving their asses?’
‘Perhaps their suits are damaged?’ I mused.
‘Then why wouldn’t they ask for replacements?’ he said practically. ‘This is space travel for beginners. Ice, food, comms, supplies for repairs. The most common issue during flight is hull damage from objects too small for the radar to pick up, and to make repairs you need suits. The Darnagh mastered intergalactic travelgenerationsago. This is …’
‘Odd,’ I supplied when he trailed off.
Our shipmates thought so, too. They gestured at each other, clearly communicating over the suits’ direct comms; after a moment, one of them gave a visible shrug. They directed the ice inside the hold, then disappeared from view, working to secure it.
Adair’s wrist screen lit up. ‘I don’t like this,’ came my mother’s voice in a wide comm that would go to those working to get the ice delivered as well as the guards on board the main ship. ‘I don’t like this at all. Secure the ice and get out, warriors. And that is a direct order. Guards on board, stand by.’
The image on the screen stayed eerily still. I took Maeve’s hand, gently squeezing her fingers.
Adair stepped closer, frowning intently at the screen. It was a mark of how tense we were that Maeve didn’t snap at him, just huffed a little under her breath, squeezing my fingers. She didn’t like his scent – she said it reminded her of cigars, whatever that meant – and she hated it in her space.
She hadn’t had a problem with Willow’sraisin toastor Ashton’sbaking cookies.
The second pair pulled their ice block towards the Darnagh ship. The first reappeared – Adair took a deep breath – and took the ice off them, floating it up into the ship and disappearing for a second time.
‘Return to the ship,’ my mother snapped through the guards’ channel on Adair’s wrist screen. ‘Immediately.’
The second pair moved back to their Pod, retracting the ice net before climbing in and taking off.
‘Come on,’ Adair growled at the screen.
‘Rosa Hawthorn and Bough Unclaimed, return to the shipnow,’ the Captain snarled.
My heartbeats thumped against my spines; the tiny arcadias that had bloomed on my shoulders closed. Adair’s fingers brushed the holster of his stun gun; his bark armour shifted, growing another layer in response to his readiness for battle.
‘Fucking hell,’ Maeve muttered.
A handful of heartbeats later, the pair emerged from the storage hold; they jumped down, their boots stirring the moon dust once more. They hastened towards the ship, climbing inside.
‘The ice net,’ Adair hissed.
The Pod took off without them retracting it, the net trailing empty in its wake.
‘That’s going to be a nightmare when they dock,’ I murmured.
‘Saplings,’ Adair agreed.
