Page 22 of Seven Oars
“Stay in the back room!” Riel yelled at them.
Since they were already there, they only huddled closer together.
Daphne burst out crying, and Sassa started sobbing too.
Another distant jolt unsettled the ship. This time, it was felt more clearly, a metallic clang, like two railroad cars coupling.
Anske recited a prayer.
The sounds and flashes disoriented Rosamma. She gripped Gro’s hand and held on, her eyes locked on Phex, tracking his every movement. He worked furiously at the controls, exchanging terse words with his crew amid the cacophony of the ship’s overstimulated warning system.
“We’ll be okay. It’s nothing. The alarm makes it so much worse.”
But Gro’s words failed to reassure Rosamma.
The Rix didn’t think it was nothing.
As suddenly as it had begun, it all stopped—the noise, the lights.
The cruiser plunged into complete darkness. Only the battery-powered music player kept going, spilling out yet another well-known hit.
Two heartbeats, three…
Phex fired up an emergency flashlight.
All four Rix defenders had floated into the“back” room, crowding in with the women. They closed the hatch and locked it.
“Prepare oxygen masks.” Phex thrust the torch into Rosamma’s hands and palmed a second weapon. Two more were clipped to his waist.
“What about the protective suits?” Eze asked.
“Don’t have any.”
Eze didn’t ask again.
“Did we hit an asteroid or something?” Fawn asked, her voice thin.
“We’ve been ambushed.”
“By who?”
“By pirates.”
Phex hit the music player, silencing the familiar music forever.
Fawn gasped.“P-pirates? Are you sure?”
Phex didn’t deign to reply.
The silence that followed was broken only by uneven breathing and the rustle of packages as Riel extracted oxygen masks and handed them out.
Meanwhile, their cruiser sailed on, seemingly undisturbed. No more clanging or jolts. No movement at all. Aside from the power loss, now replaced by the red glow of the emergency flashlight, everything seemed normal.
It was wild to imagine that somewhere outside, something was happening. That there could be another presence.
“What are we going to do?” Rosamma whispered into the dark silence.
“We wait.” Phex turned to her, all huge black eyes and austere features.“If we’re lucky, they will board us.”
