Chapter 18
The suit screamed.
Or maybe that was her.
But every mech alarm klaxon was blaring, warning lights flashing, and worst of all was the softer, insidious hiss of air escaping from some damage.
They tumbled, the universe around them an incomprehensible blur, like the holographic navigation array gone insane.
She would’ve thrown up but she hadn’t had anything to eat except that littlecandy she’d found in the bottom of her pocket a million years ago.
Fighting the G forces, Nor snaked his arm along hers to take control of the suit. A few spurts from the rockets slowed their spin, although her brain and stomach still seemed to be gyrating.
Another few gestures and he found and sealed the leaky hiss.
Silence, deep and profound, descended.
She kept her voice to a whisper. “Arewe…?”
“Alive?”
“I think so.” She tangled her fingers in his and squeezed.
Under her hand, she felt him tweak the controls. The boosters rolled them expertly, bringing the black hole into view.
TheGrandiloquencewas poised at the event horizon, caught by gravity and quantum physics and the madness of its last captain. The distortion of the singularity gave the ship a strange and awful beautyas it seemed to flare, taking all the light of the stars around it.
Too bright. She had to look away. Her glance upward locked with Nor’s.
She leaned back against his chest, twisting to bury her face in his neck. “I’m sorry you lost your ship.”
He dipped his head down. “I’m happy I found you.” His slow exhalation ruffled her closed lashes.
And then stopped.
“Nor?”
No answer.
She tried toturn, but the confines of the suit were too tight. “Nor, don’t you dare.” She twisted her fingers against his, trying to find his pulse. “Wake up. You can’t leave me here. Not now. Not after all this.”
Straining back against him, she cried out at the hot slickness of his blood. No god in the universe would be so cruel…
She screamed his name.
And she didn’t look up at the stars even when thearmada of ships arrived.
***
He was floating.
Space was vast, and they’d be floating a very long time. Or maybe he was dead.
Either way, he had her.
He reached out to find…nothing.
That jolted him upright when even the thought of death hadn’t done it.