Page 40 of Elanie & the Empath
Almost where?Almost dead? Or almost finally alive?Yes. That’s it.I wasn’t stuck on the ship anymore. I wasn’t trapped. I was the wind. I was the snow. I was the stars twinkling above our heads.
“We’re free,” I tried to say, but my throat, dry and tight, wouldn’t let the words through. One more push of Elanie’s hands urging me forward made my head fall back. My eyes met the night sky, vast and breathtaking. I didn’t know these constellations. But I wanted to. I wanted to float beside them, above them.
“Stay with me, Sem.” Her voice was strong, steady, pulling me back down. “Stay with me,” she repeated, and it felt like a prayer.
I would stay with her. We were bonded now, on this frozen tundra. We were ice melting and reforming. We were snowflakes swirling through the air, our crystalline branches reaching out for one another, spanning space and time until we finally made contact.
Blue light splashed over the snow, stretching our shadows out long like taffy.
“What is that?” I asked.Headlights? Flares? Was someone coming?
“It’s Delphi,” she said while the ringed planet arched above the horizon, its light turning her skin just as blue as mine.
I wasn’t looking at Delphi, only at her. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”
She took my hand again. And while my eyes traced thegraceful curve of her cheek, skimmed the gentle slope of her nose, she pulled me forward. In Delphi’s light, I could just make out mountains rising in the distance, jagged peaks piercing the sky, snow cradled in the hollows between them.
“The cave is just over there,” she told me, pointing at a shadow in the rock I could barely see. Her hand was warm around mine, her grip firm and sure. But I was so tired.
She pulled, and I took one more step, then another. And then I was floating, falling, gone.
15.ELANIE
Fallingto my knees by Sem’s side, I rolled him onto his back and brushed fine crystals of snow from his cheeks. I’d never seen him this color—pale, ashen, mottled like an old bruise.
Abnormal vitals alarms blared uselessly between my ears, bright red warning codes scrolling across my vision. My resources were not infinite, and my systems continuing to alert me to what I already knew but could do nothing about was not only inefficient, but it was also annoying. So I silenced all alarms for the maximum time my programming would allow.
After answeringyes, I’m sureto the confirmation dialogue warning me that silencing my alarms would have serious, irreversible consequences, I shook Sem’s shoulders and shouted, “Wake up!” into the wind.
He didn’t stir.
Turning my head, I lowered my cheek to his lips. Wispy puffs of his breath warmed my skin.Thank the stars. “Sem.” I took his face between my hands. “Please wake up.”
He groaned once. And then nothing.
With proper sleep and nutrition, bionics had a basic self-sustaining metabolism. But our energy-generating capacity wasn’t infinite, not without a charging station or a natural power source like the sun. Maintaining my core temperature in the dark, freezing wind had already sapped my reserves. Add to that carrying an adult Portisan male who’d just told me he wanted to drown in my eyes through two feet of snow in nothing but my pajama bottoms? If we did survive the night, I’d be lucky if I had enough juice left to form two-syllable words.
Scanning the surrounding snow, I searched again for any trace of whoever might have brought me here. They had to be out there somewhere, watching, waiting. Otherwise, what was the point? Where was the logic? But everywhere I looked, nothing looked back. Nothing but snow and mountains and stars and the incessant, howling wind.
I needed to move. If we were going to survive, we couldn’t stay here.
Hoisting Sem over one shoulder and our meager supplies over the other, I took a breath, put my head down, and ran.
The entrance was little morethan a narrow gap in the rock. I had to turn sideways to get through, scratching my shoulder and bruising my hip to avoid bumping Sem’s head on the wall. Exhaling in relief when the cave opened into a wider chamber, I dropped our supplies to the floor. It was so dark I couldn’t see past my hand even with bionic night vision, so I activated my thermal scanner, mapping a jagged, oblong space no bigger than my pod. Our sanctuary from the storm was just tall enough tostand in, just long enough to stretch Sem out onto the ground.
My eyes kept trying to close. I needed sleep so I could replenish my energy stores. But Sem was too cold, too still. His usually vibrant blue skin was so pale I barely recognized him. He’d die if I didn’t do something. He’d die, and I’d be alone.
Shunting my circulation temporarily into my fingers to improve my fine motor control, I unclipped his dead thermal generators, then slipped off his shoes and socks. It was the first time I’d seen his bare feet, and I wondered if the delicate webbing that spanned his toes was as soft as it looked. I wondered if I should find out. If I should touch it, brush my fingertip over—I shook my head.
It was delirium. Cognitive dysfunction brought on by hypothermic stress. I had to focus just a little bit longer.
I undid the button of his pants before easing his zipper down slowly, carefully, one tooth at a time like I was defusing an atomic. Peeling off his pants, I revealed white boxers with tiny red and blue sailboats on them. They were cute, the sailboats. Almost charming. Adorable, actually. They were just so…Sem.
I was slipping again, my concentration fading. But then a sound came from somewhere behind the walls.Plunk, plunk, plunk.Like water dripping onto rock. I focused on that sound, moving in time with the drips. I unbuttoned his shirt,plunk. Pulled his arms out of the sleeves,plunk. Removed his shirt,plunk. Took off my pants,plunk. My eyelids were so unbearably heavy. My arms and legs even heavier.Plunk, plunk, plunk.
Forcing myself to remain conscious, I slotted into place behind him, slid my arm over his chest, and notched my knees into the hollow space behind his. He was freezing, hisbreathing shallow and rapid. But like the water dripping through the walls, his heart beat steadily.Thump, thump, thump.
He’d followed me onto the escape pod. He hadn’t wanted me to be alone, so he’d followed me. He’d sacrificed his safety and comfort. He wouldn’t sacrifice his life too. Not for me.
