Page 52 of Rescued By The Alien Prince Pirate

"The…explosion?" I shrieked, burning a hole through Cyburn with my gaze. Did Ireallyjust hear that right? "Cyburn…pleasetell me what is going on."

Cyburn momentarily stopped what he was doing and blinked at me. It was almost as if he'd forgotten I was eventhere. He blinked again and shook his head, seemingly snapping out of his temporary delirium.

He jogged over to me and urgently cuffed his hand around my forearm. He compellingly pulled me forward.

"Come, darling, we need to go…now."

"Out into space?" I asked.

"Yes." He nodded fervidly.

"What aboutme?"

"You're coming with us, of course."

"We don't have much time to get off this ship," Nix explained.

As soon as he said that the Operator's voice cut through our conversation again.

"Our beloved Imperial Harvester Jun has been badly injured, but please be advised that it will donothingto stop him from enacting his revenge on those foes who dare to bring him harm."

"What? Is this real?" I couldn't wrap my head around what was happening.

The voice was so shrill and metallic that I had to clamp my hands over my ears to muffle the sound a bit.

Cyburn and Nix were listening on with worried expressions which did little to ease my mind.

The Operator continued, "The ship has been signaled to self-destruct upon the ending of the timer."

"Self-destruct?" I screamed. I'd barely had time to get dressed, let alone deal with this high-stress situation. "I don't want to die here."

"None of us do. Wereallyhave to get to the hangar," Cyburn said. "There isn't much time if any at all. It's all the way across the ship. I'm afraid that even if we run as fast as we can, we're not going to make it in time."

"What about your crew?" I asked.

"Hopefully, they'll make it to the shuttles that we left in the hangar."

"And what about us? Do we have those shuttles, too?"

"Yes," Cyburn nodded insistently.

"I don't have a life-support suit," I protested. "How am I supposed to survive in space without one?"

"I have a spare on my shuttle," Nix said. "It's… my wife's… but you can borrow it. It might be a little big on you, but it will work to keep you alive while we're riding out."

"Thank you." I gave him a smile of gratitude.

We started rushing out of the medical bay door and ran briskly down the hallway. I felt like I was having another out of body experience.

We were mere minutes away from death. How could I have found myself in such life-threatening situations? If only I could go back to that mundane routine…

But then there was still Cyburn.

He needed me, and I'd already agreed to join his team to help him with the robots.

I was overwhelmed and massively in over my head, but there was not much I could do about it at this point. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. It was tough to keep up with Cyburn and Nix because their stride was so much bigger than mine.

My lungs burned and my thighs ached.

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