Page 17 of Downfall

She woke sweaty from both heat and exertion with forty-five minutes left. Already, she thought she could sense the lightheadedness that came with diminishing oxygen. The oxygen alarm started blaring an hour ago, and they quickly shut it up, but the cockpit still flashed red every three seconds with its useless warning signal.

Tez sat up with her legs crossed, looking down at the man sleeping naked beside her. He was a deep sleeper after sex, she’d learned. With luck, maybe he wouldn’t have to wake up at all. But her eyes drifted to the object illuminated occasionally by flashes of red in his grip, and she recognized it as his pistol. It was good thinking. They should probably use it soon.

After hearing all his stories aboutOlympusand his plans for when he found New Earth, it became clear to Tez that Stag was a much better human than she had ever been. She had big plans too, before. Hers involved being promoted, being a cog in the machine of man’s search for water. But Hydra Company sold all of its resources to the highest bidder, and that was always a colony ship. Tez knew it wasn’tgood. That by just sharing a bit of the precious resource with poorer stations or barely habitable planets, they could improve the lives of millions of people. It was convenient for her to believe colonies were doing somethingnobleby stockpiling what they could in their search for New Earth; that maybe once they found it, they’d share with everyone else.

A foolish excuse. Everyone knew if a colony did find such a place, they’d never share it. Besides, Tez knew now she’d never have been anything more than a guard pilot anyway, shooting down pirates and men like Stag, who were actuallydoingsomething. Sure, Stag wasn’t aiming to save every poor soul in the universe, but he’d been trying to make his little corner of it better for more than just himself. Even if the whole mission of repairing a dead colony ship and setting off in search of New Earth seemed like a pipe dream, at least he was an altruistic idealist.

Tez chose not to press him on how his people planned to get the resources they needed to begin an expedition in unexplored space. There was no point stressing him out about it—not like he’d be there to see it.Olympuswould need to become a resource behemoth like the rest of the colonies to survive out there. It would require enough food, medicine, and other necessities to last them the years that such a journey would take.

She’d let herself enjoy fantasizing about what it’d be like to settle on a New Earth together. Maybe even have children, though of course that was unlikely. Fertility rates were next to nil.

Tez looked at the lines of Stag’s face, washed in red every few seconds under the flash of the alarm. She wished she’d asked him how he got his scars, but it seemed preferable to focus on their imaginary future rather than the real past. If they’d had more time, she would’ve asked. She wanted to know.

The vibration beneath her took a little while to register. It started with a barely perceptible shaking against her bare thighs—subtle, but enough to send her heart into her throat once she’d detected it. Was this it? Was another quake going to kill them before suffocation did? Would that be better? Tez’s eyes flew to the pistol. Stag hadn’t stirred. She kept waiting for it to escalate, but instead of the hollow groan deep within the ground like last time, the next thing she heard came from above: a rumble that vibrated through the ship and into her bones.

Someone is coming.

“Stag,” she muttered, touching his shoulder, gently at first. As the rumbling approached, she grabbed his hand and jerked. “Stag! Wake up. Someone’s here. Someone came.”

She could recognize the roar of landing thrusters anywhere, and in that moment, it was the sweetest thing she’d ever heard. Soon they were both on their feet. Tez scrambled for her oxpack before realizing it was no use—it was empty and there was nothing to refill it with.

“Airlock’s broken anyway. They’ll just come in,” Stag assured her. They paused, eyeing each other as the unspoken question passed between them. Who weretheygoing to be? His people, or hers?

It would probably be hers. They’d have more resources and easier access to the planet’s surface. Tez moved to stand between him and the airlock, but with a firm hand on her upper arm, he pushed her back behind his bulk.

“Stag—”

“Shut up and stay there.” Tez swallowed down her protest. Arguing now would only distract them and maybe get them both killed. Stag clenched the pistol in his hand, jaw twitching.

* * *

It seemed like forever, the life support estimate ticking down with each bated breath they took. Thirty minutes, then twenty… What if whoever it was didn’t reach them in time?

But at ten minutes, there was clanging outside, along with muffled voices. The hiss of the airlock opening followed by the shuffling of boots and the telltale clicking of weapons being readied.

“This is a rescue squad from Hydra Company. Whoever is in there, raise your hands in the air. If we detect a weapon, we will shoot on sight.”

Tez’s stomach clenched, and she pushed herself past him, jerking out of his grip as he tried to hold her back. She positioned herself in front of him and nodded for him to lower the pistol to the floor just as the inner lock clanked open.

“Don’t shoo—” she started, moving to raise her hands.

But she was cut off by an arm snaking around her waist and jerking her hard against a wall of muscle. A pistol clicked in her ear.

“Put your weapons down or I shoot.” The voice behind her was colder than the chunks of ice they’d drilled on the surface of Arvex.

CHAPTER10

STAG

The look on her face as he put the gun to her head was something he wished he could unsee.

For a moment, he thought they were going to shoot them both, with the way they kept their guns pointed in both their faces. Finally, the helmet ahead jerked an inch to the side, as though listening, and the weapons were lowered. Stag kept Tessa pulled tight against him, her abs tensing under his hand.

“Get me an oxpack. Now,” Stag barked. He was already having to keep himself from swaying, dizzy from the waning oxygen supply. Soon as someone threw him an oxpack, he shimmied sideways, keeping the pistol pointed at what was now, for all intents and purposes, the enemy again as he tugged the pack and helmet onto her with one hand. He pulled her flight suit up over her bare legs, past her hips, then waist, pushing her arms roughly as he could muster into the sleeves. It had to be convincing. He couldn’t resist brushing her side for a moment as he cinched up the suit at her chest.

“Get your hands off her, you goddamn animal,” the masked man in front barked at the gesture, exchanging a look with the one beside him.

Once Stag was sure the oxygen was flowing, he jerked the gun straight ahead. “Another.”

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