The Edge

by Leslie Lee

around. And they crashed, Sha's pod on top crushing him. The ceiling of his cockpit buckled inwards. The force crunched a scream out of him, as he lost consciousness.

  He jerked awake. Where was he? He looked around. Th'han'dra was sleeping in a chair next to his bed. She was curled up tight, her hair covering her face. One arm held the pillow under her head. Her other hand was clenched in a fist. Could he ever be as strong as her? He reached over and touched her thigh. She opened her eyes with surprise, but didn't flinch. Pilots rarely startled.

  His throat hurt, but he managed to croak out, "Where? How long?"

  Th'han'dra whispered something into her comm then answered. "You're in sick bay. It's been one day. We're still in Jump Space."

  He pushed the button on the bed to elevate his torso. Spending too much time in hospital beds, he thought. He could find the right controls without looking.

  His head ached and he felt bandages around his forehead. Vaguely, he remembered things breaking and falling in on him. There was a bandage around his forearm, and he felt really weak. And his head, it ached like a sonofabitch. He would have liked to have just closed his eyes but the curtain around his bed suddenly was swept aside revealing the Blue Box pilots a little out of breath.

  "Jeez, Boss," Ranger drawled. "You look like shit."

  "Feel like it too," his voice barely above a whisper.

  Zin Zin gave him a hug which hurt like hell but she was blubbering and carrying on so he could hardly say no. Besides, a hug from Zin Zin was always something pretty special. Good thing she gave them out so frequently.

  Then he noticed. Oh no. "Where's Sha?"

  The pilots looked at each other. Silent.

  Please, no.

  "She didn't make it, Boss," Jerry said, gravely.

  His stomach lurched, then clenched against the pain. He dropped his head back into the pillow. Suddenly, it felt like an elephant had fallen onto his chest.

  Then from somewhere down the ward, he heard a faint cry. "What the heck are you guys talking about? I'm right here."

  "Yeah," Ranger said, somberly shaking his big head. "We're gonna miss that little lady."

  "Quiet! I'm right here."

  "She was an awfully good pilot though, wasn't she?" sighed Dakota. "The old place just won't seem the same without her. What a bloody shame."

  "Shut the heck up, you freaks. I am right here!"

  The others turned to watch Sha struggling over to them.

  He took the time to blink back pain which had made his physical suffering temporarily fade into insignificance. Relief squeezed out of his eyes and he hastily wiped them away. He replaced it with a grin hoping nobody noticed his moment of weakness.

  "That looks like fun," he rasped to her looking at her walker.

  "Fashion statement," she said, indicating the metal contraption. Her legs were encased in casts which glowed with healers. The walker gave her some mobility. Her arms were dressed in bandages; there must have been some surgery on her head since it too was wrapped. Her bandages like his own pulsed with healers. But she was walking so maybe her injuries weren't that bad. "Zin Zin thinks it's going to be trend setting."

  Zin Zin giggled with delight bouncing over to give her a big hug and help her struggle to the bed.

  Sha finally managed to make it over and join the rest of the team. Her eyes were already spilling over. Her color wasn't very good, and now he could see an ugly bruise on the right side of her face. The recuperatives were still working on her black eye. Given time, the drugs would cleanse her body of the swelling and bruising. He was sure he was pumped full of them as well.

  The other pilots watched her expectantly.

  "You wrecked my pod, Boss," she said in a small voice. "You're going to pay for that."

  "Oh yeah," he grinned, still feeling light headed with relief. "Put it on my tab."

  They all laughed. Or rather he tried but ended up just coughing. It made his ribs feel like they were shattering.

  "What were you thinking, Boss?" Jerry asked. "You almost killed her in there."

  "Oh well," he said. "I'll get it right next time."

  "Eh," said K'hon. "He was just trying to get close to her."

  "There are much easier ways to meet the fairer sex, Boss," said Dakota. He smiled slyly at Sha who sniffed derisively. "I'm fairly certain I can give you a few pointers if you're interested."

  Both Mak and Sha blushed under the laughter.

  The nurse, a huge man with gentle hands, had finally had enough.

  "Alright boys and girls," he growled like a junkyard dog. "Fun time's over. You." He eyed Sha, who almost seemed to shrink under his gaze. "Haul that cute little ass of yours back into bed."

  With help from the pilots, she started to make her way back.

  "You lot, move out or you'll be emptying bed pans." He winked at Ranger and they grasped hands. That was Ranger's thing not Mak's. People's personal stuff was theirs as far as he was concerned.

  Th'han'dra dallied a little. The nurse looked like he was going to lay down the law but Ranger led him away.

  "Gold Ghost pilots showed up right before we Jumped."

  "Huh?" he said stupidly. "What?"

  "The pilots from Gold Ghost have reappeared on the ship."

  "Their bodies? Alive? You mean alive?"

  She looked off in the distance, deciding on an answer. "Matter of opinion. That's what caused the lock-down on the X."

  "Matter of opinion? What does that mean?"

  She shrugged. "You'll have to see for yourself. But the top brass decided that this was another attempt to delay us."

  "So Tar moved the Jump up."

  She nodded. "You might get a medal out of this."

  "Yeah, well, they can take their medal and shove it up their ass. Did anyone think that leaving us behind might be a bad idea?"

  She shrugged again. Even her small body gestures were musical. "Sha's pod was closest to the M'hin'rah. Shields damaged a thruster. Didn't fail until she tried to dock."

  He nodded. "She's too good to make a mistake."

  "I'll be back later. We can take a walk if you're up for it."

  He let his head sink back into the pillow and closed his eyes.

  "Good job, Boss," she whispered.

  Was that a quick kiss?

  He opened his eyes. The clock said he'd only slept a couple of hours. He wasn't hooked up to any IV's but he ached. He forced himself to sit upright. Th'han'dra wouldn't have asked him to take a walk if she didn't think it was important.

  The nurse was alerted to his movement by the bed.

  "What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

  "Need to move around a bit."

  He glared at him, his hands on his hips "What you haven't done broken is bruised up real bad. Like you were on the bad end of the pinata. The doctor hasn't signed you out yet either."

  "I just need to exercise a bit. See what the damage is like. We'll be at TOCSIN 4 when we come out of Jump Space."

  "Oh, and I suppose you think you're going to be out there buzzing around in that cute little pod of yours, huh?"

  "Uhm, yeah, as a matter of fact I do."

  "Hmph," the nurse said.

  "I'll take care of him." It was Th'han'dra, walking up. She looked like she'd caught a couple of hours sleep as well.

  The nurse snorted at her, towering over her. She looked back calmly into his eyes. The nurse raised his eyebrows then nodded a little.

  "Alright then. But if you feel any kind of dizzy, then hustle on back. That concussion's not the worse I've seen but watch yourself. This floor's just been cleaned. I don't want no blood ruining that real nice shine now, you hear?"

  Mak realized his gown was flapping open in the back. He hated these damned things. Defying the laws of physics was a snap but could they invent a decent hospital gown? It wasn't as if Th'han'dra hadn't seen him naked. But something about being half-naked, made him feel embarrassed.

  Th'han'dra rummaged at the foot of the bed and came up with a robe
and slippers. He slid them on trying not to grunt in pain. The nurse was still watching him suspiciously. He didn't want to let on that his entire body felt like somebody had jumped up and down on it a few hundred times.

  "Where are we going?" Mak asked, putting his hand on Th'han'dra's shoulder to steady himself. She tensed a little to take his weight. D'ha'rens always seemed to be running a fever. The heat emanating through her clothes warmed his flesh. Jump Space was the only time the squad felt comfortable being out of their flight suits. And because all pilots were by definition off duty, she didn't wear a uniform. Instead, she'd donned the flowing robes popular, according to Zin Zin, on D'ha'ren. The colors seemed to shift between blues and greens. They set off her eyes. Her eyes. They held that unique, at least unique to him, blend of intelligence and honor. He realized the clothes didn't make her more feminine or soft. They just emphasized her beauty, her grace, her loveliness. There was no place for modesty in the dorms. He had seen her naked in the showers. Yet, he couldn't quite grasp the details of her body. The shifting diaphanous material clung to, then disguised, her curves.

  "I said, are you ready?" she asked, yanking him out of his reverie.

  "Huh? Oh yeah. Sorry, zoned for a moment."

  She looked down at her front. "Did I spill something?"

  "Ah, no. I was just, uhm, thinking of something."

  "Sure you're up for this?" She narrowed her eyes.

  "Oh yeah. Absolutely." He smiled as best he could. Even those muscles hurt.

  They walked by Sha who was sleeping. Her biosigns looked good to his untrained eye. Other beds were also occupied. On a ship this large, somebody somewhere was always getting sick or injured.

  Sick bay was the only place on the ship which looked shiny and white. It