This might be her last and only chance.
Taking a deep breath, and still hardly able to believe that she was about to do this, Evie met Toryx’s fiery gaze and nodded.
“Alright,” she said, desperately trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Let’s do this.”
Toryx smiled, and then, without another word, he turned and started running toward the industrial section of the City Dome.
Evie ran after him. She was really doing this.
All she could hope for was that she and Toryx would somehow survive this suicide mission.
Chapter Three
Toryx strapped himself into the co-pilot’s chair and told himself not to bother Evie as she went through her pre-flight checklist. Keeping quiet wasn’t in his nature, and right now he had a thousand questions he wanted to ask her, the most important of which was “How much longer until we can get out of here?”
He managed to keep his mouth shut for the moment at least, and distracted himself by glancing around the Starburst’s bridge. The spaceship was a medium sized cargo ship, and in here it looked pretty much like any other cargo ship Toryx had ever been in. Evie had assured him, however, that the ship was anything but ordinary. It had engine modifications that allowed it run much faster and quieter than your average spaceship, and its hull was reinforced with Zekkardite. Zekkardite was only found on Zocrone, and mining the mineral had allowed the Zocronians to live comfortably, in relative wealth. When the Starburst had been rebuilt after crash landing on Zocrone, Evie had wanted to experiment with putting Zekkardite on the hull. She’d told Toryx that she was pleased with the results, and he hoped that meant that the ship would be strong enough to hold out against the storms they were about to face.
He knew it was still a long shot, but he didn’t care. For the first time in months, Toryx felt alive. He was about to do something. He was about to face down the storms that were trying to take down his people. If he was lucky, he would win this showdown. If he wasn’t, well, at least he’d tried.
Evie glanced over at him and smiled, but he could tell that the smile was forced. Evie’s face was so pale it was almost white, and even though Toryx wasn’t exactly an expert on human physiology, he knew that wasn’t a good sign. She was nervous, and her hands were shaking slightly.
He had to put her mind at ease. It would never do for her to be terrified before they even made it out of the City Dome. She needed to be calm and completely focused. Toryx reached over and put his hand over her hand.
“Relax,” he said with an easy smile. “Everything is going to be fine.”
He truly believed that. No matter what happened, they would come out of this with honor. And that was enough for him.
Evie’s smile widened a little, although she still looked nervous. But even with her nerves getting the best of her, Evie looked beautiful.
Toryx was startled by how attracted he felt to her in that moment. He should have been thinking strictly about the dangerous mission they were about to attempt, but her hand under his felt so soft and warm that it was difficult for him to focus on anything else. He felt a crackling electricity filling the air between the two of them, and for a moment it felt so strong that he thought it must be some aftereffect of a problem with the ship.
But no. A quick glance at the ship’s status screens told him all systems on the ship were normal. That’s when Toryx knew for sure that the electricity he was feeling was due to his desire for Evie.
But she’s a human.
Toryx had always thought he’d settle down with one of his own kind—a Zocronian female. But so far, none of the Zocronian women had caught his eye. He’d dated plenty of them, yes. And plenty of them had been nice enough. But there had never been that spark.
He was feeling that spark now. And if the way Evie was suddenly looking at him was any indication, she felt it, too.
Toryx told himself that he was being ridiculous. They should be focusing on getting out of the City Dome and surviving. But how could he look into Evie’s eyes and not completely drown in them?
He’d spent countless hours with her in council meetings when Daxar wanted advice on some issue or another. And Toryx had always thought that Evie was beautiful. Her steel blue eyes held so much strength and determination, and her dark black hair always looked so silky smooth that he wanted to reach out and touch it. But he had never considered actually pursuing her romantically.
He was considering it now. Minutes before they were both going to possibly die by crash landing on Zocrone’s stormy outer surface, Toryx had realized that Evie was damn sexy and that he wanted her.
She seemed to recognize what he was feeling, because she blushed and looked away. He noticed that she didn’t pull her hand back, though. It gave him a little thrill to think that she was also experiencing a sudden rush of desire.
If only they had more time to explore those feelings before they had to head out into the storms. But they didn’t, and they both knew it. Toryx gritted his teeth together. All the more reason for them to survive this, so they would actually have a chance to see what this spark meant.
“We should go,” Evie said quietly, although she still didn’t move her hand. “All systems are ready.”
Toryx knew that was his cue to pull back his hand. As much as he didn’t want to, it was time, so he gave Evie’s hand a quick squeeze and then let go of it. “Alright. Good luck. You’ve got this.”
Evie nodded, turning her pale, drawn face back toward the system status screens. “Are you sure we have clearance to leave?” she asked.
“Yes. I’ve got the codes right here. The head boss at Sector 2.75 didn’t question me much. When I said I’d received the message and was there to help, he agreed to adjust my clearance status for twenty-four hours. So as long as we leave within the next…” Toryx glanced at his watch. “…the next twenty-two hours and seventeen minutes, we should be good.”
Evie took a deep breath. “Ok. Let’s pray those clearance codes you got are legit.”
Toryx nodded and tugged on the straps of his seat to make sure they were secure. He was sure that the clearance codes would work, but they would need to make a fast exit. As soon as Evie’s spaceship left its hangar, all hell was going to break loose. The techs responsible for watching over the Dome’s exit were going to disable everyone’s access codes as quickly as possible. Evie had to beat the techs out of the airlock or this mission would never get off the ground.
Toryx didn’t even want to think about how angry Daxar would be if they were caught before getting out. Better to die on the surface of the outside planet than to have to face the Chief’s anger. Daxar was known as “Grumpy Blue,” and with good reason. The Chief had a fierce temper, and those who crossed him were often treated to quite an outburst of rage.
Toryx wasn’t interested in seeing how great that rage would be if Daxar knew one of his council members and best friends had just disobeyed direct orders not to leave the City Dome.
Evie had checked her safety restraints, and then nodded at him one final time. “Go ahead and enter the codes. As soon as they’re validated, I’m gonna zoom out of this Docking Station like a bat out of hell.”
Toryx looked at her in confusion. “A what?”
Evie cracked a genuine smile. “Never mind. It’s an expression we use on Earth. It just means really fast.”
Toryx grinned. “Well, then. I approve. Let me enter these codes and you can fly like a bat or whatever the sludge you just said.”
Toryx leaned forward to the computer that interfaced with Zocrone’s City Dome security system. He carefully entered the clearance codes he’d been given that would allow them out of any of the City Domes’ exits.
The exits were set up as a two stage airlock. The codes would allow Evie and Toryx to exit the City Dome into the airlock, where the glass would seal behind them. This is what the Dome techs were currently doing over in Sector 2.75. The airlock allowed them to work on the damaged section of the outer City Dome without actu
ally going out in the storm. Of course, the techs had to wear survival suits, because the damaged portion of the Dome could not seal out the outside atmosphere. But at least the Dome itself still offered plenty of protection from the outside wind and debris.
Evie and Toryx planned to exit out of Sector 3.25, and they would not be remaining inside the airlock. As soon as the thick glass sealed behind them, the airlock would pressurize to the outside atmosphere. Once the pressurization was complete, the outer gate would open and Evie and Toryx would be free to head out into the storm. That was when the real fun would begin.
“Alright, I’m about to hit enter.” Toryx glanced over at Evie, who nodded at him. She had her hands poised over the Starburst’s controls, ready to take off the second the codes were validated. Toryx took one last, deep breath, and then hit enter.
A few seconds later, the screen in front of Toryx turned green and blinked with a “Code Accepted” message in both English and standard Universal. Before Toryx could even glance over at Evie to make sure she had seen the message, the Starburst was moving—and it was moving fast.
Evie’s reputation as one of the best pilots in the Seven Galaxies was well-earned. She flew through the Docking Station’s corridors so quickly that Toryx was sure they were going to crash into the walls and burst into a ball of flames. But at each turn, they somehow managed to make it without turning into a fiery wreck. All around them, loud sirens were blaring and red lights were flashing. Because the whole city was on lockdown, a spaceship leaving its station triggered an alert. The techs were no doubt trying right now to close the airlock door that Toryx had just opened with his clearance codes. Evie had to get to that gate before the techs overrode the codes and the door started closing again.
As dizzy as he was, Toryx managed to see the gate up ahead of them. It was still open, but he could see that it was closing. “Evie!” he yelled. “The gate! It’s closing!”
“I know! We can still make it though. Hang on to your seat.”
Toryx was already hanging on for dear life, his blue knuckles gripping the armrests so tightly that he was surprised he hadn’t broken the seat into pieces. He wasn’t sure how Evie was managing to steer this thing with so much speed and so many changes of direction, but she didn’t look nearly as dizzy as he felt.
That girl has serious talent. Even in his disoriented state, Toryx couldn’t help but admire her. All the paleness was gone from her face now. She was laser focused and heading toward the door so fast that there was no way she was going to be able to stop them in time to avoid a full on collision with the glass if they didn’t get there before the door closed. From where Toryx sat, it didn’t look like they were going to make it. He resisted the urge to cry out and warn Evie. He was sure she knew what she was doing better than he did, and distracting her right now would not be helpful.
As they approached within seconds of the airlock, the door was already halfway closed. The door was made to accommodate ships much larger than the Starburst, but even still: the Starburst was too large to fit through half of the door’s opening or less. Toryx closed his eyes and braced for impact. At least in the final seconds of his life he would know that he’d done everything he could to try to save Zocrone.
Toryx could feel Evie braking the ship as hard as she could now, but it was too late. No matter how fast she stopped it, it wouldn’t be fast enough. They were going to collide.
But they didn’t.
In the last second, Toryx felt the ship lurch sideways. He opened his eyes to see that the world had rotated ninety degrees. On the viewing screen in front of him, he saw the Starburst slip on its side into the airlock, missing the giant glass sealing door by mere inches. Then the ship skidded to a halt mere inches before colliding with the outer airlock door.
Suddenly, everything was still. The sound of the blaring sirens was blocked by the thick glass of the airlock door, and the storm raging on the other side of the airlock was just as muffled by the outer door. Toryx looked over at Evie with his mouth hanging open.
“Well, sludge me,” he finally managed to say. “I thought for sure we were dead. No wonder everyone calls you the best pilot in the Seven Galaxies.”
Evie smiled weakly. “Thanks. To be fair, I wasn’t sure that was going to work. But I figured we’d come this far. We might as well try.”
“Well, that was a sludging good try.”
“Thanks. But that was nothing compared to what we’re about to face.”
Evie nodded at the storm outside, and Toryx winced. Seeing the swirling debris from the storm up close made it all seem much more real. But Evie and Toryx were committed to this now. There was no going back without facing Daxar’s wrath. This was their one shot, and they were going to take it.
“Well,” Toryx said, trying to puff out his chest and appear brave. “Let’s get going before they disable the outer door.”
For security reasons, the outer door was not as easy to disable as the inner door. Daxar had wanted to make sure that anyone rushing in from a storm or some other danger was always able to at least get into the airlock chamber. But the doors could be disabled, and Toryx had no doubt the techs were working on doing just that at this very moment.
“No time like the present,” Evie said, agreeing with him that they needed to move quickly.
Toryx entered the codes to open the outer gate on the computer interface. Moments later, the interface blinked green and the outer door started opening. Evie gripped the ships controls, once again ready for a difficult flight. She looked stunning in her slimming black shirt and pants, with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She was all business, and ready to kick ass.
Toryx couldn’t help himself. He leaned over, and when Evie turned to look at him in surprise, he planted a firm kiss on her lips. Her eyes widened and filled with questions, but he just shrugged as he sat back in his seat and tightened his safety restraints once again.
“Just in case,” he explained. “I didn’t want to go to my grave without the chance to know how kissing you felt.”
Before Evie could respond, the outer airlock door opened, and the storm was rushing in at them.
It was show time, and the next few minutes would determine whether they lived or died.
Chapter Four
Evie was flying blindly.
None of the Starburst’s navigational equipment was working properly. The gauges were displaying random numbers that didn’t make any sense—that is if they were even displaying anything at all. The ship’s computer seemed to have completely given up on many of the gauges, which had gone dark and displayed no data.
Evie had only one thing she could rely on: an old fashioned analog altimeter. She kept the old altimeter, a relic from twenty-first century earth, attached to her ship’s dashboard for good luck. Her father had been a spaceship pilot before her, and her grandfather before him. Both men had claimed that the old altimeter had brought them good fortune, and although Evie had never believed in luck, she had kept the altimeter as a sentimental reminder of her father and grandfather.
Right now, she was hoping that she’d been wrong, and that luck did actually exist. Because she was going to need all the good luck she could get.
With the storm outside making everything as black as night, and with her gauges all going haywire, the only thing Evie could do was try to keep flying upward away from Zocrone’s surface. And the only way she knew which way was up was by looking at the altimeter. As long as the altitude on the old analog gauge kept climbing higher, Evie knew they were heading in the right direction. If they could just make it high enough to break out of Zocrone’s atmosphere, they should be able to get away from these storms.
But Evie wasn’t sure they could get that high. And from the look on Toryx’s face, he wasn’t too sure either.
They had known there was a good possibility they might die. But back inside the safety of Zocrone’s City Dome, that possibility had seemed so abstract. It hadn’t really seemed real. Now, with the storm
raging all around them, and the Starburst struggling to fly, everything felt much more real than either of them wanted.
But there was no going back now. Either Evie found a way to get them out of this, or they died trying.
“What can I do to help?” Toryx yelled over the roar of the storm and the blaring of the Starburst’s alert sirens.
Evie looked over at him again and shook her head helplessly. “Nothing. Just stay strapped in tightly so you don’t go bouncing around the bridge and crack your skull open.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to put a survival suit on, but she decided against it. What was the point? If the ship crashed, no one was coming out to rescue them. And a survival suit wouldn’t hold up long against the force of this storm.
Evie turned back to looking at the useless gauges. Even though they were telling her nothing, she couldn’t help scanning her eyes across them out of habit. Besides, it was better than looking at Toryx’s face. He did not look happy right now. Evie knew he wasn’t the type of guy to enjoy sitting around feeling useless, and she’d be willing to bet that he had never felt quite as useless as he did right now.
Evie herself felt useless, even though she was piloting the ship. None of her attempts to change the ship’s direction did anything, and she had long ago given up trying to keep the Starburst steady. The whole ship lurched left, then right, then back again. It was tossed one-hundred-and-eighty degrees and flew upside down so many times that Evie’s brain couldn’t make sense anymore of whether she was right-side up or not.
All she focused on was putting all the ship’s power into keeping the altitude on the old altimeter going up. She had the thrusters at full force, and auxiliary power running at one hundred percent. And still, it was a struggle. They were still climbing, but slowly. They would gain one hundred feet and then lose fifty to a sudden surge of wind. Then they would gain fifty but lose ten. It was a constant cycle of slow gains, and Evie worried that a surge from the storm that was just a little too strong would send them hurtling so far downward that they wouldn’t be able to recover.
The Alphas of the Seven Galaxies Page 46
