The Lost Star Episode One (7 page)

“A single chance in hell,” he spat.

“
It’s all we’ve got.” She shifted past him
and considered the controls warily.

“I wouldn’t touch them,” he warned.

“
I don’t intend to.” She grabbed the open
panel and tried to tug it from the wall.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Trying to use this as a lever to pry the
doors open,” she struggled through her words as she tried but
failed to pull the panel off.

He kicked into action, grabbed the panel,
and yanked it free with a single move.

He doubted this would work. His thundering
heart beat told him they were seconds from death, but he still
anchored the sharp end of the panel into the smooth door seam, and
pulled.

It was agony fighting against the door’s
mechanism, but with a guttural grunt, he managed to pry the doors
back a centimeter.

Instantly Ava stepped in by his side and
crammed her fingers into the small gap, leaning back and pulling
with all her might.

For all it was worth.

She was barely helping him. But that didn’t
matter. He didn’t give up, and with another stomach shaking grunt,
he pulled the doors open an inch.

In front of him he saw nothing but the
smooth silver walls of the shaft.

Above, however, he saw a dark recess. Right
at the top of the doors, there was a 40cm gap that led into an
access shaft.

“Christ,” he spat as he grabbed the side of
the door and started pulling with all his might.

The lift started to shudder more and more,
every vibration more violent than the next.

They had seconds.

With one final gut-wrenching pull, he opened
the doors. Then he jumped, caught the lip of the access tunnel, and
pulled himself up and into it with a single strong move.

He waited for Ava to do the same, expecting
her to be right by his side.

She wasn’t.

Though she tried to jump for the access
tunnel, she fell short.

“
Move,” he bellowed as the lift gave a
grating groan.

She tried to jump for the access tunnel once
more.

He jerked a hand down and caught her.
Locking one hand onto the lip of the tunnel around him, he pulled
her up.

Just in time.

The lift fell, the mag locks failing in a
hail of sparks.

As the top of the lift sailed past the
access tunnel it sliced off a lock of Ava’s hair and caught the
side of her right armlet.

She was flung back into him.

He locked an arm around her and pulled her
back into the access tunnel, as far below the lift impacted the
cradle with a jaw-shuddering bang.

He didn’t stop pulling her back until they
were several meters away.

Then he realized they’d just dodged
death.

A second later, and they’d have been
liquefied at the bottom of the shaft.

She breathed against his arm, and his chest
pushed hard into her back as he struggled for air.

He sat there for god knows how long until
she gently placed a hand on his arm. Her cold armlets brushed
against the bare skin of his wrists.

It shocked him to his senses.

Though the access shaft wasn’t tall enough
for him to stand in, he pushed to his feet nonetheless and crouched
with a hand locked on the wall.

He looked down at her as she pushed
unsteadily to her feet.

“Are you alright?” he asked, words tumbling
from his lips before he could stop them.

She nodded slowly. “You?”

“
Fine. But Christ, what the hell just
happened back there?”

“I guess there was a critical flaw in the
safety program.”

“
Critical flaw. More like fatal flaw. This
ship’s a death trap. Now, you sure you’re alright? Hey, wait –
you’re bleeding,” he realized as a bloom of blood slicked down her
fingers.

She brought up her right arm. “The side of
the lift caught me as it fell.” She revealed her wrist. A chunk of
flesh was missing, the sides charred and mangled.

He recoiled. “Just hold onto it. There’ll be
a med kit around here somewhere. In the meantime, use this.” He dug
a finger into one of his sleeves, loosening the stitching, then he
yanked on his cuff and ripped the sleeve off. “Hold it tightly
against your wound and concentrate on your breathing to distract
from the pain.”

“
It’s okay,” she assured him, “It doesn’t
hurt that much.”

Before he could point out a chunk of her
wrist was missing, she pushed past him with a nod. “We should make
it to a com link to warn B’cal.”

He paled as he realized she was right.

“
You go ahead and find one – I’ll follow.”
She nodded.

“I’m not leaving you behind,” he snapped,
words instinctual. The same instinct that had seen him catch her in
the lift and pull her into the access panel.

“
It’s okay. I’ll be fine. I’ll be too slow,
though. Lieutenant, it’s more important to warn B’cal so he can
stop all the other lifts. Just go.”

Reason told him she was right, but something
else – something he couldn’t put his finger on – told him to
stay.

Eventually reason won out. “You shouldn’t
move too much with that injury. I’ll find a com link, find a med
kit, and meet you back here. Head along the tunnel until you reach
a blast door. Close it so you’re shut off from the lift section,
and wait for me. You’ll be fine,” he added needlessly as he backed
off down the tunnel without turning from her.

She nodded once. “Go.”

So he went.

Ava

She followed
Lieutenant McClane’s orders, crawled down the
access shaft, found a blast door, and closed it.

Then she leaned with her back against
it.

And she waited.

She had no idea how long he’d be.

The injury to her wrist was significant.
At first pain pulsed up her arm, sinking so hard into her shoulder
it felt like it would fall off.

As seconds ticked past into minutes, the
pain gave way to a dead cold sensation that spread into every
finger.

She could barely move her hand anymore.

Sticky blue blood oozed from her injury and
pooled over her lap as she cradled her hand.

With nothing more to do than sit here, she
began to sing.

She’d sung her whole life. It was a sacred
tradition amongst the priestesses. Not only did they sing to amuse
themselves in the cold dark tunnels of their temples, but their
strident songs were also used as a warning.

She could reach the kind of shaking pitch
that could not only shatter glass, but echo through a room and
steal anyone’s attention.

Long ago, when priestesses were still used
to control the Rest, they would sing as a warning. Their haunting
melodies would play through the cities and forests of Avixa
whenever they were on the hunt.

So now she sung.

She chose a powerful but haunting melody the
priestesses used to drive away the darkness.

As she sang, every low note rumbled
through the floor as every high note echoed through the cramped
darkened tunnel.

Though there were a few strips of bare
illumination running down the floor and ceiling of her access
shaft, some of the lights were malfunctioning. They kept flicking
on and off, plunging her into ever longer periods of darkness,
until finally they blinked out entirely.

That left her alone in the dark, singing to
herself as blood pooled over her legs and arms.

She wasn’t distressed. It would take more
than that to scare her.

Still, one unsettling thought did play
through her mind.

There were five other Avixans on board
the
Mandalay… and she
was the only priestess.

…

Lieutenant Hunter
McClane

He half-crouched, half-ran through the
access tunnel. Technically, a com link should be at regular
intervals, but he couldn’t find one.

He was running out of time.

As another expletive cracked for him stiff
lips, he threw himself around a corner.

He spied a med station. Throwing himself at
it, he yanked open a panel and grabbed the small flexi box
within.

Then he searched around for a com link.

Nothing.

He hesitated. He could head back to Ava or
try to find the link.

She was injured pretty badly, even if she
wasn’t prepared to admit that. That gash could have nicked a vein,
and right now she could be bleeding out….

A cold sweat prickled across his brow and
down his neck, slicking between his shoulder blades as an even
colder sensation settled in his heart.

He had to make a
decision
. As a
lieutenant, there was only one choice he could rationally make. Go
and warn B’cal that there could be a critical flaw with the
lifts.

Still, it was the hardest thing to force his
adrenaline-fueled body to leave Ava behind.

He may have decided he hated her only a half
hour ago, but he couldn’t let her bleed out….

There was only one decision he could
make,
goddammit.

He pushed off down the narrow access tunnel,
the med kit still held in one sweaty hand, his chest filling with
cold dread.

For a woman he'd just met, Ava filled his
mind as he forced himself forward.

He had no idea how much time passed. The
access tunnels were a warren. They were missing most of the basic
gear you'd expect in a top-of-the-line ship like the
Mandalay.

When he was out of here and Ava was fine, he
told himself, he was going to have a stiff word to his brother.

This ship was not ready to
launch.

He held onto that idea as he pushed
forward, winding through narrow tunnel after narrow tunnel. He even
came across sections where the paneling that usually held back the
wiring and innards to the ship were missing.

With every shuffling footstep his heart beat
harder and harder, until he felt it vibrating into his jaw.

"Come on, you bastard," he screamed into
the tunnel, voice punching and echoing through the narrow confines,
"Where the hell is that com link?"

The minutes ticked by, the dread winding so
hard around his stomach it felt as if it would cut him in half.

Finally he found an exit hatch.

He jammed a sweaty thumb into the release
button, but it slipped off.

Grunting and jerking down, he locked a hand
next to it, wiped his fingers on his pants, and tried to open in
again.

It beeped back in a dull tone. A tone that
meant it too wasn't operational.

Striking it with a curled
fist and letting out a bellow
of anger, he dropped to his knees so hard it sent an aching jolt
sinking into his hips.

He yanked the large panel open. Behind it
was a manual release lever. It would operate even if half the
electrics on this goddamn ship wouldn't.

He grabbed the lever and pumped it
backwards and forwards until the hatch opened.

Then he spilled out into the corridor with
all the force of water breaching a dam.

He spied Lieutenant Commander
Shera.

She looked up at him, surprised.
“Lieutenant, what's the matter?"

"Not enough time to explain. Get on the
line to B'cal. Tell him there's a critical flaw with the lifts’
safety protocols. They all have to be taken offline until they can
be checked." As soon as he blurted out his warning, he twisted on
his foot, boot skidding over the polished metal floor, and he threw
himself back in the tunnel.

"Where are you going?" Shera insisted.

"Back to get Ava. She's injured." He'd
dropped the med kit on the ground by the hatch, and now he jerked
down and picked it up, pressing it protectively against his
chest.

Shera didn't react.

As he practically vaulted back into the
narrow access tunnel, he turned to glance at her.

Her expression had that exact same edge he'd
seen on the bridge.

What the hell was her problem with Ava?

Whatever it was, right now he didn't care.
"Just warn B'cal and inform Harvey – I mean the captain about the
issue. Tell him where we are. I'll do what I can for Ava – send a
med team." With that, he twisted and began shuffling back down the
crouched tunnel.

He left the hatch door open, and though
his steps were hurried and his breath jagged and panting, he heard
when Shera finally turned and walk away.

She didn’t run.

She just walked.

He didn't have time to wonder what she was
doing. Instead he flung himself forward.

He'd memorized the route back to her. He
wasn't lying when he said this place was a warren – there were so
many interconnecting tunnels it was like being stuck down a mine
shaft.

Worse – half the lighting didn't work.
Occasionally he'd enter whole sections that were as black as
night.

He'd memorized enough unique features to
guide him. He threw himself around every corner until finally he
reached a closed blast door.

She had to be behind it.

The blast door had a release panel on his
side, and he jammed a shaking hand over it.

Thankfully it worked.

The door swished open.

And out tumbled Ava.

She'd obviously been sitting with her back
against it. She flopped down in front of him, her surprised face
staring up into his, her loose hair splaying around her face like a
halo.