Paradise 21 (13 page)

Drifter shook his head, his long, dark hair tangling around his shoulders. “I don’t want to risk it.”

“Drifter, it would take another seven days to get there if we went around.”

“What’s seven more days when it’s been five years?” Drifter narrowed his eyes. “How come you’re so anxious to get back?”

She ran a hand over her spiked hair. “I’m restless to get out of this black void and onto a real world, to start a new life. Besides, what if something happens to him in the next seven days? Where would we be then, huh?”

Tiff wondered if her words were true. So many emotions flooded through her, she couldn’t categorize them all, and some, she didn’t want to deal with. Part of her had been drawn to that planet ever since she’d left it, as if Sahara 354 had tied a cord to her heart. Even now, as the
Morphic Marauder
sailed to it, the taut string eased.

“If he survived five years of exile,” Drifter announced, “then he’ll outlive the next seven days.”

“I’m the navigator and I say we go through it.”

“I’m the captain and I say we fly around.”

They locked eyes for a moment before a cracking sound erupted over their heads. The ship tilted, sending Tiff’s maps sprawling over the oily floor.

Drifter stood up, steadying himself as Tiff scurried to save her maps. “Something’s hit our hull. Damn you, Tiff. You didn’t tell me we were already close to the asteroid field.”

Tiff pulled herself up to the computer as another crash sounded from the right wing. She brought up the main sight panel and calculated a few coordinates. “Gravity’s radiating off the largest crater. It’s pulling us toward it, right into the middle of the field.” She looked up at him with an apology in her eyes. “We’re going into the asteroid field. We have no choice.”

“That’s great. Just great.”

Tiff stumbled over to him and wrapped her hand around his arm. “Drifter, I’m sorry. I should have turned us around sooner.”

He shook her off, yanking his arm away. “I’ve got to prepare the upper weapons turret and try to blast as many of those rocks in our path as I can. You’re going to have to do the driving.”

Steps rang from down the corridor as someone hurried in panic. She heard Reckon wail. Tiff covered her mouth with her hand, hoping everything was okay.

Loot ran in and stumbled into Drifter as he moved to the door. “What’s happening?”

Drifter caught him and turned him around to face Tiff. “Our lovely navigator here’s gone ahead and flown us straight into an asteroid field.”

Tiff bit her lower lip. “It pulled the ship in before I could turn us around.”

Fear flickered in Loot’s eyes before he nodded and stood his ground. Patches of dark stubble grew in place of the boyish fuzz on his jaw and Tiff knew he was on the verge of manhood. Yet to her, he’d always be the grubby little boy she’d saved from an air duct.

“What can I do to help?” Loot asked.

Drifter threw his arms up in disgust. “Talk some sense into Tiff, that’s what you can do.”

Tiff rolled her eyes and began typing, calculating the safest course. “It’s no good to talk sense into me if we’re all dead.” On one of the screens, she could see the field swarming over them, a mass of brown spots cluttering the black, star-studded sky. Some of them remained stationary and others shot through the air like falling stars. She needed time to plot the course and every second counted.

She heard Loot ask Drifter, “Where you going?”

“I’m going to man the upper gun pod. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Wait.”

Tiff looked up in surprise. Loot sounded more like a commander, and an equal, not a boy.

Her boy-man put his hands on his hips. “Who’s manning the lower one?” he demanded of Drifter.

“I guess I’ll go get Reckon, although his eyesight—”

“I’ll do it.”

Drifter stood, silently assessing the boy from head to toe.

Tiff pleaded. “Loot, it’s too dangerous. If one of those asteroids grazes the bottom of the ship and you’re stuck out there in that tower…” She was unable to speak of it.

Drifter held out a hand to silence her. “Let the boy make his own decision.”

He was right. She wasn’t the boy’s mother, and she couldn’t decide for him. He’d been making decisions for himself before she’d found him. Who knew how old he really was? Thirteen? Fifteen? His tall, lanky body still looked boyish, with the promise of a man inside.

Loot looked at her and shook his head. “You can’t keep me safe forever.”

Tiff wanted him tucked safely away forever, so she’d never have to be alone. That wasn’t reason enough. The boy had to grow up. “Go.” Her voice sounded ragged.

Loot smiled. “I’ll be careful, ’kay?”

“Okay.”

It was their own personal exchange, stemming from the time she’d found him sleeping in the air vent. Tiff had told him she wasn’t going to hurt him, and the first thing he’d said to her was “’kay.” She’d said “okay” back, and they’d done it ever since.

Loot left, and Drifter walked over to her and leaned down to place a kiss on her lips, but Tiff pulled away.

“What? All of a sudden you’re not my girlfriend anymore?”

Another crash sounded, this time toward the front of the ship, the weakest spot by the glass sight panel. “Shit, Drifter. Get to that turret. Hurry.”

Drifter left in the opposite direction Loot had gone. Tiff stood alone in the control room, with all of their lives resting in her hands.

Panic crashed through her, but she tried to compose herself as she sat in front of the multiple screens. If she could get them past the largest asteroid, the ship could reach a corridor of free space and fly fast enough to break free of the gravitational pull.

She charted a course. The giant asteroids were much easier to navigate around than the fragments that were being pulled into the gravitational fields of the larger ones. A path would open up between the large asteroids, but she had to predict the current projection of the smaller rocks crossing the space at the same time. It was the most complicated puzzle she’d ever had to figure out.

Tiff rubbed her temples and forced herself to concentrate. If she adjusted the velocity to reach this point in time, that put her at odds with another coordinate later on. She’d have to drive the ship manually to engage the frequent changes in speed.

Tiff gripped the control stick with both hands. “Computer, turn off autopilot.”

Warning signals sounded in her ear. A message ran along the screen:
Unadvised in maneuvering through unpredictable space.
Tiff flicked off the message and brought up the main screen. She trusted herself more than a rickety computer has-been, built a hundred years before she’d been born. Two green lights blinked on her right, signaling the turrets were occupied on both the top and bottom of the ship. Shafts of white light shot through the air. Drifter was already firing.

Clutching the controls, Tiff led the ship through the first conglomeration, tilting the ship left and then right. She couldn’t avoid every asteroid, so she chose which ones would do the least damage to the ship, leaving the rest of it up to Loot and Drifter. They blasted most of the smaller rocks before they reached the hull, but every few minutes she heard a crash and cringed, wondering how much damage the hits were causing. They needed this ship to get to Refuge. It would do them no good to crash on Sahara 354 and never be able to take off again.

As they grew closer to the largest asteroid in the middle, Tiff recalculated her coordinates. The bulk of the rock loomed on the main sight panel like a small planet. Two other large asteroids half its size flanked it, moving slowly in its gravitational pull. On either side were thousands of small rocks flying at them like cracked mugs hurtled during an Omega cafeteria brawl. She would have to fly between the bigger ones to make it out.

The force of the gravitational pull strengthened, and she engaged the backward thrusters to slow down. It wasn’t enough. The
Morphic Marauder
hurtled toward the monstrous asteroid, destined to collide with one of the huge rocks in its orbit. Tiff turned the ship on its side, trying to make it as skinny as possible. The asteroids hovered seconds away, and she realized the ship wouldn’t make it through without grazing one side or the other. Drifter perched in the turret at the top and Loot sat in the module at the bottom. She had only a second to decide.

Tiff pulsed the bottom engines, sending the top of the ship toward the jagged edge. Tears welled in her eyes. The warning beeps flashed, and she saw Drifter’s lasers shoot in a steady stream, trying to break off a piece of the rock before it hit. The chances were slim, but if she were trapped in that small bubble of glass, she’d have the trigger down hard, too.

Guilt sickened her stomach. It was her fault they’d gotten into this asteroid field, her impatience and impulsiveness. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact to the top turret.

No sound came. Tiff opened her eyes and looked out the main sight panel. A chunk of rock sailed through the space in front of them before Loot blasted it into dust. Drifter had managed to break it apart. The particles hit the glass and bounced off, careening though open space.

Both men had made it. Tiff swallowed acid in her throat and leaned back in her chair. Drifter had survived. How would she explain why she’d chosen Loot over him?

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

The sound of someone running on plastic mixed with the gush of falling water.

Aries sat on the plush, purple carpet of her parents’ living room on the
New Dawn
, her fingers digging into the thick fibers. A waterfall plunged into a forest on a screen to her right and her brother ran, smooth as a gazelle, on a treadmill behind her.

He shot her an annoyed look. “Aren’t you going to get that?”

“Get what?” Aries straightened up. A feeling of displacement shot through her and she swerved with dizziness. The carpet underneath her fingers felt fake and, for some strange reason, she expected it to be sand instead. A persistent beep sounded in front of her, bringing her thoughts back to the room.

Her brother pressed a panel on the console treadmill, upping the speed. “The door.”

“Oh.” Aries scrambled up and pressed the hailing panel.

Tria’s blue-eyed face stared up at her from the identification screen.

“Hey, Aries. You won’t believe it, but I have our future life assignments in my hands.”

“Really?” Aries pressed the panel to dissolve the door and the chrome fizzled away like the foam on top of an opened vitamin soda can. A warm, comforting feeling spread through her at the sight of her childhood friend. Her eyes burned on the brink of tears. “Tria.”

“You look as though you haven’t seen me in years.” Tria wore her uniform, her shiny, blue
New Dawn
badge over her right breast. She’d tied her hair up in a bun, but stray wisps of gold poked out, catching the fluorescent light. “Don’t you want to see your life assignments?”

“You bet.”

She handed Aries a slim piece of paper cut from a fancy, thick stock. Aries knew this had to be important to use any paper at all, never mind premium white stock. “I was walking by the main deck when the orders were issued. It took a lot of convincing to let me bring yours to you. Go on. Tear the seal.”

Aries studied the fancy golden sticker with the
New Dawn
symbol and her fingers slid under the envelope flap. In one second she’d know the exact course of her predestined life: her job, her husband, and her future on the
New Dawn
. She swayed back, overwhelmed, her stomach churning. “We should do it together.”

“Of course.” Tria held hers up.

Aries’ fingers slid forward, tearing the seal as the white paper cut a slit in her skin. A thin red line appeared, so she put her finger in her mouth and sucked while opening the folded document one-handed. She wanted biology and gardening so badly, when the words stared her in the face, she hardly believed them.

Engineering: Life-Support Systems Diagnostics and Management.

A list of the procedures and operations followed and she flipped through it, trailing drops of blood to get to the next life-changing assignment. The words lay there, blunt and fat in black ink. They might as well have been carved in stone.

Life Partner: Lieutenant Astor Barliss.

“What is it?” Tria stared at her as if she’d turned into a ghost. “What did you get?”

“Engineering: Life Support Systems and—”

“I got that, too.”

Aries’ brother chimed in from behind them, “A most important and honorable job, indeed.”

Tria rolled her eyes at him. “Always the diplomat, aren’t we, Trent?”

“Don’t start that again.” Aries put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Let’s not fight. At least we’ll be together.”

“I know you wanted—”

“Shh.” Aries shot a glance over at her brother. “Not now, okay?”

“Okay. Sheesh! You act as though they have microphones in the walls. Who’s your life partner?”