31. Escape
31
Escape
W ith a deep breath, I carefully worked my fingers into the narrow sliver of light that shone from the edge of the door. As I continued to pull at the opening, I thought about the visit from Shara. The alien's visit had given me a lot to think about. It was clear the leftover crew was fracturing, divided on how to proceed. If I could find a way to exploit those divisions...
But how? Even if I could escape from this cell, I had no idea how to influence events outside. And even if I could get past my captors, where could I go? I was a xenobiologist. I had nothing but the most basic of ideas how to pilot a shuttle, and no idea at all how to navigate through a treacherous nebula, which apparently was where we were.
No, my best chance was still Zharrox. I had to believe he was out there, searching for me. I just had to stay alive and out of the hands of these aliens until my alien found me.
Another violent tremor shook the ship, nearly throwing me to the floor. The alarms, which had briefly fallen silent, began wailing again with renewed urgency.
"Warning," an emotionless computerized voice echoed through the ship. "Hull breach detected in sector seven. Emergency containment protocols activated."
My heart raced. A hull breach? Even I knew that was bad. Very bad.
As if in answer to my unspoken question, the lights in my cell flickered and died, plunging me into total darkness. For a moment, panic threatened to overwhelm me. Then I forced myself to take a deep breath, then another.
"Come on, Nova," I muttered to myself. "You've been in worse situations than this." Though at the moment, I was hard-pressed to think of any.
I renewed my efforts of to pry open my cell door. The corridor outside was suddenly chaos - shouted orders, running footsteps, the occasional crash or bang as something came loose in the turbulence.
"... losing containment!" I heard someone yell. "We need to seal off the entire section!"
"What about the alien?" Another voice, closer this time.
"Forget the alien! If we don't get this under control, we'll all be breathing vacuum in a matter of minutes!"
My blood ran cold. They wouldn't really leave me here to die, would they? But as the voices and footsteps receded, I realized that was exactly what they planned to do.
Panic bubbled up in my chest, threatening to overwhelm me. My arms strained against the door desperate to escape my cell and certain death. I was just about to give up when something popped, and the door slid open. I fell forward onto my knees into the corridor. An almost hysterical laugh escaped my lips as I looked into the dim red light and pushed myself to my feet.
I'd done it. I'd escaped! Well, almost. I'd at least escaped certain death in my tiny, black cell but now I had to figure out what to do next.
Chewing on my bottom lip, I forced myself to think. There had to be a way out of this. Something I was missing. I wracked my brain to try to remember something about the ship from when they had brought me to the cell, but it was all too hazy.
Deciding to head left, I kept my palm on the wall to guide myself in the growing dark. The alarms continued to blast in my ears, deafening me. When I was about to give up and head the other way, my fingers brushed against something on the wall - a small protrusion. I stopped and explored it more carefully, pulse quickening as I realized what it might be—some sort of emergency release panel. Could it be for an escape pod? It felt a lot like the ones we'd had back on the USS Phoenix.
I hesitated for a moment. If I activated this, there was no guarantee of survival. I had no idea if this really was an escape pod. I might be opening a hatch to free space. Another violent shudder ran through the ship, and I heard the ominous sound of tearing metal from somewhere nearby. I swallowed hard, but if I didn't take a chance, it was pretty clear that I was going to die on this ship. Decision made.
I took a deep breath, centering myself. "Zharrox," I whispered. "If you're out there... find me."
Then I slammed my palm against the emergency release panel.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then I heard a series of clicks and whirs as hidden mechanisms sprang to life. The wall swung open, revealing a small, cramped space beyond - an escape pod. A cry left my lips as I dove inside, immediately searching for something that looked anything like the launch controls I only vaguely remembered from the emergency training I had gone through before the Phoenix was launched.
The pod was tiny, barely large enough for one person, with a bewildering array of alien tech surrounding me. Panic threatened to overwhelm me again as I realized I had no idea how to operate any of it. I didn't even recognize the writing on the various controls
"Come on, Nova," I muttered to myself. "You've watched Zharrox and the others pilot the Stryker. You can figure this out."
My fingers danced over the control panel, desperately seeking anything familiar. There - a large red button that practically screamed "emergency launch." Without allowing myself to second-guess, I slammed my palm down on it.
For a heart-stopping moment, nothing happened. Then the pod shuddered to life, and I felt a sudden, violent lurch as it disengaged from the Crimson Claw. Through the small viewport, I caught a fleeting glimpse of the pirate ship - its hull scarred and blackened, with gaping wounds venting atmosphere into space.
Then I was spinning away, tumbling end over end into the swirling chaos of the Zenobia Nebula. Brilliant colors flashed past the viewport - streaks of vibrant purple, angry red, and ghostly green. It would have been beautiful if it wasn't so terrifying.
Warning klaxons blared inside the pod as the navigational systems struggled to make sense of our surroundings. I gripped the edges of my seat, knuckles white, as violent tremors wracked the tiny vessel and I was thrown against the safety harnesses again and again. My stomach lurched into my throat as I realized with growing dread, that this was what the pirates had been struggling against all along.
"Zharrox," I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut against the dizzying view outside. "I really hope you're out there somewhere."
Though it felt like hours passing in a blur of turbulence and disorientation, it might have been only minutes. I had no way to tell, no way to know if I was up or down, or whether I was going to disappear into some other anomaly and into yet another dimension.
Eventually, the pod's systems eventually managed to stabilize the trajectory somewhat, but I was still very much at the mercy of the nebula's chaotic energies. I drifted in and out of consciousness, exhaustion, stress, the strange energy of the nebula taking their toll.
During one of my lucid moments, I noticed a steady beeping coming from the control panel. A small screen displayed a message in an alien script I couldn't read, but the picture accompanying it seemed clear enough - I was running out of power. The pod's limited resources must have been severely taxed by the struggle to maintain stability in the nebula.
I slumped in my seat, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. After everything I'd been through, was this how it would end? Not captured by pirates or sold into slavery, but adrift in an escape pod, slowly losing power in an impossible-to-navigate nebula? Slowly running out of air.
"Some rescue, Nova," I muttered to myself. "You've really outdone yourself this time."
As if in response to my self-deprecation, a new alarm suddenly blared to life. Red warning lights flashed across the control panel. Through the viewport, I saw a massive black hole forming directly in my path - a swirling vortex of cosmic energies that would tear the pod apart in seconds.
"No, no, no!" I frantically jabbed at the controls, trying to alter my course. But it was no use. I drifted inexorably towards the blackness.
I closed my eyes, bracing for the end. "I'm sorry, Zharrox," I whispered. "I tried."
The pod shuddered violently, metal screaming in protest. Any second now, I expected to feel the cold embrace of deep space as the hull gave way.
Instead, I felt... warmth?
My eyes snapped open in confusion. The viewport was filled with a soft, golden light. The alarms had fallen silent, and the violent shaking had ceased. We were... stable?
Before I could process what was happening, a familiar voice crackled over the pod's communication system:
"Nova? Nova, can you hear me?"
My heart leapt into my throat. "Zharrox?" I gasped, scarcely daring to believe it.
"Thank the cosmic winds," Zharrox's voice was thick with relief. "We've got you, Nova. You're safe now."
Tears sprang to my eyes as I realized what had happened. The Stryker must have found me just in time, using a tractor beam to pluck my pod from the jaws of destruction.
"How... how did you find me?" I managed to choke out.
There was a pause, and when Zharrox spoke again, I could hear the smile in his voice. "Let's just say we had some unexpected help. But that's a story for later. Right now, we need to get you aboard and out of this blasted nebula."
I felt a gentle tug as the Stryker began reeling in my pod. Through the viewport, I caught glimpses of the familiar hull of the ship I'd come to think of as home. It looked battered and scared, evidence of the difficult journey through the nebula, but it was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen.
As the pod was drawn into the Stryker's docking bay, I allowed myself to relax for the first time in what felt like an eternity. I was safe. I was...home.
The moment the pod's hatch hissed open, I was enveloped in a tangle of tentacles. Zharrox pulled me close, his ridges flashing a kaleidoscope of colors I'd never seen before - relief, joy, and something deeper that made my heart race.
"My little zixxit," he murmured, his normally steady voice thick with emotion. "I thought I'd lost you."
I buried my face in his chest, breathing in his familiar scent. "Never," I whispered fiercely. "You found me, just like I knew you would."
For a long moment, we simply held each other, savoring the reality of our reunion. Then Zharrox pulled back slightly, his dark eyes searching my face with concern.
"Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"
I shook my head, managing a weak smile. "I'm okay. Just... tired. And really, really glad to see you."
Zharrox opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a gruff voice from behind him.
"Alright, alright, break it up, you two. Some of us would like to see the lady too, you know."
I peered around Zharrox to see a familiar face - Captain Manny Rodriguez, looking somewhat worse for wear but grinning from ear to ear.
"Manny?" I gaped in surprise. "Are you okay? Shouldn't you be in the med bay?"
The human captain raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm fine. I wasn't going to let Tentacles here be the only one to make sure you were okay. We've been through hell and back trying to find you, doctor."
My hand shot to my mouth to cover the bark of laughter that escaped. Tentacles? He'd given Zharrox a nickname?
As if on cue, the rest of the Stryker's crew appeared - Grixxa and Lyra, wore expressions of relief and joy. Even Jorixx didn't look like he wanted to space me. I felt overwhelmed by the outpouring of concern and affection from this motley group of aliens I'd come to think of as family.
"I... I don't know what to say," I stammered, feeling fresh tears well up. "Thank you. All of you."
Zharrox's tentacle gently squeezed my shoulder. "You can tell us all about your adventure later," he said softly. "Right now, you need rest and medical attention."
I nodded gratefully and suddenly found myself scooped up in Zharrox's strong arms--a strong sense of deja vu overcoming me remembering the first minutes Zharrox and I had met in the crashed laboratory of the Phoenix. I snuggled into his warmth, listening to the double thump-bump of his hearts under my ear, and before we made it to the med bay, I was sound asleep.