Chapter 13 #2
Solar's expression turned grim. “That pod is not safe. During our Earth safety training, we had discussed plans to use dimensional fold technology. The extraction devices placed on the planet’s surface would create a temporary bridge between spatial coordinates. I believe the best Earth word is wormhole. Though these bridges are temporary and not as stable.”
"Attention passengers,” Gary's voice echoed through an intercom. “We're preparing for a hyperspace jump in approximately three minutes. Please secure all loose items, bodily appendages, and dimensional anomalies."
Solar helped Dani off the table just as the lights flickered. One of the walls began to flash, revealing a swirling vortex of colors that hurt her eyes to look at directly.
"What the hell is that?" she gasped as Solar pulled her toward the door.
"Interdimensional breach," he explained tersely. "Not lethal, but extremely disorienting if you're caught in it."
The door to the corridor slid open, and Solar practically pushed Dani through it. The medical bay behind them began to warp, the equipment stretching and contracting in impossible ways.
"Minor technical difficulties in the auxiliary medical unit," Bob announced as Solar sealed the door behind them. "Nothing to worry about unless you’re still in there."
"Nothing to worry about?" Dani echoed incredulously. "That room literally folded in on itself!"
Their alien hosts were nowhere to be seen. She might as well have been shouting into a vortex.
“Hold on to me,” Solar ordered. He pressed his body against hers like a shield and forced her back against the wall as he grabbed hold of a rail.
“What’s happening?” She wrapped her arms around his waist. The air felt charged with electricity, and a loud buzzing noise filled her ears.
"This is the safest position," he said, his voice low. "My energy can stabilize against spatial distortion."
Under different circumstances, Dani might have made a joke about his safest position comment, but the increasing vibrations throughout the ship kept her focused on more immediate concerns.
"Hyperjump in ten," Gary’s voice announced excitedly. "Nine. Eight…"
"Is this going to hurt?" Dani whispered, pressing closer to Solar's warmth.
"Seven. Six."
"Not if it's executed correctly," Solar answered honestly.
"Five. Four."
"And what are the odds of that?" She clutched Solar's tighter, bracing herself.
"Three."
Solar hesitated. "With Bob and Gary piloting?—"
The universe exploded.
At least that’s the only way Dani could think to describe what happened.
One moment she was braced against a wall in a rickety spaceship, and the next she was everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Brilliant colors rushed past her vision.
Her body seemed to stretch infinitely while simultaneously compressing to the size of an atom.
She tried to scream, but the sound had no meaning in this place.
The only constant was Solar's warmth surrounding her, his energy creating a protective cocoon against the impossible forces tearing at her consciousness. She clung to that sensation, focusing on it with everything she had.
Then, as suddenly as it began, it ended. Reality snapped back into place with brutal force. Dani gasped, drawing in air that tasted metallic and strange. Her heart beat so hard and fast she thought it might choke her.
"Was that normal?" she croaked, her voice sounding wrong in her own ears.
"Not remotely," Solar replied, his arms still tight around her. "But we survived."
Dani didn't like the sound of that.
"Perfect execution. Textbook hyperjump," Gary lied. “We are safely out of detection range. Feel free to roam the ship. There is a delightful rivet pattern in the engine room.”
"If the textbook was written by a malfunctioning waste disposal unit," Solar yelled, though Dani wasn’t sure if the alien pilots could hear him.
“You should not have told them that we’re safe,” Bob’s voice stated. "We can’t guarantee that. It depends on whether we encounter any space-time anomalies. Or Milano pursuit vessels. Or if the dimensional stabilizers give out completely."
“Did you want them to know that?” Gary asked.
“Did you leave the com—” Bob’s voice instantly cut off.
Dani slumped against Solar, the reality of their situation terrifying her. Trapped in this rickety ship with Bob and Gary, floating around Earth with possibly no way of knowing what was happening to their friends.
"Seriously, this isn't right. What have we done?" she whispered. “We left them behind.”
Solar's hand moved to her face, turning it gently toward him. His golden eyes held hers, steady and certain. "You needed medical attention. We are lucky we caught the bone shard before it did damage. We survived. And we will continue to survive."
"But the others?—"
"Lunar is resourceful," Solar stated. "More capable than I have previously acknowledged. And your Earth friends have demonstrated remarkable adaptability. They will find a way to survive as well."
Dani wanted to believe him. Had to believe him. The alternative was too painful to consider.
"So what now?" she asked.
Solar glanced around the corridor.
"Now we adapt," he said simply. "You learn to navigate this vessel, and we develop a strategy to return to Earth with proper resources."
"Return to Earth?" Dani hadn't dared to hope that was an option.
Solar's expression softened slightly, his golden light pulsing in a way she'd come to recognize as affection. "Did you believe I would abandon your planet permanently? Leave Lunar without reinforcements? Allow Milano to continue their operations unchecked?"
"I didn't know what to think," Dani admitted. "Everything's happened so fast."
"The mission parameters have changed," Solar acknowledged. "But the core objective remains valid. Peace between different species. Connection across boundaries." His hand covered hers. "I have found such a connection. I will not relinquish it."
Before Dani could respond, a loud bang echoed through the ship, followed by a shower of sparks from an overhead panel.
"Minor propulsion fluctuation," Gary announced. "Nothing to worry about."
"That was the secondary stabilizer," Bob contradicted. "We're now running on the tertiary system, which is—did you turn the com device on again? Give me?—"
The voices stopped.
Solar sighed, the sound so human it almost made Dani laugh despite their predicament.
"First priority," he said, "I check the security of this vessel. Then we settle into our quarters and find you food.”
Dani watched as Solar moved toward a wall and opened up control panels, his warrior's training evident in how quickly he assessed the systems, identified weaknesses, and began implementing solutions.
His golden light seemed to strengthen the ship itself, stabilizing fluctuations wherever he touched.
Trapped in a failing spaceship with Bob and Gary. It should have terrified her. And part of her was terrified. But watching Solar take command, seeing the certainty with which he faced their situation, Dani felt something else beneath the fear.
Hope.
Not just for their survival, but for what might come after. For the possibility of returning to Earth, of reuniting with their friends, of continuing whatever this was between them that had ignited so quickly and burned so bright.
Dani rolled up her sleeves and moved to Solar's side. "Tell me what to do."
He glanced at her, surprise briefly crossing his features before being replaced by approval. "Can you read this energy distribution matrix?"
The display showed patterns and symbols she'd never seen before. "Not even slightly."
"Then I will teach you," Solar said. "Starting with the basics of subspace navigation and dimensional stabilization."
"Of course," Dani nodded, as if this were a perfectly normal educational opportunity and not a crash course in alien technology while hurtling through interstellar space in a ship held together with the equivalent of alien duct tape. "Let's start with why this panel is smoking."
Solar's lips twitched in what might have been the beginning of a smile. "That would be the tertiary life support system."
"The what now?"
Dani looked at Solar, who merely raised an eyebrow in response.
"Let's fix that first," she suggested. "And then maybe you can teach me how to say ‘you're a fucking idiot' in Bob and Gary’s language. I have a feeling I'm going to need it."
Solar's expression softened. "That is a phrase I have had frequent cause to employ since meeting them. Don't worry, their translators are working. They will understand you."
As they worked together to stabilize the life support system, Dani realized something important. Yes, they had left Earth behind and were floating in deep space where very few humans had ever been, but she didn't need to be afraid. Not really.
Because for the first time in her life, she wasn't running away from something.
She was running toward someone.