Malfunction, page 13
He found he wasn’t so enamored of the idea. The Trakis Two had coffee and whiskey. And Katia. Though, unless they managed to solve this case on the Trakis Three, she would likely be coming back with them.
He turned and followed Katia into the shuttle, with Layla close behind him.
Katia had already seated herself in the pilot’s chair. Damn. He wanted to be pilot. She grinned at him as if guessing his thoughts. He took the co-pilot’s seat beside her and fastened his harness. He glanced up to find Layla hovering beside him, looking from him to Katia as though she wanted to say something. Had she expected him to sit next to her? Christ, it was like being back in high school.
“Can you sit down and fasten your harness?” Katia said. “We’re getting ready for take-off.”
Layla shot him another look but then moved to the seat behind his. A moment later, the throb on the engines vibrated through his feet as the shuttle came to life around him. A shudder ran through him. But nothing was going to go wrong this time. Absolutely nothing.
“You nervous?” Katia asked.
“Hell yeah.”
“Me, too.”
They lifted into the air, and the forward screen came to life, showing the docking bay. They floated gently toward the doors. So far so good. The doors slid open to the airlock, and they were in. And there was space in front of them. A thrill of excitement tightened in his gut. He was glad his previous experience hadn’t completely put him off.
He gripped the arms of his seat as they shot forward.
His heart was thudding, but as nothing bad happened, he slowly relaxed. He turned to Katia. “So are we going where we’re supposed to be going this time?”
She pointed at the console in front of her. Trakis Three. Forty-two minutes to destination.
He blew out his breath. Katia handed him a protein bar, and he ate it while staring into space and thinking about the case. Sleepers and dead Chosen Ones. “What do you want to do first?” he asked.
“I think stick with the original plan and visit the cryotubes of the dead Chosen Ones.”
Behind him, he heard a humph from Layla. She clearly didn’t think they were taking her terrorist theory seriously enough. Katia ignored her. “Then we’ll talk to the tech guys, see if we can pull out any more information from the ship’s backup files, get confirmation the victims were crew family. And then we’ll go see if we can’t find any evidence of our sleeper.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Thirty-nine minutes. He tried not to think of what he could have been doing if Layla wasn’t along for the ride. Why was she here? He peered sideways at Katia; she was nibbling on another bar. He liked the look of her strapped in like that. He could imagine her… She caught his gaze and blew him a kiss, her expression amused, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. And he shook his head to banish the image.
“Logan, come and talk to me,” Layla said. “I’m a little nervous.”
Katia snorted, and he cast her a baleful glance but unfastened his harness and got to his feet.
Layla was a little pale. He came around and sat in the seat behind Katia. He couldn’t resist banging on the back of her chair with his booted foot. He turned to see Layla watching him, her brows drawn together. “So,” he said, “tell me what it’s like living on a spaceship.”
“Pretty boring. Not a lot happens.”
“How many crew exactly?”
“Thirty-four—well, thirty-three now that Caldwell is dead. I have a team of six. They’re good people but considerably older than me. Did I mention I was the youngest on the ship?”
“You did. It must be hard for you.”
“Well, it’s nice to have some younger company now. I hope we can be friends.” She reached across the space between them and rested her hand on his thigh. “More than friends.” She squeezed, and he glanced up and found Katia peering over the back of the pilot’s chair, a grin on her face.
He picked up Layla’s hand and placed it on her own leg. “I’m sure we can be friends. Let’s solve the case first, though. After that, I don’t know what will happen.”
“I’m sure the captain will offer you Caldwell’s old position. Especially if I put a good word in for you.”
Did he want that? If the alternative was going back in his cryotube, then probably yes. Did he want to get more than friendly with Layla? He found the answer was a resounding no. So he hoped the position wasn’t reliant on Layla’s good word. He had an idea that she was a woman who wouldn’t take rejection well. And she was making her intentions perfectly clear.
“Thank you,” was all he said.
Maybe he could put in for a transfer to the Trakis Two.
The thought brought him up short.
What had happened to “love them and leave them?” Coffee and whiskey, he reminded himself. He just wanted the coffee and whiskey.
Katia was in her seat, making notes on a tablet. Maybe he should go and talk about the case some more. So they were prepared. He made to get up, but Layla’s hand was on his thigh again. “Talk to me some more. I can’t stop thinking about what happened to you yesterday. You almost died.”
“We’re going to be fine,” he said soothingly. “The shuttle was checked over. We’ll be there soon. In fact, why don’t I go check how long we have to go?”
He picked her hand up again and placed it on her lap then got up before she could say anything else. He went back and sank into the chair next to Katia, closed his eyes for a moment, then glanced at the console. “Twenty minutes to go,” he said. He got up and walked around the room a couple of times, peered into the cupboards. Pretty much the same setup as their shuttle yesterday. Which gave him a thought. He went back to where Katia sat in the pilot’s chair, crouched down beside her, and reached underneath.
“Ha ha,” he said, pulling out the flask, unscrewing the top, and taking a gulp.
“You’re going to turn into a lush,” Katia said, grabbing the flask from him and raising it to her mouth. He offered it to Layla next, and she sipped delicately before handing it back.
“Hey,” Katia said. “Come look at this.”
He came around to stand beside her and studied the screen. Off to the right, he could make out an object. Small, it was about an inch across, but growing bigger.
“That must be the Trakis Three,” Katia said. “Looks the same as the One and Two. You would have thought someone would have had the imagination to paint them different colors.”
He doubted any paint job would have lasted five hundred years. The ship was a drab, khaki-gray color. He could make out the details now. Of course he’d seen pictures before they left Earth. They were huge, probably a quarter of a mile across, and shaped like a bullet. The exterior was mostly smooth, no windows or anything that could slow them down. Ugly, really. But he supposed they had done the job. While they might be falling apart, they had lasted five hundred years. That was an amazing achievement. Mankind pulling together.
The ship filled half the screen now. He could make out the name, Trakis Three, in black along the side. Only ten minutes to landing. It did actually look like they were going to make it this time.
And what would they discover?
The truth was he had no clue. And he was intrigued to find out. He guessed it would turn out to be nothing more than a series of system malfunctions.
Something flickered at the edge of the screen.
“What the fuck is—”
The whole screen erupted in a ball of orange flame. There was no sound, and for a second, he stared, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Then the shuttle was hurled backward as though by an invisible fist, and Logan flew through the air. He hit the back wall with a bang, and everything went black.
Chapter Sixteen
Katia was pushed back against her seat by the force of the explosion then rolled upside down then right way up and upside down again. The harness held her in place, biting viciously into her shoulders and breasts. Her eyes squeezed tightly shut as the shuttle leveled out. She took a quick peek. The screen in front of her was filled with fire, and she shut her eyes again before her they burned. The temperature inside the shuttle shot up until sweat broke out all over her body. She preferred freaking freezing to death than roasting like a pig on a barbecue. Looked like she wasn’t going to get a choice.
Someone was screaming, a continuous, high-pitched, shrill screech that drilled into her head. Super loud, right behind her. Layla?
They were slowing down, and she forced her eyes open. The main lights were out, but the room was lit by the flames from the front screen. She shook her head; her ears were ringing, probably from all that screaming. She stared, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
The whole of the Trakis Three was a burning mass, with occasional flashes of brighter light as explosions shook the dying vessel.
Jesus.
The strength of the explosion had saved them, blown them outward and away from the burning ship. Otherwise, they would have been engulfed. As it was, they were being slow-cooked instead of fast. She fumbled with the harness.
Where the hell was Logan? He’d been standing beside her when the ship had exploded. Finally, she managed to free herself, and she twisted around. He was lying on the floor at the back of the shuttle, lazy bastard, but already he was stirring. He’d be fine. She shifted her gaze to where Layla sat, still held in by her harness. Still screaming.
“Shut up,” Katia snapped.
The other woman went instantly quiet. Thank God. Then she sat staring straight ahead, eyes vacant, sweat gleaming on her face. Obviously, she was in shock. Katia hoped she didn’t have to slap her. Actually, that was a lie.
Layla shook her head then caught Katia’s gaze and looked at her accusingly. “You said we’d be fine.”
Had she?
“Hey, it wasn’t us. We were just caught in the blast. We’re alive, aren’t we?” What more did the woman want? Some people were impossible to please.
“Logan?”
“Having a nap behind you. But he’s fine.”
Well, until his brains, along with the rest of him, fried. Time to get the hell out of there. Right now, they were floating aimlessly in space. They needed to get away from the burning ship. Preferably a good deal faster than they were floating. She stared at the console in front of her and wished she knew how the hell to fly the stupid thing.
She tried pressing her comm unit, but it was dead. Maybe the blast wave was interfering. Or it had been damaged while she was being flung around. She glanced at the reading on the autopilot. Destination: the Trakis Three, two minutes to arrival.
Jesus, two more minutes and they would have been entering the docking bay when the explosion went off. They’d be well and truly burned to a crisp. Dead. Gone.
Her stomach churned, and for a moment she was pretty sure she was going to lose her breakfast. But she managed to swallow it down again. Sweat dripped from her forehead, and she stripped off the coat, but that only exposed her to the hot air.
She studied the console, trying to remember what Rico had said yesterday. The yellow button would turn off the autopilot and give them manual control. Without giving herself time to think it was a bad idea, she leaned forward and slammed her hand on the yellow button. The display went dead.
Now what? She turned to Layla. “Do you know how to fly this thing?”
Layla sniffed. “Of course.”
Well duh? “Then do you think you could get the hell up and get us away from here. Preferably before we all roast?”
Layla unfastened her harness and stood up. She swayed a little, resting her hand on the seat in front. But she appeared okay. “What just happened?” she asked, coming around to stand in front of the console.
Katia waved a hand at the screen, where the burning hulk of the dying ship could still be seen. “At a guess, the Trakis Three exploded.”
Could there be any survivors? It didn’t seem possible. All those Chosen Ones dead. Burned in their cryotubes. At least they’d have been asleep, unlike the crew. Poor bastards.
“What?” Layla didn’t seem quite with it. Maybe she’d banged her head. “How?”
“Maybe it was your sleeper. Perhaps he decided to up the terror factor.” Well, he’d certainly done that. She’d been well and truly terrified. Layla cast her a look of dislike then a pointed glance. It took her a moment to realize she was in the pilot’s chair. She got up and stepped out of the way so Layla could sit. She flicked a few switches. “Where are we going?”
“Right now, I don’t care. As long as it’s away from here and somewhere cold.”
Jesus, freezing yesterday. Cooking today. What would be next? At least Layla seemed to know what she was doing.
“Is it working?” she asked. They hadn’t taken a direct hit, but the force of the blast had been strong enough to roll them. They could have sustained damage. And then there was always the possibility of another malfunction. Those were pretty common around here.
“It’s working,” Layla said.
If she concentrated, she could feel the difference. Where before the shuttle had been floating aimlessly, now there seemed a purpose. They were turning, the burning remains of the Trakis Three sliding from the screen, replaced by the vastness of deep space.
“Can you get us back to the Trakis Two?”
“Of course.”
“Then let’s go.”
She blew out her breath. Time to get Logan checked out. He was still lying on the floor, where he’d landed. As she approached, she saw his eyes were open and he was staring up at the ceiling.
He rubbed his head. “Balls,” he muttered. “Lots and lots of balls.”
She came to a halt beside him and stood staring down, hands on her hips. She couldn’t see any damage, and there was no blood. Maybe he was comfortable down there. Maybe she should join him.
“Guess we aren’t going to make it to the Trakis Three after all,” he said.
“Guess we’re not.”
He pushed himself up and leaned against the wall behind him, ran a hand around the back of his neck. “Christ, it’s hot. Tell me I’m not dead and gone straight to hell.”
“You’re not dead. But honestly, I’m not sure how long that will last. You do seem to attract trouble.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault. At least I don’t think it is. Did I touch something I shouldn’t?”
“I don’t think there’s anything you can touch that would cause the Trakis Three to explode. Come on, up you get.”
She held out a hand to him, and he slipped his palm in hers. As she gave a tug, the shuttle lurched to the side, and he was thrown back to the floor. Katia, still holding his hand, landed on top of him with a whoosh of air. “What the…?”
She pushed herself up as the shuttle lurched again. They must be dodging debris from the ship. Deciding she was better off where she was, she collapsed on top of Logan. His arms came around her, and she buried her face in his neck. If she was going to die, this was as good a place to go as any she could think of. She couldn’t even drum up any fear—her system had obviously been overloaded with emotion.
Logan’s hands slid down over her until he reached her ass. Then he gripped her tight and held her to him. She was plastered against the length of his body, her breasts crushed against his hard chest, her thighs tangled with his. His hands tightened, and he held her closer so she could feel him hardening against her. Actually, there were definitely worse ways to go.
He thrust his hips against hers, and she pushed herself up a little so she could look down into his face. “I like a man who can get it up in times of stress.”
A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and off the end of her nose then landed on his chin. “You are so fucking hot,” he murmured.
“So are you.” She lowered her head and licked the sweat from his face, bit at his lower lip, slanted her mouth over his, pushed her tongue inside. She was alive and so was Logan. He kissed her back, one hand sliding into her hair to hold her steady.
“What are you two doing?” At the sound of a voice, they both went still. Katia glanced over her shoulder.
Layla was peering over the back of her seat, glaring at them with accusing eyes. Katia had forgotten the other woman was even there.
“Nothing, Miss,” Logan said. “Honest.”
Katia looked back at him, and his lips twitched, and suddenly she was giggling. Beneath her, Logan’s body shook with laughter. They were both slightly hysterical, because it wasn’t every day you survived a life threatening incident. Just two days in a row. She giggled some more.
Finally, they both sobered. He put his hands to her waist and shifted her so she sat on the floor, legs sprawled in front of her, back against the wall, Logan beside her. Layla was obviously still waiting for an answer. “I was checking Logan’s vital signs,” she said. “You’ll be pleased to know he’s functioning as normal.”
Logan snorted, and Layla’s eyes narrowed, but she turned back to the console.
Katia rested her head back against the wall and stared straight ahead. The adrenaline was draining from her body, leaving her shaky. A few feet away lay the silver flask, and she crawled toward it then brought it back to her place next to Logan. She thought about getting up, sitting in a chair, strapping herself in, just in case. But she couldn’t be bothered. She unscrewed the top, took a gulp, and handed it to Logan. He seemed as dazed as she was. Reaction setting in, that was all. They passed the flask back and forth, not speaking, until she felt the buzz in her head. It was nice.
“Christ,” Logan said. “All those people. Dead. Just like that.”
“It would have been quick.”
“Yeah. Probably no warning at all.” He was quiet for a moment. “So are you thinking now this is more like a terrorist attack? Or that someone really doesn’t want us to get to the Trakis Three?”
