Page 14 of On a Rogue Planet
Mal’s eyelids fluttered closed. She was going to die, never having the family she’d always dreamed about. Never being the one important thing to someone. She reached out a hand, groping.
Her fingers touched Xander’s cool ones. She grabbed on and was surprised when he squeezed her hand. She wasn’t completely alone. She’d hold onto that.
“Xander, I don’t think we’re going to make it.”
“It appears you are correct.”
The red alarm light flashed over them. Breathing was starting to hurt. “Someone should have hugged you, kissed you. All children should have that.”
His breathing was labored as well. “I…” his voice was a mere whisper “…wondered what it would feel like.”
She turned her hand, pressed her palm to his. “If we manage to get out of this alive, I’ll show you what it feels like.”
“A hug?”
“Yep,” she replied. “And a kiss.”
Another alarm. She tried to focus on the screen but guessed enviro was finally giving up the ghost.
The computer chimed. “Khan in range.”
Mal’s heart kicked and she squinted at the viewscreen, where the large planet of Souk, a mixture of green farms and forests, and gray urban areas, came into view. Souk was a market world that supplied everyone in their star system, as well as those heading out of the quadrant on their adventures, with everything they needed to survive.
And circling it was the small captured-asteroid-turned-moon called Khan.
Home to the Phoenix brothers, and their salvage and treasure-hunting business.
A place she’d never been happier to see.
“Home,” she whispered. “Xander—” she felt his fingers go lax in hers.
He’d lapsed back into unconsciousness. Like he’d only stayed conscious to help keep her awake. Her fingers spasmed around his. Her eyelids were so heavy, her arms and legs felt weightless.She drifted along in a doze, not caring about anything, noting bursts of color and the distant peal of alarms.
Even the huge explosion only made her blink.
The ship was shaking and the sound of tearing metal was deafening.
She stared at the viewscreen, saw her ship sliding along a pockmarked surface, heading toward the purple glow of the huma-dome surrounding the Phoenix headquarters.
That ripped her out of the haze.Oh, stars.
She fumbled for the controls, but all the screens were blank. Fire was pouring from the console to her left.
And flames were streaming over the hull of the ship as well.
They slid inside the huma-dome and ahead she saw the fuel storage tanks. If they hit those—bile was an acid bite in her throat—everything would go up.
But thankfully the ship’s progress slowed and it jerked to a stop. She was tossed against her harness.
Seconds later, the ship’s fire-suppression system flared to life, dousing the console beside her and the outside of the crashed freighter with a super-fine mist.
She dragged in a shaky breath. “We made it.”
Xander was silent, slumped forward over the console.
Mal tried to move but couldn’t get her limbs working. Through the viewscreen, she saw the large doors of the hangar ahead open.
Then her cousins were sprinting toward the ship.
