Page 17 of When Eden Falls

“He can probably hear you,” Cora whispered.

Zamya walked to the corridor entrance and shouted down it, “I hope he can hear me!”

“Give him some space, Zam,” I said, half watching for movement on the monitoring screens. I hadn’t seen any yet. “He’sunder a lot of pressure. We’re all his responsibility and Sym’s death has hit him hard. Please don’t take his actions personally.”

“You always say that. But if he wants to be a decent commander, he needsbetter people skills!”

“Zamya,” Kobe groaned from his desk, “at least he threw his helmet. He could easily have thrown you across the room instead.”

Zamya bared her teeth at him, hissing her displeasure. She turned back to me and said in a slightly lighter tone, “I’m going to check on Oz.”

“Good idea.”

Zamya left, and the room fell silent. Both Cora and I scanned the screens searching for evidence of the creatures’ return. The portside cameras indicated the sea water was starting to draw closer to the ship, but I chose to turn my focus to the starboard side.

It wasn’t long until I saw them. A cluster of pale-yellow creatures littering the clifftop, briefly halting and rearing at the edge. They began to descend the ragged steps in the rockface. Some rolled violently down, while others carefully took one step at a time. There was at least a dozen of them, varying in size. The smallest was the size of a large, thickset dog. The largest, as terrifying as the one I saw through the closing doors last night.

I took a deep breath, attempting to hold back the fear prickling through my veins, waiting for the carnage to begin. The gnawing began moments later. Kobe slumped into his highbacked chair, whilst Cora mewed into her hands. Outside, the creatures were everywhere, but thankfully, they remained at beach level. My only hope was the landing gear wouldn’t disintegrate easily.

Taking my eyes away from the troubling sight, I found Rooke standing directly behind me. His tall stature looked menacing from my seated position. His hard stare was digesting the live footage playing before him, the planes of his face were stern, emotionless.

He glanced down at me, his dark eyebrows shadowing the whites of his eyes. “Cora, go round up Zamya. Bring Oz as well, if he’s able.”

Without hesitation, Cora scurried to the corridor entrance, disappearing from sight. Rooke ambled to the opposite side of the room and perched himself on the edge of the desk space. Keeping his eyes fixed to the floor, he waited for the rest of the crew to emerge.

A pasty looking Oz entered first. He was shirtless, exposing an avalanche of toned muscles and tattoos. His left shoulder was heavily bandaged, his arm resting in a sling across his chest. Cora held onto his other arm, guiding him to the seat beside Rooke.

Still scowling, Zamya followed behind. She paused in the doorway, standing with a defiant aura surrounding her.

Rooke finally looked up, glancing around the room, meeting each one of our gazes with solid regard. “So, here’s the plan,” he said in a far more passive tone than his expression suggested. “We bunk in here tonight, all of us. We’ll create makeshift beds using our mattresses, blankets, chairs, anything we can find. We stay together. If you need the restroom, or need to get anything from the kitchen, we go in pairs. And we go armed.” He met my gaze. “Eden and I discovered that the horror beetles, as Zam calls them, appear to have issues with climbing steep and possibly flush surfaces. I doubt they will penetrate anything above the lower hull. I’ve sealed the stairs off to the engine rooms. If they get in, they won’t be able to access this level. Tomorrow, I’ll contact Troy. Ask him to bring the dropship down to collect us…”

“Isn’t that a bit risky?” I queried, concerned Rooke’s temper was hanging on the edge of a knife.

“It’s more than risky,” Kobe stepped in. “It’s suicide.” From under his eyebrows Rooke peered at the head scientific engineer. His unimpressed glare spoke volumes, but Kobe didn’t back down. “The dropship is solely for use on moons and asteroids, which have none or very little atmospheric pressure. In an atmosphere this dense, there’s a high risk the dropship will burn up on entry. And it will have to endure entry at least twice. There are only six seats.”

“I am well aware of that,” Rooke said.

“If you want my advice, it won’t work. You risk losing Troy.”

“It’s a bit late for precaution, don’t you think?” Zamya’s snarl was aimed directly at Kobe. “Maybe you should’ve thought about that last night before allowing Oz and Sym outside. You were in charge.”

“Zamya, leave it,” Rooke interjected.

“If they had stayed onboard,” she continued, “Oz and Sym could’ve helped with the repairs today, saving us valuable time. We would all be back on The Orka now, safe!”

“Zamya, shut it!” Rooke glared at her. Her eyes were defiant, but eventually she lowered her guard, folding her arms across her chest. Kobe turned in his chair, obscuring his face from view.

Rooke looked over at me, silently asking for my opinion. I cleared my throat. “I agree with Kobe. The risk is too high. Troy is our only communication link to Allura. If we lose him, we lose every chance of getting home.”

“So, you’d rather wait another five months for Solarfleet to come and rescue us?” Zamya groaned, clearly disturbed by the direction the conversation was heading. “Do they even know we’re stranded?”

“They will,” Rooke said.

“I don’t want to stay in this shithole for five months.”

“I will,” Cora said, shielding herself behind Oz. “If it means not risking Troy.”

“Ha, wouldn’t want to kill off your shag buddy, would we?”