Page 23 of Badass Alien Boss

“They’re taking cover. Buildings are constructed to a strict code requiring radiation filters.”

“Radiation filters?” Earth had hurricanes, tsunamis, tornados, and earthquakes. At least with those, you could see the damage. But radiation was invisible. How could you be certain the filters worked?

“You’ve never been in a solar storm?” he asked.

“Not one that affected us to this degree. Earth’s sun has them, and they can disrupt the magnetic field and cause blackouts, but our atmosphere protects us from the radiation.”

“We’re protected, too, unless it’s an exceptionally big storm, which is why we have strict building codes,” he explained.

“Will this one be a big one?”

“Mediumish.”

That didn’t reassure her, and she sighed with relief when they entered their radiation-filtered apartment building.

Their footsteps echoed in the vacant lobby. “People have already holed up,” Ruyn said.

“Yes,” she replied, glad to be one of them. She’d take a hurricane over a radiation storm any day.

They boarded the booster. The doors closed, but then nothing happened.

He touched the keypad. Nothing.

“Why aren’t we going up?” she asked.

He tapped all over the controls. “It’s dead. I can’t even open the door.”

“Dead? But the storm didn’t hit yet. It’s not time!”

“I don’t think radiation knocked it out. I think the AI shut down the booster as a precaution. It was bad timing on our part to get on when we did.”

“Wouldn’t it scan first? Find out if there were people inside?”

“That would make sense,” he agreed, “but maybe it’s on a preprogrammed schedule to shut down so many minutes before a storm. Or it scanned, and then we boarded.” He looked at her. “I’m not known for having good luck.”

“Can we contact the AI?”

“Not without electronics.”

“What do we do now?”

He shrugged. “We wait out the storm. And we eat dinner.” He held up the boxes.

And then the lights went out.

Chapter Twelve

“Hold on,” Michaela said.

Ruyn heard rustling, and then moments later, her data tab lit up. It didn’t throw a lot of light, but it was enough. “We can see to eat,” he said. “You’ll need to turn off the device before the storm hits.”

“I know. I will.”

“Let’s sit; it’s going to be a while.” After handing her the food, he eased to a sitting position. He stretched his legs out and took the boxes from her.

She plopped down next to him. “How long do you think it will be before the booster starts running?”

“They’ll ensure the danger from the storm is over before they power anything up. We have about three hours until the solar storm hits?”