“You came all the way to spacejustto talk to her?” He shoots me a sceptical look. “Don’t bullshit a bullshitter. I’ve known you a long time, Kid, her too.” He quirks one of those thick black brows at me.
I shoot him an irritated look. That doesn’t stop him from being correct. He has known us since we were practically kids, fresh out of school and trying out for the space programme. At my silence, he continues.
“She came to run away. You came to chase her.” The silence lingers between us, exposing the truth. “Either way, she isn’t going anywhere. We’ll get her out of this,together.” He stresses together, giving me another pointed look.
I glance back over at Alex through the thin strip of glass. Dr Hadfield is walking her through the motions on how to treat Chelenko’s gut wound, and Luca is there tosmile at her. She smiles back, and rage boils inside me. All of her smiles should be mine. She should bemine.
Instead, she’s slowly dying.
Running out of air. Trapped. And it’s my fault. My fault she left. My fault that I didn’t stop her and beg her to come back sooner.Muttiwas right, I am a fool.
“This guy…” I start.
“Nespoli?” Clayton scratches his chin. “Yeah, figured you’d have something to say about that.” He brushes the back of his hand against his stubble, tilting his head as if weighing his words. “He’s a good kid. Been good to her, treats her right. Didn’t think it was my place to say anything. Not your place either.”
I turn back to him, frowning. He chuckles, throwing his hands up in mock fear.
“Don’t shoot the messenger. Look, cornering her like a rat up a drainpipe, ain’t gonna make her come running back to your open arms.”
When he’s right, he's unfortunately, very right.
“Besides, we got bigger fish to fry.”
“Oh.” I raise a brow.
“Earth.”
“Ja, lost contact.” I wave my hand at him dismissively. “Metal in the meteors, solar flare, could even be a problem with the TDRS. It’ll pass–.”
“No.” His fingers tighten around my arm, trimmed nails biting into the flesh as he pulls me further awayfrom the others. His eyes dart about us before he drags them back to meet mine, leaning in conspiratorially.
“Earth’s gone.”
I frown. “What do you mean gone?”
“Shh, keep it down. This is. Need. To. Know. Until we decide how to deal with the Alex and Chelenko situation.”
As if I had forgotten,mein Herzis trapped and alone. I clench my fist by my side, picturing Alex. Whilst I’m here having my time wasted, she is with thatGigolo. Who I doubt is competent enough to survive a single trip to theBehörde, let alone have any business being on this station, but let him prove me wrong, and I’ll continue to squash the violent urges his face is inciting in me.
I clench my jaw.
“You hearing me, Matty?” Clayton says.
Lowering my voice, I ask. “What do you mean gone?”
“Just gone. Poof.” He makes a comically poor attempt at an explosion with his hand. “Got Anderson and Aiko looking into it. But the general consensus so far ain't good.”
I grunt, my eyes flicking back to Alex, who’s ripping the sleeve of her blue flight suit to use the rags as bandages.
“Need you, Kid.”
“Ok. Fine.Paragraf32b, Section seven of the contingency guide?” He nods slowly at my words, understanding.
“Yeah, probably. At least until we make contact with home. I’ll get Anderson on it.”
“And Alex?” I ask.
“Got a crew meeting in ten to talk about that. Hadfield and Pesquet got an idea, but you ain't gonna like it.”
