Page 101 of Bound By Stars
I lean away, frowning. The way he said my dad’s name. Like he—
Thud, thud, thud.
The door opens and another porter rushes in.
Nazari pushes off the arms of my chair, and I can breathe again.
“You’re needed on the bridge, Captain. There’s a…” The porter notices me and presses his lips together before looking back at Nazari. “It’s urgent.”
“I’ll be there soon.” He turns back to me.
“Sir, you really should—”
Vibration rolls through the metal walls and floor. An alarm sounds. Red and blue lights flash in the hall.
The captain huffs out a breath and stares down at me. “Last chance, Ms. Fleet.”
I stare back at him with wide eyes. I can’t say “I don’t know” any other way.
He nods once and then rushes for the door, barking orders to the waiting porter. “Get a team and assess the remaining escape pods immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
He glances back, meeting my eyes with something like sadness in his expression, before the office door shuts.
I’m on my own. Aside from ILSA parked in the opposite corner of the room. Her face screen is dark. Maybe she’s only in hibernation mode. Please be in hibernation mode. “ILSA, power on.”
She stays still and lifeless.
“ILSA! Please, for the love of the universe! Power on!”
Another tremor rolls through the ship like thunder. ILSA rattles in the corner like a pile of scrap metal. Completely shut down. I have to get to her power button to turn her back on. Hands balled into fists, I yank at the restraints over my head. The chain clanks against the thick pipe along the wall behind me. Metal bites into my wrists.
The captain’s order echoes in my head.Assess the remaining escape pods.The alarms. The noises. The vibrations. It can’t all be from the pod bay explosion. He said it was sealed. And it was such a small portion of the ship. Unless…the first-class escape pod bay was only the beginning.
The floor jolts. A horrible, high-pitched groaning sound reverberates through the walls. Like the ship is being torn in half.
Another red patch lights up on the mini holomap. Another piece of the ship lost.
TheBoundlessisn’t going to make it to Mars.
I have to get out. I have to get out now.
Shifting out of the seat, I untwist my hands and pull against the metal cuffs.
With a foot against the wall, I hold my breath and push back as hard as I can. My bones ache and my skin burns, my shoulders threatening to dislocate. I can’t take the pain any longer. A frustrated cry rips through my throat, and I fall to my knees, my throbbing hands anchored high above my head.
I suck in ragged breaths, holding back tears. It’s no use. I’m alone. I’m going to die here in this little room chained to a sinking ship.
Jupiter’s face, pained and confused, flashes across my memory. All the air leaves my lungs, and the hollowness left inside me threatens to suck me in like a black hole. That can’t be the last time I see him. He has to know I didn’t have anything to do with his sister’s death, that I’m not a part of any of this.
I have to find a way out. There has to be one.
Assess, Weslie.I stand, inspecting my restraints. Basic locks connected by a metal chain. A relic. If I could find something sharp to hook it on, maybe I could break it.
The room is small, and the desk isn’t far. I turn my back to it and extend my leg, nudging the wooden box on the corner with my toe. I get it to the edge, trying to loop my foot around it, but my shoe barely reaches.
With a deep breath, I press my hands to either side of the pipe and push off, reaching my leg back as far as I can until the toe of my shoe knocks the side of the box. I kick it to the floor. It hits with a crack behind me, contents clattering.
