Page 110 of Bound By Stars
I claw at his fingers.
…three, two, one…
His weight lifts off me. Both of us float off the floor.
Curran circles his arms in the air, the sudden weightlessness catching him off guard.
I grab the front of his shirt and try to push off, but the heels of my shoes slip on the slick floor, and we’re spinning through the air. The lights shut off. The low hum of electricity fades to total silence. Outside the window, Mars blurs into a haze of orangey-red until we hit the ceiling, and he gets his hands around my neck again.
“Systems online,” a robotic voice announces, and we’re falling.
Curran hits first, softening my landing. His arms drop to the floor, his face slowly rolling to the side, mouth half open.
I shove off his chest, jump up, and stumble toward the exit. My head throbs and my vision smears like wet paint, turning the world into shapeless smudges of color and light. I blink until my eyes refocus. Gripping the edge of the half-open door, I check to make sure he isn’t following.
His motionless body is still crumpled on the floor. Eyes closed. Jupiter’s best friend. Possibly my half brother. He lets out a groan.
I turn and run.
Chapter Forty
Jupiter
Six days to Mars
Skye offers a hand, pulling me off the floor. Both of us hit the ground hard when the artificial gravity came back. ILSA stayed magnetically connected to the ship and held onto Tar beside her, so he could keep working on the door control.
“Where’s Asha?” I scan the area.
She’s not by Tar and ILSA anymore. Did she drift down the hall?
“Up here!”
Right above me, she hangs from a beam on the high ceiling. I step aside, and, before I can figure out how to help her down, she drops. Hitting the floor, she bends her knees and then stands upright, checking herself over for injuries.
The knocking and screams grow louder behind the emergency door. I don’t want to imagine what happened with that many people in one space.
Skye shakes her head. “Tar, what’s the likelihood of that happening again?”
“The system probably won’t reboot again, but it depends on how much damage it’s sustained. We really need to get off this ship.”
Weslie comes running in from the giant, tree-filled room, passing over the blackened strip of the hallway and skidding in the extinguisher fluid.
“You’re bleeding.” I catch her, pull my sleeve over my palm, and dab her forehead, leading her to a bench at the side of the hall.
“I’m fine.” She brushes her hair over the gash. “How’s the door coming along?”
“I’ve almost got it,” Tar calls back. “Where’s Curran?”
“Curran…” She pauses, going stiff in my arms as her gaze flicks toward Tar. “The bridge. He was knocked out when the gravity shut off.”
There’s something she’s not saying.
“Finish this, Wes. I’m going after him.” Tar’s hands fall away from the panel, and he rushes past us through the arboretum.
Asha looks to her brother and then the rest of us.
Skye grabs her hand. “None of us should be running around this ship alone right now!”
