Rovos ignores it, and we pull away from the dock.
“SC-90076, you do not have clearance to launch. Please return to your dock.”
His fingers dance over the lighted screen before returning to the glass pad, and we head forward.
“SC-90076, you do not have clearance to—SC—go back now. SC-90076, abort!”
“Um, are those doors closing?” I squint at the opening we’re heading for.
“Most likely. Hold on,” Rovos tells me, and then I’m pressed back into my seat as we rocket toward the doors—which are definitely closing.
The metallic voice is screaming now, and I watch as laser fire shoots past the nose of the shuttle.
“Rovos?” My fingers curl around the edge of my seat.
“Almost there.”
“SC-90076 you are under—” Rovos slams his fist into the control board, and the voice falls silent. Meanwhile, the shuttle is picking up speed. The doors we’re racing toward are half closed now.
“Rovos?” I brace my feet against the edge of the control panel.
“It’s going to be tight.” He pushes something, and the shuttle jerks forward, going even faster.
The doors are three-fourths of the way closed now.
“Rovos!” I scream and cover my eyes as the shuttle flips on its side and squeaks through the doors with only a slight scrape of metal.
As soon as we clear the station, Rovos pulls a lever, and the stars elongate in the view screen as we shoot forward. We don’t stay in warp-drive… or hyper-speed… or whatever it’s called, for long before he slows the shuttle once more, and we’re floating in the darkness of deep space.
Unfolding myself from the chair, I sit up straighter. We made it!
Beside me, Rovos is pushing buttons and flipping switches, over and over, before he swears and leans back in his seat with a huff.
“What’s wrong?”
“When we scraped going through the gate, it must have taken out the antenna.”
“Oh.”Space ships have antennas?Well, shit. That sounds bad. “Is there a backup?”
“Pretty sure I took out the backup as well.” His face twists into a grimace.
“So, what do we do?” My eyes scan the darkness of space that stretches out through the view screen.
Rovos rocks back in his chair. “We continue to where we’re going.”
“To the Green Zone?” I have a hard time swallowing past the lump that solidifies in my throat. The green-zone must be where Pamia is.
“Yes,” is all he says.
My fingers are shaking as I work the straps keeping me in the chair loose. When they fall away, I push myself up, gripping the chair so I stay upright. After everything: rescuing me from Volethos, escaping the space station,those kisses…I can’t understand why he’s so determined to send me away. Doesn’t that mean anything to him? Don’tImean anything to him?
Because he means something to me. He must, because otherwise this wouldn’t hurt so much.
“Why did you come back?” I ask without looking at him. When he doesn’t answer, I grit my teeth. “Why even bother if you’re just going to get rid of me>”
“Annah.” The way he says my name—like it’s choking him—sends a blade through my heart, and I close my eyes against the flare of pain.
“Why, Rovos?” I ask through my clenched teeth. When I turn to face him, his eyes meet mine for only a moment before they dart away.
