“What’s going on, Kiru?”
“The ship’s in danger. I don’t know why. We don’t have time to find out. But blow-ups happen. We’re getting out of here.”
“How?”
“By lifeboat.”
She led the way, never hesitating.
“How do you know where to go?” he asked.
“Didn’t you learn emergency procedure on your voyage to Hideaway?”
“No.”
“Maybe there were only lifeboats for the crew. Like here. You can bet there aren’t any capsules for prisoners.”
“On my ship it must have been women and children first.”
“First class, you mean? No lifeboats for anyone else?”
“No, I mean women and children first into the lifeboats.”
“How quaint. Women and children first. That’s me twice over.”
“You’re not a child.”
“I am compared to you, old man. But neither of us will get any older if we keep talking. Save your breath, James, and follow the lights.”
Norton had been aware of the pulsating orange lights which lined their route, but it was only now that he realised the lights actually marked the escape route.
YOW-Yaw-YEE-Yaw-YOW-Yaw-YEE-Yaw-YOW.
Apart from the siren and the soft sound of their feet slapping against the floor, there was no noise. There was no one else around, no one else running for the lifeboats.
“Why’s there no panic?” said Norton. “Where is everyone?”
“If this is a convict ship,” said Kiru, “they’re still locked in their cells. That’s where the panic is.”
Norton halted. “We’ve got to get them out.”
Kiru also stopped, ran back to Norton, grabbed his hand, and pulled. “No, we haven’t. Come on! It’s too late.”
Norton didn’t move.
“You can’t get them out,” said Kiru. “You can’t open the locks.”
“But you can.”
“What? Grawl could be on board. You expect me to free him, give him another chance to wipe my mind?” Kiru stared at Norton. “And what do you think they’ll do to you, James? They won’t thank you, they’ll kill you.”
“Because I’m in GalactiCop?”
“That’s a bonus. They’ll kill you because you’re not a pirate. Compared to what Grawl will do to me, you’ll be the lucky one.”
Kiru let go of Norton’s hand and stepped away. In the gloom, he saw her shrug her shoulders.
“But I could be wrong,” she said.
“They wouldn’t hurt us, you mean?”
“No, I mean we could be the only ones on board. We weren’t captured with the pirates, so we might not be with them now.”
Yow-YAW! Yee-YAW! Yow-YAW! Yee-YAW! Yow-YAW!
“And the ship might not be about to go supernova,” added Kiru. “This could be a false alarm.” She turned away. “Goodbye, James, it was nice knowing you.”
“Wait.”
He caught up with her, their fingers interlocked, their icy lips briefly brushed together, and they continued their descent through the doomed ship.
“Almost there,” said Kiru, as they rushed down to another level.
Norton wondered how she could tell, but didn’t have the energy to ask.
They turned another dark corner and Kiru stopped.
Ahead of them, in the dim light, a handful of bulbous hatches sprouted from the bulkhead.
“They all seem to be there,” said Kiru. “I thought we might have been too late, that the crew would have taken them all.”
Norton’s theory was that this was a ghost ship, without even a skeleton crew.
“Escape capsules,” Kiru continued. “Spacers call them ‘coffins.’ ”
“I’ve already spent three hundred years in a coffin.”
“You came out of it alive, James. And I want to get off this ship alive. You’re my good-luck charm.”
“How do we get inside?” asked Norton.
Kiru reached up, and a moment later one of the hatches swung open.
“Told you,” she said.
“Women and children first,” said Norton, and he cupped his hands for her to step into. “I hope you know how to drive one of these things.”
“So do I,” she said, and she kissed his lips.
As Kiru rose up to the capsule, he kissed her shoulder her breast, her hip, her knee, her ankle.
YEE-YAW-YOW-YAW-YEE-YAW-YOW.
“Now you.” Kiru reached down for him.
Norton raised his arms, and their wrists and hands locked together. Then a hint of movement in the gloom caught his eye and he looked around.
One of the shadow guards glided through the icy darkness, straight at him. It carried no weapon, but its arms were poised to haul him away from safety. If Norton fell, he’d also drag Kiru out of the capsule.
“Let go!” Norton yelled.
“No!” cried Kiru.
He tore himself free, saw Kiru fall back into the lifeboat.
As he began to drop, the spectre collided with him.
But instead of a violent impact, instead of thudding against Norton’s body, the alien passed through him…
Every atom of Norton’s body was drained of heat. His entire being was plunged into the abyss of absolute zero. His blood froze in his veins. His heart ceased to beat. His whole existence ended.
He was dead. Totally dead. Not at rest, as he had been during suspended animation, but completely without a trace of vitality.
The only thing Norton had left was his brain, his final thoughts, which were of Kiru.
She was only a few yards from him, but the distance was a galaxy away. Since they met, this was the first time they had ever been apart.
How long had he known her? Two or three hours? Five or six? Eight or nine? There was no way of telling. However long it had been, it wasn’t long enough. He wanted to be with her, stay with her, continue their association.
He’d never felt this way. Not for three centuries. Not even then. Not like this.
Wayne Norton was in love. But now it was too late.
All was dark, all was over, all was silent.
YOW! YAW! YEE! YAW! YOW! YAW! YEE! YAW! YOW!
Except for the sound of the alarm—
BAMABAMABAMABAMA!
—the noise of the ship being ripped apart—
“James! James! James!”
—and Kiru calling his name, or what she thought was his name.
He could hear.
Which meant he was alive.
He could feel the vibrations of the ship being destroyed.
Wayne Norton had been reborn.
!!!!!POWPOWABAMAPOWBAMMMMMM!!!!!
But the spaceship was going through its death agonies.
He was lying prone on the deck.
His life had begun anew, but his future would be very brief.
He had been in darkness, but now there was light.
The light from the stars. Visible through the rips in the hull.
Pulling himself to his feet, he took a final gasping breath as the last of the ship’s air was sucked out into the vacuum of space.
The hatch to the lifeboat was still open. A fraction.
Norton stretched up, but couldn’t reach. He jumped, slid one hand in through the gap, then the other.
He was floating. Gravity was gone. Only his grip on the hatch prevented him from being sucked out into the infinite darkness.
The hatch moved. Slightly. Then slightly more. Then more. More. And he slipped through, tumbling down. The hatch snapped shut.
He closed his eyes in relief, and opened his mouth to greedily drink in the air.
“Honey,” he breathed, “I’m home.”
He opened his eyes.
Saw someone.
Not Kiru.
He was in the wrong escape capsule.
With Grawl.