Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach

Author:Rachel Bach [Bach, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2013-11-04T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Cotter was suited up by the time I made it down to the bay, and he didn’t look happy about it. Despite Rupert’s warning, though, I was getting sort of excited. I’ve always liked exploring, and after being cooped up for days with mysteries I couldn’t solve, a chance to prove myself to Caldswell combined with poking around a ghost ship sounded pretty good to me.

While Basil was getting us closer, Mabel came out to help Cotter and me patch our video feeds through to the bridge so the others could watch the exploration.

“How do you stand seeing all the way around your head all the time?” Basil cried once my feed was running. “It’s making me dizzy just looking.”

“Guess my eyes are more advanced than yours,” I said, glancing down at the text that had started scrolling across the bottom of my vision. “You see that, Cotter?”

“I see it,” he grumbled.

The text was courtesy of Hyrek, who had agreed to watch and translate the xith’cal writing for us since no one else on the ship could read it.

“I hope you’re charging a fat translation fee,” I said.

You are the mercenary, Hyrek wrote. I am the loyal crew member who does as his captain orders. Now, remember, stay away from anything that looks like this.

The bottom of my screen filled with squiggles.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Slaughter Room” would be the closest translation, Hyrek replied. Wouldn’t want to offend your delicate sensibilities.

Cotter made a strangled sound, and I rolled my eyes. “Let’s get moving.”

“Ready for pressure release.” Nova’s dreamy voice floated over my speakers. “Locking down.”

There was a loud boom as the blast doors closed over the engine room and the door to the lounge. I stood impatiently, tapping my foot as I waited for the Fool’s vents to rescue what air they could. At last, when the atmosphere had dropped to nearly nothing, the new cargo doors rolled open, and Cotter and I stood facing the freezing blackness of space.

Basil had managed to get us right up beside one of the tribe ship’s flight bays. The gravity had vanished with the air, and since I was the only one with thrusters, it was my job to pull Cotter out of the cargo bay and across the ten-foot gap between the Glorious Fool and the xith’cal ship. Fortunately, the floors were metal, and Cotter’s suit wasn’t so cheap that the boots lacked magnets, so once we were down we could both walk more or less as normal.

Going into the bay was like floating into an enormous cave in the side of an even more enormous cliff. It was pitch-black inside and so large that our suit lights barely made a dent in the darkness. The bay Hyrek had chosen for our entry was the biggest of all the ones we’d seen on this side of the tribe ship. From the shape, I’d guessed it was meant for supply freighters, a theory that was supported by the bank of shipping containers strapped to the back wall.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.