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Back to Part 017 – Forward to Act 2 Prologue
“You heard something?” Nina stepped into the cargo bay, pulling Xiphos by the hand behind her. “And so you come find me, who’s smaller than you?”
“Yes,” Xiphos said. She swung her head around, scanning the corners of the cargo bay.
A few small lights glowed in the emptiness of the bay, casting more shadows than they eliminated.
“There’s nothing here,” Nina said, striding further into the bay, towing Xiphos in with her. Xiphos did another sweep with her eyes, her ears flicking around in every direction. She eyed the hatch back up to the crew quarters.
“What’s gotten in to you lately?” Nina turned around and pulled Xiphos to her. Xiphos recoiled from Nina’s suddenness, but relaxed when Nina draped her wrists over Xiphos’s shoulders.
“Whaddoyoumean?” Xiphos’s ears dropped.
“I mean,” Nina said, reaching up to play with one of Xiphos’s ears, “you’re panicky lately. Skittery and all that. And what’s this about you thinking I hate you?”
“It’s not…” The cat struggled, and then faltered her words. She pulled her mouth shut tight, keeping her eyes steady on the corners of the room.
“I love you,” Nina said, her voice even, her smile fading away. “Okay?”
Xiphos nodded. A tear welled in the corner of her eyes. Nina brushed it away, and pulled Xiphos into a long hug.
“What’s gotten in to you?”
Xiphos bit her lip. “Yesterday, on the radar-”
A box in the bay tumbled to the floor, teetering on its side before settling. Xiphos shrieked and jumped back, the fur on her neck bristling. She put Nina between herself and the box, holding on to Nina’s shoulders. Nina watched the box, keeping still as the air in the room cleared.
A shadow darted back into the darkened corners of the cargo bay. Nina took off after it. “Hey!” She called. She rounded a corner, catching a glimpse disappearing behind a set of boxes. Nina stopped at the edge of the shadows. She could see the tail again, and again it quickly slipped out of sight. Except, this time there as no place to go. She put her hands on her hips and, stifling a smile said, “Toby.”
There was shuffling around behind the crates. Very slowly, Toby stuck his head out around the edge, watching Nina. His ears flattened against his head.
Nina bit her tongue, holding the laugh back in her muzzle. “Toby, come out here.”
Toby slinked out to Nina, dropping his eyes to her feet.
“Did you knock over the box?”
“I didn’t mean to!” Toby held his hands out in front of himself. “I-”
There was a scream, an angry, concentrated scream, and Toby snapped back off his feet, falling head over heals, and tumbling to a stop in the corner. In his place, Xiphos panted, trying to catch her breath again. She held her hand, flexing it open and closed. She surveyed her work, and then looked up at Nina.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Nina ran to help Toby up.
“He looked bigger in the shadows.” Xiphos dropped her eyes.
Nina sat Toby up. “Come on,” she said, “let’s get Billy to take a look at you.” She helped him to stand, and started to lead him to the stairs. Xiphos followed close behind at first, and then decided it’d be best to help Toby, too.
“What were you doing, Toby?” Nina adjusted her hold on him.
“It’s quiet here,” Toby said, his voice shaky. He looked around, trying to catch his bearing back. “I didn’t mean to knock over the box, I swear!”
“Shhh,” Nina said. “It’s not that big of a deal. I’m sure it wasn’t anything important.”
“It’s just that, when I got here, you were… you know, with Xiphos, and I didn’t want to bother you, I just wanted to sit down somewhere, and I kinda pushed the crate off when I sat down-”
“Stop,” Xiphos said. Nina looked up at her, narrowing her eyes.
“Did you say,” Xiphos continued, “you got here after we did?”
“Yes?” Toby said.
Xiphos stopped walking. Nina stopped a few paces out, and steered Toby around to face her.
“I didn’t hear you,” Xiphos said, her eyes getting wider. “I heard people here, I’m sure of it. But not Toby.”
Nina blinked. “Then who was it-?”
The hatch to the engine room slid open, and Tami the Traveler stepped out, holding a wrench in her hand. She was covered in engine grease, and her fur frizzed from the heat.
The three of them, Nina, Toby and Xiphos, froze. They hadn’t been paying attention; they would have noticed the engines had gone silent if they had been paying attention. Now they could hear it, or the lack of it, and they were standing in the audience of the cause.
“Tami?” Toby said, holding the spot on his head where Xiphos had hit him.
“Oh,” she said, looking over all of them. “Hi, kids.”
“What’s going on?” Xiphos said, her ears leveled out. She slowly inched towards the stairwell.
Tami shifted her weight back and forth on her feet. “Look,” she said. “Sorry.”
“Sorry?” Nina asked.
Tami lunged for Xiphos, and struck her across the head with the wrench. Xiphos went down with a yelp, holding her head.
Nina made a break for the stairwell, pulling Toby with her. Tami went after them for a few steps, and then took off into the cargo bay. Next to the stairwell hatch was mounted a big red button on a big yellow box. Nina pounded her fist on it. “Stay here!” She said to Toby, and pushed him against the wall.
The Rose erupted with the mechanical wail of an alert. A calm, assuring woman informed the crew that “an alert has been sounded in the cargo bay.” She repeated in two other languages.
Footsteps pounded down the stairs, and Toby peeked around the corner. Patel jumped the last section of stairs, and bounded through the hatch. He followed the same path as Tami, curving into the depths of the cargo bay.
“Over here!” Tami shouted. A crate splintered open somewhere in the darkness. Nina ran back to Xiphos, sliding to a stop next to her.
Tami and Patel stepped back out from the shadows. Nina stood, facing them. She clenched her fists shut, and started towards them. Toby cried out a panicked, wordless shout. Xiphos feebly lifted her head, blood covering her face. “Nina, don’t!” She tried to stand, and fell again.
The Travelers stopped, keeping some space in between them and Nina. Tami rolled what looked like a parchment up, and slid it into a tube. Patel glanced over at her, and then back at Nina. He locked eyes with her. He stepped forward. Nina didn’t budge. Tami slung the tube over her shoulder and broke into a run at Nina. Patel followed.
“Out of the way, girl!” Patel shouted. Nina took a step forward. Patel swung his fist at her, catching her neck and lifting her off her feet. His free hand guided a knife between her ribs, into her chest. He dropped her, and made a break for the stair well on the far wall.
Xiphos screamed. She struggled to her feet, stumbling into a run. Toby froze against the wall. Heavy footsteps echoed in the stair well. Tre sprinted into the cargo bay. Xiphos pointed up the other stairwell. Tre growled and, picking up speed, climbed the stairs.
Xiphos knelt over Nina. She pushed down hard on Nina’s wound. Nina whimpered against the pain, and Xiphos spoke down to her, tears running down her cheeks. Toby couldn’t hear what either was saying. He waited for Billy. Billy would fix this. Toby looked back up at the button, and next to it was an intercom. He grabbed it and fumbled it on.
“Hurry,” he said. “Nina’s hurt.” His voice echoed through out the Rose.
Billy reached the bottom just as Toby finished, his medical bag in hand. He was at her side immediately. Xiphos opened the bag and began handing Billy tools. They worked almost silently. Xiphos only spoke when Nina cried out. She leaned down and kissed Nina on the cheek. Toby was sure he heard Xiphos say, “you’ll be okay… please…”
Nina’s breathing became shallow. She grabbed Xiphos’s arm, and Xiphos stroked her ears back. Billy was doing his best to try to stop the bleeding, his and Xiphos’s hands covered in Nina’s blood. He pushed down on the wound, just as Xiphos had done, and Nina cried out again. Her voice was weaker now, her breathing ragged. Cait hit the bottom last, and joined the group. She carried a gun, and Xiphos pointed her to the far stairwell. Cait began to run towards the stairs, just as Tre descended. His hands covered in blood, but he had no Travelers with him.
Toby slid down the wall, covering his head with his hands. Nina whimpered again, weaker still. Billy called for a shot of anesthetic. Nina grew quieter, her breathing still ragged. Billy called for a scalpel. Xiphos pulled up Nina’s shirt, exposing the wound. Toby picked up “internal bleeding” from Billy. They would operate. Cait made herself available. Billy barked orders to Xiphos, to Tre. Nina’s heart rate became erratic, and Billy moved to chest compressions. When Xiphos finally lost her cool, Cait stepped in to relieve her. Nina held tight to Xiphos’s hand. Xiphos kissed it as Billy tried to stabilize her heart.
Nina’s hand slipped out of Xiphos’s.
Nina died.
[g]
I’m at a loss for words.. rather.. there’s too much I would like to say. But for now, here’s this:
Holy shit. Nina is not dead. Just can’t be. I’m waiting for you to tell me it’s all some horrible dream or something.
And, I knew those damn Travelers were up to no good. No good at all, sir.
Also, the last line gave me chills. This segment was really well written, it was the only one that I’ve had to go back and re-read twice in a row.
I love Nina, too. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but things are how they are right now. It actually tore me up writing this section, especially since she went from being a minor character in the pre-draft (getting on at Molyneux Island) to an actual crew member. She’s a good person, and she didn’t deserve to die that way.
It may not be much in the way of solace, but these things happen for a reason.
Very impressive delivery. I was really hoping to go to sleep after this one…doh. This chapter hit hard.
On a more mundane note, I’m more familiar with “skittery” than “skiddery”
Thanks for saying so.
And, man, I had skittery, but spellcheck doesn’t seem to think it’s a word, so I changed it. Damn you, spellcheck. You’re so off my friend’s list.