Screams filled the darkness. Shards of ice rattled in Ryder’s chest.

  The lights were not the only thing out. Something was seriously wrong with the Ark. The life support failed, and so did the air filters, and in a few minutes, everyone aboard the ship was going to suffocate to death.

  Ryder was going to die.

  The lights came back on, casting a harsh white light into the galley. The air filters hummed.

  Everyone’s eyes were wide, and they stood like coiled springs. Petra found Ryder, and glared at him.

  Ryder’s muscles tensed. He didn’t think she would attack, but he’d be ready if she did.

  “What was that?” Naoki asked.

  “If you’d give me a second, I can tell you.” Ryder pulled up his IRIS.

  An alarm went off.

  The lab’s containment had been breached, as if there wasn’t enough fun for a single day.

  The scientists checked their own IRISes.

  “Theo, figure out why the lights went fucky,” Ryder ordered, then he checked on the lab’s door. The main door was fine.

  “Erika, what’s the report?” Ryder asked.

  Erika jolted, then turned her wide eyes on Ryder.

  “I, uh…”

  Ryder resisted the urge to grab Erika by the shoulders and shake the info outta her. If Luther was still around, he would have answer ready as soon as Ryder finished his question. Ryder wished he could access information within the lab, but he didn’t have clearance to do that. SmallWorld didn’t want outsiders tampering with their operation. It made sense, but the ship crew really should have counted as insiders.

  “An alien has breached their enclosure,” Erika finally said.

  “Which one?” Ryder asked.

  “The systems won’t tell us that.” Erika glanced behind Ryder, to Luther’s shrine. Maybe Luther had full access to the lab, but Erika did not.

  “We need to contain those aliens as soon as possible,” Naoki said.

  “Agreed. But we don’t know which species escaped,” Erika said.

  “Hope to God it isn’t the Lamia,” Aymeric muttered.

  The situation was spiraling out of Ryder’s hands.

  “Captain,” Theo stepped to Ryder’s side.

  “What?” Ryder hadn’t meant to snap; he was just getting frustrated.

  “The lights going out was a power fluctuation. I believe there’s something wrong with the reactor,” Theo said.

  Ryder glanced to Naoki. The overseer was too busy talking with the scientists to have heard.

  “Get geared up and fix that,” Ryder whispered.

  Theo and Clive marched away.

  Mi-Cha stood to the side and watched the scientists talk.

  “Mi-Cha, please check the pilot controls,” Ryder said.

  “They were fucked before, why would they be any different now?” Mi-Cha asked.

  “Check the fucking controls,” Ryder growled, and this time, he did mean to snap.

  Mi-Cha’s nostrils flared. Ryder thought she was going to flip him off and make herself comfortable in a chair, but she marched to the elevator like she was supposed to.

  “–a few weapons are still on the shuttle,” Aymeric said.

  “Do you think it would be enough to…” Erika trailed off as she got lost in a separate thought.

  “We need to act now,” Naoki said.

  “Where are you guys at?” Ryder asked.

  Naoki glanced at Ryder with a guarded expression.

  “We don’t want to go into this lab unless we’re one hundred percent ready for whatever we find,” Aymeric said. “The few shock spears in the shuttle probably won’t be enough.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Naoki turned his attention back to the scientists.

  “We’ll make it enough,” Petra said.

  “Jesus Christ, you can’t ‘positive thinking’ your way outta this mess,” Aymeric said.

  “Hello, captain speaking.”

  “A little positivity won’t hurt,” Petra said. “Besides, I do have faith in us.”

  “It’s been too long since the aliens breached containment,” Erika muttered.

  Ryder glared at the group.

  This was his ship, dammit.

  He pulled up the Captain’s Override program on his IRIS. He didn’t have access to the lab, thanks to SmallWorld’s regulations, but he could operate the main door and the vents leading to and away from the lab. Ryder locked the entrance, then shuttered the vents. Ryder cut the blaring alarm, too.

  The scientists stopped talking and exchanged confused looks.

  “What does that mean?” Naoki finally turned his attention to Ryder.

  “That alarm was gonna give me a headache,” Ryder said. “I turned it off. And I’ve locked the lab down, so the aliens are gonna be stuck inside. You’re welcome, by the way.”

  Naoki furrowed his brow.

  “You did all of this remotely?” He asked.

  “There’s the Captain’s Override thing. It lets me control the ship. You know, just in case something really bad happens,” Ryder said.

  Naoki’s expression fell further. The hell was his problem? Did he want Ryder to do a cartwheel or something?

  “That Captain’s Override allows you to close doors within the labs, huh?” Aymeric asked.

  Ryder glanced over Erika and Petra. Their expressions hardened against Ryder. He realized what was going on; they were thinking that Ryder locked everyone in the Lamia enclosure.

  “Wow,” Ryder drawled. “Firstly, SmallWorld won’t let me touch anything within that precious lab. Secondly, even if I could, why the flying fuck would I want to kill anyone?”

  The scientists exchanged glances with each other.

  “Do you have proof this Captain’s Override doesn’t affect the doors inside the lab?” Erika asked.

  “I just gotta rip out my eyeball and hand it to you,” Ryder said. “But I’m not doing that, so you’ll just have to take my word.”

  “Instead of worrying about that, maybe we should focus on the aliens?” Naoki said. “There’s expensive equipment in the lab that the aliens could destroy.”

  Or we could leave them there until we fix up my ship. Ryder was only going to find himself in another argument if he said that, though.

  “We don’t know what aliens are loose,” Erika said.

  “We just need shock spears. Stick’em with the zappy end,” Ryder said.

  “The Lamia’s developed a resistance,” Erika said.

  “We’ll make it work,” Ryder said. “Erika, Aymeric, with me. Naoki and Petra, you stay here and…rest. We don’t want to clog the hallways.”

  “You want to come with us?” Erika asked.

  “This is my ship. It’s my job to put it right,” Ryder said.

  Erika opened her mouth to say something else, but Ryder didn’t need to hear it. He marched into the elevator, forcing Erika and Aymeric to follow into the car. They headed for the third floor.

  The three first stopped at the shuttle bay, where they gathered three shock spears and a single net gun. They only had two nets to fire, though that would be fine. From what Ryder picked up, only the Lamia and Carnifex would need the net gun; the Aranea could be taken down with the spears.

  Ryder guided the group toward the lab airlock, and into the decontamination chamber. Something slammed around in the lab. Ryder adjusted his grip on the shock spear.

  “If you can use the Override on the front door, what about on the decontamination room?” Aymeric asked.

  “That’s a part of SmallWorld’s untouchable property,” Ryder said.

  Aymeric pulled a face. Ryder did his best to ignore it.

  The doors inside opened, and revealed chaos.

  The fleshy alien–the Lamia–stormed over the desks, throwing chairs and lab equipment through the air. It was chasing after the spider alien–the Aranea.

  “Oh God,” Erika whispered. She stepped back.

  The Lamia slammed its limb down where the Aranea was.

  Ryder winced.

  When the Lamia lifted its arm again, Ryder expected to see a crushed alien. There was nothing. The Aranea had skittered along the wall. The Lamia prepared another attack, and the Aranea darted away.

  Ryder lifted his shock spear, and took a step forward.

  Aymeric ran into the room and leveled the net gun.

  “No!” Erika shouted.

  Aymeric fired.

  The net spiraled through the air. It wrapped around the Lamia.

  The Aranea was next.

  Ryder darted toward the creature.

  It slipped into a vent.

  Ryder stabbed into the openings, but he couldn’t hit the Aranea.

  Well, buddy, you can only come back this way.

  “It’s not holding!” Aymeric shouted.

  The Lamia’s limbs tore through the netting. The ropes snapped away with twangs that reminded Ryder of guitar string.

  Aymeric jabbed at the Lamia with a shock spear, but the Lamia didn’t care.

  It swiped a limb out and knocked Aymeric off his feet.

  Erika darted into the room and helped Aymeric up.

  “What do we do about this thing?” Ryder demanded.

  “Go! Run!” Erika and Aymeric darted into the decontamination chamber.

  This was Ryder’s ship, and he could go wherever he wanted.

  Another wire broke.

  Where Ryder wanted to be was in the decontamination chamber.

  He ran for it.

  The Lamia broke through the net.

  Ryder charged into the decontamination chamber, then slammed his fist on the airlock button.

  The Lamia roared. It lurched toward the chamber.

  Ryder leveled his shock spear. It wouldn’t do jack shit against the creature, but Ryder felt good holding it.

  The airlock shut.

  The Lamia slammed against it with enough force to make the floor tremble.

  A second hit.

  Ryder looked over the airlock for damage. There wasn’t any. Yet.

  He marched to the other side, and started the decontamination process. Then he pulled up his IRIS.

  “Okay, any plans about the Lamia?” Aymeric asked.

  Erika shook her head.

  “I’ve got something,” Ryder said. “It’s called, ‘we don’t go into that lab again,’ and that’s what we’re doing.”

  “We need to contain the aliens,” Erika said.

  “They’re contained in the lab,” Ryder answered.

  Erika opened her mouth. Ryder cut her off.

  “You’d rather step in there and get ripped apart like Luther?” He said.

  Erika hissed through her teeth. Aymeric glared at him.

  Yeah, bringing up Luther was a low blow, but it was the only way to get the scientists to listen.

  The airlock opened, and Ryder stepped through first. Erika and Aymeric reluctantly followed. Ryder shut the door, then made sure it was locked. If he had a physical key, he would have thrown it away.