Black dread sloshed in Theo’s veins. He knew what the noise was outside. The engine exploded. The systems reported that the destruction was a malfunction without going into details, though Theo knew exactly what the catastrophe was.

  The elevator opened to the bridge. Ryder, Mi-Cha, and Naoki were gathered there. The Captain nodded to Theo.

  “Can you tell me what’s happening?” Naoki asked.

  “There’s been a malfunction, but we can handle it,” Ryder answered for Theo.

  “How did a…malfunction like this happen?” Naoki said.

  Ryder shrugged.

  “Things happen,” he said.

  Yes, things happen when you ignore issues aboard your ship. Ryder was trying to downplay the situation though, so Theo had to downplay, too.

  “Well, some of those ‘things happen,’ include the fucking flight controls.” Mi-Cha smacked one of the piloting displays.

  “Are we on course?” Theo asked.

  “Wow. Wow.” Mi-Cha rolled her eyes. “Ain’t you supposed to be smart? We’re without power and hurtling toward an asteroid field.”

  “Is the asteroid field real?” Theo had to ask; Mi-Cha was known to exaggerate.

  “ETA three hours, give or take,” Mi-Cha answered.

  The elevator opened again. Clive and the scientists spilled out.

  “It looks like we all had the same idea,” Luther said. “Captain, what’s going on?”

  “Some technical difficulties,” Ryder said.

  Naoki shot Ryder a look.

  “We’ll have it taken care of; we’re still on schedule,” Ryder said. The Captain didn’t even sound like he believed himself.

  He turned to Theo.

  “Would you and Clive be dears and check outside?” Ryder asked.

  If Theo had a chance to check the engine earlier, he might have stopped the explosion, and the new issues at hand wouldn’t exist.

  Theo pushed his anger into the corner of his mind.

  “We’ll take care of it,” Theo said.

  He and Clive marched to the airlock.

  ? ? ?

  They were going to be late. Naoki understood that fact like the back of his hand.

  He’d known from the beginning that Captain Ryder and the Hell’s Ark had been a bad bet. He tried convincing the company of that as well, but the higher ups made their choice and weren’t going to back down from it. Now the ship was going to be late reaching Earth, and SmallWorld was going to punish everyone on board. The standard punishment was the loss of wages for the journey.

  Unless you’re able to convince SmallWorld to give everyone a break. Naoki doubted he had that sort of leverage.

  “I enjoy the company, but don’t you guys have something to do?” Ryder interrupted the silence.

  “We want to check on the aliens, but the lab locked itself down,” Luther said. “Can you do anything about it?”

  “If the Ark locked the doors herself, we probably don’t wanna go in,” Ryder said.

  “What does that mean for the aliens?” Naoki asked.

  Ryder winced.

  Luther and Erika exchanged pained expressions.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “It’s a malfunction. Or, at worst, a small breach.” Petra spoke up. “People survive those all the time; who’s to say the aliens won’t do the same?”

  “Right!” Ryder pointed at Petra. “She’s right. Everything is gonna be fine. I guess we’ll all sit around here as the professionals patch shit up.”

  “I’ll write a report then.” Naoki turned to the elevator.

  “One moment,” Ryder said.

  Naoki turned back around.

  “Hypothetical here: what if we are late? What happens?” Ryder asked.

  “SmallWorld won’t pay us,” Naoki said.

  “Right. I thought it would be something like that.” There was a dangerous glint in Ryder’s eye.

  “Is there something on your mind?” Luther asked. He must have seen that flash in Ryder’s eye, too.

  “There’s other places willing to buy aliens,” Ryder said. “Even if they’re dead! They don’t give a shit; they just want something new and cool!”

  “Please get to the point,” Naoki said.

  Ryder’s shoulders sagged.

  “I’m saying fuck SmallWorld,” he stated.

  Naoki took a second to realize what Ryder said, then another second to understand the implications.

  “That’s if we don’t make it to Earth on time,” Ryder added.

  “I think we could sell the aliens to Frontier,” Aymeric said. “They might even pay us more than SmallWorld. Y’know, for turning our back on the corporation.”

  “Frontier,” Ryder echoed. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

  The conversation was getting out of hand.

  “No,” Naoki stated. He was the voice of SmallWorld on the Hell’s Ark; he couldn’t stand still while people plotted to betray the company.

  Ryder looked as if he’d been slapped.

  “That’s it? No?” He said.

  “I agree with Naoki,” Luther said. “More money is nice and all, but we’d have reputations as people who breach their contracts. The short term gain isn’t worth it.”

  “Plus, don’t you wanna feel good about yourselves?” Petra stepped to Naoki’s side. Erika had silently come to Naoki’s side as well.

  “SmallWorld ain’t gonna pay us,” Aymeric said. “Seriously, what’s the point in honor if it doesn’t pay?”

  Naoki glanced to the people at his side. He expected someone to step away from him and make a point about betraying the corporation. None did.

  “We’re gonna make it on time,” Ryder snapped. “But if something does go wrong, I am the captain. We’re gonna land on Earth, but I’ll get to pick where we land.”

  It was an empty threat. At least, Naoki thought it was an empty threat.

  The radio crackled to life.

  “This is Theo. We’re outside.”

  “Good, alright. Share your screen with me.” Ryder turned his back on the scientists. The conversation was over, at least for the moment.

  ? ? ?

  Distant stars glowing blue and red spread across the void, like a painter shook his brush at a black canvas.

  Theo stepped onto the dented and pockmarked surface of the Hell’s Ark. Clive followed him. The pair cut white silhouettes against the dark backdrop.

  The pair walked along the surface of the hull, to the top of the ship, where the engines were housed. The port side thruster glowed blue as it worked. The remnants of the starboard engine jutted off the Ark like blades. No debris floated around the engine, because the force of the explosion launched it away like bullets.

  “Jesus fucking Christ,” Ryder muttered. His voice was loud in the silence.

  “Sir, we can’t fix this,” Theo said.

  “Kind of figured that,” Ryder said. “Okay, the labs are still locked down. It looks like there’s a breach. You’ve got your tools, right?”

  “We can fix up a hole.”

  “As I figured. Mi-Cha still isn’t able to put the ship on course, but she’ll figure it out. You two focus on patching everything up, and maybe we can make back the time we lost.” Ryder’s sigh was heavy. He knew the ship would not make up lost time. Everyone knew the Ark was landing on Earth late. Theo couldn’t fix that issue, so he focused on what he could solve.

  He and Clive stepped closer to the destroyed thrusters. Bits of metal were impaled into the ship’s hull, though they hadn’t breached far enough to cause leaks. Theo and Clive walked by the superficial damage.

  A hole had been sheared through the side of the ship. The ragged edges were illuminated from light coming within the ship. The hole was roughly two meters wide, and looked into an alien enclosure. The creature inside was limp on the ground.

  “That’s the Carnifex!” Ryder said. “Oh fuck, you gotta patch that up right now!”

  Theo carried only three aluminum sheets for repairs; he would not be able to fix such a large breach. Even if he did, he couldn’t save an alien that was already dead.

  “Here!” Clive hurried to a piece of debris lodged into the hull. It was curved, not really suitable for patch jobs, but it was large enough to cover the hole. Clive grabbed an edge and pulled. Theo helped from the other side, and together they pulled the debris from the Ark’s skin.

  “Good! Good! Patch it up, men!”

  Theo was tempted to mute Ryder, though he needed to know what was going on within the ship. He and Clive carried the debris to the hole. Clive held the plate in place while Theo used a welder to attach the scrap metal to the hull. Theo worked as fast as he felt was safe. His seams were ugly, and the piece of debris on the side of the ship was uglier, but the patch should be sturdy enough for a few days. Theo and Clive would need to go out again later and make a real patch.

  “Okay, okay…” Ryder said. “And the lab is pressurizing! Slick work!”

  The scientists would not be happy to find one of their assets dead, though. Theo kept that thought to himself so he wouldn’t spoil the good mood.

  He pulled up the diagnostics of the ship, which counted four more hull breaches, all close to the exploded engine.

  “Clive and I will continue patching up the ship,” Theo said.

  “Right, good. Then you come inside and have yourselves a well-earned drink,” Ryder said.

  Theo wouldn’t be able to drink until the situation was completely resolved. A beer sounded nice, though. Theo looked forward to stabilizing the ship.