Free No Life But This by Anna Sheehan

grip like a slaughtered chicken. I don’t know what Quin was muttering at the poor man, but I could tell he thought Quin was the devil. Quin’s angry face relaxed when he saw me with Tristan, and he let go of thedoorman. ‘Thank you for your cooperation,’ he said with feigned politeness.
    ‘Burn it, noid!’ the doorman said. ‘What planet did you spring from?’
    ‘This one,’ Quin snapped, ‘but we haven’t been sprung yet. Is he okay?’ he asked Tristan.
    Tristan nodded.
‘He’s dazed
,’ she signed.
‘Let's get him in the skiff.’
    I was dragged, unprotesting, to a hoverboat on the road. I tripped on the red and yellowcurb and fell through the open door. I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol, but the minds of everyone around me had left me easily as intoxicated. Suddenly the darkness in my mind was broken by space and light and the scent of tea rose. I opened my eyes. Rose leaned over me like the vision of an angel. I wanted to kiss her. She read the impulse, either in my mind or in my eyes, and she pulled away,biting her lips. I sighed, and curled up on the floor of her limoskiff, hugging myself. Quin and Tristan clambered in behind me and folded themselves into the seats. ‘Let’s get him back,’ Quin said.
    I wanted to shake my head. I wanted them to take me back to the club, where I could let everyone else drag me away – even into death, I didn’t care. Suddenly I felt Rose’s arms around me again. Shekissed my forehead. ‘Don’t,’ she whispered. How she saw me pulsed in my head, painful and twisted by Rose’s briar vision. I was hollow eyed and grey and sweating. My control was gone. I had been moaning quietly. 42 was laughing at me. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and I didn’t trust myself. I looked at Rose.
‘I think you’d better let me go,’
I thought, very distinctly.
    She blinked, butpulled away. She turned to Quin and Tristan. ‘I need you to drop me off first. Can you get him home on your own? I have to get back to Unicorn before Xavier knows I’ve gone.’
    ‘Yeah,’ Quin said. ‘Thanks for lending us the skiff. We’ll send it back to you when we’re done.’
    ‘No trouble.’ She looked down at me. ‘Is he going to be all right?’
    Tristan nodded.
‘He’s scared,’
she signed.
    Rose lookedworried. ‘I am, too,’ she said. She crept down onto the floor with me and looked into my eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I …’ Tears leaked from her eyes. ‘I don’t see stasis the same way everyone else does. I never did. It was always how I dealt with problems, I didn’t mean for you to—’
    I had to shut her up. I leaned my head forward and kissed her on the mouth. It was innocent, just a peck,but it shocked her from her self torment. Her lips were very soft. Her forest pool eyes poured over me. She swallowed, and leaned in close to my ear. ‘I’m not going to let you die. Do you hear me? It’s not going to happen!’
    I closed my eyes. With the heat of her breath on the side of my neck, I didn’t care if I died. 42 had been chased away by Rose’s kiss, and I was again alone in my mind. Igrabbed Rose tightly, and she gasped. I don’t know what I was thinking. I think I wasn’t. I was just open, and what she saw was
me
. All of me. She started trembling. After a second or a century, Quin pushed us apart. ‘We’re here. Now leave!’ he snapped at her.
    Rose did, without another word.
    The door slid closed, and Quin glared at me. ‘Lie down!’ he barked. ‘And stay there!’ He pushed me ontothe floor of the skiff and held me there, his blood boiling. I tried to get up. He held me down with his knee. ‘Lab!’ he snapped at the skiff. It beeped ‘uncertain destination.’ ‘E.P. Laboratories!’
    The skiff hummed and skimmed off. My eyes were closed, so I missed most of the silent scuffle that followed as Tristan and Quin argued. I could only hear Quin’s replies. ‘I’m busy just now. Can Iignore you later?’ ‘I’m not going