Free Triton by Dan Rix

static.
    An amplified voice boomed through the theater. Naomi winced and clutched her ears.
    “This is Sky Wilkinson calling on the emergency channel,” said a girl’s voice, breathless. “Is there anyone else on this ship? I repeat—is there anyone else on board this ship? I’m in the security office on deck two, just up the hall from the medical facility. I have reason to suspect we’ve been attacked.”
    The four of them burst into the security office at a sprint. Cedar saw the girl on the floor, a wall-mounted microphone dangling on a cord behind her. She cowered against the wall, shivering, most of her face concealed behind a curtain of waist length chestnut hair.
    The sound of his approach made her flinch. She stood up and brushed the hair from her eyes—which shimmered down her shoulders—and took in each of them as they filed into the office behind him.
    “That’s it?” she said. “You guys are all there is?”
    Cedar’s heart had gone still. He stared at the girl, mesmerized by her golden-green eyes, unable to peel his gaze from her heartbreakingly perfect face. She was tall, almost his height . . . her slim physique just hinted at under a loose-fitting T-shirt, which was stained down the front.
    She tugged the shirt down to mid-thigh, as far as it would go, and Cedar realized that except for a thin pair of cotton panties it was the only thing covering her.
    “We searched the ship,” said Jake, keeping his eyes high. “There’s no one else.”
    “Did it happen to you guys too?” she said, glancing between them.
    “Did what happen?” said Cedar.
    “Where are your clothes?” said Brynn, assessing the new girl with a curled lip.
    “I didn’t do this on purpose,” she snapped. “I was taken.”
    “What do you mean taken? ” said Cedar.
    The new girl nailed him with her golden eyes, and he felt his jaw go slack. “Abducted, stolen, teleported  . . . whatever you guys are calling it.” She waited for a response, but got none. “Obviously, seeing as you’re all clearly dressed in your Sunday best, you have no idea what I’m talking about.”
    “Nope,” said Brynn.
    “It happened right after I went to bed last night,” she said. “I woke up in a dark room somewhere with a feeding tube shoved down my throat. Then all of a sudden I was back here on the ship in a random hallway. I didn’t have my key, though, so I couldn’t get back into my room to change my clothes.”
    “Good thing you don’t sleep naked,” Jake said with a chuckle.
    Cedar glared at him. “You pervert. How can you be thinking about that right now?”
    Jake sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Not now, Cedar. Not now.”
    “You can borrow some of my clothes, if you want. Sky, right?” said Naomi.
    “Thanks. Yeah.”
    “Sky, it was probably just a bad dream,” said Jake. “What did you have to drink last night?”
    She scowled at him. “Nothing.”
    “Is that from puke?” Brynn pointed to the stain on her shirt.
    “Brynn, shut yourface,” said Cedar. “Naomi, go get her some clothes.”
    “Stop ordering us around,” said Naomi.
    He ignored her and addressed the new girl. “It wasn’t a bad dream . . . you were taken . Just like everyone else on this ship.”
    Though Brynn couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Sky, she still didn’t like her one bit. Not her rude personality, not her filthy appearance, not her obvious attempt to flaunt herself in front of Cedar and Jake.
    Please, she didn’t even try to cover up.
    Even after Naomi put them all out of their misery and fetched her a pair of cutoff shorts, sandals, and a fresh T-shirt, Brynn could still see right through her.
    For all they knew, she was the one responsible for the vanishing crew.
    After they all went around and said their names for Sky’s benefit, Jake seated them around a conference table in the security office and stood at the head.
    “Okay,” he said. “Let’s go over what we know about the situation.