Free Tundra 37 by Aubrie Dionne Page A

“Everything on board this ship is of my concern.”
    Mestasis spoke as if she assured a child. “The beacon is not on this ship and doesn’t concern you. I’ve regained much of the systems control. Please, leave us to sort out the situation on the ship. We’ll brief you shortly.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” He lowered himself down and jumped to the deck, eager to get to the ship’s core. “Are you sure you don’t want any of this cleaned up?”
    “All in due time, Lieutenant. You must see to your other duties.”
    “All right.”
    The Seers fell silent, and he wondered if they conferred amongst themselves in mindspeak he couldn’t hear. Brentwood stepped over the debris and exited, sealing the portal behind him. The encounter made him uneasy, and he couldn’t tell if it stemmed from the fragility of the Seers, their cryptic communications, or the strange globe they’d kept hidden underneath their noses. The object looked like something from one of his Old Earth fantasy novels, and he knew the strange globe filled with golden swirls wasn’t originally part of the ship. Even now the misty swirls called to him like a song yearning to be vocalized.
    §
    Gemme rushed up the emergency stairs to Deck Sixteen. The smoke thickened the higher she climbed. She choked, tasting ash on her tongue. Hopefully the ventilators would kick in soon.
    Sixty-seven
    Sixty-eight
    Sixty-nine
    She couldn’t remember how many times she’d counted to a hundred; anything to keep her mind off of all the horrible imaginings of what could have happened to her parents and Ferris. Deck sixteen’s red numbers shone through the smoke and she slapped the panel, catching her breath as she waited for the particles to dematerialize.
    The corridor lay empty as a tomb. She ran six portals down to her family cell on the right, taking steps she’d walked a thousand times in her childhood. Buzzing the intercom, she stared at the blank screen and prayed. Please be safe.
    Ferris’s face flashed back at her in surprise. “G! There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.”
    Relief shook her body to the core. “Ferris, I’m so glad you’re alive.”
    “I walked all the way to your cell, but you weren’t there.”
    “I was helping a man bring his wife to the emergency bay.”
    “Always helping others before yourself, aren’t you?” The screen went blank as Ferris initiated the portal sequence to let her in.
    The wall separating them dissolved and Gemme fell into her brother’s arms, squeezing him. He towered over her, an entire foot taller. But he still looked up to her in all other ways. “How bad is it down there?”
    “Hundreds of wounded overrun the emergency bay. The man’s wife had to wait in line for care.”
    “That bad, huh?”
    She nodded. Scanning the room behind him panic jolted through her. “Where’s Mom and Dad?”
    “You know them. Workaholics like you. Dad’s with a team stabilizing the fusion core and Mom’s checking on her office. She’s compiling a report of the life support systems.”
    “What are you going to do?”
    “I’m staying right here where Lieutenant Brentwood instructed. No use running around when there’s nowhere to go but outside on the ice.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised you’re not in your office. That’s the next place I was going to look.”
    “It’s gone, Ferris. Everything’s gone.”
    His hazel eyes crinkled. “What do you mean gone ?”
    “The deck’s not there anymore. My entire office is drifting in deep space.”
    “No way.”
    Gemme nodded and collapsed onto the synthetic sofa. The cold plastic rumpled underneath her as she sunk down. Although she sat in the same seat she’d cuddled in since a toddler, she had never felt more lost.
    “You mean there’s no way to pair us up anymore?” Ferris shook his head, wiry hair falling in his eyes. “I have no idea how to feel about this.” He swiped his hair back. “It blows my mind.”
    Gemme knew what she felt: