My days spent on climate controlled ships and stations hadn’t prepared me for this. I’d lived on a cold planet before we’d been rescued. I must have forgotten how horrific an experience it was, or it hadn’t been as bad as this.
The hatch closed with a loud bang, and if I could have lifted my head to see which Zombie made it in, I would have done so. All I could manage was to breathe.
There was a rustling sound and then a hiss as two sets of feet abruptly stopped. “Shit, Damian. It’s a girl.”
A warm hand touched my arm, only the touch scalded. I was so cold that everything else was too hot. Gasping, I raised my eyes to see the kindest eyes I’d ever gazed upon staring down at me. Dressed from neck to feet in snow gear, he’d thrown his mask and hat to the side where it lay pooled to my left. I blinked rapidly. He was really, really tall. I had to stretch my neck a bit to look at him until he squatted in front of me. Could this be the Tall One? I still couldn’t breathe without gasping. My chest burned, and I couldn’t think clearly.
He was blond, blue-eyed, and buff. I couldn’t make out more than that in the pain I endured. If I had to guess, he was around the same age as me.
“I can see that, Sterling,” a low, deep voice responded to him. “Her gender changes nothing. Girl or no girl, I’m not going to put up with corporate espionage. It would be just like Archibald Corporation to send a girl to distract us from our mission. Theft is theft, and espionage is espionage. All of it is illegal. And I’m not putting up with any of it.”
Damian was dark-haired with chocolate brown eyes that might be warm if he wasn’t so angry and spitting a venomous gaze from his eyes to mine. He didn’t look much older than Sterling.
People confused me on a good day, and I was too cold—burning cold—to manage any of this right now. I shivered, hard. Was it possible to die from seconds of exposure?
“I don’t think she’s okay.” The one called Sterling put his hand on my arm. “We busted open the door. She’s not dressed for this weather, not even to be inside. We hurt her.”
Damian chewed on his lower lip. “I think you’re right. Why would she be so not prepared? Who doesn’t bundle up for Orion exposure?”
Sterling stood. “Look at this place. It’s old. I think we’ve misjudged. This is not Archibald. We’ve interfered in something else. We need to help her. Now.”
Two Weapons—he had two attached to his back—Damian—picked me up in his arms. His hands on my skin hurt, and I cried out. He yelled over his shoulder. “Give me your coat. I’ll wrap her in it. I’m going to shove her in the carrier. Then I’ll come back and get this ship. We’ll tow it in. Get some answers, one way or another. Signal Lewis and Cash. Tell them she needs help. We really blew this. Bad.”
Sterling tore off his coat and wrapped me in it. “Don’t open the door when you come back for me. I’ll be as ill-prepared as she was for the burst of cold, even built as I am. Hey, miss, you’re going to be okay. I swear it. Okay? We’re so sorry we hurt you.”
He seemed sweet, but he had a gun strapped to his back, and he’d busted open my ship hatch without one thought about any consequences. I really couldn’t breathe. I tried; air felt like it stuck in my lungs.
“She’s not vaccinated to it, either. She’s not adjusting to the air change.” Damian shouted. “Call it in.”
I passed out.
I wasn’t a fainter, usually. If I couldn’t deal with something, I tended to simply check out vocally until I could manage again. Or, at least, that was the best way I could explain it. I opened my eyes, hearing the sounds of beeping around me. I was inside a cylinder with red and green lights flashing this way and that way. I hissed in my breath. I hated medical machines. They were lifesavers, but claustrophobia had never been my friend.
Outside the tube, hushed conversation filled the space.
“Vitals are good. Once we sucked the radiation out, she healed the way she should. You can stop fussing. We don’t even know this girl yet.” The man’s voice was deep and controlled. He spoke as though he meant to be obeyed. I could listen to him speak all day. He could read me instruction manuals for food processors and I’d be fascinated.
“I know quite a bit about her now. Her ship was a plethora of information. She came through the black hole …”
The first voice interrupted the second one. “I know. We’ve been over this about a hundred times in the last two days. It’s fascinating she came through the black hole. That doesn’t mean you know her, Judge. Her ship can’t tell us if she’s the biggest bitch that side of the black hole.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. He was funny and for that matter, right. They didn’t know me. Maybe I was a big bitch. I didn’t think I was, but who really knew how others perceived me?
Movement toward the dark cylinder told me they’d heard my outburst. A loud beep sounded, and the cylinder around me buzzed before it detached in the center and was pulled downwards into the medical table.
Two men stared down at me, and neither were the men who’d burst into Artemis and destroyed my routine. The one on the left wore a white lab coat, which at least gave the impression he was a doctor. His features reminded me of those from a place on Earth called Asia. High cheekbones framed his face and thick almost black hair stuck up in every direction as though he’d not taken the time to brush it.
Next to him, the man to his right had lighter brown hair and green eyes. He widened them when I met his gaze. Neither of them smiled, and I suddenly felt like an exhibit at the zoo.
“Judge, go get Cash. I’m told his bedside manner is better than my own.”
“Right.” Judge seemed to do a double take. “His bedside manner is nowhere near as good as yours.”
“Just go get him.”
Judge nodded once before he reached out to touch my arm. “Everything is going to be okay, miss. You’re safe here.”
I took a deep breath. He turned to leave, a bounce in his step. If the man staring down at me hadn’t seemed so intense, I might have smiled. I’d bet money the guy leaving was Bouncy One. Whether or not I was safe certainly remained to be seen.
Chapter Three
Same planet, different world
The man whose name I didn’t know approached me cautiously. Up close, I could see his features were hard, and a scar marred his face, one long mark from his ear to his left eye. He turned his head to the side slightly as he regarded me. I was flat on my back on the table. I wasn’t going to hurt him. Why did he seem so … wary?
He took my hand in his and then slipped his other hand behind my head. “Let’s sit you up slowly. I don’t want you getting dizzy. It can be tough coming out of the machine after being in there for an extended time.”
I processed his words. “How long was I in there?”
No-named man didn’t let go of me, even once I was up. “Two days. You had to be treated on multiple levels. You weren’t vaccinated for the radiation in the atmosphere, and you weren’t prepared for the cold. Both had to be handled. The first was a slow process of removing the radiation from your blood stream. The second was just a matter of warming you up. Then the computer vaccinated you. The radiation shouldn’t be a problem again. You could, however, freeze to death.”
He’d given me a ton of information. Radiation. Vaccinations. Freezing. All things I was really, really glad not to die from. In the corner of my vision I saw a black coat hanging on the back of the door. Black coat? This was Black Coat. I let myself stare at him, desperately wanting to ask him what he took out every morning and disposed of outside the complex. Except it would be weird to do so, and I didn’t want to admit to spying on him and the others so regularly.
“Thank you for your help. I’m sorry to have been so much trouble. I wasn’t … doing any of the things the other two thought I was. I’m just waiting until my people come to get me. I’m Diana Mallory.”
“You have people?” He raised a dark eyebrow. “Must be nice. You came from the black hole. That’s what your ship’s lo
gs tell us, and our engineer, Judge, has been obsessing about that for days. The black hole is one of his fascinations. Your people are going to come through the black hole for you?”
It seemed really odd to be talking to this man about this and still not know his name. “What should I call you?”
He scrunched up his face. “Sorry. This is why I told Judge to go get Cash. I’m terrible at bedside talk. I’m Dr. Lewis Hurst. I only bring up the doctor part so you know I’m not some random person poking at you. I’m going to shine this light in your eyes.”
I was struck, rather unusually for me, with how really, truly cute Lewis was. He seemed nervous and competent at the same time. He shined a bright light in my eye. It was blinding, which made me want to rear back; only his hand on the back of my head kept me steady.
“I just want to check your vision. If the machine is lacking anything, it’s a full on study of the human eye. Sometimes it misses things. I’ve got to do this the old fashioned way. Look left for me, in the corner of the room.”
I did as he said. Did our machine at home have a problem with eyes? I’d never heard it did. Maybe I’d never had a reason to know …
“Right. Other corner.” I did as he said and then jolted when Judge and another man in a lab coat burst through the door. The second lab coat guy—Cash, I think they’d called him, stood next to Lewis. I couldn’t see him through the blinding white light in my eye.
Lewis pulled back. “Your corneas seem fine. Want to look Cash?”
“No. I’m sure you did fine.” My eyes cleared enough I could see the second lab coat guy was tall, dark-haired with olive skin and nearly black eyes. His hair was straight and fell just below his ears. Underneath his white coat, he wore dark pants and a green collared shirt. “Judge said you needed me.”
“I’m bumbling the bedside talk.” Black Coat—Lewis— looked at the floor.
I placed my hand on his arm. If anyone knew how awful it was to feel like you had to communicate and couldn’t, it was me. “You’re doing just fine. You told me what I wanted to know, quickly. And you haven’t been unkind.”
Lewis’ eyes flared with happiness for a second. “Thank you, Diana. I appreciate that you’re not a hysterical patient.”
I smiled and dropped my hand. No, I didn’t particularly get hysterical. I got … quiet. But these guys never needed to know anything about my issues. I’d be gone before it ever became a problem.
I extended my hand toward the second doctor, Cash. “I’m Diana Mallory.”
He took my fingers and squeezed them in his own. “Cash Wilder. I’m a doctor like Lewis, here. Dizzy?”
It took me a second to realize he’d asked me a question. The tone of it stayed the same as his initial introduction. “No.”
“Headache?” Same intonation. Next to him, Lewis rocked forward on his feet and then back again.
“No.”
“Nausea?”
I replied the same as I had.
He nodded once. “Great. Then the machine really did its job. I wasn’t sure when Damian ran you in here if we’d gotten to you in time. What were you doing sitting in a ship on this planet, wearing no protective gear?”
I had to take a moment before I answered him. He shifted gears so quickly. “Well, I wasn’t exactly expecting to come here. I crashed. Well, I set it down, but with little other choice. I’m waiting for my people to come get me. Are you all wearing protective gear inside?”
“Yes.” The third man who had thus remained quiet rushed forward. “Sorry to interrupt but that’s more my realm than medical. I’m Judge Tomlinson.”
I quietly regarded him. He’d heard my name, and if what I overheard before proved true, he’d been through my records and knew who I was. Judge had brown hair and green eyes. He was tall, like Cash. Whiskers covered his face and his smile seemed genuine, and sweet. He seemed like he was full of energy, not fully staying still even when he stood in front of me. He was definitely the Bouncy One. And like Lewis, I found him seriously cute. What was the matter with me? I didn’t spend time worrying about whether or not men were attractive.
Now I couldn’t control thinking about two of them. Oh heck, if I was being honest, Cash was pretty spectacular on the eyes too. Maybe the medical machine had done something to me.
“The clothes you’re wearing are made of a synthetic that keeps out the cold.”
My clothes? I looked down at myself. I’d never even considered I was out of my usual attire. I was in a uniform that looked like a jump suit. Over my heart was embroidery with the word Evander on it. I touched the patch quickly, feeling the fabric.
“You can’t feel it.” Judge continued on. “But it’s there. Like a coating. Keeps us warm all the time.”
Lewis smiled, his eyes travelling to the floor. “Judge helped make the coating. He’s right to be proud of it.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” I was fairly certain I’d now met everyone. The two who’d busted onto my ship were Tall One and Two Weapons. Then Lewis was Black Coat, and Judge was Bouncy One, which made Cash Orange Hat. I could now put names to descriptions. “I’m sorry to have been trouble. If you let me get back to my ship, I promise that you won’t have to put up with me again. My family will come get me, and then I’ll be gone.”
Cash and Lewis made silent eye contact I didn’t understand. Judge furrowed his brows. Finally, he spoke. “I’m afraid we can’t let you do that.”
What? My heart rate kicked up. “Why not?” They couldn’t keep me here against my will. Could they? Would they?
Judge answered. “Your ship was damaged pretty badly. The Zombies did a job on the hull. Another day and it would have ruptured. You’d have been really screwed then. I can fix it. But I can’t let you back over there until then. Well, I mean, you could get in it now if you wanted since it’s inside our pod. You’d be fine now. But if you tried to take it out there …”
“Not to mention,” a new voice caught my attention from the doorway. Damian—one of the two who had busted my hatch—sauntered forward. He wasn’t carrying two weapons currently. Unarmed, and not terrifying me to death, I could officially say he was the fourth handsome man in the area. I took a better look at him. He had brown hair and brown eyes but lighter than both Cash’s and Judge’s, with light, chestnut brown eyes. His skin was pale, his face narrow, and his physique lean but strong. I quickly categorized him as I did everyone and then put the information away. Usually, what people looked like had no bearing on me at all. Except I’d clearly experienced some sort of issue when I’d been unconscious and now couldn’t stop noticing these things.
“Yes?” I answered his unfinished statement and hoped I simply hadn’t missed the rest of it when I was otherwise absorbed.
“We don’t know what we can do with you yet. Letting you go may not be an option. We have to hear what Evander wants us to do.”
Lewis’ gaze hit the floor before he walked left, and Cash turned around fast before he made it to the back of the medical bay, suddenly preoccupied with something in a cabinet back there. Judge stopped moving altogether.
My tongue felt itchy. Whoever this Evander person was, he made the others nervous. Was he the Tall One—Sterling—who’d told Damian to take me here? Damian had listened to him after a bit. “Who is Evander, and why does he get a say in what happens to me?”
Nolan had taught me to fight. I’d never used the skills. Hiding and waiting out the battle was the best course for me, so I didn’t get in anyone’s way. Still, I knew a bit, and I could probably get out of this room if I had to. What I did next would be the question.
“Evander’s not a someone; it’s a corporation. I guess you wouldn’t know that from being on the other side of the black hole. We all work for Evander. We live off their good graces and do their work. They give our lives meaning and teach us to survive, even when other things are awful.” He said the last bit in a monotone, and I wondered if he was reciting something memorized. “When I busted through your door, I assumed
you were from a rival corporation, come to steal our research and trade secrets. You have my apology for that.”
I slid down onto the floor, my feet bare but warm. I wondered if Judge had sprayed me down with the synthetic he used on the clothes or if their floors were simply heated. “I may not have been clear; I frequently am not.” Lewis’ head shot up when I made my statement. Was he concerned I was going to not make sense? “Evander gets a say about me, why?”
“Because they own this planet, and you landed here without permission. Generally speaking, that would mean paying a fine. We’d have to figure out how many days you were here, and they’d calculate accordingly. But you’re a girl. And women are scarce. There’s a price for that too.”
Judge rounded on Damian. “By hells bells, Damian. What is the matter with you? You tell it to her like that? And you know you wouldn’t sell her off any more than I would.”
“Listen …”
Judge pointed at him. “She’s our guest. We found her. We made her life harder. We’re going to fix it. End of story.”
I wasn’t going to argue with them. I’d never make it through the verbal onslaught. My body already wanted to shut down. What I was going to do—what I think my mother would tell me to do—was survive. They were coming for me. If I had to abandon Artemis to them, then I would. I’d bide my time, do as they asked, and then steal their shuttle. Evander wouldn’t sell me off. I’d reset the signal to another frequency and wait somewhere else.
Keeping my face serene proved harder than I thought it would. I did my best. “Okay. I think I can grasp some of this. Forgive me; things are different where I grew up. We’ve heard about your corporations from people who come through the other side of the hole. I know there are several, and loyalty is given to whichever corporation acquires your services.” My mother had once called it barbaric, although I wasn’t certain we were much better. Was anything? “How long will it be until you hear back from Evander about what to do with me?”