Flight into Forever

By Linda Pittillo

It is the end of the 24th Century. We have reached out to the stars and now live in another solar system.
KIT KITTERIDGE is the pilot of a small spaceship called a flyer. She has crash landed on a small unpopulated planet in the Dakian solar system. The Dakians are a humanoid race similar to ours.
Unfortunately, she crashed into a Dakian scientist's ship too. Now they are both stranded. His name is TIMRON.
There are huge insects, a hostile climate and other problems. So they must escape.
But even after they manage to escape, there are more dangers awaiting Kit. Although Daklon and Terra are not at war they aren't friends either. And she has a secret that despite her growing love for Timron she can't reveal.
But insects and hostile governments are only some of the dangers she and Timron will face together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664122864

Linda Pittillo

Linda Pittillo has been writing almost since she learned to read. Her inspiration was the many science fiction and horror books she read in the 1950s and 1960s. Also the Hammer Film Productions prevalent in the 1960s became her guide as to the character of vampires. The old black and white movies about werewolves shown on late night TV fascinated her too. Naturally, Star Trek was a big influence in her teenage years. And just a few years ago she met William Shatner. Linda has to confess she reads a lot of romance books too. All of her books have a romantic component. She has traveled all over the country with her husband because of his career. However, about 10 years ago she settled in Southeast Texas and loves it. She is a member of the American Association of University Women, the Orange County Friends, the Golden Kiwanis and the American Legion Auxiliary. Although Linda has written all of her life, she became discouraged a few years ago by the rejection of a mainstream publisher and wrote without trying to publish anything. Now however, she wants others to enjoy reading the books she has so enjoyed writing. She says that sometimes in her books the characters seem to have minds of their own and she has to change their actions to fit their characters. She has begun promoting her books in such venues as the Orange, Texas annual Art In The Park. She usually has a booth at the outlet for local vendors, Orange Trade Days, which is held one weekend a month also in Orange, Texas. Her previously published books are Toward the Unknown and Survivors of the Darkness. Her current book, Beyond the Darkness, is a sequel to Survivors of the Darkness.

Book preview

Prologue

It was almost the end of the 24th century, old Earth time. Mankind had left the Earth, now called TerraI, and relocated to a new solar system.

They had found new planets to live on. In addition they found humanoid races in other solar systems. Only two so far, but that could change as they discovered new solar systems.

One of the races Terrans called Canaaners. War had been narrowly averted with them. Canaan was in a a distant solar system and contact was sporatic but friendly.

Daklon was different. There had been a war 25 years ago but the war had ended with the formation of the neutral lanes. All travel between their different solar systems was done in the neutral lanes.

Huge starships full of cargo called freighters as their seagoing counterparts on TerraI had been called frequented the neutral lanes.

Kit Kitteridge was the pilot of one of three scout ships called flyers which accompanied a freighter. Not because of any danger of attack though.

It was because space was not empty. Asteroids, big and small, comets, space debris from who knew where populated space. Even though the lanes were well traveled, it was only prudent to be prepared for the unexpected.

The freighters were large and with the ion drive too fast to turn or stop without proper warning. So the smaller, more maneuverable flyers were used to spot trouble.

The other two scout ships were drones. Her job was to investigate anything the drones couldn’t identify.

Which seemed to her to be a lot. She wondered if the techs who programmed them had even been into space.

So far she had identified a huge cloud of space dust, probably the remnant of a planet and two misshapen small asteroids.

So she wasn’t surprised when she was told to check out another anomaly. Probably some asteroid farted and the drones didn’t smell it fast enough.

Chapter One

The loud insistent voice of the onboard computer pounded at Kit’s head. She opened her eyes slowly. It took her a moment to remember where she was.

The flyer? It was trying to tell her something. She was so thirsty though first she grabbed her water bottle and drank greedily Something was on the edge of her memory.

Emergency, gravity field detected. Please set orbit.

She looked around. The cockpit was a jumble of broken or fallen computers. Her console was tilted to one side but seemed to be functioning somewhat. At least the indicators were. Unfortunately they were all showing red.

Through the view screen she could see a planet or asteroid. Since she had no idea where she was, it could be either. Whatever it was it had gravity and was pulling her into it.

A quick check of her instruments verified what she had feared. She was almost out of fuel. She might have enough for one orbit if she was lucky.

Kit knew first she had to slow the bitch down or she would burn up in whatever atmosphere was down there. She had no choice though her nav was out and without it she would run out of fuel before she found another place.

She pulled up on the stick (it was still called that even though no actual stick had been used in at least 500 years). It was a piece of Terran history that pilots clung to even at the end of the 24th century.

The nuke powered engine was slow to respond. Her ion drive was much quicker but that wasn’t an option since she no longer had one.

Kit couldn’t be sure if her controls had been damaged anyway. She physically wrestled the slow controls to respond and managed to slow enough to keep from burning up.

Her fuel was almost exhausted. They didn’t carry many nuke isotopes in a flyer since a flyer was seldom used. She doubted she would be able to complete even one orbit. Her only option was to look for a flat place among the rocks and mountains that were the planet’s topography.

Finally, she saw a slash of brown that looked like a clearing. She hoped it was big enough.

It was surrounded by some kind of tall vegetation. If it had been Terran she might have called them trees but these were misshapen and purple.

She set the controls for landing even though the computer argued, No runway detected, abort.

Then, Fuel exhausted, jettison escape pod.

Make up your mind, you piece of junk. I can’t jettison, so here goes.

Then just as she was about to put down the gravity landing gear she saw something shiny and silver beyond the brown. She didn’t know what it was but if she didn’t get this thing slowed down she was going to hit it.

Timron was just packing up the last of his survey instruments when he heard a strange sound. If he didn’t know better he would have thought it was some kind of airship. It looked Terran but that was impossible.

He knew it wasn’t Canaaner the other intelligent race that had been discovered because this was too far away. Canaan was almost across the Galaxy.

This planet was light years from the neutral corridor and firmly in Daklon territory. However as it drew closer he saw it was a Terran flyer. It looked like it was landing or rather crashing. It was coming in too high and fast.

His shelter was already in his ship. He carried two small cases in his hand but he put them down to shield his eyes from the glaring sun. That was when he realized whatever kind of ship it was, it was headed straight for his ship.

He saw the gravity landing gear come down and heard the nuke engine sputter and die.

Not only was it coming in too fast now the pilot was without the power to pull up. The pilot was obviously struggling to control the now unresponsive ship.

The pilot almost made it. If the gravity landing gear hadn’t sheared at impact he might have made it.

Timron could only watch in horror as his beautiful little ship was hit and both ships flipped.

The Terran ship was about a third larger and bulkier than his little ship. His ship was built for use within his solar system. His ship rolled about three times from the force of the impact.

Meanwhile Kit was hanging upside down by her harness but managed to unclip it. She didn’t know if she was hurt or not but right now she didn’t care. She didn’t know if her fire extinguisher system had been damaged or not but she wasn’t taking any chances.

She climbed over the fallen computers and found the escape hatch. It was also upside down and she had to crawl under some equipment to find the latch. The manual latch was hard to move. It had probably never been used before. She saw smoke rising and managed to pry it loose.

She just hoped the air was breathable because she didn’t have her oxygen tube on. Then she crawled out, took a deep breath and it tasted like air. She began running from her now destroyed ship.

Timron saw the Terran running frantically away from the ship gesturing as they ran. It took him a second before he heard what the pilot was saying. Fire!!

He saw the smoke rising and then looked at his ship. Was it far enough away or would it go up in flames too? When the Terran ship exploded the pilot was knocked to the ground and he felt the rumble.

He was surprised how small the explosion was. He expected that the ion drive might explode even if the pilot had shut it down.

However the flames died down immediately. The ion drive must have been completely cold and the Terran safety mechanisms on the nuclear drive operational.

He watched the pilot get up and drew his laser gun. The pilot was obviously suicidal and possibly homicidal.

As the Terran drew closer he realized the pilot was female. Her hair was tangled around her face and shoulders. Her uniform was torn enough to see white flesh and a definite female shape. It was a female homicidal maniac at that. She walked slowly up to him. Her eyes wide with fear but she didn’t hesitate.

Kit saw the huge Dak draw his laser pistol. Well, if he shot her she wouldn’t blame him. After all she had pretty much destroyed his ship. She had only seen one Dak in person. This one was taller than the one she had seen but not as bulky but he was still an intimidating sight.

This one was about 6ft 6 with huge shoulders and tree stumps for legs. His hair was almost as long as a woman’s and jet black.

At a distance you might mistake him for a very large tanned Terran. But as she got closer it was his eyes and teeth that made her wish she had blown up with the ship.

His eyes were black as night and when he opened his mouth to say something all she saw was huge, long sharp teeth. They weren’t as large as a Canaaner’s but much sharper.

She was surprised when he began speaking in Terran, Stay where you are.

Ok, no problem.

He sighed with relief. Good she was staying still. She didn’t seem to have a sidearm. But he would make sure.

As he got closer he saw how white she was, whiter than even a Terran is supposed to be. She had blood smeared on her forehead and there were scratches on her face.

He noticed she held one arm a little strangely. Evidently, she had been injured in the crash. The blood on her forehead looked older than the scratches however.

When he came within a few feet of her, she instinctively took a step backward.

Are you hurt?

A little.

She was biting her lip nervously. But she stood her ground. He had to admire her for that.

What the Stygian Nebula were you trying to do? Have my people and the Terrans gone to war again and you got the suicide mission?

He continued, I haven’t looked yet but I think you destroyed my ship as well as your own. Are you crazy?

By this time the adrenalin was taking over and he was shouting at her in accented Terran. But she understood exactly what he was saying.

She explained in a shaky voice I’m sorry. I didn’t see your ship until it was too late to abort. Which I couldn’t have done anyway because I had no fuel and my controls were malfunctioning.

What are doing here anyway? You are several light years away from the neutral lanes.

Am I? I didn’t know. I would like to explain everything before you shoot me, but right now I think I have to faint.

He barely heard the last sentence because she crumpled to the ground. He caught her just before she hit her head on a rock. And from the way she looked another hit on the head might be too much.

Timron holstered his pistol. He didn’t think she was faking. He picked her up and started for the shelter before he remembered he didn’t have it. The soft grass where he had put up the shelter would have to do. He laid her down gently and examined her.

Timron could hardly contain his curiosity about this Terran girl. He washed her face and treated the scratches he could see with antibiotic he had in his medicine kit. Luckily, he hadn’t loaded it in the ship yet.

Of necessity he felt for broken bones but he did it gently so as not to disturb her. He managed to wet her cracked lips with water.

Her shoulder had been dislocated so while she was unconscious he set it. At least she didn’t feel it.

He didn’t admit it to himself but he had started to get worried when she slept so long. He knew she shouldn’t sleep with a concussion but he didn’t want to wake her up either, because that might be worse.

Kit didn’t know how long she was unconscious but the strong sun had changed into a three quarter moon in the sky. The weak moon didn’t give out much light but there was some kind white light standing a few feet away. Her mind cleared a little and saw it was a space candle. She tried to sit up only to feel dizzy.

A male voice from the opposite side of the candle advised her, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You have quite a bump on your head and I had to put your left shoulder back in place.

His voice was deep and he spoke Terran much better now than he did when he was yelling at her. Now there was just a trace of an accent.

She tried sitting up again but more slowly this time and was only slightly dizzy.

Thank you. How damaged is your ship?

His sigh was universal, Nuke drive has shut down for good. Rudder looks damaged. Communications might be repairable but I doubt it. I will have to investigate further in the daylight. Your ship is a heap of twisted metal. What the crash didn’t destroy the fire did. Would you like some water? It’s brackish but drinkable.

Yes, please.

He brought her a cup of the light brown water. She wrinkled her nose but drank it. Her last water had been before she crashed. It tasted as bad as it looked but she drank it gratefully.

She studied him as she drank. He wasn’t dressed in a uniform but in a brown sleeveless shirt and brown pants. He did however have military boots on.

It wasn’t until he took her empty cup and went back on the other side of the space candle before she spoke again.

I am Lt. Commander Kitteridge but please I go by Kit. I suppose you will take me to your military in the morning. Before you do though I want you to know, Terra won’t pay a credit for me. I’m sure they think I’m dead and even if they believe you they probably will offer such a low price if anything that your people wouldn’t accept it. So forget any reward.

He laughed and it wasn’t a pleasant laugh, I am Dr. Timron. You may call me Timron. You really don’t know do you?

She was startled, Know what?

Where you are exactly?

You said before I passed out that I was deep in your territory. Isn’t that true?

Oh yes it’s true. You are on a little planet we call Sivet. You know what Sivet means in Dakian?

No, sorry. I don’t know your language.

Closest I can translate is worthless piece of garbage.

She didn’t like the sound of that. She made a small sound of distress. And he grunted.

This planet is a new planet compared to other planets in our solar system and probably any of theTerran planets either. It has an erratic orbit around our sun. Its climate is barely livable at certain times because that.

He sighed, Otherwise, it has temperatures either inferno hot or deep freeze cold. And if the temperature is in the livable range then the full moon triggers floods over half the planet.

He explained further, The only thing that sticks above the flooded planet is the barren mountains. So there is no animal life, but the insects come out during the spring and fall when the floods subside. And I’m not talking little insects. Some of them are as big as a man.

The picture he painted was horrific but she wondered, Then why are you here?

I am a genetic biologist doing research on behalf of my government. I am doing a biological survey, bringing back samples of what life there is. I was getting ready to leave when you crashed into me.

He muttered to himself but she heard him, If only I had gotten up an hour earlier.

Is this fall or spring? I mean are we going to freeze or burn up?

I’m rather hoping neither, but it would be freeze, this is fall.

Sure I escape the inferno only to be frozen to death. My luck.

He had to smile, seeing the irony.

Speaking of which, now will you tell me what led up to your visit? he said sarcastically.

I really was in neutral territory, the nineteenth shipping lane. I was attached to the Freighter Armand as a scout.

Don’t you use drones like we do?

Yes, but one human flyer is mandatory because drones don’t always report things right. If they don’t know what it is they just say anomaly and we have to guess.

She said ruefully, Well the drone reported an anomaly just at the edge of our tracking so we couldn’t make it out. I was told to go find out and report back.

Since he wasn’t Terran or military she explained further, The freighter was on nuke as it only uses the ion drive when taking off and landing but I was fully equipped so I made the trip pretty fast.

At first I didn’t see anything and my instruments didn’t either. I was just about to report drone malfunction when I saw the blip on the screen. As soon as it took shape I knew what it was.

He was ahead of her, although he had never seen one he had heard about them, Space Magnetic Storm.

Yes, I radioed the freighter to change course and to make sure their ion drive was completely shut down not just on standby.

Timron understood. The space magnetic storms didn’t bother nuclear drives but caused ion drives to explode. The ion drive had to be completely shut down. In standby there was enough ion activity to attract the storm.

Kit remembered her friend Dave who was manning the comm, Kit, get back here now.

I can’t. It will follow me because of the ion drive and I don’t have time to shut it down. I’ll just have to outrun it, and lead it away from you.

He looked at her and began to disbelieve her story. Timron interrupted, So you died and you’re here haunting me?

Ha Ha. Of course not.

She gave him an irritated look and continued with her story, There was no way I could outrun the thing. Then I remembered an old war story. Maybe I could jettison the ion drive. It wasn’t big and bulky like the nuke. If I could get it disconnected without destroying the shielding, I could dump it out into space. The magnetic storm might follow it instead of me. So that’s what I did.

Let me get this straight. You took an armed ion drive disconnected it from its cradle and tossed it out the bay door.

Of course not, I put it on standby. I couldn’t shut it down because then the storm wouldn’t follow it. It was the only way. It took me almost an hour to get the thing disconnected and then another one to maneuver it out the bay door.

She continued, By that time I could feel the first tingle of the magnetic storm. So I pushed the engines to full power and tried to get away as fast as I could.

I wasn’t quite far enough away though. The ion explosion sent waves of energy buffeting the ship and even though I was belted down I fell forward and hit my head on the console.

I don’t know how much later the insistent voice of the comm woke me up to tell me I was being pulled into this planet. The energy force must have thrown me light years away from the corridor to here. I barely got the speed down enough so I didn’t burn up in the atmosphere but it took the last of my fuel trying to find a place to land. The rest you know.

He looked at her closely wondering if she was hallucinating or deliberately lying. No one could disengage the ion drive even on standby and throw it out the bay door.

However, he knew for sure that either her ion drive was completely cold or gone because otherwise they wouldn’t be here. Everything would have been black ooze after the fire got to it.

He hadn’t ventured inside her ship because it was still hot from the fire. He would check it out in the morning when it had cooled down.

She could tell he didn’t believe her. She didn’t blame him, if some Dak had told her a story like that after destroying her ship she wouldn’t either.

Look I know you don’t believe me and I understand. But hopefully in the morning I can prove it. I’m sure the ion connections are still there.

Ok, we’ll leave it for now. Are you hungry? I have some survival rations. I think you can eat them.

For a moment her thoughts went to the rumors she had heard about Dakians but was too hungry to care. She nodded and he brought her something dried and green about the size of a cracker.

Go ahead eat it. He said as she hesitated.

She took a small bite and found it tasteless but filling, Thank you.

You are welcome. Survival rations are edible but not very appetizing. I was looking forward to being on the space station tonight and having some real food.

How long have you been here?

10 very long galactic days. It was my last opportunity before the floods came again.

Did you have to eat survival rations all that time?

No, some of the insects are edible. Not tasty but edible. Unfortunately, I had to cook them. We Dakians prefer our food raw.

I-I have heard that.

His tone was wry, he knew very well what she had heard it was a common misconception.

But we don’t eat our food raw on unexplored planets or on planets that have unknown microbes any more than you do.

He explained as the scientist he was, Our systems are immune to the ordinary microbes that are harbored in raw meat, but we have no idea if we are immune to microbes on other planets so we prefer not to take the chance. The down side of eating our meat cooked however is we have to take protein supplements as we don’t process our food as well cooked.

She shuddered at the thought of eating insects raw or cooked, Hopefully my survival rations are ok. They were stored away as I didn’t think I would need them but they are standard.

I think food will be the least of our worries. Which is why I want you to quietly get up and come over to the candle. Then follow behind me putting your feet exactly where my feet go.

He was quiet but firm. She didn’t even ask why. He looked alarmed so she just nodded. He picked up the space candle and held it in front of him.

Her legs were still wobbly but she tried to keep up with him. She could see the reflection of the silver of his ship. It seemed a long ways away as she was beginning to hear rustlings in the grass under her feet. She was glad her boots hadn’t been damaged. He began walking faster and so did she.

Suddenly he grabbed her hand and began pulling her forward, Run.

He pulled her ahead of him as they reached the hatch, a quick push on the hatch latch and it was open and she was pushed into the dark ship. He followed soon after and closed the door. She could hear scratching at the door.

He found the console in the dark and switched on the battery operated lights. She took the extra seat and sat down.

What the hell was that?

It’s our friends the insects. I used repellant on the ground for my shelter but it seems they get immune pretty fast. I wanted to see how fast and note it.

I suppose if they had ate me you would have written down how long it took them to consume me.

He hesitated a moment, Well probably. I am a scientist.

She was pissed. However he was bigger and had a gun so she decided not to say anything further. She looked around.

The cockpit didn’t look bad. The console seemed to be working at least the instruments were giving readings, even if she didn’t know what they were since they were in Dakian. But then she looked behind her. He was right. She could tell from here that the nuke drive was too damaged to fix.

They were just lucky the shielding had held or the radiation would make the ship unlivable. There were two gaping holes in the midsection one on each side. She must have hit it the first time right at the tail, rolled it, and hit it again when it rolled. He had put machinery in front the holes so the insects couldn’t get in.

He saw genuine distress in her blue eyes. The blue eyes were hard to get used to as his race only had black or brown eyes.

I am so sorry. I didn’t know how much damage I caused. I tried to turn but I just didn’t have enough control.

Hey, I know. I could see you were in big trouble. Now, we had better get some sleep. Tomorrow we will go see if we can salvage anything from your ship and I need to see if I can at least fix the comm.

He sat down in the pilot’s chair but not before giving her an instrument cover, Here, temp isn’t too bad. But I don’t want to waste battery by using the temp controls. This should keep you warm enough.

He grabbed one for himself too, and settled down with his long legs propped up on the console and his chair tilted back.

Timron?

Yeah?

Does this mean you’re not going to shoot me in the morning?

He laughed. No, it just means that I have no inclination to shoot you right now. But tomorrow might be a different matter. Especially if you don’t let me go to sleep.

The next morning Timron woke to silence. She was gone! He instinctively felt for his sidearm and relieved to see it was there. Some guard he was. He could have been murdered in his sleep.

He stretched his sore muscles and then he heard something. It was banging coming from outside the ship. It was muffled but audible.

What now? He muttered to himself. He climbed out of the ship and could hear the banging clearer. It was coming from her ship. What was she doing?

He could see her backside outside the rear of the ship pulling and banging at something.

He had to yell to get her attention, What the hell are you doing?

His voice scared her. She hadn’t heard him approaching and she straightened up only to hit her head on the top of the hatch.

She uttered some extremely vile Terran words, and then said, You scared the shit out of me. It’s a wonder I don’t have brain damage all the times I’ve banged my head in the last few days.

I’m not sure you don’t. Look at yourself. You are grease from head to toe, your uniform has some more rips and that big bump on your head is turning a nice shade of purple. Now answer my question.

You were right no way it’s repairable. Comm is shot, computer just makes sickly sounds and the nav is out. But I think the nuke is salvageable. It was already shut down because it was out of isotopes when I hit and the shielding seems intact.

He just looked at her, And what good is a nuke engine without a ship? Or do you plan on building a ship in less than 3 weeks?

Now it was her turn to look at him like he was an idiot, And how many times have you hit your head? Even if we had the materials bots take over a month to build even a little one of these. But maybe we can repair your ship, put my engine in it and take off in it.

He shook his head, Get down from there. I’m getting a sore neck from looking up at you.

What if I won’t? She was tired and more discouraged than she wanted him to know and didn’t like being ordered around even when she wasn’t tired.

I’ll shoot you, cook you and then eat you.

He said grimly. He knew that Terrans thought that his people were cannibals and right now he wanted her a little frightened.

Kit gasped, not knowing how much he was kidding but she got down anyway.

She was trying to wipe some of the grease and dirt off. It wasn’t doing much good. Timron sighed and took a piece of cloth out of his pocket and rubbed her face a little.

Come on, lets go sit at the clearing and you can tell me all about this insane idea you have.

You know I didn’t really believe you about killing and eating me I mean. If you were going to do that you would have done it yesterday.

Maybe I was full. He said with a straight face.

Then he asked, Is that why you didn’t take my weapon this morning while I was sleeping?

For a moment she looked a little scared, I honestly didn’t think of that. Thanks for reminding me of that option.

He grinned widely on purpose, You’re welcome.

Then she relaxed. He was joking. She hoped.

Well, I did think about taking it, but I didn’t know if I could get it away from you without waking you up. Then I decided not to try.

She continued, Besides I don’t know about you but I want out of here and I think it will take both of us. Unless your comm is working and we can call for help.

I haven’t looked at it yet, but I don’t have any great hopes. When the ship rolled on its side I think it took out the comm. Come on and sit. It’s safe here during the daylight. At least it has been.

He added, Don’t go back into those trees though; some of the bigger insects are in there.

Kit gulped and sat but she had turned pale.

What’s the matter? Your head?

No, but well I had to empty my bladder this morning and that’s where I went.

He shook his head, Not a good idea. I have cleared a point beyond the clearing to your left with insect poison. It should be safe. Just be sure and cover any delicate parts.

She nodded. They had taken survival training in basic and although she hadn’t kept up with it as much as she should she did remember some of the key rules.

He asked, Did you find any of your survival rations?

Yes, luckily the packaging was fire proof. It’s supposed to be enough for 2 weeks.

Anything else salvageable?

Not a lot. Some of the machine covers, my first aid kit. But my extra uniform is gone. Of course my oxygen blew.

Well, let’s eat and then we’ll see what I’ve got left of my ship.

They nibbled at their rations and then he excused himself to take care of his needs. She sat and waited.

Kit didn’t want to admit how scared she was especially in front of him. If his comm was out that meant her idea was the only feasible one and it wasn’t that possible.

When he returned it was with two magnetic pads, I think we need to get organized. I want you to go through your ship and list everything that is salvageable. Also list anything you think might still work. I’m going to do the same. Then we can compare notes and see exactly what we have.

Ok. Good idea. I’ve been wondering, won’t your people come looking for you because you didn’t make your rendezvous?

They will probably try to get in touch with me, but when I don’t answer they won’t be too worried. I’ve been known to get involved in my work and forget to check in or get back in time. They won’t worry for a while. By the time they realize I’m missing it might be too late.

She sighed, You couldn’t be one of those men who are never late and always leave word where you’re at could you? You know the kind that if they are five minutes late the whole military goes looking for them.

She brightened, Are you related to someone in power? Do you have someone that will move the stars to find you?

My parents are gone. I have an uncle who is a starship commander. My aunt is in the government but I think she’s on assignment right now.

He didn’t tell a lie exactly, he just didn’t tell the whole truth.

That’s important. Won’t he be worried?

Not particularly. We don’t get along that well. Besides he is on an outward mission. Meaning he is at the other side of the Galaxy I expect.

Won’t your Aunt be concerned?

Yes, but she’s on Daklon right now.

No one else?

My cousin, their son is a first officer at the space station I was going to rendezvous with, but we are civil for my aunt’s sake and that’s all. For that reason he may think I’m going directly home instead of stopping. My ship is or rather was capable of doing that.

How long was it going to take you to get to the space station?

About twelve galactic hours.

He didn’t want to talk about his family anymore. Her questions had made him realize how distant he and his family had become. It wasn’t something he wanted to dwell on.

So he asked, I don’t suppose you’re the wife or mistress of some important government official? Someone who is crazy in love with you and will want to make sure you are really dead.

She laughed sadly, Nope, no husband or lover. My family is gone also.

She seemed as reluctant to talk about her family as he was his. He decided to change the subject.

Look when we finish making inventory I’ll bring out the nav charts and you can get a better idea where we are.

That would help. I hate being so lost.

It took a while to get everything inventoried. Kit threw everything salvageable into a pile by the ship. It wasn’t until she had gone through most of the remains of her ship that she found something that cheered her up.

She couldn’t contain her excitement, Timron look at what I found.

He heard her shout and wondered what she could be so excited about. He was discouraged. There was no way their communications was fixable. The internal and external antennas were destroyed. But what was even worse the comm computer was totally useless.

His curiosity turned to alarm when he saw she was standing by the ship with a laser rifle in her hand. It was pointed right at him. Was his first instinct right and she was homicidal?

Ah great, do you mind pointing that somewhere else or do you intend on using it?

She had been busy checking the mechanism and hadn’t intended to point it at him. She laid it down with the other two she had found.

Oops sorry. I was checking the mechanism. There are two more isn’t that great?

His hand slowly left his side arm. So she wasn’t going to kill him but why would the rifles excite her so, except for better protection against the bugs. He approached cautiously seeing the other two rifles.

That’s nice but why so excited? They really wouldn’t be much good for the smaller bugs but might be handy against the big ones.

She sighed. No matter what the race, scientists were hard to deal with. They saw only their own little scientific world.

Not as weapons. As tools. I’ve been wondering how we were going to get the undamaged skin from my ship to repair the skin on yours. Now we can use the laser rifles.

He looked at her in amazement, Are you really suggesting that the blackened skin from your ship would repair my ship? That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.

No I’ve been doing some measuring. The metal is undamaged. It’s made to withstand heat remember? The heat shielding should be intact.

And if it’s not?

Well, we don’t have much choice do we? It’s drown, freeze or be eaten by bugs.

He took her by the shoulders and instinctively she flinched. He sighed she was still afraid of him. That was ok. Maybe better that way. It prevented complications and gave him the upper hand for the moment anyway.

So your bright idea is to cut the right size metal from your ship carry it to mine. Put it on my ship, seal it. Then take the nuke engine put it in my ship and fly away.

Of course not. That wouldn’t be practical.

I’m glad you see that.

We put the nuke engine in first, through the hole in your ship, and then weld the metal with the laser rifles.

He shook his head looking at her. Her face had soot and oil on it. Her uniform was ripping in more places. She looked like some idiot fictional VR. He shouldn’t even be listening to her.

She could tell he didn’t think much of the idea. His black eyes looked at her as if she had two heads. She had to convince him because physically she couldn’t do it by herself.

Kit regretted backing away when he put his hands on her shoulders. It had been instinctive. She wasn’t used to anyone touching her casually.

She made the effort and leaned toward him putting her hand on his arm. His arm felt warm, firm and strangely comforting.

Timron thought to himself that she was changing strategies. Now she was using her touch as a subtle form of persuasion. Her hand looked small and white against his darkly tanned arm. He found himself listening despite himself.

I know it sounds crazy, but it can work. Through the years I have learned a lot about the structures of the ships I’ve piloted. My uncle was a ship tech. He took me through the schematics of every ship I piloted and even those I didn’t.

She continued in a firm voice, I’m sure it will work. But it won’t be easy. I’m hoping you are as strong as you look because even though the skin is made of Perionite, it will still be too much for me to carry. And we both know how heavy the nuke is.

You really think it is possible? I’m no mechanic. I can do small repairs on the computers and I can pilot but my expertise isn’t in machines.

I figured that out, She said sarcastically.

I’m not convinced this will work but I am strong enough to help. I’ll help unless I come up with another option which I hope to hell I do.

She withdrew her hand from his arm and strangely he missed it. Timron realized it had been a long time since he had been touched by a woman.

His work had taken up his life and he really didn’t want to make time for a woman. That made him vulnerable and he wasn’t having that.

Kit admitted timidly, Well besides the laser rifles I wasn’t able to salvage much. Not even my charts or mini.

I was able to save quite a lot. My charts are fine and I have two minis so you can use one if you need to. I’ll have to show you the symbol meanings as they are in Dakian.

She brightened up, Really! I feel lost without my mini. What about your shipboard computer.

I checked her out and she seems okay, all except the comm. I’ll run a diagnostic but I don’t want to use too much battery power.

What about the nav?’

Don’t know yet, but I have my doubts. It was twitchy to begin with. I should have had it checked out before I left but there wasn’t time. And I had my nav charts so I wasn’t worried.

As they each surveyed each other’s pile of goods, neither said how meager it looked. Their survival rations would barely see