Page 40 of My Alien Jewel
I shudder. Fuck. If life support went too, we’re done for. Stupid insects! Why didn’t I tell anyone about them sooner?! Now we’re all going to die and it will all be my fault.
Chapter 21
Nikolai
I’m not going topanic. I’m not going to panic. I’m not—Fuck! I am so fucking panicking right now.
I don’t know what’s going on, I only know it’s bad. Like really, really bad. I can live without gravity, even though my stomach protests but, without light? Engines?
We’re on a spaceship. In space. There’s nothing around us for…I don’t even know for how far. Light years? I don’t know how much a light year is in normal units but I know it’s a whole fucking lot. And if we don’t have engines, we’re stuck. In the middle of nowhere. How am I supposed to not panic?!
The only thing holding me back from crying like a baby is Z’Ree. She’s trembling but otherwise seems composed. I’m not about to start freaking out when my tiny, heavily traumatized mate is holding it together.
And yes, I said it. Mate. It’s not really a human word, but then again, Z’Ree isn’t human. Just thinking the word has my mind agreeing that it fits perfectly. What else would I say? Girlfriend? Partner? Lover? None of those even comes close to describing our relationship. Mate is perfect. It means that she is mine and I am hers and that’s all that matters.
A tiny hysterical voice in the back of my mind keeps wreaking havoc and screaming,“We’re all going to die, we’re all going to die, WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!”but I do my best to ignore it. If we are going to die, I want to die fucking Z’Ree, not running around like a headless chicken.
Just as I’m about to slide my cock inside Z’Ree to make sure that we’re together when the dark void of space swallows us whole, the emergency lights come back online. The ship-wide intercom crackles, then D’Aakh’s voice spills out from the speakers. “I hope this fucking works. I’m about to restore the gravity. Hold on to something.”
Tightening my grip on Z’Ree, I grab the bed railing with my free hand, expecting to fall down at once when the gravity engages, but D’Aakh dials it up gradually. Inch by inch, we’re lowered down to the floor, everything else landing just as smoothly.
“Everyone, come to the bridge,” D’Aakh says. “The door controls are offline and I won’t be able to fix them any time soon, but each door has a manual override. There’s a small hatch on one side, marked with two orange dots. Underneath, you’ll find a lever. When you pull it upwards, the door should open an inch so that you can manually slide it open the rest of the way.”
I’m grateful for the dumbed down explanation, knowing that it’s mainly aimed at Astra and me. The rest of the crew must know how to open the doors. Even Nala probably knows how to do it since she’s been living amongst aliens for the past five years.
“Get to the bridge. Fast,” D’Aakh urges before cutting the transmission off.
“Well, I guess we’d better get to the bridge,” I say, my attempt at sounding lighthearted failing.
Z’Ree nods, her eyes bulging with the same terror I’m feeling. “I’ll find us some clothes.”
Right, because we’re both very much naked and covered in cum. As I move to the door, I see Z’Ree wiping herself down using a bed sheet before grabbing her shirt. My pants are hanging over the diagnostic machine but her pants are nowhere to be found. The shirt is long enough to cover her butt though, so she decides to go without pants for now. It’s not like we’re about to strut down a catwalk runway.
Using D’Aakh’s instructions I open the door, letting us leave the small patient room and enter the infirmary. It’s a mess. For the second time in a short period, everything that wasn’t attached to the floor or walls went flying. I step over a pile of bandages, my heart weeping over a shattered scanner. I knew how to use that one.
While Z’Ree continues to the door, I locate a bag filled with emergency medical supplies and hoist it over my shoulder, hoping against hope that I won’t need it but it’s better to be prepared.
The ship’s corridors are eerily quiet. My ears never registered the constant, soft hum of the engines before but now that the ship has gone utterly silent, it’s obvious that it’s missing. The emergency lights give off a tiny glow here and there, which leaves a lot of dark corners and casts a lot of shadows. Not at allcreepy. If a facehugger from the Alien movie jumped out at us right now, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.
Distracted by the many ways Hollywood has portrayed this scene unfurling in film, I barely smother my terrified squeal when something rumbles at the other end of the corridor. Thank god it turns out to just be Faelin, Nala, and little Ellen. The little girl is curled up in Faelin’s arms, clutching her pet to her chest and searching around wide eyed.
Faelin nods at me with relief. “You guys good?”
“Well, we’re still alive,” I reply, “so I guess we’re good. Any idea what’s going on?”
“The engines are dead, which means we’ve dropped out of hyperspace. We could be anywhere. The gravity and life support is back online, though, so whatever it is, I’m sure D’Aakh will have it fixed in no time.”
I don’t share Faelin’s optimism. I don’t think he even shares his own optimism. He’s probably just trying to keep Nala and Ellen calm.
Most of the crew are already on the bridge when we arrive with Lyriana and Omni joining us to complete the head count shortly after. We’ve been confined to a smaller section of the ship over the past few hours, so thankfully nobody is stranded anywhere.
Zarkan rests against the table and glances at D’Aakh. “Status?”
“We’re f—” D’Aakh pauses, looks at the girl in Faelin arms, then corrects himself. “We’re in big trouble. The reactor is offline. The automated systems shut everything down before it became unstable. The converters are dead too and the capacitor wiring is mostly gone. The rest couldn’t hold the strain of the overload and fried. We’re flying blind with no way to change our trajectory.
“I’ve been able to patch the emergency generators, but that just ensures we won’t suffocate or freeze to death. It doesn’t solveanything. And,” he sighs, his antennae twitching, “none of this is our biggest problem.”
Astra gawks at him in disbelief. “What could possibly be worse than being stranded in space without functioning engines?!”