I watched my approach to Nyna over my shoulder and added a bit more pressure to slow myself down. I wasn’t certain how thick the deck was, though, so I couldn’t do too much.
A couple of seconds later, I’d cleared most of the distance, and I noticed the wind was beginning to slow. Soon, the entire volume of breathable air would have escaped into space. We’d be stuck in a vacuum, and we’d suffocate. Our frozen, bloated corpses would float between the stars for the rest of eternity. I couldn't let that happen.
A moment later, I reached Nyna. As carefully as I could, I pried her hands from the deck and brought them to my Void-tech body armor. There weren’t any straps like the regular military used, but she was able to get what felt like a good grip around my collar. I started pushing forward, using Ebon like a walking stick with my other hand behind my back, holding on to Nyna in case she became exhausted and lost her grip.
One slow step at a time brought me closer to the alien vessel. Then, my ears detected a new sound. It was a rumbling I could hear above the howl of the wind and that I could feel in my feet. I wasn’t sure what it meant until the wall at the far side of the hangar exploded and a huge shipping container headed right for me.
I had to think fast. It was bouncing off the deck and moving too fast to get out of its way. It was also destroying huge chunks of the deck as it bounced along, which meant that sharp fragments from the floor would be dragged and flown along toward us. I wasn’t left with much of a choice, so I planted Ebon into the deck as far as I dared, wrapped a leg around the dull edge of my sword and balled my fist.
Martian shipping containers were all designed the same way, regardless of their size. The edges, and especially the corners, were reinforced so that they could be stacked and, if necessary, rough-handled. I squinted through the cloud of debris headed at me, watched, and listened. As the container got closer, the debris became thicker, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open. I knew I’d have to make my next move blind, so I studied what I could see as best I could, what it sounded like, and predicted what would happen.
I closed my eyes as shards of debris drew painful lines across my face, neck, arms, and legs. Nyna began to scream and lost her grip for a moment. I was glad I’d held on to her.
BOOM! CRASH! SKREE! BOOM!
I struck out with my right fist in an uppercut and made contact with what I hoped was the forward-facing edge of the cargo container. If I’d been wrong, I could have punched through the side. The container’s mass would have scooped Nyna and me into its belly and carried us to our doom.
Although my shoulder went numb, and I discovered a whole new threshold of pain in my fist, we weren’t hit by anything larger than the debris from before. I opened my eyes and saw that the path before us was clear. I unhooked my leg and started moving again. Then, the cargo container hit the breach and opened it even wider. I dug Ebon further into the deck as the wind exploded in my face. For a moment, I thought I heard Nyna scream, but I couldn't be sure. Either way, all that mattered was getting to the ship before something bigger came along and knocked us loose, or before we ran out of air. Three agonizing steps later, we were there.
I couldn’t hand Nyna to Reaver at the door, so I took a couple of extra steps and allowed the Marine to peel the priestess from my back. Then, she reached out and helped me into the vessel before slamming the hatch closed. The silence was only broken by Nyna’s gasping and my heavy breathing.
Huge parts of the hive were smashing into each other. They were grinding each other to powder, and, if we didn’t hurry, we might find ourselves in the middle of one of those crashes.
“We need to get out of here,” I said to Nyna.
She nodded and tried to get to her hands and knees but collapsed back to the ship’s deck.
“Let me help you,” Reaver said.
She scooped her up and quickly walked her to the small bridge. There were two seats that were too big to be comfortable for most humans. I slowly made my way behind them.
Skrew, meanwhile, was rocking back and forth on his rear, mumbling to himself about all the Xeno he never got to kill. He said something else to himself that led me to believe he’d managed to find one to test his rifle storage theory on. It hadn’t fit, and he was disappointed.
Beatrix gave me a small smile but held her right calf gingerly with both hands. The flesh underneath was a mess, and I was certain I could see bone.
“I need…” Nyna whispered, “interface.” She pointed at a spider-like claw hanging on the ceiling.
Reaver frowned, poked it once, and when one of the thin legs twitched, flinched away. A second later, she tried again and attempted not to make a face as the little legs touched and examined her hands. When she placed the organic device on Nyna’s head, the legs settled in and stopped moving.
“I can see the ship,” Nyna whispered. “Powering up now. This shouldn’t take long.”
The ship shuddered a few times, then glowfrogs began to light
