Ignite by Tana Stone
Chapter Twenty-Two
Zoey
“How long does it take to fly around the station a few times?” I said under my breath as I leaned my arms against the steel railing on the suspended walkway and peered down into the atrium. Aside from the lack of the usual bustling construction activity, you’d never have known that the station had blacked out.
The lighting was back, along with all the power. The station rotated on its axis while Drexian fighters circled the perimeter, their sleek, gray hulls zipping past the transparent structure. Drexian warriors strode purposefully across the promenade far below me while the inclinator cars zipped through clear tubes twisting around the perimeter. The faint yet familiar hum of the engines sent minuscule vibrations up through my feet, a comforting sensation after being pitched into total darkness and silence.
I shivered at the thought of floating in space without power, trying not to think of the fact that life support systems required energy. It would take a while for a station the size of the Island to run out of oxygen, but it could happen. That was one of the pitfalls of living in deep space and one I worked hard not to dwell on.
Luckily, I was too busy to let my mind wander to the inherent dangers of space. I’d been trudging all over the station looking for any damage to my precious design—and I’d found nothing. On one hand, I was relieved that the blackout might have been no more than a glitch—a quickly remedied loss of power that didn’t indicate larger issues. On the other hand, I wanted to know why a station with so many backups had completely lost power.
“They said I’d find you out here.”
I straightened as I spotted William walking toward me, his energy helmet engaged even though we weren’t standing in an active construction site at the moment. Old habits were hard to break.
When he reached me, he took a moment to scan the interior of the station below us. “It’s strange to see it without workers.”
“It should be safe to bring the crew back,” I told him. “I haven’t found any damage or issues.”
“No idea why it happened?”
I managed a weak grin. “I was going to ask you the same question.”
He scratched at the back of his neck. “I know it shouldn’t happen. We have backups for the backups.”
Exactly what I’d been thinking. Even though it had been a brief blackout that apparently did no real damage and wasn’t the result of any kind of attack or system failure, it should have been an impossibility. The fact that it had happened and neither of us knew why made me uneasy, but I liked that William wasn’t afraid to admit that he didn’t have an answer. “I guess we add it to the cable accident as things that don’t make sense.”
“Actually, I have news on that front,” the foreman said. “From what we can tell, the cable frayed.”
“It wasn’t cut?” I released a breath that we weren’t dealing with sabotage. It had been a long shot, but I was glad to brush that concern from my head.
“It looks like the cable was placed incorrectly so that it was dragging across the sharp edge of a beam. The friction caused it to fray and snap.”
I wasn’t thrilled that no one had noticed this mistake before it had nearly killed me and Serge, but I was grateful it was a mistake and not a plot. “Thanks for letting me know.”
He gave me a single nod. “Don’t think I’m not going to get to the bottom of how it happened on my watch, but for now it looks like a result of fatigue.”
I couldn’t help flinching at this. Was everyone being worked too hard? I know I’d felt drained at times, but maybe it wasn’t only me. “You think the crew needs a break?”
He shrugged, more a yes than a no. “They’re getting one now.” William joined me in leaning his arms on the railing. “I wouldn’t let it eat you up. Every project has bumps, but the ones out here seem more monumental, don’t they?”
I twisted my head to him. It was nice to talk to someone else from Earth. It was the first time living and working in space for all of us, and William was right. It did feel different out here. “I guess the stakes are a lot higher.”
“I won’t be sorry to go home,” William said, lowering his voice a bit. Then he added quickly, “Not that this hasn’t been an incredible experience.”
I laughed. “You don’t have to explain to me. I get it. It’s one of those experiences you’ll be glad you did but you’re not sure if you’re glad that you’re in the middle of it.”
He snapped his fingers, nodding. “Exactly. I’ve never felt right just floating in space out here without any planets or a sun. It’s like there’s nothing but us, and if anything happens, we’re on our own.”
I didn’t respond to that, the weight of his words heavy on us both.
William finally cleared his throat. “I’d feel better if I knew why we blacked out.”
“Same. The captain was going to fly outside the station and take a look. Maybe he’ll have seen something out there.”
“If he did, he didn’t tell me,” William said.
“You saw the captain?”
“Not too long ago. We rode the inclinator up. He looked like he was heading to the bridge.”
So much for him keeping me in the loop or coming to find me. “And he said nothing about his fly-about?”
William shifted from one foot to the other. “The captain and I don’t spend a lot of time talking.”
Technically, neither did we. Most of what we did was argue—until very recently. And I felt another fight coming on fast.
“Thanks for telling me about the cable,” I said as I took a few steps back. “I’m going to track down the captain and get some answers about the blackout.”
“Good luck,” he called after me as I walked briskly across the walkway.
It was probably irrational for me to be as irritated as I was, but hadn’t Kalex told me he’d tell me what he learned flying around the ship? I thought back to planting that kiss on him before he’d gone to the hangar bay. I thought I’d given him incentive enough to want to find me afterward.
Since I was only one level away from the bridge, I sidestepped the inclinator and went straight for the temporary stairs that connected the suspended walkway with the next floor above it, jogging up the steps. My heart thumped in my chest, but not from the short run. I was seriously annoyed that Kalex was still making my job harder. If I’d been under any illusions that spending one evening with our naked bodies entangled had changed his attitude toward me, I knew now how wrong I was.
It was a good thing I wasn’t in the market for anything but hot and sweaty sex because the captain was not boyfriend material. He might be gorgeous and ripped, with a very talented tongue, but he was also arrogant and bossy. And I hated guys who thought they could tell me what to do and expect me to fall in step. My mind wandered to Kalex taking control of me in the officers’ lounge and my mouth went dry. Okay, I didn’t always hate it.
I didn’t hesitate outside the broad metal doors leading onto the bridge, barely pausing the let them sweep open before storming inside. I did stop once I stood overlooking the series of dark standing consoles, uniformed Drexians tapping away diligently as static and beeps filled the air. A sweep of the space told me that Kalex wasn’t there.
An officer at one of the nearby seated consoles swiveled his chair to face me. “You lost?”
I scowled at him. “I’m not lost. I’m looking for the captain.”
More Drexians glanced over at me, their expressions a mix of confusion and amusement. The officer sitting down didn’t seem concerned by my obvious urgency. “He’s in his strategy room.”
Kalex had a strategy room? I wasn’t sure why this annoyed me, but it did. Did he have meetings in his strategy room? Meetings that hadn’t included me? As I gave the bridge another cursory scan, it struck me that I’d only been on the bridge once before during my initial tour of the station. Since that day, I’d met the captain on-site throughout the station or in my offices.
Seeing how different the bridge was from the rest of the Island—dark and dimly lit with lots of black and exposed steel—I understood why. This was one of the few areas of the station that wasn’t designed to appeal to humans. It was utilitarian, with none of the bright airiness of the rest of the station. Though I’d had no part in the design of it, I liked it.
My gaze went quickly to a door tucked to one side of the bridge. It was where I’d place a captain’s strategy room, I thought as I took long steps toward it.
“You can’t just go in—” the Drexian called after me, too late to stop me from swiping my hand over the side panel.
“Come,” a deep voice from inside rumbled, sending an unwanted thrill through me.
I pushed aside any lingering desire, reminding myself that I’d tracked down the captain because I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. Nothing else.
“What happened to our deal?” I said as I entered his strategy room, my hands in fists, and almost walked through a holographic projection of a very intense looking Drexian warrior.