Spaced Out

You Know, Burke, I Don't Know Which Species Is Worse

A trembling hand rested on the ground. Lily barely held herself up. "How could you have—" She swallowed down a sudden lurch of her stomach. "All of them. You killed all of them."

"And now I'm telling you to get up." Vortrand stepped over the body at his feet. He picked his way to Lily's lost Physical Dream bag while she got her noodly legs under her. A flash of a mutilated hand, a torn and bloody ear, intruded into the blank hum of her mind.

Through a gasp, she asked, "Where's doctor Puu?"

"The Pashmi should be aboard the shuttle by now. Keep moving."

Lily swerved. Cigarette burn holes blacked out bits of her surroundings. Legs buckling, she staggered.

"I said keep moving," Vortrand barked. "Stop thinking and do. Get the other L-Striker. The woman has it."

Clinging to the order like a lifeline, Lily tromped to the Verakian woman's corpse. Action outpaced thought. In one swoop, she bent and pried the L-Striker from the woman's curled fingers. The brush of the woman's skin against hers made her recoil.

"Now, come here," Vortrand said and Lily did. Extracting the gun from her clenched hand, he shoved her bag at her. She clutched it while the captain secreted the additional L-Striker in his back pocket. He concealed the contraband with his jacket.

When the bag Lily hugged shifted, her hands stuck to the paper. She peeled one palm away. Flakes of paper stuck to white gunk coating her hand. She coughed, gagging again. The Verakian woman's blood and...little bits of the Verakian woman stained her palms. The bag slipped from her arms. It landed with a crunch on the ground. The noise jerked up Vortrand's head.

"Pick that up," he said. "We have to go. That Titian could be anywhere by now. I'm not in the mood to deal with any authorities."

Lily wanted to do what the captain told her, but all she did was shake. Those people were alive. Now they were dead. There were bits of them on her hands. The clicking sound echoing off the plaster walls was her teeth chattering.

"I...I don't think I can—"

Vortrand cinched Lily's chin in the vee of one hand. He brought his face to hers.

"I'll remind you this was a game you wanted to play. You didn't consider the rules or the consequences of victory, but that didn't stop you from starting the match. You don't get to fall apart now. Sorted?"

Lily gave a stunted nod.

"Good. Pick that up and stay close."

Numb, Lily trailed Vortrand to the docks. They encountered no obstacles. The captain washed her hands of gore and checked her for additional spatter. She boarded the shuttle with him and sat through half the flight in a foggy stupor. Her puffy face got her a lot of curious looks. While Vortrand slept during most of their flight to Kaptune, he couldn't sit still on their return journey.