The Dead Fleet (Juggernaut #3)

Twenty Nine

Tila and Malachi tore through the corroded corridors of the ship and raced along rusty passages. Malachi kept up with Tila's quick strides for now but he knew he would not be able to maintain this pace much longer.

He knew Tila's single minded determination was once again the thing driving her forward. Whatever she did she did completely.

He had only glimpsed aspects of this part of her in the time they had grown to be friends on the Juggernaut but these last few days had brought it very much to the surface. Learning about the Far Horizon. Starting her journey to find the truth of her parents. Searching this very ship looking for answers. And now the flight back to their ships. All of it was the product of a mind fixated on one thing.

Malachi knew other people could juggle competing priorities with ease and flit from task to task. Tila pounced on things one at a time. There was never anything more important than the now. She lived in the moment like no-one else he knew, and her focus was sharp and unwavering at the task in hand. And now her task was making sure Ellie was safe.

Malachi prayed that she was.

Tila moved without effort through and around the obstacles inside their steel labyrinth. She could duck without slowing, turn without slipping and skip aside the things in her path without the slightest hint of losing her balance or breaking her stride.

Malachi had none of her grace. He slipped and skidded through turns when the floor beneath them was slick with water, or coolant, or whatever noxious liquid had seeped through old corroded pipework. More than once he shouldered into something, or tripped and kicked through old tools or abandoned repairs.

Where Tila danced like a cat Malachi pounded and crashed like stampeding animal but it was the only way he could keep up.

Finally as they turned another corner he had to stop, but he was so out of breath by now he struggled to even speak.

'Stop. Need... rest.' He coughed as he slowed to a walk. He aching leg muscles seemed to be shouting louder for attention than he was. Not just his legs. Everything. His whole body cried out for rest.

Tila looked back at him and slowed.

'We're nearly there,' she called back. She showed no evidence of fatigue that he could see.

Malachi walked and hopped as fast as he could. 'I can't keep up with you.'

'That's up to you.'

'Tila...'

'Don't worry, Mal. I won't leave you behind if that's what's worrying you.'

'Tila, please...'

Tila went back for Malachi and put his arm over her shoulders to help him hurry along. It was practical yet uncaring gesture. She didn't look him in the eye.

Malachi accepted the help but had nothing to say. Until they knew Ellie was safe words were nothing but air.

* * * * *

Ellie stood up and rested her back against the door. The door felt safe. It was a known thing. It had substance. She could touch it and hear her nails scrape over it. The darkness ahead had no substance. It was a tunnel of wraiths. Unseen, unheard, untouched.

She took a couple of breaths and explored with her toe again. She took another step forward. Now only three fingers anchored her to the door. She couldn't reach anything. Her mouth felt dry. She swallowed, and let go of the door.

Ellie stood alone in the dark. Adrift in the night. She knew of nothing beyond the ground under her feet. It was like floating in deep water, light-years from shore, with no bottom in sight.

She felt a strange excitement creeping up her back. Her legs tingled. A shiver tickled her neck. Her scalp tightened. She realised she wasn't breathing. Ellie stretched her fingers in the darkness, searching for her shore. She had drifted so far. She would never find it again. Then her fingers touched metal. She breathed again. Her mind cleared. She had only leaned away from the door for a second. She had only drifted a few centimetres. She was safe again.

Ellie looked down at the floor she couldn't see and scolded herself again. Then she looked along the corridor she couldn't see, and realised how far she had to go.

But she was afraid. The door was real, absolute, and solid. The darkness in front of her was unknown, unreal, unsafe. But it was her only option. Somewhere in the tunnels ahead the echo of the beast retreated into the night.

She would have to follow it.