New Elysium: Breakout

Worst Time For A Good Idea*

Red opened his eyes to find Ember staring at him. She said nothing but her look told him she knew he was remembering the past even if she didn't know the details.

"Outer worlds," He started. "They probably still have a few augs running around... They can't have gotten everyone, or everything."

"They're always years behind catching up to the latest technology," Dag caught his train of thought. "I bet they even still have neuro-links we can use. They probably still work. Technology would have been a tough thing to let go of." Dag uncrossed his arms and looked at the boys. "First things first. Boys, into stasis, fewer mouths the better. Believe me, you are getting the better end of the deal here."

"As long as we don't miss anything.." T held out a hand to his friend who shook his head. Alt's eyes wheezed as he zoomed in and out, a noise Red was coming to associate with panic from him.

"But— "

"I'm going in with you. And we'll both come out at the same time." Alt hesitated but nodded at his friend.

Red watched as Ember moved over and hugged both boys. "See you guys the other side," she whispered, smiling at them. His emotions flooded in a thousand different directions and he turned away from her with a clenched fist.

He met Dag's gaze and Dag nodded to him and hustled the boys out of the room.

Or rather he tried. T ran to him at the last minute and threw his arms around him. "Red you better get us out. You promised."

"I told you I would," Red ruffled the kids hair one last time, stealing a glance at Ember before turning away to focus on T. He dropped to one knee. "And we'll take care of your spine when we get there, ok? But for now..."

"That's the least of my problems," T finished. He straightened standing as tall as he could and turned towards Dag.

Soon it was just Ember and himself.

"Red I swear, no matter what I will get them there," she whispered into the silence.

Red didn't say a word for a moment because as soon Dag and the boys had left and it was just the two of them again, he felt tongue tied. The truth was there was nowhere on the ship he could escape Ember. She didn't have to physically be in the room with him, but once connected every part of it hummed with her presence. He found it both terrifying and comforting. He couldn't escape it, and he didn't want to.

But he didn't know what to do or say about it either.

"Red," she started.

He didn't look up at her, his left hand fidgeted at his side and the he scratched his neck, all the while managing to stare waist level at the door.

"I'm going to run a system's check," his gaze flicked up to her face meeting her eyes briefly before moving away again. He fled before he could see anything else. He was more terrified of exchanging words with her than anything else he'd done in his life.

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Red escaped into the small hallway and wandered towards the pilot's chamber. He probably should have gone to his quarters but he was pretty damn sure Ember would have followed him there to talk. Talking was the last thing he wanted to do. He focused on the problem at hand, realizing that they did indeed need to talk and that was about the closest outer world they could get to. Crap. He started to move back towards the galley. Peering inside he noticed Ember sitting alone on the floor, her eyes staring at nothing. Remotely connected to the ship she probably knew he was coming back towards her before he'd made it into the galley. He steeled himself, focusing on the problem at hand and not whatever it was he knew she wanted to bring up.