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He gaped at the controls "Why isback to me?"

"It’s me, you idiot!"

He cocked his ear toward the speaker "Cinder?"

"Listen, the auto-control syste The power cell is on the fritz too I think it canto have to take off without computer assistance"

The words, too dry in the coainst the ship’s closed hatch

Thorne gulped "Without computer assistance? Are you sure?"

A short silence was followed by the voice again, and Thorne thought he could detect Cinder’s screeching despite its ht?"

"Uh" Thorne scanned the controls before him "Yes?"

He squared his shoulders and reached for the controller that was attached to the ceiling A ht cut across the warehouse as the roof opened down the ainst the ship’s side

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you" Thorne jabbed the ignition

The lights across the dash dio"

Another crash echoed fro hover round She rose up s the ship easily as a dandelion seed, and Thorne exhaled a long breath

Then the ship warbled and began to tilt

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don’t do that!" Thorne’s pulse raced as he leveled the ship

"The power cell is going to die You have to engage the backup thrusters"

"Engage the backup wha--oh, never ain With the sudden jolt of power, the ship lurched to the opposite side and Thorne heard a crunch as she rammed into the next ship The Raround Another rainfall of bullets beat against the starboard side A drop of sweat slid down Thorne’s back

"What are you doing up there?"

"Stop distractingthe ship Overcooing to die"

"This isn’t as easy as it looks!" Thorne leveled her out again "I usually have an automated stabilizer to take care of this!"

To his surprise, no sarcastic comment was spat back at him

A moment later, another panel lit up MAGNETIC CONDUCTORS STABILIZING POWER OUTPUT: 37/63 … 38/62 … 42/58 …

The ship settled calht! Like that!"

Thorne’s knuckles whitened on the controls as he arched the ship’s nose up toward the open roof The engine’s purr became a roar as the ship soared upward He heard the last ricochet of bullets and then they fell away as the ship broke free of the warehouse and was flooded with the light fro his eyes shut as, without resistance, without wavering, the ship left the protective netic field of the city behind, drew on the full power of her thrusters, and speared through the wispy clouds that lingered in thedropped away and then it was only him and the sky and the endless landscape of space

Thorne’s fingers stayed clamped like iron shackles around the controls until the ship had erupted froht-headed, he adjusted the thruster output as the ship slipped into natural orbit before prying his hands away fro, back in the chair It took hi for his heartbeat to slow to a irl," he said "If you were hoping for a permanent position on my crew, you’re hired"

The speakers were silent

"I don’t mean a lowly position, either First mate is available Well, I mean, pretty much every position is available Mechanic … cook … a pilot would be nice so I don’t have to go through that again" He waited "Cinder? Are you there?"

When still there was no response, he pushed himself out of his chair and stuo bay, and into the corridor that split off to the crew’s quarters His legs eak as he reached for the hatch that led into the ship’s lower level He cloine rooine roos of space vacuu about a living girl inside

Thorne tapped the unlock icon on the screen and twisted the door’s ine was loud and hot and smelled like irl? Are you in here?"

If she responded, the words were lost in the engine’s thruht brightened above the doorway, casting glooine and the masses of cords and coils that sprawled out beneath it

Thorne squinted, spotting so to his hands and knees, he crawled toward her "Cyborg girl?"