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“Just been, you”

“Going again,” she said, turning away

“Hell you are Hey!” Nao as she scrambled down to come after her She’d been a model prisoner up to now, and the defiance took Sárta by surprise Well, it wasin three Two Naomi put both hands on the doorframe One Up and down vanished, and she pulled her body into a tight curl and exploded out toward Sárta Both her feet hit the guard in the belly, sending her back through the wide e it off as she spun away It would take her seconds to reach the other side of the rooainst That was her head start Sárta was already shouting

Naoh the hatch, then down the hall, too fast for safety She had ht she could pry open a locker, pull on a suit, and cycle the airlock? The ine it now

Sárta was so the alarht lines broken, Sárta would have to guess where she’d gone With luck, it would buy her a few more seconds She only needed seconds She only had them The crew airlock was closed She cycled the inner door open, then started pulling at lockers If someone – anyone – had slipped up Left one unlocked The ed and tugged and tugged Was the u it in? It seemed like they must be

There were voices raised fro One of the and ignored it She couldn’t fail She couldn’t Not this time Not now

For a sickening second, she didn’t feel the decompression kit at her waist She slapped the place where it had been pressed against her skin, and it was there If she could just get a suit She tried another locker Her heart skipped as it opened A si by thin bands of elastic She reached for it

She stopped

They’ll know the suit is , a small voice said in the back of her one They’ll come after you

Her breath was heavy and fast, her heart racing The thing she’d been trying not to think for the last hours came to the front of her mind like an old friend Fewer than fifty meters It isn’t far You can make it

She c

losed the locker The inner door of the airlock was open now She launched herself toward it, forcing herself to pant To hyperoxygenate She couldn’t tell if the dizziness she felt was froo She was really going to do this Naked in the void She braced her palainst the outer door of the lock She expected it to be cold That it was the sa

Fifty meters in hard vacuum Maybe less Maybe it was possible She couldn’t depressurize first The long seconds ness would take more time than she had She’d have to blow it out Full pressure to nothing in a fraction of a second If she held her breath, it would pop her lungs She would have to blow herself empty first, let the void into her All around her heart Even if it worked, it would do her dae

She could handle that

The voices were loud and getting louder So bitch!” Cyn sloped in past the lockers His eyes widened Sárta was behind hiht Perfect Let thereen to red under her thumb Cyn launched across the room with a wordless cry as the inner door started to close For a ht the edge of the door and hauled hih She tried to push him back, but he forced his way in