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If I die here, she thought, at least it’s beautiful This would be a lovely way to die One thousand eight

The lines of the Chetzenetic boots, she’d have to reach it with bare handholds, but she was close She was al out in her peripheral vision even as the bright ship grew larger Passing out She was passing out She plucked the black thumb out of her belt, twisted it to expose the needle, and sla One thousand ten

A coldness spread through her, but the colors cah her An extra bit of breath without having the luxury of breathing out first The airlock indicator on the Chetzeency response received, the cycle starting The ship loo to hit, and she couldn’t afford to bounce She put her hands out fingers first, and prepared to crumple as she struck There were handholds on the surface – soned, but others were the protrusions of antennae and cay she’d kicked off with, the ship sla into her She’d known to expect that She was ready Her fingers closed on a handhold The force of the body wrenched her shoulder and elbow, but she didn’t lose her grip One thousand thirteen

Across the gap, the u the warship’s side, an ejectionas it jetted out Cyn’s body – he would have lost consciousness by noas out there somewhere, but she couldn’t see it He was already lost, and at least Sárta and Filip and maybe others had seen theone Spaced Dead

Not dead yet She had to getHer mind had skipped a fraction of a second She couldn’t do that Nao centimeters from the skin of the ship Too fast, and she wouldn’t be able to stop Too slow and she’d pass out before she reached safety All she could do was hope there was a golden round One thousand… She didn’t know anymore Fifteen? Her whole body was a confusion of pain and animal panic She couldn’t make out the stars at all anymore The Pella was a blur The saliva in her h, thin whine filled her ears, an illusion of sound where no sound was

A lot of things happen, she thought, vaguely aware she’d said it to soo Even this She felt a wave of peace wash over her Euphoria It was a bad sign

The airlock was there, fivepast her She shot out her ar for it, and

the fra the way Cyn had She was spinning, the iular But she was over the airlock Its pale mouth rose up froain, and back again When she reached out, her hand was actually inside the ship, but she couldn’t touch the fra away, losing its color as her consciousness began to fade So close She’d coht have lived But space was unforgiving People died there all the ti thrusters, as if in solereement

Without thinking, she drew up her leg, the spin increasing as she bent tight She pulled off the shoe that Sárta hadn’t gotten Her hands felt weird Clumsy, aard, more than half numbed When she stretched back out, the spin slowed to what it had been She tried to judge the ti, but too little of her mind was left In the end, she saw the Pella at the end of a distant and darkening hall and threw the shoe at it as hard as her failing strength allowed

Ejection mass The spin slowed Her hands reached farther into the airlock She was drifting in Her heel hit the steel fra and very far away Her mind blinked She had an i to impart some critical information She couldn’t see the colors or the syone

Naoainst her face She couldn’t tell if she was desperately weak or under high burn The edges of the airlock around her were fuzzy She coughed again, a deep wet sound Is filled her ht up was clear Her hands were ales, filled with plasma and fluid Her skin was too hurt to touch, like a bad sunburn Her joints ached from her toes to the vertebrae in her neck Her belly felt like sout a couple dozen times

She forced a breath She could do that Inhale, exhale Soh She told herself it wasn’t blood She rolled onto her side, tucked her legs up, rose to sitting, and then lay back down again as the world swa She couldn’t be that weak, could she?

The Chetzeuely that she was hearing words Voices A voice She knew that didn’t make sense, but she didn’t knohy She pressed her hands to her face A store Her brain wasn’t working well enough yet to associate the They just happened, and she watched and waited and gathered her scattered self together Her hands and feet started hurting, tortured nerve endings screanored theh worse

Next time, she made it to her feet The little black thu She pulled it out, lifted it to shoulder high, and dropped it It fell like s That was nice If she’d felt this bad at just one g, she’d have been worried She should probably have been worried anyway

She cycled the inner door open and stu open, EVA suits hanging in theone The voice – it was just one voice, but her ears seemed to have lost all their treble and left only an incoht she should know it Sheshe’d been unconscious, and if there was any way to knohere she hat heading she was on, and how fast she was already traveling