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Alerts batter the cabin with a racket of noise. We’ve lost an engine power core on the port side that I didn’t see coming until it was too late. But the ailerons are intact, the structural wings and hull integrity, too. We’re still lucky.

My Scintilla cants sideways and falls toward a familiar world of ice and misery. No one will look for us here for some time. But I’m already regretting my decision.

The portal closes behind us. No one else makes it through.

Zariah calls out from the chair. “Let me help!”

“I need to reroute power to the remaining port engine. That will help us level out and have some control. Can you do that?”

She’s weak from her recent encounter with SoulStealers. But she swipes through the screens and starts working on it. “Why can’t your AI do it?”

“I am medical AI, not designed for battle, Zariah,” MONA replies.

“Great,” she mutters.

“You should eject in a pod,” MONA states. “That is safest.”

“Should we?” Zariah tries to twist and look back at where I lug out a power cell that supports the extra rooms. MONA locks the doors at my request.

“No. I don’t want us separated from the ship. There’s no one to help us here. This planet is completely abandoned. We only have a chance to survive if we land inside the ship in one piece.”

“Why this planet?” she asks.

I walk to the side access of my fuselage and see the port’s remaining engine glowing hotter. She redirected power. I think she’s done it before. “I don’t know. The coordinates were fastest to input.”

“Not a spaceport or literally any area of space that has security?”

“I was trying to save you.”

“Pretty sure you just killed us.” She’s pissed. I can’t blame her.

“Where do you fly when you’re being chased?” I ask.

“Familiar territor—”

I think she’s figured it out.

My ship shudders, and I feel like everything is lost all at once, her faith in me, her trust, possibly her life, my ship, my life. What was the purpose of this existence? Did I do everything I could?

“MONA, call Aurelius.”

A two-tone beep tells me we’re connected.

“Elix, stars have burned out since we talked last.”

I grip the nearby support pillar as I squint out at my destroyed engine. “Aura, I’m down. I need help, brother. Are you still in rogue orbit?”

“Always. Send me the coordinates. I’ll get there as fast as I can.”

AI sends him our location as smoke trails out of the busted engine.

“What are you doing?” Zariah asks as I throw on a harness.

“We’ll lose cabin pressure for only a few seconds. You’ll be fine. You’ll black out, but you’ll be fine.”

“Blackout?” She rests a hand on her forehead and slumps. “What about you?”

I grab the handle of the hatch and connect a tether to my harness. “I love you. Deep breath!”

“Elix!”

We’re running out of time. I tear open the door and feel the oxygen fade. Breathing becomes more difficult. The brumal wind is still a knock to my chest. Zariah sways limply in her seat.

I climb out onto the aileron, lug the charred power cell out of the engine, and let it fall away toward the mountains. I slip in the one in from the back half of the ship as the icy descent claws at me, and the ship rattles around. The indicator light turns green, letting me know the capacitor inside is charging. A growing hum tells me the transformer’s kicked on. The engine sputters from sporadic ignition, but I can fix that inside.

As I make my way back to the door, we pass clouds filled with snow. I slip as the air litters with frozen crystals. My body slams against the ship. The punch sends me dangling from the harness and thrown around by the wind. Through the clouds that scrape my face, I see an electrical disruptor missile lodged in the back half of the ship.

When I smash into the aileron again, I grab on. I don’t have enough strap to reach the disruptor. I have two choices. Unstrap and jump. Or try to land as is.

I’m not eager to throw my life to the wind—literally. So I draw a gun from a hip holster, steady myself as best as I can, and fire. The missile shreds and rips a hole in my tail. But it’s better than losing MONA or worse, landing in a deadly ball of fire.

“Two minutes to impact, sir,” MONA reports.

I scale my ship’s hull back to the door and close it behind me. The cabin pressurizes.

Zariah is drowsy when I make it up to the pilot’s seat. I tap the button on her seat that locks her into place. A net hugs her as a crash guard seals her in a cocoon of metal.

“I’m sorry.” I turn to focus on the approaching landing. Lateral engines are online, the repaired one kicking on after a restart, but the rear thrusters and engines are not responding.

“Sir, you will land with your tail in the snow.”

“I know. Help me find a trajectory with the least damage. Maybe a field of snow. Emraldi meadow could work, or something similar.”

Screens flash around the one I’m working on. A screen blinks with a possible option ahead. I guide us toward the wintry plains of my home planet, wondering if anyone is hiding here. But I don’t feel anyone close except Zariah.

“Impact in ten,” MONA says.

The barren, snow-covered hills blend into streaks as we race toward the snowy field.

“If this is the end, MONA, thanks for watching my back for all these years.”

“My pleasure, sir.”

The tail hits first. It bounces up into the air, tipping us forward. I redirect all power to the forward dorsal thrusters. The snowy meadow rotates before me. Then vanishes overhead. The tail catches again, harder this time. The ship slams belly-down into the snow, bouncing and skidding. Momentum shifts.

We skitter sideways across the field. Snow sprays in white waves. I fear a death roll and frantically shift the thrusters’ focus to the opposite side, creating downforce. They drone loudly through the hull.

The ship sinks lower into the snow, the engine heat melting the area around us, forming an icy liquid. Loose items rock and rattle as they tumble around the cabin. But my Scintilla stops.

I check the medical stats, scrolling over Zariah’s cocoon. She’s safe for now.

“Sir,” MONA crackles. “Significant damage to aft section.”

“I figured.” I unbuckle and walk through the ship, surveying what I can.

“Life support is down,” MONA continues with clarity from a different speaker. “Missile dislodged, bay two.”

I go to bay two, inspect the missile, and get it repositioned safely back where it belongs.

“Thrusters four and seven out, dorsal, starboard,” MONA continues.

I fix what I can inside, then make a plan for outside. “Redirect remaining power to the cockpit. I want to ensure Zariah is safe. She’s not built to survive a place like this.”

I’m going to have to leave soon to search debris for parts to get life support back online. A heater core has been ripped out. There’s body damage that risks hull integrity. I have a lot of work to do.

But we’re alive.

For now.

Worried Zariah won’t make it with life support down, I gather all the blankets from every room and carry them to the cockpit. It takes me several trips. In the staff seating area behind the pilot’s seat, I pile them up and form a little divot in the center. With a backup heater I keep stored in a cargo compartment, I wire it into a nearby console and point it at the pile. Then I collect Zariah from her cocoon. It’s low on power and I don’t want her stuck in it while I’m gone.

I nestle her into the pile of blankets, tuck her limp body in as best as I can, and check her vitals on my wristband. She’s still safe but needs recovery time.

“Zariah.” I run a hand through her hair. Her face shifts enough I know she’s still with me, but she’s in pain. I give her one last vial of serum through her port, then tuck the blankets around her so only her face is exposed. “I have to go collect some parts from the crash trail. I’ll be back later today.”

She mumbles something that I can’t understand.

“Life support is down. Oxygen is safe for you here, low but safe. There’s just no heat except this unit. Stay in here. You’ll survive until Aura gets here. If I’m not here when he arrives, go with him.”

She fights her way through the blankets and reaches toward me. I take her hand, kiss her cold fingers, and tuck her into the blankets again.

“MONA, confirm orders.”

“Confirmed. I will be sure she goes with Aurelius if you do not return, sir.”

I march myself to my quarters, pull out my arctic gear, and get dressed.

“Do not let anyone access Zariah in the cockpit unless it is me or Aurelius. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

I grab a survival pack and my sled from a storage bay near the rear ramp, hike them over my shoulders, and lower the ramp, exposing the inside of the cabin to the blisteringly cold winter weather. Outside, I scan the hills and listen through the wind for signs of omenotau and hellacyna. Then I take my first steps into the snow. I close the ramp and scoop up a handful of melted ice, looking for any algae. I’m lucky we landed where we did. The ice is rich here. I pop a piece in my mouth and start the long hike out across the snowy meadow to hunt through the debris for critical parts.

I pick up a piece of housing for the heater core, check it and drop it. There’s only so much I can carry. I have to save my energy for the most important pieces.

A faint growl in the distance makes me dart my eyes across the edges of the field and draw my Haxgun. I have to get us out of here as fast as I can. No doubt the ghosters know where we dropped out. I know they’ll be here sooner than I’d like. If they don’t find us, someone else will come looking. My home might be remote, but everyone watching the races likely saw us depart the convoy unexpectedly.

I am really getting tired of running for my life.