Page 32 of Tethered

“Officers, I’m sorry, this is an emergency.”

“We’re not going anywhere until we can confirm that your colleague is who she says she is,” Barker replies.

Tanisira—even though this is a totally contrived scenario—has real fire in her voice when she snaps back at him. “And you are more than welcome to do that, butIhave a shit show to fix and no time to babysit you. In the meantime, you should start your search of the ship. You’ll just get in the way otherwise.”

“How long will this take?” The other officer asks.

“I don’t know. First, I have to locate the malfunction and repair it. Then the airlock will need to repressurise, which can take up to half an hour even when there isn’t any damage. After that, we’ll have to get Mabel out of the EVA suit. I don’t have an estimate for you.”

“Where did this malfunction come from?” Barker asks.

“We hit an unexpected swarm. There were a lot of injuries as a result, and we’d only just started to collate the damages to the ship when you docked. Hence, Mabel’s spacewalk. Would you like to see the logs?”

Barker sounds like he’s at the end of his rope. “Please.”

But in the face of uncertainty, all the officers can do is leave Tanisira to locate the malfunction. As soon as they’re out of earshot, she lets out a curse. Her words, soft and emphatic, comes to me through the speaker. “Marlowe, are you okay?”

“Fine.” I can’t hide the way my voice quivers. More than one adrenaline spike in such a short period has made mincemeat of my nerves. Hearing her say my name helps, though, and I decide not to examine that too closely. “Areyouokay?”

She snorts and it’s so undignified, for her, that I even laugh a little.

“What asaalé,” she grumbles. And I have to agree, Barker is a bit of a bastard.

“You’re doing so well.”

Her praise shouldn’t do such complicated things to me. I squirm a little, gather what’s left of my wits, and clear my throat. “What now?”

“Now,” she murmurs, “I pretend to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.”

“I hope they get bored soon, I’m getting thirsty.”

“There’s an in-suit drink bag—”

“I’m not drinking in this thing,” I cut in. “Because I refuse topeein this thing.”

Her laugh bursts from her, almost like I surprised her into doing it. It seems such a rare thing that the sound of it is thrilling, and I soak it in. After a moment, it trails off.

“Look up at the camera.”

So I do. There’s a beat of silence, and then, “I’ll do what I must to get you out of there. And don’t worry about Vee; he’s safe where he is. Beau is keeping a close eye on him.”

It’s a weak, wavering smile that spreads across my face, but it happens unbidden. I shouldn’t, but I trust that she means it.

In the end, the officers finish searching theMidasand come back to find Tanisira elbow-deep in the control panel beside the airlock hatch. Kit had warned us they were on their way and Tanisira proceeded to unscrew the panel and start pulling cables out. Lest she scare the absoluteshitout of me, she assured me that she was merely pretending to fiddle with the wires. So, when Barker’s heavy footsteps come to a stop behind her, I know she looks hard at work.

“It’s been an hour, Captain. How much longer will this take?”

“I already told you. I don’t even know if this will be fixed tonight,” Tanisira says. And then, to emphasise the point, she yawns. The airlock is illuminated like the inside of a disco ball,but the rest of the ship is dim to reflect Tellurian time. It’s late, and the officers must be tired, especially the newbie on her first off-planet call.

“—chasing real criminals.” One of the officers grumbles under his breath.

I hear a susurrus of lowered voices, possibly a confab where Tanisira can’t hear specifics. It goes on for a few minutes, with Barker’s aggravated tone punctuating his objections. Eventually, the officer with the deep voice—Moore—approaches Tanisira.

“Unfortunately, we can’t wait that long. The rest of the ship is clear of intruders, and Harvey Rose is unharmed. He feels safe to stay on board, and his father is happy with that. It was probably a trick of the light that showed up on the CCTV. We’ll need to see the legal documents you have for Mabel, but then we’ll leave you to fix your ship. Hopefully, you can get her out of there before she sustains any injuries to her person.”

With intense relief, I collapse awkwardly onto the bench. My whole body is shaking, down to my knees. Now it’s only a matter of waiting for the officers to alight and their cruiser to undock. I immediately start thinking about bed, and the kind of deep sleep I’m going to fall into.

But I notice that the noise of receding footsteps changes. They seem to be returning, boots ringing out against the deck—though it sounds like only one person coming back.