The Lost Star Episode One by Odette C. Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

chance they’ll open onto a
maintenance hatch or an open deck.”
    “A single chance in hell,” he spat.
    “ It’s all we’ve got.” She shifted past him
and considered the controls warily.
    “I wouldn’t touch them,” he warned.
    “ I don’t intend to.” She grabbed the open
panel and tried to tug it from the wall.
    “What the hell are you doing?”
    “Trying to use this as a lever to pry the
doors open,” she struggled through her words as she tried but
failed to pull the panel off.
    He kicked into action, grabbed the panel,
and yanked it free with a single move.
    He doubted this would work. His thundering
heart beat told him they were seconds from death, but he still
anchored the sharp end of the panel into the smooth door seam, and
pulled.
    It was agony fighting against the door’s
mechanism, but with a guttural grunt, he managed to pry the doors
back a centimeter.
    Instantly Ava stepped in by his side and
crammed her fingers into the small gap, leaning back and pulling
with all her might.
    For all it was worth.
    She was barely helping him. But that didn’t
matter. He didn’t give up, and with another stomach shaking grunt,
he pulled the doors open an inch.
    In front of him he saw nothing but the
smooth silver walls of the shaft.
    Above, however, he saw a dark recess. Right
at the top of the doors, there was a 40cm gap that led into an
access shaft.
    “Christ,” he spat as he grabbed the side of
the door and started pulling with all his might.
    The lift started to shudder more and more,
every vibration more violent than the next.
    They had seconds.
    With one final gut-wrenching pull, he opened
the doors. Then he jumped, caught the lip of the access tunnel, and
pulled himself up and into it with a single strong move.
    He waited for Ava to do the same, expecting
her to be right by his side.
    She wasn’t.
    Though she tried to jump for the access
tunnel, she fell short.
    “ Move,” he bellowed as the lift gave a
grating groan.
    She tried to jump for the access tunnel once
more.
    He jerked a hand down and caught her.
Locking one hand onto the lip of the tunnel around him, he pulled
her up.
    Just in time.
    The lift fell, the mag locks failing in a
hail of sparks.
    As the top of the lift sailed past the
access tunnel it sliced off a lock of Ava’s hair and caught the
side of her right armlet.
    She was flung back into him.
    He locked an arm around her and pulled her
back into the access tunnel, as far below the lift impacted the
cradle with a jaw-shuddering bang.
    He didn’t stop pulling her back until they
were several meters away.
    Then he realized they’d just dodged
death.
    A second later, and they’d have been
liquefied at the bottom of the shaft.
    She breathed against his arm, and his chest
pushed hard into her back as he struggled for air.
    He sat there for god knows how long until
she gently placed a hand on his arm. Her cold armlets brushed
against the bare skin of his wrists.
    It shocked him to his senses.
    Though the access shaft wasn’t tall enough
for him to stand in, he pushed to his feet nonetheless and crouched
with a hand locked on the wall.
    He looked down at her as she pushed
unsteadily to her feet.
    “Are you alright?” he asked, words tumbling
from his lips before he could stop them.
    She nodded slowly. “You?”
    “ Fine. But Christ, what the hell just
happened back there?”
    “I guess there was a critical flaw in the
safety program.”
    “ Critical flaw. More like fatal flaw. This
ship’s a death trap. Now, you sure you’re alright? Hey, wait –
you’re bleeding,” he realized as a bloom of blood slicked down her
fingers.
    She brought up her right arm. “The side of
the lift caught me as it fell.” She revealed her wrist. A chunk of
flesh was missing, the sides charred and mangled.
    He recoiled. “Just hold onto it. There’ll be
a med kit around here somewhere. In the meantime, use this.” He dug
a finger into one of his sleeves, loosening the stitching, then