Liliana to avert her eyes away. She took several deep breaths to calm her nerves, which didn’t help. “This sub-orbital jumping will only make my phobias worse!” Liliana whined.
“Put on your helmet and you’ll see that it won’t,” Khrome appeared next to her. To her surprise, he wore a strictly encouraging expression on his noseless blue face. “Now, your suit has about twenty-two orvs of oxygen in it, but I doubt you’ll need that much.” The usual jokiness in his tone was nowhere to be found. Liliana put on the helmet, after which Khrome dotingly made sure all the latches and air pressure seals were secured. Now wearing her helmet, she sucked in another deep breath. Nothing out of the ordinary, save the tang of processed air on her tongue.
“What about your suit?” Liliana asked, and realized the stupidity of that question. Khrome was courteous enough to just silently sneer. He didn’t need a spacesuit or helmet.
“Okay,” Khrome began. ”We’re currently about 50,000 feet over Nahrain, somewhere around the Arabian Desert— away from spacelane traffic. We’ll jump out and be free-falling at a terminal velocity of about 140 mph. Then your suit’s gravity repulsors will kick in at around 5500 feet. I’ll slow down my descent around the same time. Liliana?”
The doctor just nodded idly in blank-faced terror. “Okay,” she whispered tersely to everything he said. “Okay, okay.”
“Alright,” Khrome turned her towards the wall they had their backs to. “Navcom, open left side door with the barometric forcefield in place.” Immediately, a sizeable portion of the Unionjack’s sidewall slid away, replaced by Terra Sollus’s vast sapphire skies. Adding to this view was the steadfast roar of strong winds buffeting the shuttle’s outer hull. Liliana’s stomach roiled.
Khrome began moving toward the shuttlecraft opening, clearly expectant that Liliana would do the same. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. Thoughts of open space, randomly smashing into a passing shuttlecraft or worse, the grav repulsors on her spacesuit malfunctioning, ran rampant through her mind. The realization that an endless gulf of everything and nothing awaited her sent stabs of panic and nausea through her. “I’m…not sure…I can.” Her breaths were too shallow, too quick, a precursor to hyperventilation.
“Liliana,” she heard Khrome’s calm, mechanized voice. “Take deep breaths.” She did as she was told, gulping in slower breaths of air. “Now look at me.”
Slowly she opened her eyes and saw Khrome standing before her. He placed both hands reassuringly on her arms, which covered up a good portion of them. “I’ll be there the whole time. Remember how Captain Nwosu said there was no ‘I’ in team. Even though there is a ‘me.’”
That won a panicky laugh out of Liliana. Suddenly, her legs felt a little less lead-like.
“This is about more than prepping for Star Brigade.” The Thulican pulled Liliana in close. “I’ve known beings who’ve been alive for a thousand and one years, but have never lived a moment. Want that to be you?”
“I don’t want to live a thousand and one years!” Liliana blurted out. Khrome glared at her. “Sorry, my mind overanalyzes and fills up with bad puns when I’m nervous.”
The doctor turned and looked out at the measureless sprawl of white billows and crystal blue oceans beneath them. Beyond that, inky space was dotted with diamond-bright stars.
Everything and nothing. Another rush of nausea hit her. She didn’t want to be a prisoner of that anymore. Liliana turned back to Khrome. “You jump, I jump.”
The Thulican broke into a huge smile. “On 3.” He turned toward the open shuttle hatch. “And don’t worry about the shuttle, Liliana,” he said right as Liliana opened her mouth. “The autopilot will close the door once we jump, and the craft will be waiting for us after our jump.” That quelled some of Liliana’s nausea as she faced the
“Put on your helmet and you’ll see that it won’t,” Khrome appeared next to her. To her surprise, he wore a strictly encouraging expression on his noseless blue face. “Now, your suit has about twenty-two orvs of oxygen in it, but I doubt you’ll need that much.” The usual jokiness in his tone was nowhere to be found. Liliana put on the helmet, after which Khrome dotingly made sure all the latches and air pressure seals were secured. Now wearing her helmet, she sucked in another deep breath. Nothing out of the ordinary, save the tang of processed air on her tongue.
“What about your suit?” Liliana asked, and realized the stupidity of that question. Khrome was courteous enough to just silently sneer. He didn’t need a spacesuit or helmet.
“Okay,” Khrome began. ”We’re currently about 50,000 feet over Nahrain, somewhere around the Arabian Desert— away from spacelane traffic. We’ll jump out and be free-falling at a terminal velocity of about 140 mph. Then your suit’s gravity repulsors will kick in at around 5500 feet. I’ll slow down my descent around the same time. Liliana?”
The doctor just nodded idly in blank-faced terror. “Okay,” she whispered tersely to everything he said. “Okay, okay.”
“Alright,” Khrome turned her towards the wall they had their backs to. “Navcom, open left side door with the barometric forcefield in place.” Immediately, a sizeable portion of the Unionjack’s sidewall slid away, replaced by Terra Sollus’s vast sapphire skies. Adding to this view was the steadfast roar of strong winds buffeting the shuttle’s outer hull. Liliana’s stomach roiled.
Khrome began moving toward the shuttlecraft opening, clearly expectant that Liliana would do the same. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. Thoughts of open space, randomly smashing into a passing shuttlecraft or worse, the grav repulsors on her spacesuit malfunctioning, ran rampant through her mind. The realization that an endless gulf of everything and nothing awaited her sent stabs of panic and nausea through her. “I’m…not sure…I can.” Her breaths were too shallow, too quick, a precursor to hyperventilation.
“Liliana,” she heard Khrome’s calm, mechanized voice. “Take deep breaths.” She did as she was told, gulping in slower breaths of air. “Now look at me.”
Slowly she opened her eyes and saw Khrome standing before her. He placed both hands reassuringly on her arms, which covered up a good portion of them. “I’ll be there the whole time. Remember how Captain Nwosu said there was no ‘I’ in team. Even though there is a ‘me.’”
That won a panicky laugh out of Liliana. Suddenly, her legs felt a little less lead-like.
“This is about more than prepping for Star Brigade.” The Thulican pulled Liliana in close. “I’ve known beings who’ve been alive for a thousand and one years, but have never lived a moment. Want that to be you?”
“I don’t want to live a thousand and one years!” Liliana blurted out. Khrome glared at her. “Sorry, my mind overanalyzes and fills up with bad puns when I’m nervous.”
The doctor turned and looked out at the measureless sprawl of white billows and crystal blue oceans beneath them. Beyond that, inky space was dotted with diamond-bright stars.
Everything and nothing. Another rush of nausea hit her. She didn’t want to be a prisoner of that anymore. Liliana turned back to Khrome. “You jump, I jump.”
The Thulican broke into a huge smile. “On 3.” He turned toward the open shuttle hatch. “And don’t worry about the shuttle, Liliana,” he said right as Liliana opened her mouth. “The autopilot will close the door once we jump, and the craft will be waiting for us after our jump.” That quelled some of Liliana’s nausea as she faced the
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