I began to make my way toward the flight deck.

  “Nooope,” Yuki said behind me, her hand landing on my shoulder. She gently redirected me back down the corridor, toward the medbay where Zara had just disappeared with Astra in her arms.

  I didn’t argue, I just kept moving.

  The corridor felt longer than usual. Every step dragged. My legs still worked, technically, but it felt like they belonged to someone else. My head buzzed with that hollow ache that comes after exercising on an empty stomach but multiplied by ten. Like my thoughts were echoing inside an empty shell. Without the ichor, everything felt off-balance.

  Yuki opened the medbay door ahead of me, then guided me inside.

  “You need to sit down,” she said, glancing at me. “And not just to look dramatic for the rest of us. You’re out of energy. Your nervous system’s probably half-cooked. Keep ignoring the damage, and you’ll collapse before you finish your next clever one-liner.”

  “Let me enjoy the illusion of dignity for five more steps.”

  Yuki tilted her head, the faintest twitch of a smirk threatening the corner of her mouth, but she didn’t grant me the satisfaction.

  I glanced past her toward Astra.

  She lay motionless on the med-platform, her tanned skin appeared unusually pale against the silver lining of the diagnostics bed. A thin array of fluid lines fed into her arm. Her vitals were displayed on a hovering interface just above her chest. Clear, stable, and ticking at a normal rhythm. The bed itself administered a tailored cocktail: hydration, blood stabilization, cellular repair. Nothing invasive. Just the basics.

  She would live. That was all I needed to see.

  And then I was moving.

  Correction: I was being moved.

  Yuki and Zara descended on me like a synchronized strike team. I barely got out a grunt before they grabbed me by the shoulders and chest, spun me sideways, and shoved me back into the med-chair like I was just another casualty they were processing.

  “Okay, okay…” I started, but the chair was already reclined and locking into place.

  “Consider your dignity revoked,” Zara said flatly, tapping the screen beside me.

  Yuki let out a quiet laugh while inserting the IV lines. “I like you,” she said, glancing at Zara. “You’re like Astra, if Astra took orders personally and judged people professionally.”

  Zara raised an eyebrow. “Was that supposed to be a compliment?”

  “It was,” Yuki said, tightening one of the straps on my monitor just a little too snug. “Astra flirts with her knives. You just use your voice.”

  Zara gave a faint smirk, the closest thing she ever allowed to affection. “One of us had to develop restraint.”

  “By all means, don’t let my medical crisis interrupt your girl talk.”

  Yuki gave her a side-glance. “Don’t ruin it. I was enjoying this moment.”

  “Should I come back when I’m in more critical condition, or…?”

  Yuki turned back toward the display. “Your blood pressure’s unstable. Skin temperature’s low. Nervous response is flickering. You’re lucky you’re not seizing.”

  “I’m lucky I’m still pretty,” I muttered.

  “Hold still,” she said picking up a compact surgical cutter from the instrument tray.

  “It was just a joke, please don’t stab me.”

  “Just the opposite,” she replied, activating the blade with a soft buzz.

  The cutter sliced cleanly through the torn remnants some kind of sterile gray jumpsuit the lab had thrown me into after they’d peeled me down to bone and blood. It hung in strips across my chest and legs, falling away like paper under a torch.

  “Damn,” I muttered. “You’re really stripping me down right now?”

  Yuki didn’t look up. “Medical protocol.”

  I glanced down. “Well, now I’m naked. Again.”

  Zara made a noise halfway between a sigh and a laugh. “At least throw a sheet over him. If Nyx walks in and sees that, she might jump on it.”

  As if summoned, the door opened.

  “Ooh là là,” Nyx said as she stepped in, arms crossed, a smile full of mischief. Her voice curled with amusement. “You are already undressing ‘im? Tch… did I miss ze fun part?”

  Yuki didn’t even blink. “You’re late.”

  Nyx strolled over, her hips swaying, that little black cat padding behind her like a smug shadow. “You didn’t even save me a leetle button to pop? Shame on you, docteur.”

  I exhaled through my nose, not even bothering to look up. “I don’t think I have enough blood left for whatever you’re all imagining.”

  Zara snorted. Yuki raised an eyebrow, clearly unfazed. Nyx just grinned wider.

  “Even half-dead,” she purred, “you are still the most fun patient on this ship.”

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  A small, indignant meow echoed from the floor behind Nyx.

  Nyx glanced down and gasped. “Charbon! How did you get out? I locked you in my room, mon petit meurtrier.”

  The little black cat padded past her with the haughty precision of royalty returning to his throne. He leapt up onto the corner of the med-table and sat, tail flicking, eyes half-lidded, utterly unbothered by the chaos around him.

  “Charbon?” I asked.

  “Eet means charcoal,” Nyx said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Small. Black. Leaves a mess. Sets things on fire. Parfait. Unless you 'ave something better in mind?”

  Zara didn’t look up from the chart she was reading. “That’s… disturbingly accurate.”

  Charbon gave a regal meow and curled up like he absolutely owned the place, which, judging by the smug look in his molten-amber eyes, he probably did.

  “No, by all means,” I muttered. “Also I probably should’ve told you sooner, but the little guy can teleport. I think he was some kind of experiment in the lab.”

  Zara didn’t look up from the chart she was reading, but her voice cut in dry as ever. “Great. Now we’ve got two teleporting killers on the ship.”

  “I can’t teleport.”

  “No,” she said, glancing up and nodding toward Nyx. “But she can.”

  I turned toward Nyx. “Really?”

  Nyx just gave a slow, fox-like smile.

  Yuki groaned, exasperated. “Oh my god. Stop. Talking. Tim is half-dead, Astra’s unconscious, and now we’re ranking murder pets? Can someone please act like we’re lucky to be alive after escaping a nightmare death lab?”

  Nyx turned to make a smartass remark, stepping directly in front of me and froze. For the first time, she saw me clearly from the front.

  Her playful grin vanished.

  She hadn’t really looked before. Not all the way.

  Her gaze dropped to my chest, to the gauze on my shoulder, then to my nail less hands, trembling slightly, nails stripped down to raw flesh.

  She stepped closer and saw the ruined socket where my left eye used to be.

  The beautiful crimson color she had drained from her face in an instant.

  She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her voice came out hoarse, like it didn’t know what tone to use.

  “I did not... I thought eet was just a black eye. You always look 'alf-dead after a fight. I did not know…” Her voice cracked. “You are actually 'urt. You never actually get ‘urt. Not like zis.”

  She took another step, slower now, like moving too fast would break something.

  “Oh stars, Timus…”

  She reached for me, hesitated, and then gently cradled one of my hands in both of hers, careful like she thought I’d fall apart if she squeezed too hard.

  “Zey took your eye… your beautiful eye,” she whispered. “And your 'ands… your fingernails, your toenails too? Qu'est-ce qu'ils t'ont fait, mon pauvre?”

  Her eyes were already filling with tears.

  “No idea what you just said, but I’m fine. Still got one good eye, and at least my charming personality made it out intact. Could’ve been worse.”

  Nyx’s lip quivered, her composure fracturing like glass under pressure.

  She whirled toward the console. “Ares, activate ze machine. Heal ze Commandant.”

  I shook my head. “No. Ares continue with your care of Astra and update us on how she’s doing. God only knows what they did to her in there. She was in much longer than me.”

  Ares’s voice replied from the overhead speakers.

  “Med-chamber diagnostics have already been completed. Subject Astra is stable. No critical trauma detected. Symptoms include extreme dehydration, sleep deprivation, moderate muscular atrophy, and minor EMF overstimulation consistent with prolonged confinement in high-suppression fields.”

  So, compared to me… not too bad.

  “She’s exhausted,” Ares continued. “Rest and fluid restoration are the current priority. I will continue to administer intravenous nutrient synthesis.”

  Nyx stepped closer to the console, eyes tight. “Ares, how bad is 'e really?”

  Ares responded without pause. “Diagnostics for Commander Corvus were completed at initial medbay entry: left ocular organ is absent. Optical regeneration is not viable. Had partial tissue remained, partial restoration may have been possible. However, ocular systems do not regenerate predictably. Synthetic replacement is advised. Additional injuries include Class IV nerve trauma to hands and feet, multiple lacerations, 27% fluid loss, and two fractured ribs. I recommend extended stasis or intensive care.”

  Nyx’s breath hitched audibly. She stepped away from the console and turned back to me.

  “Then I’ll get you a new one,” she said half-defiant, half-pleading. “A good one. A combat-grade aug. I will borrow ze credits from my parents… pfft, I will sell everyzing I own, I do not care. We will get you somezing better. You will see better than all of us combined, mon chéri.”

  “Nyx.”

  “Non, do not. Do not lie to me again. You are not fine. I can see you.”

  “I’ve got crimson dust to sell. Once Astra’s back on her feet, that’ll cover repairs. No need to borrow from your family. I don’t ask for help I don’t need.”

  Nyx didn’t answer. Her eyes drifted toward Yuki who had moved closer, monitoring the vitals on the screen.

  And just like that, her mood turned.

  “Zis is your fault.”

  Yuki tilted her head slightly. “Excuse me?”

  Nyx stepped toward her slowly, that tail of hers flicking as if ready to strike.

  “You were at ze Spire. And zen ze lab. You knew what zey were doing to 'im,” she said, her voice sinking with each word. “And you let it 'appen.”

  Yuki didn’t flinch. “I weakened the suppression fields. It was the only thing I could do without getting caught.”

  “You let zem tear 'im apart,” Nyx hissed. “Like 'e was nozhing.”

  Yuki folded her arms. Her expression didn’t shift, but her voice hardened. “I couldn’t do more than disrupt the psionic inhibitors. If I pushed harder, or made a show of helping, they would’ve executed my sister. She’s still at the TRNC academy. They watch everything. I’m all she has left.”

  Nyx’s voice turned to frost. “Zat’s not good enough.”

  “It’s the truth,” Yuki said flatly. “And I’d rather live long enough to protect what I still have.”

  Nyx scoffed. “Not all of us get to 'ide behind ze clearance codes and secret allegiances.”

  “And not all of us can blink through hell like a damn witch.” Yuki fired back without hesitation.

  The room went silent.

  I blinked slowly, looking between them. “Okay. One… everyone calm down. Two… what’s this about teleporting through what now?”

  Nyx gave a casual shrug, brushing a lock of hair back behind her ear like it wasn’t a big deal. “Eet’s not through hell.”

  Yuki crossed her arms. “Maybe not but you did send a hundred men there at the Spire.”

  Nyx cut in, voice sharp. “Eet wasn’t a hundred.”

  “Ninety-three, then. Whatever helps you sleep.”

  “Enough. Yuki, Zara, out. Now.” I pointed to the door

  Yuki folded her arms. “You’re not my superior anymore, Commander. You deserted.”

  I didn’t blink. “No? Then I suppose I’ll have to silence you in other ways, if you’d prefer.”

  Zara sighed and grabbed Yuki by the arm. “We’re leaving. Let him speak to her.”

  Yuki didn’t argue further, but the glare she threw me said plenty. Still, she turned and followed Zara out. The door slid shut behind them, leaving just me and Nyx in the low hum of medbay silence.

  “Remember zose priests you saved me from?” she said quietly. “Zat was not just some random cult. Zey were going to sacrifice me to Thamuzar.”

  “Thamuzar?”

  She nodded slowly. “Some old star god zey worship. Zey believe 'e sleeps somewhere deep within one of ze planes of ze Hollow, feeding on pain and death and offering power in return.” Her voice softened. “Zey said I was 'marked.' Zey said I could open doors zat were not meant to be opened.”

  She looked away, brushing a strand of hair from her face. Her voice dropped again, nearly a whisper.

  I didn’t know what to say to that.

  She gave a dry, bitter smile. “I did not tell you because... I thought you would zink I was a freak.”

  “Takes one to know one.”

  She let out a soft, shaky laugh, wet with tears she hadn’t meant to show.

  The look she gave me might have even made me emotional if I wasn’t so damn tired.

  I watched her, my thoughts blurring at the edges.

  This world still wore the same bones I remembered. Same ship. Same stars. Same girl standing a foot from me with that wicked grin and cracked heart.

  But so much had changed.

  And still no HUD. No stats. No cooldowns. No map. No quest log.

  No game.

  Just blood and pain, and the echo of her laughter.