A booming rumble of sheer energy shook the city as the forcefield dropped.
Rora clutched the railing while the ship rocked, nearly capsizing. Splashes of bodies tumbling into the water surrounded her, and she prayed they were passengers aboard another vessel and not one of the cyborgs.
Leaning on the ship’s railing, she held her breath as flames erupted from the building across the city Gwen had disappeared into.
Get out of there.
She studied the horizon, waiting for any sign of a skimmer.
“Get us up!” Emmeline barked somewhere nearby.
“Not yet!” Bastian called from the helm, though he guided the ship out onto open water and turned the vessel so their course was set directly for space. “We have to wait for Gwendolyn.”
“She’ll make it,” Rora said. “She can do this.”
“None of us will make it if we wait until that angry lizard is upon us,” Emmeline said.
She was right.
The moment Gwen got to the ship, so would the dragon. Obedient was fast, but not fast enough to outpace a dragon during takeoff from the water. Even if they were airborne and preparing to enter space, engaging the oxygen and gravity fields took time. They might not be able to lower it for Gwen and put the fields back up if the dragon was mere moments behind her.
Suddenly, a form appeared above the city, and Rora gasped in relief.
“Yes!” Marzanna screamed beside her. “Go, Gwen!”
As Gwen flew over the waters, Bastian slowly raised the ship toward space, instructing Marzanna on how to turn on the artificial gravity and oxygen generators. Countless watchmen and performers scurried about the deck, wordlessly doing tasks to ready the ship for space. Soon, the ship hovered at the edge of Covenant’s natural gravity.
Below them, both Gwen and the dragon drew nearer.
The beast arched its back. Instead of spewing fire, it shook its head, wings flapping.
It can’t breathe. Let alone breathe fire.
When Gwen neared the ship, Rora’s heart hammered as she made out more details. By the looks of Gwen’s shoulder, she’d been shot at least once. Her body, cast, and tinkerer’s clothes were tattered and covered in blood. She clung weakly to her skimmer. Like the dragon, she swayed as she neared them.
“Come on, Gwen!” Rora called. “You’re almost there!”
Bastian shouted to Marzanna, “Get ready to bring down the oxygen and gravity field.”
Marzanna nodded and rushed back to the main control panel in the room beneath the quarterdeck.
“Everyone, grab a line and secure it to your waist!” Bastian called from where he stood at the helm, holding the ship steady.
The crew did as instructed, including the emotionless watchmen and performers.
When everyone had a line secured to their waist, Bastian shouted at Marzanna, “Lower it now!”
Rora took a deep breath before the shimmering fields went down, and the air grew thinner. Immediately, her thoughts blurred. Through the haze, she could see Gwen’s board start to sputter out. Still, the dragon pressed forward, beating its wings. But it, too, moved far slower.
Gwen’s eyes found Bastian’s for the briefest moment, and Rora looked back and forth between them. Beyond the jealousy swelling in her chest was another feeling entirely—acceptance. They were good for one another.
A strange look flickered across Gwen’s face before her eyelids fluttered. At that moment, Rora realized Gwen was saying goodbye to Bastian.
Oh no, you don’t.
As fast as she could, Rora dashed up the stairs to the quarterdeck. But as she ran, her feet started to lift off the deck, and she stumbled, clinging with her human hand to the railing.
Bastian held up a sword, about to jam it into the helm.
Chest heaving, Rora struggled to breathe. “I can keep the ship steady.”
Nodding, Bastian pulled on his mooring line. “Throttle the engines in reverse. When I have Gwendolyn, shift the thrusters. Get us into space. Make sure the others pull us in as fast as they can.”
Grabbing the helm in her human hand, her cyborg hand hanging uselessly, Rora nodded. “Aye, aye, Captain. Go save our girl.”
Bastian looked at her for a long moment before he nodded and ran toward the railing, shouting, “Put us in reverse, now!”
Slowly, the ship flew backward—toward Gwen and the scarlet dragon.
As Gwen’s eyes closed, her board completely dead, the dragon closed the distance between them.
Pulling on his mooring line once more, Bastian dived off the side of the ship with his sword in hand. He half fell, half floated toward Gwen, arms outstretched.
Holding her breath, Rora watched him draw nearer.
Gwen was fifty paces away, thirty paces, then twenty.
Then he had her. Wrapping an arm around Gwen’s waist, he brought the sword up, daring the approaching dragon to come closer. The beast was nearly on them. From where Rora stood, she could make out the colors of its scales. They weren’t entirely scarlet, but a mixture of red, black, gold, and violet.
“Pull them, now!” Rora shouted. “And get us moving forward!”
The watchmen hauled Bastian’s mooring line in as the ship jerked before moving steadily toward space.
When the dragon snapped its jaws, Rora held her breath, sweaty palm clutching the helm. It missed narrowly. The watchmen continued to pull them back toward the ship, and the dragon beat its wings furiously. It reached toward them, swiping its talons, and Bastian sliced up with the sword. The sword clanged off the beast’s scales and redirected its strike.
They were ten paces from the ship. Rora could see the blood floating from Gwen’s shoulder into the frosty air.
Hurry, she wanted to call out. But her head swam, and her chest ached.
The moment the watchmen grabbed a fistful of Bastian’s shirt, dragging him onto the deck, Rora shouted with the last of the oxygen in her chest, “Get those fields back up!”
There was a pause before the gravity and oxygen fields slammed into place.
The dragon collided with the shimmering field mere moments later, and its roaring pierced the air. As it did, the creature’s jaw drew wide as it tried to suck in oxygen. Twisting its head back and forth, it fought to breathe. After struggling a few moments longer, it gave up the fight. The talons and massive scaled body stopped moving, its head slumping to the side as it lost consciousness and started to fall back toward the ground.
Good riddance.
“Bring the gravity and oxygen fields back down.” Bastian rose to his feet, placing an unconscious Gwen onto the deck.
“Why?” Marzanna demanded.
“Because if we don’t, the dragon will die.”
Akio crossed his arms. “That’s a bad thing because…?”
“Because it’s a cyborg, just like us,” Bastian replied.
“A cyborg who tried to eat us,” Akio said. “And might still if given a chance.”
Bastian shook his head. “It wasn’t given a proper chance, nor was it shown any kindness. It was provoked out of necessity, but we shouldn’t leave it here to die.”
“That’s a terrible idea.” Marzanna reached again for the switch to the gravity field. “Hang on to your tits, ladies.”
It didn’t take long to tie a rope around the dragon and bring it onto the ship. It did, however, take far longer to chain its mouth closed as they dragged the unconscious dragon below deck to another fireproof cage.
A new challenge for another day.
Once in space, Rora had one of the watchmen take her place at the helm, eager to find Gwen. Several of the performers had brought the tinkerer into what had once been the Mistress’s quarters, leaving a small pool of blood from where she’d lain on the main deck.
As Rora hurried down the stairs, she caught sight of the healer leaving Gwen’s room. Before she reached the door, Bastian appeared beside her.
They stared at each other for several long moments.
Slowly, Rora exhaled. “I think we should talk.”