Twenty-Six

Lights on the UNV console flicker. Bright then dim, over and over again. Think, Lezah, what could cause this?

“How can we help?” Seph asks, which is sweet, but his expertise isn’t going to do any good here. We don’t need to hack into the control panel; we need to fix it. I need to fix it.

I duck my head to get a look underneath. “Tools. Do you have any?”

Vaughn gestures behind us. “In the back of the ship, there’s a repair room,” she says. “It’s the one with the red door.”

I glance at Seph. “Let’s go.”

With him, I race past the other three and take off toward the back of the ship. The long, narrow hallway is full of doors, one of them named “galley” but none of them the one I’m looking for, so I keep going until I find it. The very last one. A bright-red door. A sign on it reads: Don’t even think about it. Turn around. Go away. Well I don’t have much of a choice, so I ignore the warning.

A light flips on as soon as the door opens. It’s some kind of repair room, a meticulously clean one at that. And I’d even go as far as to say my dream repair space, if that’s such a thing. A shiny metal table sits in the middle of the room. Like an exam table, except not for people; it’s for WALTERs that need to be repaired. A whole wall is dedicated to different kinds of screws, nuts, and bolts, all in labeled drawers.

“What are we even looking for?” Seph asks.

I smile. I’ve been thinking about it the entire run back here. It’s either loose wiring or a fuse that’s about to blow—or worse, but I’m not going to let myself think of that just yet. Either way, I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to fix it. And I’m even more confident I’ll be able to find what I need. Whoever organized this room is a genius, and I’ve already figured out their system. I thought I’d need his help, but I don’t. “I’ve got this.”

My first stop is to open a panel on the far wall. Inside are tools of every shape and size, all lined up in perfect order. I grab what I need, close the panel, and open one of the thousands of little drawers, taking out a new fuse, and then opening another to snag a few of the smallest screws listed. “And…done.”

“How did you do that?”

I close the drawer with a satisfying click. “It’s not hard. It’s a pretty obvious system in here if you’re familiar with fixing things.”

Back at the front of the UNV, I slide under the main console and get to work, pulling off the panel. It’s worse than I’d suspected. The tools and supplies I have will be able to fix the problem—for now—but we’re going to have to change out this circuit board. But I don’t remember seeing any spares. And if it couldn’t get any worse, since I’ve been gone, Clara found out there was a problem with the ship and hyperventilates that “we’re all going to die,” and the other two aren’t helping. Thank God Seph has gone in there to calm them all down. Such little faith these people have in my abilities. “You can let go of that button now,” I yell up to Vaughn.

“Are you sure?” she asks.

“Sure as shit stinks,” I say.

She does, and I slip the wire into place, securing it with the little screw, then slide out from under the console. “Next time, give me a challenge.” I laugh as I straighten out my clothes. That was actually kind of fun.

The main controls are back to normal, shining bright against the dark water. Vaughn doesn’t laugh with me. Her face is pinched. A sad expression clouds her eyes.

“Did I say something wrong?” I ask.

She swallows and shakes her head, disengaging her stare. “No. It’s nothing. You did everything right. Thanks.”

Clara runs up and squeezes me hard. “Oh my God, you saved our lives.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I squeak out, trying to get a breath from her death grip on me.

“You’re the best. The absolute best.” She squeezes me again before running back to tell the others we’re saved.

Vaughn doesn’t seem half as excited as Clara, which makes what I need to tell her twice as hard. “I should mention…” I start, and she glances my way. “I did fix it…kind of… We’re gonna need a new circuit board. I can totally replace it if you know where any are.”

She takes a long breath. “There’s a place we can go to get one. But there aren’t any more on the ship.”

“Is that a problem?” What if she says it’s back at the building we just came from? The one that, by now, is crawling with AIRS searching for us. My stomach tumbles around, pushing its way up to my chest.

Vaughn stares at me for a long moment and shakes her head. I let out a relieved breath, but she still looks tense. Do we have to go somewhere worse than a building full of AIRS? She clears her throat. “I’m getting hungry, do you mind grabbing some stuff from the galley back there?” She does look pale, and I don’t want her passing out, so as much as I want to know more about where we need to go, I agree to get some stuff.

“I’ll help you,” Seph says as I pass him on the way.

Together, we head back down the same narrow hallway, except not as far. The galley is smaller than the repair room, but it’s got everything needed to prepare food. I find cans of tomatoes and a single onion. Inside another cabinet is a bunch of protein replacements and general nonperishable (barely edible) stuff. Sure, we might not starve, but we’re not gonna like eating, either. All Seph comes up with is a stale loaf of bread.

He grabs a pot. “Tomato soup with croutons it is.”

I raise my brows. “You can cook?”

“I can do a lot of things.” He hands me the pot. “Fill this up while I slice those.”

I head to the sink, while Seph gets to work chopping the onion. After the pot is half full, I set it on the stove, turn the burner on, and squeeze myself onto the counter to watch him.

Seph has never hit me as someone who’s self-conscious, and here in the kitchen, he seems to have a new level of confidence. He commands the task with such authority. Never hesitating with the sharp knife in his hand, flipping the tomatoes and onions and catching them in the pan. He might be good at hacking, but this…this is art.

Once he’s satisfied with the consistency of the soup and sets it to simmer on the stove, he turns to me. “I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

There’s something I want to ask him, too. “What’s up?”

He comes forward and stands in front of my knees. So close. A jolt surges through me, and all I want to do is reach out and touch him. We haven’t been this close or alone like this in…well, it feels like a long time. Although it’s been less than a day.

“I’m sorry.” His breath smells like sweet tomatoes.

I swallow but don’t say anything.

“I’m sorry that I hurt you. And that you thought I’d abandon you guys because I figured it out. I hope you know I’d never leave you.”

I take his hand in mine. “And I’m sorry for being so angry. I know you didn’t do it on purpose. But I want to know who the guy was who hired you, and what you meant by my real name. Lezah’s the only name I can remember.”

“I wish I could tell you something about him. But there was nothing special, like they could’ve gone to school with me and passed me a million times in the hall. Just your average everyday guy.” He squeezes my hand. “Your name is Hazel. I’m not sure if you changed it or when, but when we knew each other, it was always just Hazel.”

My pulse increases, and that lightheaded feeling is back. As soon as he says it, I’m sure it’s true. But Lezah still feels like me, too. Is it a name I gave myself, or something they wanted me to think was real? I wish there was some way to find out. There’re so many more things I want to ask him. Like if memories I have about Mom and Noah are right, but I can’t seem to get my thoughts in order or my mouth to work. And I’m scared. Scared that they’re wrong. Or that he doesn’t know.

Seph’s gaze flickers from my eyes to my lips. My breath catches as he slides his finger down my arm, then wraps his around me before pressing his lips to mine. And he’s kissing me. Kissing me with such ferocity, like he wants me. Needs me. I realize in this moment how much I need him, too. I thought I could do this all alone, and I still could, but now I know I don’t ever want to be alone again.

I wrap my legs around his waist and pull him closer. No longer is there the pop, pop, pop of the soup boiling on the stove. All there is, is the thud, thud, thud of his heart. Or maybe it’s mine. Louder than thunder that shakes the ground. His hands are on my arms, my back, under my shirt. Touching. Feeling. And I want them there. Need him closer.

“We’re starving up here,” Trip’s voice ricochets off the walls, and Seph and I jump apart. “What’s the holdup?”

Now that Trip has interrupted us, I notice his voice is coming from a speaker on the wall. I lean over and press the talk button. “Almost done. We’ll be right there.” Asshole. “I guess we better…” I go to jump off the counter, but Seph stops me.

“Wait. I wasn’t lying before when I told you there was no record for your arrest.”

My insides freeze. I’d forgotten that part.

He shakes his head. “And it’s not just that. It’s like you don’t even exist.”