“I can’t believe they’ve waited out there all this time.” Hellion shot nervous looks to the others. “What if they’re still waiting when we hit our exit time?”

“Let’s worry about the here and now.” Stag overrode the coms in Maze’s and Yammer’s quarters, informing them what was going on. Both men responded, now awake. He ordered them to stay where they were and released the locks on their rooms so they could get out if severe damage happened in their area.

“Incoming,” Veller warned.

Stag adjusted thrusters, avoiding the flare of light. It missed but they got a better look at what the Markus Models were firing at them. “Smart bastards.”

Hellion had a wordier reaction. “Son of a bitch. Those are rigged to come apart on impact and the mini bombs inside are attracted to metals. They might have reprogrammed them to just open and deploy at certain distances.”

“We can hope there’s nothing near us to hit.” Kelis kept calm. “The range on them is about forty meters once the load is dispersed. That one passed us and is out of range.”

“They’ve effectively mined the area with bombs that will be attracted to the Varnish if we pass any deployed ones.” Stag watched for more of the weapons. “All the ones I’ve seen have flown beyond range. That’s good.”

“What if they opened some of them ahead of us?” Veller sent the visuals from his personal pad to the main screen to show them where the Varnish was, and where he estimated they had come from when they’d entered the dead zone. “We have to pass through this path to reverse our course.”

Stag agreed it wasn’t the best news. But it could have been worse. They didn’t spot any more flares, but that only meant the thrusters on the missiles weren’t active. Stag forced his body to relax.

“We’ll wait, watch, and prepare for our exit.”

“What do you have in mind?” Kelis turned his chair, staring at Stag.

“Decoys. We’ll move slow and shoot metal objects ahead of us. The bombs will be drawn to them and attach.”

“The Varnish is a much larger mass than and small objects we can fire ahead of us.”

Stag was aware of that. “The only other option is to blast out of here at full burn and hope we don’t fly directly into one. We’d pass them at too high a rate of speed for them to be able to attach to our hull.”

“They’d turn when they sensed us, but we’d be out of range before they could lock on.” Hellion nodded. “Even direct impacts might not make them detonate. There is a two-second delay. We could be past them with enough speed.” He smiled. “I like that plan better.”

Stag wasn’t fond of either option. Both had problems. The slow way might mean suffering massive damage to the ship, but the fast way could make leaving the dead zone more difficult. At full burn, they might make miscalculations on their exit. “Watch your screens.”

He relayed the options to the two crew in their quarters, ordering them to try to return to sleep. He didn’t notify Nala. He wanted her on alert in case something went wrong. Cyborgs could react faster. Her reflexes would be slower and she wasn’t as tough to kill.

It bothered him, thinking of something happening to her.

He shoved his thoughts away, focusing on his task. They watched for more flaring but no lights showed in the vast darkness around them.

* * * * *

Nala sat on the bed with an oxygen canister and mask within reach. Time had dragged by since Stag’s voice had cut into her sleep. His warning had woken her and she’d discovered he’d left to go on shift, and that he’d freed her wrists. The drawer he’d told her about did hold emergency equipment in case of a ship failure. She wouldn’t suffocate, and she now had a med kit, as well as a temperature suit to keep her from freezing if life support went down.

So far nothing bad had happened. No explosions had been heard or felt.

Hours passed.

She had used the cleansing unit, taking her portable oxygen with her, and then explored Stag’s storage drawers. Some refused to open at her touch, unauthorized to her, but she’d found more of her clothes. She’d chosen a tunic and casual pants. She even put on a pair of his socks to protect her feet in case of catastrophe.

She got up and paced. It was her job to be in charge. After six years, she was the one used to giving orders. “This sucks! I hate feeling helpless.”

The door opened and she was actually glad to see the grim but handsome cyborg as he returned to his quarters.

“Situation?”

He let the door close behind him and bent, tearing off his boots. “Don’t you have a bed to make?” He glanced at it. “I’m in need of a nap.”

“Bullshit. What happened? What’s going on?” A suspicion crossed her mind. “Did you lie just to freak me out? That would be all kinds of messed up, Stag. Cruel even. I’ve been worried sick and just waiting for shit to hit the fan.”

“You can call me master. It has a nice ring to it, from an android.”

“You bastard. Stop with that crap!” Her temper blew. “I’m right, aren’t I? You wanted me afraid and thinking we were in some dire situation just to get even because you’re still mad at me for some stupid reason!” She wanted to beat on him, even it would be a wasted effort. She stormed to the bed, and gripped the small tank. She threw it at his chest.

He caught it with ease, showing off his reflexes. “No, I didn’t lie to you. We’re in a ‘situation’, as you called it. The alert is ongoing.” He walked over to her and offered the tank. “Keep that close. You might still need it.”

She tried to calm herself but it was hard. It was like he was trying to make her furious. She glanced down at the tank, then back up at him. “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s not a requirement. I don’t want you to die, so take this. I can hold my breath for over two minutes to reach another canister. You can’t, nor are you able to reach where another one is located.” He offered it again by pushing it against her chest.

She took the tank and tossed it on the mattress, not taking her gaze off him. He seemed actually concerned for her ability to survive. That was something. “What do you want me to say? Sorry I compared you to a sex bot? You’re a cyborg. Excuse me if the information I heard isn’t right. Couldn’t you take it as a compliment that I thought you were sexy and said I wanted to buy you?”