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“I just synced the ship’s internal nav data to my comm and also sent it back to Lorr, so they’ll have the same intel we do,” she told him.
“This is why I love you,” Levi said.
“And I love you for loving that about me.” She kissed him on the cheek.
“Let’s get out of here,” Levi said.
They’d just stepped into the hall when the hum of the engines suddenly started up.
“Oh, shit,” Levi said, his eyes growing wide as he looked at Cora.
That sound meant two things, neither of which was good news for him and Cora. The crew was back on board, and the ship was about to take off.
Without another word, they both ran back in the direction they’d come—toward the cargo dock. The crew must have all been prepped for takeoff because the halls were miraculously still empty. But as they approached the cargo door, Levi felt the familiar gut-dropping feeling of the ship rising.
They probably only had a couple of seconds before the refueling station’s airlock reopened and the space vacuum detectors disabled the ship’s doors. Levi knew that even Cora’s lock-cracker couldn’t help them then.
They burst into the cargo bay, and Levi grabbed a couple of bright orange space suits on the way.
“Here!” he called, throwing one to Cora.
The two of them tried to run and dress themselves simultaneously, but even as they hobbled toward the cargo door they’d come through, Levi knew it was no good. They were almost certainly too late.
With suits finally on, they ran the last few steps. Cora set her comm to crack the lock, but through the transparent wrist window of the spacesuit, Levi saw the telltale flashing red light that he’d half expected.
Cora turned to him, a look of dismay on her face. She didn’t even say anything, just shook her head sadly.
Levi let out a sigh, pulling off his now-useless helmet and wrapping an arm around Cora’s shoulders.
“Well, on the bright side,” he said. “At least we don’t have to wear these ugly suits.”
In spite of the circumstances, Cora cracked a smile and pulled off her helmet.
“Well that’s good news, I guess,” she replied. “Especially since we stick out like a couple of sore thumbs in these.”
Levi nodded as another thought occurred to him. “We might have to find a place to hide before someone comes in here, though,” he told her. “I don’t think the Jorvlens take kindly to hitchhikers.”
Chapter 29
Cora was astounded at the sheer colossal size of the hold. You could have fit a fleet of spaceships in one storeroom alone. They had been walking for half a flick and still hadn’t come to the end of it.
The hold was filled with massive containers that needed a giant pulley system to move. The high-vaulted ceiling was a long way up and housed all the lifting gear and enormous gantries spanning from one side to the other.
At first, Cora had felt exposed walking through the racks of containers that filled the cargo bay, but she soon realized no one was around. Once the cargo was loaded the crew had very little reason to come down to this level.
“We should find somewhere to make camp. It looks like we’re stuck in this can for a while,” said Levi.
“Do you think they might have a smaller storeroom around the outside somewhere? I feel super exposed out here in the main hold,” Cora asked.
“Probably. They must have smaller items on board, or other types of storage, like for the crew’s effects or perishable food items. Let’s go and explore,” Levi said.
They had almost made it to the side wall when Cora suddenly felt the shift of the massive craft as it went into warp drive. It always made her feel a little queasy as the great engines warped time and space to travel swiftly across the galaxy. But her stomach soon settled. Where in the universe will we end up? she wondered.
They worked their way through the containers to the edge of the hold. Cora was right. They found several smaller storage rooms in this section and poked around in them until they found one with a hover cart stored in it.
“Hey, this looks like a fun place to hang out,” said Cora, checking out the bucket seats and open space to lie down in the flatbed at the back.
“Perfect,” said Levi, climbing in next to her.
