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ABBEY
Abbey fumbled with the unfamiliar door controls until she heard the click and knew the door was locked. Then she just stood there with her back to the door, afraid to move forward.
She had put a locked door between herself and the huge Monstrum, but now she was essentially trapped in an unknown space. The lights were bright enough to show contrast, but everything in front of her was just a big blur. It was scary to step into the unknown, not knowing if she might trip over something and fall and hurt herself.
If only I had my cane or my phone! But she didn’t have either. And anyway, she didn’t think the Be My Eyes app would work aboard the Monstrum Mother Ship. They weren’t on Earth anymore—she doubted she’d have any WiFi signal up here in orbit around Mars, she thought dryly.
Well, she couldn’t stand in one place forever. As scary as it was, she needed to explore her new environment—which was where she was going to stay until the big Monstrum agreed to let her go back home to Earth. Also, she really had to pee. Thank goodness she’d decided to lock herself in the bathroom instead of a bedroom or kitchen.
I wonder where the toilet is?
She listened carefully and thought she heard a rushing sound, like water running somewhere near her. It sounded fairly close, she thought. She hoped that the Monstrum version of a toilet wasn’t too different from the kind she was used to, otherwise she might have a hard time using it. It would be awful to relieve herself in the wrong place.
Listening again, she decided that the rushing sound was directly across from her. If there was nothing in the way, she should be able to just take a few steps and find it right in front of her.
Ahead of her the floor had some kind of turquoise blue tile that spread out to cover a large distance—at least, if the size of the blur she was seeing was any indication. There was a fuzzy, dark green ring around it interspersed with colorful dark red blobs at intervals. Abbey wondered if it was some kind of mosaic—maybe the tiles made a picture. If so, she was never going to see it. And if it was some kind of art and they didn’t want her to step on it, they shouldn’t have put it on the floor.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward, determined to cross the turquoise tiles to get to the hidden toilet on the other side. But her foot snagged on something and when she fell forward, into the turquoise blur, it didn’t stop her—she just kept going.
With a scream and a splash she was suddenly submerged in warm water. As her head went under, all she could think was,
I can’t swim! I’m locked in and I can’t swim—I’m going to drown!
14
SOLON
Solon, who was arranging two crystal goblets of Woo—a pale blue liquor that was popular on the Blood Kindred home world of Tranq Prime—was instantly alert when he heard Abbey scream. The noise of distress was followed immediately by a watery splash and he knew what must have happened—somehow she had fallen into the bathing pool!
Not knowing if she could swim, he felt a surge of panic as he rushed to the door of the fresher.
“Abbey? Abbey!” he roared as he tugged on it, but of course it was locked. He spent a futile moment struggling with it before he remembered he could override it. “Suite—override all locks—all doors open!” he shouted.
Every door in the suite slid open—including the front door—but Solon didn’t care. He only had eyes for what was revealed when the fresher door slid to the side.
Abbey was thrashing and gasping in the middle of the bathing pool—clearly she was drowning.
Solon didn’t hesitate—he rushed into the fresher and jumped into the pool. Grabbing her, he swung her up into his arms, making sure her head was above the water.
For a moment things were difficult because the water in the middle of the pool was so deep it was even over his own head. But Solon kicked hard and made it to the edge of the pool where the water only came up to his shoulders.
Abbey was still gasping and crying in his arms, her long brown hair hiding her face. Her arms were clasped around his neck and through the skin-to-skin contact he could Feel both her terror and relief and most of all, her deep unhappiness.
The emotions broke his heart.
“Come on, lelka,” he murmured, climbing out of the pool with her still in his arms. “Let’s get dried off.”
He started to put her down but, to his surprise, she clung to him. “No, no—please!” she gasped.
“I just need to get us some towels,” Solon tried to reassure her. “Look—sit here on the bench beside the pool.”
He placed her on the small wooden bench at the far end of the bathing pool. When she felt the hard wood under her bottom, Abbey let go of his neck and gripped the bench instead. She stayed there, panting and shivering, while Solon fetched them both some of the “thirsty” towels the Kindred had developed that dried almost instantly.
He offered some of the towels to Abbey but she didn’t seem to see them. Or at least, she didn’t reach to take them from his hand. So he dropped them in her lap saying,
“Here.”
Then he stripped off his boots, shirt, and trousers, which were sopping wet, but left on his under briefs so he wouldn’t frighten or offend her.
