Read Online The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith - Free Book Online
Authors: R. Lee Smith
Tags: Erótica, Literature & Fiction
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first time to real, disorienting effect. Smoke filled the gasping breath she took; she bent, coughing, and saw the world darken around her.
‘If you faint up here, you’ll fall and die,’ she thought, but she wasn’t fainting. The world really was darker. The clouds overhead were thickening; the heavy wind didn’t seem to be blowing them away, but rather pulling them down. She’d never seen clouds do that before. It wasn’t even raining.
But it was cold. It was cold and the wind was brutal and the only shelter Amber could see was a burning ship.
She didn’t know what to do.
5
S he stood there for an undeterminable stretch of truly awful minutes, locked in a kind of mindless, paralyzed panic, aware that time was passing but utterly incapable of doing anything about it. It was bad, and she often thought back on that moment later with the idea that that had to be at least some of what Hell was like, if there was a Hell worse than this, but eventually Amber looked down and saw Nicci below her, huddled small against a twisted flap of metal in the torn hull. Smoke poured through this wound so thickly it formed a solid wall behind her, but Nicci just sat there. Like it was a safe place. The other woman had left already but Nicci was waiting for her. Nicci needed her, just like always. She had to be there.
“Okay,” whispered Amber, and started back down the ledge. “Time to suck it up, little girl. Let’s do this.”
She dropped her duffel bag over the side and tried to dangle herself over it, but her arms gave out before she even had both legs free of the ledge. She fell with a yelp and landed mostly on her back, missing her stupid duffel bag entirely. She lay there for a second or two, dazed and breathless, needing Nicci to come tug at her arm before she could pull herself together enough to try and stand.
“Are you okay?” she managed, rubbing at her back.
“No.”
Amber looked her up and down. “You’re fine,” she said, and picked up Nicci’s duffel bag, shoving it once more into her sister’s arms. “Where’d the other lady go?”
Nicci looked helplessly around. “I-I don’t know…”
“ Nicci, we have to stay together,” Amber said firmly. “I know you’re scared, but we’ll get through this. Now I need you to pull it together. Which way did she go?”
Mutely, Nicci pointed across the smoky wreckage.
“Okay,” said Amber. She shrugged to feel the weight of her duffel bag more securely against her shoulder. She took her sister’s hand and squeezed it. She was fine. They were both fine. She started walking.
When they reached the edge of the hull, ther e was another drop, but the buckling of the Pioneer’s metal skin when Mod A had broken off made for a fairly easy descent. Not as easy as walking down a set of stairs, but there weren’t any more painful landings and when they reached the bottom, they were standing on the ground. True, the ground had melted and cooled again into a mass just as rigid and uneven as the crumpled hull had been, but it was the ground and that made her feel better. She was off the ship and she’d gotten Nicci off the ship. Now she just had to find the others.
They walked, hand in hand, around the side of the Pioneer and as soon as they’d navigated the corner and were out of the smoke and most of the wind, there they all were. And at first, she thought it wasn’t that bad. People were screaming, crying, and hysterical, sure, but there were a lot of them. They’d survived. That had to count for something, right?
Her relief at seeing so many survivors was a kind of second shock, and its bolstering effects wore off much more quickly. Even as she was taking that first reassuring look at the crowds, her vision seemed to double, and suddenly the hundreds of people before her shrank back into the miniscule fraction of fifty thousand colonists and crewmen that it really was. She staggered on her feet a little and then turned slowly around and
‘If you faint up here, you’ll fall and die,’ she thought, but she wasn’t fainting. The world really was darker. The clouds overhead were thickening; the heavy wind didn’t seem to be blowing them away, but rather pulling them down. She’d never seen clouds do that before. It wasn’t even raining.
But it was cold. It was cold and the wind was brutal and the only shelter Amber could see was a burning ship.
She didn’t know what to do.
5
S he stood there for an undeterminable stretch of truly awful minutes, locked in a kind of mindless, paralyzed panic, aware that time was passing but utterly incapable of doing anything about it. It was bad, and she often thought back on that moment later with the idea that that had to be at least some of what Hell was like, if there was a Hell worse than this, but eventually Amber looked down and saw Nicci below her, huddled small against a twisted flap of metal in the torn hull. Smoke poured through this wound so thickly it formed a solid wall behind her, but Nicci just sat there. Like it was a safe place. The other woman had left already but Nicci was waiting for her. Nicci needed her, just like always. She had to be there.
“Okay,” whispered Amber, and started back down the ledge. “Time to suck it up, little girl. Let’s do this.”
She dropped her duffel bag over the side and tried to dangle herself over it, but her arms gave out before she even had both legs free of the ledge. She fell with a yelp and landed mostly on her back, missing her stupid duffel bag entirely. She lay there for a second or two, dazed and breathless, needing Nicci to come tug at her arm before she could pull herself together enough to try and stand.
“Are you okay?” she managed, rubbing at her back.
“No.”
Amber looked her up and down. “You’re fine,” she said, and picked up Nicci’s duffel bag, shoving it once more into her sister’s arms. “Where’d the other lady go?”
Nicci looked helplessly around. “I-I don’t know…”
“ Nicci, we have to stay together,” Amber said firmly. “I know you’re scared, but we’ll get through this. Now I need you to pull it together. Which way did she go?”
Mutely, Nicci pointed across the smoky wreckage.
“Okay,” said Amber. She shrugged to feel the weight of her duffel bag more securely against her shoulder. She took her sister’s hand and squeezed it. She was fine. They were both fine. She started walking.
When they reached the edge of the hull, ther e was another drop, but the buckling of the Pioneer’s metal skin when Mod A had broken off made for a fairly easy descent. Not as easy as walking down a set of stairs, but there weren’t any more painful landings and when they reached the bottom, they were standing on the ground. True, the ground had melted and cooled again into a mass just as rigid and uneven as the crumpled hull had been, but it was the ground and that made her feel better. She was off the ship and she’d gotten Nicci off the ship. Now she just had to find the others.
They walked, hand in hand, around the side of the Pioneer and as soon as they’d navigated the corner and were out of the smoke and most of the wind, there they all were. And at first, she thought it wasn’t that bad. People were screaming, crying, and hysterical, sure, but there were a lot of them. They’d survived. That had to count for something, right?
Her relief at seeing so many survivors was a kind of second shock, and its bolstering effects wore off much more quickly. Even as she was taking that first reassuring look at the crowds, her vision seemed to double, and suddenly the hundreds of people before her shrank back into the miniscule fraction of fifty thousand colonists and crewmen that it really was. She staggered on her feet a little and then turned slowly around and
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