Read Online Tundra 37 by Aubrie Dionne - Free Book Online Page A

wake up. Gemme shook her head against dizziness. No, this was her reality now, and they had ten more decks to go.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Gemme Reiner.”
    Ben Harvey’s eyes widened as he registered the infamous name. “So, you’re the Matchmaker?”
    “Yeah, that’s me.” She expected any number of bad jokes or accusations of mismatched pairings.
    “You selected a good match for our Robby. Britt’s given him such joy. I’m eternally grateful.”
    Maybe she was stuck in a dream. Gemme couldn’t believe his words. “Uh — you’re welcome?”
    Ben Harvey smiled for the first time, revealing perfect white teeth. “But I bet you hear that all the time.” He winked and she decided she liked him more than her initial impression. “Five decks to go.”
    Numbness plagued her fingers. She moved the position of her hand on his wife’s ankle and pins pricked her palm. Her lower back muscles throbbed, so she counted steps to get her mind off the pain.
    One hundred and thirty-four.
    One hundred and thirty-five.
    Why did she always seek solace in numbers?
    They huffed down the remainder of the stairs until the number six shone through the smoke in emergency red light. Gemme had never been so happy to see it. With a heave, she elbowed the portal panel to the deck.
    Clean air flowed in and Gemme’s lungs soaked in the draft. “That’s a promising sign.”
    People shuffled down the corridor in front of them. Some of them hobbled with minor cuts and bruises, but others wheeled their loved ones on make shift stretchers made out of tables and rolling chairs, wearing their own haphazard bandages. Gemme focused on her ward. The red splotches had spread through Isabelle’s bandages.
    Medics stood outside Bay Four, assessing a line of patients as they waited for admittance. A younger woman brought them a wheelchair, and Gemme helped Ben lower Isabelle into a comfortable position.
    “You’ve done so much for me, thank you.” He sounded as if he said good-bye.
    “You don’t want me to stay?”
    He waved her away and she noticed a bruise on his balding head. “It’s unnecessary.”
    Gemme paused. She’d spent so long helping him with one single purpose in mind she didn’t know where to go.
    “You must have your own family to attend to.”
    Gemme hadn’t allowed her thoughts to wander to Ferris and her parents. She swallowed a lump in her throat. “I do, yes.”
    Ben squeezed her hand. “Take care.”
    “I’ll try.” As more wounded flooded into the emergency bay, Gemme fought against the tide with her heart racing. She had ten decks to climb to find her parent’s cell. Dreading what she’d find, it took every ounce of courage to jog up the first flight of stairs and confront her fears.
     

Chapter Seven
The Beacon
    Brentwood’s lapel pin lay as silent as deep space. He pressed the button on and off until his fingertips hurt. Frustration boiled up inside his chest. The Seers had no right to ignore him during a disaster.
    Unless their old, deteriorated bodies hadn’t survived the crash.
    His chest tightened. The Expedition didn’t have a plan B that he knew of. When no others had been born with their talents, the scientists secured the Seers to the ship, thinking they’d last well into the arrival of Paradise 18. They didn’t factor in comets pummeling the hull.
    “Hello?”
    Nothing. He might as well be talking to a cleaning droid.
    “Damn.” He kicked a dent in the metal wall. As much as he hated the crypt-like main control deck, he had to check on them. Most systems on the ship couldn’t run without their mind control, and they needed heat not only for themselves, but to keep the biodome running. He doubted Tundra 37 had a sufficient food source underneath all those layers of ice.
    “Lieutenant.”
    A tense voice nagged him out of his thoughts. The head nurse, a woman in her early fifties, jogged up beside him.
    “Yes?”
    “We’re having trouble with the life support systems.”
    He exhaled