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

slowly, allowing his frustration to seep away with his breath. So many problems to fix. He’d have to tackle one at a time, and to make matters worse, the other three lieutenants weren’t responding to his pages. “What do you mean?”
    “The energy supply to Bay Four is patchy at best. The skin regenerators are malfunctioning, and the heart monitors aren’t steady. We need a sufficient supply of energy to attend to those with critical needs.”
    He nodded and spoke with authority in his voice to calm her. “I’ll check on it.”
    “Thank you, sir People are starting to panic.”
    “There’s no need for panic.” He gave her a steady look. “I’ll get everything under control. Just see to the wounded, make sure they get the care they need.”
    “Yes, sir.” His reassurance seemed to calm her. She gave him a weak smile and jogged back to the emergency bay.
    As much as the life support systems needed energy, they’d all freeze to death without the Seers at the helm. He’d check on the fusion core, but first he’d check on the two people who were supposed to be in charge.
    Brentwood sprinted to the main artery connecting the control deck to the belly of the ship. The floor pitched up, and his muscles strained as he climbed the ramp. He’d been on duty for two shifts going on three. The crash provided a never-ending slew of problems keeping him busy. Like his father always said, “You’ll have enough time to rest in your coffin, floating for eternity in the vast unknown.”
    Yeah, Dad, reassuring as always.
    Hoping his parents had survived the crash, he took a turn and halted in mid stride Part of the ceiling had caved in, and debris clogged the corridor. Wires sparked at his feet, sending him sprawling backward.
    “Damn it again!”
    Brentwood waited until the cables settled, counted to three, and jumped forward, grabbing onto a pipe in the ceiling. He dangled for a second over broken glass before swinging back and forth like a pendulum. When he swung forward again, he let go and landed in a rolling ball on the other side of the debris pile.
    The lights flickered above him, threatening to engulf him in total darkness, and he scrambled up, closing the last few meters between him and the Seers’ portal.
    He paused at the panel, smoothing his hands through his hair to keep it out of his eyes.
    Oh, heck, it’s not like they’re running around naked in there . He slammed his fist into the panel and the particles spun like crazed dust motes as they dematerialized.
    Wires rained down in a curtain of jellyfish tentacles. Sparks flew from all directions, sizzling around him like ill-tended fireworks. Brentwood swiped them away. “Hello? Is everything all right?”
    He scanned the debris littering the floor. Old star charts, broken computer screens, and a tuft of gray hair.
    Brentwood’s heart jumped and stuck in his throat. He kicked through the rubble, fell on his knees and dug out a shoulder and a balding, wispy-haired head.
    She was the one with the good eye, the one who’d addressed him at their last meeting. Now the dark eye stared at nothing, or whatever awaited her in the beyond.
    “No.” He scrambled, running his hands over her thin skin to feel her forehead. She felt like wax and brittle bones. “You will not leave us like this.”
    Turning her on her back, he found vacant input holes drilled into the bones of her spine. Goose bumps prickled his skin as he ran a fingertip over the cold metal ring, wider than three of his fingers clumped together. What fit in it? He scrambled, pulling up tubes from the rubble.
    Feeling way out of his domain, Brentwood inserted anything that looked like it would fit into the hole. Reattaching the Seers didn’t fall into his job description, not one bit. If it had, he wouldn’t have taken it. Just holding her in his arms made his skin crawl.
    A tube spouting gurgling pink liquid stuck out from a pile of broken ceiling panels. He reached over and pulled it toward her,