MoonRush (23 page)

And then Simon flatlined.

* * *

Jarod heard the ominous tone of Simon’s monitor with the hard slap of the defibrillator following close on its heels. He might not have any medical training, but he knew enough to realize that
it
was
not
a good sign. They had to get down to the surface ASAP.

Great. No problem.

He opened a channel with moon control. “Moon
b
ase Alpha, I need emergency clearance! We have an injured crew member.”

The response was muffled but audible. “Roger that. We’ve prepped Hangar 13. Switch to autopilot. We’ll guide you in.”

Jarod breathed a sigh of relief and punched in the code to give up control of the ship. They were almost there. “C’mon, baby,” Jarod urged the ship. “Just a little farther.”

Then a shudder rocked the entire ship. A huge, sleek shuttle filled the view
screen, close enough to reach out and touch. “What the hell? That was a shuttle!”

Jarod could hear the crash of things…and probably people…thrown around the hold. He could only imagine what was happening with Simon. If he knew Cleo, she was probably shielding him with her body. Cleo threw herself against the wall to cushion Simon’s impact.

Buton’s voice sparked over the intercom
.
“One of the outer panels is buckling. The pressure valves are changing so erratically that I can’t even estimate
—
”

“Got it.” Right. Like Jarod needed
more
pressure right now.

Moon
b
ase Control burst back over the connection, panic clear in the controller’s voice. “
Eureka
, abort approach! Your clearance has been revoked
—
”

The autopilot must have disengaged
.
O
nce more
,
the ship bucked
,
and Jarod was fighting the controls, with little success. Jarod could feel himself practically
screaming
over the connection. “Moon
b
ase! I need clearance! Our outer hull is compromised!”

The voice on the other end had regained some semblance of control. “Negative.

Reapproach
,
and we’ll route you to Hangar 34
—
”

Buton’s voice cut in. “Outer panel has cracked. Inner hull buckling
—
”

Okay, there was pressure and then there was pressure. Jarod had now had more than enough. He whispered to himself, “Screw this…” Then
,
much louder to Moon
b
ase, “We’re comin’ in!”

Once more
,
panic infused the voice. “Negative, I say
—
”

From the view
screen, Jarod watched as the shuttle, the
Vanquisher
,
according to the call sign emblazoned in bright neon on the side, slipped into Hangar 13, the hangar that had
,
up until recently
,
been assigned to the
Eureka
.

Jarod felt his rage and frustration spill over. “That hangar is big enough for two! Tell the other ship to shove over!
Now!
” The radio spat as Jarod switched to intercom-only communication. “Damn it! Hang on, everybody!” Jarod felt his focus narrow. All that existed was the hangar and the terrifyingly small space next to the
Vanquisher.
No one was going to keep him from planting
his
ship in that area.

No one.

* * *

From the moment the other shuttle buzzed them, Rob grabbed hold for the ride of his life. Uncle Jare wasn’t a copilot extraordinaire
—
he was a roller
-
coaster conductor.

Rob shouldn’t be enjoying the shuttle swooping and pitching from side to side
.
But really, it was just that he knew his
u
ncle Jare was at the helm. Sure,
Uncle
Jarod had a knack for crashing stuff, but he also had a talent for walking away
—
mostly in one piece. And that usually included everyone in the crew.

Besides, if they were gonna die,
he
might as well enjoy the trip on the way down, right? The only thing Rob regretted was not kissing the girl with the pink stripe in her hair. It would be a real bummer if he bit it before he got at least a little bit of action.

So when the ship did a complete and unplanned barrel roll
,
all
that Rob
could really think was,
Woo hoo! Let’s do that again!

Not that Rob didn’t have his hands full himself. He was the non-designated maintenance guy. Non-designated because no one realized he was doing it. Where Uncle Jare had a gift for piloting, Rob’s had a gift for mechanical
repairs and building things
. Come on, Rob was half machine already. So it only made sense that whenever Buton barked out another malfunction, Rob took it upon himself to see if he could do something about it. Nobody else could do it, right? Jarod was flying the ship, Buton was on nav systems
,
and Cleo was busy
giving
CPR
to
Simon. That left good ol’ Rob and his handy array of tools, tucked neatly away in his legs.

So when the inner hull started buckling, it was Rob who bounced his way back to the breach. It was Rob who popped out his molecular hammer to beat the sucker back into place. It was Rob
who,
no one realized
,
had saved the day when the inner hull magically healed itself.

And Rob thought that was pretty cool. He was fourteen
—
and he had just freaking saved a shuttle from crashing
!
Well, at least for a couple of minutes. He was pretty sure Jarod was going to take care of the crash landing in short order.

Jarod yelled out over the intercom, “Brace for impact! We’re coming in fast!”

Rob had just enough time to leap into a seat and strap himself in halfway when he glanced
at
the vid
-
screen and saw the space they were trying to get into. Rob had seen closets that looked bigger. And while he could see that Jarod was straining to his utmost, the
Eureka
was still coming in too fast.

The first impact was against the floor of the hangar bay. Because of the angle of approach, the shuttle careened to the right, smashing into the wall. Rob felt his body flail from the force of the blow. He focused on keeping his body as loose as he could, knowing that any tension could cause serious trauma.

He caught a glimpse of the sleek shuttle
at
their side just before the world jolted to the left, spun around to the right, tipped up
,
and then slammed down hard. And then there was nothing but the creaking of the ship’s hull cooling off. They were alive. His side hurt, it felt like he had somehow hit his head, and there was a weird pain in his right hand. But they were
alive
.

And the only thin
g
Rob could think was,
That was
awesome
!

* * *

The “landing” was not one of the highlights of Cleo’s life. She had been so focused on Simon’s CPR that she barely had time to strap Simon down to the cot and herself into a chair before everything went all to hell.

But now the ship was down…probably down for the count if what she had felt was any indication…and she was yanking off her straps and running back over to Simon’s side.

She had managed to restart the little man’s heart before they reached the moon, but there was no telling what the crash had done to him. Just because he was strapped in didn’t mean
that
the forces of their arrival in the hangar wouldn’t adversely affect his body
.

After checking his vitals, Cleo’s worst fears were confirmed. Not only had Simon’s heart stopped again, but his head wound had
re
opened
,
and it looked
as though
he may have gotten a couple of cracked ribs. She pulled out the paddles once more and started charging, yelling out for help. “Buton
!
Rob! Get back here! I need your help!”

She slapped the paddles against Simon’s chest and pushed the button to start the electric charge. The pilot’s body arched up violently and landed with a thud. There was still no pulse.

Cleo straddled Simon’s chest and began compressions. She yelled at Rob
,
who had just run in. “Start mouth-to-mouth. He’s flatlined again.” She turned her attention to Buton. “See if you can find a shot of adrenaline in the
M
edkit.”

Buton reacted with surprise, his eyebrows arching up. “But with the…” He saw the look on Cleo’s face and turned to find the shot.

Cleo paused in her compressions for a moment and checked the monitors. Was there something there, or
were
her
hopes making her see
something nonexistent? If it was a pulse, it was there for a moment
,
and then gone.

As she went to start compressions once again, a medical team from the Moon
b
ase swarmed into the
Eureka
, shoving Cleo and Rob out of the way. A large Samoan man took Cleo’s place, continuing the compressions while the rest of the team set up the gurney to carry him into the base.

The woman dressed in stark white took Cleo by the arm and led her aside. “You’ve done great, but
your
friend’s in bad shape. We need you and your crew out of here so
that
we can do what we need to do.”

Cleo moved to the side, feeling a numbness that spread from her chest to her limbs, covering her in a lethargy that was difficult to break through.
S
he could do
nothing more
for Simon. There might not be anything
anyone
could do.