“I will carry him,” I vaguely hear Helen say. “Nothing else matters!”
“That isn’t going to work if we have nowhere to go,” another voice hisses. Zebah. “They’ve locked down the control room. We’re going to have to kill an entire army of clones if we head in that direction. It’s better to wait for reinforcements.”
“I will get Mathiras out of here,” Helen retorts. “Nothing else matters!”
“Yes, yes, we know,” Bethiah says in a bored voice. A hand slaps my face lightly, followed by the sound of scuffling. “I’m just waking him up, Helen. Calm your tits.”
“Water,” I manage to croak out.
“I’ll get it,” Bethiah says. A moment passes and then something cold splashes on my face.
Helen growls.
The animalistic sound wakes me up more than the water does. I force my eyes to open, force myself to sit upright, and I try to focus on my surroundings.
Helen is hovering close to me, wearing the uniform of the guards here and her face and hair are spattered with blood. Nearby, Bethiah and Zebah watch, both wearing environmental suits. Bethiah brightens when I meet her gaze. “Oh good. You’re awake. I think we broke your girlfriend.”
I squint at Helen, trying to focus on her face. “Yehhhhokay…love?”
“I will be when you are safe,” she says, her voice curiously flat. “Until then, nothing else matters.”
Uh oh. She’s wearing an expression that doesn’t seem very…Helen. Her eyes are bright but she’s jittery, her pupils dilated. She pauses near me, then gets up and starts pacing. “We need to get Mathiras away from here.”
“Yes, we know, Helen,” Bethiah says, exchanging a look with Zebah. “We’re working on a plan.”
“Wha…whazza plan?” I ask, and my lips are as heavy as my eyelids.
“Well,” Zebah speaks up. “The smart plan would be to take over the bridge and wait for the Scarlet Gaze to show up. They’re on their way so we just need to lock things down until they get here. Unfortunately, your girlfriend is not a good listener and insisted we come for you first, so we’ve lost our advantage and now we’re holed up in this room while their reinforcements head for the bridge.” She gives me a tight smile. “Oh, and Helen wants to leave all the clones behind.”
“Rescue Mathiras,” Helen agrees in that same off tone. “Nothing else matters.”
Bethiah makes a face, gesturing at Helen. “Like I said, she’s broke. You really want to leave all these clones behind so these assholes can sell them?”
Helen just blinks calmly and tugs on my arm, helping me to my feet.
I can’t think straight—my brain feels like sludge. “Adi?”
“Still on the Sister. He’s keeping his distance. We’ve called the Scarlet Gaze in to help, but they won’t make it until tomorrow or the day after.” Zebah gestures at Bethiah. “We took a couple of environmental suits and used the thrusters to drift over here unannounced. Good thing we did, too. Your girlfriend is mowing her way through the crew here.”
“The cloned crew,” Bethiah points out. “They’re humans for the most part, and I don’t think they’re aware of what they’re doing. We need to figure out a new plan.”
“No new plan,” Helen insists. “Rescue Mathiras. Nothing else matters.”
Something about this strikes me as very wrong. That’s not something my sweet mate would say. “Helen,” I manage. “Need…save…clones. They’re…innocent.”
She pulls on my arm again, helping me toward the door. “Zebah and Bethiah can after you are safe.”
I pull out of her grip, and for a moment, her eyes grow wide and panicked. Her expression changes to a stark one and she clings to me. “Mathiras has to get away. Nothing else matters!”
Kef.
Zebah makes a swirling motion near her temple, indicating that Helen is crazy. Maybe she is. She’s still mine. I lift my heavy arms and hold her tight. “It’s okay, love. I’m here.”
She clutches at me, her hands twisting in my uniform. Then she sighs again, straightens, and pulls back. Her expression is calm and blank once more. “We have to escape.”
I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look into my eyes. “New plan, Helen. We have to take over the ship.”
Helen blinks.
I’m not sure if my words are getting through to her, so I try a different tactic. “It’s not safe for Adiron to land the Sister here and the shuttle can’t take everyone back out, if it’s even still operational. The safest bet is to get to the bridge and take over the ship. Do you understand me, Helen? That’s how you can keep me—and everyone else here—safe.”
Helen blinks again. Her pupils are huge, and I worry something’s wrong. Well, a lot is wrong, actually, but I don’t know I can do anything about it until we get back to the Sister. “The bridge,” she repeats, as if digesting this bit of information. “Taking over the ship is safest.”