Part 38 (2/2)
”Fain? You with me?”
”Yeah, sorry. I was distracted.”
”Um, okay, buddy. A bit of advice? Let's not get distracted while handling something designed to explode. Wanna stay focused. Trust me, your odds of survival go up exponentially that way.”
”t.i.tana tu, giakon.”
”Yeah, keep it in your pants, Andarion. You're not pretty enough for my tastes. Now make your way to the device and try not to b.u.mp it or the table. I want you to slide up under it, slow and easy, with as little motion as possible.”
Fain was barely under the table when Syn's voice returned to his ear.
”I'm tapped into the system, Kere. I've given you full access.”
”Beautiful. Fain, freeze.”
He heard Darling tapping frantically.
”Syn, power up their cross s.h.i.+elds with their interior routers for me.”
”Done.”
”Lights will dim on my mark. No one panic, but Fain, tell Mama Dane and Venik to run for the door when they do.”
”Lady Tavali. Ven. The lights are about to go dim. When they do, you need to rush from the room.” Then, he counted down with Darling. ”Three. Two. One. Go!”
The lights dimmed.
Both ran past him, into the hallway.
”Are they clear?” Darling asked.
”Think so.”
”All right, you ready for this?”
”Yeah, lead me through it.”
Darling brought the lights back up. ”Gently pull the cover off and expose the belly of the beast.”
Fain did as he said and grimaced at the ma.s.s of gnarled wires that were wrapped around explosive mineral clay. Though the clay was no bigger than his fist, it was enough to take out this entire wing of the station. ”Hey, Syn? You need to tell Venik to evacuate the entire southern quadrant.”
”On it.”
Darling calmly continued talking Fain through the disarming sequence. ”All right, Fain. What I need you to do now is count the third brighter orange wire from the left and isolate it.”
Fain hesitated. ”Brighter?”
”Yeah. See it?”
He blinked as he stared at all the wires in his hand. Orange...
”It's this one, keramon.”
Fain went cold at the sound of the sweetest voice in the Nine Worlds as a warm body slid up next to him. ”What are you doing here?”
”I had a feeling you didn't tell them that the reason you never pa.s.sed those diffusing cla.s.ses was because you were partially color-blind.”
Darling cursed in his ear. ”Is she serious? Are you serious? You can't see a full color spectrum and you're handling a minsid wired explosive? Hauk? Are you out of your Andarion mind?”
”Yes. When he was a boy, he got into a fight with Keris and his brother injured his retina and did a significant amount of damage that left Fain with dichromatism.” She covered his hand with hers and moved it to one of the wires. ”This is the third brighter orange one.”
Grateful for her help, Fain cut it while he ignored Darling's insults for him and his parentage that continued without interruption through his link. ”You need to go to my s.h.i.+p with Dancer where it's safe.”
”I'm right where I belong. You need someone here with smaller hands, who is used to handling delicate instruments. I'm a trained surgeon, with a full range of color vision. I've got this.”
”Stormy-”
”Strong alone. Stronger together.” She took his hand in hers and removed his glove. Her gaze paralyzed him as she took the ring from his finger. Then she pulled off her glove and placed the ring where it had once rested on her hand. ”I have loved you since the moment I met you as a child. You are my life, Fain Batur. If you die here today, then you're taking me with you. I don't want to live another moment of this life without you in it.”
Love for her choked him as Darling finally shut up. By naming him like that, Galene was claiming him as her husband, before witnesses. According to Andarion law, that would legally bind them as effectively as a unification ceremony.
He touched his bare hand to hers. ”And you are the air I breathe, Galene Hauk. I shall never allow harm to come to you.”
Darling let out an irritated sigh. ”Aw, that's all sweet and moving, but could we please focus on the bomb that's about to detonate in your faces?”
”Yeah, waiting on you to tell us what to do, Kere. What's taking you so long?”
He broke off into a round of Caronese Fain was glad he couldn't understand, otherwise he might have ended the emperor's lineage. ”Galene, s.h.i.+ne the light and follow this sequence. Dark blue, light blue, green, yellow, light orange, red, red, purple.”
She quickly snipped them in the designated order while Fain held the light for her. ”Done.”
”Did anything happen?”
Fain arched a brow at Darling's anxious question. ”Was anything supposed to happen?”
”No. Not necessarily, but...”
”But what?”
”You might want to jerk the device off that table and seal it in the box real fast... Just in case the designer planted a fail-safe in it.”
Fain obeyed, and locked the seals tight. ”Yeah, okay. Now what?”
”That should be it. We should-”
The bomb detonated at their feet. Fain grabbed Galene and covered her with his body. He held her against the wall so tightly that she couldn't breathe. ”Precious? I think we're safe. Is that not the purpose of the blast box?”
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