They spent hours in the bubble ministering to Armand and the other pirate survivor. Under the influence of the rations, mostly water and electrolytes, Armand began to recover. The other man, however, never regained consciousness, and finally expired. Steeled by this, Carl and Enzo discussed plans for their return to the extraction site.
“They will have detected our opening the lock,” Carl remarked. “There will have been some temporal drift since then, though. We came by the main corridors; they will have figured that out now. I suggest we use the side passages for our return journey.”
“One good thing about those passages,” Jamal growled, “they’re shorter—better for using cutlasses.” He grinned, fingering his weapon.
“We should not travel in a straight line,” Enzo added and Carl nodded.
