40
Kaira’s heart hit the floor.
“I’m sorry!” she said. “I’ve been having trouble hearing and… well, trouble with everything. When you left the flight deck I couldn’t hear everything you said, and just now I couldn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear you coming up the stairs. I thought you were going to take longer to get here, and the shields were seconds away from failing. I thought our only hope was to get into jump space.”
“Yes, but the other ships had plenty of time to charge their jump engines too. They’re going to be right behind us, they’ll see where we come out if we stop before reaching the star.”
Kaira’s vision wavered and then returned more clearly than at any time for the past few minutes. Typical! She undid the straps, pushed herself up, and dragged herself towards the
