Chapter 14
Six months earlier…
Nova sat unmoving for several hours, weighed down by everything she had seen and heard. Karina pottered around the small room, sometimes making changes, other times just checking what the screens showed.
Some of the time Nova worried Karina would trip an alarm, bringing disaster down on their heads. Other times she hoped it would happen, hoped to put an end to the pain she felt. Most of the time she sat numbly, thoughts slipping through her mind without gaining any traction.
In the end her body’s needs forced her to move. She groaned as she stretched aching muscles, then shuffled to where Karina was fiddling with yet another set of controls. The pains from her abdomen were becoming more intense and urgent.
“Karina,” she said. “I need to go.”
“Go,
