The stink of gases swept around Callie, twisting with white heat and pain. Her muscles screamed. Locked and contorted, her body lurched, smashing into the bulkhead of the Theseus as it shone, blurred and moved in a quick, sickening rush. What was happening? Had she inhaled a toxic stream that had her tripping out of her box? One moment she was overseeing the scoops that pulled in their payload of hydrogen deuteride and helium-3 from the roiling Uranian atmosphere…the next, she was on her arse, naked, in a cramped washroom.
Callie caught her fingers in her hair and dropped her head between her knees. The room had to stop spinning at some point. Her stomach heaved and she held her breath, wanting to ignore the fact that her heart was a pained stone in her chest. Rumours hadn’t said the ride was so rough. Rumours hadn’t said there was a ride at all.
She swore under her breath. “Sheen.” A long, slow groan escaped her. “Fucking sheen.”
She pushed herself to her feet and clung to the small metal bowl of the sink. Stale air pulled in and out of her lungs. She winced. She had to be on one of the smaller moons, one that didn’t have the big filtration units with the luxury of super-scrubbed air and the hint of earth-based scents. The press of her hand against the wall sent the dull vibration of the environmental systems through her flesh.
Shan was the engineer. She’d identify the feel and function—
More cursing escaped her. The whole ship had been blasted by sheen. That meant every one of her crew had taken a hit. She closed her eyes and willed strength back into her legs.
Sheen fucked a person over good. Now that it had blasted them once, it would hit with more and more frequency until she, until the rest of the crew found a match that bound them. Bound them for life. It meant her crew was gone. They’d want to fuck, but hell, her crew didn’t do relationships. She should know. She’d dragged enough gossip out of them. Lives littered with one-night stands and really shitty luck. Sheen would find them all again and again and the crew, the life and security she’d known would be over. Gone.