EXCERPT FROM BOUND TO YOU by AR DeClerck
"It's radiation, Lia. Whatever
this machine does, it creates radiation. If you go in there you will die from
radiation poisoning." He pointed to the Illaran words on the door, written
large and in red. "I think it probably means to stay away."
"Then you can't go either!" She
squeezed her upper arms hard, the only way to stop herself from throwing her
body into his. "You're not immune to radiation."
"I've got no choice. I'm the power
source. You can live, Lia. You don't have to come inside."
She was shaking, the world crashing in on
her as her choices became clear. "We kill Verhagnis, and I have to watch
you die. Or, we walk away and Verhagnis escapes this planet to kill billions of
other people?"
"No." Jacks shook his head. His
hands were shaking, but he gripped the strap of his bag and looked at her
intently. "No. We kill Verhagnis, and I die. You go on, and you live and
love and have babies and get your happily ever after. That's the only
choice."
"We could die together. Be together
in the afterlife. We know it exists!" She was frantic, looking for some
answer to the puzzle that had none.
"I didn't say I'd go easy, princess.
If there's any way to survive this, then I'll survive it. For you." This
time he did reach for her, and he pulled her into his arms as if she were water
and he a dying man. "But I won't risk your life."
"It's not your choice, Jacks."
She held him, her arms around him and her face against his chest. She could
smell him and feel him inside every pore, and she wondered how much it might
hurt to have the bond broken between them. "I say when I die. I say where
I go."
"Do it for me, then."
She pulled back, pissed. He was serious,
every line of his face set in stone.
"No."
"Please, princess. If you love me,
you'll do this for me."
She wanted to hit him again. In a way she
felt loved and flattered that a man might give up his own life to save hers. On
the other hand she was really fucking tired of him knowing exactly how to
manipulate her emotions when it suited him. She was beyond angry and past
pissed off, but he pressed his lips to hers.
"Promise."
"Promise what?"
He couldn't help the grin that slid over
his lips. Those damned lips. "Promise me that no matter what happens you
won't come inside this room. Promise me that if I die you will not do anything
other than mourn me and move on. Promise me, “he rubbed her cheek with his
thumb, "that you'll survive this."
"What happens if Verhagnis comes in
here while you're in the room?" She hated to act like such a bitch, but it
was tit for tat. "What happens if he kills me while you're inside?"
"You're smarter and stronger than
that."
His praise made her blush, but she
steeled herself against the pleasure of it. "And if the machine fails?
What then?"
A frown appeared between his eyebrows.
"It won't."
"If it does?"
"It won't."
She couldn't hold him any longer. She
knew he was gone even before he left. She was still standing there when the
door to the room closed behind him
Jacks leaned against the door and tried
to control himself. He was a fucking mess, and this was not the way to try to
power an alien machine. He needed to be focused and sure of what he was doing.
That was the problem. He wasn't sure. The
minute he'd realized what the reinforced room meant, every promise he'd made to
Lia went out the window. They were not doing this together, no fucking way.
He'd seen the results of radiation poisoning in his classes at the IGU, and he
knew that the Illaran machine must put out massive amounts to warrant such a
remote, closed room.
He looked up, and saw that above the
machine there were doors, like hangar doors that must open to the surface.
Surely, if the energy the machine created was to destroy the wormhole, the
doors opened up to allow the energy out.
He looked up and saw that Lia was pressed
against the window, her palms flat on the glass as her eyes followed his every
move. He tried to ignore her, but knew it was impossible. He went to her, and
placed his palms on the glass, mirroring hers.
"Don't die." she mouthed to
him, her voice carried away by the thick glass.
He tried to think of something reassuring
to say, but found nothing, so he nodded. She was torn up, the gamut of emotions
coming off her end of the bond physically painful. He winced, and rubbed his
chest, and she stepped back, lessening the flow. They were learning to control
the flow between them with every day that passed, and he knew that, if he
tried, he could completely shut her out. He held on to that knowledge, praying
he wouldn't need to use it.
He backed away and looked around the
room. He was here, but he had no idea what to do next.
"I'm here." he said aloud,
hoping Layl was nearby. "What now?"
A moment passed, then two, but nothing
happened. He looked at Lia and raised a shoulder. She pointed, and he turned as
the terminals inside the room suddenly came on. The same scrolling Illaran
letters were running, and he leaned closer. They made no sense to him at all,
the figures completely different than any language he'd ever seen.
"Uh, okay." he called out to
Layl. "Still no idea what to do."
He could almost picture Layl's frustrated
growl, as the computer nearest him stopped scrolling, and the screen froze. He
leaned an elbow on the table and studied it. It was a diagram of the machine,
complete with pictures showing him how to open the domed lid.
He moved to the machine, looking for the
same buttons on the machine that he saw on the screen. He pressed it, and the
dome slid back. He grinned and looked at Lia, who'd covered her mouth with her
hand as she stared at the machine. He went back to the computer and the picture
flipped, showing the person climbing bodily inside the machine as the dome slid
closed over them.
"Illaran death machine for
dummies." he murmured, going back to the machine. He looked up at Lia, and
tried to send her reassurance through the bond.
She didn't move, but her fingers curled
against the glass as he sat on the bed of the machine and swung his legs up. He
laid back and as his head touched the pillowed rest the dome slid closed over
him.
"Illaran death machine for dummies!"
ReplyDeleteAwesome excerpt!!
Poor Layl had to do all the work from the afterlife!
ReplyDelete