Learning to Dance

were holding off the robots, but for how long? She bit her
lip. The tube was a mere centimetre too wide for the gap in
the bars. It wasn’t going to go through.
“Dead goddammit,” said Up. “You’re going to have to
take it with you. And you don’t have the radiation case.”
Taz shook her head.
Up’s forehead creased further. “You heard Lieutenant-
Commander Tripp.”
“I have twenty minutes,” she said.
Up’s hands moved, gently but urgently, to her face, and
she blinked in surprise. He pulled them back through the
gate. “Less. Get moving. And take this.” He pushed the
scanner containing the ship's map through the bars.
With shaking hands, she took the scanner and pushed the
warp core into the deepest pocket of her camouflage pants.
“Good thing I climbed so many trees as a niña pequeña,”
she said, trying to sound as brave as he was.
He gave her a kind of sickly smile. “You can do this,
Taz. You’re a Starship Ranger.”
Taz saluted, and with a great deal of effort, tore her eyes
away from his.
She listened to him turn and run toward the fight as she
surveyed her options. The warp core, with its precious
crystals inside, felt heavy and warm against her leg.
“El reloj no se detiene,” she said to herself, as there was
no one else to hear her.
Crouching on the walkway, she squinted at her
destination – it was at least three decks below, a hatch on a
slim ledge that might just hold her. The wiring and pipes
thick on the walls should allow for proper climbing – thank
dead God this wasn’t a G.L.E.E. ship with its smooth walls
and slick construction.
Then again, if this was a G.L.E.E. ship, she wouldn’t be
in this mess.