Having dragged himself out of the Clandestine, he lies supine on a gentle rise. What leaks out of him bears no resemblance to blood. The sky is beautiful, criss-crossed with shooting stars.

I am a bag of liquid.

His bones are not just broken, they are shattered, maybe powdered into sand in some parts. He cannot see out of one eye for the swelling. He cannot hear anything, and he is sure that his middle ear has suffered irrevocable damage.

I cannot give any more. I am a bag of liquid that used to be a man. I am not dying; I am dead. Clara’s little boy, dying here on an alien world, staring up at an alien sky, alone.

“Get up,” says Carmilla.

“You’re still functional?”

“I am classified as a soldier, Brisbane. You wouldn’t understand. But you don’t need to understand. Just do as you’re told. Get up. There’s a suitable transmitter within walking distance.”

“I… I can barely crawl.”

“Then it’s within crawling distance. Come on.”

Chapter Thirty-nine

Bloodroot: Salvo, Shell

After impact, Salvo gets out of his seat and checks Rasheed Fin’s pulse. Rapid, but strong. There is breathing – a bit shallow, but steady. He’s alive.

At the same time, he’s checking readings from whatever sensors are still functional in the Ragtime. He hails the AI; no response. He checks the stability of the structure against which they have come to rest. Nothing troubles the gyros. He checks for fuel line integrities and any toxicity leak. Tanks were empty; nothing to worry about on that front.

He lifts Rasheed Fin out of his seat. The floor is not exactly horizontal, but Salvo corrects. He opens the hatch to the Ragtime’s airlock. Michelle Campion, unconscious, hanging from her straps. No blood. Pulse good, breathing good.

Of Joké, there is no sign.

Salvo lays Michelle Campion and Rasheed Fin next to each other and explores the nodes that made it to Earth. Frances the Lupine is there, staring at him, tongue lolling.

Ragtime AI does not respond to a second hail. There is smoke billowing from somewhere, but it also moves towards an air current, so Salvo follows.

What would have been aft is an open wound in the hull.

They have landed on Bloodroot’s inhabited continent, so there’s that. The Ragtime-Equivalence mating has landed and rests on a limit marker, a squat stone obelisk. A drag mark has excavated the topsoil in a line that extends far beyond the limits of Salvo’s vision. He re-enters and carefully lifts Rasheed Fin out, then Michelle Campion. He whistles for Frances the Lupine and sets off to find a water source.

The wolf sprints away at top speed, and, from the work he did previously, Salvo knows Frances the Lupine is running an exploration subroutine for environmental awareness.

When they return, Joké is standing guard.