BooksBarbecue
Back Off Planet Save as PDF
Chapters (54)
  1. Title Page
  2. Also by Aileen Erin
  3. Dedication
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. Chapter Forty-Two
  46. Chapter Forty-Three
  47. Chapter Forty-Four
  48. Chapter Forty-Five
  49. Chapter Forty-Six
  50. Chapter Forty-Seven
  51. Off Balance
  52. To My Readers
  53. Acknowledgments
  54. About the Author

Right. I kept my hand blocking my view of Tyler as I walked to the locker. I peeked through my fingers to find number five. The suit fell on top of me as soon as I opened the door, and I let it drop to the ground. I turned my back to Tyler to give him privacy. “How hot is it exactly?” Knowing wouldn’t help me, but I liked to be prepared.

“Eh. Depends on where you are and how hot the lava is. Some places, only like 260 to 315 degrees. Others, you’re looking at three times that or more.”

“Degrees? You’re talking Fahrenheit?”

“Shit, no. Celsius.”

Holy mother. That had to be like 500 or 600 in Fahrenheit.

I glanced down at my feet. The suit seemed good and all, but more protection between me and the lava sounded better. The shoes were just canvas with a thin foam and rubber sole, but better than nothing. “Can I leave my shoes on?”

“I didn’t leave anything on, but seems like you’re doing it different than me.”

Right. Okay. I left the shoes on and shoved my feet into the suit, which took some doing with the shoes, but I wasn’t abandoning my plan. Tyler might prefer to be naked even on a normal, not-going-to-step-on-the-surface-of-a-lava-planet kind of a day. But I wasn’t comfortable undressing. Not here. Not now. Not ever. I glanced back at the bots hovering behind us. And not in front of SpaceTech’s eyes.

I stepped into the suit and jammed my arms in it to wrench the rest over my shoulders. The suit was much heavier than I realized. I stood there for a minute, trying to do up the front of the suit before giving up. I was going to need Tyler’s help. There were three layers of closures—zipper on the bottom layer, and then a series of snaps in the middle, and a seal with a button on the outermost layer.

Tyler was nice enough to walk me through how to get everything secured correctly, which was nearly impossible with the thick gloves. I could barely get my fingers to move, let alone have enough dexterity for the complicated clasps.

By the time it was done, I was exhausted, already sweating, and I didn’t even have the helmet on yet. “That was a pain in the ass.”

“Why do you think I avoid going out there at all costs?” he asked with a grin.

“The danger?”

“That, too, but the suit is a bitch. Does a good job of protecting you though, and that’s all that matters out there.”