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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

Maybe this had nothing to do with the fact that I was here, but what if the two were connected?

I needed to talk to Ahiga, but I couldn’t do anything about that right now. The alarm on my suit rang.

“Time for you to get back out there,” Tyler said. “I’d go with you, but I got shit to do here.” He rubbed a hand down his face. He’d been all smiles, but the general seemed to have drained all the fun-loving energy out of Tyler with his orders. “You need me, and I’ll be out there in a flash. I can get there easy enough from any of the bays, okay? No dying.”

Dying wasn’t on my to-do list today, no matter what that General SpaceDouche thought. “Okay.” I could do this. Really. It wasn’t so bad. Just a little hotter than I was used to.

I hit the button on my suit, and the helmet came up. The cold air whirled around my body, and I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of it.

My days would be measured in two-hour chunks. I could do anything for two hours.

I slammed my hand down on the green button. The alarm sounded, and bots buzzed around me, spraying cool mist into the air as I stepped into the cooling chamber.

Chapter Twenty-One

How I managed to get through my first shift, I wasn’t sure. If there hadn’t been water and energy bars in my locker on my second break, there would’ve been no chance of me going back out there for my third and final two-hour block. Tyler had been busy with getting the shipment ready for General SpaceDouche, so I hadn’t seen him. But I’d eaten what he’d left out for me, and as soon as the alarm sounded for the end of my break, I’d closed my helmet and gone back out there.

I figured it was mostly pure di Aetes stubbornness that pushed me through the day. Every time I felt like I was going to pass out from the heat, I pictured Jason Murtagh’s face. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let him get the best of me.

The last alarm sounded, signaling the end of my first day and I almost cried with gratitude. My whole body felt like it was burned. Was it possible to get a sunburn in this thing? I wasn’t sure, but my skin felt hot and tender. My internal temp had just started spiking. It was hitting 130, and it felt like the heat was coming from my feet.

Was that sulfur I smelled? No. It couldn’t be, because if it was, then that meant my suit had been compromised, and there hadn’t been any alarms.