Life, think about the families of the victims, think how they’ll feel when they hear you tried to escape. Stop now and we’ll—

I wrench the control panel open and reach into the tangle of wires. One yank and the comms link dies. I am on my own. My body shakes, hot and cold with pain and panic and blood loss, my vision throbbing and swimming. I can’t fly, in danger of passing out at any second, but I force myself to hold on.

There, at the edge of the screen, something comes into view, a far-off planet and a cluster of moons, stuck right out on their own, and beyond them…

Nothing. I scroll further but the nav system flashes a warning: beyond that point, no other bodies, nothing as far as signals can reach. Just the Void.

A shudder runs through me, fear and longing knotted together. I flip switches, overriding programs.

Everything; I will need to divert everything into the boost, including life support systems. It will buy time, perhaps minutes only, but maybe enough to lose any scouts.

And then?

The stolen medkit is on the seat beside me. A talisman, a reminder. I close my eyes and see the walls of my cell, every inch covered with a line, a life. The tally.

I strap the medkit to my waist. Even if I make the moons, it will be a crash landing, and if I overshoot…

A laugh breaks from me. I activate the boost and send the escape craft hurtling towards the Void.

* * *

I open my eyes. How long have I been staggering, lost in time, asleep on my feet? No way to tell. The darkness is absolute. I can’t even see my hand before me. When I stretch it out into the air, all I can feel is the wind stinging my skin, twining between my fingers. The cable around my waist jerks and sways as the General forges on.

Sometimes the ground rises steeply and I feel as if we are scrambling upwards, the General’s boots kicking sand back into my face. I have given up calling out to her. What breath I have I need for myself.

My head reels with pain and exhaustion. I can’t keep going. The next thing I know, there is a gasp from ahead and the cable snaps taut, pulling me from my feet. I cry out in pain as I fall but something drags me down a slope – the General’s weight. I grab at the sand wildly, and for one heart-stopping second, I feel fingers beneath, gripping my own.

I scream.

‘Low,’ the General calls from nearby, ‘what is it?’

‘Hands,’ I splutter. ‘Something under there, pulling me down—’

‘You fell down. Why would there be hands? Come on, get up.’

She clasps my forearms and drags me to standing.

‘There.’ Her voice is urgent. ‘Look, there, can you see it too?’