Adrift by Erica Conroy

about her, something hidden and seductive in her smile. A smile he had only glimpsed on a few occasions. The smile he no longer saw because he scared her.

    The object of Norik's painful thoughts lay wide awake on her bunk. She too had vomited. The first time was when she saw what she had done to that poor man. The second time was when she had moved him and that left only bile and stomach acid for the third and fourth times. She hoped they were rescued soon, if only to escape the smell of death and vomit that wafted along the deck. It was a constant reminder of the sick things she had done to these people.
    She heard Norik enter the room a few hours later. He paused in the doorway as if undecided about being in the same room with her. The thought made her lower lip quiver and she rolled onto her side, away from him. He hated her. She didn't blame him. His repressed life had probably been going along quite nicely until she stumbled into it and brought a whole heap of dead people with her.

    Norik crept into the bunk room and eased himself onto his bunk. He wondered if he should sleep in the other dorm but recalled Jasmine had moved the corpses there. He had been surprised when she had told him that. A lot of people would have left bodies where they fell but she had taken it upon herself to do it. They probably hadn't been the first dead people she had seen, but earlier today it was obvious that that was the first person she had shot. He wondered if he had been too harsh on her. The more he thought about it the more he realized she had been trying to help.
    Interrogating the prisoner was something he had wanted to do on his own. He could easily see how it could have gotten out of hand and she was forced to shoot him in self defense, much like his taking her down when she jumped on him. Norik felt like a real bastard but he didn't know how to fix this. He had become socially awkward in the past ten years. His only interactions with people were professional relationships required of him due to his Corps duties. Making someone not scared of you was a concept that was beyond him. Anything he tried would have to wait until morning.

    Jasmine awoke with a start. She wasn't sure what had woken her so she held her breath and listened carefully. A few moments later she heard it. A cracking noise. There it was again. "Norik?" she called out quietly.
    When he didn't reply Jasmine climbed down from her bunk, her blanket wrapped tightly around her. "Norik," she tried again. Jasmine didn't want to get too close in case he flipped out and tried to smoosh her into the deck again. Two more somethings cracked. "Norik!" she hissed.
    "Hmm?" he murmured.
    "There's a noise," she whispered to him and edged closer when it looked as if he wasn't going to fly into attack mode.
    "What noise?" he asked and listened. When he didn't hear anything he told her, "Everyone is dead, go back to sleep."
    She opened her mouth, stunned as he turned his back to her. The noise was a little louder this time and she exclaimed, "That noise!"
    Norik looked over his bad shoulder at her and said, "It is the hull contracting as the inside of the ship cools down to meet the temperature outside."
    "Oh," she said and then when the reality of what he said settled in she jumped forward and clutched at his arm. "What? The outside? The outside is space!"
    Norik inhaled air through his teeth and tried to pry her off. He wasn't sure what was worse, her nails or her grabbing his existing injury. "Yes, it is. We have no functioning life support. Now let go of me."
    "We're going to freeze to death?" she said and roughly shook him.
    "No, I will freeze to death, your demise might be much faster," he told her. "But if you let go of me now, I might spare you and let you die with me."
    "Huh?"
    "Please let go of my injured arm," he said.
    Jasmine did as he asked. "Sorry," she mumbled.
    "Thank you," Norik said and rolled onto his back to see if she were okay. Not everyone could shrug off