Corsairs: Kaspar (Corsair Brothers 2) - Page 17

He doesn't need to worry about that.

Our new world looks terrifying.

I stare at the canopy of thick trees high overhead. They're so tall it looks like the sky is made of nothing but shifting green. Each tree must be as big around as our pod, and the forest floor—rainforest, I correct myself—is thickly carpeted with ferns and spiky-looking flowers. Vines hang on lower branches, some of them dangling close to the ground. I can hear the sharp calls of something high up in the trees.

It's also hot as blazes and so humid that my skin instantly gets damp.

Kaspar's thumb rubs against my neck, at the spot where my shoulder hits my collar. "I know what you're thinking."

"Oh-god-oh-god-we're-going-to-die?" I ask, my tone utterly deadpan.

He chuckles, and that thumb moves against the bare skin of my neck again. And I don't hate it, oddly enough. "I wasn't thinking that. I was thinking that it looks intimidating, but we'll figure it out. We just have to stick together."

I tilt my head back, looking up at him. "Why are you so damn cheerful? We've just crash-landed on a jungle planet with no supplies and no weapon."

"We have tabs. And we can strip the pod and make weapons. And this will be an adventure." His eyes gleam with excitement. "Far more than sitting in Shaalyn's holding cells on her ship."

Adventure. The man is insane. I don't want adventure. I want to be nice and safe somewhere. "I'm not sure how much good I'll be in an adventure with this." I hold up my bandaged hand.

Kaspar squeezes my shoulder. "That's why you have me. I'll take care of you."

Yeah right. The only ones that gave a crap about me were my friends back on the ship, and they're scattered to the four corners of the galaxy. "Great," I say again, definitely not feeling it. "So what's the plan? Where are we headed?"

Kaspar turns away, moving deeper into the pod once more. "Gather up what we can. Go hunt for water."

That's our great plan?

Oh yeah, we're fucked. Absolutely fucked.

13

KASPAR

I rip off the last of my shirt to use as a backpack and shove the “supplies” from the ship inside it. There's not a lot there—some tubing, the spray bottle of cleaner, a couple of panels that were straight and seem relatively portable. The tabs of food. The water container and some of the filters ripped from the wall. Plas-blankets. Wiring that can act as cord. A couple of chunks of the thick glass from the window that shattered when we crash-landed. Some of them are sharp on one side, and with a bit of time and some creative wrangling, I can probably make them into crude knives.

I look around the small, wrecked pod. There's a lot more I could probably come back to retrieve—the water filtration system built into the wall, more panels, more tubing and filters—but I'm limited to how much I can reasonably carry. If I weigh myself down, it's dangerous for Alice and me both. She's going to need my strength. Poor Sunshine is drooping in the heat, cradling her hand and looking small and pathetic. I'm tempted to scoop her up, but it's probably good for her to walk for a bit, get her mind off of things.

I tie the pack closed, loop the network of straps across my back, and turn to Alice. "Ready to go?"

She huffs, the sound slightly panicked. "No?"

I laugh. "We can't stay here. We have to see what we can find for shelter."

Alice gestures at our surroundings. "Right here? In the pod? I can think of nowhere safer. I mean, this thing has a distress signal, right? Someone's bound to come looking for us, right?"

I don't point out that the scrambler probably keffed the distress signal. I'll save that for another time. "It won't do us any good if we die of dehydration."

"This looks like a rainforest. Why don't we wait and see if it rains?" She gives me a pleading look.

"The water filters are broken. If you thought the water tasted like pee before…"

"Ew." Alice gives me a look of horror.

"Exactly. So let's go find some real water." I step past her and climb out the door of the pod, onto the spongy ground. There's not much grass covering the dirt, and I have a feeling this will turn into an absolute mudslide if it rains, which means our pod could get buried quickly. I'll have to keep that in mind in case I return. I gesture for Alice to join me. "Come on."

She makes a noise of protest in her throat but takes my hand and lets me help her out. As she steps through the tilted doorway of the pod, her clothing snags on a piece of metal. I hear a rip and when Alice steps forward, the back of her tunic completely falls apart. Alice makes a sound of protest, her bandaged hand going to her breasts. "There goes my shirt!"

Tags: Ruby Dixon Corsair Brothers Fantasy
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