Chapter 43

Chapter Forty-Three

At some point time had come undone.

Connor thought it might have been at the start of the violent shaking that had the shuttle interior rattling and groaning. That had to be it.

Or it could be the cold. Without his environment suit, and with the ship already damaged from the landing, they didn’t have much heat.

Whatever it was, when he looked down at his stopwatch app, the numbers crawled. Emerald pixels blinked out and others activated, all while the dark sky separating the shuttle from its destination sped by.

He took in a deep breath and nearly gagged on the fumes—leaking fuel.

Drew didn’t seem bothered by the smell. Maybe it was nothing.

But they needed another three minutes from the rocket engine to reach a safe point, the spot where the planet’s gravity wouldn’t be able to drag them back down, where their inertia would carry them to the Lucky Sevens.

Three minutes.

It seemed like an eternity.