******
Laina rushed to his side, struggling to pick him up off the ground—but he was just too heavy.
She had to save him; they had come too far for it to end like this.
Not willing to leave him alone, she began to yell for help.
At that moment, she saw someone down the corridor.
“Help! Please, come here!”
The figure ran toward them. It was a man, carrying a bag in one hand. He was practically on top of them by the time she realized who it was.
“You’re still alive!” Lankey said, his eyes wide. “I’m so relieved. I thought the captain was going to kill me.”
Julius groaned in pain. His hair was burned off, and she could see the skin on his back burned black, right through the clothes.
“Help me with him. Go get some help.”
“Help?” Lankey said, jerking his head and looking around them frantically. “No, there’s no one left on the ship. No help, just me. Everyone took the pods almost an hour ago.”
Laina must have slept through that.
“Why are you still here? Why didn’t you leave?”
“Oh… well,” Lankey said, “I don’t normally leave the ship—and I was under orders to heal you.” He leaned forward. “Or else. I don’t like that ‘or else.’”
“Treat him!” she yelled. “He’s in pain!”
The doctor began to work on him—injecting him with something from his bag. He then brought out a belt from his bag that he wrapped around Julius’ waist, tucking his arms inside it. He then wrapped something around his ankles and head.
“What’s that for?” Laina asked.
Lankey touched a button on the belt, and Julius’ body began to float off the ground. The doctor stood up and held Julius by the belt.
“Portable anti-grav stretcher,” he said “Now we can move him. Well, come on, let’s get to the infirmary.”
“No!” Laina said, “we have to get to the landing bay and get off this ship—if they used the pods, it means this ship isn’t safe!”
Lankey looked around, his eyes wide. “Off the ship?” he repeated.
At that moment, Laina heard a sound from her quarters—a sound she had not heard in many years. A sound she could not have possibly heard. She was going to dismiss it as her imagination, until she heard it again.
“You have a baby?” Lankey asked.
Laina climbed on top of the rubble, using her good leg and arms to compensate for the cast. She peered inside her quarters. The lights were out and it was pitch black—except for a small glow in the distance. She turned to Lankey.
“Take him to the landing deck. I’ll meet you there!”
Lankey hesitated.
“Or else!” she yelled.
Lankey abruptly ushered Julius down the corridor and disappeared into the elevator.
Laina climbed to the other side of the rubble. She slid down, carefully putting her weight on her good leg. She was inside.
It was dark, but she stepped cautious ahead, toward the glow. When she reached it, her breath stopped.
A pair of small, glowing green eyes stared up at her—and from its mouth, it cried.
Laina knelt down and carefully picked up the baby—a little girl. Laina rocked her and then whispered to her. It seemed to soothe her, until the ship rocked from a distant explosion, and the crying started again. They had to get out of there.
Laina climbed up the rubble, baby in hand, and slid down to the ground, surprised at her own prowess. She then limped down the hall toward the elevator. She made it inside and took it to the landing deck.
“Don’t you fucking break,” she said to the elevator. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said to the baby. “I have to watch my language.”
The doors opened, and she stepped onto the landing deck. She saw loads of rubble… and fires erupting around her. On the far end, she could see Lankey standing by a shuttle along with someone else.
Laina looked down at the baby, she was sleeping.
“Okay, little A.I. baby,” she said, “wish me luck.”
Laina limped across the bay, as quickly as she could with a bad leg and a baby in her arms. Debris was still falling down from the ceiling, and she had to maneuver around mounds of fires and chemical spills.
As she reached the shuttle, Haylek ran up to her. The hacker’s purple Mohawk hair hung down in clumps, his pale skin looked even paler than usual and was covered in sweat. Haylek looked as battered as the Sea Wolf, but she did not have time to talk.
“Thank you,” she said as he helped her along.
They made it inside the shuttle, Laina sitting herself down on a bench with the baby. Lankey pushed Julius’ unconscious body next to her and knelt down to check him. As she watched the doctor check him, the engines in the shuttle came alive and she felt them move.
Lankey stopped checking him then shook his head slowly. Laina felt her skin go cold.
“Is he…?”
“He should not be breathing,” Lankey said softly, then he looked up at her. “But the captain is the strongest man I’ve ever known—I think he wants to live.”
Lankey then backed away and sat down on a bench opposite her, fidgeting as he looked around the cabin.
Laina looked down at the baby as she cradled her. She was awake now, the glowing emeralds of her eyes staring up at her. It reminded her of Chorus’ own eyes, but unlike her sometimes cold demeanor, this A.I. managed to make Laina smile.
The shuttle shook slightly; she turned to face the porthole behind her.
The A.I. Moon was completely gone. Whether it was destroyed, or had jumped away somehow, she would have to find out later. In the moon’s place hovered a battered Sea Wolf.
As she watched the old pirate ship shrink behind them, an explosion erupted within it. A wave of fire and gas sprayed multicolored spasms of light—a final show of beauty from an otherwise unattractive ship.
“I’m glad you can’t see this, Julius,” she whispered, unable to even look back at him as she spoke. “It would probably break your heart.”
As the gases dissipated, she could still see large pieces of its hull clinging together—stubbornly fighting its destiny.
She finally looked over at Julius. He was alive, but his breathing was shallow. Just as stubborn as his ship—perhaps he would pull through this… just as he always had before.
Just then a flash of light emanated from behind her, and she turned to the porthole.
An explosion bloomed out from the Sea Wolf, in its center a mass of fire and metal feeding the flames that consumed it. As she watched the destruction of their longtime home, she thought about the many adventures that they experienced together on the old ship—now relegated to mere memories of what once was… And is no more.
Soon, the fire died out and all that remained was a glistening of metal debris that now marked the gravesite of their home. The Sea Wolf was gone.
Laina turned away, fighting the tears. She leaned over Julius and put her hand on his cheek.
“Don’t you die on me, you pirate,” she said, “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare.”