Chapter One

 

Maisie Scotts glanced up from the spaceship’s engine at the sound of someone yelling her name.

“Maisie! Maisie we need your help!”

Ashariz, the Zocronian man who owned the spaceship repair shop where Maisie sometimes worked, was running toward her with a look of wild terror in his eyes. Something must be very wrong. Even if Maisie hadn’t been able to see the alarm on Ashariz’s face, the fact that he’d actually called her Maisie gave her a hint that he wasn’t in his normal good mood. Ever since Ashariz had discovered that mechanics back on Earth were often referred to as “grease monkeys,” he’d taken to calling Maisie by the term. Or, if he was in an especially cheesy mood, he’d call her “Grease Maisie.” Unfortunately, the nickname had caught on, and now Maisie’s entire crew had taken to calling her Grease Maisie. She tried not to let them see how much the name annoyed her, because the more they thought they were irritating her, the more they would tease her.

There was no teasing now, however. Ashariz’s face had turned from deep blue to pale blue, and his eyes looked unusually wide.

“Ash! What’s wrong?”

“Distress call from one of the Zekkardite Rovers. Something’s wrong with the engine, and the thing is stranded halfway between here and the mines. There’s a big storm coming through that’s spawned a super-tornado and if the rover doesn’t get fixed soon, a huge load of Zekkardite might be blown away by the super-tornado!”

Maisie frowned. “Okay. Losing a bunch of Zekkardite would be bad, but it’s not the end of the world. This planet has a lot more of it to mine.”

Ashariz looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Are you crazy? It’s not the Zekkardite itself we’re worried about. It’s the city dome!”

Maisie set down the wrench she’d been holding and wiped her hands on her dark blue mechanic’s coveralls. “I’m lost. How does a lost load of Zekkardite have anything to do with the city dome?”

“Zekkardite is heavy. Really freaking heavy. But a super-tornado is strong enough to pick it up and throw it around. If enough of it gets pelted into the city dome at a high enough speed, it could severely damage the dome.” Ashariz’s eyes had grown so wide that they looked like they might pop right out of his head.

Maisie frowned. “Oh. I guess that would be a problem.” The planet of Zocrone itself was completely inhospitable to life, so the entire Zocronian population lived inside a giant, climate-controlled glass dome. The dome was incredibly sturdy, and Maisie knew the Zocronians had the ability to lock off large sections of the city in the event that one section was damaged. A break in one section of the dome would be bad, but it wasn’t like it would be the complete end of life on Zocrone.

Nevertheless, Ashariz was freaking out. “A problem? More like a catastrophe!”

“Right. Of course,” Maisie said, still not convinced. “But I’m not sure panicking about it is all that helpful. Surely, this can’t be the first time a threat like this has popped up. There must be some sort of emergency response plan in place?”

Ashariz sighed dramatically. “How are you always so calm?”

“Dunno. I’ve faced a lot of near-death emergencies in my time. After a while it takes a lot to shock you. Besides, what good would it do to freak out? Either the emergency response plan your people have will work, or it won’t. There’s not a whole lot I can do to change that either way.” Maisie shrugged, and went to pick up her wrench again, but Ashariz wasn’t done freaking out.

“Um, there is a lot you can do.”

Maisie looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“Like, head out to the rover and attempt to fix it so it can haul the Zekkardite in before the super-tornado gets here.”

Maisie laughed. “Yeah, right. I’m sure that Chief Daxar really wants a flight mechanic out there to work on a rover in an emergency. A human flight mechanic, no less. I work on spaceships. Rovers aren’t exactly my area of expertise.”

Ashariz only stared at her, until understanding finally dawned on Maisie.

“Oh. You weren’t kidding.”

“No, I wasn’t kidding. Chief Daxar personally requested that you go out to the rover to fix it. He said you’re the best mechanic in town.”

Maisie felt her cheeks heating up with embarrassment the way they always did whenever someone praised her mechanical abilities. Sure, she was good at what she did. But she repaired spaceships, not rovers. And besides, she highly doubted she was the best in all of Zocrone. Surely, there was someone else here better able to take on an emergency repair when the safety of the entire city was at stake. “He can’t be serious.”

“I am,” another male voice said, joining the conversation. Maisie looked up to see that the voice belonged to none other than Chief Daxar himself, who had just entered the repair bay with a team of Zocronian soldiers by his side.

“Chief!” Maisie squeaked out. She cleared her throat, trying to cover over how pathetic her voice had sounded. She couldn’t help it if she got flustered anytime someone of power was in the room. One would think she’d be used to Daxar by now, since he was dating one of Maisie’s best friends, Nova Wolke. But no. Maisie still turned into a bundle of nerves any time he was around.

If Daxar noticed how flustered she was, however, he didn’t show it. Instead, he gestured toward the soldiers. “These guys are about to take a rescue rover out to evacuate the mining crew from the damaged rover. I’d like you to go with them and see if you can fix the damaged rover so we can get it back into the city dome before the worst of the storm hits.”

“But Chief—”

Daxar held up a hand to stop her from protesting. “Maisie, you’re the best. I’ve seen your work. We’ve all seen your work. If anyone can fix this rover and fix it quickly, it’s you. And I’m not the only one who thinks that. Jarmuk is out on that rover, and he personally requested that you be the one sent out to fix it.”

“Jarmuk requested me?”

“Yes. Now come on, enough talk. Let’s get you to the rescue rover. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Maisie hesitated only a moment longer. She still didn’t think she was the best choice for this job, but if the Chief and Jarmuk both wanted her out there, then what the hell. She did have experience fixing engines while wearing a survival suit in the middle of Zocrone’s harsh atmosphere. She’d had to fix her own crew’s spaceship that way just a few weeks ago after they crash landed outside of Zocrone’s city dome. Besides, what Ashariz had said was true. She was indeed calmer than anyone else in emergency situations. And when you’re under time pressure to fix an engine and save a planet, calmness can count for a lot.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

Ashariz let out a whoop, as though he was somehow personally responsible for Maisie being selected as the heroine of the day. Maisie resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she gave him a small wave and then followed the soldiers out of the room.

“This way, Ms. Scotts,” the leader said in Universal. “That storm’s coming in fast, and we don’t have a lot of time.”

Maisie nodded. “Please, just call me Maisie.”

The leader nodded, but didn’t say anything further. Instead, he broke off in a run toward the western corner of Zocrone’s industrial sector, where all the military rovers were kept. Maisie followed him, thankful that she ran every day for exercise and was able to keep up reasonably well. The military rovers weren’t far, but these guys were going fast.

Chief Daxar didn’t even try to keep up with them. Instead, he yelled after them wishing them good luck, and then took off in the other direction. Maisie figured he was heading back toward city headquarters to monitor the situation.

Hopefully, once she got her hands on the rover’s engine, the situation would be under control. But nothing was ever guaranteed in the midst of Zocrone’s storms, and despite her resolve to be calm, Maisie couldn’t quite keep a nervous lump from forming in her throat as she climbed into the rescue rover and started donning her survival suit. Everyone viewed her as smart and talented, but if she messed up this repair, they would all know she was an imposter.

Of course, if she messed up this repair and the city dome was damaged, there might not be anyone left on Zocrone to berate her for being an imposter. At least there was that.

Here goes nothing. She took in a deep breath as the rescue rover entered the airlock chamber in preparation for leaving Zocrone’s city dome. Outside, the storm was already raging worse than anything Maisie had ever seen, and she’d seen some pretty bad storms. Before settling down in Zocrone, she’d worked as part of a smuggling crew, traveling across the Seven Galaxies in a cargo ship through often questionable weather. But the storms here on Zocrone were infamous, and this one looked like it might be trying to set a record, even for Zocrone.

Still, Maisie did her best to stay calm. All she could do was her best. So far her best had always somehow been enough to get her through.

She just hoped that lucky streak didn’t end today.