At last, the pain began to seep through the fog of his numb shock, and the burning in his eyes forewarned him of the tears that he struggled to hold back.
No. He had to be strong now. Enough for both of them.
“I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget. It’s just... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be blaming you.”
He tried to lift his head. To acknowledge the apology. But for a moment, all he could do was stare at the controls, fighting to rally himself.
“I’ll scan again,” he managed at last. “I can’t sense life signs, but maybe... I don’t know... maybe there will be a distress signal or something…”
Probably not. But doing something felt better than silently drowning in grief.
“When you were preparing this ship... where did you want to go, and who were you planning to fight when you got there?”
Zorei didn’t look up, choosing instead to double-check their anti-sensor cloak before turning his gaze to the void. “I don’t know.”
If you want to read more about these two heartbroken aliens, you can get a longer excerpt and grab your copy of Heroic Lies here.