Fractured Chances Read online

  Life as a caretaker was her fate. Crashing on an alien world and being given an ultimatum gave her something she didn’t expect, a lover who had her back. She takes a chance and is swept away.

  Nan has spent her life making a place for herself by taking care of those around her. Holding onto the controls of a falling shuttle with the unconscious pilot next to her, she began to regret some of her impulses.

  After the asteroid, she had gathered up close to two dozen kids who had been touring the same national park that she had, and she had tried to bring them home. When their city was found to be a collapsed crater filled with water, she has to take them on the road and try to keep them alive until she can find a settlement to take them.

  Eventually, the call came out for the evacuation under the contract circumstances. The kids were exempt from the contract, and as caretaker, so was Nan. That exemption holds until they are on their way to the world Abix. There is a meteor shower, a wounded pilot, and Nan manages to take the controls, leaving a scar on the landscape in a restricted area. She feels bad, but when the overseer of Abix comes in through the shuttle front screen and gives her an ultimatum, she feels nervous and a weird tension. If they make it out of the restricted area in time, everything will just resume the normal plan.

  There is one thing about the overseer. When he sets a timeline, he cheats. She has no chance.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Fractured Chances

  Copyright © 2020 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-989892-61-9

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com.

  Fractured Chances

  Shattered Stars Book 6

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Nan held onto the controls as the collision alert sounded all over the shuttle. She used the interior com to say, “Everyone, buckle in. Older ones help the younger ones. This isn’t going to be pretty.”

  She glanced over at Krenon, their pilot. He was unconscious, and he had two bleeding punctures in his legs.

  She used the com and flicked the line open. “I am not sure of the protocol, but this is the shuttle Denarix. We have been hit by a series of meteors and have limited control.”

  “Shuttle Denarix, you are off course.”

  She fought a growl. “I am aware. The pilot is unconscious and bleeding but still alive. The storm has taken visibility, and I have no idea where I am supposed to aim this thing. We are about to hit the ground hard.”

  “You are in restricted airspace. You have to aim for the landing space. What is your rank?”

  Nan held onto the controls and tried to pull the nose up while tilting away from the lighting storm. “I am Caretaker Nan. I have eighteen children aboard.”

  “What? Why are you at the controls?”

  “There isn’t anyone else.” She took a breath and said, “Help me,” just as the lightning struck the shuttle, and she was along for the ride with everyone else. It was like trying to fly a turkey.

  She covered her head as the wings hit the first of the dozens of outcroppings in the landscape obscured by rain and darkness. The shuttle bumped again, the nose dipped, and they slid in a rough and uncontrolled stop.

  Everything hurt. She got up and went to Krenon. He still had a pulse. Emergency lighting came on.

  She ran back to the kids and checked them. “Is everyone all right?”

  The younger ones were red-eyed, but the older ones nodded. “We are fine, Nan. Where’s the pilot?”

  “I need help getting him to the med table.”

  Bob shrugged. “There isn’t any power. The med table won’t work.”

  Nan ran a hand through her hair. “Right. I will be right back.” She grabbed the small kit near the med table, and Leena came with her. Leena was fifteen, but she wanted to be a doctor. She had been a fantastic field medic during their run to the pickup point.

  “What happened?”

  “We were hit by tiny meteors and had to descend early. Lightning hit us during our controlled crash, and everything went dark.”

  “When was Krenon hit?”

  She grimaced. “Right after re-entry. The shuttle’s systems helped me get it closer to the colony, but I have no idea how close. We are going to have to get out of here, but I don’t know which way we are going to go.”

  As if her words were prophecy, the shuttle’s systems came online with the schematic that showed the wings were no longer part of the whole. She groaned. “Right.”

  She punched up the map, and it showed that they were twenty kilometres from the edge of the colony. They were at the edge of something called the restricted zone. She didn’t know why it was restricted, and she really didn’t want to.

  Leena bandaged up Krenon’s leg. “He’s going to need medical help. I wanted to do more sterilization, but the punches went straight through. Infection is a real possibility.”

  “Right. Any idea how we haul a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound man out of here when we barely know where here is?”

  Leena sighed. “We will start by unbuckling him. Then get him a thermal blanket, and I thought I saw a backboard or something like it in the hold.”

  “Okay, we are going to need to grab every bit of food and water we can. Everybody gets a pack. Once we are ready, we are going to sleep in the hold, and when there is light, we are going to start walking. We only have twenty kilometres to cover, and if it is reasonably flat, we should be able to manage it.”

  Leena nodded. “Are you worried?”

  Nan looked at her. “Leena, you have known me for eighteen months. I am always worried.”

  Leena laughed. “Good. Then, I know you are thinking. I will brief the others.”

  Nan smiled and said, “Leave the kit. I am going to see if he got hit anywhere else.”

  Leena nodded and left her alone.

  Nan quickly moved to Krenon, and she felt his head, locating the graze that had swollen but was hidden by his hairline. She sprayed it with a painkiller, a sterilizer, and then she wrapped it with a pressure bandage before she got him released from the chair. Bob and Arthur brought the cargo sled, and they all got Krenon into position, strapping him into place.

  The kids had six backpacks and four bags full of rations and water packs. That was all the carriers that could be found. “Okay, everybody. Get some rest. I am going to watch for dawn, and then, we get going.”

  Anne looked at her with the serious expression only a ten-year-old could muster. “What if it is still raining?”

  “Then we get wet. If we have light, we start walking.”

  The kids nodded, and the teens helped get everyone settled. This wasn’t the first rough night they had together, and it wouldn’t be the last. They were an education and colony booster group. Children would grow up in the colony and know the ins and outs when the time came for expansion. If Nan could keep them alive to adulthood, she would finish her bond. It was a duty and a pleasure.

  She walked back to the front of the shuttle and tried to get any of the scanners working. She got enough short-range information to make her very, very happy that they had stopped where they had. There didn’t seem to be any ground in front of them.

  Nan checked and triple checked the direction to the colony. There was a mountai
n range on her right and a river on the left. If they were lucky, the torrential downpour wouldn’t have swollen the banks to be uncrossable. If they were lucky.

  She tried the coms, but they were dead. Either they didn’t work this close to the ground, or the mountain was messing them up.

  What she wanted were some rechargeable walkies and a battery pack, but this was a short-range shuttle. They had been dropped out of a transport ship, spent two days on board, and she had learned a little about how to fly a shuttle. Lucky again.

  There was a dim light in the distance, and she was staring out the screens to see if she could make out any of the landmarks when something landed on the nose of the shuttle. A hard claw tapped against the windshield, and she looked up, covering her mouth as glowing eyes stared at her through the darkness. The thing was big, dark, and the eyes cast freaky shadows across a very human-like face. He looked her in the eyes and shook his finger.

  Silently, he scraped a claw along the edge of the window, and the substance thudded to the floor. She glanced back, but it seemed that none of the kids had woken up. The man, and it was a man, stepped into the shuttle and sniffed. “Someone was injured.”

  She swallowed and stepped back as he continued to step into the cockpit. The wings were unexpected, but they rang a bell.

  “The pilot. He was hit in a meteor strike.”

  “And managed to bring you down into a restricted zone. Very careless. No matter what you have cost the colony, his life is now forfeit.”

  Her eyes went wide. “He didn’t land here. I did. I mean, I crashed here. We were coming in, it was dark, we got hit by lightning, and we dropped like a stone. I am very sorry, but I did it. I am going to get the kids out of here first thing in the morning, and once they are safe, I will agree to whatever punishment you select. Hard labour. Death. As long as the kids are safe.” She could see the fangs; he had claws that flexed and retracted. His wings were like a bat’s, and he was only wearing pants and boots. His body was centrally black with crimson around his ribcage. The crimson on his hands was akin to gloves.

  He looked at her and cocked his head. “Children?”

  “Eighteen of them. I am their caretaker. It is my job to get them and the pilot to the colony.”

  He lunged toward her and inhaled. “How peculiar.”

  She knew he was smelling fear sweat.

  “I will give you until sunset to get out of the restricted zone with no penalty. The colony can come and get the shuttle in a few days, after I have taken care of the khitans that have been displaced. I will know more about the damage in the morning. Any creatures that have been orphaned or injured by this shuttle will be your responsibility. You will need to restore them to health and raise those orphaned.”

  “What?” She blurted it out.

  “This area is a sanctuary of sorts. Certain animals thrive here, and they are sent to caring and authorized homes when they are old enough.”

  He loomed over her and sniffed her neck again. “Very peculiar.”

  She steeled herself. “What is the fastest path for us to get to the colony?”

  He looked at her in surprise. “Really? We are betting on your speed, and you are asking me for directions?”

  “If we don’t make it while dragging an unconscious man, I am at your service anyway. I never thought about what we were hitting. I just wanted to stay alive.”

  It was a theme that her life had taken eighteen months ago, and the chant had reverberated through her. Now, she realized that her survival might be costing others.

  He drew a claw along her neck. “Such a peculiar creature. Are the children your species?”

  She swallowed and nodded. “They are.”

  “They will make interesting colonists.” He drew back. “Follow the conifers, stay away from the river.”

  “How can we get to the colony if we can’t get through the river?”

  “You will walk out of the restricted zone. They will come and retrieve you. They have built a bridge on the river on their side. I will let them know that you are coming. So, it will lengthen the path but save a lot of danger. Are we clear? Stay away from the river.”

  He climbed out the window and flew off into the night, his leathery wings making soft beats.

  She slumped in the pilot’s chair and watched the sky lightening. She woke all the kids and hooked the straps onto the sled. Krenon woke when she touched his cheek. “We are walking out of here.”

  He blinked. “How are we still alive?”

  The group said as one, “Freaky fucking luck.”

  She went to the side door, and they frowned.

  Arthur asked, “Why aren’t we dropping the cargo door?”

  Nan smiled. “I don’t want to tip the front of the ship off the cliff. You will see when we get outside.”

  She slid Krenon across the floor, and she murmured, “I am sending you out feet first, so you don’t drop on your head.”

  He nodded. “Why is my head wrapped?”

  “You have a wickedly large groove on the side of your head that corresponds to a tiny pinhole in the cockpit above the pilot’s seat.” She positioned him near the door and opened it. She exhaled when there was a large meadow stretching out next to the shuttle.

  She shoved Krenon out, and from there, the kids knew what to do. Rations were passed around. Faces were washed on the move, and anyone who needed to use the restroom got a buddy and told the group when they headed for the shrubs. Everyone started the morning defiling the area. And from there, it was a smooth walk for the first ten kilometres.

  The bonus to them walking together was that they had done it before, for months.

  Nan had been hiking at a local park. The asteroid hit Earth, everyone scattered, there were two small school trips that were at the park. Their teachers were gone, their bus drivers ran, and when Nan found them, they were huddled together, waiting for help. So, she became help.

  She started up the bus and learned to drive it in half an hour. She watched a video and set out with her charges. She drove them home, only to find that the city had become a giant sinkhole. She fuelled up, they collected supplies and started driving. They lived that way for eighteen months. All the teens learned to drive, and they tried to continue education as much as they could, only now medicine and chemistry were the front of the line. When the bus broke and couldn’t be fixed, they started walking toward a pickup point. It took them two months, but they managed it. Now, here they were, hiking again.

  Leena laughed. “New world, same feet.”

  The group laughed, and Nan kept hauling Krenon. He was her burden to carry.

  Chapter Two

  They were moving quickly but not crossing the river, as instructed. When the river started curving back into the restricted zone, she grumbled. In the distance, there were vehicles waiting for them, so she made the vehicles her new goal.

  The river was swollen and moving fast. In a perfect world, she wouldn’t dare it, but this was not a perfect world. She took the pack on her shoulders; she looked at them. “Serious question. Who wants to risk the river?”

  The older ones looked around. Arthur said, “There are enough branches down that we can make a substantial raft and float Krenon out. If we all get together and kick, we should be able to make it across in about five hundred metres.”

  “Right. Get things sorted. Weave as much as you can from branches and only use the rope when necessary. We don’t have much, and we will need it to tie ourselves together.”

  The kids nodded, and everyone got together.

  There was a prickling at the back of her neck, and she turned her head to look at a pile of stone fifty metres away. The man from last night was perched on the rock and watching her. She shivered and knelt next to Krenon. “Can you see that man perched on the rocks over there?”

  He glanced and looked back. “When did he get here?”

  “I met him before dawn. I informed him that I am resp
onsible for crashing the ship in his territory.”

  “Nan, no.” Krenon gripped her wrist. “Put the blame on me. It’s fine. I take the responsibility for it all.”

  There was a soft thud behind her, and she didn’t look back at him. “It was my fault. I hit the trees and cracked the rocks. You weren’t even conscious then.”

  “My lord. She didn’t know what she was agreeing to.”

  The winged man’s voice was low, but it carried. “The deal was that she and her party had to be out of my territory by sunset. Unless something dramatically changes, her life is mine. You know the rules, Krenon.”

  “Yes, Lord Varix.”

  The kids were staring at the being behind her. Christie asked, “Sir, are you a Hmrain?”

  The creature chuckled. “I am. This is my world, and you are here to take part in my first colony. Your caretaker crashed in a protected area and damaged a great deal of habitats. She needs to pay for that, either in life or labour. Of course, she can go free if she can make it out of the restricted zone before sunset. However, that does not seem likely as some foolish creature gave her bad directions.” He laughed and took off. She heard him flying away.

  Nan exhaled.

  Leena said, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  Nan smiled. “Stress only makes it more difficult to control your expenditure of energy. I am worrying for me. You don’t have to take it on your shoulders.”

  “Fuck that. We are building a raft. That guy scares me.”

  Krenon chuckled from his sled. “At least the children have some sense.”

  “You won’t think that when we wedge you onto a bramble raft and float you down the river.”

  He looked startled. And then he grinned. “As long as you do the worrying for them, take some on for me.”

  She laughed and went to help with the huge bramble raft.