HAWK

CHAPTER TEN: FLY (1/4)

The journey to the belt would normally have only taken eight days to complete, but since Kas was keen to avoid the site of Selva's destruction, she customised the Calista's itinerary in order to give her a wide berth. It came at the expense of adding four more days to her journey, but Kas was well used to lengthy trips and normally quite enjoyed the time alone.

This time, however... not so much.

She had found herself missing the kid more than she'd expected and hated herself for dumping her without even saying goodbye. Worm would only have wanted to come with her and that was out of the question. Kas didn't mind risking her own safety, but she couldn't chance Worm's. If something happened, she'd never have forgiven herself. Kas decided as soon as she was done investigating the belt, she'd return directly to Lysan and try and make it up to her.

I'll take her on a trip... anywhere she wants...

But the idea did little to satiate her guilt and she turned her mind instead to the source of the databeam. She knew it was crazy - foolish, even - to fly towards a place which may or may not have had something to do with Selva's destruction, and without so much as even a vague outline of a plan, but the mystery of the databeam was too much for her to resist. She had no problem with danger - that excited her. Death was a familiar companion in every mission she undertook. She figured it was impossible to escape it forever, so she may as well live the way she wanted: pursuing a life of excitement. She'd certainly been called crazy enough times, and perhaps she was, but she was a happy kind of crazy.

The seventh day of the journey saw the Calista finally begin to skirt Selva's death zone. Most of its debris had long since scattered itself across the cosmos, but Kas wasn't taking any chances; she kept the Calista no less than ten million miles away from the site's epicentre at all times.

It took her three days to make her way around the perimeter and she barely slept during that time. Hardly an hour went by when she didn't venture into the cockpit to triple check the Calista's radars and make sure there was nothing unexpected in her vicinity - but there never was. When she finally cleared the area and entered her last two days of travel, she felt a lot more relaxed and was finally able to get a good night's rest.

Which is just as well, because it would be her last one for quite a while.