She slapped the emergency release. The lid hissed open, and the cold hit her like a physical blow. Not the sterile cold of a lab, but a living cold—the kind that breathed.
Senior Engineer Lian Yu knew this. She had designed half of its fail-safes herself. So when her eyelids cracked open to the sight of frost webbing across the interior glass, her first rational thought was: System error. Falling with Ice Phoenix- -v1.00a- -F Project- yu...
She wrapped her arms around the Ice Phoenix’s torso, ignoring the biting frost on her palms. The wings shuddered, then stretched—full span, magnificent and terrible. Fractured ice sealed. The crack in Ysandre’s chest knitted closed with a sound like a frozen river thawing. The atmosphere hit. She slapped the emergency release
And she was bleeding. Ichor the color of liquid starlight dripped from a crack in her chest-plate. Senior Engineer Lian Yu knew this
“I know.” The Phoenix looked past her, through the hull, toward the approaching planet—a marbled ball of white and deep blue. “That’s why I woke you. I can’t stop the fall alone. But I can share it.” Lian had never been religious. She was an engineer. But when the Phoenix extended a trembling, frost-laced hand, she understood the choice.