The shout was equal part question and accusation. Katice was wide-awake, angry as hell and ready to rip somebody’s head off. That somebody was strapped in the pilot seat and well within strike distance. In the next millisecond, she processed several disturbing things simultaneously.

Number one – she had been kidnapped.

Number two - she was on an erratically rolling spacecraft.

Number three – the alien male she had caught prowling around in her mind was frantically trying to keep them from crashing into any of a hundred jagged asteroids streaming by the cockpit window. Flashing lights and the smell of smoke meant they’d already been hit. The jolt of the spacecraft being struck must have awakened her from whatever drug he’d used to render unconsciousness.

A strained voice commanded, “Sit! Find the nearest planet. We must land at once.”

Imminent collision had a pressing way of altering priorities. Being pissed off would have to wait. Katice tumbled into the co-pilot chair and started pushing buttons on the control panel. Her fingers flew over a series of switches above her head. A grid display blinked once then went black. The navigation system was antiquated. And, as she suspected, completely nonfunctional.

“Next time, try waking me up earlier!” she yelled over the droning buzz of alarms. “The nav-system is useless.”

“You’re an engineering genius,” he yelled back. “Work the problem!”

Katice scowled. A glint of light caught the corner of her eye. “Bank starboard, thirty degrees!”

His reflexes were incredibly fast.

A small asteroid brushed by them with only centimeters to spare. Her hands plied the console while her brain ticked off the milliseconds before another asteroid hurtled toward them. They were making a hundred radical course changes per minute. She glanced over at her would-be kidnapper. Sweat beaded his forehead, his face set in lines of determination etched with desperation.

They needed some serious help.

She took a deep breath, forced herself to relax in the midst of the chaos, and let that part of her non-corporeal self able to scan space, float around and ahead of them in a search for somewhere to land. The low grade headache she was already sporting intensified. Katice ignored the discomfort, and every other noxious stimulus assaulting her senses. She focused all of her exploration on one factor only.

Breathable atmosphere.

The magnetic pull of strong gravity whispered to her. She floated that direction and immediately pulled away.

Too much methane.

She stretched her senses. Another planet seductively beckoned, inviting her to safety. She wandered closer, inhaled, smiled.