engine thrusters to soften impact.”

The gravity went as the pod engines cut out. They suddenly flared again. The pod vibrated violently and then all hell broke loose when it slammed into something hard. Mira was grateful that the gravity was gone or she knew the violent hit might have torn her painfully from her seat. As it was, she was just jarred a bit, barely enough to cause mild pain.

“Pod 3 has been hooked,” the computer announced. “Computer is attempting to send Earth an emergency transmission.” It paused. “Negative signal. Would you like Pod 3 to continue to try to send emergency signal as long as there is power?”

“Affirmative,” she said in a shaky voice.

“Confirmed.Hatch is being breached.”

She unhooked her belt so she could turn her head. She almost floated out of her seat. She could order the pod to turn the gravity back on but she didn’t. It would slow Flint down getting to her if he had to cross the pod to the pilot seat to reach her without gravity. Every second was one more instant that she was going to be free.

She could see the pod hatch from where she floated just above her seat, gripping it to stay in place. She heard a loud pop as the hatch was wrenched open. She swallowed hard, feeling fear. Would Flint be the first one in the door? She was pretty sure he would be. Would he kill her outright or take her on the Rally to do it? She was certain he’d be so furious that he’d want to end her life. He seemed like the unforgiving type.

Terror struck as she saw the man who entered the pod. It wasn’t Flint. It wasn’t even a cyborg . He was human but he was scarred and something was wrong with his head, only sporting hair in a few places as if he’d suffered radiation poisoning. She’d seen it before on the news when a ship had had some kind of containment failure. Survivors lost clumps of hair that never grew back without surgery, if they were lucky enough to be fixed. The man floated into the pod and his eyes met hers.

Near heart-attack-inducing terror hit her. His eyes were two different colors. She’d seen that on the news too. He’d definitely suffered severe radiation poisoning. From the different eye color, the lack of a full head of hair and the skin scarring, she knew when he’d been exposed. Unborn infants exposed to high doses of radiation were born like this man, indicating that he was a lifer space inhabitant. As he moved forward, grabbing seats to float his way toward her, she got a good look at his misshapen hands.

He was without a doubt a full-on radiation mutant, which meant he was a pirate. They usually were born in space and lived on old, unsafe ships, turning them into virtual monsters.

“What do we have here?” The man’s voice was raspy.

She saw more motion at the pod door, causing her to turn her head. Three men who floated in were just as physically messed up as the first man.

“Pod 3?How far away is the Star ?”

“Not close enough,” the pirate rasped as he grabbed her by her floating hair.

Mira screamed in pain and missed what the computer said as her grip was torn from the seat. Her body floated freely in the cabin. The man had yanked her so she was pushed in the direction of the three other mutants until rough hands grabbed her. Mira tried to kick and claw at them but the lack of gravity hindered her. They dragged her through the hatch into a sleeve that connected to the pirate ship. The hatch was shut and gravity suddenly returned.

Mira fell, hitting the floor of the sleeve, pain slamming through her head and her back where she hit the hardest. Three mutant males grabbed her and lifted her. She heard a door slide open on the pirate ship and then she was carried into a cargo area. One had her arms while the other two were gripping each leg. She saw the beams and the high ceiling above her. Boxes were packed and secured in the hold.

“No!” she screamed. She fought but she couldn’t get away.

The men hauled her higher, slamming her down on a large table-sized crate with enough force that pain tore through her back where she landed. The air was knocked from her lungs. Rough hands gripped her as they rolled her over onto