Free from his fetters grim.
More waiting. But Ruth found that clear thought was becoming difficult, because of the pain. Even fear was taking a back seat. She sat with an arm around Patrick's shoulders, his natural optimism at last defeated by events. "We're going to die," he whispered. What could she say?
She could feel the pain growing stronger, could feel herself becoming weaker as the poison took hold. They held each other's hand, knowing that there was nothing either could do now. The third bite would seal their fate.
The pale, faint dawn was beginning to lighten the skylight far above. Ruth shivered, looking up to see the last of the stars that she had been watching all night. Tiny points of light against the blackness of the void. From this point in the galaxy the constellations were unrecognisable, and she had no idea which, if any, of those stars was her own Sun. A wanderer, with no idea of the direction of her home, wondering if she would see the stars the next time they came out, or whether by then she would be beyond seeing anything ever again.
And then, unbelievably, she felt her wrist communicator buzzing again. She hardly noticed it at first, then looked at it stupidly. "It can't be," she said, pressing the speaker button with a trembling finger.
"Ruth! Patrick! Are you there?" came a familiar voice, faint and crackling but still recognisably Will's.
"Yes! Yes, we're here," she said.
"Have you both got your teleport bracelets on?" Ruth looked at Patrick, puzzled. Will had told them that the teleport was broken, hadn't he? So what did it matter if they were wearing the teleport bracelets or not? Patrick shrugged and nodded, holding up his wrist so she could see the communicator/ teleport bracelet on his arm, like her own.
"Yes."
"Right then, this might be a bit nasty, but..."
Then her eyes were filled with colour, her ears were filled with sound, her nose and mouth were overpowered with smells and tastes they had never imagined. But she could feel nothing, everything was totally numb. All this lasted just a fraction of a second, and then-
"...it'll soon be over," Will continued. He was standing by a control panel built into one of the walls of the green room, on board the Hilarity.
She was sat on the floor of the green room in exactly the same attitude as she had sat against the wall in the damp, dark cell, one hand in Patrick's, the other with the communicator held to her mouth. Patrick was sat next to her, blinking confusedly. She felt as if a great wave had washed over and through her, leaving her drained and washed up. She tried to stand, but felt herself falling and hastily sat down again. Whether that was the effect of the teleport, or the snake venom, or just from not having been in a room where she couldn't stand properly for days she wasn't sure. Perhaps it was all three.
Will hastened towards them. "It's ok, the effects of the teleport will wear off in a few minutes. You're all here? Right." He spoke into his communicator. "We've got them. Get us out of here!" The ship began to pick up speed.
Patrick was trying to stand, now, with help from Adam and Tom. But he only took a couple of steps before sinking down again, dizzy and nauseous. Ruth looked up, confused.
"You said...teleport was broken," she gulped.
"It was, but we managed to get it working, thanks to the GilBot," Will said. "But it looks like you had a rough ride. Maybe the transferal stabilisers need a bit more work..."
Ruth shook her head. "Not your fault," she said. "Thank you."
"You should lie down, and I'll see if we've got any telecetamol," Will said. "You must have lost salt and protein-"
"It's not the teleport," Patrick managed to say. "The snakes...bit us."
Will stopped dead and stared at them. "They bit you? Pserpentese venom? Oh no. Oh...dear."
"That's bad?" asked Adam. Will nodded.
"When it happen?" Will asked. Ruth looked at him and tried to remember, but it was all hazy.
"Yesterday?" she said. "Or perhaps before...they bit me first, and later on Patrick..."
"It was yesterday," Patrick said. He seemed to be less vague and more awake than Ruth. "When they found you'd gone in the morning the leader came and bit Ruth, and then later he came back to get me, and then at night he came back and bit both of us again."
"Twice! You were bitten twice?" Will said, growing more and more anxious. "Oh my-"
"He said it would take three bites- that he wanted to make it last. The pain, I mean."
"One bite can contain enough poison to kill a man! Two bites- I don't know what to say." Will stared at them for a moment, then started talking very fast to Zoe on his communicator.
Patrick had struggled to his feet again, and collapsed beside Ruth. They met each other's eyes.
"So we're not safe after all," he said.
"No," Ruth replied. "But we still did the right thing."
Their friends clustered around them, bringing bedding, trying to make them comfortable. At least now Ruth was warm, which she hadn't been for days, and dry, and there was food and drink. But she was struggling to remain conscious and to think clearly. Patrick didn't seem quite so far gone as her, but he was still obviously struggling.
Will came over to them, looking very serious. Ruth struggled to sit up and focus on him. "You shouldn't have come back for us," she said fuzzily.
"We couldn't just leave you there," Adam said.
"It's not going to make any difference, anyway," Ruth said. "You put yourselves in danger for nothing." Suddenly the effort to hold up became too much and she lost consciousness.
The story continues...
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