Serix gently stroked Cassie’s hair and held her more tightly to try and sooth her. She was breaking down. Her panicked words were evidence enough of that. She wouldn’t last much longer. He tilted his head slightly, listening in vain for a sign that the Scouts were passing by. It was no good. The metal walls blocked the outside noises out too much. How were they supposed to know when the coast was clear?

“Shh,” Serix hushed Cassie lightly. He brought his hand around to wipe a tear from her cheek and lift her face up to look at him. “We’re going to be fine, okay?” By now, he had realized the real source of her anxiety. The compartment wasn’t dangerous in any way; she just feared being trapped inside of it. He wasn’t yet certain whether it was the darkness or the closed in walls that terrified her – maybe it was both – but that didn’t matter. He just needed to distract her somehow.

“We have to wait a little longer,” Serix went on softly. “Just focus on me, okay? Don’t think about anything else.” He paused. There was a muffled sound outside of the compartment. He held Cassie’s head against his shoulder again, hoping she would stay silent. If he could hear the Scouts from inside the box, they must be very close.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise. One of the Scouts was trying to open the locked door. Serix tensed and held Cassie protectively against his chest. His heart pounded. If the Scout decided to break down the door, they would be trapped. Even if they tried to fight off the first one, the other Scout would surely stop them before they got away.

There was a muffled voice outside. Serix guessed it was the other Lunairan, since it sounded distant. To his surprise, a second voice answered. It wasn’t the person standing outside the compartment. There were more than two now? It would be bad if Cassie lost control now. He put his mouth close to her ear and whispered, “Remember: focus on me. Don’t worry about anything else.”

The Scout outside the compartment finally spoke up. “No, the pilot said to check everywhere,” he called back to his companions as he tried the door again. There was an unintelligible reply from one of the others, then: “You never know. I’m just following orders… Well, maybe he lost his weapon and tried to hide and got stuck in here… I don’t know… Heh, you’re one to talk… No… Fine, whatever. Just don’t blame me if the pilot gets mad at us.” There was the sound of receding footsteps as the Scout descended the ramp. They were leaving. Serix let out his breath and relaxed his tight embrace around Cassie. The immediate danger had passed.

“Let’s just wait a couple more minutes,” Serix said quietly. “To make sure they’re really gone. Then we can get out of here, alright? I know you want to leave as soon as possible, but we should put some distance between us and them first. Think you can last a little bit longer?”