He saw her name on the list. She was due for duty at her station at 0100 Ship Time. X2 blinked to focus on the time in his retinal implant. It was 1247. Thirteen minutes. If he was fast enough, maybe he will catch her in the lift.
He ran out of his hub, picking up his toolkit on the way and strapping it across his back.
With the toolkit on him, he would at least have a valid reason to be in the same lift as her. His mind raced to calculate how much time it will take him to reach the lift that would take her to her station. Then he had to make his way to his station as well.
It was going to be close and he could not afford a strike on his record. Under no circumstance could he be late to report to his station. But he wanted to see her too. If only for a minute. Only a glimpse. Even a breath in the air where she passed would tide him by.
X2 knew he was cutting it really close. But he also knew the ship like the back of his hand. At least the areas where he was allowed to go. He almost crashed into a passing cart as he ran, but at the last moment he moved to the side. His momentum carried him into the wall. He slid across the surface and pushed off into the direction where he might have a chance of seeing her. Someone waved at him, probably another crew member from his shift, but he didn't stop to see who it was and raised his hand in a wave back. The ship's galleries became a blur around him as he ran. His lungs cycling the fetid, recycled air, his arms and legs pumping as hard as he could move them. He risked checking the time again. Eight minutes to 0100. He guessed, she would be at least few minutes early for her check in. He would make it.
His mental map told him that he was close. He turned a corner at speed and almost froze in his tracks. An Alpha stood there, motionless and still as a statue. Fear crushed all thoughts of seeing the girl from X2's mind. His throat went dry, his heart beat even faster than it was beating earlier, and sweat erupted from his face.
The Alpha moved his face an inch to look at X2. "Move, worm," he spoke and it felt like X2 got another lease of life. He walked fast and then ran like a scared rat.
An Alpha in his part of the ship? They never came down in these sections. He realized he had lost precious 30 seconds in his encounter with the behemoth. It felt like a week while he was frozen in fear.
X2 licked his lips and reoriented himself towards the lift section. Another corner and he could see the lift. Had she already taken the lift? Was she going to come to her shift today? Would he even be able to see her? Tension curled around his guts like heavy smoke. He closed his eyes and breathed in deep. The tension did not go away.
He opened his eyes and there she was.
Tunnel vision and the rest of the ship disappeared around him. He was hanging there in empty space, orbiting her like a satellite, trapped in her gravitational pull. She came closer and X2 felt like his heart would tear out of his chest like a missle and explode at her feet.
She moved for the lift and X2's feet moved of their own accord. Then he was with her in the lift. There were others in there too, but they did not matter. He was breathing the same oxygen as her. He felt like he would die right there. The lift reached its destination and she brushed past him, leaving a residual smell of ink and cheap perfume in her wake.
X2 stood there, watching her as the doors of the lift closed. As she walked into a man's open arms. As her lips met that man's mouth. As his hand snaked around her waist and gave her ass a squeeze. As she smiled and punched him playfully in the shoulder.
The lift's doors shut.
The universe ended.
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