Geekerella (Starfield #1)(28)

“Wait, he wanted to?”

“Want me to get him, hero?” She drawls out the last word.

Yes. “Nope,” I squeak.

“Good.” The stunt coordinator turns back to the cameraman and begins checking his harness too. He keeps messing with the settings on his camera as they talk about the scene.

I tug on my collar, staring down, down, down at all the people below me. I’m beginning to regret my decision to do most of my own stunts.

The scene sounds simple enough. Carmindor’s running for safety. In this part of the movie, the Nox lay siege to a council hearing, and the entire building on Andromeda Earth—the homeworld of the Federation—goes up in flames. Carmindor (me) rushes down a hallway, pursued by seven Nox knights. He’s heading toward a dead end, but because Carmindor is genetically enhanced, he can bust through the window at the end of the hall, hurtling himself to the next building’s rooftop to escape.

That’s where I find myself now. Running away from the Nox, busting through the glass window, and letting the cables take me fifty feet down onto a landing pad. Fifty feet doesn’t sound that high until you’re looking down at where you’re supposed to land. But I must’ve failed to realize that I’m not the Federation Prince, and my bones are not made of titanium, and I will break just as easily as the next guy.

I swallow the bile rising in my throat.

Run, spin, knee, wall, I keep reminding myself, remembering the rehearsal for this shot. Run, elbow, back-step, jump. Run, kiss ass goodbye, jump—

Suddenly, I feel something buzz in my tattered uniform. It’s been made to look singed at the edges and caked in soot, like I’ve just—you now—been through a siege.

I reach into my jacket.


Unknown 3:47 PM

—So, about your question yesterday…

—Where would YOU go?

—Anywhere, any time, in the history of you?

“Hey, hero, you ready to rock and roll?” Ms. Scary Eyes calls to me.

God bless my poor unfortunate soul. “Do I have a choice?”

Down below, Amon, the director, barks a laugh. “We got the paramedics standing by. You’ve got brass balls, Darien! I respect you!”

I follow the stunt coordinator back down the hallway specially built for this fight scene. It’s one continuous camera shot, so no mistakes.

Run, spin, knee, wall. Run, elbow, back-step, jump. Run, kiss ass goodbye, jump.

I’ve practiced this. I can do this.


3:48 PM

—I honestly don’t know.

—I wouldn’t go anywhere alone—it’s a big universe out there.

—I’d need a buddy system.


Unknown 3:48 PM

—LOL scaredy-cat. Then where would WE go?

“Quit texting your girlfriend, hero! Get ready.”


3:49 PM

—The frozen tundra of the Arteysa Galaxy is supposed to be nice.


Unknown 3:49 PM

—Brisk! I like it.

“Loverboy!” the stunt coordinator snaps. “Can someone take the kid’s phone away?”

Kid. I try not to let the word sting as Gail rushes up and snatches the phone out of my hand. “I was just making sure my will was in place. And my insurance,” I add under my breath.

The cameraman moves his hundred-thousand-dollar equipment closer, bracing to follow me down the hallway. Is it too late to opt out? I’m not good at this. I should probably just—

“Get ready,” Ms. Scary Eyes says, and radios down to Amon. “We’re set!”

“Three, two…,” the AD says. I turn around, rocking back and forth on my feet.

Get into the moment. Slip on Carmindor like a Halloween mask that still smells like rubber. Breathe in. Breathe out.

“Start running. Go!” the AD directs, and then shouts “Action!” A horn blares.

I take off down the hall. A Nox comes out of the first doorway. I spin on my heels, ducking his punch. A piece of stucco wall pops over my head—fake gunshot—and three more go off down the hallway. I grab the Nox by the collar and send his face into the fake wall.

“And BOOM!” the AD shouts.

I stumble on command, feet slipping out from under me. Another Nox emerges from the next doorway and slams the tip of his rifle against my forehead. Fires.

I dodge, grabbing the gun, and elbow him in the side. I back-step, aim, fire. The Nox is blown backward on ripcords.

“FINAL CUE!” roars the AD.

Tossing the gun to the side I hurtle the downed Nox, dodging another knight trying to grapple onto me. I can feel the harness digging into me. My heart’s in my throat.

I can almost see the fire, the taste of fake blood in my mouth, the stucco falling from the ceiling, the screams of people trapped in the Federation building as it goes up in flames, the titanium in my bones hurting—because for Carmindor they never stop hurting, never will, his humanity rebelling against the unnatural inside of him—and for a moment, I look at the window and I’m not afraid.

Run, kiss ass goodbye, and—

I launch myself out the window, arms pin-wheeling, air rushing around me faster and faster. The green-screen floor comes so close so fast, between one heartbeat and the next, my life flashes before my eyes. I don’t regret most of it—except one minor, inconsequential thing.