Tourian slumped slightly in his seat, staring at the controls of the Zephyr. He looked at Flurry, who was pointedly ignoring him. The nerve pinch they'd used on the techs had been painless -- they would wake up thinking they'd had a good, long rest. Ayrmin whined softly from the back, and Jackdaw said something rude. Tremor wasn't speaking to anyone. Flurry was frowning faintly, looking over the instruments.
For the past two minutes, there had been no sensation of movement -- as if nothing was happening at all. But the gauges indicated otherwise. Maybe those buffers hadn't been so necessary, after all. She saw Tourian open his mouth to say something -- then she saw nothing at all.
Tourian threw his head back violently. It took a moment for him to realize that he was screaming in agony. Part of his mind was amazed at the amount of pain that was flooding his processors. How could he possibly hurt this bad and still be alive? With more effort than he cared to admit to, he twitched his head far enough to see Flurry.
Her eyes were shut tight, hands clenched over the arms of her chair, and her mouth was open in a soundless howl. Or maybe not soundless. He couldn't hear a thing. The pain mounted, doubling in less time than it had taken to begin. Flurry's scream increased in intensity, as did his, he was sure -- he could almost hear her now.
A rasping sob from his own chest was the last thing he heard before losing consciousness completely.
