Burnout

"…Is it supposed to be on fire?"

Marcus brushed his hands off, leaving streaks of soot on his pants. "It wasn't," he admitted. "But I can't get it to stop burning."

Ariadne tilted her head, watching the flames. "Why's that?"

"The Solar energy that Ana helped integrate," he said. "It's not totally… contained. But it's stable enough to ride. I've tried it."

"Does the fire ever go out?"

"Not as far as I can tell."

"Huh." Ariadne crossed her arms. "Seems dangerous."

"Yeah. Like I said, it's stable for now, and I can ride it, but who knows how long that'll last. It could probably explode at any second."

They stood in silence, watching the charred Sparrow burn.

"Cool," Ariadne whispered.

Marcus grinned. "I know, right?"