by Lauren Esker
They were back in the hallway now. He stuck the grapples to the wall, left them there, and began climbing a ladder leading to a shaft in the ceiling.
"Skara?" His abrupt retreat was as worrying as his non-answer. "Where are you going?" As he climbed up the shaft above her, she found herself regretting that he was no longer wearing her skirt. Still, the view was nice; tight leather pants were the next best thing.
"Come up and see," he called down.
"Do you just try to be infuriating, or does it come naturally?" she demanded, scrambling up after him.
"Little of both."
He swung open a hatch at the top of the shaft. Wherever he was, it was dim. She didn't realize where he was actually going until she climbed up after him and found herself on top of the ship.
"What?" she said blankly, looking up.
They were standing on a platform about ten feet across, with a railing around it, making her think somewhat of the observation deck on top of a submarine in an old war movie. It was dim here, in the middle of the cloud layer. Lightning flickered around them, lighting up the ship in strobes of blue-white, violet, and dull red.
"How can we breathe up here?" Claudia demanded, grabbing onto the railing. Although the clouds roiled all around them, there was no breeze, and it occurred to her that this might be nothing but a sophisticated hologram.
Skara grinned. "Shield. See?" He put out a hand, and his fingers stopped in midair. Claudia followed suit. She didn't really feel anything, but her hand just stopped, encountering an odd kind of resistance that raised the hairs on the back of her arm.
Now that she noticed it, there was a very faint green glimmer around them, mainly visible when drops of rain spattered against it.
"Is this ... safe?" Claudia asked warily. The flashes of lightning looked much too close for comfort, and when one of them struck the ship, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Perfectly safe. Don't you like storms?"
"When I'm inside, sure."
But it was exciting, being out here in the middle of the storm's fury. The observation deck was rock-solid under her feet. Another flash of lightning arced overhead, lighting up the clouds, and this time she barely jumped. She tilted her head back and grinned as thunder rolled over them. It made her think of her childhood again, watching thunderstorms from the front porch of the Louisiana house, with Naomi's hand wrapped securely around hers.
"I knew you'd like it up here."
She glanced over at Skara and was unsurprised to see him flashing his devil-may-care grin. "You were the kind of kid who'd swallow a live toad on a bet, weren't you?"
"I don't know what a toad is, but I'm willing to try."
His eyes sparkled at her. Claudia had to look away; it would be too easy to fall into those eyes and lose herself.
What do I want? she chided herself, looking back out into the storm. A week ago, the idea of a one-night stand had appealed greatly. A little no-strings-attached fun, free of guilt or commitment.
It seemed that Skara was still up for no-strings-attached fun, but Claudia wasn't sure she was. Not anymore. Not with a self-described space pirate with a gorgeous grin and, from the look of things, not a single shred of commitment in his whole body.
He just skipped from planet to planet, sleeping with pretty women, hauling black-market cargo, never worrying about consequences or responsibility or other people.
She could easily fall for him, she feared. But she was far too practical to allow herself. She knew it would only end in heartache.
Could only end in heartache.
"You know, as much fun as this is, there's going to be a better view from the top of the cloud layer," Skara murmured. He touched his fingertips to the cuff on his other hand.
The ship moved underfoot, rising through the clouds and carrying them with it. The cloudscape around them grew lighter. They passed directly through an outbreak of lightning flashes, five or six at once. Claudia cried out in mingled surprise and delight, her voice swallowed in the deafening thunder. Then they were past that and still rising, the clouds brightening around them—
They broke out into a sunset-tinted vista. Cloud tops rolled to the horizon, and the sky was the color of butterscotch, with the low sun just visible past the towering thunderheads.
Claudia had seen similar views on airplane flights, but it was different being out here in the middle of it, rather than seeing it through the tiny window of a plane. It felt like being at the top of a high mountain. Her breath caught in her throat, and she leaned forward, gripping the railing.
"I knew you'd like this better."
Skara wore a soft smile very unlike like his usual devilish grin. In the sunset light, she was struck all over again by how handsome he was as himself, not wearing a celebrity's borrowed face.
Would a little no-strings-attached fun really be that bad?
He had been great in bed. Not that she had anything to compare it to. But she'd always gotten the impression that losing your virginity was supposed to be awkward and uncomfortable. Instead she remembered Skara laying her down on the bed and making love to her with every bit of his attention, coaxing pleasure out of her inexpert body again and again.
It had actually kinda been worth catching the world's weirdest STD.
"Skara—" she began, and then stopped as the ship shuddered violently. She grabbed for the railing. "What the heck? I thought you said there was nothing up here to run into!"
"There's not. Which means we didn't." He touched the gold cuff at his wrist, and his face grew distant, then sharpened into sudden dismay. "Oh, fuck me."
He lunged past her to the hatch leading down into the ship. Claudia started to follow, but movement beside their ship caught her eye. There was something rising out of the clouds alongside their ship, breaching like a whale: a gleaming silver curve like the long back of a dirigible.
"Is that the bounty hunters?"
"Yes," Skara snapped from somewhere down the ladder. Claudia clambered down after him. "They're grappled onto us. Damn it. They came up from below. I had no idea they'd be able to track us this readily over these distances."
She dropped off the bottom of the ladder and hurried after him toward the ship's bridge. "Should I teleport us away?"
"No!" Skara said over his shoulder. "There's nowhere to go. Earth is outside your range from here."
"I didn't know I had a range. What's my range?"
"Not as far as another planet."
She groaned. "So what do we do?"
"We get out of here the old-fashioned way."
The golden light of the cloudtops bathed the bridge in sunset colors. As Skara flung himself into the pilot's seat, a loud clang echoed through the ship, and the deck shuddered underfoot.
"What was that?" Claudia demanded, stumbling into the back of the copilot seat.
"They're trying to board us," Skara muttered through clenched teeth. His eyes had a faraway look as he concentrated on whatever he was doing with the ship. "Damn it. They're grappled on hard. We can move, but we'll just drag them with us. And what then? They can jump, but we can't."
"What if I teleport us onto their ship?"
He looked up at her, startled. "What?"
"You said I can go anywhere I've seen, right? I was on the bridge of their ship. They might not have thought of that."
"And if they're trying to board us, at least one and possibly both of them will be off the bridge. We can take over their ship." Skara sprang lightly out of the pilot's seat, caught her and gave her a quick, light kiss on the lips. "Sweetheart, you're brilliant. That's a plan worthy of me. Do it."
Her lips tingled where he'd touched, and she brushed her tongue across them as she held out both hands. With repeated practice, it was starting to get easier to do the necessary mental gymnastics. She pictured herself in the chair on the other ship's bridge, the bounty hunters around her, Skara swinging around in the pilot's chair, grinning that devilish grin, delighted with himself. She felt again the kick of
surprised delight in her chest to see him there.
The portal blossomed under her fingertips. As soon as it was wide enough to admit a person, Skara hurled himself through and came out shooting. Green light flashed from his cuffs and lit up the other ship's bridge. There was a yelp and then the cat-man in the pilot's chair keeled over, slumping to the floor.
The portal was starting to close; she couldn't hold it for long. Skara showed no signs of coming back, so Claudia stepped after him and it collapsed behind her. She stumbled, a headache slamming into her temples. One of these times, she thought crossly, massaging her forehead, she was going to need Skara to tell her why the stupid symbiont's side effects only kicked in after the portal was closed.
Skara unceremoniously hauled Kriff, a.k.a Squonxface, out of the seat and took his place. "Lock the door," he ordered.
The door to the bridge stood wide open. Claudia felt all over the walls, looking for a latch or switch. "I don't know how!"
"Never mind." Skara pulled his hands out of the two holes in the pilot's console with a hiss of frustration, leaned down and started pulling out wires. "Get him tied up before the stun wears off. I'll handle the door as soon as I break into their system."
He was clearly busy, and she didn't want to interrupt with questions like "Tie him up with what?" After a moment's thought, she struggled with Kriff's belt until she figured out how to undo its odd, complicated fastening, and used it to tie his hands behind his back. He was sleeping deeply, face slack and mouth half open. She couldn't help staring at the tawny fur on his cheeks and neck and the backs of his hands.
Underneath the console, Skara was muttering a steady litany of complaints, encouragement, and general stream-of-consciousness babbling to himself. "Yeah, c'mon baby, you got this—what the sixteen hells is this supposed to be? That's not up to regular spec ... red wire, blue wire, probably doesn't make a difference at this point—Take his cuffs off, would you?"
It took Claudia a moment to realize that Skara was talking to her now. "Um ... how?"
"Oh right, you don't have mods. You won't be able to do anything with them, but you can still get them off so he can't use them. If you run two fingers down the side, they open. Like this." He leaned out from under the console to demonstrate on the gold cuff around his left wrist, then ducked back under again.
Just like swiping on a phone, Claudia told herself. She had to try from several angles until the seemingly solid gold cuff split down the middle and opened up, dropping with a clink onto the floor. Having done it once, the other was easier. She gathered them up, looked for a place to put them, then cautiously put them on her own wrists. Squeezing them together like a metal bracelet failed to make them re-seal, but a reverse stroke with her fingertips did the trick.
"Gotcha!" Skara crowed. "There hasn't been a security system invented yet that could defeat me." He rolled out from under the console and scrambled into the pilot's seat. The door to the bridge slammed shut, followed by the sound of clanging elsewhere on the ship.
"What are you doing?" Claudia asked. She gave the bracelets a nervous tug and then went to the copilot's seat.
"Sealing all the doors, for starters. I expect that Mrs.—what did you call her? Potato Face?"
"Mrs. Potato Head."
"Right —is on the Discordia right now. Let's make sure she can't get back. If she's realized she can't raise her partner—oh, look who's calling now!"
The view of serene gold-tinted clouds vanished, replaced by the furious purple face of the female bounty hunter. "What have you done? Where's Kriff?"
"Still breathing," Skara said, "and likely to stay that way as long as you don't do anything dumb."
"You're on my ship!"
"And you're on mine. Seems fair to me."
Her face flushed even deeper purple with fury. "I noticed on my way in that your entire cargo bay is full. Looks like you've got a lot of money invested in whatever you're hauling. What say I start pushing barrels out your airlock?"
A flicker of rage traced its way across Skara's face, but his smile was bright and brittle. "You do that, and I'll push your partner out your airlock. And unless I'm very much mistaken, he's the only one of you two who has pilot mods, so without him, you can't fly my ship or yours. You get to float in the clouds until you either run out of food or die of old age, whichever happens first."
Every part of her exposed skin turned bright orange for a moment and extruded spikes before fading back to purple. "I'm going to kill you!"
"Gotta catch me first," Skara declared cheerfully. "And your ship has, oh would you look at this, a fully charged jump drive! Unlike mine. Have fun drifting in the clouds."
"Wait—!"
Skara swept a hand through the air, and the view of butterscotch cloud-mounds returned. He sank back in his seat and the bright humor vanished from his face, leaving him looking tired and unwell.
"Are you okay?" Claudia asked.
He straightened his back. This time she could see him put his game face back on, and was all too aware that at least part of it was a lie. "I'm fine. How's Squonxface there?"
"Still out. Aren't you worried about having her on your ship?"
"Not too much. Unlike theirs, my ship's security is top-notch. It's possible that she might be able to bypass enough of my defenses to fly it, but I really don't think she has pilot mods. Of the two of them, I'm pretty sure our furry friend here is the pilot." He nudged Kriff's leg with his toe. "We should probably put him somewhere he can't stab us in the back quite so easily."
They dragged him off the bridge. This ship was larger than Skara's, with several small cabins to choose from. Skara dumped him on the floor in an unoccupied cabin and fiddled with the door for a couple of minutes before dusting his hands. "There. Even if he gets himself untied, let's see him get out of that." He shook his head. "It's tempting to just cut 'em loose—jump out, leave the Discordia, drop him somewhere and arrange a meet later to swap ships. But I can't lose that cargo."
"It's valuable, is it?"
"Very. And I don't have the money to buy it again. Although," he added thoughtfully, giving her a look, "I know how to get more."
She scowled at him. "I can teleport away anytime I like, you know."
"All I need is a few ounces of your blood, or a couple of skin samples. You, my dear, are an absolute walking font of expensive DNA. You are money on two extremely shapely legs."
"I—my—wait, what? My DNA?"
"It's a commodity on the galactic market," he explained. "Prime, unmodified Birthworld DNA is worth a fortune."
"You are not selling my DNA! I don't believe—no, of course I believe it. What else could I expect from a space pirate?"
"If it would make you feel better, you can think of me as a gentleman smuggler."
"I don't think so! You're talking about selling my DNA! Is money all you care about?"
He stopped and blew out a breath, then waved a hand. "We'll talk about this later. Go wait for me on the bridge. I need to run a quick errand."
"What errand?"
"Space pirate business!" Skara shot over his shoulder.
Like she was going to take that for an answer. She followed him down the hall to a medbay similar in style and design to the one on Skara's ship. When Claudia peeked inside, he was clawing through racks of vials, muttering under his breath. He picked two, snapped them into the ports in one of those injector-gun things, and then saw her and nearly dropped it.
"Hi," Claudia said. "What's that?"
"None of your damn business, that's what," Skara said between his teeth.
He was looking noticeably worse, sweaty and ... well, what was probably pale for someone whose natural skin tone was light purple. "If you're sick—" Claudia began.
"It's not contagious." He pressed the injector to his arm and pulled the trigger. Those things made Claudia nervous; she couldn't get over how much they looked like guns, though from what she'd seen so far, the bracelets were the real guns.
"What was th
at, an antidote to something?"
"Do you ever stop talking?" He threw the injector into what looked sort of like the port to a garbage chute, and pushed past her. "I told you to stay on the bridge."
"There's no point, it's not like I can do anything there anyway." She realized that he wasn't going back to the bridge; he was descending deeper into the ship. "Where are we going?"
Skara didn't answer, but he stopped in an alcove. "This is what passes for a kitchen here? At least my ship has decent facilities." He yanked open a drawer, fumbled out a handful of candy-bar-shaped things, glanced over the packaging, then tossed two of them to her.
She caught one, fumbled the catch on the second, and had to bend over to pick it up. "What are these?"
"Food. Eat. Keep your glucose up, in case we need another teleport." He shoved the rest of the handful at her. "Stash these in your pockets for emergencies."
"You're distracting me with food," Claudia complained, following him back the other way. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"Not hungry."
"Does that have anything to do with whatever you shot yourself up with? Wait a minute—are you a drug addict?"
"Of all the humans on your entire planet, I had to get one who never stops talking."
"That's rich coming from you." She couldn't help noticing that his color was much better now (well, better for someone who was naturally purple). "Are you a drug addict? Or do you have some kind of medical condition? Look, I'm not trying to be nosy, it's just that I'm completely dependent on you to fly this ship and get me back to Earth."
"Tell you what—" Skara began, and then something started beeping loudly. "Shit!" He threw himself into the pilot's seat. "Those total feckin' morons!"
"What, what?" Claudia felt around the copilot seat for the seat-belt thingie, just in case there was going to be extreme piloting in the near future. "What's happening?"
Skara was rotating the view on the screen, swinging it around until he paused it on a dark blot in the sky. "See that?"
"Yeah. What is it?"
