by Petra Landon
He walked them to the upper ring of the Trade Sphere, which provided access to the station’s numerous docking ports. As they approached the station’s auto exit sensors, he pulled her into a little alcove by the pathway. The exit paths that led to the docking ports teemed with people, but the crowds here were thinner than the hordes that jammed the main walkways of the station. The Captain used his big body to shield her, providing them with a measure of privacy in their little nook.
“Show me the ownership bracelet” he directed quietly, his eyes on the sleeve of the uniform that hid her bracelet.
Saakshi pulled up the sleeve just enough to expose the broad bracelet welded to tightly encircle her wrist. The Captain pulled out a tiny, circular and silver-colored disk to attach it efficiently to her bracelet, before tugging down her sleeve to hide the bracelet again.
He clasped her palm firmly in his larger one to tug her gently towards one of the exit paths. Saakshi resisted, fearful at the knowledge that she was liable to be carted back to prison in breach of contract if any exit sensors detected her presence. That would entail serving out the rest of her sentence in a Ketaari prison, and possibly a longer prison term.
As she hesitated, the dark eyes glanced down at her.
“Trust me” he said simply, in his deep, husky voice.
As her eyes tangled with his, Saakshi reminded herself exactly why she was willing to risk being carted back to a Ketaari prison. Here she was, about to make the riskiest and most dangerous gamble of her young life with this stranger she knew nothing about. Was it a gamble worth attempting, she asked herself one last time. As the picture of the Unta-Golar she would have to face soon rose in her mind, Saakshi hardened her heart. Perhaps this was another sign from the Pura. If she couldn’t even trust this stranger’s word to get her through the auto sensors safely, she might as well give up right now and return to her dormitory.
He waited, the black eyes on her, seemingly content to allow her to make the decision. Something in the stillness of his body and his attitude of infinite patience pushed Saakshi to acquiesce mutely. He reached for her hand again, the act slow and deliberate, clearly giving her the chance to change her mind. Saakshi took a deep breath to hold onto the warm hand that clasped her smaller one so confidently. He walked them safely through the exit sensors and into a tiny pre-programmed shuttle. Once in the shuttle, Saakshi let go of the breath she had been holding, her heart slowly ceasing its incessant pounding. She slumped against the wall to watch him punch in their destination. Soon, they were on their way, being zoomed directly to a docking port.
Cocooned in the privacy of the tiny shuttle and almost dizzy with relief, Saakshi turned her awestruck eyes on the Hadari’Kor male.
“How’d you do that?” she asked him, awed by the ease with which he had circumvented the station’s exit sensors.
He changed his stance slightly to glance down at her, his eyes glinting with amusement.
“Managed to impress you, hmm?” the husky voice was slightly teasing.
Saakshi nodded mutely, amazed by his ingenuity and resourcefulness. Over time, the Budheya rebels had learned to circumvent a lot of Ketaari technology, mostly because it was Budheya technology adapted for and packaged up to look Ketaari. But she had never seen anyone bypass auto sensors so easily and with such little fuss.
“It’s called a suppressor” he explained. “It masks sensor data with its proximity. In your case, it took your bracelet out of the equation, rendering all the information embedded in it invisible to the exit sensors.”
“Then what … how did the sensors allow me to exit?” Saakshi stammered, confused by his words.
“Space travelers now carry mountains of data embedded in them,” he answered easily. “All sensors are calibrated to detect certain tags from an individual passing through them. The suppressor allowed other data embedded in you to override the tags from your bracelet. In essence, it fooled the sensors into allowing you to pass, based solely on the information from your ID chip. The sensors treated you like everyone else – allowed you to exit after recording your ID data into their logs. No one will know that you left the station unless they explicitly search through the station exit logs.”
“How could you be sure I had an ID chip?” she asked curiously, puzzled by this aspect. Wouldn’t the exit sensors generate an alarm if they couldn’t read any information from her, she wondered. She was aware that the Ketaari Imperial Forces had embedded a standard Budheya identity chip into her when they’d sold her prison contract, but he wouldn’t know that. Not for sure, anyway!
“That bracelet on you cannot function without a basic ID chip” he responded with quiet confidence.
He certainly knows his tech. Hmm, I guess a mercenary requires skills other than simply being a terror on the battlefield. Or perhaps he’s savvier than the average Hadari’Kor mercenary, since he commands an army of them.
Either way, Saakshi was seriously impressed with both his expertise and resourcefulness. The whole idea was ingenious! Every space traveler had an identity chip embedded into his body, encapsulated with all the information required by planetary and space station automated sensors and other territorial border controls. The chips were even known to occasionally function as credit cards for those who chose to not carry a personal tablet device for such purposes. Saakshi’s wrist had been shackled with the ownership bracelet when her prison contract had been sold to Pik. Embedded in the bracelet were details of her contract and prison term, as well as a locator signal that could be activated to enable the Imperial Forces to track her down if she ever made a run for it. Once the suppressor made the tags embedded in the bracelet invisible to the station’s auto sensors, the only information the sensor would read from her was that encapsulated in her ID chip which did not specify her travel or movement restrictions. The suppressor had allowed her to successfully masquerade as a normal traveler on the space station.
“How … where did you get the suppressor from?” she asked.
And how did you acquire one so quickly?
“I called in a favor from the friend of a friend” his eyes were still lit with amusement at her awed reaction.
“Wow” she murmured softly.
For a moment, she stared down at the bracelet on her wrist, now hidden under the sleeve of her uniform, before holding out her arm for him to detach the suppressor device still attached to her bracelet.
Saakshi followed him onto his sparkling ship, where the Captain ushered her to an empty ante-room off the main hallway. He closed the door behind them for privacy and invited her to be seated. Seats thronged the chamber, though the Captain parked himself by the wall to lean against it, his stance casual with his arms folded across his chest.
“What can I do for you?” he inquired blandly, his face impassive. The teasing male from the shuttle who had indulged her with an explanation while enjoying her undisguised admiration and wonderment was gone.
Saakshi’s courage almost failed her as she stared at the big alien with the inscrutable face. She had come this far, she reminded herself, jumping to her feet to pace nervously in a tight circle before him, her arms clasped defensively around her waist.
“I have a proposition for you” she directed at the ground while continuing her perambulations.
“I’m listening” he responded unhurriedly, the dark eyes watchful of her jerky movements.
“It’s a little awkward” Saakshi muttered.
“Take your time” he invited quietly.
Saakshi paced a few more circles before taking a deep breath. She faced him, not quite managing to meet his eyes, all the while conscious of his gaze tracking her.
“I … uh … I’ve noticed how you look at me in Pik’s.”
She chanced a fleeting glance through her lashes at him. The dark eyes held an arrested expression in them as he stared back at her, his big body held rigidly still. His gaze collided boldly with hers.
“And …” he prompted.
“And I was won
dering if you’d be willing to protect me if I ... umm … agreed to become your lover” she managed to stammer out, a far cry from the polished speech she’d spent most of her morning practicing.
“What?” the big male barked, coming off the wall aggressively to lunge at her.
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