by M. D. Cooper
There was nothing for it. She would have to take her chances.
Erin peered through the bay entrance. She saw no sign of Reiko, but what she did see was three skiffs. She had been about to dash to one of the small craft, but the unexpected sight made her pause. If only Leif and Reiko were in this section, there should be only two vessels. And one of the three was not from the PETER’s fleet.
Erin tried to puzzle out the strange presence of the domestic vehicle, but she couldn’t think of any explanation that made sense. She pushed her curiosity aside, accepting that perhaps the reason would become clear later. All that mattered was that all the vessels were empty.
Taking a breath, Erin darted through the doorway of the landing bay. Carefully scanning the empty area, she ran toward one of the skiffs. She reached the vessel without incident and threw its hatch open.
She jumped into the seat and reached for the manual control to close the door, but as she activated it, she heard running footsteps.
Reiko was speeding toward her across the bay.
Before the skiff’s door closed, the other woman jumped through it and crashed into Erin, sending her flying into the controls face-first.
Erin heard the door mechanism stop, leaving the door half-open. She screamed as Reiko touched her with the silver wand, and blind rage tore through her. She swore that the woman would never use that cruel instrument on her again.
She jerked her elbow backward, and felt a satisfying impact against flesh and bone. Reiko grunted. Rearing upward, Erin threw the woman off her, and the other engineer stumbled away, struggling not to fall down.
Erin leapt onto her, focusing on the slim piece of metal Reiko held in her hand. She grabbed the woman’s wrist and twisted it. At the same time, she kneed Reiko in her diaphragm, forcing the air from her lungs, but the woman’s grip on her device remained steely, and she struggled like a wildcat. Erin drove her forehead into Reiko’s face, breaking her nose.
Reiko fought back, refusing to let go of her torture wand. Erin opened her mouth, leaned in, and clamped her teeth around Reiko’s forearm, grinding her teeth into the muscle. The TSF engineer screamed, and her struggles found new strength. Erin bit down harder while fighting to maintain her hold on her downed opponent.
Finally, Erin heard the sound she had been waiting for: the clink of metal hitting the floor.
Reiko’s blood fresh on her lips, she released her bite, lunged for the device, and flung it away from her. The slim piece of metal flew through the grav field and into space.
Erin still had the other torture device tucked in the waistband of her pants. She pulled it out and sent it in the same direction as the first. She didn’t want Reiko to use it on her.
This momentary diversion of Erin’s gave Reiko the opportunity to struggle out from under her. She pushed Erin away and leapt up, nursing her bitten wrist.
“Bitch! What are you? Some kind of fucking animal?” Reiko wiped away the blood oozing from her sleeve.
“You’re the one who’s behaved like an animal,” Erin spat. “Only that’s an insult to animals. You’re going to Landfall, where you’ll face what’s coming to you for killing Walter.”
“Like hell I am. It’s just me and you here, and there’s no way I’m letting you leave.”
Reiko dove at Erin. She stepped aside, but Reiko caught her anyway, flinging an arm around her waist.
The two women fell and grappled again. Reiko grabbed Erin’s hair, but couldn’t get a good grip on the short strands. Blood running from Erin’s nose dripped into her eyes. She screwed up her face and twisted her head and body, fighting to escape Reiko’s grip. She brought her knees up and pressed the soles of her feet into Reiko’s torso, propelling the larger woman off of her.
Reiko landed on her behind, and Erin leapt onto her again. She had to subdue her somehow, knock her out, so Erin could get to a skiff and use it to access the Link.
But, despite the injuries Erin had inflicted, Reiko hadn’t been tortured as Erin had. She hadn’t nearly torn off her own hand to escape her restraints. She hadn’t gone for hours without water and spent many of those hours trying not to fall from a ceiling. Reiko was fresher, stronger, and she had the benefit of an AI helping her.
It was starting to show.
Reiko resisted Erin’s attempts to punch her in the jaw, deflecting each blow by swiping Erin’s fist aside. She landed a blow of her own on Erin’s chin, knocking her head backward and sending sparks bursting across her vision.
Erin shook her head, trying to remain conscious. Reiko shoved her chest with both hands, unsteadying her further, and twisted out from underneath Erin. She jumped to her feet and, before Erin could also rise, kicked her in the ribs.
Erin rolled away and tried to get up, but Reiko caught up to her and kicked her again, aiming the blow at Erin’s head. Her boot impacted Erin’s temple.
This time, the blackness was coming for sure, and there wasn’t anything Erin could do about it.
She crashed onto her side, furious and despairing as her senses began to close down. Reiko was going to kill her. There was no doubt about it. She would get away with what she’d done, and Erin would never see Jude, Isa, or Martin again. Jude and the triplets would lose a mother.
She raised a feeble hand, instinctively warding off her impending death, as the floor came up to meet her face.
It seemed only a moment had passed before Erin was awake again. She couldn’t breathe, and a terrible pain radiated from her throat. She opened her eyes to a view of Reiko’s leg rising above her. Reiko’s face angled downward, contorted by an immense, gloating pleasure.
Reiko was kneeling on her throat, crushing her voice box and cutting off her air supply.
From her depths of desperation and desire for life, Erin found the strength to tense the muscles in her neck, trying to ease the pressure on her windpipe. She lifted her arms against Reiko’s pressing leg, but she was like a butterfly batting at a window to open it. She shifted and kicked her legs, but they couldn’t reach Reiko.
Erin was dying, she couldn’t think of a way….
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
STELLAR DATE: 05.14.8942 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: PETER (Planetary Exo-Thermic Extraction Ring)
REGION: Athens, New Canaan System
As Isa approached the landing bay, faint sounds echoed up the passageway. There was a noise like a skiff opening, and at first, Isa was tempted to shout out, thinking that she might have found Erin. Then it occurred to her that the sound she’d heard could have been made by Reiko. She didn’t want to spook the woman—if Reiko thought her crimes had been revealed, she might guess that Phaedra would turn her skiff into a trap.
Isa ran faster, though quietly.
However, when she checked Reiko’s position in the PETER, she wasn’t inside the landing bay; she was a little outside of it, moving along a different passageway. Then Isa saw Reiko’s dot suddenly spurt forward, heading for the bay.
Isa flew down the passageway, but she couldn’t close the distance fast enough. Reiko would reach the bay before her. That was fine by her, she planned on giving the Transcend’s engineer a nasty surprise. The weapon Usef had given her was a welcome touch of cold metal under her arm.
A few beats later, a scream rang out. Seconds after that, the sound of shouting voices floated up toward her. Isa couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but a jolt of warm recognition and elation welled up in her.
Erin!
Her wife was alive, and not only that, she was in fighting form.
Within another thirty seconds, Isa was at the landing bay. She tore through the doorway then stopped dead. A terrifying sight confronted her. Next to an open
skiff, Erin was on the floor on her back, and Reiko had a knee on her throat. Erin’s legs and arms were weakly flailing.
Horror coursing through her, Isa lifted her weapon. She aimed, but her hands were shaking. Hitting her target had never been so important; she couldn’t risk hitting Erin.
Remembering her training, she concentrated her focus on Reiko’s torso, and fired. The shot went wide and the TSF woman twisted, looking for the source of the shot. Isa inhaled, aimed again. She exhaled, and as the breath left her, she fired again.
This time, the round hit.
Reiko shrieked and fell away, her side singed and smoking. Isa’s shot had only been a glancing blow, tearing a bloody furrow across Reiko’s back, but she was down. The woman turned enraged, startled eyes at Isa.
Erin was rolling onto her side, her features twisted with pain, her hands reaching for her throat.
Isa ran into the bay, the muzzle of her weapon fixed on Reiko’s half-prone figure.
“Erin, are you all right?”
But her wife couldn’t answer. Isa wasn’t even sure she’d heard the words.
Reiko was scrabbling backward on all fours.
“Stay where you are,” Isa growled. “If you move, I’ll fucking kill you.”
She dropped to Erin’s side and spared one glance downward at her prone wife. To her relief, she saw that Erin seemed to be recovering. Their gazes met for a fleeting second, and the warm light of recognition and gratitude flamed in Erin’s eyes.
When Isa turned her gaze back to Reiko, she hadn’t moved.
“Go ahead,” Isa urged, standing up. “Move one more time. Just once. Please? I really want you to.”
Poised over her seriously injured wife, Isa’s rage was incandescent. Her finger ached to pull the trigger and end the life of this person who had hurt the woman she loved.
“Don’t kill her,” Erin croaked. “We need her alive.”
Isa and Reiko’s gazes were locked. Reiko was frozen where she lay next to a row of empty crates; the woman was a wreck, cut up and covered in blood. Erin had done some serious damage to the bitch. The stink of burned clothing and flesh filled the bay.
“What are you doing here?” Erin asked in a whisper. “Where are Martin and Jude?”
“They’re okay. They’re on their way to Carthage. Everyone thought you were dead, but I didn’t believe it. I had to come and find you.”
“She killed Walter,” said Erin tonelessly.
“It was my pleasure,” said Reiko, smirking.
Isa stepped over Erin to move closer to the offending engineer. They might need Reiko alive, but that didn’t mean Isa couldn’t inflict a little pain.
Suddenly, brilliant lights shone into the bay from outside, startling her. She turned to look through the grav field and saw a military vessel approaching. The Marines had arrived.
Isa turned back to Reiko.
The engineer was gone, the sound of pounding footsteps echoing through the bay.
CHAPTER THIRTY
STELLAR DATE: 05.14.8942 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: PETER (Planetary Exo-Thermic Extraction Ring)
REGION: Athens, New Canaan System
Erin had seen it all from where she lay on the floor, recovering from Reiko’s attack. Isa had Reiko pinned down. The engineer could not try to escape without Isa shooting her, and at such a close range, even Isa wouldn’t miss.
But then lights from an approaching military vessel had flooded the bay. Erin had been distracted by them too, but she had returned her attention to Reiko a moment before Isa had.
Reiko had not been slow to take her chance. Erin caught a glimpse of the woman’s bloody back as she fled.
Oh, she is not getting away! I’ll kill her first.
Erin rose to her feet, snatched Isa’s weapon from her grip, and ran after Reiko as she fled into the labyrinthine structure.
Was she hoping to make it to an area where Phaedra would not be able to spot her? What would she do after that? Erin couldn’t guess, but she knew she would have to come out of hiding at some time or starve to death.
Or is she thinking she can arrange for Jere or Hal to pick her up?
Erin hadn’t figured out yet whether Reiko’s other colleagues were in on her schemes. Even if they were, Reiko’s hope that she could escape New Canaan undetected was foolish. She was surrounded by enemies, and her number one foe was right on her tail.
This time, Reiko had only a second’s head start. Erin raced into the passageway where Reiko had fled, and immediately saw her running figure ahead, the charred skin of her back showing horribly through the clothes that Isa’s shot had burned away.
Without breaking pace, Erin aimed and fired. The round hit Reiko’s shoulder. She cried out, staggered, and almost fell, but at the last instant, she righted herself and ran on.
Erin kept up her pursuit. Reiko’s AI might be eliminating the pain of her wounds, but it could not repair her muscles and bones so fast. She fired again. This time, she hit Reiko’s knee. That shot did the trick, and Reiko hit the floor.
Erin ran up to the fallen woman, aiming at her head.
“No!” Reiko exclaimed. “Don’t kill me.”
“I told you, I’m not going to kill you.” It took all of Erin’s willpower not to turn the words into a lie. “You’re going to Landfall, where you will stand trial for Walter’s murder, and tell us exactly what you were trying to do here.”
“No.” A deep fear made dark pits of Reiko’s frightened eyes, perhaps a deeper fear than that of her own death.
“Yes.”
Booted feet were running up the passageway.
The Marines. Relief washed over Erin, bringing utter exhaustion along with it.
Reiko began to edge away from her, dragging herself backward on outstretched arms, her injured leg limp and useless.
“What are you doing?” Erin asked. “Don’t you understand? It’s all over. Stay where you are, or I’ll—”
Then she saw where Reiko was heading. She was at a door in the passageway…a door that didn’t appear on the plans, a door that should not have been there. The realization of where it led hit Erin like a bolt.
“Stop!”
Reiko had reached up and was pulling the door open.
“Stop!” Erin yelled again. “If you go out there….”
She didn’t bother to finish, she just fired. The shot hit Reiko as she launched herself through the door and out into the black.
They were at the threshold of one of Fazir’s planet-diving launch pads. Had she known about it all along and gone to it so she could commit suicide? Erin didn’t know, but she’d be damned if she was going to let Reiko off so easy.
Expelling the air from her lungs, she ran at the exit and leapt into space.
She saw Reiko floating away, propelled by her momentum. But Erin had given herself plenty of propulsion too. She snatched at Reiko’s foot, narrowly missing.
Erin’s saliva was beginning to boil on her tongue. Her abdomen was swelling. Blood vessels would be popping under her skin. Soon, her ears, eyes, nose, and mouth would begin to bleed. If she’d had Walter on board, she could last longer, but as it was, she knew she had only seconds at best.
Though she might not have Walter, she did have Isa’s weapon.
She fired a shot in the opposite direction from the way she was traveling, pushing herself toward Reiko. The effect on her speed was too strong for her needs, and she collided with the woman. The impact sent them both farther from the PETER.
The result wasn’t exactly what Erin had intended, but it meant she could grab hold of Reiko. The woman was dying, succumbing to exposure to open space. Her mouth was open, and blood from her exploded lungs was breaking free from it and her nose in great globules, streaming away in their wake.
If Reiko survived, it would be due to her AI, but would the artificial intelligence keep her alive? Erin didn’t know if the AI had a death wish too.
Blackness was edging into Erin’s vision. With a
huge effort, she turned her weapon to face away from the PETER. She pumped the trigger, firing its small magazine of concussive rounds set for close detonation, the pulses pushing the two women back toward the ring.
She had neither the precision nor the energy required to aim exactly for the entrance; she only hoped to move into its vicinity. Then, with luck, some brave Marine would risk his life to retrieve them.
She hoped.
Before she found out if her plan was successful, the blackness in Erin’s vision became complete.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
STELLAR DATE: 05.14.8942 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: PETER (Planetary Exo-Thermic Extraction Ring)
REGION: Athens, New Canaan System
Isa trailed after the Marines that were running up the passageway. She’d had the briefest encounter with Usef, who barked, “Which way?” before running in the direction Isa pointed.
When she caught up, she found the soldiers clustered around an open door—a door that led, unbelievably, out into space. The troops were blocking Isa’s view. She weaved her head around, trying to peer beyond them, but she couldn’t see her wife. Only that dreadful open door and some stars.
Isa pulled at a Marine’s arm, trying to move the man out of her way.
“Please let me through,” she begged. “Where’s Erin gone?”
A black visor turned toward Isa. “Step away, ma’am. This area is not safe.”
“I only want to know what’s happened to my wife!”
The Marine turned and grabbed Isa’s upper arms. He forcibly moved her away while Usef growled over his troops, “Isa, get back.”
The clustered Marines were moving away from the doorway, spreading out. Isa was unable to see past them, so she ducked down and peered between the moving bodies.
A single Marine stood at the edge of a short platform that jutted out from the doorway. He was retracting a line, like a fisherman hauling in his catch. The Marine stepped backward, and Isa saw another Marine attached to the end of the line. As he landed on the platform, Isa saw he was bearing a burden.
