Awakening

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  “And make sure you keep a watch on Bentley this time,” Shango added. “No surprises.”

  “Of course not.”

  “It’s not like there’s anything I could do,” Bentley grumbled. “With you locking me in on the ship like this.”

  “Well maybe if you could play nice we’d be able to take you with us,” Loco sourly replied. “You should just be grateful we didn’t space you.”

  “Yeah, real paragons of human kindness,” Bentley muttered sarcastically. “Just heading out for a quiet afternoon of hostage negotiations.”

  “We’re trying to keep her safe!” Olofi protested indignantly. He glanced at Jade, who had kept quiet up to now. “You get that, right? These guys your boyfriend pissed off are dangerous. If you try to run, they’re going to catch you. And they won’t hesitate to hurt you if they think it’ll get them what they want.” he made intense eye contact with her.

  “Tell me you understand.”

  “Yes…” Jade said with a slow nod, still obviously terrified. Olofi’s speech had probably made that worse.

  “Seriously, he’s not kidding,” Loco said. “You’re way safer with us than with your loser boyfriend’s men or Max.”

  “You’re taking her to Max. On her boyfriend’s station,” Bentley rebuked them. “If she’s so safe around you, why are you dragging her right into the middle of all that danger? Morons.”

  “At least we have a fucking plan!” Loco barked back at her. “Unlike some idiots I might point out.”

  “You don’t have a fucking plan from where I see things,” Bentley countered. “So you really just called yourselves idiots.”

  “Did not!” Loco responded.

  “Did so!” Bentley matched his childish tone.

  “Enough!” Shango raised his voice enough that Loco fell into line, and Bentley decided it was best for her to do the same. “We’re leaving now.”

  “Um…” Jade piped up as they began to leave. “My shoes…” she looked down to her stockinged, but otherwise bare, feet. Her heels must have fallen off the second time Loco had dragged her in here.

  “Fuck’s sake…” Loco said, “We can get you some new shoes on the station.”

  “Those were Tahlia Black Stilettos!” Jade appealed, in a more animated way than Bentley had seen since the moment she’d been brought on the ship. “They cost three thousand volts!”

  “Find her shoes,” Shango said directly to Loco, to his clear chagrin. “She’ll be more cooperative with them. That means they’re mission pertinent.”

  Loco turned around to retrace his steps, grumbling to himself.

  “No trouble while we’re gone.” Shango gave Bentley an uncomfortably intense stare again. “Understood?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Bentley sighed. “I won’t touch anything.”

  “Good.”

  “Found the stupid fucking shoes,” Loco yelled from the other side of the bay, tossing the pair of designer heels across its entire length to land a few paces away from Jade.

  “You’ll break them like that!” Jade yelled back at him. “Monster!”

  “Girl loves her shoes,” Olofi snickered.

  “More than her fucking life, apparently,” Loco called back as he caught up with them. “Let’s just get this over with, okay?”

  “Yes,” Shango affirmed, turning to lead the three out of the bay. “If all goes well, this won’t take long at all.”

  The three of them turned and left, and the Chesed’s cargo ramp elevated to shut Bentley inside, alone with Jelly Bean.

  “Guess it’s just you and me now,” Bentley said to her.

  But Jelly Bean was already moving away from the cargo bay towards the lift at an inhuman pace, leaving Bentley to hurry on after.

  +++

  Bridge, Aboard the Chesed, Klaunox Sector

  Bentley was bored.

  Her time aboard the Chesed had mostly been eventful, and when it wasn’t she had the benefit of Jelly Bean’s company. But the android had been unusually busy, zipping from place to place to oversee the fidelity of the mostly dock-automated repairs. She could barely get in a word edgewise before Jelly Bean had to move to an entirely different section of the ship.

  Now she lolled in Shango’s chair on the bridge, kicking her feet listlessly and wondering exactly how much time she would be stuck here. Idly, she spun around and examined a series of small mechanical devices arranged onto Shango’s console, mostly small pieces and gadgets. When she looked closer at them, she was surprised to realize she understood some of their functions. One was used to give biometric scans of the interior of a room it was placed in. Another was a device that would track an object it was placed in. A third was, she guessed, hoping she was wrong, a miniaturized plasma grenade.

  “Fuck,” Bentley said. “I wonder what he keeps under his cloak if this is just what he forgets on his desk.”

  She turned her head and remember she wasn’t talking to anybody, then looked back at the devices. She took the tracking device in one hand and, after a few seconds of examination, felt it pair to her corteX implant.

  “Damn, was that me?” she wondered, but stood up when she realized she had a use for this particular gadget. Hopefully Shango wouldn’t miss it. She walked off the bridge towards her quarters.

  Once she’d arrived in her room, Bentley lifted up her mattress to see the sword in its resting place. She was relieved to see it hadn’t moved, even when there was no logical reason for it to.

  When she was away from her room, she found herself reflexively bothered by whether the sword was still there. And now she had a way to bring herself some peace of mind. She opened up the linen wrappings and slipped the small metal bauble into the sword’s leather scabbard, taking care not to actually touch the weapon again, for fear of another unpredictable reaction. She found the device easy to manipulate via uplink, and when it activated, it flattened and attached itself to the scabbard’s interior. A ping went off on her implant that let her know where the sword was.

  In this case, of course, it was right next to her.

  “Finally,” Bentley said, feeling like she’d solved a very annoying problem. But she was still faced with the issue of her own boredom, alone on the ship. Her eyes moved to the bottle of tequila on her nightstand. She took a few sips from it before deciding that drinking alone wasn’t fun at all.

  “Fuck it,” she said to herself. “I’m getting out of here.”

  She didn’t see the problem, even though Shango had asked Jelly Bean to keep her here. They insisted she wasn’t a prisoner. Loco didn’t even want her there, and Olofi had become noticeably more hostile since she’d attempted to spring Jade from captivity. They’d even talked about dropping her off on the next space station more than a few times, so how could they possibly complain if she decided to hop onto one herself?

  Jelly Bean didn’t even notice when Bentley went to the ship’s aft exit, or at least not as far as she could tell. She was too busy on the bridge, and her facial display indicated she was testing hull integrity. When Bentley walked by, she didn’t even get an acknowledgment.

  The aft egress doors had no active interior lock on them at this time, and so they came open with only a gentle push, opening up Sparta Station to her. She hopped out and made her way from the poorly lit docks, occupied mostly by whirring machinery and the odd dockhand who was too busy interacting with control screens to even make note of the girl running out into the station’s main hub.

  The moment she came into the station proper, things had completely changed. It was a massive, open area, bustling with people and things that were totally alien to her. Large stalls and storefronts with holographic advertisements. Uniformed soldiers marching down the halls or flirting off-duty with exotic, possibly not-so-human women.

  There was a smell of real food coming from a few carts, along with the aromas of exotic spices Bentley was eager to see if she could remember. She smiled widely and ran in to join the crowd. She only wished she had anything like money.
>
  Meanwhile, in the midst of all of it, Bentley hadn’t even noticed the constant gaze of the two men whose eye she had caught immediately upon entry. Plainly dressed, inconspicuous, and quiet. Just as any LaPlacian scout in a common area ought to be: wholly unnoticed.

  “What’s she doing here?” the first said lowly enough that any eavesdropper could not make it out, drowned in the hubbub of the crowd.

  “Not a damn clue,” the second replied. “But you know what to do.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Sparta Space Station, Klaunox Sector

  As she continued her self-guided tour of Sparta Station, Bentley found herself in a large atrium-styled room with a fountain in the center. She looked up to its ceiling to see the image of an open, clear sky. She knew it wasn’t real: likely some kind of holographics blended with well-placed screens to create the illusion of massive depth, but there were a few telltale faults in it that she intuitively found herself picking up on. It almost made her sad not to be fooled by it when she realized she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen a real sky. If indeed she had at all.

  But the view itself was something she took comfort in, along with the sound of running water and the mere fact that nobody here seemed to care who she was or what she was doing here, was strangely freeing.

  She dipped some fingers into the cold water of the fountain as she passed by with a smile.

  Damn, she thought to herself. Maybe I’ll just let them leave me here after all.

  She didn’t mean it, she realized. She’d been uncomfortable at times on the Chesed, particularly around Loco, but she had to admit that she’d be lost without some kind of help, at least until her memory returned.

  If it returned.

  Besides, she thought, I can’t just leave Jade now after everything she’s been through.

  The thought of Jade being paraded up to whatever low lives had done the hiring to kidnap her made Bentley sick. She wondered if she could catch sight of the exchange, and maybe interfere. This was a big, bustling station, but those three certainly stood out like three extremely sore thumbs.

  She hopped off the fountain and turned a corner. The false sky faded into a plain grey corridor that shut its airlocks behind her.

  This spot wasn’t as populated as the last few she’d been to. It was sparse and poorly lit, with the global lighting system seeming to flicker as though in need of maintenance.

  Her hackles went up on the back of her neck. She slowed, getting the distinct feeling she wasn’t alone.

  And then, when something moved behind her, she felt her suspicions confirmed.

  “Who’s there?” she called, turning around to look to the source of movement.

  The figure behind her made no effort to hide. It was a soldier in a uniform unlike any she’d seen on the station. Sleek, black body armor with a full-face mask and opaque red goggles that flashed in the low light. He didn’t appear to be armed.

  “What the f-” Bentley’s words were snuffed out when a black gauntleted hand came up behind her to cover her mouth. Another gripped her wrist and painfully wrenched it behind her. She slammed her elbow back into its source, but felt her bare limb collide with sturdy plating that made her arm ache painfully. Then the masked soldier in front of her closed in with an open hand that grasped the left side of her neck. Bentley wondered for a moment why he’d grab only a single side if he planned to choke her, but quickly received her answer when she felt the painful twinge of something puncturing the skin beneath that gloved palm. When he withdrew it, she briefly saw what looked like a curved needle retracting back into his gauntlet.

  Everything began to fade, and Bentley slipped helplessly out of consciousness.

  +++

  Docking Bay, Sparta Space Station, Klaunox Sector

  “Well, that could have gone a lot better,” Olofi said as they arrived back at the Chesed’s docking point.

  The three of them were worse for wear, with their armor singed from laser fire and broken up from various impacts. Olofi’s chest plate was so full of pin-sized holes and surface burns that he knew he was going to need to buy a new one; repairing it after this kind of damage would just come out even more expensive.

  “Fuck Max. Fuck his whole crew!” Loco said as he tore off his plasma-melted left shoulder plate. If not for his armor’s mesh underlay, it likely would have ended up painfully fused to his skin. He threw it to the ground in frustration. “I can’t believe I left my knives with them too. Next time I won’t miss.”

  “You’re lucky you did,” Olofi said. “If we killed one of his men, Max might-”

  “He might what? Open fire on us with a team of bargain-bin goons in a crowded space station?” Loco answered sardonically. “Perish the fucking thought!”

  Even Shango’s cloak hadn’t been spared the onslaught. He’d been forced to abandon it somewhere halfway down the station, leaving his weaponry visible, something Olofi knew Shango always found frustrating. But he mostly suffered in silence, with the exception of some much more prominent frown lines.

  “He was obviously in a foul mood,” Shango said in a reserved, ironic, understatement. “Understandable, given the circumstances. Perhaps we should wait a few days and see if he calms down.”

  “Then what?” Olofi asked as he inspected his sword for damage.

  “I was thinking I could offer up a game of poker, with our fee on the line. Max is quite partial to gambling.”

  “Partial enough that he knows you cheat!” Loco said. “He’ll never agree to that, not after this. Besides, then we’d still be stuck with the girl.” He gave a side-eye to Jade, who was still tearily shaking with all the terror of a girl who hadn’t expected to encounter a hail of gunfire when she got up this morning.

  Or any other morning in her projected lifetime.

  Loco had bound her hands again so he would have something easy to pull her out of danger – or so he said - but she’d stayed close to him of her own will since the fighting had begun.

  “As we should be,” Shango replied. “While she is with us, we still have the option of setting her free. If we surrender her to Max now, she’ll end up whittled into little pieces to intimidate that Jedson fellow.”

  Jade gasped at the comment. To Olofi’s surprise, she was actually smiling.

  “You three actually stood up for me,” she said. “All those men… You fought them to protect me! Just the three of you!”

  “We shouldn’t have had to,” Olofi said apologetically. “There was no need for things to go down like that.”

  “Maybe you’re just not as charming as you think, huh Olo?” Loco said mockingly. “Could explain why half the people we meet end up shooting at us.”

  “Oh, and you’re just an innocent bystander, huh?” Olofi replied defensively. “You and your damn antimech war gun?”

  “Hey, don’t bring Betsy into this! Besides, if someone shoots at us, I’m gonna shoot back harder. Not gonna apologize for that.”

  “You were just all so brave,” Jade said, looking at Loco with an admiration that seemed to bring him active discomfort. “You know, I didn’t think men like you existed anymore. All big and strong and dashing… I actually feel safe now.”

  “Oh, for the love of…” Loco pressed his face into his right palm. “Can we just gag her again?”

  “She’s being cooperative,” Shango answered.

  “Yeah but… Ah, fuck it.” Loco turned away from the others and stomped onto the ship.

  +++

  “Welcome back!” Jelly Bean greeted them on the bridge even as she seemed distracted, running multiple diagnostics programs that were being displayed on screens behind her. “I’m not quite finished with all necessary repairs yet, but I do think I’m well on my way to automating-”

  She was cut off. “Where’s Bentley?” Shango asked, as though that were his first thought upon entering.

  “I believe she is in her room,” Jelly Bean replied. “Though I haven’t had a visual in some time. Hold on, I
can find her with a quick scan…” Her face flickered out for a few seconds before coming back with wide eyes. “Um…”

  “Well?” Shango raised an eyebrow expectantly. “Is she in her room?”

  “Negative?” Jelly Bean answered, almost sounding embarrassed. “I’m actually not picking up scans for her life sign anywhere on the Chesed at this time.”

  “Boom!” Loco cheered, clapping his hands together in triumph. “At least that problem took care of itself while we were gone. One less girl to deal with.”

  “Then where did she go?” Shango asked, willfully ignoring his companion’s comment. “You would have seen if she’d left the ship.”