The Gorison Traveler Incident (Veslor Mates #1)

by Laurann Dohner

  “They don’t.” Abby smiled.

  Vivian was even more alarmed. “And that makes you happy? You think it’s a kinder way to die than what Sub-Commander Shaw and Commander Alderson might have planned for me? Why can’t I just hide in one of the control rooms?”

  “This will be safer for you in the long run. And…there might be a certain ship I called back, who’s out there waiting to pick you up.”

  Vivian quickly figured out how to climb into the Y-shaped opening of the suit, which included ducking her head to get into the attached helmet before shoving her arms into the sleeves. The gloves were large, and she had to go up on her tiptoes and push her butt to the back of the suit to get her legs through the high split, which still dug into her uncomfortably until she shoved each foot into the boots. They were huge; she had shoes on, and still there was ample room left inside them.

  “This doesn’t fit so well.”

  “You don’t need to walk around in it. Well, not much, anyway.”

  The suits were also heavy, bulky things, like body-shaped machines. She faced Abby after she got into it. “Most uncomfortable thing ever—and I’m going to have a wedgie from hell because the center leg split is designed for someone a heck of a lot taller.”

  “Sorry. What matters is, you’ll be picked up soon.”

  “By the Brar?”

  “Yes.” Abby pulled out the pad. “Brace. It’s about to seal, and I’m releasing the clamps. These suits are designed to be held in place during depressurization, and then release when there’s no oxygen left in the room. I’m bypassing that function. Just move away from the wall once I’m gone and crouch near the exterior door.”

  “Wait!” She was starting to panic. “Why not just have them dock to us again to pick me up?”

  “I need to blow you out, Vivian, to get you beyond the ship’s auto-defense systems. Sub-Piece of Shit put them back online and is monitoring them. The defense system won’t target this suit, though, since it’s coded as part of the ship. This is faster than hacking our defenses anyway. He’d be aware of them going offline and would probably send security after me.”

  Vivian understood, unfortunately. “So you’re actually going to blow me out of this ship?”

  “Sorry. It might be a rough ride, but know that Brassi and his crew are out there to pick you up. The beacon I activated will make sure they’ve got something to find you with. No more time. You need to go.”

  “What about you? You’ll be in danger if you stay.”

  Abby grinned. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle those assholes and kept them from destroying evidence. Brace.”

  Vivian tensed her body and Abby tapped the pad. The suit closed from the throat under the attached helmet, down her chest and stomach, and around her legs, surprising her by tightening to fit her body shape, and then the clamp above her released. She nearly staggered under the weight of the suit but managed to stay on her feet.

  She could still see Abby since the face plate of the suit was clear.

  “Have fun with the sexy alien. Let him do that thing where he strips off his shirt to comfort you,” Abby yelled, still grinning and backing up with her pad. “I’ll contact you when it’s safe for you to come home!”

  Vivian watched as Abby left the cargo bay, then red lights began to flash in the room. She knew that was a warning that the exterior doors were about to open. Usually the room was decompressed first, the oxygen vented out. She’d done that herself when she’d prepared for the Brar to dock with their ship.

  She turned, moving slowly to the center of the room, and turned her back to the wide exterior doors. Despite the fit, it still felt like walking in something four sizes too large and a hundred pounds too heavy for her frame. Every step she took was an effort not to trip in the bulky boots.

  “Are you ready?”

  The voice in the helmet surprised her. “Not yet.”

  “Hurry! We don’t have much time. I’d like to get off this level before security finds me or realizes I sprang you from the brig. I plan to hole up in Control One until help comes, since I don’t trust those bastards not to try to kill me, too, no matter who my parents are.”

  Vivian crouched, or tried to, but the weight of the suit made her fall over. She braced as she lay there. “Do it. Thank you, Abby.”

  “Ball up as much as possible. I’m overriding the controls to rapidly open the doors so you don’t hit them on the way out. At least, that’s the theory I’m working with.”

  “Fuck,” Vivian muttered. She pulled her limbs closer to her torso and tucked her head. It was tough to do in the bulky spacesuit. “Ready.”

  A loud alarm blared—and then it was all motion.

  She felt her body get brutally yanked in one direction, and then all light was gone briefly. The suit helmet flared with soft, dim illumination, but it was still total darkness around her. Gravity was a thing of the past, the heaviness of the suit no longer an issue. She got fleeting glimpses of the Gorison Traveler as her body rolled swiftly through the dark. The ship was huge at first, but as her body continued to careen weightlessly, it faded more and more as she tumbled through the blackness of space.

  When she saw the Gorison Traveler again, it was from a greater distance.

  Abby’s voice came from the helmet. “Vivian? Tell me you’re alive and I didn’t kill you.”

  “I’m okay and off the ship. I didn’t hit the doors. I’m not hurt.”

  Abby chuckled. “I knew it would work. Coms will cut out soon. It’s a range thing. Good luck.”

  “Be careful. Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”

  “I can’t control the pad I’m using to hack into systems if I’m in a suit. I can only get you off the ship. I’ll be fine. I’m on my way to Control One now.”

  “Let me know when you get there.”

  Silence greeted her. Her body rolled again, floating through space.

  “Abby?”

  She didn’t answer.

  Vivian got another glimpse of the ship then, even farther away. Being sucked out of the cargo hold with the oxygen had propelled her from the Gorison Traveler as if she’d been wearing thrusters. She’d probably gone beyond coms range.

  She continued rolling, since she couldn’t figure out how to stop. She stared into space, occasionally spotting the ever tinier-looking Gorison Traveler, until the point when she could no longer see the lights from the ship.

  Only blackness and silence surrounded her for what seemed like endless minutes.

  Vivian slowly began to worry when she estimated a good half hour had passed since being jettisoned from the ship.

  Where was Brassi?

  Fear came up as well. What if the beacon didn’t work? What if he couldn’t find her, or had lied to Abby about picking her up?

  She calmed herself about that last part. Brassi was honest and honorable. He wouldn’t say he’d pick her up if he didn’t plan to do so. She needed to have faith in him once more. He’d find and rescue her.

  She just hoped it would happen before the air supply in the suit ran out.

  She didn’t do external repairs and knew very little about the suits. They were used by specialty crew trained to work on the outside of the ship when something went wrong. She’d heard they indeed had small thruster controls, but she wasn’t sure how to access them.

  Vivian lifted her arms and brought them closer to the lit mask of her helmet in order to inspect them, noticing a pad on one. It was dark, not activated. She didn’t dare try to turn it on. With her luck, she’d cut oxygen or open the suit by accident, which would kill her.

  She tumbled very slowly now, staring at endless stretches of dark space. She couldn’t really feel the motion any longer, since gravity was gone. It was weird, too quiet, and she tried to remain calm.

  “Fifty percent,” a robotic voice announced a short time later.

  “Hello?”

  The suit didn’t respond.

  Vivian tried to slow her breathing. Fifty per
cent probably meant oxygen supply. She stared out of the helmet, looking for any sign of Brassi’s ship, but there was nothing.

  She turned her head, continuing to search the darkness.

  Minutes later, she spotted something.

  She tried to focus on it but her body rolled leisurely, removing it from sight. Then it slowly came back into view. It was lights—and they were coming straight for her. It had to be Brassi and his crew.

  “Brassi? Can you hear me?”

  There was no response. Maybe the suit coms couldn’t connect to his ship, or maybe she needed to turn them on. Not that she knew how to do that.

  The lights got closer, and she made out the shape of a large ship. It wasn’t anywhere close in size to a fleet ship. She just hoped it was the Brar, and not some vessel sent by the Ke’ters to find out why their colleagues hadn’t delivered the Gorison Traveler and all the people onboard.

  The craft had a dark-surfaced hull, few lights, and it flew right next to her, almost close enough to touch, making Vivian fear it might bump her and send her rolling in another direction. Instead, it glided past, moving slowly, until it was behind her.

  A hatch opened, and she pulled her arms and legs in. Bright lights came on inside, showing what looked like a cargo hold.

  “Shit.” They were going to just let her float inside.

  Vivian held her breath until she made it into the hold. She hit a wall, bounced, but they sealed the exterior doors before she could float back into space again.

  Suddenly she began to feel a heaviness in her body, and her suit lowered to the floor. It only grew worse—until she felt as if she were being crushed by the suit against the metal floor she was sprawled upon. The lights inside the cargo hold were blindingly bright. She squinted, trying to make out anything from the limited view beyond her slightly turned helmet.

  Vivian struggled to sit up, but after being gravity free, the suit felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. Muted noises came to her…something hissing, and then loud booted feet. Someone crouched over her and hands grabbed various parts of the suit. She could barely feel them though through the thick material. She was lifted and turned over onto her back…

  And then Brassi’s worried face was inches away.

  He snarled something and lifted his head a little. It gave her a better view, now that he wasn’t in her face. Two other Veslors were crouched beside her. One of them lifted a terrifying-looking twisted blade, and she felt her body jerked a little. They were cutting off the suit.

  She didn’t protest, since she had no idea how to open it. She just hoped they wouldn’t accidently cut her.

  Heat seeped in everywhere they’d sliced the suit open. It made her realize just how cold she must have been in space before she was bought onto the Brar.

  Brassi leaned close to her mask again and started to tug on the helmet.

  “That won’t work,” she yelled, hoping he could hear her. “It’s one piece. It doesn’t come off. Get the suit open and I can wiggle out.”

  He snarled something in his language, locking gazes with her. “Are you hurt?”

  “No.” She gave him a small smile.

  He didn’t smile back. Instead he turned his head, growling more orders at his men. She felt a hand press against her stomach, there were more tugs on the suit, and then the sleeves were being torn down her arms. She curled her fingers to clear them of the built-in gloves. Hands gripped her calves and pulled her legs free. Then her body was tugged down to clear her head from the helmet.

  She breathed in lungsful of the filtered oxygen of the ship. It was warm, and smelled like something close to pine trees.

  Brassi dug his hands under her and picked her up, getting to his feet. She still suffered from her body feeling heavy, despite being freed from the suit, but she managed to lightly grasp his shoulder.

  “Vassi is waiting in our medical bay for you.”

  “I’m fine.”

  Brassi didn’t slow, snarling more orders to the men behind them as they went through a door that automatically opened at their approach. The bright lights dimmed in a hallway. It was narrow compared to the corridors on the Gorison Traveler. He took her to a lift, which also automatically opened. She guessed either his ship didn’t have a lot of security, or it was programmed to read him and open doors at his approach.

  He stared down at her face. “I apologize that you were out there so long. We were told you’d be shot out in the opposite direction. We had to keep far enough away to avoid your ship attacking us, and then circle around once we picked up your distress signal.”

  “It’s okay. I’m just glad you came. I’m so sorry that you had to do this.”

  The lift stopped and the doors opened. He tore his gaze from her and walked forward.

  “I can walk. I mean, I’m suffering a little gravity sickness but it’s nothing compared to being in that suit.”

  Brassi kept walking fast down a straight hallway until he stopped and turned as another door opened.

  She came face to face with another Veslor. This one had to be Vassi. He had black hair, golden eyes, and looked enough like his brother that she was sure of her guess. His voice, when he spoke, confirmed it.

  “Place her on the exam table.”

  “I’m fine.”

  They didn’t seem to care. Brassi lay her down on a comfortable bed and Vassi ran a scanner over her. He paused it above her chest and frowned. “Mechanical device.”

  “Oh!” She’d forgotten about that. She unfastened the top of her shirt and reached in, found it, and pulled it out. “It’s the tracker Abby gave me to help you lock on to me while I was in space.”

  Brassi took it and turned, going to a wall. There was a slight hissing noise, and then he came back to her. Vassi finished his scan. “Her body temperature is a bit lower than it should be, elevated readings probably from stress, but overall, she’s in good condition considering her recent ordeal.”

  “She hit the cargo wall in her suit. Yoniv tried to adjust the gravity in there to slow her down as she came in, but failed.”

  “I’m good,” she assured them both. “Really. The suits are more like shells. They can take some damage.”

  “You can’t, though.” Brassi’s gruff tone implied he was still angry.

  She tried to sit up but her body still felt sluggish. Brassi helped her, his big hands gentle. She smiled at him again, and then studied Vassi’s features. “It’s good to finally see you.”

  He looked confused for a split second, but then grinned, revealing his sharp teeth. “That’s right. Brassi was the only one who opened his face plate.”

  “Are you sore? You’re moving very slowly.”

  She turned to Brassi. “It’s just gravity sickness. Totally normal. I’m just glad I’m only experiencing a mild version of it.”

  “Gravity sickness?” Vassi turned, picked up some kind of digital pad and began to tap at it with a finger.

  “Adjusting to pressurization can make some humans feel like their bodies weigh twice what they normally do. I’m not nauseous, though. I took a ship-to-ship transport shuttle once, that was overloaded. They don’t turn on gravity when that happens. It was a nine-hour flight. I watched some of the other passengers puking their guts up when we docked, and some couldn’t even get out of their seats. They needed to be taken out on stretchers to recover.”

  “Internal organ damage?” Vassi’s head snapped up.

  She thought about what she’d said then stifled a grin. “‘Puking their guts up’ is just a saying. It means they were emptying their stomach contents. Anything they’d eaten or drank came up.”

  Vassi nodded. “Ah.”

  “I just feel tired but I’ll adjust fast. I’m a ship brat.”

  “Ship brat?”

  She nodded at Brassi. “I grew up on fleet ships. The longest I’ve lived on a planet was in college for my cultural studies. I spent two years on Earth. I was able to take most of my courses by computer before that.”

  “
Your parents were United Earth fleet?”

  “My father was. My mom was a colonist he met and talked into marrying him. She could only take that kind of life for a year before they divorced.”

  “That life?”

  “Living on a ship. She was used to fresh air and living on surface, and it was rough on her to be in space. She wanted to go back to the colony, to her family, after she gave birth to me.”

  “Explain ‘divorced.’” Brassi stepped closer.

  “They ended their marriage. Um, I told you we have contracts? They both agreed to end it. Dad got custody of me.” She saw him frown. “When parents end a marriage, they need to decide who the child will live with. Her colony was pretty unstable still from harsh weather conditions, and they both agreed that fleet ships are better for children, with their advanced medical facilities and schools. So she left me behind with my dad.

  “When I was ten, he was killed during a mission. By then, Mom had married a new man and had four more children with him. She felt I would be too much of an additional burden for them, and refused to take custody of me.” That still hurt Vivian to think about. “Instead, I was adopted by my father’s best friend. Big M and his son are the ones who died on the Gorison Traveler. They wanted me with them, and we were super close already. I grew up with them. My mom is someone I can’t even remember.”

  Compassion softened Brassi’s features. “I apologize, Vivian.”

  “For what? You aren’t the one who refused to take me in because you didn’t want an extra mouth to feed. I can’t thank you enough for letting me onboard and picking me up.” She dropped her gaze. “You can drop me off anywhere. I don’t want to be a burden to you or your crew.”

  “You’re welcome to stay on the Brar for as long as you want.”

  Vassi growled something low, and whatever he said caused Brassi to chuckle.

  Vivian glanced between them. “I really need to learn your language.”

  “I said it’s not as if you could eat much.” Vassi put the pad down. “Earthlings are so tiny.”

  She couldn’t disagree, compared to Veslors. “I still appreciate everything you’ve done. Abby is going to get this mess cleared up as soon as possible. I have faith in her.”