In the Void

by Sheryl Nantus

  “How much did it take to pay off her contract?”

  Belle fell silent.

  “Of course. Sorry for asking.” He shook his head as he went into the private bedroom. He pulled a panel open and began filling the small dishwasher. “So he left Catherine for a Mercy woman. It explains her reaction when she came on board.”

  “A few articles appeared in the tabloids detailing the affair. None of them were by certified journalists,” Belle added as if to make sure Sean knew how little faith to put in the stories. “The rumors included insinuations Catherine Rogers was not receptive to sexual activities. The terms used included ‘frigid’ and ‘prude.’”

  “Oh, really?” Sean allowed himself a grin. “Obviously the reporters in question never met Catherine Rogers.”

  His memory rewound and played the image of Catherine sitting on the bed, his hands on her shoulders as he massaged the knots out of her stiff muscles. The way she’d reacted to his touch was anything but frigid.

  He’d been with more than his fair share of women, knew how to pleasure them in ways they never thought of before entering his cabin. The Guild training had taught him to look for signals that he was on the right path to giving his clients the ultimate experience.

  Catherine’s reactions told him she was a sensual woman, a sexy woman who knew what she wanted and how to get it—that much was sure.

  She’d also chosen a very lonely path to get justice.

  In some ways Catherine reminded him of Sam, of Kendra, of April. Strong women who retained their femininity even as they worked in male-dominated worlds.

  Of Sara.

  He swallowed hard and set his mind to cleaning up, trying not to go down that mental road.

  That way only led to sadness, madness and disappointment.

  He was a Mercy man now.

  * * *

  Catherine rolled over onto her back and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. She was too wired to sleep despite what she’d told Sean.

  “Belle?” She cleared her throat, unsure how to address the AI. “Lights, please.”

  The overhead screens grew in intensity to illuminate the room, allowing her to see clearly.

  “Thank you.” She gathered her thoughts. “What sort of entertainment is available?”

  “We have over ten thousand movies and electronic books available. I know the captain has a number of paperbacks if you wish to, ah, ‘fondle the pages’ as I have heard her say when refusing a title in electronic format.”

  Catherine couldn’t help smiling. “Are you hooked into the live information feeds?”

  “Unfortunately our route often takes us offline. We are currently in a ‘dead zone’ for the next twelve hours. I can give you access to the previous entries if you wish.”

  She shook her head, forgetting the AI couldn’t see her. “Probably nothing worth reading.” She had a burning desire to check the stock markets and see if GT was plummeting or soaring due to the news of her supposed death.

  “Belle, can you show me what movies you have on file?” She pushed herself up the mattress to rest her back against the wall. “Is there a way to pipe it in here or do I have to watch it in the receiving room?”

  A screen opened up opposite the bed in exactly the right place for comfortable watching.

  Of course, the cynical voice in her head snapped. Everything comes back to the bed.

  She watched the names and images scroll across the screen.

  A lot of recent releases, some of them special review copies noted to be only for Guild members. It seemed the entertainment industry loved recommendations by Mercy men and women.

  One title jumped out at her. Felis Follies? What the—

  She picked up the remote off the nearby bed table and tapped the buttons to move the list along. It was high-tech, the best of the best.

  Of course she’d expect nothing less on a Mercy ship.

  There wasn’t as much pornography as she’d expected. In fact it seemed a majority of the movies were classics, ranging from musicals to animation. A good number of non-fiction offerings rounded out the selections available.

  Not what she’d imagined she’d find.

  A documentary on the preservation efforts of various rare species filled the time for a few hours until she found herself dozing off to the adorable images of panda bears hugging bamboo trees and waddling toward the camera.

  Comforting but she didn’t need to go into a sugar coma.

  An idea hit her.

  A wonderful, luxuriously decadent idea.

  “Belle, do you have the latest episodes of A Thousand Nights?”

  “I do.” From Belle’s tone if the computer AI had a face she’d be grinning. “It is a very popular soap opera among our crew. I have the last six weeks’ worth of daily episodes if you’d like to view them.”

  It was a guilty pleasure she hadn’t been able to indulge lately. She’d lost count of how long she’d barred herself from television, not willing to give up time to anything not connected with the case.

  She had time now.

  Six weeks’ worth.

  Catherine smiled. She could make this work.

  * * *

  Sean looked up at the ceiling. There was a thin line running the length of the bedroom, a faint crack in the light blue paint dodging between the light panels. It wasn’t enough to warrant calling Jenny and paying for the room to be repainted—not worth the time or money.

  It was enough to provide a welcome distraction as he tried not to think about the future.

  This was going to get worse before it got better. There was no way the killers weren’t going to try and take Catherine out along with the rest of the Belle. They’d had the balls to sabotage a luxury yacht; they’d have no compunction about paying a bunch of thugs to attack a Mercy ship they knew to be unarmed and vulnerable.

  Except they didn’t know the Mercy ship was the Bonnie Belle.

  And that made a world of difference as far as he was concerned.

  Then there was Catherine.

  He couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d looked in the life pod. Vulnerable, scared. In those few seconds he wanted nothing more than to protect her from anyone and anything who would hurt her.

  It was a natural feeling, he told himself. Totally natural and understandable.

  Except his heart told him this was much more than delivering aid and comfort. She’d stirred up emotions in him, emotions that had been dormant for years.

  He wasn’t sure what to make of that. Or what to do about it.

  She needed his help. Except she hated anyone associated with the Guild.

  He’d help her heal physically. But emotionally—

  He swung his legs off the bed and stood up.

  Sean needed a distraction and he knew exactly where to find one. Someone else who was probably also in need of his medical skills.

  Sam would most likely be in the cockpit.

  * * *

  It only took him a few minutes to go down the corridor and enter the galley, empty at present, and progress through to the short corridor leading to the command bridge of the Belle. The transition from full to zero gravity was a jolt but nothing he hadn’t become used to over years of space travel.

  Sam was staring out the viewport into space, strapped into her chair. There was no way she’d be able to see anything before Belle picked it up on radar, but he wasn’t going to tell her that.

  He suspected she already knew and it was her own way of dealing with the situation.

  As he swam toward her she turned her head a fraction, enough to see him.

  “What’s up?” Sam asked.

  He slowed himself using the leather straps set within easy reach and rested his feet on the wall. There was not
hing outside other than blackness, the distant stars pinpricks in the distance.

  “What’s the word from Daniel?”

  “He’s got Etts running at full blast and using a few slingshot maneuvers but they’re not going to make it here for at least a day. Maybe more depending on how the math works out.” She reached down and plucked a water bottle from the side of her chair. “I don’t need to tell you everyone’s freaking at the Justice base and at Global Transport. Last communiqué I got said the company’s been raided and they’re dragging the execs Catherine named out in cuffs. They’re considering adding attempted murder to the charges but that’ll have to wait until they get a scout to find and secure the ship’s records. The black boxes should have survived the explosion. Those are made to last.”

  “What can they get from that?”

  Sam tapped the panel in front of her. “The ship didn’t have an AI like Belle, so the data will be limited, but they can pull out basic information like where the fire started and the sequence of events. A good investigator can recreate the event and see if it was an accident or if there was something odd there, some discrepancy that’ll point to sabotage. We’ve already pretty well agreed it was a bomb but they need the official documentation to make charges stick.”

  “That’s something.” Sean watched her take a long drink, assessing her condition. “When was the last time you got some sleep? You were awake before all this started—how many hours have you been on duty?”

  She glared at him, the dark circles under her eyes almost as deep as the space outside.

  “You’re no good to us if you’re exhausted.” He touched her arm. “Belle will stand watch. You know she can.”

  “Affirmative,” The computer AI chirped. “I have my sensors on maximum coverage. It is unlikely any ship can approach us without being identified.”

  “You’re not technically qualified for this,” he added gently.

  It wasn’t a lie or even an exaggeration. Sam Keller was on the Belle because the Guild demanded a live human stationed in the cockpit of every Guild ship in case of emergency. She’d compared herself once to a trained monkey and while Sean wasn’t going to toss her words back at her, it was still applicable.

  “This is my job,” she protested. “This is what I’m supposed to do.” She rubbed her nose. “I’m no flyboy but I can look outside and study the radar.” The water bottle slipped back into the holder, locked into place so it wouldn’t float around the cockpit. “I’m the one who made the call to go get her. I’ll be damned if I saved her only to get all of us killed because I was getting my beauty sleep.”

  “You can’t stay awake until Daniel gets here. That’s a fact.” He squeezed her arm. “Why don’t you grab a catnap here in your seat?” He purred, putting all his negotiation skills to work. “You can set an alarm with Belle to go off every half hour. You can stay right here.”

  She crossed her arms in front of her, exactly how he’d figured she’d respond.

  Make sure to maintain eye contact and inform your partner that they’re special.

  “Sam.” Sean moved around to look directly at her. “We need you to be sharp and fresh. No one else can do what you do. But you have to be rested to make those decisions.”

  She snorted.

  So much for the Guild’s suggestions.

  “Okay if that’s how you want it.” Sean cleared his throat. “As the medic on board I am within my rights to pull rank and take command.”

  “What?”

  “If you push yourself beyond your limits it’s perfectly legal for me to deem you unfit for command based on your mental and physical fitness,” Sean said. “I don’t want to. You’re the captain for a reason.”

  “You would not.”

  Sean raised an eyebrow and continued to stare at her.

  “I can kill you with my bare hands,” she countered.

  “Better watch who you say that to. April might consider that a challenge. Or foreplay,” he replied.

  Her cheeks reddened.

  “Work with me here, Sam,” Sean murmured. “Set the alarm, close your eyes and rest.”

  A long minute passed.

  “Okay. I can do that.” There was a note of resignation in her voice. “You’re not going to leave until I agree to something.”

  “It’s my job,” Sean said. “Medic, remember?” He put on the charm full bore, giving her a dazzling smile. “Among other skills, of course.”

  “You’re a bloody pain in the ass,” she muttered before tilting her head back and closing her eyes. “Belle, ding me every half hour. Screw up and I’ll have Jenny strand your AI in the microwave so you can do nothing but reheat my breakfast burrito for the next month.”

  “Understood.”

  “Enough?” Sam asked without opening her eyes.

  “Enough.” Sean patted her shoulder before turning and swimming toward the hatch. “Have a good rest. You’ll need it when Daniel shows up.”

  “Sean?”

  He twisted to see Sam making an obscene gesture, her middle finger held up. She hadn’t moved out of the chair.

  “Good night, Captain.”

  It was a start.

  Now he needed to check in on Catherine.

  In a purely medical capacity of course.

  * * *

  Catherine hadn’t overdosed on the soap opera but she was getting dangerously close. She’d already dozed off twice with her hand in the small bag of milk chocolate squares Belle had so thoughtfully provided.

  There was something extremely decadent about licking chocolate off your fingers while watching handsome men strut across the screen. It wasn’t healthy but sure as heck cathartic when it came to keeping her mind off current events.

  She frowned and made a mental note to ask Belle to hook her up with the gossip network for A Thousand Nights at some point. She’d managed to miss the reason Diego Venture was so angry at Monica Spyder, angry enough to try to get her evicted from her apartment by spreading rumors she was selling drugs. It didn’t make sense when the woman had borne his illegitimate child and was busy working as a waitress/exotic dancer to send their boy to a good school—

  The knock at the door startled her.

  “Belle, pause.” The image on the screen froze.

  She slid off the bed and went through the receiving room to the hatch. There was no peephole, no way to see who was outside.

  Catherine leaned in. “Yes?”

  The muffled voice came through the metal. “It’s Sean. I wanted to check on you. Can I come in?”

  “Sure.” She reached for the handle with her right hand before realizing her fingers were still smeared with chocolate.

  She popped her index finger into her mouth to clean it and fumbled with her left hand to work the door open.

  Sean stood there, smiling.

  “I thought I’d check in and see how you’re feeling,” he murmured.

  “Goof,” Catherine mumbled, working on dissolving the chocolate on her fingernail. Mentally she was still in the other room with Monica and Diego, trying to unravel the mystery and guess what Diego was going to do.

  “Pardon?” Sean frowned. He swallowed hard and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

  Her tongue swirled around the top of her finger, pulling the last of the chocolate off. It took another second for her to realize what she was doing and how it was affecting Sean.

  It took a lot of effort not to smile.

  She pulled her finger free with a wet pop. “Sorry, just cleaning off some chocolate.” She gestured toward the bedroom. “I needed a fix and Belle had some in supply.”

  “That she does.” Sean smiled. “Did you go for the milk chocolate only or did you try the white chocolate bark?”

  “White chocolate bark?”
/>   Sean nodded, then looked past her. “Are you watching A Thousand Nights?”

  “Six weeks’ worth in one sitting.” She studied his expression. “You watch it?” It was hard to keep the disbelief out of her voice. The show had millions of fans but she couldn’t believe she’d find one here of all places.

  “Absolutely.” Sean grinned. “Diego’s a fool. I’d like to see him wake up before Monica leaves him for good.”

  “I know. And after all she’s done for him. When she offered herself up to that bastard in order to keep Diego’s son safe I—” She paused. She had goals to accomplish, and cozying up to a Mercy man wasn’t one of them. But the idea of sitting next to Sean on the bed and watching the show together seemed strangely appealing.

  Catherine hesitated, torn between her natural dislike of everything to do with Mercy ships and the man in front of her.

  The man won.

  “Would you like to join me?” She swept her hand back toward the bedroom.

  After all, inviting him in is the polite thing to do.

  Sean blushed and shook his head.

  “Ah, no thank you.” He flapped his hands like a flightless bird, slapping his sides. “I wanted to make sure you were feeling better.” An awkward step back had him struggling to keep his balance. “Which you are, obviously.”

  “Yes, thank you. Belle’s been quite helpful.”

  He nodded. “I’ll let you get back to your, ah, marathon. If you need some more ointment please call me.”