by J G Cressey
Viktor had also managed to locate the Star Splinter down in a docking bay, and it was there that Cal had sent them. He had decided that from now on, “Caution,” would be his new motto, so the first thing he wanted to ensure was that the Star Splinter was intact and fit for a quick launch. Secondly, he had requested a fistful of pain patches. And thirdly, thinking it best the woman woke up without them all looming over her, he’d sent them off to complete the first two tasks. Now that he thought about it, this last decision was possibly a very early deviation from his new motto. His decision to leave her unrestrained to avoid her panicking was most definitely a deviation. He really wasn’t thinking straight. That angelic, beautiful woman could probably break him in half with very little effort. Still, Melinda was nearby—something Jumper had thankfully insisted upon before they’d left.
What the hell was in that injection? Trying his best to keep his breathing steady, Cal continued to ponder the woman’s strength and speed. Strangely enough, it was during that very ponder that the woman leapt from the bunk and wrenched him violently from his seat. With a forearm pressed hard into his neck, she slammed against the rear wall. More than a little shell-shocked, Cal stared into the woman’s pale blue eyes that were now only inches from his own. A sudden new appreciation for her strength kicked in not to mention for the importance of his new motto.
After what felt like an eternity but was likely only an instant, Melinda was tearing the woman away, leaving Cal to drop to the ground in a ball of agony. “Melinda, wait,” he managed to rasp between desperate attempts to suck in some air. He tried to hold out a pacifying hand towards the cybernetic woman but failed miserably. “Let her go,” he managed before a coughing fit sent more searing pain through his spine.
Melinda released her arm from around the woman’s neck but didn’t back away.
“Please,” Cal said, looking up at the woman. “We don’t want to hurt you.”
The woman turned her wide eyes to him as she backed away from Melinda. “Why should I believe you?” She sounded almost calm but didn’t look it. There was definite fear in those pale blue eyes.
Cal crawled over to the chair that he’d been sitting in and, remaining on his knees, managed to push himself almost upright. “Because I think this is a military craft,” he reasoned, “a damned advanced one like I’ve never seen…but military. And if I’m right, then we’re on the same damn side.”
The woman had backed up into a corner of the room. She was shaking her head. “You’re pirates.”
If he didn’t feel as though he was being pounded by a giant meat hammer, Cal might just have laughed at that. “We’re not pirates. My name’s Cal Harper. I was a lieutenant.”
The woman appeared far from convinced.
Even the act of talking was causing excruciating pain, but Cal forced himself to continue. “The tall, black man is Jumper Decoux, a Big Game hunter. The girl’s Eddy…I mean, Edwina. Edwina Cole, military private. The blond guy is…” Cal realized that he had no idea what Toker’s surname was. Or maybe he just couldn’t recall. Was Toker even his real name? “Well, he’s Toker, and he’s a…well, he’s…” He’s a what? A celebrity? Cal was fast regretting this approach. “The boy is Viktor, and…well he’s…” Military too?
The woman’s doubt didn’t seem to be diminishing.
“Look, we’re not pirates. We’re… We’re…” What the hell are we? Cal desperately needed to clear his thoughts. He wanted to shake his head, but his spine would likely come apart. “You healed…my friend’s arm,” he said in an attempt to change tack.
“It was an opportunity, an experiment. I needed a broken bone and didn’t fancy breaking one of my own.”
Cal could feel a shit load of sweat trickling down his face and neck. “I don’t suppose…you have a…a pain patch?”
The woman ignored the question. “That Star Splinter, it’s a stolen ship,” she said accusingly. “As, no doubt, is this synthetic.” She glanced at Melinda and shook her head as if in disbelief. “Who the hell modified her?”
“The boy,” Cal managed weakly. The words didn’t seem to want to leave his throat. It was as if they were being sucked back down by a vacuum in his lungs. He was pretty sure that elaboration was necessary, but he had nothing. Words had become a lost art. The pain had seeped up his spine and was burning the nerves in his brain. There was a loud thumping in his ears and high-pitched ringing. His vision swirled, and through those swirls, he thought he could see the woman staring at him in an odd fashion. Even Melinda was staring at him now. He tried to take some deep breaths, but he didn’t even manage shallow ones. His ribs seemed to be shrinking. The chair he was leaning on was scraping across the floor, and some small part of his brain realized too late that he was toppling forward. That same part of his brain thought about throwing his arms out in order to break his fall.
Unfortunately, a thought was all it was. He was unconsciousness before he hit the floor.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
THICK AIR
Cal woke up. At least, he thought he was awake. There was a possibility that he was asleep. Either way, he didn’t much care. He felt strange, like his brain had been dipped in honey. He was feeling slow and sort of…distant. He was shrouded in darkness and floating in midair. Of this, he was almost sure. His arms and legs were gently swaying but not in a loose way. More slow and sluggish, just like his brain. It was as if the air all around him was thick enough to float in. He tried moving one of those swaying limbs but was unsure which one. In the end, it really didn’t matter. None of them obeyed. The lack of control didn’t bother him; he didn’t feel like moving anyway.
He briefly wondered whether he was experiencing some sort of delirium, but the thought didn’t have much impact, and it soon faded away. The next thought was a realization; he was naked…well, mostly. This really didn’t bother him either.
Despite the dark all around him, Cal could see his body clearly. He briefly considered whether he was floating in space, but he could see no stars. Somewhere right at the bottom of his mind, he suspected he should be experiencing panic. This should be scary, shouldn’t it? Being suspended in a strange, dark place, unable to move. Yes, it probably should be scary. But it was hard to feel scared when you felt good. And he did feel good. Weird, but good.
As he continued to float in the nothingness, there came a gradual awareness of something to his left…possibly his right. He couldn’t say for sure. Two pale snakes writhing in his peripheral vision. He thought about turning to take a proper look, but it seemed like a lot of effort. He probably couldn’t move his head anyway.
He floated a little longer. Five minutes. Possibly an hour.
Now, there was something else. Something new. Even paler than the snakes. A kind of white smudge far above him, possibly below him, maybe even in front of him. He decided that it didn’t really matter. He stared at the smudge for a while—not that he had much choice; not even his eyelids obeyed.
The white smudge was getting bigger. Definitely bigger…maybe closer. Also less smudge-like and more solid, and it was wobbling. A fish? Was the thick air liquid? Yes, liquid. It seemed obvious now that he thought about it. Perhaps the depths of some dark ocean? Maybe the white fish was a shark: one of those big, demonic ones, the ones with big, black eyes and rows upon rows of sharp, triangular teeth jutting from a downturned mouth. He’d had nightmares about those big, white sharks before. But this wasn’t a nightmare. He was feeling good. Happy. Peaceful. If he’d been able, he might even have laughed.
He was sure he was awake now but not completely sure.
Closer, clearer. The white thing wasn’t a shark. Not even a fish.
Closer, clearer…
Cal knew what it was now. It was an impossible thing. It looked just right, just how he’d imagined they should. He was feeling confused, but he didn’t much care. The mermaid glided closer. Shining white skin, long hair flowing…beautiful. Then, she was beside him. Dealing with the writhing snakes…protecting him?
Something occurred to him, a strange, dull something that grew slowly brighter in his mind—he was breathing. He shouldn’t be able to breathe, not underwater…should he? It was all becoming a little confusing. More confusing. But that was okay; he didn’t much care.
The mermaid was hovering over him now, her body and tail a blur, but her beautiful face as clear as day. Blue eyes: incredible, pale blue eyes. She was cradling his head in her hands. Delicate but strong fingers. Was she to guide him to the surface? Free him from the dark depths?
But he was breathing. Must be air, not water. He stared at the mermaid. How could such a creature survive in such a place? But the answer was out of his reach.
He really didn’t mind overly much.
Did I die? That thought came quicker and sharper than the others. Was this an angel? Perhaps here to guide him back to life or onward to heaven? Or maybe to hell? After all, he’d killed. He’d killed many—always in defence of himself or another—but it was still lives taken.
No, he decided after some time—or perhaps no time at all—that this beautiful creature had nothing to do with hell.
Her face was close. Long, shining hair slowly curling, bright white against the blackness. Such blue eyes. Cal could feel her hands lightly pressing against the sides of his face, firm but tender. She was looking directly at him. He thought maybe there was an expression on her face. Sadness? Seriousness? Yes, a little seriousness but not entirely. Concern? Yes, possibly concern. Concern for him?
He wasn’t keen on the concern.
He tried a smile to remove the concern from that beautiful face. Had he managed it? He really wasn’t all that sure.
He felt suddenly strange…stranger than before. He felt as though he was drifting…suddenly drifting…but without moving. He didn’t mind—the blue-eyed angel was still with him.
His vision began to fade, but with an edge of defiance, he continued to gaze at the beautiful, pale face.
Then the concern was gone. And just before his vision went completely dark and his conscious mind faded away, the blue-eyed angel returned the smile.
Chapter Thirty
KAIA
“Calie boy… Wake up, bro. The day is a wastin’ away.”
Cal was lying down, that much he knew. He blinked open one eye and saw a face looming over him. The face was deeply tanned and dominated by a white-toothed grin.
“Man, I knew it, I knew you were awake. I think I might be psychic.”
With an effort, Cal blinked open his other eye. “Toker?”
“Yes, bro, it’s me. You okay?”
“Yup…at least I think so.” Cal brought his hand to his face and rubbed his eyes. “Toker, I’ve been meaning to ask you…”
Toker gave him an encouraging nod.
“How the hell d’you keep such a tan in deep space?”
Toker showed even more of his white teeth. “Ha, knew you’d be fine. I told them there ain’t much that can keep Calie boy down; that’s what I told them.” He reached out a hand.
Gratefully accepting it, Cal pulled himself to a sitting position and was surprised to find that, apart from a little disorientation, he actually felt pretty good. Pretty damn good. He looked about. He was sat on one of five bunks set along the straight back wall of a large, high-ceilinged, D-shaped room. Seeing monitoring equipment to the rear of each bunk, he guessed he was in some sort of medical facility. Just like all the other rooms he’d found himself in of late, it was almost entirely white. There was a high viewing panel stretched across the entire length of the curved wall through which he could see other white rooms housing more equipment.
Cal had been in more than his fair share of medical facilities in his time, and despite the obvious advanced nature of the facility, nothing he saw was particularly unusual. Nothing bar one exception. A large, round pool was set within the circular-shaped portion of the room that was filled almost to the brim with an eerie-looking, inky black liquid.
“Weird, eh?” Toker said, having noticed the direction of his stare. “Kinda spooky looking.”
Cal agreed with a nod. “What…er…”
“What the hell is it?” Toker offered. “That’s a good question. Some kind of healing juice. There was a lot of science talk to be honest, bro, which kinda shot over my pip. Whatever it is though, it healed you up good un proper. The very same stuff that fixed up my arm apparently.”
Cal could feel confusion settling in. “What about the woman?”
“Woman… You mean Kaia? What a lady, eh? Gorgeous.”
Cal rubbed at his face. “I think you might have to fill me in a bit here, Toker. I’m feeling a little out of the loop.”
“Sure, yeah. Sorry, I’m not being all that helpful. The woman’s called Kaia. She’s a scientist. She thought we were pirates. You believe that, Cal?” Toker smiled. “Took us a while, but we managed to convince her that we were good ‘uns. Well, Viktor and Jumper did most of the talking. I think Eddy and I were kinda making things worse. I tell you, Cal, it’s a pretty damn amazing ship, this. Some sort of research vessel. We had a good look round yesterday, real advanced stuff. I didn’t really get most of it, but it had Viktor grinning from ear to ear. Like a pig in the finest slop he was.”
“Yesterday? How long have I been out?”
“Oh right, let me see… Er, a good few days. Three, no, three and a half I think. You were in pretty bad shape. It was kinda scary for a time. You’ve been sleeping like a baby for most of today though.”
Cal took a moment to get his head around what Toker had said. Three days? What the hell had happened to him? He sighed and followed up his face rubbing with a bit of habitual neck massage. “How are the rest of the gang? They about?”
“Sure, Jumper should be here soon. We’ve been taking it in turns sitting here, waiting for you to wake up.”
“Appreciate it.”
“Course,” Toker said with a wave of a hand. “I think Viktor’s off with Melinda doing tech stuff. And Eddy…” He shook his head. “Well, Eddy is off searching for clues.”
“Clues?”
“Yep, she still doesn’t trust Kaia even after she saved your life. Crazy little nitwit’s sneaking round the ship trying to find something to incriminate her. Personally, I think she’s still pissed off at having noodles chucked in her face.” Toker shrugged. “She’ll calm down eventually. Anyway, how’s the back feeling?”
“My back?” Cal instinctively reached his hands behind himself. Of course, his back. How could he have forgotten? He stretched, slowly and experimentally at first, then more rigorously, even throwing in a couple of twists from side to side. “It feels…well, it feels fine. It feels…great. That’s incredible.”
Toker nodded enthusiastically. “Uh huh, it’s that pool. The black juju juice. It’s crazy stuff. You were scratching at death’s door when you went in that pool. Kaia had you at the bottom of it for a full day and night.”
Cal looked again at the inky black liquid and shook his head in confusion. “What the hell happened to me?”
“We found you crashed out on the floor. I gotta tell you, pal, I thought you were a goner. You looked like death on a stick. There was a bit of a crazy tussle at first. Kaia was kneeling next to you with some sort of zapper device when we turned up. Looked like she’d done you a mischief. Found out after that it was a medical scanner but not before Eddy had launched herself at Kaia. Used all of her limbs and her head to pound on her. Let me tell you, bro, after we got Eddy under control, there was a shit load of arguing and confusion. My head still aches from it. Eventually, she convinced us that you’d croak for sure if we didn’t let her help you.”
“Die? From a bad back?”
“Not just the back. You had a fever too. A bad one. Goon goo or garn gar fever. Something like that.” Toker grinned again and shook his head. “Man, you gotta have some guardian angel looking over you. If we hadn’t ended up on this particular ship when we did…” He continued to shake his head, but the grin left his face. “
Sorry, kind of a morbid. Anyway, none of that matters now. All is good.”
“I guess so,” Cal murmured. He had a ton of questions in his head and more flooding in by the minute. And his back, it felt completely normal. Better than normal. Nothing short of a miracle. “I’d like to talk to her, er…Kaia. Is she about?’
“Yep, she’s actually closer than you think,” Toker replied, nodding towards the inky pool.
Cal raised an eyebrow. “She’s in there? Right now?”
“Uh huh, she went in a few minutes before you woke up. Said she had to do some maintenance.”
“How deep is it?”
“Fifty feet apparently.”
“Fifty.”
“Yeah, seems a bit excessive, right?”
“What’s she using for a breathing apparatus?”
Toker chuckled. “That’s the weird thing; she’s not using any.”
“Some sort of breathable liquid?”
“Nope, she had to put a bubble mask on you when she took you in.”
Took me in. “Huh. A small gum breather then.”
“That’s what I thought. I use a gum breather when I surf the big waves. Damn clever bit of kit. Thing is, she swears she doesn’t need one. An’ you know what, I believe her. She’s one hell of a lady, Cal. Capable. She’s probably fixing the tubing on the bubble breather mask. There was a bit of a malfunction the first day you were down there. You should have seen her, bro. She was pretty scared for you. Stripped off and dove in there like some kind of mermaid.”
“Huh. Mermaid?” Cal narrowed his eyes at his young friend, a strange feeling that he was being mocked creeping in.
