by SA Payne
"Seriously?" Jake continued the pun. "There isn't much to tell."
"Jake is being modest, his courage saved my life." Narin added softly.
"That sounds like story to me." Will frowned.
There was enough uncertain and undirected tension in Will's voice that the two human
programmers shifted uneasily. Jake held a hand to them, just slightly. "Narin's people are social, they can't survive without a bond on a psychic level."
"So you what? Woke up and made you mind up to risk scrambling your brain to see if you could
maybe form a bond with an alien?"
"It wasn't quite like that, but sure, that's what I did." Jake met Will's eye and didn't back down. "It needed to be done, you of all people should know I don't leave a man behind if I can help it."
Ryan glanced between the two men, sensing the underlying tension there and the protectiveness
in Will. Jake had spoken little about his visiting friend, only that they'd fought together and
nothing more. Like so much of Jake's time during the occupation, he refused to speak on it. "We were all pretty worried to but it's work out fine. Jess and I have both even shared communion,
sort of a lesser version of bonding. It's nice."
"You're welcome to join us." Narin offered.
"Hm." Will shrugged. "Maybe." Amanda nudged him. "Thank you for the offer."
"So," Jake asked, tearing a hunk of break apart and trying to delay dealing with Will's
protectiveness until later. "What's this favor you wanted to ask of us?"
A look was passed between Amanda and Ichi before Ichi sat straighter. "I've been redesigning
my lab, making it more efficient, safer. I wanted to know if you or your people have the time to
look over the kill switch procedures?"
A look was passed between the programmers but it was Jake that answered. "Of course, but you
could have asked that over the vid, what's this really about?"
Ichi looked toward Rye who had his eyes down. One of his hands ruffled the slender blades of grass at the edge of the spread blanket. That didn't help offer him any answers. "Amanda?"
She nodded. "They're all Avalon, well, except Narin and he's as good as Avalon as you are."
"Rye, was..."
"Is." Rye corrected.
"Was, a pet."
That started the ball rolling and Ichi and Amanda with occasional help from Will conveyed the
entire story. Rye sat silent, head down, preferring to be talked about instead of to and as the
horror of the situation grew on the faces of the programmers, they seemed to grow easier with
that set up as well.
"Oh, Rye, we're so sorry!" Jess finally forced out around the lump in her throat. "What an awful thing!"
Rye didn't even look up.
"We're lucky for it though, Rye took out those pirates without even blinking an eye." Amanda bragged for the silent red head.
That made Jake frown a little bit, an expression that quickly fled. "What is it you want from us, exactly?"
Will shook his head. "I know you can insert an ID into the Concord mainframe for him. Give him the papers he might one day need. Right now, PETS can show up and take him away. With
those papers we can kill the pet and let the man walk away."
The programmers exchanged a look. Ryan half shrugged and Jess raised an eyebrow before
Jake spoke again. "We can do it, no sweat."
"One more thing." Rye spoke for the first time since he'd become the topic of conversation. "Will says you and your team are the best. Can you get into Lerman? Get their files and maybe find
out who I am." He locked eyes with Jake and held them but gave no ground.
"We can." Jake began carefully. "But I'm sorry, we won't."
"Why not?" Will instantly asked.
"Because this station is hot right now and Lerman is too secure to risk it. If so much as one part of the data packet gets forgotten they'll trace it to us and Lerman isn't a warm fuzzy forget and
forgive kind of group. I won't risk it, this station is under enough of a threat from the Flossin
guard as it is." Jake sighed. "I am sorry, truly I am. In a couple of years when things have cooled off, we'll give it a crack."
Rye closed his eyes. "The threat is greater to your station in a couple of years then it is right now."
"How so?" Ryan questioned, toying with a stray piece of grass he'd plucked.
"Flossin guard aren't stupid, they won't make a move against any of you right now. They'll wait a year, two, maybe five, until you've forgotten and they can come at you unaware. They aren't the
sort to walk away from anyone that's dealt them such a blow." Rye spoke in a monotone from
knowledge he didn't know he carried.
"Maybe." Jake nodded. "I'm not worried about myself. They can slit my throat any time they want, just so long as they don't go after the station again."
"So you can do what I ask, you're just not willing to?" Rye challenged once more.
"I'm sorry."
Something sad flickered across Rye's face. "So be it."
Chapter Twenty Eight:
They finished dinner as the garden slid from late afternoon into early evening. Crickets and frogs
began to sing in the growing dimness, the small blue lights along the walkways flicked on, one by
one. The conversation flowed easily but there was an undertone of tension that was happily
avoided.
"Seriously," Jess nodded, looping one arm with Amanda's like long friends and leaving Ryan to carry the picnic basket and blanket. "You and the others have to come to the Dive tonight. It'll be fun."
Amanda glanced to Ichi and Rye before shrugging. "We'll see. We did sleep on the shuttle."
"There you go, just for a little bit. I know everyone is dieing to get a look at you. We don't get a lot of visitors here normally."
Will stopped at a slight touch to his elbow, the only other person not already on the walkway back was Jake. He glanced to the group but the only one who noticed that they'd paused and stayed
behind was Narin. The tall, pale man glanced across the pair of humans for a moment before
turning and following the rest of the group.
"Will?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Stop that." Jake sighed. "You're mad at me."
Will lifted one shoulder but dug the toes of one shoe into the grass, feeling suddenly seventeen
again. "Maybe a little."
"Is there going to be a problem between you and Narin?"
"No, sir."
Jake sighed.
"It's just, do you have any idea what kind of risk you took? I could be spoon feeding you right now!"
"Of course I know but it was a modest risk at best. Wouldn't you take a small risk to save a
friend's life?"
Will scrubbed a hand over his eyes. "Of course I would."
"Then don't blame Narin, he carries enough guilt. This isn't really about Narin though is it, it's about me."
Will opened his mouth but the words dried up. He shook his head and tried the truth. "I feel like a stupid child jealous cause daddy has a new wife. Isn't that absurd!"
That made Jake smile, the small, cynical smile Will remembered so well from this man. "Not at
all, there's only three of us left and Benton won't talk to either of us, not that I blame her. Will, Narin can't replace what we've been through together, nothing can. You just...." Jake shook his head and glanced up to the fading light of the dome where the stars were slowly peeking
through. "You've just done better with this whole, life going on thing. Remember what you told me, the morning of your hand fasting when I asked you if you were sure?"
Will nodded.
"Well, Narin's like that for me. He makes me feel worthy of a family again. I'm trying here Will."
He laughed a little. "I'm sorry I wasn't u
p to being a better friend to you but you're right, we've seen too much together not to try to fix things. I was wrong to push you away for so long. I'm
sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry for." Will quirked a half smile at the only man he'd ever obeyed. "We all had shit to deal with, I'm a selfish jerk to assume you'd always play the big brother role. I was just a kid, you know?"
"I know." The truth was, Jake was only a few years older than Will but while the stress of war and plague had made Will violent and wild, it had matured Jake too early. "I still can't get my mind around you being a doctor."
"Says the super computer fellow, anyone can learn medicine, coding is half art."
"Maybe, but a doctor?" He shook his head. "I'm proud of you, Will. I know that sounds condescending but I am."
That made Will's face up like a child with new candy. "Thanks." The smile dropped. "Jake, about Rye, you won't reconsider? That poor kids been through so much already."
"It really is too dangerous to try right now."
"Bullshit, you've never blinked at the risk if it was the right thing to do, ever."
"It's also that he's not ready and frankly, he's a threat. It'd be better if he never remembers who he was before."
Will stepped back. "I've never known you to be cruel before, Jake."
"I'm not being cruel. Lerman did this to him, he killed those attackers on your station as easy as you and I would have sneezed, he wasn't an innocent victim in this. If he can re-build a life with
your family, best to let him try. I've done him a favor, giving him an out from his own past."
"Jake..."
"When he's ready, really ready, we'll know and I'll do everything I can to get those files."
He crossed his arms over his chest. "And if those files get purged in the meanwhile?"
"Nothing is ever lost on a computer system, we'll find it."
"I don't like it."
"I know, but is that because you want to know or because he wants to know?"
"Smarmy bastard."
Jake laughed. "Yeah, that's me." He tossed an arm around Will's shoulders. "Let's catch up, see if Jess has twisted your wife's arm enough for one night."
Jess had done her job well and Amanda had smiled and asked nicely and convinced Ichi and
Rye to tag along to the Dive as well. That didn't take much, given Rye's love of music. Ichi found
himself being dragged along, reluctantly, to the gathering.
"You're an evil woman." Ichi muttered to her and earned himself a smile.
"Be good to get you out more. You're too much the hermit Ich, it's not healthy. Besides, Rye will love it. Half the folks here play or sing, they'll be switching off all night."
"And you knew he wouldn't go without me and I couldn't say no to him, evil, evil woman." He tugged his shirt in place, feeling oddly self conscious even though no one else had changed.
"Hush, you'll have a good time. I promise!"
The dive had started out as a large, open area set to be made into a lab but while the station was
still new, someone had put in the first still. It had quickly become a meeting place, a pub of sorts and a small kitchen was quickly installed. Not the formal kitchen that served the meals but the
place where most people gathered. Over the years tables, chairs, lounges were added as well as
a small stage but the walls were kept rough rock and it gave the space an intimate feel.
The doors opened to let warm light and driving music spill out. Mingled with it was a tumble of
voices and laughter, the heavy smell of beer and food and the comforting sense of people,
happy people, that sucked others in to join. Ichi stopped protesting when all three of his
companions grinned, stood a little straighter and happily disappeared inside.
Hours later, Ichi was drunk enough not to feel the headache he should have had. The music was
louder, the people were everywhere and he hadn't really understood how used to the smaller
station he had grown. He'd fended off a half dozen women all trying to get him to dance, or
more, and he was tired of blushing and refusing.
Rye didn't seem to have any difficulties, he'd accepted the offers and had spent as much time
dancing as anyone else. He was drinking too, Ichi had never seen Rye drink before. It made Rye
look like he belonged with the wild, vibrant, alive people around him. He was beautiful and Ichi
found himself content to sit off to in one of the darker corners, sipping his beer and watching the red head.
Just before the beer was gone and Ichi was thinking about finding another, a man with hair as
red orange as Amanda's sat down next to him and slid a new mug toward him.
"You looked thirsty, mate." He grinned.
"Thank you."
"Bents." The man offered his name and his hand.
Ichi accepted it, a custom he'd adapted to but still was unnerved by. People touching so casually,
just to introduce themselves, would always feel odd to him. "Ichi."
"I know, everyone does." He drew a sip from his beer and nodded to where Rye was standing to the side talking to a man with black hair and bright blue eyes. "That's Arnie, he's sort of my off and on boyfriend. He's got a thing for red heads."
"And you don't mind?"
"What? That he's talking to your partner?" He grinned. "Naw, there's only seven of us on the station, we tend to be pretty loose with pairing up. So, is the cutie there just your assistant or...?"
Ichi nearly choked on his swallow of beer. Under the small table Bents' hand slid up his thigh,
fingers tickling dangerously close to his groin. "Stop that!"
Bents laughed warmly, the hand left Ichi's leg to raise up and brush a stray lock of black hair
back, cool fingers gliding over the hot blush on Ichi's face. "Shy, huh? I heard you might be. That blushing thing is killer hot. Don't pine over the pretty fellow there, Arnie will have him tonight, have some fun with me instead."
Ichi pulled back from the touch and he glanced to Rye. "He's not... he wouldn't..." But the handsome dark haired man was leaning over now, to whisper something close to Rye's ear and
the look on the man's face was decidedly predatory.
"Trust me, Arnie always gets what he wants. Damn sexy fool that he is, which is why I can never
say no to him. What do you say we go someplace quieter?"
Quieter did sound nice but Ichi knew enough to know what the man was implying. He glanced to
Rye again and found the dark haired Arnie was now lightly touching his lover and Rye didn't
seem to be protesting the hand on the side of his arm.
"Excuse me." Ichi forced out and stood up so quickly he nearly tipped the table over. Part of him wanted to run over and push the hand off of his Rye, yell at the both of them and be hurt but that
would make a horrible display. It would cause a scene, most likely over nothing. Avalon folk were
touchy people, they all seemed to need physical contact, the hand on Rye's shoulder could be
nothing.
Ichi hurried away to find the men's room and ignored the concerned questions Bents tossed after
him. He slipped around the crowd, unnoticed and found the bathroom built onto the back of the
room. It was smaller than most public toilets, four stalled in toilets, four urinals, a pair of sinks under a mirror. Not the most modern of set ups but Ichi was grateful for the escape.
The music was quiet in here and the lighting better. He hurried, nearly blinded by emotion and
too much beer, into the first stall and shut the door. It sealed behind him and he stood there,
calmed by the cool plastic walls and the privacy. He wasn't what upset him more, having Bents
so openly hit on him which no one ever did or seeing Arnie so openly hitting on Rye. His Rye, his
mind added and
twisted his stomach up in unexpressed jealousy. He didn't have a right to be
jealous, Rye needed to make choices for himself and if Ichi was any kind of man he'd stand up
and let him. Logic didn't stop him for nearly hyperventilating in an effort to get his control back.
Time slipped away and people came and went around him and slowly, Ichi felt more in control.
He drew a breath and moved to leave the small, private space, certain now that he could make
his way back to their rooms without throwing a fit. It would still be a good idea to avoid people, so he peered out of the small crack in the door to make sure the coast was clear and his breath
stopped.
Rye was at the sinks. Running water over his hands and splashing it up over his face. As Ichi
watched, unnoticed, he saw Rye stare himself in the eye in the mirror, looking for something as
he always did and not finding it. Ichi had his hand on the lock and nearly threw the door open,
nearly tumbled out and to ask Rye to go home with him.
Before he could, Arnie followed Rye into the men's room. "I turned around for a second and you were gone. Are you running from me or did you want to be found?" His voice was smooth,
controlled, confident and sexy.
Rye glanced sideways at the other man and splashed one more handful of water across his face.
"I've had too much to drink. I should go."
"Perhaps I've been too subtle, let me be blunt. Come home with me."
"I can't." Rye stuck his hands in the dryer but his eyes never left the dark haired man.
"Of course you can, that boss of yours won't even notice. Bents is hunting him, he likes the shy ones but me, I like red heads, and men stronger then me and you, baby, are both. Been a long
time since I found both in one person, I can find ways to convince you." Arnie moved to stand
almost pressed against Rye, one hand trailed down the side of Rye's ribs and made him shiver.
"Don't touch me."
Arnie chuckled, low and sexy like dark blue velvet. "Just because your boss has a stick up his ass doesn't mean you need to as well. Unless you'd enjoy that, I can oblige that too."
"Don't speak like that about him." Rye stepped back a little, putting a bit of space between their bodies.
"Who? That ice princess? I can understand if he's the only outlet but here you've got options.
