by R S Penney
She reversed her engines and hit the hat switch.A small fighter passed by underneath her, settling into a spot just a little ways off. It was shaped like a crescent with a cockpit that protruded from the top. Anna reoriented herself.
She fired.
A pair of orange plasma bolts struck the fighter and ripped one of its wings clean off, sending the pilot into an out-of-control spin. That one was down. He wouldn't be able to do any more damage.
Something hit her shuttle from behind, and the lights in the cockpit flickered. “We took another hit on our aft section,” Jack bellowed. “Shield generators overloaded. We're vulnerable now!”
Anna looked down into her lap. “Not yet,” she said, shaking her head. “We're not out of the game yet. Jack, divert all available power to our forward shield generators.”
She pulled up and flipped the shuttle upside down, flying backwards through the emptiness of space. The pair of enemy fighters were there in her window, both lining up a shot. Blue plasma bolts converged on her.
They splashed against a screen of flickering static that flared up to protect her. She had to struggle to keep her breathing steady. Her poor little ship couldn't take much more. “Give me flash missiles.”
“What? Anna, that won't-”
“Do it!”
When her console beeped with confirmation that Jack had armed the missiles, she disabled all targeting sensors, ensuring that they would fly in a straight line. She aimed for a spot between the two fighters.
And she fired.
Two missiles sped from the underbelly of her shuttle, following a path that would take them right between her enemies. It was difficult to judge with the naked eye, but a few years of enhanced spatial awareness gave something of an intuitive ability to do the math. She triggered the remote detonator.
Both missiles exploded near their targets, sending out a wave of electromagnetic energy that would overload sensors. The enemy fighters were flying blind; they would be unable to track her with their instruments.
Anna gunned her engines.
Her shuttle flew through the space between the two fighters, allowing them to speed off into the distance behind her. When it became clear that she was no longer in immediate danger, she felt her heart rate begin to slow.
Anna winced, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. “Status report,” she said, swiveling around to face Jack. “Do we have anything else coming our way? What about our heavy cruisers?”
He was bent over the console, sweat-slick hair plastered to his forehead. “No other fighters in the area,” he panted. “Two of the phoenix-class ships are damaged, and the Antaurans are regrouping.”
Anna doubled over, burying her face in her hands. “Damn it.” The words came out in a low croak. “All right…Do what you can with the shuttle's auto-repair systems, and try to get those shield generators back online.”
“Where are we heading?”
“Earth.”
She turned back to the window and spread her hands across the console, opening the navigational software. A large window popped up before her, and she programmed a course that would take her past the range of the Slip-Shield. A few dozen shuttles had stayed back to keep the jamming field active, preventing their enemies from going to warp. “We're going to have to move quickly if-”
“This is Captain Ayton Novado,” a stern voice said through the speaker. “All ships cease fire. The Leyrians have capitulated.”
What?
She checked her console and was surprised to realize that her scanners confirmed what her ears didn't want to believe. The Antauran ships were all powering down their weapons, breaking formation and regrouping.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Anna banged the back of her head against her chair. “We gave them Keli,” she mumbled. “After all that effort, putting our lives in danger to save her, we just handed her right back to them.”
She turned.
Jack was standing behind his console with hand pressed to the top of his head. “It might be for the best,” he replied breathlessly. “Keli is a danger; sooner or later, she'll try to escape and hurt someone in the process.”
“And Raynar?”
Her best friend had no answer for that.
Keli stood before the SlipGate in the shuttle's tiny cabin, watching as Jena Morane faced her with hatred in those dark eyes. The woman wore a fierce scowl and shook her head again and again.
Lifting her chin, Keli felt her lips curl into a cruel smile. “Don't be too angry with me,” she said. “We both know you'd have done the same thing in similar circumstances.”
“What I would have done is debatable,” Morane snapped. “But the fact remains that you are the most dangerous thing I've ever encountered.”
“And what's that?”
Morane turned away and leaned over the small rectangular table, bracing her hands on its surface. “A mindreader with nothing approximating a conscience,” she said with a visible shiver.
Keli shut her eyes, heaving out a deep breath. “I am at that,” she said with a nod. “But the question remains the same, doesn't it? Was I born this way, or am I the product of a lifetime of cruelty?”
The woman had no answer.
Before Keli could press the point, the SlipGate began to hum, and she saw a bubble form around herself, distorting the light so that everything seemed to ripple. Morane was still there, bent over with her back turned. “Good-bye,” Keli whispered.
The bubble jerked forward, and she was racing through a dark tunnel that stretched on to infinity, sliding to a stop inside what appeared to be a huge cargo bay with crates on metal shelves. Keli let out a sigh.
Through the shimmering curtain, she saw five men in blue uniforms standing side by side, each one distorted to her eyes. She readied herself; in all likelihood, they would try to subdue her.
The bubble popped.
Keli stood before them with her arms spread wide. “Hello, gentlemen,” she said, looking up to fix a steely gaze on the leader. “It seems you've gone to great lengths to recover me.”
The lead officer was a pale man with a gaunt-cheeked face and eyes that could peel the skin off your back. “You,” he said, “have caused enough trouble for one lifetime.”
“Perhaps,” she said.
The two men on the periphery approached her with hands resting on their holstered pistols. Now was the time. If she was planning to defend herself, she would have to do it before they incapacitated her.
Keli narrowed her eyes.
The lead officer pressed hands to his ears and screamed as he sank to his knees. She filled his mind with nightmares of the hell he had been warned about as a boy, the painful wailing of the damned.
The others were moving.
One man pointed a gun at her.
She barely felt it when a tiny slug bounced off her chest, but the electric current it discharged raced through her body with wild abandon. Every muscle seemed to spasm at the same time, and her knees gave way. The last thing she remembered before everything went black was her relief in knowing that the Leyrians who had tried to protect her would not suffer needless deaths. And Raynar…he had escaped. In a way, it was almost comical.
Keli Armana had a conscience after all.
“So we're just going to let them take her?”
Anna stood before her boss with arms crossed, frowning down at the glassy surface of the desk. “No rescue attempt?” she asked, raising one eyebrow. “We're just going to leave her to suffer?”
Jena sat with her elbows on the desk, fingers laced over the top of her head. “We don't have a lot of choice here,” she moaned. “We go looking to pick a fight, and people will die. Good people.”
Anna squeezed her eyes shut, ignoring the pounding of her heart. “I don't accept that,” she said. “No matter what she's done, we cannot just leave her in the hands of those monsters.”
The other woman looked up at her with bloodshot eyes, blinking slowly. “I would point out to you that Keli chose thi
s,” she said. “Whatever her reasons, she chose to go back of her own free will.”
Behind Jena, a slanted window looked out upon a field of twinkling stars, and she caught sight of a tiny streak that might have been a passing shuttle. Keli was out there somewhere, being tortured. Used in cruel experiments.
Turning her back on the desk, Anna strode across the room. “You keep telling me I have to make the difficult choices,” she murmured. “But I'm beginning to wonder if you do so a little too easily.”
The silhouette of Jena sat there with hands on the armrests of her chair, watching Anna with cautious curiosity. “Maybe that's true…but there are several thousand people on this station who remain grateful for it.
Anna strode out of the room.
In the hallway, she found Jack standing with his hand braced against one wall. Had he overheard any of that conversation? She had the distinct impression that Jack did not like it when the people in his life fought.
Chapter 30
Darrel stood outside the door to his apartment, fiddling with the key. “Lousy piece of crap,” he muttered, jiggling the knob. “Doesn't seems to want to open no matter how hard you twist.”
Ben closed his eyes, calming himself with an effort of will. “I think you might be overreacting a little, honey. Pretty sure you could just ask the super for a new doorknob.”
The door swung open.
Slipping hands into his pockets, Ben followed his boyfriend into the apartment. “Is there any chance you're gonna tell me what's on your mind?” he asked with a shrug of his shoulders. “You've been testy all-”
He froze when he noticed a third man standing in the living room, facing a window that looked out on the city. This guy was tall and slim, dressed in blue jeans and a leather jacket. The gray hair on his head marked him as middle-aged.
“House guests…”
The man turned so that Ben saw him in profile, sunlight framing his body. He had tan skin, a thick mustache and hair that he wore combed. “You'd be the freak that my son chooses over his family.”
Darrel shivered, a soft groan escaping him. “I didn't choose anyone over you, Dad,” he said. “Maybe you haven't realized, but there are other reasons we're not close.”
“You don't even come to Christmas dinner.”
A storm of emotions went off inside Ben: anger mixed with frustration and even a little anxiety. But the one that dominated everything else was a sense of awkwardness. He wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else.
It occurred to him that he might just want to trust that instinct. This was the sort of thing a man had to work out with his own father. Then he took one look at Darrel's face and changed his mind.
His boyfriend was flushed, tears glistening on his cheek. “Why would I come, Father?” Darrel asked. “So you can tell me how much of a disappointment I am to you? So you can make Ben feel unwelcome?”
“Is that his name?”
A frown tightened Ben's mouth, and he looked down at the floor. “All right, listen to me,” he said, moving forward. “I get the distinct impression that you're one of these people who think love only exists between men and women.”
The other man thrust out his chin, his nostrils flaring as he formulated a response. “My son lives in sin because of you,” he intoned. “You tempt him into wickedness, lead him down the path that leads to Hell.”
“Right…so…Rational conversation, not an option.”
“You make jokes.”
Ben looked up at the other man, squinting as though the sun were in his eyes. “I've got nothing to say to you,” he said, shaking his head. “There's no point in trying to have a meaningful discourse with a bigot.”
“Excuse me?”
Squeezing his eyes shut, Ben jerked his head toward his boyfriend. “Apologize to your son,” he said in the coldest voice imaginable. “Then get out. We were going to have a nice quiet, vitriol-free evening.”
Darrel's father shoved hands into his jacket and stalked across the room. He paused at the door, spared a glance for his son and grumbled, “The Lord will turn his face from any who sin. I just pray I can save you in time.”
When he was gone, Darrel leaned against the wall with hands pressed to his chest, refusing to look up. “I'm sorry,” he mumbled. “I didn't want you to see that.”
Ben threw his arms around his boyfriend and nuzzled Darrel's chest. “It's gonna be okay,” he whispered. “I'm right here…And you've got to be one of the bravest people I've ever met.”
Bradley picked up the wooden chess piece and moved it several squares diagonally, placing it in line with the king. That was check. Of course, he was playing both sides of the board – something he did when boredom struck him – but he was quite sure that he had boxed himself in quite soundly. There was no getting out of this one.
The little coffee shop where he sometimes liked to play was nearly empty, but the young man behind the counter was more than willing to refill his cup every half hour. A typical Tuesday night for him.
Something caught his attention.
A young woman sat down across from him: a young woman with cherry-red hair that she wore tied back in a ponytail. It took a moment for him to recognize her. This was the Leyrian who had beaten him at chess.
She plunked her elbows down on the table and rested her chin atop laced fingers. “Well, now…” she said. “I believe we had a date. You haven't called me in over a week. I'm quite upset with you.”
He smiled, a sudden flame burning in his cheeks. “My apologies,” he said, bowing his head to her. “I wasn't really expecting you to want to go through with it. Your name is Anna, isn't it?”
“Correct.”
“And you wanted to go out so badly you came back here just to scold me?”
Anna leaned her cheek against the palm of her hand, a warm smile blossoming on her beautiful face. “I think you'll find that I'm the kind of woman who goes for what she wants without hesitation.”
The first thing she heard as consciousness seeped into her brain was the sound of waves crashing against a sandy shore. Warm air caressed her skin, the mugginess fierce and unrelenting. She smelled salt water.
Keli stirred.
She was curled up on her side in the sand, using her own forearm as a pillow. How did I…Her thoughts were muddled. The last thing of any coherence that she remembered was passing through the SlipGate.
Her feet were pointed toward the shoreline where waves splashed against the rocks in great white crests. The stars were twinkling in the night sky, but she couldn't recognize any of the constellations. What world was this?
She sat up and looked around.
Behind her, a forest of palm trees rose up like shadowy sentinels, softly sighing in the night wind. There were no signs of civilization, no buildings or city lights. No ships in the air. “Where am I?” she wondered aloud.
“Alios.”
The sound of a woman's voice made her jump, the shock doubly strong because she hadn't detected the stranger's telepathic impression. Usually, she could sense the presence of other human being without even having to try. Of course, her mind was addled by the shock of whatever she had endured.
A glance to the left revealed a large boulder where a woman in a slim black dress sat with her hands folded in her lap. The stranger wore a cloak despite the heat, her face hidden in the depths of a hood.
Keli narrowed her eyes. “And who might you be?” She pressed a palm to her aching head. “More to the point, why am I not rotting in some detention cell?”
The woman stood.
She clasped hands together behind her back and walked to the edge of the water, remaining there for a long moment. “Freeing you took more than a little effort,” she said at last. “But I consider it time well spent.”
Keli rubbed her eyelids with the tips of her fingers. The headache she still felt was brutal. “You didn't answer my first question,” she insisted. “Who are you? Why go to all the trouble of rescuing me?”
“
You're of more use to us free.”
“Who's us?”
The woman stood with fists on her hips, tossing her head back as she roared with laughter. “You need not worry about that, child,” she said. “Go on. Follow the shoreline westward for one kilometer. You will find a SlipGate terminal.”
“You're just letting me go?”
“Indeed.”
Keli got to her feet with some difficulty, doubling over and resting her hands on her knees. “I'm not one to trust mysterious benefactors,” she said, looking up at the woman. “I want to know your angle.”
With a little effort, she focused on the other woman and…recoiled as soon as her thoughts brushed up against a bottomless well of malice and contempt for all human life. This woman was a two-soul, but her symbiont was like nothing Keli had ever seen. This was no Justice Keeper.
The woman turned, glancing over her shoulder. Hatred seemed to radiate from inside that hood. “You would use your talent on me?” she snapped. “Go, before I start to think you've outlived your usefulness.”
Keli went.
She hobbled through the sand, clutching her skirt and shivering at the thought of what she had felt. What was that? she wondered. A two-soul but not a Justice Keeper? How is such a thing possible?
The moments passed slowly as she forced her aching body step by step toward the SlipGate. Someone had handed her everything she'd ever wanted – freedom, anonymity and the chance to slip away. She wasn't going to question it now.
Only…
Keli turned and trudged up the hillside to the line of palm trees. She doubled over, clutching one trunk with both hands, gasping for breath.
Don't be a fool.
With her mouth open, Keli exhaled and tried to ignore the sweat rolling over her forehead. If you go back there, you will only risk your own life, she thought. This woman's plans are not your concern.
But…
Almost against her will, she began following a dirt path near the treeline, making her way back to the spot where she had regained consciousness. On her right, the waves crested and washed over the beach.
