by Leslie Chase
Amanda didn't like that cynical thought, but the cold dead eyes of the man she was talking to didn't make it easy to dismiss. Especially when he was doing his best to stop her from going out to see what had happened herself.
"Listen, this is my sister we're talking about," Amanda said, letting her anger overwhelm her fear. "I'm not just going to sit around and wait when I could be helping. Who the hell are you to tell me not to get involved?"
The man's mouth twitched at that, and his eyes narrowed just the slightest touch. It was the smallest of changes to his expression, but the effect was surprisingly intimidating.
"Dr. Cain, my name is Captain Karl Rivers, and I am sorry for your distress," he said. "However, corporate policy forbids your involvement in our crisis response. We will keep you fully updated, and that is all I can offer you."
"You can't—"
"I can and I am," he said implacably. "I will not allow civilians to endanger themselves walking into this situation, and so you will have to stay away. If you do not, there may be consequences."
With that, he cut the connection, leaving Amanda staring at a blank screen. She fumed silently for a moment. It wasn't as though Rivers didn't have a point — the first rule of any accident was to limit the number of casualties, and that meant not sending ill-equipped people into the danger zone. Maybe, if he'd explained it like that, she'd have listened.
Probably not, though. Not when her sister's life was in danger, not when she had more medical experience of Mars than almost anyone else. She might not be the best doctor on the planet, in fact she knew she wasn't, but she did have expertise few others did.
And Amanda couldn't shake the feeling that Rivers and his employers weren't going to deal with this in a way she'd like. The man didn't seem as bothered by the accident, whatever it was, as he was interested in keeping her away. What if RyaTech really was after whatever the crew of the Outrider had found out there in Hellas Planitia? Would they wait too long to save Hannah? Rivers hadn't inspired any confidence in Amanda.
If they aren't going to take me out there, then I'll just have to go myself, she thought, picking herself up. Her hands trembled as she switched off the screen and started to pack a bag full of medical supplies. She didn't let that stop her. Mars was not going to claim the life of her sister, not if she had anything to say about it.
"Hellas Planitia? No, no way." The skyship captain looked at Amanda as though she'd sprouted a second head. "There's nothing out there but sand, and it's completely out of my way. You'd have to pay me more than a full cargo hold's worth and that ain't happening, lady."
That was the politest response Amanda had heard at the docks, and she gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. It wasn't unreasonable, of course. The captain had to make money, and running out to look for a scavenger crew 'somewhere in Hellas' wasn't a profitable course. But that wasn't good enough, not when it left Hannah stranded in the desert.
She looked up at the Golden Kite, the ship that she was trying to hire. It was small by skyship standards, and it was her last hope. Every other captain had already said no, most less politely than this one.
"Captain Harshaw, my sister's out there and she's in trouble," she tried again. "I don't care what it costs, I have to get out there and help her. I've got savings, and I'm a doctor. Help me and you won't have to pay for medical care in Marsport."
Until I leave, anyway, she added silently. That wouldn't be anytime soon, though, not if she spent all her savings on hiring a ship. A flight to Earth wasn't cheap, and god knew when she'd be able to put the money together again.
The big man looked at her, jaw working as he considered her offer. That was more than any of the other captains had done, and Amanda watched him hopefully.
"Can't be done," he said eventually, with a shake of his head. "We probably wouldn't even find her out there, you know? And I've got a schedule to keep, with penalties to pay if I don't make it on time. Doubt you'll find anyone here who can spare the time to do this. If you do, whoever you hire is either an idiot or taking advantage of you."
He held up a hand before she could start shouting. "Look, Doc, you don't know where you're going. You don't know for sure that there is a problem out there — could just be their communications that have gone down. And if something has gone wrong, what are the odds that we get there in time to do any good? It'll take days to get out there, and then it could take weeks to find their camp. If there's a dust storm, we might never find it. You're better off waiting for the crew's sponsors to send out a rescue party."
Which they might never do, Amanda knew. The corporations behind these ventures had plenty of money to spend on success, but wouldn't pay a dime for failure. Captain Harshaw was telling her to accept that her sister was dead, along with the rest of the scavenger team.
"There are twenty people out there," she said, trying again. "And I know they're in trouble. You didn't hear that call. If you were stranded out there, you'd want someone to help."
Harshaw stroked his bushy beard and shook his head. "I wouldn't expect someone to bankrupt himself looking for me, though. It's a dangerous business, scavenging on Mars. They knew the risks. Sorry if your sister got herself killed, Doc, but it's not my business. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got business to attend to."
That was enough to push Amanda's temper to breaking point, and she jabbed a finger into his chest. "Now you listen here, Captain—"
"No." His hand snaked out faster than she'd expected, grabbing her wrist, and the Captain bared his teeth as he leaned over her. "I don't have to do anything, lady. You get out of my face before I lose my temper, yeah?"
Amanda froze in his grip, caught between fear and rage as he shook her. Before she could regain control of herself, another voice broke in.
"Let her go." The words were roared rather than spoken, and the sheer force of them drove Harshaw back. Amanda spun around to see Markath marching towards the captain like an avatar of death. Harshaw scrambled backward, hand going to the pistol holstered at his belt.
Before he could draw it, Markath was on him, grabbing his wrist and throat and slamming him against the hull of his ship. Harshaw was a big man, but compared to Markath he was nothing, and the alien lifted him effortlessly. The human's face darkened as Markath squeezed, and with his free hand, Harshaw tried to push him off. It was futile.
Markath's face was closed, cold, calm, and he paid no heed to the captain's struggles. Amanda could feel the rage radiating from the alien warrior and knew that he had no intention of stopping.
Amanda grabbed hold of Markath's arm and tugged. It felt like coiled steel cables and even now the feel of his skin on hers sent a pulse of need through her. Not now, she snarled at herself, focusing on the life or death confrontation.
"Let him go," she said. Markath looked down at her, the icy anger on his face softening.
"He laid hands on you," he said, as though that was all the explanation needed. The captain's eyes bulged as he hung in Markath's grip, trying to say something but unable to form words. Around them, others watched the confrontation, though no one seemed willing to get involved.
"He didn't hurt me," Amanda said quickly, though she could feel bruises forming where the captain had squeezed her wrist. Markath didn't need to know about that. "And I need him. Please let him go."
For a moment, she thought the alien warrior wouldn't listen, but then he shook his head and dropped Harshaw. The captain hit the deck with a thud, gasping for air and very carefully holding his hand away from his pistol. Smart man, Amanda thought.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked Markath, looking up at him.
"Helping you," he answered, as though it was obvious.
"I don't need your help," she shot back, putting her hands on her hips. Markath shook his head again, glancing down at the captain, and she felt herself flush. "I don't, I would have been fine."
For a moment he didn't say anything, then he held up his hands. "Maybe you would. You are formidable, and
perhaps you would have won out in the end. But I can speed things up, and there is no time to waste."
That she couldn't argue with. Hannah's safety was more important than her pride, and if he could get her out there to help then she couldn't refuse his help. "How did you even know to come here?"
"RyaTech reported the loss of a salvage team, and I knew who was aboard the Outrider," Markath said. "I came to find you as soon as I heard about it, and Kevin told me where you'd gone when I checked at the clinic. A good thing that he did."
Amanda couldn't keep the pain from showing on her face as he spoke. If RyaTech were reporting the Outrider and her crew as lost, they weren't sending a rescue team no matter what Rivers had said. They'd given up on Hannah.
"So what now?" Amanda asked, refusing to let herself despair. It would be too easy to let herself give up, but she wouldn't. Not while there was any chance that Hannah might need her.
"Now, this ship is going to take us out to the dig site and we'll find your sister," Markath said, and there wasn't a hint of doubt in his voice. Amanda felt a faint glimmer of hope and tried to control it. "We will help whoever may need it."
"What do you mean, 'we'? You're coming too?" Amanda didn't know how to feel about that, it was too confusing. Being around Markath was an invitation to disaster, but if he could help her find Hannah... I'll just have to keep my feelings under control, she thought. And my body. I can do this.
Markath nodded down at the fallen captain who had paled at his words.
"Wait a minute," he said, slowly pulling himself to his feet. Markath narrowed his eyes, and the captain flinched back. "I can't, it's just not possible. You're talking about searching a huge area, even if I wanted to help—"
"You will help Dr. Cain," Markath said. "Your excuses don't interest me. And I will be there to assist. In my warform I can scout around the ship, and we'll find the site quickly."
Captain Harshaw looked dubious, but it didn't look like he wanted to argue. Markath's anger was still visible, and Amanda thought it would have taken a man both brave and stupid to risk his wrath. She doubted Harshaw was either.
"My contracts," he said weakly. Markath laughed, startling both Harshaw and Amanda.
"If it's money that concerns you, I can answer that." Reaching into a pouch at his belt, Markath drew out a handful of large red gems. Amanda gasped at the sight of the Martian rubies, her eyes going wide. Those gems would be valuable anyway, but the fact that they came from the aliens made them sought after by rich collectors on Earth. The small handful Markath tossed at Harshaw's feet were worth more money that Amanda had ever seen.
Whatever contracts the Golden Kite was tied to, those would pay the penalty and more.
Harshaw grabbed them up as quickly as he could and ventured a smile. "Well. That all seems in order then. We'll be ready to cast off in half an hour."
With that, he hurried onto his skyship, leaving Markath and Amanda facing each other on the dock. Amanda blinked back tears.
"Why?" she asked, trying to put her complicated feelings into words. Markath looked at her as though she was mad.
"Because you are my mate," he said. "What more reason could I need? Your kin needs help, and I can assist. So I will."
"What about your work here?"
"The Emperor will understand. He has a mate of his own, after all. And if he doesn't, well," Markath shrugged. "That is his problem. I will aid you, Amanda Cain, whatever it takes."
Amanda turned away. "I can't repay you," she said. "You know that, right? I'll never save up as much as you threw at the captain. But here, this is what I have."
Digging out her savings, the money that Harshaw had laughed at when she'd tried to hire him with it, she held it out without looking at Markath. It wasn't enough, but it was all she had and it had taken her a year to put it together.
Without it, she'd be stuck on Mars for another year at least. Stuck with the aliens. She wondered if that was his plan, but that seemed too sneaky a trick for Markath to play. In any case, she had to pay him back. Amanda couldn't bear the thought of being obligated to him, especially if they were going to travel together. But she wasn't in a position to turn his help away, not without stranding Hannah in the middle of the desert to die.
Amanda could feel the tension in him, the tightening of his muscles. "You owe me nothing, Amanda," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder and pulling her back around to face him. "My treasure is my own to spend, and I choose to spend it on helping you. Never fear that I will hold it over you — and if anyone but you implied that I might, it would be an insult I'd kill over."
His strange alien eyes, so intense and powerful, gazed into Amanda's and she felt herself falling into them. Her breath caught, and she reached out to put a hand on his chest. Even she wasn't sure whether she was trying to push him away or draw him closer. The feel of his skin under her fingers brought back the dreams she'd been having every night, and she felt her cheeks heat.
No. Nothing's changed. It was so tempting to hold him, but she couldn't bring herself to. Pulling back took an effort, and Amanda knew as she did it that if she'd left it any later she wouldn't have been able to. Stuffing her money back into her pocket, she put some distance between them, drawing a deep breath and forcing herself to think of the future.
"We should get aboard," she said, swallowing and hoping that the small ship had separate cabins for the two of them. If not, I guess I'm sleeping on the deck.
Markath nodded, and she could see the frustration on his face as he forced himself not to follow her, not to hold her to him.
"Now that this is arranged, there is equipment I should bring along," he said. "I was in too much of a hurry to catch up with you before you left, but now I have the time to fetch it. You go ahead, I'll be back before the ship leaves."
With that he turned away and left, leaving Amanda to wonder if he was just trying to give her space or whether he actually had something he needed to fetch. Either way, she appreciated the breathing room. The Golden Kite was going to be too small to give her much space while they were on the hunt.
7
Markath
The evening sun cast Markath's shadow over the red sands of Mars as he raced above them, flying a wide circle around the Golden Kite. His keen eyes searched the ground below for any sign of the human scavengers and whatever accident might have befallen them, but there was nothing to see.
His lungs burned with effort after hours away from the skyship. A dragon warrior, shifted into warform, could hold his breath for a long time but not forever. The thought of returning brought him both joy and dread — returning to the ship would let him see Amanda, but he'd be returning without any news for her. Again. He was beginning to think that Captain Harshaw had been right, the Hellas Planitia was too big to search even with a dragon to scout.
No. I will not fail my mate. That's not going to happen. He knew how much Amanda was relying on him, and he wasn't about to let her down. No amount of determination was going to allow him to hold his breath longer, though. Angling his flight back towards the Golden Kite he swooped down toward it, pulling up at the last moment to shift as he landed on the deck. The first time he'd done that it had been a tricky maneuver to get right, but after a full day of searching he'd gotten the hang of it.
It helped that Harshaw, standing at the helm, no longer flinched away as he approached. It was becoming second nature to them both.
"Anything?" Amanda asked, her eyes bright with hope as she looked up at him. His heart ached as he shook his head, gasping down gulps of air. At least he didn't have to go below deck to breathe: the portable airmaker he’d brought along was powerful enough to keep a bubble of air around the whole of the skyship. It cost a lot of power to keep it running constantly like that, but the crystal battery could run it for weeks if needed. That would be more than long enough, whether they found the scavenger crew or not.
We will find them, he told himself again. Failure is not an option.
Amanda seem
ed less convinced, turning to look out over the sands through the binoculars she'd borrowed from Harshaw. He knew that she didn’t expect to see anything, that she was trying to hide her worries. But he could feel her distress as though it was his own, and see it in the tension in her shoulders.
"I'm not giving up," he said. "We'll find them. We know they must be roughly in this area, Amanda."
Harshaw spoke up unexpectedly. "He's right, they can't be far. We're covering ground faster than I thought. We'll find your sister, don't you worry."
Markath looked to him and nodded his thanks. While the captain still resented being forced into this job, Markath had to admit he'd thrown himself into it once they were under way. Once he knew when the crew of the Outrider had arrived, he'd charted the ship's maximum speed and worked out how far they could possibly have gotten.
That still left nearly half the Planitia to search, but it was a lot better than trying the whole thing.
Amanda kept scanning the horizon, looking away from the two of them, and when she spoke her voice was tight and controlled. "It'll be night soon. We can't find them at night, and that's another ten hours lost."
Markath stepped up behind her, wanting more than anything to take that note of pain out of her voice. Every instinct in his body told him that there was nothing that they couldn't overcome together, but Amanda didn't want to hear that. If only she'd accept me as her mate, he thought, resisting the urge to take her by the shoulder.
She wouldn't like that. Or perhaps the problem was that she would, and that was painful for her. Markath didn't understand her reluctance to let him comfort her, but he knew it was there and respected her choice.
It had made the journey out to Hellas Planitia painful for both of them. The Golden Kite wasn't a big ship, and they were constantly thrown together. As bad as he'd felt when she'd been avoiding him in Marsport, this was worse, much worse.
