Partners - Book 1

by Melissa Good

  Jess smiled at her. “You sweet talker, you.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Thank you for the compliment,” Jess said. “Especially since I’ve been known to drive a carrier right into an iceberg.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  Dev picked up the roll and took a bite. The knots in her stomach relaxed, and she settled back in the big chair, wondering a little at all the strange feelings she’d had over the last little while. She wasn’t sure about a lot of them, but one she knew she liked.

  And it was strange, because there was nothing to like about what Jess had told her. She thought again about that seal, and felt herself smiling all over again. Was it strange? She thought maybe it was terrible that she was glad the animal had lived and the human had died, but really she didn’t feel like it was terrible.

  She was glad. She was very glad Jess had disobeyed her orders, and saved the seal. She wasn’t even really sure why she felt that way, but in her head, she had a picture of this animal, and its eyes looking at Jess, and Jess deciding not to hurt it, but to hurt the one who’d ordered her to kill it instead.

  “Jess?” She looked at her. “Can we see a seal? Are they out here somewhere?”

  Jess grinned at her. “After we find the bear?”

  Dev smiled back. “I’d like to see one of those too,” she said. “The scan got some pictures of the one we saw before. I didn’t have a chance to look at them though.”

  “Tell you what,” Jess said. “You keep driving, and I’ll hang out on the rail and see if I spot any seals. Or bears. Or whales.”

  “Whales?”

  “C’mon, Devvie. You’ll be surprised what we can find out here.” Jess ruffled her hair, and then she picked up her cup and returned it to the box. “Let’s try to enjoy the trip.” She tugged her jacket up and ducked back out the door, moving to the outer railing and shading her eyes.

  Dev watched her. Then she sighed. “I would like to see a bear.” She snapped a few switches, and then wondered if the portable scanner could help Jess look.

  And, after all, they could go back when they were done and find out about the fishermen, maybe even rescue them and give them back their boat.

  Dev nodded in satisfaction. It would all work out.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  JESS LEANED HER elbows on the rail and watched the sea go by, very content with how her plan was progressing. Like most of her schemes, it had no real structure, and left a lot of things up to chance, but she had a clear place to start, and a goal, and everything in between would usually fall into place.

  Stealing the boat was a good example. It wasn’t part of the plan, but as soon as she’d realized what Dev’s scan had found, she wanted to do it. It gave them a transport, and a way in to the other side, and took away all the fishermen impediments all in one fell swoop.

  She’d just been lucky that she’d heard the ice creaking, and that Dev had known how to drive the thing. But her luck was like that. When it was good, it was really good, and when it was bad, she usually courted death with it.

  Now she just had to find Dev a seal. Or a bear. She scanned the ice pack, just off their port bow and watched for either the telltale blow holes, or something white moving on white. There was plenty of time to look. She figured they’d be two days to the fishery.

  Jess smiled, and swung her head from side to side, watching the passing water and ice intently. The one downside was that they’d have to take turns sleeping, and that meant they wouldn’t be sleeping with each other during the ride.

  Jess sighed. Oh well. On the other hand, they did have a tank full of fish, and if she caught one, and she could figure out how to turn the heating apparatus on in the prep area, she could treat Dev to fresh broiled fillets and toasted sea grapes. She licked her lips, tasting it in her memories.

  A flicker of motion caught her eye, and she turned her head, shading her eyes as she searched for what had alerted her. It was waterside, and she peered eagerly ahead, hoping it was a whale, and not too disappointed when she caught sight of the sleek, surfing forms of dolphins.

  “Hot damn.” Jess reached over and tapped the glass, looking inside to see Dev watching her alertly. She pointed ahead of the boat to the motion ahead of them, and waited until she saw Dev jerk and then peer over the bow. She circled the control center and stuck her head in the hatch. “Slow down! You see them? They’re dolphins!”

  Dev immediately slowed the engines down and put them in idle, setting them to rocking glide in the waves as she engaged the auto pilot. “What are they?”

  “C’mon.” Jess guided her out to the bow and pointed. “See there? They’re jumping. They’re coming this way.”

  Dev glued herself to the chilly rail and watched as the motion resolved itself into moving animals, gliding through the water in a rhythmic way. She could see puffs of water coming out over their heads, and now that they were closer, she saw the sharp fin on the tops of them, and the rounded heads. “Are they fish?”

  “Matter of fact, no.” Jess leaned on the rail next to her, thoroughly enjoying herself. “They breathe air.”

  “They do?” Dev’s eyes opened wide as one of them came right up out of the water and splashed back into it. “Wow!”

  “Be right back.” Jess loped off toward the fishing deck. “I’ll get some bait for em.”

  Dev frowned. “Bait? We’re not going to try and catch them are we?” The animals came even closer, and as she looked at them, they seemed to see her, and veered right toward the boat’s hull. Her eyes got bigger and bigger as they slowed and cruised past, apparently watching her out of one round, dark eye. “Hello,” she called out.

  Jess returned, with a pail. “They here? Oh, yeah.” She pulled something out of the pail and tossed it in the water. The closest porpoise immediately chased it down, grabbing it in its mouth and swallowing it. It then opened its mouth and made a sound at them, an odd, discordant chittering.

  Dev’s jaw dropped and she stared at it in delight. “Is it laughing? Wow!”

  Jess chuckled. “Sure sounds like it.” She tossed another piece of bait at them. “Look at those suckers. They’re huge!”

  Dev leaned against the rail and felt the cold wind against her skin, blowing her hair back as she avidly watched their visitors. “You said they were dolphins? And they breathe air?”

  Jess nodded. “I went swimming with them once. Really cool.” She leaned closer. “Look at the hole on their head, see that? That’s how they breathe.”

  “No way.”

  “Yes way.”

  Impossible to really imagine that. “Can I give them some?” Dev edged over next to her, taking a chunk of bait from the bucket when Jess offered it to her. She tossed it gingerly into the water, delighted when one of the smaller animals retrieved it and flipped it in the air, bolting it down when it fell into its mouth.

  It watched her hopefully with its round eye, nodding its head up and down as if encouraging her to throw some more.

  So she did.

  She could see them blowing air out of the hole, and she leaned over further, watching them in utter fascination. “That’s amazing.”

  Jess grinned wholeheartedly and tossed more bait in the water. She was very glad she’d found the dolphins, and even more glad that they’d come over to the boat and showed the intermittent curiosity she’d seen from time to time from them. “Hey buddy!” She stuck her arm over the side of the boat with a big chunk of fish in it. “C’mere.”

  “Jess!” Dev’s eyes widened as one of the dolphins swam away, then back at the boat, moving faster and then leaping up out of the water to grab the fish right out of her Jess’s hand. “Oh!”

  “Hah.” Jess chuckled. “Did you see that? Jumped right up here.”

  The dolphins chittered at them, and Jess gave them the rest of the bait before turning to Dev with a regretful smile. “Gotta get going.”

  Dev leaned on the rail and watched the dolphins swim off, admiring
the bow of their bodies, and the sinuous movement. “That was awesome. Thank you, Jess.”

  “Anytime.”

  Dev headed around the deck to the hatch to the control center and ducked back inside, still thinking about the dolphins. Just looking at their faces had been interesting, and she wished she’d taken her scanner outside to record them so she could look at them again later.

  Oh, well. Maybe they’d see more of them later on. Dev took her seat and picked up the remainder of her roll, nibbling on it as she checked the controls and started them off toward the east again. The boat came up to speed and she settled back against the cushion, watching Jess from the corner of her eye as she roamed around behind her. “Tell me about the swimming thing.”

  “With the dolphins?” Jess sat down on the stool and hooked her feet up on the rungs. “Ah. Well, yeah. I was goofing around near the citadel one morning, just collecting some shells on the beach, that sort of thing. We had some time off and it wasn’t raining. Anyway...”

  Dev smiled, adjusting a throttle with a tentative nudge.

  “They dared me to dive off one of the ledges—almost underwater now but then it was pretty high—and I climbed up there and did. Midway down I saw the water start moving and freaked out.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, thought they were sharks,” Jess said. “I flipped around and got myself in a ball so when I hit the water nothing was sticking out. Next thing I knew they were bopping me around like I was a toy and making that chittering noise.”

  “Did they hurt you?”

  “Nah.” Jess smiled in memory. “Made me laugh. I uncurled and they swam around me, bumping me with their noses. I touched one of them. Their skin’s softer than I thought it would be.”

  “Wow.” Dev sighed. “That would be so interesting.”

  “Next time.” Jess patted her knee. “I’m going to go exploring. See if there’s anything we can use on this crate and get our sleeping bags.” She got up and went out the hatch, leaving Dev alone with her controls and the white ruffled sea they were cruising through.

  Jess whistled as she went down the steps and through the hatch into the common chamber, closing it behind her to keep the cold wind out. She crossed the floor and went to the inner door, not surprised when the hatch didn’t open to her touch. She looked around for something to pry with, and then, finding nothing, shrugged and drew her blaster and aimed.

  The bolt touched the latch and the very next moment her own reflexes reacted without her conscious thought as she threw herself across the room and behind the table just as a loud blast rocked the boat. Jess ducked her head behind the table base and heard metal shrapnel rattling against the other side of it just as the boat’s engines cut off and she heard a slam outside.

  Jess surged up and over the table just as the hatch flew inward and she caught Dev just as she came inside and pushed them both back against the wall.

  Dev’s eyes were wide “What was that?”

  “Just me blowing up things,” Jess said, peering cautiously around the still open hatch door to look at the one she’d blasted. “Your six times removed fourth cousin Sig apparently figured he’d made sure his family jewels were safe and put an explosive trap on the hatch to his digs.”

  Dev absorbed that. “I see.” She peered around the door. “Is it safe now?”

  “Probably.”

  “Would you like to let me go?”

  “Nope.” Jess had her arms wrapped around Dev and she felt Dev’s body relax against her as Dev tilted her head back and looked up at her with a wry grin. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.”

  Dev blushed visibly. “I wasn’t sure what was going on. I heard a loud noise.”

  Jess gave her a brief hug then released her. “Yeah, bombs are loud. G’wan back up and get the bus moving.”

  Dev hesitated. “Are you sure there aren’t more bombs? It would cause me great discomfort if you got damaged by one.”

  Jess studied her for a moment in curious silence. “Would it?”

  “Yes,” Dev said, after a pause. Then she ducked out the door and trotted along the deck back to the ladder.

  Jess closed the hatch, a thoughtful look on her face. She picked her way through the debris of the door and paused, drawing her blaster again before she entered the family quarters, this time with very cautious motions.

  She felt the engines start up again and braced herself as they moved, slowly letting her eyes roam around the space, a faint smile still tugging at her lips. “Now would it, Devvie?” she murmured. “Sure damn would discomfort me to see you get squashed, that’s for sure.”

  That was odd, and new. While she had always been expected to work together with her tech, and keep their skins whole, she never, ever felt like this before about one. Not even Josh, who’d been what she’d considered a friend.

  It was really kind of shocking, how fast she’d become comfortable with Dev, and Dev apparently returned the liking.

  Was it the same thing? She’d never heard of bio alts having relationships of any kind, though she had heard more than once of them being used for pleasure.

  Was that what she was doing? Jess felt an uncomfortable twist in her guts thinking that. Was she just taking advantage of Dev because Dev thought she couldn’t say no?

  Or did she realize she could say no?

  Did Jess want her to realize?

  “Peh. Later.” She gave her body a little shake and continued her exploration.

  The inside of the family quarters was full of odd things. Jess suspected they were family heirlooms, and remembered a couple of counters in her own home that had something of the same. Old pics and holos, bits of carved white substance she thought might have been bone, old spears, a few stuffed big fish on the wall.

  She liked it. She moved carefully from room to room, not letting her nostalgia get in the way of looking for more booby traps. The beds were thick and looked comfortable, and the kids’ rooms had hammocks in them, the sight of which made her smile.

  To one side there was a storage bin. She nudged it open and looked inside, making a soft chuckling sound under her breath as she spotted the packaged rations they probably used when the seas were too rough for them to cook.

  Another storage bin coughed up two spare hammocks and thickly woven blankets, and she happily shouldered them along with the hooks the hammocks hung on.

  After another sweep, she backed out of the space, gently booting the hatch closed on its broken and twisted hinge. “Waste of metal.” She sighed, as she holstered her gun. She went over and collected a thermal carafe full of the tea she’d brewed, and headed for the hatch with her burden, whistling softly under her breath.

  Dev was occupying her time looking at the log book she couldn’t read. She leafed through it, looking up when the hatch opened again and Jess reappeared. “Did you find anything?”

  “Nah.” Jess set the tea down and then put down her armful of hammocks. “Just stuff to make us more comfortable.” She examined the hooks, prowling around the command chamber looking for places to hang them. “They use these things down at the kelp factories.”

  “What things?” Dev divided her attention between the control console, and Jess, though they were on a reasonable course and there was nothing in front of them but water.

  “These.” Jess pointed at the hammocks. “Hanging beds.”

  “Really?”

  “Uh huh.” Jess found an eye bolt in the wall and slid one of the hooks through it, then she went over to the right angled wall and found another one at just the right length. She put the other hook up and then went back to get the hammock, stringing it up between the two hooks before she stepped back to examine her handiwork. “What do you think?”

  Dev half turned to look. “Oh,” she said. “That’s sort of like what we use when we have to sleep in null.”

  Jess sat down on the hammock then rolled into it, stretching her body out and putting her hands behind her head. She rocked back and forth with the ship’s motio
n, and grinned in satisfaction. “Almost as comfortable as our beds back at base. Since we’re gonna trade off driving, I figured it made sense to bunk out up here.”

  “Excellent,” Dev said “I think that would be the safest thing too, especially if there are bombs on board.”

  Jess rolled out of the hammock and wandered over next to her, taking a seat on the stool again. “Whatcha looking at?”

  Dev showed her the book. “I was seeing if there were any dolphins or whales in the pictures. I can’t read the words. Can you?”

  Jess studied them. “No. I think it’s his language.”

  “His language?”

  “Yeah.” Jess propped her head up on one fist as she idly thumbed the pages. “They didn’t teach you about languages?”

  Dev considered the question. “I know machine programming languages. Is that the same thing?”

  “No.” Jess chuckled. “Believe it or not, before the whole world went to crap there were enough of us human bastards around to have each bunch of us talk a different way. A different code, I guess.”

  “How did you understand each other then?”

  “We didn’t.”

  “I see.”

  “They still speak some different stuff on the other side. But there were so few of us left when it all went down, they picked the easiest and most bastardized language, which was what used to be called English, and pushed some other stuff into it and that’s what we use on our side.”

  “I see.”

  Jess looked up in amusement. “Doesn’t make sense, right? But that’s where some of the weird crap I say comes from. Old times.”

  “We only got taught to talk one way,” Dev said. “Everyone talked the same up on station. I’m not sure why you would want to do it any other way, and not understand each other like I don’t understand these notes.” She pointed at the book.

  “Ah, Dev. It’s just how we were. It was more important to find ways we were different, because that meant we were better than the other guy. If we were all the same, no one wins.” Jess saw that look of utter confusion come over Dev’s face. “It’s still like that. Look at what we’re doing here. We’re going over there to try and screw the other guys up because that takes away the chance that they’ll do something better than us and get ahead.”