by S. J. Bryant
The shadow grabbed for her, clutching fingers reaching through the darkness.
Wren rolled, still fumbling with her knife.
She fell off the side of the bed, colliding with the stranger's knees. They grunted, took a half-step back. Wren finally pulled her knife free and held it up. It weighed her arm down, as if the light metal had been replaced with heavy lead.
She swiped but the shadow stepped out of the way.
Why had she taken anything? Was it really so important to fall asleep? Especially when it might cost her life? She'd managed to live with her damn ghosts this long, why did she try to change things now?
Strong hands clamped around Wren's wrists and squeezed, forcing her to drop the knife. She strained and twisted, but it was like fighting against her own body as well as that of her attacker. Her weak muscles couldn't break free and when she tried to twist, her head spun.
"This was easier than I thought."
A hand clamped over Wren's mouth, stifling her shouts. She wrenched her head to the side but the hand squeezed tighter, holding her in place. Another crushed her nose, stopped her breathing. She clung to consciousness for a few moments before being swallowed by darkness.
***
Ryker woke to a strange noise. He frowned as he opened his eyes and listened harder. Wren's room sat beside his and they shared a thin, metal wall. Usually he heard nothing from her quarters. She moved with the stealth of a wraith. As far as he'd been able to tell, she could do almost anything in her room, including practicing her knife throwing, without making a single noise.
So what had he just heard?
He strained his ears but silence had returned. Perhaps it had been his imagination… but then… his imagination had never woken him up before, and he knew better than to ignore his intuition. A sound had come from Wren's room, he was sure. Just the faintest scuff of a foot on floor, but still ten times louder than anything Ryker had ever heard Wren make.
Heat spread across his cheeks. Perhaps she had company.
But no, that was ridiculous. It was a small ship and Wren hadn't taken a special fancy to anyone, at least not that Ryker had noticed. So what the hell was that noise?
He sat up slowly and reached for the pistol he kept on his bedside table. His gut twisted and a flicker at the base of his heart warned him that something wasn't right.
What to do?
Kari had ordered them all to stay in their rooms. But that was because one of them couldn't be trusted. What if that someone had attacked Wren?
Then they'd already be dead! No one could sneak up on Wren, much less attack her.
Ryker's tense shoulders eased. He didn't need to worry for Wren, he had to worry about whoever had been stupid enough to go into her room. Damn, that probably meant a clean-up operation and he'd have to smooth things over with Kari. She'd be furious if Wren had killed one of their passengers. And who else would it be?
Atticus wouldn't be stupid enough to sneak in on Wren. It had to be Aydin, trying to complete whatever sabotage mission he was on. Oh well, he'd got what he deserved.
Ryker stood, still holding the pistol, and edged toward the door. Kari would forgive him for going out, especially when she saw whatever carnage Wren had created.
He placed his hand on his door, ready to wrench it aside.
It wrenched open of its own accord and a large silhouette filled the opening.
Ryker tried to bring his gun up, to shoot whoever it was, but he'd been taken by surprise and couldn't move before a solid blow hit his elbow. Tingles ran the length of his arm, making his fingers spring open.
His gun clattered to the floor.
The silhouette shoved forward and slammed the door shut, snapping off light from the hallway and plunging them both into darkness.
Ryker ducked and felt the brush of a fist passing over the top of his head. He lunged forward, blind, and his shoulder connected with his attacker's stomach. They fell against the door.
Blows rained down on Ryker's back, blooming in hot circles of pain. He ignored them, burying his fist into his attacker's side.
The man above him grunted and drove his elbow into Ryker's back.
Numbness shot down Ryker's spine as his legs gave out. He collapsed to the floor, his jaw smacking into the metal and making his head ring. He tried to push himself up but his legs trembled and before he could get control of his body, a hard boot slammed into his spine, driving him to the floor.
"Stay down." A gravelly voice said. It sounded familiar to Ryker but through the ringing in his head he couldn't work out why.
He tensed his shoulders, ready. He had to fight this bastard off and warn Kari. Based on what he'd heard, the assailant had somehow already subdued Wren—a scary thought—so it was down to Ryker to stop them.
Ryker braced his legs and pushed upward, meaning to throw his whole body into his attacker, but before he got more than a foot off the ground, a hard blow hit the back of his head.
Darkness swooped down like a shroud.
CHAPTER 7
Kari glared out of the front screen at the passing stars. What was the point of traveling the Universe if she couldn't even trust her own damn crew? She may as well get rid of them and fly solo.
She sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. That would be an overreaction of course. She knew in her gut that Ryker hadn't done anything wrong. It didn't take a genius to work out that Aydin had to be behind the attacks. But what could she do with him? She didn't want to space him. There was something unpleasant about throwing someone into the vacuum of space so that they would suffocate—or freeze—to death, alone. Their body would be perfectly preserved but no one would ever find it. No, she didn't approve of that old-time space-fleet penalty. But still, Aydin deserved to be punished.
But if she was so damn sure it was him, why was the rest of her crew still under lockdown? Couldn't she make a damn decision and stick to it? But it had been hard, ever since Wren's betrayal, for Kari to properly trust anyone, even her own crew. Not that she'd had the most trusting nature before that, but now…
What a bloody mess.
The sooner they got this cargo delivered and the two strangers off the ship, the better. But in the meantime, she'd at least let Ryker and Piper out. She knew in her heart of hearts that they hadn't sabotaged the ship, and she needed some damn company because the silence was starting to get to her. She kept thinking she heard noises. Like that: a slight rustle, like the scrape of a foot on metal.
Kari braced herself to stand when hard fingers clamped over her mouth. Another arm wrapped over her chest and pinned her to her chair.
Her eyes popped wide as she tried to tear the hands away from her face, but the callused palms were too strong. Her lungs burned as she tried to draw a breath, but it was like sucking on a vacuum and she got nothing except the taste of sweat and dirt from the hand.
Stars kept zipping past, oblivious.
Kari kicked the control panel, creating a dull banging that she hoped the others would hear inside their rooms. Surely they would come and investigate? Ryker at least would have a look.
"No one's coming."
Kari strained against the arms, darkness flashing over her vision. She stretched the fingers of her right hand and they brushed the butt of her pistol in its holster at her waist. Just a little further and she'd be able to pull it free and shoot whoever stood behind her.
"I don't think so." The hand pinning her to the chair snapped down, wrenched the gun free, and tossed it to the floor.
Kari managed to rise a few inches out of her chair before the hand returned and shoved her into the worn leather.
"You're worth more alive."
That voice… Kari continued to fight, but her muscles weakened from lack of oxygen. If she could just get a decent breath, then she'd have the strength to fight properly. But the hands kept her pinned. And that voice… she'd recognized it, she was sure, but it wasn't the voice she'd been expecting.
And where the hell were the others? Why
hadn't they come to help her? Unless…
Kari's blood ran cold. Unless the attacker had got them first.
She writhed with renewed vigor at the thought of Piper lying cold and lifeless on the floor of her room. And what about Ryker and the others? They had to be okay, they had to… Kari twisted and fought like a dying fish but she didn't have the strength.
She hadn't been watching the monitors, not properly. She'd been so sure that Aydin was the saboteur that once she'd locked his room, she hadn't bothered to watch the others. So she hadn't noticed when someone left their quarters… they could have gone into all the rooms and she wouldn't have seen a damn thing!
It was her fault. Kari's chest tightened beyond the pain already caused by her empty lungs. She'd confined everyone to their rooms. If she hadn't been such an idiot, they would likely have been together in the dining room and no single attacker would have been able to take them, especially not Ryker and Wren together. But instead… Kari had forced them to stay in their rooms, little more than cells, completely isolated.
Idiot!
Black clouds swirled at the edges of her vision. The more she fought, the deeper the clouds became until they spread across her whole sight, swallowing the stars and the front screen and the blinking lights of the controls.
"Down you go. Just be grateful I don't want to damage that face of yours."
CHAPTER 8
Kari blinked, blurry vision coming into focus at the same time as a pounding headache came to life at the back of her head. The bright light above her cut through her eyes to the base of her skull like a physical blade, forcing her to squeeze her lids shut. With a shaking hand, she reached up and felt the back of her head. Blood crusted her hair.
"It doesn't look as bad as it probably feels."
Kari's eyes sprung open to see Atticus sitting beside her.
"Ryker's is worse," Atticus said, gesturing to Kari's other side. "Bastard must have used his boot."
Kari pushed herself upright, ignoring the wave of pain and nausea that rolled over her like an ocean swell. They huddled on the floor of the dining room. Atticus sat but Ryker lay curled into a ball. Blood matted his hair and stained the back of his shirt.
She squeezed his shoulder. "Ryker?"
"He hasn't woken up yet," Atticus said. "Not good."
Kari didn't need him to tell her that. Being kicked in the back of the head was bad enough, but to be unconscious for any amount of time from the blow was worse.
She dragged her aching eyes away from Ryker and found Piper sitting against the wall just behind him, eyes locked on the blood at Ryker's neck. Her knees were tucked up under her chin and she swayed back and forth.
"Piper." Kari tried to crawl closer but found her ankles tied together. "What the—"
Only then did she notice the manacles clamped around Atticus' hands. Ryker wore similar bonds. Piper's legs were chained to the table, same as Kari. Over the top of Ryker's thick body, Kari could make out Wren. The assassin stared at the ceiling with glazed eyes, hands bound.
"Wren?" Kari whispered. What the hell had happened? Kari remembered being attacked, but she'd hoped that Ryker or Wren would hear and come to help. Turned out they were in even worse shape. "Wren!"
Wren blinked and tilted her head toward Kari but didn't take her eyes off the ceiling.
"Wren, what the hell are you playing at? Can't you do something?"
"It's no use."
Kari spun at the new voice and found Aydin sitting beside Atticus.
"You bastard! You come onto my ship, sabotage it, attack my crew, and—"
Aydin held up his hands to show the metal chains that chinked against each other like the jingle of distant keys.
Kari faltered, staring. If Aydin were here, trapped with them, then that meant… "Taylor."
"The bastard," Aydin said before lapsing into silence.
"We should have realized," Atticus said.
Kari shook her head, unable to believe what she was seeing. Taylor had been funny and nice. He'd always tried to help. Why would he suddenly attack them and truss them up in the dining room like cattle? She forced herself to take three deep breaths and calm her racing heart. She wouldn't get anywhere by panicking. If this had been Taylor's work, then he was still on board the ship and doing whatever it was he'd planned to do. For the moment they were all alive, that at least was worth celebrating.
Kari ran her gaze over the dining room, cataloging anything that would help. "Your tools?" she said to Atticus.
"Gone," he said with a sad shake of his head.
"You?" she said to Aydin.
"Of course not. Taylor is no idiot. He took all our weapons."
Kari leaned over Ryker's large body. "Wren."
Wren blinked, too slow.
"Wren, what weapons have you got on you?"
Wren grinned. "None."
"What the hell has he done to her?" Kari said.
"I don't know," Atticus said. "I've never seen her like this before."
Kari kept a stranglehold on her panic. She'd never seen Wren like this before either. And, of course, both Wren and Ryker were incapacitated, right when she needed her two best fighters most.
"Fifteen ways out," Piper said. Kari barely heard Piper's soft voice over her own rough breathing.
"What?" Kari said.
"Ten will result in instant death."
"Great," Atticus said.
"Two will result in slow deaths. The remaining three each have a six percent chance of success depending on factors unknowable to me with current information," Piper continued in the same mechanical monotone.
Kari stretched, ignoring the chains pulling on her legs, and managed to brush Piper's shin. "It's okay. We're going to get out of here."
Piper's eyes flicked away from Ryker and locked with Kari's. "Total eighteen percent and falling."
"It might not look good," Kari said. "But eighteen percent is still eighteen percent, right?"
"Perhaps," Piper said. "But each method precludes the others, leaving just six percent."
Piper's tone and glazed eyes made Kari's skin crawl. It was as if her sister's very soul had been sucked out and replaced with a machine.
"Why don't you tell me what the options are," Kari said. "I might have more information that will help the percentages."
"That seems unlikely."
"Try anyway."
Piper drew a deep breath. "The first option would require a distraction and that both Wren and Ryker return to full consciousness. We could try rousing them but the chance of cerebral damage is high—" Piper continued in the same robotic voice and Kari found it hard to accept that it was her sister at all. Surely this thing had somehow replaced Piper? This robot couldn't—
A robot. Rusty.
"Rusty," Kari said, spotting his rust-spotted leg on the other side of the dining table. Piper's monologue trailed off.
"What?" he said.
Relief washed through Kari. Rusty was still on and functional. Finally, a silver lining.
"Rusty, get over here."
"I'm in the middle of something."
"I swear on the stars, Rusty, if you come here right now I'll buy you a dozen bottles of coolant."
"Big bottles?"
"Yes!"
The metal leg moved and then Rusty's head and the top of his torso appeared over the top of the table. He dragged his feet as he walked so that they scraped on the metal floor until he stood towering over Kari.
"Undo these," she said, gesturing to the metal bands that held her legs to the table.
Rusty let out a protracted sigh which somehow carried all the depth of human emotion.
"Rusty, please. I need you to do it quickly. Taylor might be back at any moment."
Rusty bent one knee and produced a thin metal rod from one of his fingers.
"Whoa."
Kari's head snapped up.
Taylor stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the bright hallway light. "What's going on here?"
&
nbsp; "Rusty. Undo it," Kari said.
"No," Taylor said. "Rusty, step away and keep going until you're back at your wall."
Rusty's head turned between Kari and Taylor.
"Rusty!" Kari said.
"Apologies. Full analysis reveals greatest chance of survival by complying with Taylor's demands."
"I'm your bloody captain!"
"Protocol one is to survive," Rusty said.
"That bloody robot," Atticus said. "He's a traitor and a good for nothing—"
"Such language," Taylor said. "And I thought you were well spoken, Atticus."
Taylor limped into the room and leaned against the table. Red stained his hands. "Well." He held his arms wide. "Well, well, well."
"What the hell are you doing?" Kari said. "And what have you done with Ryker and Wren?"
"So impatient," Taylor said. "Maybe if you took some time to stop and think once in a while you would have realized what a mistake you'd made by confining your own crew, even your security!" Taylor gestured at Ryker. "I mean, come on."
"What have you done to them?" Kari did her best to keep her voice low and in control even though all she wanted was to scream and rage. Was Taylor right? If she hadn't been so impatient could she have prevented all of this from happening?
"Unfortunately, Ryker kept fighting when he really shouldn't have," Taylor said, touching his right side. "But Wren… that wasn't me. I think your friend might have been self-medicating." Taylor's eyebrows wriggled like worms on his forehead.
Kari tried not to show any emotions but inside, her stomach swirled. At least if Wren had self-medicated it was under control. Wren knew drugs and herbs better than anyone, she'd be back to her normal self in no time. But Ryker… a hard blow to the head could kill a man.
"Ryker needs help," Kari said.
Taylor rolled his eyes, went to the first-aid cabinet by the dining room door, and pulled out a bag of supplies. He tossed it across the floor and it bumped against Kari's leg.
"Be my guest."
Kari tore open the zip and snatched out bandages and gauze. If only Wren were awake, she'd know exactly how to treat Ryker's injury. As it was, Kari had to rely on a few week's training as a field medic and the bloody experience she'd had in battle. She strained against the chains around her ankles so she could press the gauze over the wound at the back of Ryker's head. Blood stained it a bright crimson.
