Jim and Chris looked at each other. “I don’t think I can even get a leg in there, let alone my entire body.”
Neither he nor Chris would fit. Jerrol was needed at the engineering console, and Bobby was piloting. That only left Melissa. Jim looked at her. She’d realized the same thing. Her hands gripped the sides of her chair, leaving indentations in the soft plastic. The blood had run from her face, leaving it pale and clammy.
“I know you don’t like tight spaces,” he started.
“I can’t do it,” she whispered. Jim barely heard her over the sounds inside the cabin.
“Yes, you can. I’ll be right behind you with my hand on your arm or leg. Ready to pull you out at the least hint of something wrong. You can do this, Mellie. You have to.” Jim brought his daughter in close to him. He rubbed her back and she melted into his arms. This was the part he’d missed most as she grew up. The hugs and opportunities for daddy to save the day.
But like all children, she’d grown up. They’d stayed close but he was no longer her protector like when she was five. As an adult, she would seek out another man’s arms, in a very different fashion. They didn’t talk about their respective love lives that much. He knew she was seeing somebody back on Earth, but she hadn’t yet revealed who it was just yet. That suited him fine. Even though she was twenty-three, she was still his little girl and he grew sick thinking of her having adult interests.
Holding her, he inhaled and caught the briefest hint of spice. It was sharp yet pleasant. Similar to his cologne, but not quite his. And definitely not her perfume.
Questions flooded his mind. They’d been on the Resolve for a week. Besides himself, there were only two men for millions of miles. He’d kill them both, find out who it was, and kill the offender again.
His gaze darted from Bobby, in the front, casting furtive glances at them and no doubt wondering when they hell they were going to do something to get them out of the way of the oncoming wreckage, and Chris beside them, looking mildly uncomfortable but not so much that he wasn’t admiring the view of Melissa’s ass.
Jim tensed. Chris, knowing he’d been caught, quickly looked away and examined the magnetic strap that lined the edge of the removed console.
Melissa felt the change in him as well and backed away. “That’s an interesting scent you’re wearing, Mel,” he said through gritted teeth, his voice quiet enough that even Chris standing next to them wouldn’t hear it.
She looked down. “Okay, I’ll go in.”
“Yes, you will,” he said more loudly before backing away. “You will do your part to save our skins, and then we’ll be having a long talk.”
He pushed her towards the opening. She resisted his hand on her shoulder, but gave in and shimmied into the space between the console and the wall behind it.
Jim could hear her movement in a series of grunts and whimpers. “I think I found it. What do I do?”
“Pull the lever and the cables will snap free,” Jerrol said in a weak voice. Jim looked back to him. His face was flush and clammy.
“Are you okay, over there?”
“Got it” Melissa called. Jim’s head snapped back at her voice. When he brought his attention to their new engineer again, Jerrol sat slumped at his station.
“Jerrol.” He shook him which elicited a groan. He wasn’t dead, at least.
“Where’d you go?” Melissa’s voice squeaked. “Don’t leave me back here. Oh, my god, the console’s sliding back. It’s going to crush me.”
“It ain’t moving, Jim. It’s just her imagination,” Chris offered.
Indecision tore Jim. He felt the familiar pain in his neck and shoulders as his body reacted to stress. Melissa wasn’t really in trouble, but she was his kid, if only by marriage. He’d made a promise to always protect her.
But he’d made a similar promise to Jerrol. If it weren’t for him, he would still be safe on his own ship. “Chris, pull her out of there.” He shook Jerrol again. “What’s wrong?”
A light blinked in the corner of his screen. It flickered on the edge of his consciousness. Or maybe that was just his vision blurring at the edges. Shit, not another heart attack. His doctor warned him about the stress. Breathe, Jim reminded himself. In. Out. In. Out. He followed his instructions to himself and felt his heart slow and the palpitations ease
“Somebody get me the medical drone. We need Jerrol.” Without anybody moving, a cube the size of a case of soda floated in the air from the cargo hold.
Jim pointed to Jerrol’s limp body. “What’s wrong with him?” The drone hovered over the engineer. Air hissed from it occasionally, and sections of its smooth underbelly flashed and blinked in a rainbow of colors.
Jim backed away to let it do its thing. He leaned against the console they’d pried free, doing his best to keep his weight off of his bad ankle. The shuttle canted slightly, and his ankle throbbed anew. He gasped and held on to keep from falling. He saw the others shrink down a little as if an invisible hand were pressing down on all of them. The drone chirped twice and returned to its post.
On the floor by his feet, Jerrol’s eyes fluttered open. He let out a large breath and sat up. He moved slowly but with more apparent ease than the rest of them.
“Captain,” he shouted. He started towards him, but he waved her off.
“Melissa pulled those cables,” he panted. He briefly wondered if the extra, unexplained pressure could cause the heart attack that he’d managed to avoid from stress. “And something’s blinking.”
Jerrol’s gaze followed his hand as he pointed to the screen. “Shit.” He moved with more speed and ease than Jim could imagine possible at the moment. His fingers flew over the keyboard, entering commands that Jim couldn’t even guess their meaning. The shuttle lurched and flung him from his precarious gasp.
“We should be able to escape the debris field, now, Captain,” Jerrol said. The color was quickly returning to his face. At least one of them was okay.
He seemed to notice for the first time that the others struggled as much as Jim. He tapped at his screen again. His lips turned into a frown. “I need a command, override from you, sir.”
“What’s going on?”
“The medical drone has locked me out of the atmospheric controls. It deduced that my illness was caused by the gravity being too low for my physiology and it increased it to Razak normal, which is two point eight times Earth’s.”
“Override. Override,” Jim shouted. “Give him control of the whole damn ship if need be.”
He became lighter again and tried to stand, but groaned and stumbled on that leg.
“Drone, restrain him.” Jerrol pointed at him. The medical bot hovered over. Snakelike coils spooled out and wrapped around Jim’s body like a boa constrictor. Another coil covered wrapped around his face, providing just enough of a gap to breathe.
“Hey,” he heard Chris yell. There was a struggle and then, “put me down.” Jim almost wanted to laugh. Growing up on a planet with heavy gravity, for Jerrol, lifting a weight Chris’s size would be as easy as him lifting a small child.
“Restrain the rest of the human crew,” Jerrol’s smaller voice barely made it through his metal mask.
“Why does Bobby get his hands free?” Melissa asked.
“Because he’s flying us out of danger.” Jerrol’s voice sounded louder now, the voice coming more beside him and less above. He felt a hand on his shoulder. “Stop struggling; it will only make it worse.”
“Why are you doing this. We saved your life,” Jim managed around the metal tentacle. Despite his admonition, he fought harder. But every time he felt a little give in the bot above him, it wrapped around him tighter as it continued to snake further. In the time it had taken Jerrol to subdue the rest of the crew, it had encased most of his body. It wrapped around his knees and continued towards his feet. Soon he’d be a mechanical mummy.
“Now I’m returning the favor. You effectively made me captain of this shuttle a minute ago. That saves me a lot of work.
”
The coils reached his ankles. They popped his boots off one at a time and removed the socks as well.
“If you’re going to kills me, at least live me my dignity.”
“I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to sell you to slavery.” Jerrol kicked him in the ribs. His entire body skittered across the floor and into the far wall. Jim let out am “oomph.” Pain radiated from his chest where he’d kicked him, reminding him of the time he’d forgotten to secure his fall protection and fallen into a trench. Despite three broken bones, the doctors had declared him lucky. Ribs apparently made great stakes to pierce the soft organs they were supposed to protect.
The medical drone beeped angrily at the sudden move and additional injury. “Shit,” Jerrol said. “I need to keep you healthy and intact. Slavers don’t want bad product.” His boots clacked against the metal flooring and stopped. He let out a sigh, and Jim guessed the twice-mutineer Razak had collapsed into his seat. Double-crossing the people who saved your life must take a lot out of a person. He heard tapping at the keyboard again and the oppressive weight that had enabled this mutiny returned.
The drone’s invasive probes burrowed into Jim’s chest. A muffled scream escaped his lips.
“Oh, shut up. If you’re too much trouble, I’ll kill you and just sell your crew to the slavers. The three should fetch a high enough price, along with the bounty on your ship.”
Jim couldn’t stand the darkness of having his face covered much longer. From his experience with the repair drone on the Resolve, he knew that the medical unit binding him now had limited intelligence. Like a tantrum child, but hopefully to better effect, he held his breath.
“A high enough price for what?” Bobby asked.
The first couple seconds had no effect. His lungs burned in search of air that he wouldn’t allow in. His blood oxygen dipped enough to catch the drone’s attention. Thinking it was suffocating its charge, the medic loosened the tentacles surrounding his face. He took a deep gulp of air as quietly as he could, as not to catch Jerrol’s attention.
“Thanks to you worthless Earthlings, I’ll have to bribe my way back into a commission. A Captain is supposed to go down with his ship.”
“But Krazirk was the Captain. You failed your mutiny.” The words were out of Jim’s mouth before he could remember that he didn’t want Jerrol to know his head was free.
Jerrol whipped around. He picked Jim’s still ensconced body off the floor and banged it against the cool metal. “You think you’re so smart. But you’re a pathetic excuse for a captain. Yes, Jerrol’s mutiny failed. And I finally caught him just before your escape. Jerrol’s dead.”
It all clicked together for Jim. The niggling details he’d told himself that he imagined the subtle change in vocal quality, the scar on the forehead, the ill-fitting uniform. “Krazirk,” he breathed.
Krazirk ripped the mechanic’s insignia from the chest pocket of his uniform. He arched his back, spreading his arms wide as he looked up. “The child finally understands.” He sat back down and propped his legs on top of Jim’s still broken ribs. “Cover his head again,” he directed the drone. “How long until we reach your ship?”
“Te- ten minutes,” Bobby stuttered. Just before the tentacles wrapped around Jim’s head again, he caught Bobby’s ashen face.
Once more shrouded in darkness, Jim reached out to his crew. -Are you guys okay?-
-You’re the one I’m worried about, dad.- Melissa responded.
-I’ll live. But I could use some ideas over here.-
-Can you revoke Krazirk’s authority, like you did Bobby’s ability to warp us into a planet?- Chris asked.
-Hey, it worked,- Bobby protested.
-Not great,- Chris retorted. -Just about destroyed the ship in the process. If you’d of been more careful, we wouldn’t have had to board the Star Destroyer and let Krazirk into the shuttle in the first place.-
-Guys, guys. Now really isn’t the time. And no, I’m completely shut out of the controls. Either that or the ship doesn’t respond to mental commands. Either way, I can’t override Krazirk.-
The shuttle rocked slightly, letting Jim know that they’d’ touched down inside the Resolve’s cargo bay. The shuttle wouldn’t respond to him, but maybe the ship would.
-Resolve, if you can hear this and recognize me as Captain, flicker the lights in the cargo hold.-“What was that?” Krazirk snarled. It worked.
“You really did a number on us,” Chris lied. Okay, that part wasn’t really a lie. “We nearly lost the ship before we beat you. Power’s been kinda flaky ever since.”
“You say you defeated me, but who captured who?” Krazirk picked Jim’s drone covered body up and carried him out to the cargo hold. He pulled open the cabinets along the far wall until he found several pairs of handcuffs. The drone relaxed its grip, but before Jim could react, smaller coils looped around his wrists.
-Resolve, loosen everyone’s restraints but make it seem like they are still secure.- The metal coils around Jim’s wrists relaxed.
-What’ s the plan, boss?- Chris asked. He slipped a finger underneath the cuff and rubbed where the alien composite had chaffed his skin.
-We’re going to need a distraction. We have the element of surprise, but he still controls all the firepower.-
Krazirk led them out of the cargo hold and stopped at Chris’s room. The door slid open as its designated occupant neared. Krazirk looked from the big man to the room and back. “Maybe not.” They moved up to the next room and Bobby’s door gave way. “Yes, much better. The little one is less likely to have surprises hidden away. I am right, no?” He grabbed Bobby’s jaw and made a show of looking him over. “Yes, a true disgrace, even for the weak Fagare.”
Jim could feel Bobby’s anger seething beneath the surface. He adjusted the pilot’s cuffs tighter to prevent him from letting that temper do something stupid. Bobby glowered but allowed himself to be pushed inside followed by the rest of the crew.
A red sports bra lie crumpled at the foot of the bed. Jim’s eyes narrowed when he noticed it, his gaze darting to the sole female occupant of the ship.
Melissa’s eyes widened, and she collapsed to the bed, blocking the garment from the others’ view with her boot. The two stared at each other for a long moment.
“Can you remove these cuffs now?” Bobby broke the silence. “I can’t feel my fingers.”
Jim sighed. “Resolve, make it so.”
The coils slackened and fell to the floor, the soft surface muffling the sound.
“If there’s a way to get through this wall, that son of a bitch was right. I stashed some stuff in my bunk.” Chris grimaced at the expected admonition that Jim gave him whenever he showed more than what the others considered a healthy interest in the alien firepower.
Jim barely even registered the words. “When were you going to tell me?”
“Uhh, I just did,” Chris said. His face screwed up in confusion. Rather than waiting for an explanation, he walked to the shared wall between his and Bobby’s cabins. He knocked at the surface, testing it for weakness.
“I’m a grown woman, dad. It’s none of your business.” Melissa stood up and got in his face.
“None of my business? You are both my employees. I own you.”
Chris stopped what he was doing, his fist inches away from the wall. “I’m not sure I like the way you worded that.”
“You son of a bitch,” Bobby launched at Jim and shoved him to the ground.
Jim pushed himself up and dodged a clumsily thrown punch aimed at his chin. He wrapped his arms around Bobby’s torso to keep him from trying to attack again. He slid an arm up until it was around his pilot’s neck. Bobby grabbed Jim’s wrist and pulled, but Jim had the advantage of size and training.
“Stop it,” Melissa shouted. She added her hands to Bobby’s. Bobby gurgled as his skin took on a purple tint. He banged against Jim’s arm, each blow with a little less force than the last.
“I love him,” she yelled.
Where force hadn’t worked, Melissa’s words brought Jim to a stop.
“Why... Why didn’t you tell me?” Jim let go of Bobby who collapsed to the floor and took heaving gasps of air to replenish his lungs.
Melissa dropped down to one knee beside him and checked him over before responding. “Because I knew you would overreact. You’ve never approved of any of my boyfriends.”
Jim collapsed onto Bobby’s bunk. “That’s not true. What about Darren?”
Melissa barked a single bitter chortle. “The guy who took me to the junior prom and you met at the door with a shotgun slung over your shoulder? You had him so scared he wouldn’t even talk to me the rest of the year.”
Chris grinned. “I knew you had it in you.”
“Shut up,” Jim and Melissa said at once.
Jim bit his lip and looked at the ground. Melissa put her hand on his knee but didn’t get up from beside her lover who was just starting to return to normal breathing. “You were about to kill somebody who has worked for you for five years, who has saved our lives multiple times over the past week, just because you found out I was sleeping with him.”
“I promised your mom I would take care of you,” he said in a small voice.
“And you have. I know mom would be proud of the job you did. But you have to let me be an adult now.”
“I’m sorry.”
Melissa got up and wrapped her arms around him. He gripped her shoulders, feeling mildly uncomfortable about the fact that as he held her body to his, her bra lay a few feet away. She felt his body stiffen and followed his eyes to the discarded garment. “I guess I have some dressing to do.” She disengaged from him and locked herself in Bobby’s sonic shower.
Jim stood and held out a hand to Bobby. “I think she chose well. Forgive me?”
Bobby studied him for a minute before taking his hand. “Man, why’d you have to go there with the owning me crap?”
Chris, who had returned to looking for a weak spot in the wall, spoke. “I think Krazirk’s coming back. I can feel the vibration in the wall.
Jim sucked his breath through his teeth. “Okay, everybody put your cuffs back on.” He knocked on the shower door. “Hurry up in there; we’re about to have company.”
Lost Fagare Ship 2: Absolve Page 5
