Dark Horse

by Michelle Diener

  The woman nodded.

  “I would like to go for a walk until it gets here, please.”

  The woman frowned and shook her head. “It would be better if you could answer some questions for us in our ship, and we can make sure you are all right in the med-chamber.” She started moving, but Rose stubbornly stayed put, pressing hard on her stomach, so that she wouldnʼt throw up.

  The thought of getting into the ship was a rabid dog inside her head, making her wild, putting her as close to the edge as sheʼd been in the last three months.

  The woman turned again, a little less patiently.

  “What is the problem, commander?” The big guy, Captain Jallan, apparently, was suddenly right there in front of her.

  “She doesnʼt want to get into our ship.”

  “It isnʼt that I donʼt want to get into your ship.” She was trying to breath properly. She hadnʼt had a panic attack since the first few weeks on the Tecran ship, and she fought it, fought for her hard-won control, but that didnʼt mean she was going to back down and go quietly.

  She wondered if she would go quietly anywhere, ever again.

  “I donʼt want to get into any ship. Iʼve been held in a small cell for the last three months, imprisoned, and I want to go for a walk before Iʼm back in a small, enclosed space with no proper air to breathe again.” She was horrified to hear her voice crack at the end of her little meltdown, and end on a sob.

  She turned away from them, her body shuddering as she sucked in air and raised her hands to her face, battling a crying jag that threatened to turn her into a complete idiot.

  She was so focused on conquering her reaction, she almost missed Jallan murmur something to his commander, and she sensed rather than saw the other soldiers melt away.

  Slowly she raised her head.

  She and Captain Jallan were alone, the others walking up the ramp.

  “You must forgive us,” Jallan said. He lifted an arm, then thought better of touching her and let it fall again. “We forgot you were a prisoner. I even thought how wonderful the air and the space were when we landed here, and Iʼve been living on one of the largest ships in the Grih fleet, with no restrictions on my movements and three exercise rooms. I saw where they kept you on the Tecran ship, and so did Commander Appal. We are both ashamed at our lack of understanding.”

  Rose sniffed back the last of her tears and straightened. “I can go for a walk?”

  He gave a nod. “I will have to accompany you.”

  He didnʼt explain why heʼd have to do so, but Rose could fill in the blanks. Theyʼd be mad to leave an unknown alien to her own devices, especially one whoʼd just left the ship of death. And after seeing the gryak, she didnʼt mind that he had that really serious looking gun thing on him, either.

  Every reason sheʼd given for not wanting to get back into their craft was true, but there was one other she hadnʼt mentioned. At some point she might be alone in there, and by now she was pretty sure Sazo had managed to infiltrate the Grihʼs systems. If not, he was no doubt working on it.

  And she didnʼt want to speak to the little mass murderer. Not right now.

  8

  Dav was content to let her set the pace and the direction, and for the first two and a half thou, he walked beside her in silence.

  He watched her from the corner of his eye, as she slowly rebuilt herself, and regained the calm sheʼd worn like a second skin since theyʼd found her. Even in the face of the gryak, she had been almost serene.

  The sight of their ship had undone her.

  The expectation that she would happily go on board, and submit herself to the same scrutiny she surely got from the Tecran, had not been one of his finer moments.

  Both he and Appal had some sense of what sheʼd been through. He remembered the way the Tecran captain had looked away when he and Appal had accused him of violations of the Sentient Beings Agreement, and he wondered what situations sheʼd been faced with.

  The ground began to slope upward, and she was breathing hard before theyʼd even reached a third of the way up.

  “Are you sure you want to climb this?” He slowed his pace, hoping she would match it. It was the first thing heʼd said to her since theyʼd set out.

  She stopped, gulping in air, and turned back to look at the ship in the distance. “How far are we from the ships?”

  He looked down at his handheld. “Nearly three thou.”

  “I think Iʼd like to go a little further. Iʼm not used to the exercise after being shut in for so long, but if feels good.”

  She turned, moved ahead of him, and he watched her a moment longer, her slim form and long, slender legs less energetic now.

  She must be over-extending herself. Her muscles wouldnʼt be used to this much activity, but she seemed determined to reach some goal known only to herself.

  “You donʼt have to push yourself so hard,” he said. “The runner is only going to be here in . . .” he flicked his sleeve for the time, “three hours.”

  “Runner?” She frowned. “Oh, you mean the ship thatʼs coming to fetch us?”

  He nodded. “Itʼll be a four-seater.”

  “I donʼt want to get in the runner when it comes.” She spoke without looking at him, her words coming in short pants as she climbed. “I donʼt want to be difficult, but the thought of it makes me want to vomit, and I want to scream, and scream, and scream.”

  “I can understand that.” He could. He didnʼt want to get back in a ship, either. It was very nice down here.

  “But I will have to go, anyway?” She still didnʼt look at him, and her voice was defeated. She didnʼt think they would give her a choice.

  “I would prefer it if you did. I cannot stay. I have to return to my ship, and deal with our capture of a Class 5, the death of the Tecran, and some other issues that have come up.” The reason heʼd gone ahead of Appal, before Rose had refused to get in the ship, was the news from Farso Lothric, his aide, that the two battleships theyʼd requested when theyʼd first caught sight of the Class 5 had not arrived.

  So they were alone out here, with clearly a problem with their communications system. This was starting to stink worse that a barrel of week-old kunbara.

  “You think Iʼll get in the way of your crewʼs work?” She turned to him at last, her eyebrows raised on her flushed face. “I know the animals. I can help catch them, and explain what each one is.”

  There was some merit in that. And a good excuse to give to his superiors if they questioned him. “You could.”

  She turned her head away, and then gave a nod to one of the two of Appalʼs team who were walking on either side of them.

  Dav stopped short.

  Appalʼs soldiers were in full camouflage, their helmets and body armor on maximum reflection, and they had been walking so silently, Dav would not have known they were there if he hadnʼt ordered them there himself.

  “Where is the other one?” he asked her.

  She looked at him as if he were mad, pointed directly to the soldier, gave another friendly nod, and then lifted her eyebrows in patent curiosity. “Shouldnʼt I be able to see them?”

  “Well, they are in full camouflage.” He didnʼt want to make too big a deal of this. If there were more like her, and they werenʼt friendly, it was useful, and depressing, to know Grih camouflage was useless against them.

  “I can see theyʼre sort of reflective, but the outline around them gives them away.” She shrugged and then turned determinedly back to walking.

  He gave a nod, making light of it, and kept going. He knew Kila had tapped in to the sound and lens feed from his helmet, and she must be in raptures by now. An orange with different eyesight to them.

  “Your Grih is very good. Did the Tecran teach you?” He didnʼt understand why they would have. Unless theyʼd somehow planned this. It could all be some strange, convoluted trap, although it just didnʼt make sense for them to hand over a Class 5. It kept coming back to that. To the impossibility of them doing that voluntarily.


  She shook her head. “They wanted me to learn Tecran, but the tablet they gave me had more than just Tecran on it. There were five languages, and I dabbled in most of them.”

  “You donʼt sound like you just dabbled in Grih.” If she could speak the other four languages of the United Council as well as her Grih, she was gifted.

  “I suppose I concentrated on Grih more than the others. But my Tecran isnʼt bad. It helped calm me to know what they were saying. Much worse when you donʼt have any control and you donʼt know whatʼs going on.”

  Her words were matter-of-fact, but Davʼs fists clenched. Heʼd like a moment alone with Captain Vai Gee, now heʼd met Rose personally.

  He pushed the anger back, and tried to concentrate on something else. “Where are you from?”

  She slowed, and looked down at her feet for a few steps before glancing across at him. “You have to understand, the people on my planet are just in their first baby steps when it comes to space travel. Weʼve flown to our moon and back, and sent probes and cameras out into our solar system, but we havenʼt got as far as traveling at light speed yet, or anything close to your technology. I sort of know where Earth is in the galaxy, vaguely, but to be honest, given whatʼs happened to me, and what Iʼve seen since the Tecran took me, Iʼm not really prepared to say. I donʼt think weʼre ready for you yet, and I canʼt see contact being anything but bad news for my planet.”

  “That information will be on the Class 5 systems, Iʼm afraid.”

  She shrugged again. “Well, you can look it up then, but Iʼm not going to tell you, or anyone, where to find Earth.”

  She didnʼt use a Grih word for her planetʼs name, and he tried to repeat it.

  “Earth?”

  She nodded. “It means soil. Ground.”

  He found he liked that. “What language is spoken on Earth?”

  She twisted her lips. “There are many. We donʼt have a single language like you do.”

  He raised his brows. “We used to have more than one language across the four planets, but slowly, it became easier to use a common tongue. In some areas they still speak the old languages, just for fun.”

  She didnʼt respond, and he realized it was because she couldnʼt, her breath coming in short, hard gasps as the hill grew steeper.

  He stopped, and she did, too.

  “Did they let you out? The Tecran. Let you exercise?”

  She shook her head, waited until she had her breathing under control. “I did what I could in my cell, but this is the most walking Iʼve done in three months. I probably couldnʼt have gotten this far if the gravity wasnʼt less here than on Earth. Makes it easier for me.” She pressed her palms against the small of her back, arching.

  He tried not to look at her breasts.

  They were perfectly shaped and magnificent. Her clothing clung to every curve.

  She blew out a breath, shook her shoulders and started up the final incline, and he noticed wisps of her hair that had fallen from her braid were clinging to the back of her neck in damp tendrils.

  He looked across at the two soldiers Appal had assigned to them, no longer bothering with their camouflage, and saw they were both riveted, as well.

  He wanted to order them to stand down, or at least go back to the bottom of the hill, but forced himself to merely ignore them and stride after her.

  She didnʼt speak as she climbed and when they reached the top she was panting again. She bent over at the waist, hands on her hips, and then flicked her hair back as she straightened.

  “Good view.” She shielded her eyes against the setting sun and looked around her.

  “Itʼs nice,” Dav conceded, and lifted off his helmet. It wasnʼt necessary, the helmet was thermo-regulated, but he wanted to feel the breeze in his hair and forget he was captain of the Barrist, dealing with a crisis, wrapped in a disaster, surrounded by a mystery.

  She made a sound, and he looked from the low green hills and lakes in front of them across to her.

  She was staring at him, her mouth open.

  “What?” It occurred to him that she hadnʼt seen any of them with their helmets off, and the slight differences in their anatomy would be a surprise to her.

  She said something in her own language, her eyes filled with emotion, and he couldnʼt tell if it was wonder or happiness or simply astonishment.

  Then she noticed his face, and her cheeks flushed pink.

  “My ears?” he asked, looking at her small, delicate ovals.

  She suddenly smiled, so bright and delightful, he had to smile back at her.

  “Yes,” she said. “Your ears.”

  Sheʼd ended up in Tolkeinʼs Undying Lands, or some fantasy landscape inhabited by elves. And not the childrenʼs book kind, the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings Legolas kind, thank goodness.

  She fought back a laugh of delight. It could be misconstrued and she didnʼt think it was that funny. She was punch-drunk, that was all. One thing after another, and now pointy ears. Big, buff aliens with pointy ears and short, spiky hair that was a strange mix of gray and black.

  Again, she thought of a wolf.

  She rallied, and took a final, deep breath. “How far are we now, do you think?”

  “Three and a half thou.” He was looking at her with such sharp interest, heʼd obviously worked out that their distance from the ship was important to her. So——big, buff and not at all slow in the brains department, either.

  “Mmm. Oh, look.” She didnʼt look away from his face. “Whatʼs that down the other side of the hill? Can we explore?”

  “Certainly.” He kept looking at her, too, but lifted his hand and ran through a series of hand signals.

  Intrigued, she looked over at the two soldiers whoʼd accompanied them, and saw them turn and walk back down the hill a little way, and take up guard.

  “Are they here to protect us from gryaks, or you from me?” she asked.

  Captain Jallan gave her a slow smile. “Both. But Iʼll take my chances.”

  She gave a nod and then turned, walked down the other side of the hill. It felt safer to do this out of sight of the ships, and a little further than three thou, just in case. “Whatʼs your shipʼs scanning radius?”

  He stopped dead at that. “General scan is two thou, but ship to handheld and ship to helmet is pretty much anywhere.”

  “You have a handheld on you?”

  He gave a nod. Pulled it from a pocket and pushed a button. “Itʼs off.” He switched off his helmet, too.

  “And that canʼt be over-ridden?”

  He shook his head. “What is this about?”

  She had been thinking the whole way through her walk. If she was going to betray Sazo, break her promise to him after what heʼd done to the Tecran, now was the time.

  She looked down at her feet, found she couldnʼt do it. Her word was her word. And she knew from the start Sazo had no conscience. Or a very under-developed one. Something she was hoping she could change.

  But at the same time, she didnʼt want the Grih to be crushed under the wheels of his plan, whatever it was.

  If she was going to make a meaningful life with them, she intended to protect them from Sazo.

  “There may be a computer program on the ship I came to Harmon on that will try to infiltrate your shipʼs systems. The shipʼs range is three thou, which is why I needed to get away from it to tell you.” She lifted her hand, touched the crystal pendant. Sazo was in there, but right now, he was deaf, dumb and blind to what she was doing. All he could do at the moment was monitor Captain Jallanʼs team as they went about their business, and try to break into their shipʼs system.

  “And why you needed me to switch off the handheld and helmet, in case it has already breached our systems.” He tapped the handheld rhythmically in his palm.

  She nodded. “There may be some device inside me, too. I donʼt know either way, but I was operated on enough.” It was the only thing she could think of to let him know that she shouldnʼt be trusted with access to their syst
ems. Sazo might not be able to hear her now, but if she was given a password or a device with some access to the Grih ship, he could use the lenses and speakers to hear and see exactly what she did. Sheʼd be the means of breaking in, even if she didnʼt want to be.

  Captain Jallan quirked his lips. “Donʼt worry, we arenʼt in the habit of giving oranges easy access to our system.”

  She frowned. “Oranges?”

  He jerked, as if heʼd made a slip, and then looked down, toed the strange, frilly grass with his boot. Cleared his throat. “I apologize. Itʼs become a catch-phrase for unidentified sentient beings to the Grih. You show up on our system as orange when we do a scan for life-forms.”

  “Ah.” She watched him, interested, as he looked up again. He hadnʼt blushed, but his expression was contrite. “Tell me, Captain Jallan, what becomes of oranges like me? Is there a place for us in Grih society?”

  He stared at her. “You would want to stay with us?”

  She shrugged. “Where else would I stay? Certainly not with the Tecran.”

  “We could take you back home. If itʼs possible.”

  It would be suspicious, she knew, if she was too adamant that they wouldnʼt be able to get her home, so she nodded. “If itʼs possible.”

  “You donʼt think it will be?”

  “I would rather not lead anyone to my planet. So if that means never going home, so be it.”

  “As I said, it will be in the Class 5ʼs systems. If the Class 5 could grab you from there, it can take you back.”

  She knew it couldnʼt, even though it felt as if someone was twisting a knife into her heart at the thought she would never see her family again.

  She said nothing.

  They had gone far enough, and she had warned him as much as she could without breaking her word to Sazo. She turned, and started back.

  For the first time, Captain Jallan reached out and touched her, gripping her arm. “If we canʼt get you home, you would very much have a place in Grih society, Rose.”

  She gave a jerky nod. And hoped he didnʼt live to regret those words.