And then it was over.
She didn't know all the reasons why, but she could guess at most of them. Men like Prince Alexander tired of seeing the same face day in and day out. He wasn't the marrying type to be sure. In her heart, she always knew that about him, but when she saw him in the news with another woman, both smiling for the cameras, Sophia still felt surprised.
"You're better off without him," Katherine said.
"Indeed," Sophia replied, quickly changing the subject. "That's a lovely dress you're wearing by the way."
"I know!" the princess shrieked. "Don't you just love it!"
"Of course," Sophia said.
After a short hyperspace jump, the Imperial yacht Victoria arrived at the Glitter Fields a few light years from Revenna. From the observation deck, the Fields sparkled in waves of color like a curtain in the wind. Standing by one of the windows, Captain Harrison, his feline fur combed neatly, explained what his passengers were witnessing.
"The Glitter Fields," he said, "are actually a cloud of highly charged particles extending for millions of miles."
"Can we fly closer?" Lady Sophia asked.
"I'm afraid not, My Lady," the Tikarin replied. "The particles would interfere with our sensors."
Sophia turned to Princess Katherine.
"Pity," the handmaiden said. "It's breathtaking."
"Not when you've seen it a dozen times," the princess remarked.
Prince Alexander, with Lefty Lucy beside him, rolled his eyes.
"Just ignore her, Captain," he said. "She can't help being a brat."
Harrison bowed. "It's quite alright, Your Highness. I was young once."
"Excuse me for having an opinion," Katherine muttered, moving off toward the bar.
Lady Sophia, staying with the others, asked, "Have you seen any action in the Navy, Captain?"
"Precious little, thankfully," Harrison replied.
"Thankfully?" Sophia said.
"Well, every ensign dreams of combat, but dying in space is a terrible thing."
"Really?"
"Space is a cold void," Harrison explained. "If someone dies out there, his body would freeze and never decay. It would float endlessly, forever."
"Not exactly a romantic way to go," Alexander said, chiming in.
"Not at all, Your Highness."
They watched the spectacle outside for a while without talking. The beauty of the particles, Captain Harrison thought, was in stark contrast to the ghastly medium in which they glittered. Like the ancient seafarers of old, travelers far from port were always in danger. A ship gave its crew and passengers a sense of security, but the captain knew it was just an illusion. At any time, disaster could strike and all would be lost. Nothing was safe far from home.
Deep in thought, Harrison jumped when Sophia touched his arm.
"Sorry!" she said. "I was just saying it's unusual to see a Tikarin officer."
"Yes," he said. "But I appreciate the opportunity."
On the other side of the captain, Prince Alexander leaned into view.
"A little luck doesn't hurt either," he said.
"Oh, luck has nothing to do with it, darling," Sophia said, "but ambition can do wonders!"
Captain Harrison, staring at the particle cloud, noticed a tiny glint apart from the rest. Squinting, he realized it seemed to be moving.
"Captain Harrison," his first mate's voice came over the intercom. "We've detected a ship approaching at high speed."
Harrison went to the comm built into the wall. "What kind of ship?"
"Unknown, sir. Its transponders are turned off."
"Raise shields!" the captain ordered, his eyes still focused on the speck of light out in the void.
After a pause, the first mate said, "Shields are not responding."
"What?" Harrison asked, disbelieving.
"Shields and hyperdrive are both offline, sir!"
Before the captain could respond, the comm unit blew apart, showering him in a deluge of sparks and molten plastic. Twisting around, he saw Lady Sophia near the bar, holding a small blaster in her hand.
"Sophia?" Princess Katherine said.
Captain Harrison saw another flash and felt a sudden, burning pain in his stomach. He fell against the wall and slid slowly to the floor, his hand cradling the wound.
"Are you insane?" Katherine screamed.
Calmly, Sophia threw a glance at the princess beside her.
"Sorry, darling," she smirked. "I'm more of a dog person."
Before Katherine could move away, Sophia grabbed her by the arm.
"Don't go wandering off, darling."
Lefty Lucy started toward Sophia, but Alexander barred her way with his arm.
"Wait, Lucy," he said.
"That's a good girl," Sophia said, pointing the gun at them both. "Don't do anything foolish."
"Whatever you're doing," the prince said, "you better think twice about it."
"Don't be silly," she replied. "Soon I'll be richer than in my wildest dreams!"
"This is about money?"
Sophia winked at the prince. "And love, darling."
"If this is revenge for what happened between us—"
Sophia laughed, but her eyes were fixed and stony.
"Why are the cute ones always so dumb?" she asked. "This has nothing to do with you, Alexander."
Sprawled on the floor with his head against the wall, Captain Harrison had been keeping a keen eye on the ship racing toward them, growing larger as it approached. He realized it was within weapons range but, instead of feeling the shake of blaster impacts, he heard a hiss and a crackle.
The air around Princess Katherine began to shimmer. Lefty Lucy bolted toward her.
"No!" Alexander shouted, but it was too late. A shining beam of light from Sophia's weapon crossed the room, striking Lucy in the stomach. As Katherine's form dematerialized, Lucy fell to one knee, her outstretched hand straining toward the princess. When the static in the air had faded, Lucy's arm dropped, her body lying unconscious on the deck.
"You're going to pay for this, Sophia," Alexander swore through his teeth.
"I wouldn't count on that, darling," she replied. "I'm full of surprises."
Lady Sophia gave the prince a royal wave as her body became surrounded by a bright glow. Like the princess, seconds later she was gone.
Alexander didn't move, his gaze transfixed on the empty air that formerly contained Princess Katherine and Lady Sophia. Only the abrupt shock of an impact against the ship jarred him out of his trance. The deck seized upward and back again, knocking the prince off his feet.
Captain Harrison groaned while his body was thrown across the floor.
"They're firing at us!" the Tikarin moaned.
Alexander rushed to his side, holding the captain's head up.
"Without shields," Harrison said, fighting to remain conscious, "we don't stand a chance against that ship."
"Why didn't we spot them sooner?" the prince asked.
"They must've used the Glitter Fields as cover. There's too much interference."
Harrison's cat-like eyes opened wide.
"What is it?" Alexander said.
"Get to the bridge," the captain replied. "You need to give them a message."
Alexander looked doubtful. "What about you and Lucy?"
"If you don't deliver my message, we're all dead anyway."
Durant Blixx witnessed another salvo from his blaster cannons strike the Victoria. Loose pieces of the yacht's ruptured hull spiraled away like blades of grass in the wind. Blixx, more than most captains, knew the effort that went into building a vessel. Now, seeing it violently torn apart under his orders left him strangely empty.
On the other hand, blowing things up was a lot of fun.
Behind the captain, Quartermaster Calico held Princess Katherine, her hands in restraints. Beside her, Lady Sophia stood without being bound, her eyes squarely on the captain.
"Destroying the ship wasn't in the plan," she said
.
"No survivors means no witnesses," the captain replied. "We are kidnapping the emperor's daughter after all."
"Please don't hurt me!" Katherine pleaded, her eyes full of tears.
Blixx raised an eyebrow. "No harm will come to you, my dear."
Katherine's gaze widened and then sharpened into a scowl.
"In that case," she said with a sniffle, "what the hell do you think you're doing?
"Take the princess to her quarters," Blixx said.
"Aye, Captain," Calico said, saluting and pulling at Katherine's arm.
"How dare you touch me!" she protested.
"Come along," Calico said. "Come along."
"Captain," the first mate said, "The Victoria is firing her thrusters."
"So?" he replied confidently. "They can't outrun us!"
"She's on a collision course!"
The captain grabbed the back of the first mate's chair. "What?"
On the main view screen, the heavily damaged yacht, trailing debris behind it, came toward the Hotspur at full speed.
"Kamikaze bastards!" Blixx shouted. "Evasive maneuvers!"
The helmsman fumbled with the controls.
"Hurry, man!"
The thrusters of the Hotspur burst to life, pushing the ship sideways and down. Instinctively, Blixx hunched as the Victoria on the view screen grew enormous, passing in front and then over the pirate ship.
Blixx laughed, standing back up. "Idiots! You'll have to do better than that!"
"Sir," the first mate said, "the Victoria is heading into the Glitter Fields."
"Well, shit!" the captain said.
Lady Sophia, who had remained on the bridge after Katherine was led away, crossed her arms and cocked her head.
"What's the matter now?" she asked.
"Our sensors are useless in the particle cloud," the captain replied. "We won't get a lock to fire our weapons."
"Does that mean they've gotten away?"
"Aye, so it does."
Sophia grinned, watching the yacht become a speck against the cascading colors of the Glitter Fields.
Chapter Fifteen
At the Eudora Prime starport, automated tractors moved cargo containers laboriously from the freight warehouse to the awaiting starships sitting on the concrete apron. Like a line of gypsy wagons, the vessels sat silently in the darkening twilight. At the far end of the line, a lone freighter rested on its landing struts like an old man squatting in the shadows. Its hull, 75 yards long, was gray except for a few sections painted a cheerful yellow. Above the nose cone where the word Wanderer was stenciled, a wedge shape wrapped in windows protruded to form the cockpit. Inside, Captain Rowan Ramus perched his feet on the console, the rest of him slumped in the pilot's chair.
A Dahl, Ramus had dark red hair and gold rings hanging from his pointed ears. Tattoos forming archaic lettering ran down both arms, signifying someone educated in the art of Dark Psi, knowledge forbidden by Dahl society.
Behind the captain, a hatch opened and Orkney Fugg peered in with his boar-like snout.
"Brooding?" Fugg asked.
"Nope," Ramus replied.
"Yeah, right, you sorry sack—"
"Did you install that new component?"
"Damn right I did!" Fugg said triumphantly. "We can take off now and probably not explode."
"Probably?"
Fugg shrugged his shoulders. "I'll give it a ninety-five percent chance."
"Ninety-five?"
"Engineering isn't an exact science," Fugg replied.
"Actually," Ramus said, "by definition I believe it is."
The ship's intercom chirped and Gen's robotic voice spoke, "Master Ramus, sir, there's an incoming message from a Miss Freck and a Mister Davidson."
"Okay," Ramus said. "I got it."
The captain straightened, dragging his feet off the console. He tapped the controls and a hologram, in a hazy blue, appeared where his feet had been. The faces of Mel Freck and Randall Davidson looked at him as if their heads floated in midair.
"Hello, Captain!" Mel said.
"Hey, Mel," Ramus replied.
"Did you get the stabilizer patched in?" Mel asked.
"Allegedly," the captain replied.
Fugg scowled at Ramus and then at the holo. "What the hell do you want, Mel?"
"I missed you."
"Really?" Fugg asked.
"No."
Davidson spoke up, "I have a proposition for you, Captain Ramus."
"Okay," Ramus said. "What do you have in mind?"
"We need to buy passage."
"We don't normally take passengers..." Ramus trailed off.
"I understand," Davidson said, "but we'll pay well for it."
"Sounds good to me," Fugg murmured.
"What's the destination?" Ramus asked, shooting a glance at his engineer.
Davidson paused. "The Cyber Collective."
Ramus laughed. "I don't think so."
"Hear him out!" Mel urged. "It's really important."
"I bet," Ramus smiled, "but crossing into Cyber territory is a death sentence."
"No shit," Fugg said. "We'd never make it past their sentry ships."
Mel, holding up a small box with loose wires hanging from the bottom, said, "I modified a transponder to broadcast their identification codes. They won't know we're not one of them until we've landed."
Now it was Fugg's turn to laugh. "That'll never work, tink!"
"Not if I shove it up your ass!" Mel shouted.
"Settle down," Ramus warned them both. "How much are you paying?"
"Twenty thousand," Davidson said.
"Fifty thousand," the captain replied.
"Thirty."
"Forty or forget it," Ramus made his final offer.
"Alright," Davidson nodded with a note of pain in his eyes. "It's worth it."
"When do you want to leave?" Ramus asked.
"As soon as possible."
"In that case," the captain said, "we'll see you in the morning."
Ramus killed the connection and the two holograms faded away.
"It's a shit sandwich any way you slice it," Fugg said.
"We need the money" Ramus replied.
"Where are we going to put them?"
"There's that extra stateroom Gen's been using..."
"Why does Gen have a stateroom?" Fugg grumbled.
"We weren't using it so why not?"
Fugg was incredulous. "Because she's a robot! We should stick her in the closet with the brooms!"
"We don't have a broom closet."
"Then we should have her build one and then stand in it until she's needed!"
"Just go help her move, will you?"
Fugg mumbled obscure obscenities as he stormed from the cockpit and climbed the ladder to the deck below. He stomped down a passageway, the metal grate beneath his boots straining with each footfall. Pipes and cables were hung along the ceiling, interspersed with reinforced bulkheads at set intervals. Fugg rambled past them, gaining momentum as the avionics room, galley, and crew cabins went by. Once he got to the auxiliary stateroom, he didn't bother knocking before palming the door sensor and barging into Gen's quarters.
"Get your crap out of here!" he barked. "Captain's orders!"
Gen, sitting with her back to the door, didn't hear him. A wire was plugged into the side of her head.
For the most part, this extra cabin had been used for storage, but once Gen came aboard, she claimed the small space as her own. There was a bed in one corner — unused since robots don't need sleep — and a footlocker against the wall. In between, a desk that could fold neatly against the bulkhead was currently in the down position. Gen sat at the desk, tapping her metal foot, oblivious to everything else.
Fugg briskly marched across the floor and yanked the wire from Gen's cranium.
"What are you doing?" Fugg said. "I'm talking to you!"
"Oh, dear!" Gen said. "I was listening to my music."
"Music? Why the he
ll would you do that?"
"There's several bands that cater to robotic tastes, Master Fugg."
Fugg forgot his original irritation and tilted his head to one side. "Are you telling me there's robot bands out there?"
"Most definitely," Gen affirmed. "Cyber music is freely broadcast across the node sphere."
"What does it sound like?" Fugg asked, now curious.
"Unfortunately, the songs are modulated to frequencies inaudible to most humanoids."
"And you get these from the node sphere?"
"Yes, Master Fugg. Robots use it to transmit data just like people do, although at a higher bit rate."
"I'll be damned."
"Oh, I hope not!" Gen said.
Fugg suddenly remembered why he had come in. "Anyway, the Captain wants you to pack up your things. We're taking on passengers and need the room."
"Those people who called earlier?"
"Yeah, you'll meet them when they get here."
In the morning, a ramp lowered from the belly of the Wanderer as Mel, Davidson, and the robot Jericho waited patiently outside on the apron.
"Do you need help with your bags?" Captain Ramus shouted down from the ship.
"No, we're fine," Davidson said as he and Jericho took their suitcases up the sharp incline. Packing light, Mel followed with just a canvas rucksack hanging loosely from her shoulder.
Once on board, the captain suggested Davidson accompany him to the cockpit while Mel and Fugg went to the avionics bay to install the transponder. Meanwhile, Gen and Jericho would take the baggage to the stateroom.
When Ramus and Davidson reached the Wanderer's meager bridge, the captain sat in his customary chair and Davidson settled into the co-pilot's seat.
"You're taking an enormous risk crossing into Collective space," Ramus said.
"And now so are you..." Davidson smiled wryly.
"At least I'm getting paid. I still haven't figured out why you're doing it."
"You've heard of the Robot Freedom League, I assume?" Davidson asked.
Ramus nodded. "They steal people's robots and call it liberation."
Davidson chuckled. "Not exactly."
"You work for them I take it?"
"I'm responsible for smuggling freed robots across the border to the Cyber Collective. Lately, however, they've barred us from sending androids with higher brain functions."
The Arks of Andromeda (The Imperium Chronicles Book 1) Page 14
