“Which they might do anyway, even if you fix it,” Coop pointed out. “Sanctuary rules.”
“It is a possibility,” Arian admitted. “They have not agreed to let you leave.”
The Colonel leaned back in his chair. “I assume you have a third option?”
“The technology is Garradian—”
He stiffened his mouth opening, then snapping shut.
“So is your shuttle. That’s another reason why we aren’t already in a haven.” She did not know why it distressed him that she knew this. “If I could use this shuttle—” The Colonel stiffened so alarmingly she stopped and glanced at Coop.
“Why can’t you take your ship out there?” the Colonel cut into her words.
“It is not Garradian. And the ship does not serve me or answer to me.”
“You’re the pilot—”
“But not its master.”
“The dragon, is it the master?”
She shook her head.
“So our shuttle is the only way?” He did not sound as if he believed her.
“It is Garradian,” she repeated. “The programming is compatible. It is my only chance of effecting the repairs. If I can get into the system, there is a chance I can make a…door for the Boyington. Additionally, by fixing their devices, it would give you negotiating leverage,” she felt compelled to point out, though she felt this was blindingly obvious.
“You think,” the Colonel pointed out. “You don’t know if any of this is possible.”
If there was something there to repair, she could do it, but saying this would cause more explanations since she could not explain how she knew this. And she seemed to have plenty on her plate already.
“They have compatible technologies. I have…high confidence that I can do this.” She hesitated. “The Phoenicopterians are willing to share star charts with your scientists—”
“They already have,” the colonel said unwillingly. “Even with the charts…”
“Your home might be out of reach.” She bit her lip. “I understand—”
“Do you?” He huffed out a frustrated breath.
She looked at him. “No, I do not. The last thing I want to do is go home.” She glanced at the screen. “I expect the Phoenicopterians would give me sanctuary, if I can fix what is wrong and preserve their home.” Coop may have shifted. She was not sure. Her lips twisted. “I do not think this is where I belong.”
“Where do you belong, young lady?”
Arian didn’t know how to answer this question. She wanted to belong with Coop, wanted to belong here. But this lack of a place to belong—it was not a machine she could fix. What she felt, what she desired, it was complicated, confused by the knowledge that kept surfacing inside her head. Attempting to explicate it for him was not possible for her without more rest or more data. And even then, it might not be possible.
The Colonel slid the control device from in front of her until it was in front of him, and did something that changed the view on the screen. It was a view of the cold sleep pods. And their contents.
“What about here?”
* * *
Coop stared at the screen, trying to process what his eyes saw, stuff his brain said wasn’t possible. Of course, cold sleep, cryo-stasis involved frozen bodies. He got that part. It was…what was frozen in the pods. He looked at Arian. Then at the screen. Then at Arian.
“Are those…clones?” The two figures weren’t exact matches to Arian, but that could be because they were frozen.
“I do not know. I had not heard that word until…” Arian’s lashes dropped over her eyes, then lifted, so much sorrow in there that his chest hurt. “I assume that is what they are.” She looked at the Colonel. “You are repulsed.” She gave a laugh without mirth. “How do you think I feel? I am not certain if I am…the copy or…the original.” She looked at the screen and flinched. “It seems likely that I am the it, since I have no memory of creating these things. Isn’t that what Dr. Gessner said of clones? That they are an it?” She shifted to face the Pappy. “Does it matter if I am an original or a clone? The knowledge that is emerging in my brain might be your only chance to get home. Unless your scientists have come up with a plan while we were on the planet?”
“Why would you help us?” Pappy’s voice hadn’t softened at all.
Not that Coop expected him to. Soft wasn’t his go-to place.
She sat very straight in her chair, her gaze not flinching away from Pappy’s.
“Perhaps I have learned something from my time with you. Perhaps it is in my…cloned DNA. All I know is that if there is a chance that I can help you, that I can help these Phoenicopterians, then I must try.” She shrugged. Her tone said believe me or not.
“You said you are not the master of your ship, so you don’t know why it is…collecting…versions of you?”
Coop wasn’t sure versions was a better choice than clones. She glanced at the dragon, though.
She shook her head. Pappy’s hard gaze shifted to the dragon.
“Do you know?”
Coop didn’t get an answer in his head. The dragon did shake his head from side to side.
“To some extent, we are both at the…mercy of the true master, the owner of the ship.” She took a breath, shooting one more look at the dragon before back to face Pappy. “I do not wish to be controlled by something or someone who hides their motives. I will choose for myself now.” She was quiet for a minute, her gaze pointed away from both of them, then smiled wryly. “As much as I can. If you wish me to depart, I will make the ship fly again. You have many problems of your own.”
“Do you think it can get out of this system?” Pappy asked.
“I do not know. Perhaps its master can call it through the force field. Or it may call the master to it.”
Pappy’s brows shot up. “So another player might be incoming right now?”
“It is possible.” She frowned as if considering this. Then she nodded with a sigh. “It is most possible. It’s…cargo must have value, or why go to so much trouble?” She glanced at the dragon once again. “I—believe—it is not the only ship traveling with a Companion.”
Pappy looked at the dragon again. He seemed to want to ask it something but instead, he sighed. “Like you, I am curious about the motives of the owner of your ship, but…”
“You have more pressing concerns.”
“Unless he shows up for his ship,” Coop pointed out.
Now Pappy did look at the dragon. “Can you tell us anything about the ship’s owner?”
Coop sensed a hesitation from the dragon.
I am only given information to assist in collecting, but my species does not willingly assist…evil.
Coop passed this on, deepening the old man’s frown.
“So you’re not sure either.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Why is Ms. Teraz the only…person not in a pod?”
The hesitation was long enough to make Arian twitch.
The others were in pods when collected.
That was interesting, though Coop wasn’t exactly sure why.
And no, I do not know why. It was not…need-to-know.
“Do you believe the owner will reclaim the ship?”
Coop wasn’t sure who this question was directed to, but it was Arian who answered it.
“I would assume that someone who has invested so much would not allow the ship to disappear.”
Pappy considered this. “There are empty pods on your ship.”
“Yes,” Arian said evenly. Now she glanced uneasily at the dragon. “And time is…” She stopped, her gaze distant.
“Time is what?” Pappy asked.
“There is a clock,” Arian said, slowly. “An Urclock.” She shook her head as if to clear it.
The Urclock waits.
“Urclock?” Now Pappy looked puzzled.
“What does it wait for?” Coop asked, shooting Pappy a warning look. Pappy did not look happy. Coop could almost hear h
im wondering if they were being played. But if this was being played, well, she wasn’t doing it very well. She was stuck here with them. Even she’d offered to help to get out…
Do you know what the Urclock is?
Yes. And no.
The dragon felt as troubled as Arian and the old man looked.
I don’t understand.
An Urclock is an ancient clock, but the Urclock is different…and when the countdown begins…
Yes?
The tangram will begin to come together.
Tangram. That was something to do with number seven…his thoughts jerked. Were there other ships? Seven ships? What happens when the tangram forms?
I do not know.
The dragon may not know, but it bothered him. Coop felt his unease. Did that make the ship’s owner a good guy? A bad guy?
Not everything or everyone is black and white.
Coop’s gaze narrowed. Collection? Collector? Just curious? Expensive hobby, he decided. He realized Pappy was looking at him and wondered if he’d missed something. Pappy arched a brow and Coop realized he wanted in on the off the record convo with the dragon. He gave a slight shake, let his eyes say, “Later.”
There was no sign Arian had been in on the conversation, but he sensed trouble from her, too. Not a place he usually found himself. Emotions were messy, no question.
Pappy looked at Coop. “Remind you of anything?”
“You mean the usual, sir?”
“Yeah, the usual.”
Arian looked uncertainly from Pappy to Coop. He gave her a crooked grin. “We call it FUBAR, which translated means if something can go wrong, it will.”
Pappy straightened in his chair. “Okay, we take this one problem at a time.” He tapped the table top. “First up is their protective…array, we’ll call it that for want of a better word.”
“Array does seem applicable, Colonel,” Arian agreed.
“I’m not turning the shuttle over to you—”
Arian stiffened, her mouth open to protest.
“—without a team of my people. Captain, you put together a team for both shuttles.”
“Both shuttles, sir?”
“If something happens, it will take time to get to you. This may be a small system, but it’s not that small.” He turned back to Arian. “What other help do you need?”
Her mouth twisted wryly. “I was going to say another me, but we have that.”
“You want to defrost…yourself?”
She shook her head. “But you might want to post a guard or two.”
“Why?”
“It is not my ship,” she pointed out.
“You sure you’re up for this, young lady?” Pappy asked, worry in his gaze.
Arian did look young and white.
Her slight smile trembled around the edges. “I will do what I must.” Her gaze met his. “I give you my word that I will do my best, for what it is worth.”
Pappy’s lips twisted. “We’ll call this your second lesson in trust.” He held her gaze. “Don’t let me down.”
Her chin lifted. Her fist pressed against her heart. “Only death will stop me.”
“If you let us down, you’ll wish you had died.” After a long pause, Pappy gave a sharp nod. “Let’s do this then. Captain, put your teams together. Pick another pilot and a couple of teams of Marines, ten per ship?”
Coop nodded. Ten Marines went a long way in a fight—but not a fight in space. He tried not to think about a scenario where he’d need them.
“You’ll go in cloaked until we find out what we’re dealing with.”
“You think there’s more than a broken array, sir?”
“They’re worried about an invasion,” Pappy pointed out. Something in Coop’s expression made Pappy give him a grim smile. “An opportunity to excel, Captain.”
* * *
“What did your Colonel mean?” Arian asked when they were in the corridor and heading back to her ship.
“About?”
“An opportunity? Doesn’t he realize how dangerous—” Coop’s quick grin cut off her question. Of course, he knew. The Colonel was a man who saw further than they did, which was why he commanded this vessel.
“It’s a thing, a saying. It means a mission with the odds stacked against you. An opportunity to…”
“…excel.” Arian found she could chuckle and it lightened the worry that had weighed so heavily on her since pledging her life to this mission. She’d given the only vow she’d known in her life, the one required once a year by the Consortium. Only when she’d given them her word, she had not meant it. They were words with no meaning because she’d had no choice. This time she’d chosen. It felt good and terrifying. She’d made choices since leaving Bosakli, but this felt like her most serious act of free will. It had felt larger than the moment as if had been recorded by a power she’d not been allowed to believe existed.
“Tiger will pilot the other shuttle. He loves to excel, too, but what about the geek?”
“The geek?” she frowned.
“A scientist for the other shuttle? You’ve met most of them now? Who could back you up if, well, who could do it?”
She was not sure anyone could, but he was correct. If something happened, they needed to have their supplies not limited to one container. Still… “It is very dangerous…”
“Maybe your top three? We’ll take the one who will go.” He smiled. “No pressure applied. I promise.”
“Dr. Janeck? Dr. Davis.” Not as brilliant as Janeck, but very good with code. She considered the last name. It was a sobering responsibility, even if they ultimately got to choose. “Dr. Trent?”
“I’ll start with Janeck.” He shot her a sideways look. “You sure you’re okay with this?”
She did not answer right away because she knew what he really wished to know. Finally, she nodded. “I am very…okay.”
What about me?
They both looked down at Rhubreak.
“I don’t think the Colonel is going to let you go, dude,” Coop said.
Dude? Arian blinked, then half smiled at the relief she felt from the Companion.
I did not sign on to face an invasion.
They both sobered, their gazes meeting over Rhubreak.
She did not regret her promise. She did regret the lack of opportunity to tell Coop, well, she was not sure what she would have told him. The feelings were a stone in her chest, but she did not know the words that would free them. Or if those words would be welcome if she did.
22
So, he might have kissed a clone. Hadn’t felt like kissing a clone when he kissed Arian. Not that he knew what kissing one felt like. Unless he did. Because if she were one, then he’d kissed her, and now he knew what it felt like to kiss a clone. But, if she didn’t know, then how was he supposed to know—
He stopped that thought. It was getting too complicated for a flyboy. What he knew about clones could be summed up in a couple of movies. But what he knew of Arian, of holding her in his arms, of tasting her lips, she was real and human. All the way through, well, as much as he could tell from the hugging and kissing. She made him feel…stuff.
Never before had he wished he could buy flowers and chocolate and do something, well, romantic. There’d been a song playing in the lounge, about doing romantic crap and he would have, if the Boyington had anything romantic a guy could buy. Which it didn’t. If he couldn’t buy her flowers, then he wanted to protect her. His mind had flinched when he heard her saying she didn’t know if she was the copy, and he didn’t like thinking about the look in her eyes. How would he feel if he found out he might be a copy of himself, and not the real deal?
Crappy as hell, is how he’d feel.
What was it Gessner had said? That life experience would make them not exact copies? That made her unique, with a couple of twins in the freezer. Like her, but not her. Not Arian. If someone lined them up, he’d pick her. Wouldn’t he? A voice on the radio called him back to his pre-flight che
ck.
It helped steady his mind. It always had. He realized whatever she was, he was more invested in a relationship—there, he’d thought it—than ever before. He was involved with her as she was right now. Who she was right now.
So when Arian settled into the co-pilot’s seat next to him, he was able to look at her without all the clone questions in his eyes. Seeing her steadied him even more. She was who she was, like anyone, like any of them—a mix of all the stuff that made them who they were. He didn’t know why the sight of her clean jawline, or the resolution in her eyes, made his heart jump in his chest. The little bit of color that liked to creep into her face and the way her mouth tried not to smile when she wanted to be business-like lit heat in his middle like no one had before. Whatever it was that made guys attracted to girls? Well, he had it for her.
He grinned, a bit wry about his own, unfamiliar thoughts, and her wariness faded, replaced with the smile that made him want to forget where he was and just kiss the girl until she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
He sighed. Kissing girls had been a theme in his life—when he wasn’t obsessing over flying. Guys were, well, guys. They pretty much thought about kissing every girl that even slightly attracted them. He didn’t plant one on random gals because he was a grownup and he’d been too shy when he wasn’t. He had self-control, and there were consequences for kissing girls. Expectations raised. When you knew you might be gone for months, years, or forever, it was better not to raise them. But with Arian, he not only wanted to raise them, he also wanted her to expect things from him. And here was the plus with having a relationship with an alien, she was already out here. She might not know the score yet, but she was a faster learner. He could see her in his life, could see a future together, like he never had before.
He saw color run up under her skin, her expression softening.
“It’s going to be okay,” he told her.
Her lips curved up, her gaze meeting his briefly. He was not sure she believed him. He couldn’t say he blamed her. She didn’t know him well enough. Yet. Her life had taught her not to expect much. Well, he could help with that, too. He knew all about expectations.
Found Girl Page 18
