“Can I have something to eat?” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose to steady my head. Memories from the previous night flashed into my awareness. The girl. Her disappearing skin. The phantom sensations of buzzing and honey and that uncanny sense of unreality she seemed to carry with her.
The captain stepped back and put her hands in the pockets of her cargo pants. Her movements kicked up the faint scent of rosemary again. “I don’t think food should be your primary concern.”
“Who was the girl?” I said, still trying to wipe away the last vestiges of sleep and disorientation.
“I’ll be outside,” Vasquez said, giving me a strange look before stepping into the hallway.
“No questions until you give me what I want,” the captain said.
“Okay, what do you want?” I grabbed the strip of fabric I kept tied to the belt loop of my pants and secured it haphazardly around my locs to get them out of the way. Dryness filled my mouth and I had to work hard to focus on her face. Even talking hurt.
The captain remained silent, watching my movements carefully.
“I don’t even know your name,” I said.
“Tev Helix. And what I want is your cooperation.”
“In exchange for what, exactly?”
An unconcerned shrug. “For not throwing you into the silence.”
“You won’t do that.”
She smiled, bouncing an eyebrow. “We can find out.”
My body boiled with a mixture of attraction and fear, which I attempted to shove aside in the interest of reason. I leaned back on my elbows. “Why do you want Nova?”
“I want to buy one of her contracts.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
Every muscle in Captain Helix’s face tightened, and a flush of pink colored her cheeks. “This is exactly why I don’t pick up dirtheels. You’re all insubordinate and entitled. You’re the criminal here, not me.”
“Why does everyone keep calling me dirtheel?” I said. “How do you know I’ve never been off-planet? Maybe I grew up on a starship. Maybe my parents owned one and I was born in zero-g.”
She laughed. “Vasquez told me how you looked at our ship. Like you’d never actually walked the corridors of a vessel before.”
She leaned closer, purring in that gorgeous accent. “Hands all tangled up in engines, love? I can tell. I reckon you’re so trapped in the coils that you’ve never even flown. But you talk like you think you belong up here.”
I didn’t flinch. “Maybe I do. I can hear your lady; she’s been talking to me ever since I set foot in your cargo bay. I can make her more efficient. You haven’t given me a chance to show you.”
“You don’t know this ship,” she hissed. “Don’t act like you do. This is my vessel and you’ll do as I say if you don’t want to see what she looks like from the black.”
I said nothing. Just sat there, challenging her with my stare. No easy feat with that aura of intensity sizzling around her like her own ship’s plasma arcs.
“I know your type,” she said. “You think this is all so romantic, don’t you? An escape from whatever drab existence you’ve got going on back home. We run into people like you all the time. Folks with something to prove. I don’t hire amateurs.” She sneered and talked with her hands, throwing them around to punctuate nearly every word. I actually found it all a bit charming despite my situation. I liked fiery women, but I didn’t think she’d take well to me saying so.
I stood, but Captain Helix refused to acquiesce any space to me. Despite the eight or so centimeters she had on me, I was a lot curvier than she was; my sturdy body helped me own the territory I claimed. “If you think you’re looking at an amateur, then you’re right about one thing: I’m on the wrong ship.”
She shifted her weight, and something made a clicking sound at her knee. A prosthesis? One of my aunt’s friends had one that made the same noise.
“Insubordinate and melodramatic,” she said. “Charming.”
“What do you want with Nova?”
She kept her gaze locked on me like a leash. “Maybe I just need a spirit guide to tell me whether it’s a good time to invest. See if the stars are aligned in my favor. Cultivate that portfolio with the help of a little divination for auspicious timing—”
“If you’re going to be sarcastic, forget it,” I said. “I don’t know where she is. I lied to your medical officer about it because I just wanted a job.”
“Marre,” Captain Helix said. Even the ship seemed to stand at attention at the sound of that throaty voice snapping.
“Yes, Captain.”
My blood froze. The voice. It was the girl from the brig.
“Is our trespasser lying?” the captain asked.
“There is an increase of noradrenergic activity in her locus ceruleus, with increased levels of norepinephrine. While that’s not enough to be certain, she’s definitely in a compromised state of mind. This may or may not be indicative of deception. She is at least anxious.”
I looked around. “How did she—”
“That’s good enough for me,” the captain said, grabbing my arm. “Let’s go. We’re making a call.”
When I arrived on the bridge with the captain, there was no time to appreciate my surroundings. She said something as she joined Dr. Vasquez and Ovie at the starboard side of the bridge, but I didn’t make it out. Chills rolled over me in relentless waves as reality narrowed to a point. The girl from the brig, Marre, sat in the pilot’s seat, her bare legs folded so that her chin rested on her knees, a thick jacket wrapped around her. Our flight path to Ouyang Outpost flickered on the view screen, which she adjusted to account for traffic through this sector of the system. As her hands moved, I noticed a woven metal cuff around her wrist similar to the jewelry worn by Vasquez and Helix, only this one consisted of rings in dappled, aurora-like rainbows.
That same buzzing from the night before returned, loud and unforgiving. Endless sound reverberated against my skull.
“Are you staring at me?” she said, her voice appearing at once from without and within. She just continued working without looking at me, arms reaching around her thin legs. Translucence rippled up her calf, revealing striations of muscle beneath.
I tried answering but the buzzing drilled through my thoughts, shattering them before I could come up with anything coherent.
“You are staring at me,” she whispered. Then, over the intercom, her small voice exploded through us all like thunder: “That’s rude.”
Captain Helix, Vasquez, and Ovie turned to us. Helix raised an eyebrow.
The disappearing girl pulled the jacket’s hood over her head and removed the flight path from the screen, defaulting to a view into the silence.
Even while submerged in the buzzing and disorientation, the sight of the brilliant black twined through me, bathing me in wonder. I decided then, with my dirtheel past peeling away from me like old skin, that you’ll never know true awe until you stand on the bridge of a starship. The view from the shuttles to Adul, or even from the station itself, was nothing like this. A million pinpricks of light burned through the velvet black—rivets in the hull of the universe. I swore I could feel the ship around us singing louder, her song filling up my veins, threatening to burst out of me in a fit of ecstasy, scattering my body’s matter across the cosmos. The buzzing, Marre’s haunting presence, the crew lingering in the bridge’s shadows, the pinch of hunger twisting in my belly, my ever-present anxiety over the impulsive decision that led me here—each registered as a distant trifle in the presence of the silence, vast and heaven-black. I’m sure I stood in a silent stupor for no more than ten seconds, but I felt suspended in eternity.
Beyond the vessel was everything. Do you know what that feels like? To have the enormity of creation stretched out before you and know you’re still only seeing a minuscule fraction of what’s out there? To know you’re utterly insignificant and powerful all at once, simply by virtue of being part of something so limitless?
Des
ire stirred in my chest as the ship’s song still echoed inside me, eclipsing all other sound, wending its way through my heart.
“Close your mouth,” the captain said, suddenly behind me. Reality snapped back into place as she shoved me toward the comm panel harder than necessary. “We’ve reconfigured our connection. Make the call.”
“I’m sorry,” I said automatically, though it sounded distant behind the buzzing that now returned, filling up my brain. Then, just as quickly as it had begun, the noise stopped.
“Whatever,” Marre muttered at the same time the captain said, “Just make your call.”
“For the last time, I’m not cooperating until you tell me why you want Nova,” I said, shrugging and turning back to the viewer. I tried recapturing that feeling of connectedness to the ship, but it was gone.
A crackling noise came from just behind me, then a shock to the back of my neck. My teeth clenched, muscles tensed. Energy surged through me for a brief instant. Lights exploded behind my eyes. Blinding pain, as if someone ripped my soul up through my skin.
When it was over, I grabbed onto the comm panel to steady myself, breathing heavily and trying not to cry out from the sensations throbbing through my already sick body. I didn’t need to see it to know what the captain had used.
A biter. Illegal for citizens to possess these days—approved for enforcers only. Its teeth felt like a million little mouths gnawing at your nervous system at anything but the mildest setting. At its most intense, there wouldn’t be much of your body left to throw into the Big Quiet. And the captain had barely touched me with it. Not enough to be considered anything but a warning.
“Make the call or pray you have a strong heart.” Captain Helix grabbed my wrist, twisted it behind my back, and shoved me into the comm panel so its edge dug into my hip bones. Her voice was low next to my ear, making my breath catch. “I’m not telling you again, love.”
Vasquez stepped toward us. “Tev—”
“I don’t want to hear it, Slip.”
“Captain, her joints—”
“Doctor Vasquez, that’s enough.” She didn’t move her face a centimeter before addressing me again. “You don’t seem to have many choices here. We’re just talking about a little beep across the system to wherever your pretty sister is hiding so we can have a chat. We’re not going to hurt anyone, you included, unless you refuse to cooperate. In which case . . . ” She dug the biter into my neck, where a metal prong jabbed a trigger point and shot referred pain up the back of my skull.
I glanced at the other crew members from the corner of my eye. Vasquez nodded almost imperceptibly at me. Ovie didn’t seem to be paying attention, instead fixated on the back of his forearm. A faint light glowed against his skin as he moved his finger across a dermal comm implant much like Dr. Shrike’s.
Marre wouldn’t look at me. The hood shadowed her face.
“Time’s up,” the captain said, and she clicked the intensity setting on the biter. Fear percolated down my body, running cold.
“Okay!” I shouted, my legs weak. “I’ll call her.”
“Marre, pull up the comm interface.”
“Just get that thing away from my neck.” My skin twitched beneath the device. “Please.”
“We’re staying cozy until the call is over, love.” She tightened her grip on my wrist and pressed closer to me. The scent of rosemary, everywhere. Her warm body against mine. Just like that, heat rushed in to mix with the fear. My head buzzed on its own now, and it just made me angrier. I’d learned a long time ago that bodies can’t be trusted, but now was not the time for mine to betray me. I didn’t want to want the woman who’d just tested a biter on me.
She dug the weapon into my neck and released my hand. “Make the call.”
I clicked the switch behind my ear, then placed my palm on the projected touchscreen on the panel. It instantly synced to my biometric signature, connecting me to the ship’s comm system through the implant. “Nova Quick,” I said, and the screen flickered.
I waited five seconds. Ten. Thirty.
Then, my sister’s face and shoulders appeared. Her curly hair was dyed orange in lieu of our family’s natural near-black brown. Bright blue contacts rendered her wide, panic-stricken eyes even more striking than usual.
“Alana! Are Mom and Dad okay? Who’s that with you?”
“They’re fine—”
Captain Helix urged me to the side, but kept the biter firmly affixed to my neck. “I’m Captain Tev Helix of the Tangled Axon. Nova Quick?”
The ship’s name clicked into place in my heart: Tangled Axon.
My sister’s apparent concern was short-lived. “Alana. I told you not to call me unless someone was on their death bed.”
I glanced at Tev, then back to my sister. “Well, it’s not that, but—”
“You’re so selfish sometimes. You know I need my vacations. Not all of us get to luxuriate in silly hobbies on Orpim. I work hard and I’m tired! How difficult is it to just not beep me for a while?”
Anger slashed through me. “It’s not like I just want to gossip. Something’s come up.”
“Who’s that blonde with you?”
“I told you,” Tev said. “I’m—”
Nova gasped, then laughed. “Is my little sister seducing a captain? I didn’t give you enough credit. Wait until I tell Mom and Dad. They’ll be so glad you’re dating again. She’s cute, too!”
“What!” Tev shouted, jamming the biter into me inadvertently. “No. I have to discuss some things with you. In person.”
“Don’t you think my sister’s cute? You can’t tell me you don’t get lonely out there in the black. It’s all over your aura.”
Tev’s neck turned pink. “Are you listening? I need to talk to you off-net. We can offer you the biggest contract you’ve—”
“Excuse me,” Nova said, straightening her posture. “I’m flattered, but I never forget a client’s face, and I know I don’t have you on my roster. You’ll just have to talk to my agent and wait for an opening like everyone else. Or find another spirit guide to smooth out your energy. There are plenty of us. Do you need a specialist? I can get you a list. Past life access, divination, creative inspiration, guides to help you on mystic journeys—”
“We need you,” Tev said. “Specifically.”
“Please, listen to Captain Helix,” I said, widening my eyes at Nova.
“Alana, really. I’m hurt you’d bother me with something like this. You know how busy I am. Do you realize I just finished a contract last week where I had to act as creative inspiration for a writers retreat on Gira? Exhausting! Creative types are never satisfied. I need this vacation. I should project over there and have my spirit give yours an ass-kicking.”
“Nova!” I shouted, leaning forward over the console in the hope that I might reach her ego-clotted brain. “Please, listen to me for five seconds. I need your help.”
Nova sighed and shifted her weight, gold eyeshadow glittering as she moved. “How much?”
“What?” Tev and I said.
“Don’t lie. I know my sister, and I can see financial anxiety all over her aura. Little white splotchy spots around her neck and head. Let me guess what happened: you careened into her shipyard with just the right amount of swagger, and now you’re pretending to hold her for ransom so you two can collect the money and run off to do whatever it is you do in the silence. Other than the obvious. So, let’s get this over with. How much money?”
“I’m not calling you for money!” I shouted. “They’ve threatened me if you don’t cooperate!”
Nova just sighed again. “Don’t be dramatic.”
“Shut up, both of you.” Tev shoved the biter into my back and held me tighter. “Since you don’t seem to be getting it, I’ll make this clear. Meet us at the Ouyang Outpost at Adul or your sister dies.”
Nova’s face hardened. She tilted her chin up ever so slightly. “You wouldn’t. The punishment for murdering a guide’s family member—”
“Ow!” A dull pressure struck me in the neck, I knew I was being injected with something. The pressure stopped, and Ovie walked back to his position in the corner, holding a pharm-injector.
“What the hell!” I felt the spot where he stuck me. “What was that?”
“Alana?” Nova sounded genuinely concerned, and if she was worried, it meant she saw something in Tev’s intentions only spirit guides could detect. Something that meant I really was in trouble. “Are you okay?”
Dr. Vasquez stood where she’d been the entire time, silent and impassive, eyes locked on me.
“Some doctor,” I spat. “Where’s your medical integrity? What did he do to me?”
“Yes, what did you do to her?” Nova said, her voice now regal, self-assured. “Tell me, or I’ll disable your ship’s engines and take her with me.”
“Mel’s Revenge,” Vasquez said as she took the injector from Ovie. She placed the instrument in her pocket. “A poison that will destroy your sister’s nerve cells. Essentially, it will accelerate her disease until she succumbs to it. Painfully.”
Images flashed through my mind in quick succession. Video shots of Mel’s Disorder patients who couldn’t afford treatment. Their words indecipherable as the disease stole their voices. Tremor-ridden hands and heads. After I was diagnosed at age twelve, I pulled up net records and watched interview after interview of patients and loved ones. I was obsessed with the genetic disease that could—and very well might—claim my life, as well as Aunt Lai’s. But not before robbing me of control over my own body. Mel’s might as well have been a slow descent back into infancy while your mind remained trapped.
“I’m still me,” I remember one of the recorded patients saying, my implant translating and dubbing his slow, slurred speech. “I’m still the same guy in my mind.”
I found the bottle and sample in my pocket and gripped them tightly, affirming my lifeline as I grew dizzy with dread. I wondered if I could take the Panacea sample to offset the effects of the poison.
“You want to do what we’re asking.” Tev’s voice snapped me back to the present. She crossed her arms, stance wide, just as sure of herself as Nova. “The poison is already inside her. Unless you want a pile of quivering muscle for a sister . . . ”
Ascension: A Tangled Axon Novel Page 5
