The Huntress

by Michelle O'Leary

He ignored her and left the infirmary, but then stopped. Standing in the corridor, he tried to decide what to do with himself. The safest course would be to lock himself in his room for the rest of the voyage, but not only did that seem cowardly, he'd probably go stir crazy in a couple of hours. He couldn't stand the android's company for more than a minute or two before fantasizing about ripping his limbs off, and he'd already explored the ship to his own satisfaction. With a resigned sigh, he headed for the training room. The kid was bound to drive him crazy, too, but at least it would pass the time.

  He should've guessed that he'd find both of them there. Mea was warming up on some of the equipment and Regan was close to one wall, VR gear over her eyes and walking on thin air. After a minute he realized that she was on a force field tread mill. Mea acknowledged him with a nod, but didn't stop what she was doing, and he refused to go anywhere near her. He moved to stand next to the kid.

  "What're you doing?"

  Regan squeaked and lost her balance, wind-milling her arms as she went past him. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her onto solid ground. She pulled off the gear and glared at him.

  "Geez, what're you trying to do, give me a heart attack?"

  "Sorry," he mumbled, trying not to grin at her aggravation.

  "I was practicing breathing and walking at the same time." She jiggled the gear. "And learning how to fall."

  "Learning how to—"

  "Fall. Yeah, I know. It's sounds like the breathing thing. But Mom says if I don't know how to do it right, I could get hurt just by falling."

  She didn't look real convinced.

  "That's true. Even from a short height you could sprain or dislocate something. And in a fight, if you fall wrong, you might not get up again before the other guy does you."

  "Huh." She looked dubiously from him to the gear. "Well, it's still awful boring stuff."

  "Target practice, then?"

  "Okay!"

  She quickly stored the gear in a wall receptacle while he went over to the wall of weapons and selected a throwing knife. Then they went together to the holographic system, and he called up the bulls-eye they'd been using.

  "Okay, kid, let's see what you've got today."

  She was just settling herself to throw when Mea's voice cut sharply across the room, "What the hell are you doing?"

  Stone turned to see her striding toward them, fire in her eyes.

  "Uh-oh," Regan muttered under her breath and he had to agree.

  Mea looked ready to shred the skin off of him. She stopped in front of him, and the fury in her eyes made his palms itch with the need to touch her. Without looking at Regan, she snapped her fingers and held out one hand. Meekly, the kid placed the knife in it.

  "Just what the hell is she doing with this?"

  "She needs to learn how to defend herself if she's gonna be with you."

  "And you think this is the way to do that?" She shook the knife under his nose, and then flicked it away from her without looking. It drove dead center into the bulls-eye and Regan's jaw dropped, but Mea was still yelling at him. "Do you know how dangerous that would be for a child? She knows nothing else about defending herself, so if she starts waving a knife around, what do you think would happen to her? She'd get dead, that's what! Why don't you just put a sign around her neck that says, "Tender morsel, please eat me"? She'll be taught how to defend herself, but weapons are not the place to start. Are you listening to me?"

  He'd been watching Regan and trying not to laugh. The kid was gesturing with wild excitement and miming Mea's throw, mouthing exclamations at him. A suspicious expression on her face, Mea turned to look at her and Regan froze.

  "Ah—good throw, Mom."

  Mea sighed, and he saw the anger slide away from her.

  "It's all in the wrist. Got bored with the falling lessons?"

  The girl ducked her head as though ashamed and Mea sighed again.

  "I remember how dull that stuff can be. We'll just have to figure out something to make it less blah." She glanced at Stone out of the corner of her eye, and he tensed at the speculative glint in them. "For now, though, I think we can do something that will satisfy all of us. Regan, could you go get a tracer? One you can wear on your nose."

  While the girl scampered away, Mea turned fully toward him. He must have had suspicion on his face, because she held up a warding hand.

  "Relax. Nothing painful. It's a good lesson and one she obviously needs. I saw her fall off the treadmill when you spoke to her. She had no idea you were there."

  That didn't exactly explain anything, but he held his peace as the kid ran back with a tracer. Mea took it and made an adjustment before giving it back to Regan.

  "All right, squirt, this is a lesson in awareness. It's important to know who's sneaking up on you. First Stone and I will demonstrate what I'm talking about, and then you get to practice." She started toward the middle of the room, gesturing them to follow. "We're actually lucky to have him here—he's really good at this. When we first met, I couldn't sense him at all. It'll be good practice for me, too."

  He started to get an idea of what she was talking about and tensed uneasily. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like this.

  "Regan, go over to the door and when I signal, kill the lights, then turn on the tracer. Remember to turn it on after you shut off the lights or you'll be blinded—I've got it set on night vision."

  With a delighted grin, the girl skipped away from them to the door and followed Mea's instructions. Stone pulled off his goggles slowly as darkness covered them. The lack of light was not a hindrance for him—he was far more comfortable in darkness, eyes adjusting swiftly to see the other two as shadowy figures. The room became a tapestry of shadows in various textures, its dimensions more felt than seen, and Stone realized that this was what Mea wanted the kid to learn, to be as comfortable in the dark as light.

  "I'm going to stay stationary, and he's going to stalk me, circling and coming toward me at random points. I'm going to try to sense him and point him out when he gets close enough to touch. Ready?"

  He could have said no. Being in the dark with Mea was a bad idea. But he could see the worth of the lesson for the kid and hopefully having Regan there watching would keep him from touching her. He growled his assent and moved away, making a wide circle around her.

  She looked completely relaxed, head tilted slightly to one side as though she was listening for him, but he was silent. Coming opposite from where he'd started, he closed on her, but she turned her head toward him and reached out, fingers brushing his chest. Burned, he moved away again, circling the other way.

  "You see, you have to learn not to rely so heavily on your other senses. They can be easily fooled. A hologram can look very real, but there's no presence behind it."

  While she was speaking, he came at her from behind, but she looked over her shoulder and reached out to him. He moved away before she could touch him.

  "When you expand your awareness of your surroundings, you can become so attuned to who and what is in them that you can navigate silently through a dark room, know if someone is sneaking up on you, and even know who that someone is."

  Again, he attempted to move in on her just slightly to one side of where she was facing. She waited until he was closer to put her hand out, running it down his chest before he could turn to avoid the touch. Trying to control his breathing, he circled her widely.

  "After a while, you'll be surprised at how far your awareness can expand."

  At these words, she pointed directly at him and turned with him as he circled until he stopped with a curse. Damn woman had been playing a game with him all along. She'd known exactly where he'd been the whole time.

  "Wow, I don't think I can do that, Mom."

  "Maybe not at first, but you will. Come give it a try."

  Regan moved forward, but Stone stayed where he was. No sense playing with fire. Regan handed the tracer over, and Mea fixed it on the bridge of her own nose.

  "Okay, to start wit
h, we'll do this backwards. Stone, if you'll stand in front of her?"

  He moved toward the kid, but only when Mea headed to the door. He chucked Regan under the chin to let her know that he was there, and she gave him a shadowy grin.

  "Now, Regan, tell me when he moves away."

  He gave the kid a minute to relax, grinning when he realized that she was practicing breathing again. When he moved back, he saw a frown pinch her brows together, but she said nothing for several seconds. Then she reached out a tentative hand.

  "Oh! He's gone. I guess I suck at this."

  "Don't be so negative. For a first try, it wasn't bad. Let's do it again."

  Stone resumed his spot in front of her, speaking so she'd know he was there.

  "You knew. You just didn't trust it."

  That seemed to help her. She nodded, breathing deeply and straightening her thin shoulders. He gave her more time this time before moving back, and she immediately lifted a hand to reach for him.

  "Good! That was very good." Mea sounded like she was smiling. "Do you want to try that a few more times or are you ready to move on to phase two?"

  Regan danced in place for a second, teeth flashing in a wide grin, but she answered cautiously, "Maybe a couple more times."

  They did it several more times, and each time she was more confident. The last time she didn't reach out to confirm his absence, she just told them he was gone in a firm tone. Mea acted as proud as if Regan had just saved a world, and Stone deliberately turned so he wouldn't have to see the tender smile on the woman's face.

  Then they switched to Stone circling the kid, closing in on her in different places. This she wasn't as good at, and after several false tries, she started to get depressed despite Mea's encouragement. So on one try when she didn't register his presence, he poked her in the ribs.

  She shrieked and started laughing helplessly, hugging her elbows to her sides and looking around the dark for him. "Cut it out, Dad!"

  The title said so unselfconsciously nearly made him stumble, but if he couldn't make her stop using it, he'd just have to ignore it.

  "Just a little incentive."

  She whipped around toward his voice, but he'd already moved on.

  "I'm terrible ticklish."

  "Maybe it'll help you concentrate."

  "I don't think so!"

  Smothering her giggles, she started breathing again, and he waited until she relaxed. She still had a shadowy smile on her face as he approached her. Almost immediately, she lifted a hand and slapped it on his chest.

  "Whoa! I did it! I did it I did it I did it!" She flung her arms around him and squeezed unmercifully.

  "You're gonna to crack a rib, kid," he protested mildly, but didn't push her away.

  "Okay, okay, let's do it again!"

  She let go of him and danced in a little circle. Stone could barely keep from laughing.

  "Hell no, I gotta go visit Ema. Fix my ribs."

  "Come on, Dad, I didn't hurt you."

  "You're little but you're wiry."

  Snickering, she pushed at him, and he moved away. They practiced for a while, and Regan improved with nearly every approach until Mea called a halt to it.

  "Okay, it's time for phase three. Let's see if you can tell the difference between us."

  Then she joined the action, and they circled Regan like a couple of predators. It occurred to Stone as they moved around her that any other person would have been a little nervous. They were in relatively deep darkness, and she had a couple of very dangerous people stalking her, but she was relaxed, excited—having fun. That kind of trust was how she'd gotten under his skin in the first place.

  By the time they stopped for a meal, she had gotten so that she could identify Stone every time he came up to her, but she was still only right half the time with Mea. When Warren joined them in the mess hall, she chattered to him nonstop about it.

  "She sounds like a huntress in the making," Warren commented to Mea, smiling at Regan who'd finally paused to eat a few bites.

  Mea's frown was like a thundercloud, mirroring Stone's own feelings about it, but he held his tongue and let her speak, "Who said she was going to be a hunter? These lessons are for her protection."

  "I want to be a hunter."

  Mea turned her frown on the kid. "That's not a choice you have to make now. There's a million other things you could do with your life."

  "My god, history really does repeat itself," Warren muttered, staring from one to the other.

  They ignored him.

  "Sure, there's probably lots of other things, but I want to be a hunter. I said I'd grow up to be just like you."

  "And you are, short stuff," the android interrupted, holding up a hand to Mea to stop her from arguing. "So much it's scary. She was just as quick to learn new things. Right, Mea?"

  Stone watched her visibly struggle with her objections until she finally sighed with a wry twist to her mouth.

  "I don't remember learning awareness nearly as fast as you have, squirt. You're just plain gifted; that's all there is to it."

  Then she bent her head to her plate as though she didn't want to see the sun come out on Regan's face. The girl blushed and hugged herself as though she could barely contain her pleasure.

  "Thanks Mom," she whispered, and Stone put his head down, too. Seeing the love in the kid's eyes made his skin feel too tight over his bones. "Can we practice some more after lunch?"

  Warren answered, "I hate saying no to you munchkin, but you've got lessons this afternoon."

  "Aw, man."

  "And I wouldn't be able to practice with you anyway, babe." Mea smiled gently at her. "I have some studying to do myself on this mission of ours."

  "What is this mission of ours?"

  "Well," Mea began slowly, eyes growing cautious, "there's a group of people on an isolated colony that are trying to start an uprising against the Coalition. My job is to go in and extract the leader."

  Stone wasn't sure if she was trying to hide the facts from him or the girl, but it was obvious that she hadn't told them everything. He leaned forward with a frown. "What good would that do? They'll just get a new leader."

  She looked down again, stirring the food on her plate with a fork. "Hmm, that's what I said. But the Coalition thinks it'll confuse the colony for a while and give them more time. Plus Uncle Mike wants to interrogate him. So I have to bring him in alive."

  Her last words sounded like disappointment, and he studied her carefully. "Somebody you don't like?"

  "Don't know the man," she said without looking at him, standing and picking up her plate.

  It was an obvious evasion, but before he could call her on it, Warren barked at her, "Freeze! Sit your ass back down and eat! I know you didn't eat breakfast and you've barely touched that."

  To Stone's surprise, she sat back down, shooting the android an irritated look. He didn't seem to notice.

  "You've got to keep an eye on this one," he said to Regan in a confidential tone. "It's always some excuse with her—I'm too busy, I've got bad guys to catch, I'm in love—"

  She cuffed Warren on the back of the head with what looked like real irritation, and Stone shifted on his seat uncomfortably.

  "What! You didn't make me promise either."

  "What works for Regan will not work for you. I'll eat if you'll shut up."

  "All right, all right! Come on, short stuff. Mom's cranky and we've got lessons to do."

  "Okay."

  They left and Stone watched Mea pick at her food with a frown. He could not believe that she wasn't eating because she was pining away in love with him. Just the idea made the ground feel unstable beneath his feet and darkness whisper at the edges of his sight. It just wasn't possible, he told himself, gritting his teeth.

  "Are you going to eat that or just play with it?" His voice sounded hoarse and loud even to his own ears.

  She raised her eyebrows at him, but said nothing, just studying his face. Whatever she saw there made her eyes so
ften and her mouth curve in a hint of a smile.

  "There are other things I'd rather be doing," she murmured, eyes coming to rest on his mouth. His breath hissed sharply in through clenched teeth and her words, "wherever whenever however," lanced through his skull. Before images of her naked on the table could take hold, he pushed to his feet and stalked out.

  Chapter 19

  In his quarters, Stone paced angrily. He'd already had her, damn it, but at the slightest turn of her mouth or twist of her body he burned like it'd been years since he'd touched her. All those years in the slam he couldn't remember every feeling this crazy for a woman. The last time he'd had sex was with the doctor who'd done the physical for his transfer to Malthat—apparently a bound and gagged convict made for a convenient, easy romp. Before that it had been endless years, but still the episode with the doctor had been a quick release, nothing more—nothing like the detonations that had torn him apart last night. And why couldn't he forget the look in her eyes?

  Pacing was not working off his energy fast enough, so he dove out into the corridor and down to the gym. He bypassed the equipment—that wasn't going to be enough to get rid of his frustration, but the holographic system repeatedly rejected his efforts to call up fighters. He was still trying and cursing loudly when Warren showed up.

  "Mea said you'd need to work off some energy."

  Damn woman—how did she read him so well?

  "You volunteerin'?" he growled, hands clenching at his sides.

  "Hell no. What do you think I am, stupid? Come on over here." He walked over to the corner with the wires dangling from the ceiling, and then gestured impatiently when Stone didn't immediately follow. "Come on! You're bloodthirsty enough to like this."

  Curious, Stone walked over to stand next to the android. Looking him up and down, Warren muttered something under his breath before he reached into a receptacle and pulled out a strange looking body suit. It shone like it had some weird metal worked into the cloth.

  "This one ought to fit you. It's VR technology that lets you feel everything that's happening in the program. Mea's got the system programmed with different hunting simulations. You're going to need to strip. It works best skin on skin."