Tanager's Fledglings (The Tanager Book 1)

by Cedar Sanderson

  Jem got to the tablet, reaching out like he was going to take it down. In the camera view, he saw the other rushing at him, and he simply spun in place, leaving his arm outstretched. His gloved hand and forearm struck the man across the face, spinning him as Jem’s momentum translated, and sending him sprawling on the deck. Jem pointed at him, and when he was sure the dock rat was looking, he made an emphatic ‘stay down’ gesture.

  They stayed there for a moment, locking eyes. Jem wasn’t going to make his move to the tablet yet, not while he could see the muscles in the other man’s shoulders tensing as though he were going to push himself up off the deck in another lunge. In the bright light of the hold as the smoke cleared, Jem could see that the other man’s eyes were a deep brown, and very bloodshot. His facial paint was smudged, and the soot under his nose betrayed smoke inhalation and snot from sinus irritation. Jem waited. He had fresh air for hours if not days with internal scrubbers.

  It felt like forever, but Jem won the staring contest. The other relaxed suddenly, flopping onto the deck, his face buried in the crook of his arm. Jem didn’t know if that was surrender or unconsciousness, but he didn’t have time to figure it out. He grabbed the tablet and tapped the commands in to scrub the air in that hold. Checking his other displays, he saw that the corridor and hold where they had been inspecting cargo... less than an hour ago. They also needed scrubbing.

  The dock rat was still flat on the floor. Jem checked the readings. All indicators were in the green, although it was probably still rank smelling from the smoke. He shrugged, and cracked his helmet. Communication was more important than holding his nose right now.

  “Who are you, and why did you board the Tanager?” He barked out in his best imitation of Walter’s pissed-off tone.

  The man rolled over onto his back, his hands splaying out at his sides to show clearly that they were empty. Jem could see his eyes were watering.

  “Tan’ger?” The man spoke, slurring his words. Jem wasn’t sure if that was an accent, or smoke damage. The man coughed from the effort of speaking.

  “My ship.” Jem spoke slowly, hooking a thumb at his torso. “I am Captain Raznick. Who are you?”

  “Nob’y.” The man looked exhausted and limp. He’d gone from willing to fight to a passive lump on Jem’s decking, but Jem didn’t trust this.

  “You have a name.” Jem spoke dryly, “Everyone has a name. Even if it isn’t one the government recognizes.”

  The man lay there looking at him. He was oriented with his feet away from Jem, so it felt oddly like he was looking at him upside down. “Ma name’s Gyro.”

  “Ok. I’m not going to argue that one. So, Gyro, why did you board the Tanager?” Jem was working at keeping his tone light and reasonable.

  “Wanted to get off.” Gyro doubled up, coughing.

  Jem sighed and helped the other man sit up, propping him against a nearby crate. Even though he was being gentle, he could see the wide-eyed fear in Gyro’s eyes. “You may have wanted to get off, but I closed the hatch too soon?”

  Gyro shook his head a little. “Off Tinjin.”

  Jem cocked his head, interpreting that last word. “The station? Well, it is on fire. Did you have anything to do with that?”

  “Nu-uh.” Gyro shook his head harder. “Ship. Not station. Took a chance.”

  Jem squatted down, so he could see the other man’s face better. He wasn’t following what was being said to him. “Let me see if I can get this right. A ship in the dock was on fire...”

  Gyro nodded. Jem went on, “so you ran into the Tanager to get away from the smoke.”

  Gyro shook his head. “Stow’way.”

  “You took advantage of the fire to get on a ship.” Jem figured it out.

  Gyro rewarded him with a nod, a ghost of a smile, and a wet cough. He doubled over again.

  “You need a doctor.” Jem picked him up. “That nose filter didn’t work.”

  Gyro tried to fight, but the suit enabled Jem to feats he couldn’t manage in normal circumstances. Jem tried to soothe him, “just hold on. I’m not taking you into the station.”

  Jem headed back to the inner hatch. “I’m not a doctor. But I can at least get you comfortable until one can get here.”

  “N-no... No doc.” Gyro whispered. “I’m an un-person.” He coughed again, and Jem could see bright frothy blood in the man’s mouth.

  “You’re going to die without one. I don’t have a trauma capable autodoc.” Jem told him. “The chemicals from the fire are tearing your lungs up.”

  “You -you’re worried about me?” Gyro hung limply in Jem’s arms. It made it very hard to reach the hatch button, but Jem managed, jostling his burden as he did. Gyro groaned.

  “Sorta. You’re a human. I have a duty to prevent you from harm.” Jem repeated the code that Walter had drummed into him.

  “At least...” Gyro whispered. Jem carried him into the main part of the ship, where the dog greeted him with delighted high-pitched yips. “Don’t trip me, Eby!” Jem scolded.

  He put Gyro on the bunk in the cabin Moskvin had so recently occupied. He wondered where Moskvin was, and if he’d been clear of the dock when the ship caught fire. He still hadn’t figured out the ship fire, but now that he was snug in the Tanager he was somewhat less concerned over it. Now, he had a new concern. Gyro writhed in pain when he put him down, so Jem sat him up a little, pushing pillows behind his bony shoulders.

  “Th-thanks.” Gyro muttered. “I can’t die on the station. Just let me die here.”

  “I really don’t want you to die right now.” Jem said. He also wasn’t sure what he could do to prevent that death. Gyro had gone from fighting him - granted, it had been a hysterical strength - to coughing up his lungs, quite literally. This wasn’t the time for an analgesic and a good night’s sleep. “What if, rather than taking you back to the station, I find a doctor who will come here?”

  Gyro closed his eyes. Jem sighed and headed for the garden. He needed to deal with his officials, who were undoubtedly unhappy with him.

  He so sure of this, that when he unsealed the hatch, he was surprised to hear the cries of joy from the two men. “Captain Raznick!” The one who spoke all the time stepped forward. “You came back!”

  “Um, yeah.” Jem shook his head. “Of course I did. Look, are you two ok?”

  “Yes, yes, fine. We would have died if you had not been a fast thinker.” He nodded rapidly. “They say the docks were full of toxic smoke, men have died.”

  “You’re in communication with the station?” Jem asked. “They haven’t been talking to me.”

  “No, of course not. But we are official. They say stay here, wait until air is cleared.”

  I’d been hoping to get a doctor aboard.” Jem said.

  “Are you hurt?” They both looked concerned.

  “No, I’m fine. There’s another man that stumbled into the Tanager, and he’s pretty bad.” Jem explained. He’d decided not to mention the sneak attack.

  The second man spoke for the first time, speaking rapidly in his native language. He touched his ear, and kept talking, issuing what Jem were sure were orders in a firm tone. Jem realized that he’d been wrong in his guess about who was in charge. “If they put someone in a suit, they can get here safely.” He pointed out.

  The man in charge nodded. Jem guessed that he’d already thought of that. The man asked a question, and the first one who’d spoken - Jem really wished he could tell them apart better - turned to Jem. “Symptoms of the man?”

  “Um.” Jem figured out what he meant. “He’s coughing up blood. Can’t really talk, but he was pretty bad.”

  They relayed this over the comm. The speaker nodded. “They will be here soon. Then you will take us to the man.”

  “Now?” Jem was a little worried they could call off the doctor if they realized it was a dock rat.

  “We can move about the ship? Your air is safe?”

  Jem nodded. “Yes, it is. What happened with the ship that caught fi
re?”

  “It didn't catch fire. It exploded. We suspect sabotage.”

  Jem blinked in surprise. The man’s matter-of-fact tone about the incident that had, as he’d said a minute earlier, killed people gave him chills. “I don’t understand. Security here is always so tight.”

  The men exchanged a quick glance. “Take us to the injured, please.”

  Jem led the way, moving a little slowly, but not so much that they would notice. They were entering the main part of the ship when Jem realized he’d left the dog loose. EB advanced on them slowly, his lips pulled back to show puppy teeth white as milk.

  “Eby!” Jem scolded him. “Settle down.”

  The man stood in the hatch, frozen and staring at the dog. “He won’t hurt you. I don’t know why he’s being like this.” Jem apologized.

  “What is this alien creature?” The speaker asked. His superior was standing slightly behind him and looking over his shoulder.

  “It’s a dog, not an alien.” Jem snapped. He heard the outer hatch chime. “Ah, your doctor is here.”

  “We will go get him.” The speaker backed up hastily, bumping into his superior officer, who gave him a dirty look. He didn’t even seem to notice as he turned and hurried away.

  Jem snorted. “The dog is a pet, and harmless.”

  “Has teeth.” The man pointed out with a doubting tone.

  Jem nodded, “he does, but he’s a puppy. A baby.” Jem scooped EB up and held him in the crook of the suit arm. The pup put his paws on the ridge formed by the helmet flange and licked Jem’s chin, his tail wagging frantically.

  The man blinked at this display. “I see.”

  Jem could hear footsteps coming up the corridor. The speaker was coming back, with others, from the sound of it. “The doctor is coming.”

  The speaker and two men, both in lighter EVA suits than the one Jem was wearing, came around the corner. “Follow me.” Jem said.

  He felt bulky here, in the narrower hallways. He’d never come into the living quarters of the ship wearing his suit before. When he’d carried Gyro in, he had been more worried about not bumping the injured man. Now, he was very conscious of the eyes on his back.

  Jem stepped to the cabin and pointed, “he’s in here.” Then he stepped beyond the door, to allow them room to enter. He wasn’t sure they would all fit, in shipsuits, much less him in the hardsuit.

  The man who must be the doctor went in first, He stopped with a loud exclamation of disgust when he saw the man lying on the bed. The others crowded in. There was a spate of voices speaking in the language Jem didn’t know, although he was beginning to think he needed to learn it. After a minute, the doctor shrugged and knelt next to the bed, opening his bag.

  The speaker turned to Jem. “Why did you not tell us who this was?”

  “What do you mean?” Jem was confused.

  “This man is not a person!” The speaker spluttered, waving his hands in an uncharacteristic show of emotion. “This man is... is not human!”

  “You just called him a man.” Jem pointed out, feeling his anger rising. “Ergo, you think of him as human.”

  The speaker glared at him. The doctor stood up. “It is finished. Perhaps the captain will take out his own trash.”

  With a glare, the doctor and his orderly marched out of the cabin and headed for the outer hold. Jem gaped after them, and then went into the cabin.

  “He killed him!” Jem burst out, unable to stop himself. “He just killed this man!”

  “Of course. That is the law. A non-human may not be permitted to live if he becomes injured or ill.” The speaker looked at his wrist. “And now, if you are done wasting our time, we have a cargo to inspect.”

  Chapter 20: Down the Drain

  “What? Your doctor just committed murder, and a ship was blown up in dock, killing other people you might possibly admit to the human race, and you want to look at cargo?” Jem exploded verbally. He wanted to hit something, hard, but settled for clenching his fists. He’d been a dock rat. He knew how precious life was, and the scum that rose to the top did their best to shade out the life struggling below the sun’s reach in the pond. Jem might know life was cheap, but Gyro had been on his ship, and had been in his care. He unclenched his fists carefully, with a mental effort.

  Both men eyed even this action with fearful eyes. “This was not a person.” The speaker tried to explain, his tone conciliatory.

  “Maybe not to you barbarians, but I’m not from here!” Jem headed for the hatch. “I’m calling my client to get his damn cargo, and you two can get off my ship.”

  “But the cargo...”

  “Get. Off. My ship!” Jem roared, pointing.

  They went. Jem turned back to the cabin, hesitating. EB reminded him that he was still there with a small bark. Jem looked down at the pup, who was lying on the floor with his ears as flat as they would go. “It’s ok, Eby. I just lost my temper.”

  There was a clatter in the outer hold, and Jem sighed. He reached out and sealed the cabin hatch. Gyro’s remains would have to wait. “Stay, boy.” He told EB. Then he headed for the hold, closing the living area’s hatch behind him as he went.

  In the reaction from his outburst of rage, he felt tired and drained. He just wanted to get the cargo off, and get away from this place. He had left his helmet in the hold when he’d moved Gyro, and it didn’t help him at all to contemplate that the man was likely dying when the Tianjin butcher had finished him off. He didn’t know if the air in the dock was cleared, although there had been enough time to have scrubbed it. If they cared. They might see it as a great way to rid the station of vermin. Now, he thought he understood what they had shouted at the loiterers when they were first coming aboard. Death threats, or at the very least threats.

  Jem stamped through the hatch into the hold, trying to tamp his anger back down, and stopped in mid-step. There were a half-dozen or more armed men standing there, aiming very business-like pulse rifles at him.

  “What the hell?” Jem asked, putting his foot down. One of them jumped, and as he did, he squeezed the trigger. In the ringing noise that followed, Jem was dimly aware that there was a lot of shouting, acrid smoke, and...

  He lifted his hand to touch where the pulse had struck his chest plate. There was a slagged area the size of his palm, but it didn’t even penetrate the armor. He coughed, feeling the burn on his face, like a sunburn, from the reflected energy. He could smell burning hair he was willing to bet was his own.

  Jem looked at the man with the rifle, who had lowered it and was looking chastened, while the superior officer yelled at him. “You idiot.” Jem said in a conversational tone, while he reached out to the side for his helmet. “This is a construction suit. Meant to withstand micrometeorite strikes.” He picked up the helmet and had it on, before any of them reacted. They were all standing there looking at him with mouths open. Jem crossed his arms over the burn mark on his chest. He toggled on the comm with his tongue. “Anyone else want to take a potshot at me?”

  They couldn’t hear him, but the station control could. He’d been trying to call them earlier, and it was the open frequency. In his helmet, he could hear a confused voice. “Who is this? What is happening?”

  “This is Captain Raznick of the Scarlet Tanager. I have been boarded by hostiles, and shot at. I would like an explanation.” Jem was rather pleased that he was able to keep his voice even and calm, when he really wanted to just start popping heads off the intruders in his hold. He could, with the suit on. He just wasn’t going to, that would be inconsiderate to his hosts. All of his instincts, trained and honed in the docks of his home planet, screamed at him to respond with violence to the violence. Only the memory of Walter’s voice kept him from reverting to the combative boy who had survived by any means.

  He was temporizing about the intruders; he knew who they were. Not only were all the men in the very familiar uniform, but he recognized the speaker and superior officer he’d just kicked off his ship a few moments before. H
e was getting better at telling them apart. He stood still, waiting, and watching the chaos in his hold with grim amusement. The initial aftermath of his being shot and putting on his helmet was anticlimactic, as the superior officer spent some time yelling, then seemed to realize Jem couldn’t hear him, and he couldn’t hear Jem speaking. Jem kept his helmet clear so they could see his face, as he wasn’t trying to be threatening.

  “Captain Raznick,” The comm crackled a little. It had taken them long enough to answer. “We are patching Major Veo through now.”

  Jem wondered who Major Veo was, then saw the superior officer touch his ear and start speaking. It was his voice Jem heard next. “Captain Raznick, there has been a misunderstanding.”

  “That’s an understatement.” Jem said. He knew the man’s name now, at least. He wondered what the junior officer’s name was. “What is going on in here?”

  “You are being arrested.” Major Veo didn’t sound, or look, happy as he said that.

  Jem sighed, feeling the pain of his burns increasing. This was going to get unpleasant. “Really? For what?”

  “Numerous charges against you have been placed by the station, including but not limited to: harboring a fugitive, detaining officers on official business, attempting to smuggle illicit cargo, and operating a ship under unsafe conditions. How do you plead?”

  “Not guilty. What the hell do you think you’re playing at?”

  “We are not playing. You are a dangerous criminal and will be held responsible for your actions.” Major Veo spoke stiffly.

  “I fail to see how...” Jem stopped as he saw the two men walk into his hold. “Oh, look, now it’s really a party.”

  “Halt!” Major Veo was speaking to his trigger-happy men, Jem assumed, but the consignee he’d summoned who-knew how long ago froze, a look of terror on his face.