Nimbus

by Jacey Bedford

  He didn’t know how he was going to fix this with Gen and Max, or even if it was a possibility. He might have split apart the Free Company for good, which would—if he let himself think about it—break his heart. And Cara. Had he lost her forever? After this, he might as well take the Dixie Flyer and go somewhere, anywhere, and start a new life. But if he could find out what was killing colonies and taking ships . . . if he could save lives and actually protect the Crossways Protectorate, shouldn’t he at least try?

  Liv put her arms around Ben’s neck. “Don’t be sad, Uncle Ben.”

  “It’s all right, Liv. Everything will be all right.”

  “We’re going to talk to the dragon.”

  “Yes, we are.”

  As Ben climbed into a tub cab, Gwala and Hilde emerged from the guard station and squashed in beside him.

  “Where’s Cara?” Hilde asked as the cab whirled them into the traffic stream.

  “Not coming on this trip. I left her sleeping.”

  “You’re taking the baby?”

  “Talk to dragon,” Liv said.

  She stood up on Ben’s thigh with her hands on his shoulder and twisted in his grip. She stared first at Gwala, then at Hilde then at Gwala again before quite calmly holding out her arms to him. Ben let her go.

  Gwala bounced Liv up and down on his knee until she giggled.

  Hilde smiled. “Don’t you love a man who’s good with babies?”

  “I didn’t realize it was one of Gwala’s hidden talents,” Ben said.

  They crossed the floor of Port 46 at a dead run. Ben had a dread that Gen, Max, or Cara would come to and give the alarm before they disembarked and hit the Folds. He might return to face all of the Free Company wanting to roast him alive, but he’d get the job done first.

  Gwala slid into the bucket seat with Liv as Hilde took the tactical station. Lynda was already in the comms chair and Yan at the systems station.

  “What about me, Boss?” Naomi said as she came up the tube on to the deck.

  “You’re my spare. Take one of the bucket seats.”

  “Am I late for the party?” Ronan climbed up on to the flight deck, saw Liv, looked around for Gen and Max, and gave Ben a hard stare, which he ignored.

  Lynda commed Crossways Control. “Solar Wind ready for departure.”

  “Flight plan, Solar Wind?”

  “Is that you, Roebuck?” Ben said into the comm. “Emergency. We’ll file a plan once we’re clear of the station.”

  “Do I need to place a bet on this?” Roebuck said. “One hundred klicks before you hit foldspace.”

  “No problem, Crossways Control.”

  “Clear for departure,” Roebuck said.

  “Thank you, Crossways Control.”

  “Ben, is there something you need to tell us?” Ronan asked.

  Ben let Solar Wind glide out on her antigravs and then brought the sublight engines online. She emerged into the black, gradually building speed as she pulled away from the station.

  “You mean about kidnapping Liv? I’m taking her to talk to a void dragon, okay?”

  Thirty klicks out, Wenna’s voice came over the comm. “Ben, what the hell are you doing? Have you gone mad?”

  “Very possibly.” Ben looked at Ronan. “Have I?”

  “Do you want my professional opinion on that?”

  Ben powered up the jump drive, and Solar Wind hit the Folds.

  Cara felt as though she’d been hit with a club. She groaned and rolled over. She’d been drooling on the floor, not her own floor; this one had a soft covering, baby friendly. Gen and Max’s floor.

  Oh, shit!

  It all came back to her, crashing over her head in a wave.

  Ben—oh, Ben—what have you done? I don’t know you anymore.

  There was a groan to her right. She managed to hoist herself up onto all fours and open her eyes. Max had woken. He’d raised himself on one elbow, but he looked as though simply breathing was an effort. Gen was still out cold, which was perhaps as well since she’d wake up wanting to kill Ben. Right now, Cara wasn’t sure she would stop her even if she could.

  Ben. She had to stop Solar Wind from taking off with Liv on board. She tried to contact Ben, but her head was splitting apart and her implant might as well be turned off. Until the effects of the stunner wore off completely, she could barely throw a thought the length of this room.

  Wenna. She might be able to reach Wenna.

  *Cara? What’s the matter?*

  *Wenna, Ben’s gone off the deep end. He’s stunned Max and Gen—and me—and he’s taking Liv into the Folds to see if she can translate for the void dragon. Stop him.*

  *Are you all right?*

  *Will be.* She wished she was wearing her buddysuit. Right about now, it would be administering a shot of analgesic. *I’ll see to Gen and Max. It’s about all I’m fit for. You stop Solar Wind. Don’t let Ben do anything stupid.*

  *Ben doesn’t do stupid, Cara.*

  *He does now.*

  “Was that Wenna?” Max asked.

  Cara nodded and then wished she hadn’t. She crawled over to a chair and hauled herself upright on it like a baby learning to walk. Her legs would barely support her, so she sat on the chair.

  “Have you any painkillers?”

  “Bathroom.”

  “For all of us.”

  “Still bathroom.”

  Max had managed to get as far as sitting up, leaning against the wall. Gen began to stir. He inched his way over until he was beside her and started massaging her hand.

  Cara risked standing. She staggered unsteadily to the bathroom and immediately vomited into the pan. She rinsed her mouth quickly, not sure whether she felt better or worse for having lost the contents of her stomach. She grabbed three analgesic blast packs from the cabinet and gave herself one. It stung the side of her neck. By the time she got back to Max, Gen’s eyes were open, though she was still horizontal.

  Beginning to feel insulated from the headache, Cara gave Max a shot of painkiller and then together they manhandled Gen into a sitting position.

  “Here, this will help you feel better.” She cradled the blast pack to the side of Gen’s neck.

  “I doubt it, though my head might not hurt so much. Liv?”

  “Wenna’s trying to get to Ben before he gets off-station.”

  Gen scrubbed her face with her hands. “She’s gone. I’ve lost the link. She’s in the Folds. I will kill Ben Benjamin when I catch up to him.”

  “Get in line,” Max said.

  *Too late,* Wenna said. *He’s off and away.*

  *We know. Gen knows. Liv’s in the Folds. Where’s Jake?*

  *Where he’s been since he brought that battleship back.*

  *Is Howling Wolf ready to fly?*

  *Yes, Jake’s been putting her through her paces.*

  *Where’s she berthed?*

  *She’s currently on the docking cradle above Blue Eight.*

  *Tell Jake to prep for departure. We’re on our way.*

  “Can you two move yet?” Cara said.

  “It’s my daughter out there. Of course I can move.” Gen stood up and wobbled.

  “Get into buddysuits, both of you,” Cara said. “If we’re going into foldspace, you’ll need them.”

  By the time Gen and Max had suited up, Cara was starting to shuffle off the effects of the stunner. She jogged to their apartment, changed into her own buddysuit, and liberated Ben’s dart gun from the locker as well as her own derri. Then the three of them headed for the antigrav tube up to the docking cradle where Eastin-Heigle’s finest battleship waited.

  *Captain Lowenbrun, three to come aboard.*

  She heard Jake chuckle as he met them in person at the hatch.

  “Hey, we’re ready,” he said. “Where are we going?”r />
  “Into the Folds.” She quickly told him what had happened.

  “No shit!” Jake’s smile faded rapidly. “Come up on to the flight deck.”

  Cara didn’t recognize any of the crew. They weren’t Free Company.

  “Oleg Staple’s boys and girls.” Jake introduced them, but Cara barely retained their names. There was a helmsman, a comms operator, a systems operator, and two tactical officers. Three other stations were empty.

  “Ready to roll?” Jake asked.

  “As soon as you are,” Cara said.

  “Max, if you’re going to be doing the Finding, take the captain’s chair,” Jake said. “Gen—”

  “I’m okay here.” She slipped into one of the empty stations and Cara did the same.

  Jake nodded to the crew. “Take us out.”

  There was no real sense of movement as the Howling Wolf slipped free of the docking cradle and left the station behind.

  “Stand by for the Folds,” Jake said from the nav station.

  “Stand by for the Folds,” the comms operator repeated shipwide. “Three, two, one.”

  The Folds sucked them up like sherbet through a straw.

  • • •

  “Yan Gwenn did a great conversion job,” Jake says. “The Wolf flies like a dream. All you have to do is tell me where to point her.”

  Cara looks around. Max is already questing for his daughter, using all his Finding skills. Gen is sitting quietly, but she’s on edge, as well she might be.

  “Follow wherever Max points,” Cara says. “I know that’s not very scientific.”

  Jake keeps his eyes on Max and gives succinct commands to the helmsman.

  “They’re close,” Max says.

  “Screens,” Jake says. “Proximity alarm. If they’re out there, we’ll find them.”

  “One minute thirty seconds,” the woman at the systems station whom Cara remembers is Libby, calls out time. And then a short while later, “Two minutes.”

  Max keeps pointing.

  At two minutes thirty his hand veers to the right by twenty degrees.

  Jake adjusts their course.

  “There!” Gen spots it first, Solar Wind hanging motionless in the void.

  Jake adjusts course again and Howling Wolf gradually comes alongside. In practical terms, about half a klick away.

  “Do you want the launch?” Jake asks.

  Cara shakes her head. “It will take too long, and we couldn’t dock against Solar Wind without cooperation.”

  “You don’t think Ben will let you on board?”

  “I’m damn sure he won’t unless we’re already too late to stop him. We’ll float across.”

  “With or without a space suit?”

  “With,” Cara says. “Let’s not test belief too far.”

  “I’ll show you the suit room. Helm, keep her steady.”

  “Yes, Cap.”

  Jake guides them through Howling Wolf’s complex corridors to the forward suit room and helps them into the flexible silver suits, checks their helmets, and taps Cara on the faceplate to get her attention. He puts his forehead to the front of her helmet. *Don’t be too hard on him. You know he’s doing it because he’s weighed up the options and this is the least worst of all of them.*

  Cara glares at him, but through the faceplate the withering effect is probably less than she intends.

  They launch themselves into foldspace through the forward airlock, all tied on to a single line and using slimline backpacks to steer.

  *Okay, Max?* Cara is very aware Max has little experience of spacewalks.

  *Ask me that when we’re aboard Solar Wind.*

  With Gen and Cara on each end of the line and Max in the middle, they make their way across from one ship to the other. Ben has to have seen them coming. Cara wonders whether he’ll wait until they get close and then pull away, but she’s sure he knows who’s coming after him. Cara doesn’t think he’ll willingly endanger any of them even if he doesn’t want them on board.

  But then, she’d never suspected he would kidnap Liv, either.

  As they approach the matte-black surface of Solar Wind, Cara stops herself from reaching out to Ben mentally. Let him make the first move if he dares.

  Instead, she reaches out to Ronan.

  *Cara!*

  *Gen’s with me, and Max. Jake is standing half a klick off the starboard beam with Howling Wolf. What’s the situation?*

  *We figured there was something wrong as soon as we hit foldspace at the thirty-klick mark. No one’s saying very much. Ben’s—well—he’s the boss and he’s Ben, so . . . *

  *How’s Liv?* Gen can’t wait.

  *She’s fine. Happy. Excited. She keeps talking about the dragon as if they’re old friends.*

  *She’ll be scared out of her wits when she sees it for real. She thinks it’s like her stuffed toy. A dragon-shaped puppy dog.*

  *Kids are tremendously resilient,* Ronan said. *Hang on. While we’ve been talking, I’ve been making my way to the emergency hatch. Stand by. I’ll let you in.*

  *Did Ben see you?* Cara asks.

  *He didn’t say anything, but I’m pretty sure he knows. I guess he figures it’s too late now. We’re in the Folds with Liv. What will happen will happen.*

  *What will happen is that I’m going to kill him,* Gen says.

  *After me,* Max says.

  *You didn’t know he was bringing her into the Folds?* Ronan asks.

  *Do you mean before or after he shot us all with a soft stun?*

  *He did what?*

  *By the time we came around, it was too late.*

  *Oh, shit.*

  The hatch springs open by a centimeter. Cara grips the handle and pulls it open the whole way. *Max first,* she says.

  *I’m not going to be all gentlemanly. Ladies, after me.*

  They cycle through the small airlock one at a time and strip off their space suits. To their credit, neither Max nor Gen rush up to the flight deck to confront Ben.

  “How do you want to do this?” Ronan asks.

  “There’s no point in being all dramatic about it,” Cara says. “He knows we’re here, and he’ll be conscious of not upsetting Liv any more than necessary. She hasn’t seen the void dragon yet?”

  “It’s a no-show so far.”

  Cara finds herself conflicted. If Ben is right and Liv is the missing link to understanding the void dragon, there should be something to show for all this upset. But if he’s wrong, then the whole thing has been for nothing. Either the void dragon will stay away, or it will materialize and the child will be scared out of her wits and, possibly, traumatized.

  Or instead of the void dragon, they’ll have the Nimbus to contend with, and then it’s likely that no one will get out alive.

  “Let’s get this over with.” Cara’s hand brushes lightly over the dart gun at her side. She hopes she won’t need it. One dart for sleep. Two darts for an even chance at recovery. Three for certain death.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  EXCHANGE

  CARA’S HERE MUCH SOONER THAN BEN EXPECTED. The game is up.

  Liv is happily playing with her toy void dragon. Sitting on Gwala’s knee, she pretends to fly the dragon over his arms and around his head. Gwala cooperates with her game and makes whooshing noises that set her off giggling.

  Ben is risking everything, and what for?

  So far, nothing.

  Ronan is first up the access tube on to the flight deck.

  “Reska Benjamin—”

  Ah, if Ronan is going to be formal, it’s bad.

  “I know, Ronan.” He puts both hands up. “I’ve gone too far.”

  Cara is right behind him. She doesn’t say anything, but the look she gives him is all disappointment and bitterness. It wrenches his heart. If she’d say
something, anything, then he might be able to explain. Does the end ever justify the means? He’s risked Liv, yes; ruined his friendship with both Gen and Max, and probably driven away the love of his life.

  All for nothing.

  Ben stands up, heart thudding against his rib cage. “Naomi, you’d better take over the ship while we’re in the Folds. Yan, you’re in charge. I’m officially handing over Solar Wind and putting myself under arrest pending charges of kidnapping.”

  “Momma, the dragon’s coming!” Liv jumps off Gwala’s knee, takes little toddler steps, and flies her toy dragon right into Gen’s arms making the whooshing sounds Gwala has been making. Gen drops to her knees and puts her arms around her daughter, burying her face in the child’s hair.

  Max strides past them, straight up to Ben. Ben sees what’s coming and neither blocks nor ducks the fist aimed at his jaw. To be honest, it’s not the hardest blow he’s ever taken, but it hurts more in so many ways.

  Ben staggers against the bulkhead while Max cradles his hand and swears. “That was worth breaking my knuckles for, Benjamin, you bastard.”

  “Would it help to say I’m sorry?”

  “Not even a little bit,” Gen says. “We’re finished.”

  “Cara—” Ben starts to speak, but she cuts him dead.

  “I don’t want to hear it.” Her look rips him apart from the inside.

  “We know what you tried to do, Ben, and why you tried to do it, but it hasn’t worked. Let’s go home.” Ronan is the single voice of reason, though it must be costing him to see people he trusted, friends, on opposite sides of a tear that will never mend.

  Yan swivels round in his seat. “You’re all making the flight deck untidy. Crew only. The rest of you find a cabin and strap in for the return journey. And that includes you, Commander Benjamin. Gwala and Hildstrom, please secure Commander Benjamin in his cabin pending a hearing. Lynda, tell Howling Wolf to get out of the Folds and go back to Crossways.”

  Ben presses his lips together and nods. It’s only what he deserves.

  “I told you it would come!” Liv’s excited voice makes them all turn around.