by J. P. Larson
The man Diane had addressed began issuing orders. “Johnson and Murphy. You’ll take this ship and meet us at the rendezvous point. Dorkin, can you carry this man?”
* * *
Alex felt Pamela’s mind in his, soothing and cool. He felt a hand caressing his face. He opened his eyes to discover his head was in Pamela’s lap.
“What did you do, Pamela?”
“Tell me what’s happened. How long have I been out?”
“About four hours. We’re aboard the Avenger, the cutter we encountered.”
“What happened to our ship?”
“Our ship? They left two men on board. I watched as it entered hyperspace. It’s gone, Alex.”
“Have they threatened us?”
“We’re being treated very well. I’ve been promised we won’t be harmed if we behave.”
“I see. When you put me out, can anyone scan me? Even you?”
“It would be difficult.”
Alex got up, turned to Pamela, then put on the ugliest expression he could. “So you imprison me in your jewelry,” he said, shaking his wrists at her. “You force me to marry you. And then you help these pirates capture me. Me! You witch!”
Alex started storming around their small cabin, banging on the walls.
“Alex! Stop this! I had to. I couldn’t let you throw your life away.”
“It’s my life, you witch! Mine!” He screamed at her, then walked to the door and started pounding on it. “You scum-sucking, bottom-dwelling carrion! Let me out of here!”
The door started to open. “Shut up in here!” came a voice from the door. Alex launched himself towards the widening crack.
His lights went out before he got there.
* * *
Alex didn’t feel very good.
Alex felt a glass at his lips, an arm cradling his head. He sipped slowly.
Her control faltered, and Alex could see. He was lying on a bed, with Pamela’s concerned face peering into his. He reached up and pulled her into a kiss.
Pamela looked at him, looked at his smile.
Pamela started laughing.
* * *
Three days later, Elizabeth Grey, the Prime Minister of Dawson’s Star, sat in her office, staring numbly at her view screen. Finally, she pressed some buttons on her desk.
“Judy. Where is Jane’s Gift?”
“They left three days ago. Not due back for several weeks.”
“Find them. Get them back here. Whatever it takes. Who else is in system?”
“Linda’s Lair arrived yesterday. And the Panther, of course. No off worlders.”
“Send Panther after the Gift. It’s fastest. Tell them to burn up the engines finding her. And tell Linda’s Lair to prepare for departure at their absolute earliest. I’ll have messages for them.”
“Where are they going?”
“Random Walk. I’ll have a message for Prime Minister Swanson.”
* * *
“We’re dropping out of hyper,” Alex told Pamela, relaxing from his exercises. “Wonder if there will be any interesting surprises.”
“I wonder.”
* * *
“Where’s my ship, Pamela?” Diane was standing in the doorway.
“Your ship, Diane? Which one is that?”
“The one I took away from you. I was thinking of calling it Diane’s Own. Catchy name, don’t you think?”
“The last time I saw it was right before it entered hyperspace. Maybe it’s just late.”
“Two days late?”
Alex got up from his chair and politely stood beside Pamela, waiting to be invited to speak. Diane eventually noticed this.
“I see you’ve taught him some manners. Do you have anything to say about this, Mr. Grey?”
Alex continued to look at Pamela.
“Alex, do you know what happened to the Pride?”
“You know she’s had engine problems. The phase inverters keep coming off line. The repairs never seem to hold very long, especially when they get stressed a bit.” He felt someone, someone who wasn’t Pamela, touch his mind, then withdraw.
Pamela frowned, then cast a dirty look at Diane. “I don’t think they would have stressed the engines, Alex.”
“Well, the navigation computer has been acting flaky lately, too. Maybe they’re just off course. I’m sure it’ll show up. It’s a good ship.”
Pamela turned to Diane. “Maybe the engines, maybe the computer? He’s been doing his own maintenance. He’s not very good at it, either.”
“Off worlders!” Diane stormed out.
* * *
“Linda, do you have the vaguest idea who you married my daughter to?” Captain Dawson was standing in Elizabeth Grey’s office.
“It was just a marriage of convenience. We needed trading partners. Pamela needed a ship of her own. He needed rescuing. Everyone wins.”
“I see. Maybe you should watch this.” The Prime Minister pressed a button on her desk, and the view screen came to life. Alex was staring out of it.
“I was looking forward to meeting you, Ms. Grey. If I should live through the experience, I hope you will allow me to do so with my honor intact. I can not be a pawn in whatever these people want.
I am expendable. I understand you may not agree with that, but now that you know who I am, I hope you can honor my way of life as much as I would try to honor yours.
“In any case, it’s unlikely I survived through the first two minutes once we were boarded. I give my life to hide my secrets, so this ship can reach you. Don’t waste that.”
The screen went blank.
“Does that strike you as overly dramatic, Linda?”
“Foolish. Give them what they want and get the two of them back.”
“Does the name Arthur Swanson mean anything to you?”
Linda nodded. “Alex’s father. He’s an artist.”
“Right. And Julie Swanson?” Elizabeth Grey looked closely at Linda.
“I don’t know that name,” Linda admitted.
“Do you know who the Prime Minister of Random Walk is?”
Linda’s eyes grew wide. “They kidnapped the children of the PMs of two worlds?”
“The apparently very resourceful children of those PMs.”
“So now what?”
“Now you make a short trip.”
* * *
The door to their cabin opened. “Pamela,” said Diane. “I’m afraid it’s time for you to record a little message for your mother.”
“Don’t do it, Pamela,” Alex told her. He turned to Diane. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”
Diane smiled. “Oh, I don’t believe you understand. We won’t be hurting her.”
Pamela stood and looked at her enemy. “Don’t do this, Diane. I’ll tell my mother anything you want.”
“I’m sure you will, Pam. But I think we need a small show of resolve. Don’t you think?”
Four armed soldiers stepped into the cabin.
* * *
“Admiral Swanson, Prime Minister, I’m Elizabeth Grey.” Elizabeth held out her hand first to the man standing in front of his desk, then to the woman. “I would have liked to have met under better circumstances. I’m sorry.”
“Have you any further word on our son, Prime Minister?” Alex’s mother asked.
“My name is Elizabeth. We’re family now. Yes, we received their demands two days ago. Our children are alive. Or were, anyway. I have a recording of my daughter. It’s not very good news.”
“Our son is alive, Elizabeth,” said Arthur Swanson. “That’s the best news we’ve had in three weeks.”
“Maybe I better play the recording.” Everyone turned to the view screen as Pamela’s face appeared. She was crying.
“Mother. I’m sorry.” Pamela sobbed for another minute, then composed herself and looked directly out of the screen. “They tortured my husband, Mother. They made me watch. He didn’t start to scream right away, but that just got them mad. He was very brave, kept screaming ‘no’ at me when I told them I would make this recording.”
Tears were running down Pamela’s cheeks.
“Mother, it went on for five or six hours. At the end, he could barely talk. At the end…” Pamela started crying again. “He begged me in the end, Mother. He begged me to ask you – don’t let them dishonor him further. Those were his words.”
The recording ended.
Elizabeth turned to her guests. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll do whatever they ask.”
“This must be very difficult for your daughter,” Arthur said. “But I was mistaken earlier. That video is the best news in three weeks. My son! He’s one heck of a negotiator. Got that from his mother.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand, Admiral.”
“It’s Arthur. Elizabeth, they didn’t break my son after only five or six hours. He’s waiting for us. Now, we just have to go find them.”
Elizabeth looked at the smile, the obvious pride Arthur was displaying for his son. “Well, I believe I can help with that,” she said after a moment. “But maybe you better tell me a little more about my son-in-law first.”
After several minutes, Elizabeth began to smile.
* * *
“Can I have some water, Pamela?”
“Yes, Alex. Here you go.” Pamela supported his head while he drank from the glass she held.
* * *
Linda Dawson, Alex’s parents, and Elizabeth Grey were in the Prime Minister’s office.
“We can provide you with a dozen or so of our strongest minds, Admiral,” Prime Minister Grey told him. “If you need more, I’ll come with you.”
“I would like to limit the civilian element, Prime Minister, but I’ll take the dozen. And if my wife could stay with you?”
“Of course. When will you leave?”
“As soon as Jane’s Gift can return me to the fleet with the help you offered. I’ll send a dozen ships or so back here shortly after we leave. Will there be a problem with the blockade?”
“Not with your navy demanding the return of your son. They’ll scream at me to do whatever it takes.”
Arthur smiled. “So I would say, we’re all set.”
“I would agree. Captain Dawson, how soon can you lift?”
“As soon as everyone is aboard,” Linda replied. “Who is going with?”
“Can Kari handle the Gift?”
“Not in combat.”
“She won’t be in combat, Captain,” said Admiral Grey. “We’ll have her hold back and just keep an extra eye on things.”
“You’ll go with the Admiral then, Linda? That makes an even dozen, with the eleven already waiting downstairs.”
“You move fast, Prime Minister,” said Alex’s mother.
“Admiral, is this the right plan?”
“Do you trust these people to return your daughter to you?” Elizabeth shook her head. “We’ll bring them back alive. My son has been orchestrating this all along, and I have no reason to believe he won’t help us out when we need it.”
“Good luck, Arthur.”
* * *
The door opened. Pamela sprang to her feet and stood in front of Alex. “He can’t take any more, Diane!”
“He won’t need to. Your mother has agreed to our demands. I thought you would like to know.” Diane smiled sweetly, then swept back out of the room, the door closing tightly behind her.
* * *
“Admiral,” Linda said from aboard the bridge of Bull Market. “There are definitely several ships in the right place.”
“Excellent. How much warning will they have, assuming they’re even watching for us?”
“I don’t know who is there. We’ll be able to hide you for most of the approach, but if they’re looking, and looking in the right place, they’ll see us at least a couple of minutes before we drop out of hyperspace.”
“And it’ll take you a few minutes to find my son and his wife?”
“Or less, especially if Pamela is looking for us.”
“I do believe that might be quite likely. Would you tell your friends that we go on schedule, please?”
Linda concentrated. In an approximate circle around the pirate rendezvous point, eleven other clusters of Random Walk Navy ships received the confirmation they were looking for. Thirty minutes later, they all began an approach that would take four hours, an approach that would have taken the Jane’s Gift two days.
* * *
“Just help me walk around, P
amela. You’ll have to support my weight.”
Pamela helped Alex climb from the bed. He was obviously having great difficulty moving, but refused to listen to her requests to stay in bed.
So she supported his weight, and the two of them moved clumsily around the cabin.
“Why are you doing calculus?” she finally asked him. Alex just smiled weakly at her.
* * *
“Two minutes to destination,” announced the navigator aboard the Bull Market.
“Ms. Dawson, have we been discovered?”
“No, Admiral. I don’t think they’re even looking.”
Arthur Swanson chuckled. “They don’t know who Alex is. I bet even my daughter-in-law doesn’t know. Dawson’s Star doesn’t have a navy, so they think they’re safe.”
He activated the ship’s intercom. “Look sharp, people. This is a surgical operation. Don’t blow anyone up until we know where the hostages can be found. Those are our people, and we’re getting them back.”
Restitution
Alex got up and began to stretch vigorously, surprising Pamela.
* * *
“Normal space in five… four… three… two… one…”
In a sphere centered around the cluster of pirate ships, nearly half the Random Walk navy simultaneously dropped out of hyperspace. A quarter of a second later, a dozen missiles from each ship were streaking towards the pirate ships.
“Find my son, Ms. Dawson!”
* * *
