by Tasha Black
“Yes, that’s correct,” BFF20 affirmed. “The Captain of this ship referred to it as a web.”
“What if that web is acting as a gigantic electromagnet?” she asked. “All the metal in the ship might be polarized, right?”
“I suppose that’s possible,” BFF20 allowed.
“That would mean all the metal on the ship is magnetized, just like my multi-tool,” she said.
BFF20 made a humming noise.
“And if that’s true, then what if I could reverse the polarity of this ship?” she mused. “It would repel the web instead of attracting. This whole ship could pop right out of the web’s grip, like a wet bar of soap.”
15
Nick
Nick looked up into the tapestry of stars and then down at the bowl of ice cream in his hands.
It was his fourth bowl.
Nick had never eaten ice cream before - he had never understood the appeal. He had taken its name from the context he knew, and had been confused at the human notion that a frozen version of the coffee additive might make a delicious treat.
Two pints of mint chocolate chip later and he was a believer.
None of his problems were solved, but at least life felt marginally worth living.
He took another bite and studied the sky.
Raina was right of course - the evidence of time’s passage was right there for him to see. If only he hadn’t been hypnotized by her smile.
Generations had come and gone while he slept on this ship.
He ached, thinking of his brothers.
The dome looked outward, away from the other ships and whatever trap held them all in place. He wished he could see the other two ships in the caravan.
He wasn’t sure whether he wished his brothers had escaped, lived their lives, and died. Or whether it would be better to know they lived on, if only in stasis, trapped in the web of this thing that had caught them.
For now at least, he was alone.
He closed his eyes, trying to picture his grandmother’s face.
She had raised Leo, Nick and Peter, making every place they camped feel like a home, feeding their young minds with magical stories of the barbarians’ old home world.
When she died, his worst fear was that he would forget her. He had been closing his eyes to imagine her advice for longer than he could remember.
But she always appeared in his mind’s eye, comforting and kind.
She smiled at him now, eyes crinkling, wearing one of her favorite forms - a witchy looking human shaped woman with a sharp nose, jet colored hair and moth-like wings.
Family is who you make it, Nick, she reminded him with a wink.
I don’t want that grasping human to be my family, he thought to himself.
How well do you know her? his grandmother asked. Is it possible you have misjudged her?
He opened his eyes and took another bite of ice cream.
Why would his bond call to someone who wasn’t a perfect match?
Was that even possible?
Outside, the hull of the ship still shone silver in the starlight. Around it, just above the dome, tendrils of the thick smoky stuff bound them in place, all but invisible against the inky blackness of space.
A light buzzing sound behind him drew his attention from the dome.
BFF20 hovered in the doorway, as if uncertain.
“Do you need something?” Nick asked.
Needing no further encouragement, the little drone sailed into the room. “I thought you should know she’s trying to dismantle part of the ship and electrify it,” he said in his clipped accent.
“She’s what?” Nick asked, heading for the door.
“She thinks the web is an electromagnetic field that has the whole ship magnetized, and that if she can reverse the polarity of the ship—” BFF20 began.
“—The whole thing will pop right out like a wet bar of soap,” Nick breathed. “Genius.”
“That’s exactly what she said,” BFF20 noted drily. “But if she kills herself trying to pull the chandelier off the ceiling we’ll never find out if she was right.”
“Gods,” Nick said, dashing into the living room.
Raina hovered near the ceiling, one foot braced on the wire that held the sofa suspended. She was furiously battling with the enormous crystal chandelier that was attached to the ceiling panel.
Nick felt all his anger dissipate as he watched the little human struggling valiantly to save herself, and him, and the baby.
Maybe his grandmother had a point.
16
Raina
Raina had just managed to leverage her screwdriver under the ceiling plate for the chandelier.
At first it seemed to be held so fast that she was afraid it was welded in place. But a nearly invisible composite material sealing the plate in place chipped away if she smashed it hard enough. Raina had finally removed the last of it. All she had to do now was release the plate, then she could access the wiring.
“What are you doing?” Nick’s angry voice exploded into the quiet room, sending the tiny crystals of the chandelier tinkling.
Raina nearly fell from her precarious perch.
Luckily the gravity was so low she merely floated downward until she caught herself on one of the branches of the enormous light fixture.
“I’m trying to get us out of here,” she said.
“By killing yourself?” he asked.
“Well, I’m not going to do it by eating ice cream,” she said, sparing a withering glance for the bowl in his hand.
He looked down at his ice cream and back up at her, his handsome face so stunned.
“Frozen dessert burn,” she muttered to herself.
“What?” he asked.
“Just old Earth slang,” she replied. “Are you going to help me or what?”
“Yes,” he said, seeming glad to latch on to something positive. “But please come down from there so I can see what we’re working with.”
She drifted down to him in the low gravity, feeling strangely like a mermaid.
She hoped the tenuous truce they seemed to have forged would hold long enough to get them out of dodge.
He stood his ground, even when she landed a little too close. His jaw tightened, but he didn’t even blink.
It was torture being so close to him without being able to kiss him. Or punch him in his beautiful face.
“The gravity keeps dropping,” she said looking down at her hands. “Do you think the baby’s pod is okay?”
“Let’s see if we can get out of here before we have to find out,” he offered.
She watched as he kicked off and floated to the ceiling. The whole thing reminded her of Mary Poppins and the tea party in the air, but with way less laughter.
“I’m going to pop the plate off, okay?” he called down to her.
“Sure,” Raina said, glad for a chance to catch her breath.
Nick reached out a hand. But it wasn’t a hand anymore. Long claws extended and easily popped the plate off the ceiling.
“Well, that’s handy,” Raina said in spite of herself.
Nick grinned down at her, forgetting his anger for a moment.
It struck her that he truly wasn’t expecting her to be impressed by his gift. What a strange new world this was.
“You want me to expose the wires?” he asked.
“Not yet,” she said, swinging herself up by the sofa wire. “I wanted to make sure we could access them. Now we need to pull down one of these ceiling panels so we can reach the hull.”
She liked the way he nodded and immediately began looking for vulnerabilities in the ceiling panels.
Back on Earth, Raina’s leadership qualities were sometimes seen as something less than desirable. Men could be especially resentful when she asserted herself. But Nick seemed perfectly happy to throw himself into her plan and follow her lead. The big alien wasn’t the least bit threatened.
And why should he be? He was the ultimate alpha male - stron
g, confident, protective. He had nothing to prove.
“Here, maybe?” he suggested, indicating a seam she hadn’t noticed before.
“How did you spot that?” she wondered, squinting to pick up the fine details.
“I cheated,” he said, glancing back at her.
His eyes were silvery with long, narrow pupils, like some kind of bird of prey.
Then he blinked, and his own blue eyes twinkled once more.
“Does that hurt?” She couldn’t resist asking.
He shook his head.
“Does it feel weird?” she asked.
“It’s something I’ve always done,” he said. “It feels kind of like stretching.”
Gravity kicked back in suddenly.
Raina had no time to regain her hold on the wire. She began to fall.
A huge hand wrapped around her waist. Suddenly she was pressed to Nick’s chest, suspended over the living room floor as if by a dark angel.
Nick’s breathing was harsh. His warm body encircled hers.
In spite of her misgivings, her own body responded to his instantly. Shivers of desire skittered across her skin. She fought not to press closer, not to nuzzle his chest and inhale the heady scent of him.
“Grab onto the wire,” he told her, through clenched teeth.
His anger was like ice water to her heated desire.
Blushing furiously, and furious at herself for blushing, Raina slid down the wire to the sofa below.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded.
Gravity dipped again, and she felt the fluttering in her stomach just like when she’d first entered the ship.
She lowered herself onto the sofa and closed her eyes, trying to find her equilibrium.
Her stomach and her heart were both clenching. It was impossible to focus when gravity and the big alien’s emotions were fluctuating like crazy.
She sensed him before she opened her eyes.
Nick floated down to join her, kneeling at her feet.
“Raina, are you okay?” he asked gently.
“Yes, it’s just the gravity…” she trailed off as she met his eyes, so blue, so intense.
“I’m sorry I’ve been angry with you,” he told her. “When you’ve lived a life like mine, loyalty means everything.”
“I understand,” she told him.
“It’s hard for me to be close to you without wanting to claim you,” he told her gruffly.
Suddenly she heard the clenched voice he’d used a moment ago in a different way. Desire, not anger, had him growling at her.
“I thought you were just one more greedy human,” he said. “But you’re not. You’re willing to risk your life to get us out of here. And Raina, if you want it, I promise you, the three of us will make a new life. Maybe we can even get the thing off the ship and have a life right here.”
Her mind reeled.
Of course she would love to have a life with him, and the idea of making off with the ship was a good one.
On the other hand, she owed Mama her life. And she had Anna and Angel to think of.
And in spite of the bond she felt to Tesla, he wasn’t hers to take. She couldn’t claim a baby as a prize. Especially when he could have an extraordinary life, treasured and beloved by the people of New Russia. What could Raina offer him in comparison to that?
“Nick,” she said carefully, placing her hand on his knee. “I love your idea, but we have to do the right thing.”
“My idea?” he asked.
“The baby doesn’t belong to us,” she reminded him. “And my friends on the other two ships are in trouble. I can’t abandon them.”
A dark look crossed Nick’s gorgeous features, and then he stood, glowering down at her.
“I can’t just leave,” she told him. “You don’t understand.”
“Oh, I understand,” he said. “I’m going to check on the baby.”
She watched as he disappeared into the bedroom without looking back.
17
Raina
Raina tried to concentrate fully on dismantling the ceiling - she really did. The vigorous exercise was a good release for her frustration, and the lack of gravity should have been enough of a distraction to occupy her mind.
Instead, she mostly just raged about Nick.
That beefy alien had a lot of nerve.
Raina was trying to do the right thing. You couldn’t just abandon your friends and steal a baby. You couldn’t just run off with a luxury space cruiser that you had only boarded because your employer dropped you off on it.
She managed to get her screwdriver under the next section and shear off about a foot of ceiling panel. It reminded her of watching her dad slide scissors through wrapping paper.
Now there was a man who knew how to remain calm. No matter the circumstances, Raina’s dad never broke a sweat. He never raised his voice. He never cursed or hurried. She literally could not imagine him storming off like Nick kept doing. Dad was a man of routine, everything in its place, neat, tidy and dependable.
As she hacked away at the next section, Raina thought about her life before. There had been quiet weekend mornings, her parents sharing sections of the newspaper across the small breakfast table that had belonged to Grandma Diane, and sunlight gleaming on the freshly washed glasses on the ancient draining board. There was a sweetness to their quiet routine, a peace in the rhythm of their repetitive conversations about the neighbors and the mailman and the weather.
It had driven Raina up a wall.
She’d been bored to tears. Some days she imagined that her parents were going to fade slowly away in the sunlight at the table like the pattern on the tablecloth that had adorned it for decades.
It was why she had joined the Space Cadets in the first place.
Raina wanted adventure. She wanted to explore new worlds and find new things.
I’m nomadic. Do you know what that means?
Nick’s words echoed in her mind. Even his suggestion that they take off with the baby sounded fantastic.
Raina had obligations to her friends and to Mama, but when push came to shove, if she were being honest, once those were honored, she would like nothing more than to head for the hills with Nick.
If only he would stop storming off.
And if they didn’t have to leave Tesla behind.
She shoved her screwdriver in her pocket and wrenched at a sheet of the ceiling panel with her hands as she finally let herself face the feelings she had for the baby.
He was not hers.
He was asleep in a stasis pod. She had never even seen his eyes.
But in Raina’s heart none of that mattered. She felt a bond to the baby that was irrational and intense. She wondered what would happen if she wasn’t permitted to stay with him in some capacity.
She pulled hard enough that something came loose in the ceiling and she nearly fell as a huge chunk of the section came down.
She blew out a breath and was surprised to see it fog in the air.
It was cold again in the suite, very cold. She hadn’t even noticed between her exertion and the tempest of her emotions.
“The heat is off again,” BFF20 announced, flying in. “I checked the thermostat and it’s operating properly.”
“Then why is the heat off?” Raina asked. “Is it broken?”
That didn’t seem possible. The heat on spaceships was normally just runoff generated by the systems that powered the ship.
“Something’s blocking the airflow,” BFF20 said.
“What would be blocking the airflow?” Raina asked.
“I… have no idea,” BFF20 admitted. He wasn’t often stumped - the little robot usually had an answer for everything.
“What do we do?” Raina asked.
“I think you should do what you’re already doing,” BFF20 said. “But faster.”
“I’m here,” Nick said, coming in. “I’ll help.”
Raina resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“You’re back,” she said, deadpan.
“She’s got nearly the whole sheet down, Nick,” BFF20 told him. “She can probably use a hand on the side near the chandelier to catch the thing when it falls. In this gravity you should be able to lower it slowly.”
Raina watched in wonder as the little drone interacted gently with the big alien. All the jealousy was gone from his voice. The droid seemed… sympathetic.
She shook the feeling away and focused on loosening the last corner of the ceiling panel. It was good to have Nick here. In the low gravity, she could have probably balanced the whole thing, but if gravity had kicked in even a little, it would have been a disaster.
“I’ve got it now,” Nick said.
Even though he was obviously still mad at her, his deep voice sent shivers down her spine.
She ignored them and kept working on the ceiling - just a few more minutes and she should have the access she needed.
BFF20 hovered in the air at her side, humming and whistling nervously to himself.
She tried her best to focus on the task at hand - not to think about the dropping temperature in the room, or the baby alone in the secret chamber behind the closet.
18
Nick
Nick held the section of ceiling easily in the low gravity.
What was difficult was remembering his anger at Raina while she worked across from him, looking both fiercely capable and heart-stoppingly beautiful as she delved into her arsenal of tools to detach the panel from its anchors.
“I think that’s it,” she said, shoving her screwdriver back in her holster. “We need to balance it now.”
“What do you mean, balance it?” Nick asked.
“I mean we balance it on the brackets, so that it exposes the ceiling, but stays up here where we can reattach it when we’re done,” she explained.
He looked at the brackets that came down between the ceiling panels. They were light aluminum, meant for hanging plants or privacy screens - not for carrying a load like the enormous ceiling panel.
