Maricar readjusted her name badge and stepped to the door of the new vessel that might be her permanent home. The Scott was the Outer Settlement Agency’s secret project. An escape hatch for humanity. Only a few in the star system knew about its existence and that was fine by her. The Scott’s crew and passengers were all dead or had disappeared as far as the rest of mankind was concerned. No one would ever see their home worlds of Earth, Mars, Titan, or Venus again. And the most beautiful lies were weaved across the stars to hide them. And the truth was woven as well, that the ship and her bounty were all heading out on a one way trip to the far side of the galaxy.
The solar system was huge, ripe for exploration and exploitation. Humanity had knocked it out of the park on both counts. Now man needed a bigger park. A pure park. OSA had determined they wouldn’t make the same mistake of crunch-time - oh shit - last second terraforming again. Before humanity screwed things up a second time, The Outer Settlement Agency would have a backup plan in place. Put that way, Maricar’s adventure was less of a self-serving escape mission and more of a humanitarian project.
Hence, OSA’s secret program to explore hundreds of other planets in the Milky Way with the The Scott leading the way, and with her four sister ships not far behind. There were even rumors, in the halls, of another secret ship on its way to the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy. They had to be true. She certainly wouldn’t put it past the bastards.
Maricar had contemplated stealing her way onto that vessel. It would have been the ultimate getaway for sure. But that trip would last several lifetimes. She’d die on the ship for sure. At least here, there was a chance she’d live long enough to put her feet on soil again.
She just hoped she hadn’t chosen the wrong escape chute. As an assassin, Maricar could track down every single target in the solar system. She was good. One of the best. But she wasn’t an egotist. There were other killers out there smart enough to do the same. The stars were full of them. She had to trade in her skies for new ones because of it. Here, she knew everyone, and no one knew her. She’d always keep look over her shoulder, but with luck she’d never see a knife trained at her back. She was, for the most part, free.
Time to go. A few steps outside of her door, two brats slammed into her. “Watch it, asswipes.”
“Ms. Ocampo?”
“What?”
“Uh…” The red-faced teenager cleared his throat and glanced at the shorter kid beside him. After a half-assed shrug of encouragement from his friend, the fool tapped his omnitablet and tried again. “You’re to be in the Blue Galley in ten minutes.”
She crossed her arms and shot him a narrow eyed death glare until the little punk took a step back. “Don’t you think I know that?”
“Yes, it’s just… well…” He looked to his friend for support, the little one’s eyes were focused on her tapping nails.
“Get out of here.”
And sure enough, the punks skittered away, disappearing down the halls that glowed a warm golden in their wake. She ought to be kinder to those kids. Maybe by the time the ship landed in forty-two years, assuming the nerds on board were right with their optimal nuclear-pulse propulsion theories, one of those brats might be admiral of the fleet. “Welcome to my new life.”
Everyone had a job to do here, even the youngest. Perhaps they’d have the hardest jobs of all. Now and for the next fifty years, they would be in non-stop training for life on a new world.
Nothing else mattered beyond that. Well, nothing except that one major “ah, hell” notation in her quickly scribbled plan for escape. It was also the reason why those boys had come to her door.
Last night had been the first of the couples’ matching meetings, and she’d declined the invitation. That was a big no-no. The escape hatch she called home had a helluva caveat. Each person on board had been chosen for a reason. Brains? Skills? Sure. But the universe was full of smart people. The one detail that categorically pushed all others to the sidelines was DNA sequence.
Or rather, the gifting of DNA from one generation to the next by way of mixing it with someone else’s. Saving humanity is cool and all, but they had to make some babies along the way. The kids on board were here to learn. The adults were here to teach…and make more children to be taught. No adult was exempt. She could only put off the inevitable for so long. For males and females, the rules were simple. Work. Procreate. Save humanity.
Maricar slammed her head against the door and groaned. Motherhood—the ultimate payback for a life of crime.
Chapter 2
Dario Steel checked the time on the dining table again, working very hard not to be annoyed. He was known for his patience, but it had limits. If this Maricar person stood him up twice, he would lose his shit.
He raised the table’s communication screen to ring her room, when a tousle-haired beauty plopped down in front of him. The woman’s eyes were wide with a defiant gaze that settled somewhere just right of his shoulder. It wasn’t the ‘I’m too demure to make eye contact’ look. More of the ‘The sun rises and sets with me and I’m too high and mighty to glance in your general direction.’ He was used to people like that. Raised by them. In other words, he was not impressed by any of it.
She pursed her lips and sighed. “I’m Maricar. Mari, if we’re to be familiar. Not anytime soon, so don’t get any ideas.”
Yep. He’d pegged her just right. Having been raised by assholes, though, he knew how to handle them. Keep them on a short leash and call them out on their crap.“And?”
“And what,” she asked with a bottom lip slightly turned down. This was a woman unused to being clapped back to.
“I’d assumed you were going to apologize for being late tonight.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Or apologize for not showing up yesterday.”
The diminutive princess snapped her head to the side and shrugged. “So, no.”
“No?” Hell. This was the person he was most compatible with? Five ships heading to a new world with three thousand settlers between them, and she’s the one they hooked him up with? “You’ve got a mouth on you.”
“Thank y—”
“Not a compliment.”
His wife… or intended wife… mate… whatever… leaned back into the gold cushions until the soft-blue light on the wall bathed her skin. With round cheeks, clear and sharp dark eyes, her looks were only outmatched by her radiating defiance.
They were one of many couples in the room. Some were awkward and shy; others leaned toward each other with flushed cheeks. None had the whole pissed-at-everything feel emanating from their tables. “Listen, Mari—”
“You’re spoiled and used to getting your way,” she said.
“Your hypocrisy is comical. Put it on hold though. We’re about to be interrupted.”
One of the dining workers smiled from a few steps away until Mari snapped her wrist and screeched for him to hurry it up. The man shot over, dropped a glass of wine and slithered back.
“You’ve terrified the poor man. Now how am I supposed to eat?” he asked.
Mari’s eyes never broke away from his. “You’re the son of one of Venus’s founding families. I’m surprised you don’t have servants feeding you from their honeyed fingertips.”
“So you did care enough to look me up. Good. To your point, I’d asked for the servants. They wouldn’t let me bring them along. Why do you think I’m so keen to meet you?”
Her eyes flashed, and she turned away, but not before her lips lifted in a smile. A tight smile, but it was progress, nonetheless. It was also a smile that intrigued him.
“You’re a prat,” she added lamely.
“I know, and I know why I’m here. My name. It’s a continuity thing. They’ve got first families on each of these vessels.” Then he leaned in conspiratorially and winked. “We’re meant to breed with the unwashed rabble—”
“Oh, God.”
“It’s true. All the problems man left behind on Earth, they recreated on Mars and Venus and Tit
an and every other damned place in the solar system. It leads one to wonder if perhaps humanity is simply coded for dickish behavior. I sometimes wonder if we’d be doing the universe a favor by dying off instead.”
“But here we are, off to find a new home and do it all over again.”
“Well, there’s that. But there’s also the small sliver of hope that the Epsilon Eridani System is where we get it right.”
Maricar’s long lashes swooped down and she folded her arms. The hint of a line deepened between her eyes. In an instant, they’d gone from cold and distant to, if he wasn’t mistaken, a little fearful. “Easy for you to say. You’re not being turned into a—”
“What? Baby maker? But I am, darling.” He reached for her wine and, after her nod, brought it to his lips. “I spent my whole life being trained in the top terraforming programs. I’m now realizing why. I’m the last child of a couple that has plenty of heirs and a legacy to keep. What better use for a fourth son? I’m as much a pawn in this as you are.”
“Pawns kill kings. It happens all the time,” she said in a tone as even as a knife’s edge.
“Quite. Funny thing, though. You seem to know a lot about me, but I can’t pull up a datafile about you. It’s almost as if you were created from thin air and placed on this flight. Your name sounds Tagalog, but I’ve checked every log on every ship for you. Nothing.”
Those mercurial eyes of hers flashed in challenge, but she kept her mouth shut. She was a mystery. Perhaps the last true puzzle he’d have for decades. And she was his.
“Nothing to say, Maricar? Because a similar thing happened on the Herbstreit. Not a stowaway precisely, but someone with a past to escape managed to trade places with someone else and get on board. I’m not sure how such a thing could possibly happen. No one is. Would you like to know what they did to him?”
“What does it matter?”
“You say that, but something in your eyes tells me otherwise. Indulge me. Let me tell you anyway. Rules are different here. Without an angry populace to keep them in check, OSA is morphing into Meash Corp by the minute.”
When he offered the glass of wine, she snorted and pushed it back. “The Outer Settlement Agency is judge, jury, and executioner. They’ve always been that. Only now, they don’t have to pretend anymore. And I’ll pass on the wine. It makes me slow and I can’t afford that.”
And that told him everything. She’d come to this dinner out of resigned obligation, but the woman across from him was morphing into a warrior before his eyes. She rotated her shoulders. Her eyes scanned their soundings. One hand even closed over the knife on the table. Damn.
A cafeteria worker strolled around the concourse with sloshing glasses of Sladq Surprises. The well-known aphrodisiac disappeared faster than the miles between them and home. All around them, people were launching into their new existences, enthusiastically throwing themselves into fresh lives to cope with the loss of their old ones.
Back home, he would have ditched a woman like this Maricar for something a little easier. A little more pliable. But a mission like this all but ensured the absence of weak-willed women.
More, Mari mystified him. His money and connections hadn’t been able to shed light on her history. That was new. He’d spent his whole life surrounded by staff and bodyguards, checking and cross checking anyone who got too close. He had full histories on attendees of every meeting, party or casual gathering. Privacy was a luxury unaffordable to anyone associating with the Steel clan. Until now.
Maricar waved away the Sladq Surprises when the cart pusher eased over to their table. “We’ll take juice instead.”
“It’s this or water, the company says—”
“Water then.” How she got that past her clenched teeth, he wasn’t sure.
“He’s just doing his job, Mari. We all are. You, me, everyone here. This is what we signed up for.” But even as he said it, he knew she hadn’t made such a promise. This wasn’t his chosen one. She didn’t fit. Maricar was a stowaway. This wasn’t her style, and she was woefully out of place. It’d get her killed. “Listen, let’s start over. There’s no rush for anything. Sometime between now and years from now, we should… you know.”
“Oh, God. Just shut up.”
“I get it. This isn’t easy for me, either, but the baby thing… and if you’ve got something to hide, then—” And that’s when he leaned back. If looks were lethal, his insides would have been dripping from the ceiling lights.
“Don’t. I’m not one to sit around here and be threatened. I belong here and I won’t let you convince anyone else that I don’t. My datafile proves—”
“That wasn’t a threat.”
“Good. Because the old me would have—”
“But that’s just it, Maricar Ocampo. The old you is gone. She has to be, in order for you to survive.”
Chapter 3
Gone.
His words clanged like death knells from old Earth films. Her previous life was a memory, and if she wanted to keep breathing, he was right. That life needed to stay that way. She was losing her cool. The possibility of not being able to escape was doing her head in. This ship was it. No more running or flying off at the first sign of danger.
It terrified the shit out of her, but she couldn’t erase the core of who she was either.
The sharp-chinned man across from her swirled his soup with flourish. He studied her as much as she’d studied her targets in the past. What did he see? Not weakness, for damned sure, but what? And why did she care anyway?
Okay, well, she cared because they were stuck together. And maybe she cared because he knew that she didn’t belong here. Maybe she cared because she’d slipped once already on Day Two of a forever long mission.
As Dario turned his spoon, green soup dribbled into the bowl. “They’ve given us real food. How long until they switch us to calorietabs, do you think?”
“As soon as we’re too far away to stage a proper munity. That story about the stowaway on the other ship, was that a threat or a warning? And why would you give me either? You don’t know me.”
His cheek twitched, and one wide finger rapped on the metal table. After a deep sigh, he clicked his tongue. “Neither. It was a hope that you won’t go ballistic and stab some poor guy in the throat if he looks at you funny. Whatever you’re running from—stop. I can’t imagine anyone else has investigated you as much as I have. If you were smart enough to get onboard in the first place, then…” He spooned his soup and closed his eyes. “Just be careful.”
Run. Kill. Cash in.
It was all she’d been trained for. All she knew. Her strength had kept her safe this long. She’d be an idiot to abandon it now. “If there’s a fight ahead, I’ll meet it. I’m not afraid of anything.”
“Figured as much.” His voice had gone as deep and raspy as a dusty wind through a mineshaft. “My name, at least for a while, still carries privileges. You’re safe.”
“Not that I need it, but why would you protect me? What do you think you’re getting out of it?”
“I like you.”
She must have had a look of complete “what the hell” on her face, because his mouth split into a wide smile.
After a half shrug, he nodded. “It’s true.”
“True?”
“Well…” He wiggled his hand in the air. “After you ditched me last night, I checked out my other two genetic matches. They’re, uh, softer than you. One’s a scientist, and the other’s a botanist. Good women, I suppose.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
His brow softened, and for the first time, he melted back into the chair. “I think I’d grow bored of good women.”
“Good women breed good sons.”
“This is me shivering at breed, in case you missed it.”
She hadn’t, and his blink-and-you-miss-it twinge of revulsion did a world of good for her soul. She’d put herself into this situation. All of this, one hundred percent her fault from start to finish—an
d yet, of all possible outcomes, she’d landed this muscular, handsome, and by all appearances, decent partner in her final crime. “Dario—”
“I don’t need good children, Maricar. I need strong sons and daughters. Fun ones. Ones brave enough to look a stranger in the face and tell him to shove off,” he added with a smile. “They’ll have to be strong to help build a new world. And, I want a home…” He snorted and rolled his eyes. “A berth on this ship filled with laughter. I want as good of a life as I can get out here. And before you ask—because I can see it in your untrusting eyes—you need me too. One day, you’ll tell me everything about yourself, Maricar, but I’m willing to wait.”
Why? The shortest and deepest question in the universe danced on the edge of her tongue, but she couldn’t bring herself to let it slip out. The answer was as clear as their rapidly decreasing sun. Dario had no choice, and honestly, neither did she. For several million miles, Maricar wouldn’t be able to share her past with anyone. Even then, there would be no point. She could be killed for stealing a place on this ship today or fifty years from now—or never. “Maybe it’s best for the future, if I have no past. A blank slate. I’ll just fade into the background and—”
He moved in a blur, shoving plates aside. Dario closed both hands around a fist she hadn’t realized she’d made. “I didn’t say that, and I don’t think you want that, either. You didn’t scam your way onto this ship by being a stupid, boring woman. I’d prefer it if you didn’t become one now.”
“I’m not a good person.”
“That, I believe,” he said with a wink and a grin that lightened his face as well as her spirits.
She leaned in and lightly tapped him, ignoring the muscles as her knuckles grazed his shoulder. He was beautiful, and he was hers. “You’re an asshole, Dario.”
Romancing the Stars: 8 Short Stories of Galactic Romance and Adventure Page 4
