Rae and Essa’s Space Adventure

by Donna Maree Hanson

  ‘Coming!’

  Surging out of bed, I hit the san unit double time and was stepping into my most boring ship suit (a onesie) within two minutes. I bounded down the companionway to the bridge.

  Slick was at one of the command chairs, checking the scope. Light on the console flashed different colours. My attention was snared by the view screen — it was filled with black velvet space, an ugly backdrop of asteroids and some light from a distant star.

  Thorn turned slightly, not quite making eye contact. ‘Take a seat. There’s a ship at those coordinates but we can’t raise them. We’re scanning the area before approaching.’

  ‘Why? Can’t you go straight in? That’s my mother out there.’

  Our eyes met as I took a seat. ‘What?’

  ‘The ship is undamaged. Their comms are working normally.’

  My eyes narrowed. ‘So they should be able to respond to our hails, if they are on the ship.’

  ‘That’s right. No signs of life. There’s atmosphere, so no hull breach but it’s a sitting duck. A trap, maybe.’

  A trap? For who? What kind of trouble was my mother in? How close were these pirates to the centre of power? I rubbed my chin. ‘Perhaps the crew transferred to another ship for a meeting or something.’

  Thorn titled his head, considering it. ‘Maybe, depends on what your mother was up to out here.’

  I said nothing.

  ‘Do you know what she was doing out here?’

  I shook my head. I didn’t know specifically what she was doing out here. I had a feeling now wasn’t a good time to mention the possibility of pirates.

  ‘Illegal trade with renegade aliens? Slave trading—’

  ‘I said I don’t know.’

  Thorn’s eyes narrowed.

  I didn’t care that he was suspicious. ‘Can we dock with them?’

  ‘Yes, but we won’t.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because you know something and I’m not moving until you tell me.’

  I nodded, my eyes on the ship outside. I swallowed. It was time to come clean.

  ‘My mother was on the trail of pirates who had infiltrated her company. I don’t know what’s happened or why she is here. I don’t know if there are pirates involved, but,’ I said with a shrug, ‘there could be.’

  Thorn swung away and clicked a few switches. ‘It’s most likely a trap then. We will proceed with caution. Thank you for being honest, Essa.’

  Our eyes met and Slick glanced over at me.

  ‘If we dock with that ship, we get caught,’ Thorn said.

  ‘But I need to go there. I need to find my mother and my sister, and that abandoned ship is the only clue.’

  There was a grunt from Slick.

  ‘You found it?’ Thorn asked, spinning towards the younger man.

  ‘Found what?’

  Our attention was fixed on Slick.

  He looked up, his eyes moving from Thorn to me. ‘Debris from your sister’s ship.’

  The elevator of my stomach descended. ‘My sister?’ I plonked myself back on my seat. ‘How can you tell?’

  ‘Transponder in the wreckage.’

  ‘Keep scanning,’ Thorn said to Slick, before swivelling in his chair to face me. ‘Don’t worry. I’m sure she’s alive.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘But the crew of her hire aren’t likely to be. Your sister, Rae, fell into the trap. Or, I should say, her captain did.’

  It was a relief that Thorn thought she was alive. ‘I need to find my sister and my mother and the only way I can do that is to dock with that ship.’

  ‘No, it isn’t.’

  Seriously, I was having trouble communicating with Thorn. ‘Why isn’t it? We just float over there, use thrusters to manoeuvre, align the docking tube. Easy peasy. Then I check for clues and we leave.’

  ‘I’m not taking this ship over there until I know more about the situation. We will wait and see. The only way over there without jeopardising this ship is by EVA. I’m not quite ready for that option. In the meantime, this ship stays hidden.’

  He pointed to the view screen. A large asteroid neared and we were moving towards it.

  ‘We’re hiding in the shadow of an asteroid?’ I lifted an eyebrow. It made sense in an infuriating kind of way.

  ‘Yes, we are. I bet the people who are waiting to spring that trap are too.’ Thorn powered down the ship’s systems, while Slick put the ship in alignment with the asteroid.

  ‘So what do we do? Sit here and wait?’

  Thorn leaned back in his chair. ‘I guess we do. Unless you have a better idea.’

  Chapter Eight

  Springing Traps

  We continued to stare at the screen, watching the abandoned ship surreptitiously until I could stand it no longer. ‘We need to spring that trap.’

  ‘Not with my ship. You saw the readout. Your sister’s ship was destroyed. She may have gone over there but the crew that flew her here are dead. Is that what you want? Us dead?’

  I shook my head. ‘No, of course I don’t want you dead. But I can’t help worrying about them. They could be torturing my mother for access codes — or Rae for that matter, to put pressure on her.’

  ‘And what could you do about that? If we went there they’d capture you too, dispose of us and everything would be the same.’

  ‘What am I supposed to do then? Just wait?’

  ‘For now, yes. I’m mulling over our options.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Just sit tight, okay?’

  There wasn’t any point arguing with him. I nodded, and then sneaked a look at the view screen before retreating to my quarters. I found myself wondering what Rae would do in this situation. What came to mind was quite scary. I paced around my quarters, not easy in low grav. I kept bumping into things.

  I thought back to what Thorn said about being who I wanted to be. It was terrible. I was wracked with indecision, and confused. If we couldn’t spring the trap, why was I here? What did I come for? I couldn’t risk Thorn’s life or Slick’s, I knew that.

  The thought of Thorn hurt struck me hard. I found it unbearable. I sat down hard on my bed. I cared about him.

  Then I set about wondering how I could care about such an obnoxious person. I realised it was because he’d bothered to look behind my façade and he’d seen what I had to do. I needed to find out who I was and what I wanted. He’d given me good advice. He’d touched the essence of me.

  Thorn’s voice piped into the room with an update. The sound of it thrilled me, made my skin tingle and my body shiver. There was something wrong with me. I went to the san unit and looked at myself in the mirror. It was still me — brown eyes, brown hair, straight nose, straight teeth, but there was something different, too. A sparkle in my eyes, a softness to my mouth that wasn’t there before. I fiddled with my hair, tucking it behind my ears.

  His voice sounded again and I held my breath. Thorn reported that my mother’s ship was still stationary and they’d counted two bodies in the debris of the destroyed ship. He didn’t sound too happy about it. I let my breath out.

  I really wanted Thorn to like me, but not at the expense of my mother and sister. To save them, I was going to have to go against Thorn’s wishes. He was way too conservative. I thought about the bodies in the wreckage. I prayed that one of them wasn’t Rae. Yet, deep down, I knew it wasn’t her. My sister had gone onto that ship and set off the trap — just like I wanted to do.

  I went over the conversation on the bridge. Thorn said the only other way to get there was going outside using EVA suits. I had EVA training. It was compulsory for us when staying in any orbiting space stations for more than a week, and we’d had orientation on this ship so I knew there was a suit calibrated to me. I’d also checked them while doing my chores and they were all charged up.

  But EVA to that ship? It was a bit far. Could I do it? Was I brave enough? If I went, would that spare Thorn and Slick? Could I get back again without them noticing, without the pirates or whoever kidnapped
my mother noticing?

  I had to think about it carefully. I was prepared to risk myself, but not Thorn, not Slick. I tried sleeping on it but was tormented by what I didn’t know. Was my mother okay? Was she suffering? And Rae, silly, ignorant Rae — what had become of her?

  All sorts of scenarios went through my head. I could see only three options: stay here, do nothing and leave empty handed, go over to the ship, find a clue to where they were and rescue them, or spring the trap and then rescue them.

  But how would I rescue them? If I sprung the trap then I would need to get help.

  After dozing for a bit, I put on some clothes and slipped out of my quarters. Thorn was asleep on the bridge. I checked the security code on my handheld and keyed it in. Then I sent off the coordinates and a short message. It would take them a while, but AllEarth Corp security would be better than nothing.

  Standing on the bridge, the steady beat of the sensors matched the beat of my heart. Slick was nowhere to be seen, so I guessed he was asleep in his quarters. My eyes travelled over Thorn’s sleeping form, sprawled in his chair. His head was thrown back and his blond hair was hanging over his face. With his arms crossed, he looked like he was ruminating rather than sleeping. I was ready to reach out and stroke the hair from his forehead, but I backed away quietly so I didn’t disturb him.

  My EVA suit hung next to the main airlock. After taking it down, I started to climb into it and double-checked the jet scooter’s fuel level. It was full. There weren’t any tethers that were long enough to anchor me to the ship and get to the other one, so once I went out there I was on my own. No getting it wrong.

  It had been a long night, I thought as I checked the suit’s status. I couldn’t live with doing nothing, turning around and going home.

  If I did, I’d eventually inherit everything when there was no news of my mother, and get on with my life. But that was a random, floating thought. I loved my mother and I didn’t need or want her money or the responsibility of running AllEarth Corp. The money was nice to have, but I had enough gumption to earn my own. Even Rae was important to me now. It was a shock to realise it, but it was true. She was the missing part of me. I wasn’t going to sit around and do nothing.

  I hesitated as I locked the suit down. Was I doing the right thing? Could I get on that ship, find a clue and get off again without springing the trap? I had to try.

  I was ready to depart, except for the helmet. Now to slip off the ship without setting off alarms.

  My handheld assessed the ship’s internal alarm in a flash. I managed to silence and then kill it. Thorn didn’t storm down the corridor demanding to know what I was doing, so that was fine. Nor had he changed the ship system’s password after I had broken in to fix the Robo Chef. I rolled my eyes. He was a slow learner.

  With the alarm dead, I slipped on my helmet and stepped into the airlock. The jet scooter was nestled in front of me. I just had to hold on and steer once I was clear of the ship.

  My suit’s status showed green, so I punched the lock. The inner hatch snapped shut and a minute after, the outer one zipped out of the way, launching me out into space. I barely kept hold of the jet scooter, the force of expulsion was so strong. I slow circled, which completely disoriented me. Going EVA was my number one fear. I hated it. My stomach knotted and punched, threatening to fill my helmet with puke. Fighting hard to control it, I did a suit check. Everything was sealed up tight.

  I breathed hard and then I slowed it down. My heart rate was up, but only keeping calm was going to fix that.

  I couldn’t engage the jet scooter until I had my bearings. Floating free was the weirdest experience. I fired my suit’s thrusters to slow my spin.

  The outside of Thorn’s ship was dark grey in the shadows and the running lights were dimmed. He really was hiding. If I hadn’t known he was there, I would have missed the ship.

  As I turned, I saw Mother’s abandoned ship and got my bearings. I was upside down in relation to the ship but the jet scooter didn’t notice it. I felt so small clinging to the handlebars as it pulled me towards the larger ship.

  Actually, it pushed me. Whatever.

  I jetted closer, my heart rate monitor going wild and my breath loud in my ears. I looked around for another ship but couldn’t see anything. I checked behind me and Thorn’s ship was still hidden. I changed direction, slipping behind a small asteroid before darting across to Mother’s ship again. Hopefully it would confuse the trail if someone was watching me.

  Relief flooded over me as I drew nearer. It wasn’t nearly as far as I’d thought it would be. A twist of my wrists and I was aligned with the ship’s airlock. This close I could see the scarring from where she had been fired on. So they had been attacked.

  My mother was either dead inside or taken hostage. Funny there were no ransom demands. Mind, I wasn’t likely to know about them as I was hurrying through space to rescue her and Rae. It didn’t matter now. I’d committed myself.

  The airlock cycled and the hatch slid aside. I pulled myself and the jet scooter inside. The outer hatch snapped shut and I waited for atmosphere before I released my helmet. I needed to pee. I was still in shock that I’d actually crossed that empty divide and made it there.

  The inner hatch opened and I stripped off the suit, leaving it by the airlock. I kneeled down to check the gauges and nodded. There was enough air left for me to get back if I was careful. All the while my ears were peeled, listening for sounds of human occupants. All I heard was the beep-beep of messages received and the gurgles and whistles of the active ship’s systems.

  This ship was Scout Class and could house up to 40 occupants. My mother’s stateroom was on the next level down. I headed there to use her san unit. One couldn’t concentrate with a full bladder.

  The atmosphere in the ship was creepy as I pushed myself down the ladder to the next level. My mother’s ship didn’t carry the full complement of staff. She had Alwin and one other crew member, a senior director, on this trip.

  I knew this because I found and cracked Alwin’s online diary a year ago when he was staying with us. He was hard to understand. For instance, why did he prefer Rae to me? I was superior to her in every way. Sneaking a peak in Alwin’s diary was the only way to learn why. Regular snoops also kept me abreast of his activities. I found all kinds of restricted entries and file notes on his investigation. Last month, I even read the entry on his and Mother’s plans. Technically, what I did was an epic breach in AllEarth’s security, but because I didn’t tell anyone, the information was still secure.

  Mother’s quarters were four times as large as mine on Thorn’s ship. A few things were out of place and there was an incessant beeping. I found the san unit and stripped out of my suit. Why were these onesies so inconvenient?

  After relieving myself and checking my hair, I snooped around Mother’s cabin. She’d left in a hurry. Her handheld was still there. It was the source of the beeping. I keyed in Mother’s password — Rayessa — and a message displayed. It was some sort of code. Had to be. Inyaface, it read.

  I sat down on the bed. My gaze flicked around the room. Was the clue here? There was nothing obvious. Was it a name? I keyed it into my handheld.

  Nothing.

  I picked up my mother’s handheld again and keyed it in. Then I recollected she was investigating pirates. Didn’t Rae say they had funny names? The search came back positive, as Mother had unlimited search and huge storage capacity in her personal database.

  Inyaface, alias for Mik O’Dowd, known pirate. Estimated kill date, two years ago, it read. I scrolled down the display. Inyaface appears in communiques. These were linked to Alwin Anton and his investigation.

  Further down, I found an old image of Inyaface. It reminded me of something in Al’s diary, some kind of biometric assessment of one of Mother’s executives. Maybe Inyaface wasn’t dead.

  There was a noise coming from the bridge. I bounded up the ladder and hit the receive button on the main console.

  ‘Wait till I
get my hands on you, Essa. Are you out of your mind?’

  ‘Hello, Captain.’

  An inarticulate groan reached me.

  ‘Captain?’

  ‘Thank god you answered. I’m almost there. Meet me at the airlock.’ He was very gruff, maybe angry.

  ‘Ooh, I rather not.’

  ‘Essa,’ his voice was a growl.

  ‘You threatened me.’

  ‘I was worried.’

  Why did he follow me? I didn’t expect or want him to. I heard the airlock cycle.

  ‘I’m here. Come down.’

  Hastily, I checked the other readouts. There was no sign of another ship, so I slipped out of the chair and made my way to the airlock.

  Thorn was peeling away his suit, his pecs straining the thin fabric of his under suit. I raised my eyes. I would have to restrict my fantasies to fantasies. My, but he was built.

  ‘Come here,’ he growled at me as he shucked the last of the suit and kicked it free.

  I stayed still. Before I could draw breath, he grabbed me by the arm and shook me.

  ‘I ought to paddle your silly backside. What the hell do you think you were doing?’

  ‘I couldn’t sit there doing nothing.’

  ‘I wasn’t doing nothing. I was thinking about what to do next.’

  ‘Well I didn’t know that and I didn’t think you’d come after me’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I didn’t want you in danger.’

  That gave him pause. He let out a breath. ‘What do you hope to achieve here?’ He looked around him.

  ‘I thought there’d be a clue.’

  ‘Was there?

  ‘I found Mother’s handheld — I haven’t finished looking yet. But it’s not safe for you to be here. Go back. I’ll be there soon.’ I went to climb down the ladder.

  ‘I nearly went crazy searching the ship for you.’ I paused and looked back. ‘How stupid are you? Do you know the danger you’ve put yourself in, put me and Slick in?’

  ‘I’m sorry to make you worry.’ I looked down the ladder then back at him. He wasn’t putting his suit back on. ‘I didn’t think it was stupid. It was the only alternative that seemed like a good idea.’