by Jaleta Clegg
"Where is it headed?" I glared at Jerimon. His explanation made too much sense, but if I didn’t stay mad at him, I might start remembering the way it felt when he kissed me. I didn’t want to think about Jerimon that way. What was wrong with me?
He shook his head. "I don’t know."
"What will they do when they find us missing?" I asked.
"We’ll be gone by then," Jerimon said.
"What, you’re going to launch the pod? Do you have any idea what will happen to us if we’re still in hyperspace?"
"I know what will happen. Shut up a minute." He closed his eyes, either running away or trying to think. I wasn’t sure which I hoped it was.
Tayvis moved back, trying to give me a little room. I shifted, the controls dug into my side. Tayvis reached around me and took my hand. He lifted my wrist, sliding it up so he could look at the cuts around it. They looked awful, covered with dried blood and scabs.
"Are you sure you’re all right, Dace?"
"Nothing else is more than bruised." I couldn’t see his face without some major squirming. I was almost tempted. I was too close to Jerimon. I saw the pain on his face, the lines that hadn’t been there a year earlier. He was trying to get us out. And despite everything, I couldn’t stay mad at him. Deep down somewhere I knew I liked him, still. He had tried to talk to me the night the Sidyama attacked the ship, but I'd been to upset to listen. He'd gotten me the key that gave us a chance to escape.
Tayvis pulled my hand in, tucking it against my stomach and cradling it with his. I leaned against him, feeling the warmth of him against my back. How could I possibly ever even think of Jerimon? Was he right about Tayvis, though? If Tayvis had to choose would it be me or the Patrol? And what if he chose the Patrol? I didn’t want to even think of it.
The ship slid through transition into normal space. There was a moment of gut wrenching nausea. I almost threw up, except there was nothing for me to throw up. Jerimon’s face would have caught it. He jerked back, seeing my green face. His head knocked against the release lever.
"You idiot," Tayvis shouted.
The releases clicked. We shot free of the ship, still moving barely below hyper velocities. Jerimon bumped into me as he squirmed onto his stomach to reach the controls. The only thing that made it possible was the lack of a gravity field. We were floating free.
My stomach heaved. I was dizzy, disoriented by the sudden lack of up and down. I gagged. It was almost funny. I’d been in space since I was seventeen and I was just now getting my second case of space sickness. The first time was at the Academy, the only time I’d ever experienced true freefall. Until now. I retched up bile.
Jerimon ignored me, he fought the controls, trying to slow us down.
Tayvis managed to open a bin and pull out a bag. He wrestled it over my face. I couldn’t breathe. I started to hyperventilate. The pod spun around me. I was sick, dizzy, and couldn’t breathe. I panicked and started grabbing things.
"Stop it, Dace," Jerimon shouted. The pod swung to one side, spiralling madly. Something beeped. "Do something, Tayvis!" Jerimon shoved me with one elbow.
Tayvis grabbed my hands and folded them against me, wrapping his own arms around mine until I couldn’t move. Not that I could move much anyway.
"I can’t breathe," I choked out. I reached for the bag to pull it off.
Tayvis caught my hand and dragged it back. I gasped for air.
"Dace, stop it," Tayvis said in my ear.
"I can’t breathe," I squealed.
"Deep breath," he said. "Breathe in, and out, in, and out," he said, demonstrating.
I jerked my arm free and yanked the bag off my face. "You could have just left me on the ship, instead of trying to smother me here," I said as he dragged my arm back out of Jerimon’s way.
"Are you going to barf on me any more?" Jerimon asked. The pod was stabilizing.
"I don’t have anything to throw up. Your friends haven’t fed me anything but ration cubes for over a week. And nothing the last three days."
"No wonder you’re cranky," Tayvis said.
They had the gall to laugh. I squirmed out of Tayvis’ hold, bumping Jerimon in the process. It wasn’t easy, the space was barely big enough for two and I was squeezed in between them. I rolled onto my back and stared at the top of the pod, two inches in front of my nose. I was floating. There was no up, not anymore. I squeezed my eyes shut against a new surge of nausea. I was not going to humiliate myself again, not in front of them.
"Dace?" Tayvis asked.
"Leave me alone," I said. I was trying very hard not to cry.
"I would if there were any space to. No, I wouldn’t." He pulled me back against him. He’d strapped himself in.
"We’re going in," Jerimon said. "I just hope it isn’t too fast."
A faint whistling sounded around the pod. It grew swiftly to a shrieking that hurt my ears. Tayvis wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly. The pod bucked and swerved. His arms were the only things keeping me from smashing my head against the top of the pod.
Jerimon worked the controls, trying to control the descent. He was only partly successful. The pod filled with crash foam just before we hit. We landed hard. The pod rolled several times and finally stopped on its side. The foam filtered away. I lay on top of Tayvis. Jerimon dangled over me, only the straps holding him up. The top blew off, like it was supposed to. I stared out at a field of some kind of grain and a not very happy farmer.
He came over and stuck his head into the pod. "You all right?" His accent was thick. "You scared my cows. And smashed half an acre of grain."
I crawled out of the pod. I couldn’t stand. I stayed on my hands and knees and let myself be sick. Only there wasn’t anything for me to throw up. It didn’t stop my stomach from heaving over and over.
I heard Tayvis and Jerimon climb out of the pod. Jerimon was in the best shape of the three of us. He hadn’t been beaten and locked up. Tayvis leaned over me and patted my back.
"You all need help?" the farmer asked, more concerned by our appearance than his ruined crops.
"Where are we?" Tayvis asked at the same time Jerimon asked, "Can you get us to the space port?"
"You all aren’t in any shape to be going anywhere," the farmer said. "Excepting to bed. I ‘spect Martha’ll put you up for a day or two."
"We’ll pay you for the crops," Jerimon said. I heard coins clink and the farmer’s surprised grunt.
"You ready?" Tayvis asked me.
The world had quit spinning. My stomach wasn’t heaving anymore. It was so empty and had been for so long that I wasn’t hungry either. I used his hand to pull myself up.
The farmer looked the three of us over and shook his head. "I’d never believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself. Who are you folks?"
I glanced at us. We were pretty strange looking. Jerimon looked like an escapee from a high class gambling house. Tayvis wore his Enforcer’s uniform, a bit dirty but not bad. My shipsuit needed to be thrown out. I didn’t know if it would ever come clean. The farmer shook his head over us again.
"House is down that way, half a mile or so," he said. "I’ve got the tractor, but it can’t take more than one."
"We can walk," Tayvis said. "You take her and go ahead." He pushed me forward. I stumbled and almost fell. The farmer caught me and helped me walk the dozen yards to where he’d parked his tractor.
He had me stand behind his seat, hanging on to the back for dear life as he chugged across the field. It would have been better when he got to the dirt road except then he put on the speed. I hung on grimly and promised myself I’d pay Tayvis and Jerimon back. Even if I couldn’t have walked across the field by myself, that was no excuse for sending me rattling away on this death trap.
We pulled up near a farm house without incident. I peeled my fingers from the seat. The farmer gave me a hand down from the tractor. I needed it. He started towards his house, crossing a ragged patch of grass. I lost my fight with my body and slowly crumpled into the dir
t. He turned back and saw me staring at a ridge of dried mud an inch in front of my face. I wanted to just lie there, uncomfortable as it was, it was better than anything else that had happened to me the last few weeks. No one was trying to kill me, no one was going to beat me, I was almost free.
"You all right, miss?" the farmer asked.
I rolled onto my back, staring up into a sky colored by evening to a turquoise blue. Nothing had ever looked so good. I laughed. We had done it. We were off the ship and free. It didn’t matter we had no idea where we were and no money and probably half the crime families in the Empire after us.
"Touched in the head," he said. "You bang it in the crash?"
"I’m better than I have been in a while." I laughed again. Sprawled on my back in the dirt and laughing, I was going nuts.
"You want some help?" He held out one gnarled hand. I took it and let him help me up. Tayvis and Jerimon ran up about the time I found my feet. They were both breathing hard.
"You boys didn’t have to run," the farmer said. "Martha!" he shouted towards the house. "We got some company here."
An older woman, toughened by years of hard work and sun, came out of the door, banging it open to stand on the shady porch that wrapped around the small house. "What in blazes are you all doing way out here?" she said after she studied our unorthodox clothing. She wiped her hand on a dishtowel.
I lost my fight against gravity again. I stumbled sideways. Jerimon and Tayvis both caught me. Tayvis tugged me away from Jerimon.
"They need some help, Martha," the farmer said. "Escape pod crashed up in the north field, smashed half an acre of grain." He held up the coins. "They paid me for the damage and said I could have the pod for scrap."
"Bring them in, Jervos," she said. "Don’t stand there jawing while they’re needing help. Come in, come in."
Tayvis half carried me up the three stairs onto the porch. I limped and stumbled my way through the door and into a kitchen bright with yellow paint. Martha waved me into one of three chairs around a wooden table, scrubbed to a rough finish by years of use.
"Go fetch the medkit, Jervos," she ordered the farmer. Her husband, my mind informed me. I was fading, noticing random facts without being able to attach any significance to any of them. "When did you last eat, miss? You two sit, I’ll cook up some eggs." She waved Jerimon and Tayvis to the table. And tsked over Tayvis’ scabbed wrists. Match to my own, I thought muzzily. I was suddenly very tired.
She bustled around the kitchen. I laid my head down on the table, I couldn’t seem to hold it up any more.
Jervos came back with a basic medkit. He and Tayvis had fun doctoring me, wrapping my wrists with bandages. Tayvis smeared a cream over the cut on my cheek.
The kitchen filled with wonderful smells. Martha carried plates piled high with food. I didn’t care what it was, I was ravenous. I started eating with a will, tiredness held at bay by more pressing needs.
"You all got family here?" Martha asked as we ate. "Anyone you need to contact?"
I looked up from the delicious food long enough to catch the glance Jerimon traded with Tayvis.
"Where is here? What planet?" Jerimon asked.
They looked at us suspiciously. "You don’t even know where you landed? Where were you headed?"
"You in some kind of trouble?" Martha asked.
"That’s putting it mildly," I mumbled through a full mouth.
"You’re on Ophir," Jervos said. "Way out on the far edge of the continent. Space port’s over two thousand miles from here."
Ophir? It sounded vaguely familiar but I was sure I’d never been to it.
"Maybe we should contact the local authorities," Jervos said, wagging his bushy eyebrows at Martha.
"Heber won’t do nothing," Martha snorted. "Maybe he can give you three a lift. You look like you’ve had it rough."
My plate was empty. My stomach was more full than it had been in a long time. My eyes drooped heavily.
"You look done in," Martha said. "We don’t have much in the way of spare beds here," she added, eying Tayvis and Jerimon.
"Whatever you have will be fine," Jerimon said graciously.
"What are your names?" Jervos asked as innocently as he could manage, which wasn’t very. He was up to something and it wasn’t hard to guess what.
"Oh, hush up, Jervos," Martha said. "They aren’t wild criminals bent on doing mischief. Whoever they are, Heber can’t do nothing until morning anyway, if he’s got his flitter fixed." She turned back to us. "There’s room out in the barn. This time of year it don’t hardly get cold. I’ve got a couple of spare blankets. You can sleep on the couch, miss," she said to me.
"Thank you," I said. I nudged Jerimon. "We ought to at least tell them our names. Maybe they can help."
"I don’t think you’re thinking straight," Jerimon said to me.
"That’s Jerimon," Tayvis said, making the decision for us. He pointed at Jerimon. "He likes to whine. Don’t mind him. This is Dace." He nudged me. I tried to smile. I yawned instead. "She’s had a bit of trouble with pirates on her ship." Jervos and Martha both looked at the ship patch on my arm. No, that sleeve was the Guild patch, I thought sleepily. Whatever, they looked a lot more sympathetic. "I’m Tayvis." He didn’t mention his rank. I’d noticed the clusters on his collar, the same time I’d noticed his uniform. Sector Commander, I thought and wondered why it didn’t bother me any more.
"You want us to contact the Patrol in the morning?" Jervos offered to Tayvis. "There might be one of their ships in. They got an office for messages, mostly."
"No base here?" Jerimon asked. "That changes things."
I knew what he was thinking. Targon and Blackthorne both had picked this planet because there was no Patrol presence.
"Ophir’s mostly ag," Jervos said. "Space port’s mainly for grain shipments out and machinery in. Nothing fancy."
"Thank you for your help," Jerimon said again.
"Poor girl’s asleep on her plate," Martha said.
Tayvis nudged me again. I could barely move. They stood, leaving me at the table.
"There’s a pump out behind the barn," Jervos said, looking them over. "Don’t got no spare clothes I could loan you, though."
Martha was handing towels and blankets to Jerimon and Tayvis and shooing them out the door. I blinked, barely awake. Jervos walked them out.
"You need to clean up. Hot bath and something clean," Martha said, picking distastefully at the smears on my suit. "You mind if I wash this for you?"
"I don’t have anything else," I said as she led me out of the kitchen and down a short hall.
"Borrow one of mine. Hot water’s there, cold on this side." She left me alone in a bathroom with a real tub.
I ran in some water and stripped off my shipsuit. I sank gratefully into the warm water. I closed my eyes, leaning back and feeling bruises heal. I was fed, I was safe, for the moment. It was almost enough. It would be nice to still have a ship, but knowing Jasyn and Clark were safe would be enough. And Ginni and Habim, I found myself adding. I’d grown attached to them.
The door opened and Martha bustled in, a worn nightgown over one arm. She eyed my bruised and battered body clinically. "Whatever you been mixed up in, it can’t be good."
"It wasn’t. Thank you for your help."
"Living out here, you help when you need to." She put the nightgown over the towel rack and slid the towel closer to me. "Couch is ready when you are," she said as she gathered up my filthy clothes. She left, shutting the door behind her.
The water was cooling off and I was starting to stiffen. I got out while I still could by myself. The nightgown was soft, a plain flannel faded to a pale blue. I pulled it over my head, yawning. I ran fingers through the stubble on my head. One advantage, I thought, looking at myself in the mirror. I didn’t have to comb it or worry about it sticking up in weird places.
The couch was narrow, old, and lumpy. I slept better than I had since Onipas.
Chapter 30
Lowell watched the ship disappear on the screen. His face was flat, set in an expression of mild good humor. It masked his growing frustration. This was not supposed to happen. Dace’s ship had been here, like he’d planned. He hadn’t anticipated the other two hunters, though. He was getting old, slipping that badly. And now, instead of having Dace back and Targon in custody, he was missing yet another agent and the three million credits they’d managed to beg from the bank.
He watched Suweya as the captain walked his bridge, stopping at each station to assess damage. They’d taken several hits. The ship hung dead in space. The lights and life support still functioned. From what Lowell could see perched in the captain’s chair, the rest of the room was shining with red lights.
The door to the bridge slid open. Darus Venn walked in. He glared ferociously at Lowell. He hadn’t agreed to sending Tayvis and the money. He’d wanted to go. Lowell had ordered him back to his post. Lowell wanted someone he could trust manning the guns. It would have been too easy for someone to mistake the Phoenix and blow it up during the fight.
They’d been pushed too far out of range. He’d been watching Dace’s ship when the hunter had darted from behind a moon and shot at them. While Suweya’s attention had been fixed on the immediate problem, Lowell had watched the second hunter slip up and dock with the Phoenix. Both ships had flown off during the fight, heading on different vectors. He tapped his lip with one finger, weighing what he knew, sorting and cataloging facts.
Suweya talked with Darus. The captain and his Gunnery CO were not getting along, to judge by the color of Darus’ face and the frown on Suweya’s. Lowell heard the argument well enough. It wasn’t important. He ignored it.
He swung the chair side to side, watching as the bridge crew scrambled to repair their stations. Techs swarmed over the equipment, tools and meters clutched in their hands.
"How long, captain?" he asked Suweya.
Suweya’s frown pinched even tighter. "An hour at the soonest. We can limp back to Tebros in about five days."
Lowell lifted one eyebrow.
"I don’t care what rank you hold, sir," Suweya said. "The ship is damaged. Barely able to travel. We are going to Tebros where the repair docks are located. There are no other facilities in this sector within the distance we can manage."
