“Zed, grant access to the cockpit for 9-A. No control. Physical presence only.”
“Acknowledged.”
Surprise marred by suspicion flickered to the other woman's eyes. Shaw didn’t mind the suspicion, and wariness kept the body alive. “Come on up and have a seat.”
“You don't have to do that.”
“No I don't. I also don't cotton to getting up and carrying your collapsed ass back to your quarters. So get it up here and sit down.”
Rebellion flared for a spare second, her expression going blank and her jaw tensing. Then she climbed the last step inside the cockpit. On slow, unsteady feet she walked over to one of the other chairs and all but collapsed into it. Beads of perspiration formed along her forehead and her breathing sounded labored.
“You really shouldn't be out of bed yet.” It wasn't a question. The bio scans indicated she'd received a stab to the gut it was only pure dumb luck that it hadn’t nicked her bowel or her intestines. She lost a lot of blood, however and had to endure being stitched up by Kestral. Apparently, he’d done a semi-decent job. Something else Shaw noted for future reference.
“I know, so everyone keeps telling me.” She sank into the seat and blew out a breath. “But I already owe a debt I can't pay. I really don't want to add to the total.”
Shaw appreciated the sentiment. He hated allowing people in. “Better to be independent,” he said. Setting a hand on the control panel, he turned off the bio scan image. “So what's your story?”
She blinked once. Surprised perhaps. Her expression betrayed very little of her emotions and Shaw didn’t know her well enough yet to read her. On the other hand, she was a relative stranger and an unknown quantity aboard his ship. He needed to know, even if it meant asking questions he wouldn't normally put forth the first time he met someone.
“I don't really have a story.”
“Everyone has a story. Everyone's on a journey, whether your journey is just through life or through the stars. But someone without a story wouldn't be someone found stabbed in an alley on a planet in the middle of nowhere.”
“Will that depends,” she seemed to rouse from whatever malaise held her captive. “You have a story, because you're here from a planet most of us think of is a myth these days.”
He encountered that attitude. The majority the colonists he's encountered on the various worlds didn't think of earth as home, just a place that they happened to hail from. He supposed it was a lot like the way the British felt about America five generations in. Sure they got over and colonized it. Then they fought a rebellion. And they founded their own country. That didn't mean people like George Washington weren't British when they were born but when they died not so much. And their descendants even less so.
“Fair point. However I'm not the one who was stabbed.”
“Says the man nursing an injury on his face. Or did you forget that was there?”
Okay, was she being cagey on purpose? Or was it some kind of game that she wanted to play. The blip appeared on the radar again and it irritated him. He been watching it for four hours and it was always there every three minutes. He’d put Vega to work as soon as they landed, tearing apart the sensor array and making sure they didn't have any glitches. “I know how I got my injury. And I know where I'm from. What I don't know is who you are, Nina, or where you come from. Or what you mean to the Order of the IV.”
He'd mentioned the order on purpose. Her pupils dilated a fraction at their mention and a ripple of shock slid across her features before it quickly evaporated. So she might be able to control her emotional reactions, but he could still surprise her. Good to know. “They’re bastards. Every single one of them.”
Well at least she had an opinion. “So they were holding you prisoner?”
“I don't know what they were doing to me,” she said then swallowed hard. When she folded her arms as though hugging herself, he wondered if she was cold. If he were a gentleman, he'd find her jacket. Since he wasn't, and she was a visitor, he was more curious than he was willing to offer comfort just yet he let it stand.
“You asked me what my story is. I don't know.” Well, that was direct.
“Everyone has a story. Let's start with how did you get to EA-2187?”
“The order has a facility there. It's a holding pen, where they hand off prisoner transfers. Though they don't call us prisoners.”
“Well, doesn't really matter what you call it. If you felt like a prisoner and you weren't free to go, then you’re a prisoner. Go on.”
“Acolytes or adherents of the order are charged with the conversion of at least one person before they can advance.”
Anything labeled conversion just didn't sound good. Shaw rubbed the back of his neck trying to ignore the niggling sensation in the back of his mind. “Go on.”
“Conversion therapy begins with an erasure of everything and everyone you've ever known. I mean they don't kill them, or at least I don't think they do. But they make it so that for you, it's never been that way.”
The unclear language painted a confusing picture. “They make it so it was never that way for you? They erase your memory?”
Relief crept through her eyes and she nodded hurriedly. “It's difficult to even speak of. To break conditioning causes feedback. Pain. A breakdown of synapses between mind and mouth. I've been working on breaking mine for months, mostly because I was unhappy.”
Well, yeah. She was a prisoner and had her memory erased—he could see how she would be unhappy. “How did you know you are unhappy though?”
“I don't know, I know one of the order thought I was broken. They were taking me to that planet to transfer me to more experienced members of the order. I wouldn't take the imprinting.”
Conversion therapy. Imprinting. Mind erasure. He was beginning to understand why Kestral did not like these guys. “So you are resistant to their treatment. Good for you.”
“Not so good for me,” she gave him a sad smile. “I still don't have my memories, so I don't know what my story is.”
“Your story is that you were taken, you were mistreated, and apparently they failed at crushing you. Now you've escaped.”
“So it has a happy ending?” For just a split second, she sounded so much like Tika, it was eerie. Then again she'd been spending a great deal of time with Tika, so perhaps she was picking up some of the New Athenian’s mannerisms.
“Happy endings are a myth. You don't know whether it's happier not to get to the end, ‘cause the end only happens when you die. But do we have a problem.”
“Only one?” The faintest note of hope in her voice aggravated him. He glanced from her to the screen just in time to catch the blips reappearance this time. It lasted longer than a second before it disappeared. And it still looked like a ship.
“We don't know who you were before, so we don't know why they took you. We also don't know if anyone's hunting for you. So let's back up to what we do know. Who stabbed you?”
She avoided his gaze. Shaw stretched out his legs tapped his fingers lightly on the console. Nina looked everywhere in the room but it him.
“Or did you stab yourself?”
Color flared in her cheeks, the faintest of pinks. Very noticeable against the gray pale pallor of her face. “Please don't tell Tika.”
Son of a bitch. “She did something nice for you, so you thought she would help you if you were hurt.”
“Yes. I didn't know anyone on that planet; I barely speak the language and barely understand anything. I was starving and hiding all the time. I don't know how long I was hiding for, though… It all seems to run together. One minute, I’m in my cell, the next I’m dragged out for a treatment. Something happens—a fight broke out—I don’t know. There was screaming, and I saw an open door…before I knew it, I found myself outside, then in a crowded marketplace.” Despite the confusion and fatigue underscoring her words, she didn’t abandon her argument. “I think I slept in there somewhere… I won't apologize for what I did. I needed
to escape and if you want to dump me at the next planet, fine. I will accept the consequence. Tika is very fond of discussing consequences. She spoke about them at length.”
Sounded very much like Tika. “I don't like liars. I have to be able to trust the people who are on my crew. You could have asked.”
“How? I didn't even know what I wanted to ask. And Kestral would never have said yes.”
“If you haven't noticed, Tika doesn't really listen to Kestral. You could have asked her.” But she had a point—how would she have known? The throbbing in the back of his head continued to pound.
“Captain?”
“What?”
“What are you going to do about me?”
Shaw decided take a page from Zed's book. “Undecided. You stabbed yourself to garner sympathy and get aboard. It worked. You could have died, though, because you didn’t know whether or not they be able to treat the injury. You also took a risk that they would've not helped you.”
“That wasn't a risk. Tika wanted to help me. I saw it in her eyes when she brought me the food. I know people who just want to use you and hurt you. I know what they look like. I know what they smell like. I even know what they sound like. Tika is not one of those people.” Then she surprised him. “Neither are you.”
“You don't know anything about me, lady, but I never was one to kick a dog when it was down.”
“I'm not a dog.”
“No, you're not. You’re human. Which means you can be more vicious. Animals, their needs are pretty basic. They want to eat, they want to sleep, occasionally they want to fuck. They like company and companionship. But that's it very basic, strictly primal needs. Humans always have an agenda. Whether you think you do or not, you do.”
“I never want to ever go back there again.” Absolute solemn truth rang in those words. “I would rather die. You say I took a risk when I stabbed myself? I didn't see it that way. If it made Tika help me and got me off the planet, that was a win. If I died and escaped them that way, that's also a win.”
Fatalistic reasoning never boded well for anyone. “Why are you telling me this? No one knew. You could've lied and said someone attacked you. You could've made up some story. So, why tell me the truth?”
“Because you helped me.” That was it no other explanation and damned if Shaw didn’t understand her in that moment.
“You should get back to bed. Rest.”
“You still haven't told me what you're going to do.”
“You're right, I haven't. When I've decided, trust me, you'll know.”
She stood resting one hand on the chair to brace herself when she swayed. Then halted and stared past Shaw toward the open hatchway door. Swiveling Shaw came face-to-face with Kestral. The man was so silent, it was damned unnerving at times. “Help our guest back to her cabin?”
The other man nodded, climbed the short ladder steps into the cockpit then took Nina by an arm and guided her out. He said nothing to her, nor she to him. Less than sixty seconds later, Kestral returned.
“How much did you hear?” Shaw asked him as he continued to watch the blip appear.
“Enough to know I should've trusted my first instincts.”
Shaw chuckled. “Tika would never have let you do that.”
“No, but just because someone's running off a cliff full tilt doesn't mean you have to let them.”
It was a different take on the old metaphor. “Come take a look at this.” He was done talking about Nina. He had to think on that one a while. Every instinct he had told him she had told him the truth. And what little he'd been able to piece together but the Order of the IV, they were not good people. They may have started off that way but, like some of the worlds he'd visited, they'd taken a wrong turn somewhere along the path. Kestral joined him, then stared at the screen.
“What am I looking at?”
“Wait for it.” Took another minute, but the blip appeared.
“What is that?”
“Trouble.”
* * *
Arriving at EA-955 by mutual decision, Shaw let Zed handle the landing. Instead of being alone in the cockpit however, both Kestral and Vega had joined him. Tika continued her inventory, but she could was looped in via the comms. The only member of the crew not present was Nina, who had agreed to be secured in her quarters for the duration of the stay on the planet. The last thing she wanted to do was go out, and since Shaw wasn’t kicking her off the boat, she said she would rest.
“You're sure you can find everything we’re going to need here?” Shaw checked with Vega. EA-955 had been his suggestion, based on their current location and the damage done to the Gilly.
“Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I know one of the port masters here. He owes me a favor. He'll look the other way as far as registration goes and, for a small fee, he'll forget we were ever here.
“You know some shady people, doncha?” Kestral's contribution had only been he hadn't heard anything bad about EA-955, but he also had disagreed with Vega's reasons for choosing the outpost. It wasn't a colony world per se, but a waystation settled by some colonists on their way out. It proved useful on long distance travel to have a place to pause for repairs, to stretch the legs, and a resupply. One family actually owned the planet. Shaw wanted to know how a family purchased a planet. He imagined it began with the settlement rights, then they just didn't allow any settlers. Everything from the spaceport to the current homes or businesses relied on leases the family provided. That meant the family had their fingers in every piece of the pie.
“I'd be watchful and be wary. The Gilly will be sealed at all times. Zed understands not to let anyone on board that isn't one of us.”
Kestral gave him a blinkered surprise. “Even me?”
“Yeah don't disappoint me. You still can't take the ship, but you should be able to get on and off with no trouble.”
Kestral raised his shock shackled wrist. “And this?”
“If I remove that, I want your word that you won't take off, and you won't disappear with any other member of the crew. If you want to go… Just say so right now. No harm no foul.”
Between the blip that have been following them, Nina’s story of conversion, and the bounty hunters still on Tika's trail, the last thing Shaw wanted to deal with was forcing Kestral to stick around if he really did want to be there.
“Well then, I'm open to negotiation. Let's say five percent?” Kestral gave him an indolent smile.
“Five percent of nothing is nothing.”
“Yeah but your still going to have to do some trading, you're still gonna have to make deals, and you're still gonna have to make sales and trading. So, I'm just saying, if there's any profit, I want five percent.” What did he hope to gain?
“If Kestral gets five percent, I think it should be five percent for each member of the crew.” Tika chimed in over the comms.
“I repeat, five percent of nothing is still nothing. This isn’t a merchant ship. We’re not dealing with anyone. We’re not making sales, and we’re not turning a profit.”
“What exactly is it you do, Captain?” Vegas quiet question landed like a solid rock in the center of the conversation, disturbing all the ripples.
“I own the ship.” And that was all he planned on telling them.
“You do realize you're asking all of us to trust you, but you don't trust us.” Kestral wanted to call him on the carpet for how much he was willing to share? So be it.
“And I repeat, I own the ship.”
“In other words,” Tika translated. “It's his way or the planet way. If we want to stay on board, we do as he wants. The way he wants. With only the information he is willing to share.”
Shaw nodded. “Exactly. If you don't like it, get lost.”
Yes, he and Kestral had a deal, but the deal had changed, especially with the arrival of the two new passengers and the damage to the ship. At the moment, Shaw wanted to concentrate on getting done what needed to be done and getting the hell out of there before anyone knew
they were there—particularly the blip that had been following them.
“I suppose I can stick around till I get bored.” Kestral pushed away from the control panel. “What's my job?”
“Same job you had before. Keep an eye on Tika. You follow her, you keep her safe… and, Tika?” Shaw said very well aware that she was on the other end of the comms.
“Yes, Captain?”
“If Kestral tells you something is a bad idea, this time you listen to him.”
“I wasn't wrong about Nina.”
“Yes, and a broken clock is right twice a day. Like I said, if Kestral says bad idea? Bad idea.”
The other man actually grinned, and gave him a thumbs up.
“Fine.” But one glance at both Kestral and Vega told him they were in agreement. Nothing in Tika's tone said she agreed, nor that she would actually listen.
“Teenagers.” Shaw shook his head. It didn't matter whether she'd been born on Earth are born on a planet light years away. Teenagers were just difficult.
“I heard that.”
“I don't care.” He turned his attention to Vega. “I set up an account for you to use. You can access the credit funds for the ship. Buy everything you need, and stock spares if they have it. I don't want to be caught out again. Double check the sensor array. I want to know if what we were seeing was a glitch or was actually there. Now, at the risk of repeating myself, be wary. We don't know who was following or if someone was following us. We also don't know whether they’re after Nina, Tika, or something else entirely.”
“You know we don't know if they're not after Kestral or Vega either.” Annoyance discolored Tika’s tone and Shaw chuckled as she continued, “We don't know everything about each other yet. You hired Vega without talking to any of us. And Kestral snuck aboard, so the more I think about it, the more I totally believe someone could be after him.”
“Sweetheart I'm touched.” Kestral murmured. “You're thinking about me.”
“I'm geared up and ready to go and I have the supply list. If anybody else wants me to add something to the list, you need to let me know now. I'm going to concentrate on medical supplies, which we seem to be distinctly lacking, and more food, because we now have more mouths to feed.”
Space Cowboy Survival Guide Page 15
