Warp Resonance

by Cedar Sanderson

  A group of men was standing around a holotank inspecting what looked like the route for the freighter. Marc was with them, and Charlie. She sighed and stepped into the light.

  "Ah, there you are, Tama!" The big man moved to hug her and she took his embrace stolidly, not meeting Pat's eyes across the table, but seeing the look on his face anyway. Marc went on cheerfully "They've reimbursed us for the cargo and gave us something for transporting the refugees. We lift at first light. They're headed for Hunter's World, so it's only two jumps. Good thing, with that old tub packed so full."

  "I'm not going with you." She stepped away from him and turned to face him, every movement under control, keeping her face a mask and her voice calm.

  He just gaped at her for a moment. The second time in a day she had managed to make him do that, she realized with detachment. Then his face twisted and he reached for her arm.

  "What do you mean? Of course you are!"

  He had her upper arm in a painful grip now, and she fought the impulse to give in before his power and go limp. So many times before she had... but not now. She was going to do this right this time.

  "Oho!" he laughed, "This is like the time on Taurus Prime, isn't it? Want a little raise, a few more pretties for your wardrobe."

  Her jaw clenched despite herself, and she felt the tears rising. She had paid for those cheap baubles with blood and he had never followed through on the raise.

  "No. I wish to stay here." Her voice remained calm, but she didn't know how much longer she could keep herself in this control. She must not lose her temper. She closed her eyes and inhaled deliberately.

  When she opened them she knew what to do. "I am going to walk away, now, and that will be the end. I do not want to see your face again."

  He shook her, hard enough that she saw stars. "No, you will go and get on the ship."

  "Marc," she commented in a deep, calm voice. "You have an audience. Shall I give them the details of our history? Or will you walk away from this?"

  He looked around at the hostile faces of the military men and the Customs man. Tama knew that he feared publicity above all things, and she was counting on the fact that she was almost too old to interest him any longer. Only her tiny frame had kept him interested this long. He dropped her arm and she backed away from him rapidly, almost panting now as her fear overtook her. She stumbled and would have fallen if Ben, the guy who had been driving the truck, had not caught her. She clung to his arm, still not looking away from Marc.

  He flicked a glance over her head at the man holding her up. "Slut." He hissed. "You are mine. Now get out to the ship!" he barked, in a voice he had trained her for three years to obey without conscious thought. Her body twitched but she held herself together, every breath and thought coming only through enormous control and effort on her part.

  He started toward her, but two men intercepted him. One of them was Pat, she noticed, vaguely wondering how he had gotten around the big table so quickly.

  "We do not have slaves here, whatever the customs elsewhere might be." Pat told Marc firmly. "She has made her decision, and you may not interfere."

  Marc growled incoherently, looked around the room at the grim faces, and then spun on his heel and walked out the door. As it closed behind him Tama felt her knees give way, and then her vision faded into a tunnel bordered by gray sparkles.

  "Hey!" she heard faintly...

  The first things she saw when she opened her eyes were Pat and Ben's faces, hovering over her. "How did I get on the floor?" she asked.

  They laughed, but it was strained. "You fainted," Ben explained. As she started to get up, he put a hand on her shoulder. "Stay put, someone's coming to check on you. Ah!" He looked over his shoulder. "Here she is. Mom, this is Tamashira. Tama, this is Thea Carter, our remaining doctor."

  The big woman snorted as she lowered herself next to Tama and took her hand. "As if I'd run off on these fools and leave them with no doctor. Despite what some rascals had to say about it." She punctuated this with a glare at her son.

  She had a scanner on Tama's finger, and now she looked at the readout on her handscreen. With a grunt, she started to stand and hoisted Tama up with her. She might look big, but that was pure power Tama felt in the arm supporting her.

  "Nothing physically wrong with you, anyway. From what I've been told you've been under a lot of stress. That would do it."

  Tama stood, feeling a bit dizzy, and overwhelmed by the help surrounding her. "Thank you." She managed, fighting back tears. It was over, now, and safe to feel again.

  "Tsk. You need some rest. Come on now..." And Thea led her off, back to the room where she had woken up.

  When they got there Tama asked "Could I have a shower? I have been rolling around on dirty floors since I got here and I feel icky."

  "Of course, dear. Hang on a sec while I find a clean towel..." Thea bustled about and Tama followed her back down the hall to the bathrooms and showers. Thea apologized, explaining that the Space Control doubled as a military training area and these were barracks, not designed to be comfortable. Tama didn't care. A real, hot shower with as much water as she could use. Ah, bliss!

  Tama could never remember the segue from shower to bed afterward, but she woke up in the bed the next morning, bright sunlight streaming in through the open window. She turned her face toward it and luxuriated in the warmth and sweet air. As she lay there sniffing deeply she became aware of another odor, a rich, sweet, food odor. When had she last eaten, and what? She couldn't remember. She sat up and saw that there were clothes on a chair in the corner. She had slept undressed this time, and she was wearing only a light pair of briefs.

  Dressed and feeling human again for the first time in days, she ventured down the long hall again, following her nose. Led by that and the cheerful voices she began to hear, she found the dining hall, empty. She stood still and looked around for a moment, and then Pat stepped through the swinging doors that led to the kitchen.

  "Hey, sleepyhead!" his face lit up at the sight of her, and he came to her side quickly, and hugged her. She startled, and he drew back with an apology. "Sorry - we tend to be a much more affectionate culture here..."

  "No, its okay," she reassured him. "Just... bad memories." she smiled wryly up at him.

  "Ready for breakfast?" he changed the subject deftly.

  "Yes, what is that lovely smell?"

  "Auntie Thea's cinnamon rolls. She usually only makes them for Christmas, but she declared today a celebration day, as the freighter will be passing through the warp point in about an hour, four hours ahead of the projected collapse. They may have a rough ride, but they won't get caught in it."

  "Good."

  They entered the kitchen now, and Tama saw why there were no people in the dining room. They had set up a couple of tables in here, and were helping Thea with breakfast, and all talking at once. She blinked at the bedlam and almost turned to leave. She couldn't remember the last time she had been near so many people.

  Ben detached himself from the crowd and came to greet them, beaming. His shock of red hair glowed in the morning sunlight, and Tama realized she hadn't seen him without a hat on before.

  "How did you sleep? Feeling better?" he inquired when he was close enough to be heard.

  "Yes, thank you. I feel... free." Tama felt surprisingly shy. She had always used a brash exterior to bluff her way through the tough spacers she had worked with.

  Ben's eyes softened, and Pat put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "Good." Ben beckoned them to an empty spot at a table. "If you ever want to talk about it..."

  They sat down and she shook her head. He was very nice, but probably the last person she’d want to talk to about… that. "Not yet, but thank you."

  Across the kitchen, someone opened an oven and Thea bellowed over the din, "Breakfast time!"

  Later, their bellies full of the warm, rich sweets, Tama leaned back with Pat and Ben and talked about the departing ship. Pat checked his watch. />
  "They should be gone by now. Want to go take a look?"

  "Sure." Tama got up. This was her chance to watch Marc leave her life forever. Pat led the way to the Control room. Ben stayed behind in the kitchen, still filling a hollow leg as far as Tama could tell. She'd never seen someone eat so much and not be fat. In the same room where she had faced down Marc the night before, Pat fired up the holo and pointed out the tiny dot of light that was the freighter, approaching the green disk of the warp node. She leaned into the holotank until her nose was almost touching the projection.

  "Why are there two?"

  "What?" Startled, he leaned forward, then exclaimed wordlessly and zoomed in on the warp node. There were two lights. One was obviously the freighter. As they watched it reached the disk that indicated the warp point and winked out. The other, tiny in comparison, was moving quickly back toward the planet.

  "Damn. We won't get the last messages from them for about forty minutes. What is that? Did something come in through the node?"

  Tama shook her head. "Not with the warp so out of resonance. The only reason we came through is that I was asleep at the time, and Charlie doesn't have the feel for it that I do. No, that is - the only thing it can be - the lifeboat off the freighter." she finished miserably. She wasn't done with Marc yet, it seemed.

  Pat looked sharply at her, and then back at the holo. He sighed, "Well, we won't know anything for at least forty minutes. I don't know about you, but I could use another cup of coffee."

  They went back to the kitchen, and shared the news about the safe departure of the freighter, but kept the other to themselves. Pat cornered Ben, whom Tama realized must be in charge of what military had stayed on planet, and told him. Ben came and patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.

  "Probably someone had cold feet." He offered, and she smiled at his attempt. "Hey, want to came and meet the rest of my family?"

  While Tama was meeting a parade of people she learned that most of Ben's family had stayed, and that there were a little over six hundred still on the planet.

  "A lot of people decided this was home, and they'd stick it out. Most of the outlying homesteaders chose to stay. I needed to stay. Couldn't leave this lot without a doctor." Thea explained comfortably, cuddling a grandchild in her arms.

  Tama smiled. She looked around for Pat, but he and Ben were gone. She excused herself and found the Control room on her own this time. They were in there, leaning over the space radio.

  "So what's on the s'radio?" she asked, making both of them jump and look guiltily at one another.

  "You'd better sit down." Pat said finally. He started a recording, and Tama leaned forward to hear the scratchy transmission.

  "Urgent, Space Control!" a man's voice called. Even as bad as the sound was, Tama could hear the strain in his voice. "The ship's engineer has kidnapped Allyrica McInnis and taken the lifeboat. The Navigator assures us it is not warp capable, so they have to be heading your way. Please..." His voice broke, and Tama realized she was crying, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. She hadn't cried in almost three years. The man went on. "Please get her back and keep her safe for me."

  Tama spoke in a voice she did not recognize as her own, harsh and overly controlled. "Have you been tracking the lifeboat?"

  They looked at one another again. "Yes." Ben answered her. "He isn't headed for the planet, precisely. He seems to be matching orbits for the colony ship."

  She felt the knot in her stomach tighten. "Has it been stripped?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

  "No. All the systems are still operational, in theory. She hasn't been touched in close to a century, though."

  "But she's open to vacuum. So everything is preserved."

  "I suppose so..." Pat said doubtfully. "What do you know?"

  She turned and looked down the length of the dim room. The holo table was still on, and she stared at its ghostly lights as she responded. "I have been with this ship's crew for three years. Mostly we hauled cargo - pretty straightforward work. But twice we have taken on salvage jobs. Both time it was to strip out colony ships. Left stored as they are, they can easily be pressurized in the control areas - Bridge, Engineering, sometimes even Life Support. Marc knows just how to do that."

  Now the two of them were staring at her. She could see them out of the corner of her eye. Ben was white-faced. He whispered. "Allyrica is fourteen."

  Pat gripped his shoulder as Tama turned to face them. "It's ok, she's a tough, canny little bird."

  Tama shook her head. "I wasn't much older. I was desperate, after my father died. I had to find a place on a ship, or be taken to an orphanage."

  "She wanted to stay on planet. It wouldn't have taken him much to persuade her into the lifeboat. Little idiot!" Ben turned away from them no, his jaw working.

  "I think he'll be sweet to her for a while. He didn't make a move on me for four months. I just don't know how she'll react to landing on the colony ship instead of the planet." She addressed Pat now, feeling rather as though she were falling down a dark tunnel. This was her fault. If only she had given in and gone with him...

  "We have nothing space capable." Ben turned around now, his face terrible. "He's safe up there."

  Pat and Tama had the same thought simultaneously. She could see it bloom on his face.

  "The fighter... How badly is it damaged? How long has it been down?" she demanded.

  "Since spring. When we brought it down, we didn't have any earthly use for it, and I had it sealed and pumped out to try and preserve the electronics suite." Pat was as intent as she was, and smiling fiercely now. "The main damage is in the wing. One panel is pretty ripped up, but I think..."

  He turned away and sat at the console, typing furiously.

  "You can fly that thing?" Ben asked Tama. She nodded, thinking.

  "It's a two seater. It'll be me and one other. If he really can fab a panel and there isn't too much internal damage I can get it up tomorrow. I'm sorry it has to be that long."

  "Tama,” He took a step closer, until he was standing over her looking into her eyes. He bent slightly, and she could feel his breath on her cheek. "How old are you?"

  She flinched. She couldn't help it. They had been respecting her, working with her, and now this. Then she realized that he was asking because of Allyrica. She sighed.

  "I'm nineteen... barely." She admitted reluctantly.

  "Ah..." the big man let out his breath in a long sigh, and his eyes changed to a darker shade, as they looked over her shoulder into nothingness. She suddenly remembered that he was very powerful and very well trained, no doubt. “So this is a pattern with him."

  "Um, I don't know. I think so, but I was unaware of his history when I signed on. He told me he was fulfilling an old favor to my father. Later I thought maybe it was an old grudge he really meant." She looked at the floor and whispered. "I'm sorry. If I had gone when he asked..."

  "Tama,” He gathered her into his arms and held her gently. She found herself crying on his shoulder and tried to stop, sniffing. "You did the right thing to run. I am to blame too, I didn't warn anyone. I thought it was over."

  She shook her head wordlessly in his shoulder, hiding her face. She felt Pat join the hug from the other side.

  "Tam sandwich," he quipped, giving her a little squeeze. She managed a watery giggle. He went on, quietly. "I can get the panel fabbed. It'd usually take eighteen hours, but he thinks he can have it done in twelve if he really pushes it."

  Tama wiggled and they let go of her. She sniffed and Ben handed her a large handkerchief. She cleaned up with it, and looked forlornly at the damp patch on his shoulder. He looked at it and chuckled.

  "M'sister has done worse." He assured her, a rare hint of brogue showing in his voice.

  She took a deep breath and went on with it. "I think I can install the panel in a couple of hours, but I need to take a look at what other damage is there. I'll let you pick my passenger, and I'll need a weapon."

  They nodded, an
d Ben threw her a mock salute as he left the room. Tama felt a warm glow at that. She’d earned his respect, even if she was broken. She straightened her back and headed for the outer door. Pat grabbed a toolbox and headed out to the field with her. It was still a beautiful day outside, she saw with surprise. It seemed so long since she had awakened to warm sunshine. She looked up at the blue sky and saw through the veil of the atmosphere to cold, black space, and shivered.

  When they reached the ship Pat accessed the seal and entered his code. They climbed up on the wing while air rushed into the cockpit again, and she looked into the hole.

  "This looks like micrometeorite damage." She frowned deeply. It wasn't a good sign. "What happened to the shields?"

  Pat shrugged. "Well, that could be why the pirates had it. I don't know enough about this craft to tell you. I was busy and never got back around to looking at it."

  She blew out her breath and gingerly probed the holes with her hands. "Looks like a nice, neat through and through. Did you observe any leaking graphite?"

  He blinked. "Um, no?"

  "You'd have noticed it. Fine black powder. You can't use fluids to control the wing hydraulics in space, so they used graphite." She stuck her face close to the biggest hole and peered inside. "Anyway," she continued absently. "I'm more worried about the lack of a shield. Flying in atmosphere with this kind of damage would be... tricky."

  She opened the canopy all the way. Pat perched on the wing with his legs dangling and asked curiously "How did you learn to fly one of these?"

  "Before my father died I was racing a Z-alpha." She responded quietly. "We got it surplus and fixed it up together. The Delta is pretty similar. It's been a while, but I don't think I have forgotten."

  She looked up. "I am going to need a flight suit, and so will my passenger."

  He nodded, "I can provide those. We have a good store of them. I might have trouble fitting you, and I don't think I have the... um, correct plumbing."

  She laughed a little. "I have that in my gear... What did happen to my duffel, anyway?"