She saw at least seven bodies floating in the air. She grimaced. And then she saw something strange. A flash of orange. It was crawling over the face of one of the dead men. “Keirth?” she whispered. “I just saw—”
“Back up!” Keirth yelled. “Go back, Ariana.”
She scrambled to turn around, but it was tough to move fast in the null gravity, and she ended up spinning around uselessly. She grabbed for the wall to pull herself back the way they’d come.
Keirth was pushing her from behind. “Gellococcus!” he screamed.
What? Ariana yanked herself around the corner as quickly as she could. Gellococcus was a sort of bacteria that could survive in deep space. Swarms of it could infest a space ship and kill everyone on it. The thing about it that made it different from regular bacteria was that it was a lot bigger. Why, when she’d seen the hollow eyes, hadn’t she thought...?
She used her feet to push off the wall and went hurtling back down the corridor they’d just come through. Bodies and debris were in her path, but she pushed past it all. Frenzied, she went as fast as she could. She reached the opening down to the docking bay and shot a look over her shoulder for Keirth. “Keirth?”
She couldn’t see him.
“It’s trying to chew through the suit,” echoed Keirth’s voice over the comm. “I can’t get to my blaster.”
If the gellococcus got through Keirth’s suit, he was done for. He wouldn’t be able to breathe. And the little beasts would be free to feast on Keirth, sucking him dry.
* * *
The Duke of Risciter scanned the newsfeeds from the bridge of his spaceship. Who knew what that little bitch, Ariana Gilit, was saying about him? Had she accused him of trying to kill her? If she had, he didn’t know if his reputation would recover.
He couldn’t believe the minx had hit him on the head so hard. He gingerly felt the bump on his forehead. He might even have a concussion, that whore.
Risciter didn’t like it. Women did not get away from him. Now that he’d marked Ariana to be one of his special girls, he had to finish what he started. But how to do it?
If she was back home, spreading nasty rumors about him, it would be difficult. Possibly impossible. He scanned through the nets, searching for any mention of him. But there was nothing. He looked for Ariana’s name. Several stories there, all talking about the fact she’d been abducted and the attempt of the Ossile police to save her. But she hadn’t been found yet.
Why not?
She’d had more than enough time to get back to the sector. Then it dawned on him. Her pride. She knew that if she went back, she’d be ruined. She was a worthless woman now, her value in marriage completely gone. Ariana was far too arrogant to face that. Risciter smiled. He could still find her. He could still finish what he’d started with her.
His special girls had to be dealt with in a proper way. He’d find Ariana and take a knife to that pretty neck of hers before she could squeal.
But first, he’d have to make sure she was sufficiently motivated to stay away, wouldn’t he?
Risciter pulled up his comm and began composing his message. He’d flood it to the authorities, to every corner of the nets. He knew his story, now. He’d chased his dear love, Miss Gilit, across the galaxy, trying to save her from a madman. He’d been too late. His poor girl had been viciously raped. Risciter had been forced to watch. Left for dead by the crazed criminal responsible, Risciter didn’t know if Miss Gilit were still alive.
He smiled as he sent it off. The scandal would be far too much for her. Viciously raped. She was absolutely ruined now. Completely. She wouldn’t go back to the sector. And that would give Risciter time to hunt her down and complete his work of art.
When sent his message, he noticed he’d received something from the Duke of Tramet. He pulled it up. Keirth Transman? The name seemed familiar, but Risciter couldn’t place it. Risciter trashed the message. Probably, Tramet had a runaway servant who’d stolen some silver or some such nonsense. It wasn’t anything to be concerned about, and it certainly had nothing to do with Risciter.
Chapter Eight
Ariana pushed off, back in the direction of Keirth. She rounded the corner to see that the gellococcus were crawling all over his spacesuit. They were skittering along the walls as well.
The gellococcus were round, cylindrical orange things, maybe half a foot long. They had spiny legs that they used to move themselves and to burrow into flesh. Ariana could see that three or four of them were worrying at Keirth’s spacesuit. One was wrapped around his arm, stopping him from being able to get to his blaster.
She used the wall to pull herself over to him. Hooking her arms under his shoulders, she tried to yank him back down the corridor, around the corner, and away from the gellococcus.
There wasn’t any gravity. She only managed to make them roll over in the air. She and Keirth somersaulted, the gellococcus clinging to him.
“Get your blaster,” Keirth’s voice boomed inside her helmet.
Right. Her blaster. The one she’d pulled out of the air and strapped to her space suit.
She fumbled with her gloves to unfasten the blaster.
It came loose from the suit and floated away from her. She reached for it, brushed the edge of the barrel, and it too began to spin in the air, each spin taking it farther and farther from her reach.
“I lost it,” she said, panic rising in her chest. She shot a look at the gellococcus. There were more attached to Keirth now, and hundreds of them seemed to be crawling out of the bridge, using their spindly legs to hurry closer and closer. “I have to let go of you.”
She disentangled herself from Keirth and pushed off from the wall, after the blaster. She noticed that one of the gellococcus was on her leg now. Through the spacesuit, she could feel the pressure of its tiny legs. She fought the urge to scream. They were not going to die on this ship. She just had to get the blaster.
She spied it, slowly spinning in the air ahead of her. It was close. All she had to do was reach out and—
She had it. “I’ve got the blaster.” Her voice was shaking.
“Well, shoot them!”
Right. Except she’d never shot a blaster before. She held it out in front of her and pressed the trigger button. Nothing happened.
“You have to turn it on,” Keirth said through clenched teeth. “Bottom of the handle. There’s a button.”
She felt for it. Pressed it. The blaster lit up.
“Turn the knob on the side down,” said Keirth. “You can hit the ones on me without searing through to my skin.”
Okay. Okay, she could do that. She turned the knob. Then she aimed at one of the gellococcus on Keirth. She cringed and pulled the trigger at the same time.
A bolt of green light filled the corridor.
But her shot had hit the gellococcus, which curled up and disengaged from Keirth.
“Good,” said Keirth, a little breathless. “Good job.” He held up the arm that was wrapped in gellococcus. “Get this one.”
She pulled the trigger again. More green light.
And then Keirth had his blaster out. He was quicker than she’d been. He shot with one arm and grabbed Ariana with the other. With his feet he propelled them back down the corridor to the opening and shoved her down into it.
“Go!” said Keirth.
She pushed off with her feet, flying through the corridor. Keirth was at her heels. She could see flashes of light from his blaster out of the corner of her eyes.
And finally, they were back in the docking bay of her own ship, the door to the abandoned vessel sealed tightly behind them.
Keirth ripped off his helmet. “You okay?”
She took her helmet off too. “Yeah.” And she was. She was a little shaky. “That was kind of close.”
Keirth unfastened his space suit and started to shrug out of it. “I’m sorry. I had no idea that there were gellococcus on the ship.”
Ariana also started to remove the space suit. It was hot and hea
vy inside her own ship. “They didn’t show up on the scan?”
“They can survive in the vacuum of space,” Keirth said. “They don’t register as life forms.” He tossed the suit in a heap, wiping his sweaty forehead with the edge of his t-shirt. “I’m sorry. It’s seems obvious now. Why else would the ship be abandoned? I’m an idiot.”
“At least we’re okay,” she said, stepping out of the last of her suit.
Keirth nodded. “Yeah, we’re fine.” He grinned at her. “You did all right back there. I wouldn’t have made it out of there without you.”
Ariana smiled shyly and looked away. “I was terrified. I never shot a blaster before.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I got that.” He picked up his space suit, heading for the storage closet. “But you’re a natural. You hit everything you aimed at. Couple lessons and you’d be excellent.”
“Really?” She’d never thought she’d be good at shooting things. She felt good.
“Really,” he said, opening the storage closet. “Of course, this does mean that we do have to go to Trioth. Unfortunately.”
* * *
Keirth stood outside of Ariana’s closed bedroom door. They’d just docked the ship on Trioth, and he was feeling apprehensive rumbles in his stomach. “What are you doing in there?”
Ever since he’d told her they were going to Trioth, she’d been asking him tons of annoying questions. If the people of Trioth carried spears and wore loincloths, why did he think they’d be able to fix their hyperdrive?
He’d explained that the Trioth people, while not much for technology themselves, collected spaceships that crashed on their planet. They had huge junkyards full of stuff. And he wasn’t intending on fixing their hyperdrive anyway. He was intending to trade their worthless ship for another ship that actually flew. Keirth guessed he could understand why she was curious about that.
But that didn’t stop her unending flow of questions. She wanted to know what kind of society the people of Trioth had. Did they ever wear anything besides loincloths? What were their marriages like? They had a chief, right? What were their governing bodies like? Was there a hierarchy? What did the women do? Were there servants? She went on and on.
Keirth didn’t know the answers to half of these questions, so finally, he’d pointed her to the onboard encyclopedia of planets and told her to get reading. She’d been busily reading away ever since. And then, right before they arrived, she’d disappeared into her room for hours.
She still wasn’t out.
“We’re here,” he said to the door. “We need to go find the chief and see if he’s going to force me to marry his daughter.”
The door to Ariana’s room slid open. She stepped out. She was wearing a long maroon dress which shimmered when she walked. Her hair was pulled up on top of her head in some kind of elaborate weave of braids. She had dangling earrings that winked and glittered. She looked stunning, but...
“I had an idea about the chief’s daughter thing,” she said.
“And it involves dressing up like you’re going to a ball?” he asked.
She nodded. “Aren’t you going to offer me your arm?”
“What are you playing at?”
But at that moment, there was a loud banging on the hull of the ship. The Triothians had discovered the ship. Keirth didn’t have time to deal with Ariana. “You should change,” he threw over his shoulder and ran outside the ship.
A group of ten men greeted him. Just like last time, they were all carrying spears and wearing loincloths. The chief was with them. Outside the ship, it was quite balmy. The air was warm. The sky shone a purplish color, shrouded with gleaming clouds. A few of Trioth’s moons peeked through. They were visible during the day.
The chief recognized him. He was a tall man with glistening muscles and a long, graying beard. He pointed his spear at Keirth. “You. Keirth Transman. You have returned, dishonorable man.”
Would they stick him with spears right away? “Listen, Mr. Chief,” said Keirth, “I’m really sorry about what happened the last time I was here. It was all a big misunderstanding.”
“You have come to make it right?” asked the chief.
“Actually...” said Keirth. “I was sort of hoping that we could kind of forget the whole thing.”
Suddenly, the men all gasped. They were looking behind Keirth at the loading ramp. Keirth turned. Ariana was gliding out of the ship. In the sunlight, her outfit was even more glittery.
“Who is this?” asked the chief.
Ariana made her way over to Keirth. She wrapped her arm around his. “I’m Keirth’s wife.”
Keirth gave her a startled glance. She was what?
Ariana smiled at the chief. She patted Keirth’s arm with her free hand. “Keirth told me all about what happened the last time he was here. He felt just horrid about it. My husband is a good man, but he’s sometimes a little bewildered about local customs. He had no idea that taking that glass of wine would be taken as betrothal to your daughter. And, as you can see, he’s already married.”
The chief leaned on his spear. “Married?” He touched his beard. “But he is clean-shaven, like an unmarried man.”
“On our planet,” said Ariana, “married men don’t always have beards. But once Keirth told me about all of this, I did some reading on your culture, and I realized what a blunder he’d made. So we’re here to offer our apologies. Both to you and to your daughter. And, of course, we’re prepared to make remonstrations to her, and to free her immediately from any prior bond she may have been held to.”
“What?” said Keirth. He had no idea what she was up to here.
She smiled at him. “Keirth forgets, I suppose, even though I told him, that here on Trioth, once a woman is betrothed, no man is allowed to look upon her until she is married. And the only way to break the betrothal and free her is to compensate her for her lost time.”
“Exactly right,” said the chief. “My daughter has been wearing the robes of waiting for over a year now. She hopes daily for your return. If you are already married, I am not sure if the betrothal is valid.” He looked confused.
“Sir,” said Ariana, going to the chief, “what happened was entirely Keirth’s fault. We are deeply, deeply sorry. Please take us to your daughter right away.” She gave the men with spears a smile. “Oh, and there’s a trunk right inside the ship. If you could be so good as to bring that along as well?”
The chief nodded at the men. Soon, he, Ariana, and the chief were in the back of a horse-drawn cart, heading for the chief’s home. Ariana’s trunk was in the back of the cart. The men had lugged it after them without a single complaint. Keirth eyed Ariana, who was easily engaged in small talk with the chief about his crops and the growing season. She seemed to know everything about the planet. Had she found all this out in the encyclopedia? And why was the chief so easily placated by her? Sure, Ariana was pretty. In that dress, she was...well, she was absolutely beautiful. And Keirth could see how the chief might feel honored just to have a woman like that talking to him. Maybe. But...
Keirth didn’t like not having any idea what was going on. Ariana’s story seemed to have worked. He guessed he’d just go along with it. All of the men who’d lugged the trunk were openly gaping at Ariana. Keirth gave them a sharp look. She was supposed to be his wife, after all. He guessed looking as if he were married to a woman like Ariana gave him a certain amount of stature. He squared his shoulders.
The chief’s home was a large building made of marbled stone. It gleamed purple, reflecting the sky. Once they were inside, the chief instructed some servants—women clad in white garments that went over one shoulder, clenched at the waist, and hung to their knees—to go and fetch his daughter. Ariana, Keirth, and the chief stood inside a room decorated with woven tapestries and animal furs. Ariana’s trunk had been set inside as well.
Within a few minutes, the servants reappeared with the chief’s daughter. Keirth couldn’t say he recognized her because she was covered in black fabri
c. It was draped over her head and covered her from head to toe. The only thing he could see was her eyes, and that was because the fabric had holes cut out in it for them. But when she saw Keirth, her eyes narrowed behind her black shift.
Oops. Keirth hadn’t realized this girl was going to have to run around covered in black just because he’d run off. He felt guilty. But there wasn’t any way he could have married her. He was a victim of circumstance.
“This is my daughter Freetha,” said the chief.
“Freetha,” said Ariana, going to her. “I wish to give you our sincere apologies for this horrible misunderstanding. You are hereby released from the bonds of betrothal. As compensation for your troubles, we have brought you this.” Ariana went to her trunk, and removed a long, shimmering green gown. She presented it to the chief’s daughter. “It’s made of smartfabric, which is all the rage in the sector, so it should fit the minute you put it on. It will adjust itself to the proportions of your body.”
Freetha took the dress from Ariana silently, but Keirth could see in her eyes that she was awed by it.
Ariana took some jewelry out of her trunk. “And we also offer this gift of precious jewels to you and your father.” She handed the jewelry to the chief.
He smiled at her. “Your apologies are accepted, and we will release Freetha from her betrothal bond.”
Freetha pulled the black veil over her head. Underneath, she was a pretty girl with long blonde hair. She was smiling too. “I’m free?” she whispered.
“Yes,” said her father.
Freetha threw her arms around Ariana. “Oh thank you. It’s been so long since I’ve been allowed to speak to anyone.”
She hadn’t been able to talk? What kind of crazy place was this planet anyway?
“You’re quite welcome,” said Ariana.
“This dress is...” Freetha looked at it, her eyes wide. “Can you show me how to put it on? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Ariana went off with Freetha, their arms linked. But before she did, she whispered to Keirth. “You’re welcome.”
The chief eyed Keirth.
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