“Heather! Don’t you dare tease Raymond about that,” scolded Chloë. “Your description of the Shukurae was terribly wrong! Noble, honorable and all that… that’s a load of crap! They are way better than that!”
Heather looked shocked at Chloë for a moment before bursting out laughing, “Yes, ma’am! Well… if I had told you how wonderful and awesome they were in the first place, you never would have believed me!”
Chloë blew a raspberry and they all had a good laugh.
“Okay, so what’s the plan then?” asked Heather. “Do we have a ride off this rock?”
“They hope to have one of the ships operational later today. If it subsequently performs well on the shake down run, they may be able to get us ‘off this rock,’ as you put it, late tomorrow. If things don’t go so well, there is a human ship already en route.”
Heather bit her lip and grinned. “Humans…”
Raymond rolled his eyes. “We already covered that joke… Oh wait! You missed it because you were unconscious and scaring us all half to death!”
Heather blinked, “Um, sorry.”
“Jokes and teasing aside, Heather, Raymond thinks very highly of you,” began Chloë. “Please, oh please, do think of those around you. None of us want you hurt like that again.”
Heather flashed a quick grin at Raymond before regaining her composure, “You are right of course. Both of you… I’m just a kid…”
“Well, I’d say ‘young lady,’” began Raymond. “But please, please let those of us around you help you.”
Heather smiled civilly and nodded to Raymond. “Like Chloë said when I first woke up, I need to learn to ask for help.”
“Excellent!” beamed Chloë. “And now back to fill in the unanswered question: we are planning on taking the ship back to the Highlands. But first, dinner, of course!”
“Of course!” beamed Heather.
33
Chloë stared nervously as she watched Raymond and two of the proud Shukurae warriors delicately operate the controls of the light cruiser. The artificial gravity was off in the ship and was likewise off on the landing zone. While it made things easier for takeoff, the low gravity only exasperated the unease she felt. She tried not to giggle at poor Heather, she was sitting in the corner and looked positively ill. Chloë had endured the unpleasantness of shifting gravity domains several times, and while this one was the most extreme, at least she knew what to expect. Heather, who had never before been in a starship until a week ago, was much worse for the wear.
“Just pretend this is one of those amusement park rides, there on the borderlands,” Chloë offered to Heather as she looked for her own distraction.
“Those are mostly positive g-forces and they don’t last very long,” began Heather as she slinked towards a couch to lie on. “This seems to be lasting forever.”
“It’ll be over soon,” fired Raymond over his shoulder. “I’m showing green across the board,” he announced to the other Shukurae. “All systems are level and we have four sigmas balance on our emergency systems.”
“How much buffer is built into the emergency systems?” asked Watzkel over his shoulder.
“This is a Kulpgurie manufactured ship so three more on top of that.”
Watzkel laughed, “More likely to get struck by lightning than have an engine failure… Okay, Raymond, you have the controls. We lift off on your mark.”
Raymond nodded to the two helping at the controls and the ship gently lifted off the ground and started its slow, but smooth ascent from the moon’s surface.
“Nice and smooth,” grinned Chloë appreciatively. “They’ll be able to turn the artificial gravity up here in just a few minutes, Heather. Just hold on a little longer.”
Heather whimpered and just stared at the ceiling, “I shouldn’t have eaten such a large breakfast…”
Chloë carefully walked over to Heather and sat on the couch next to her. “Just a little bit longer.” Chloë watched the impromptu crew at work. Raymond was the only Taik, all the rest were Shukurae field soldiers and yet they all worked together well and handled the controls of the ship remarkably well. Raymond had expressed some concern as he had never done a take-off in such a large ship, but his fears bore no fruit: he was performing marvelously. Others in the unit had far more experience on large ships, but there was a certain practicality to having Raymond at the controls: they were at least sized for him; the Shukurae’s fingers were quite large for the buttons and controls at hand. Chloë smiled at the level of trust displayed between the Shukurae and Raymond. A week ago neither she nor Raymond would have ever even conceived of working alongside the Shukurae, but here they were, working together, and doing so quite efficiently.
Color returned to Heather’s ears and nose as the gravity slowly increased to 0.95 of normal. Not quite spot on for the Highlands, but close enough. Heather shuddered as she sat upright, “Okay, that’s over. Nothing else weird today, right?”
“We have a jumpgate in about twelve hours. Outside of that it should be a smooth ride,” offered Raymond.
Chloë beeped Heather lightly on the nose, “When we ran through all those gate houses that time it was I who got ill, not you. How was this so much worse?”
“I have no idea… I’m just glad it is over. Twelve hours of boredom he said. I can live with that. Raymond, want to go back and play in the cargo hold?”
“By all means, Lady Heather, just give us about thirty minutes.”
“Back in the cargo hold? What are you two going to do there?”
“Same thing we did last night?” grinned Heather.
“And that was?” teased Chloë.
“Fencing,” replied Raymond over his shoulder. “You are more than welcome to join us, Lady Chloë.”
Chloë grinned broadly but the grin fell as her brain churned. “Um, does he know about me and Live Steel?” whispered Chloë.
Heather tersely shook her head, “Nope. Let’s keep it that way.”
Chloë nodded in agreement; Raymond was being wonderful, but…
“Ma’am, we have an anomalous signal on our forward scanners,” barked one of the Shukurae.
“Is it a ship?” gritted Watzkel.
“Negative, too small. But it is synthetic… Front forward arc… Between its size and relative movement makes it hard to get a fix on it.”
“Assume it is in one of the Lagrangian Points and recalculate the track,” offered Raymond.
“Good call! We have a positive track now; it appears to be a relay satellite of some type.”
“Kulpgurie export market reconnaissance satellite,” blurted Raymond with recognition. “It is almost guaranteed to have a fix on us by now.”
“Then it knows our exit vector,” grumbled Watzkel.
“The vector is a given, there are only two jumpgates within a week’s travel of here,” can the reply from one of the Shukurae at the controls. “But it now knows we’ve left, so the timing is now well assured.”
“Does this tin can have anything that can destroy it!” growled Watzkel. “If so, fry it!” She sighed to herself, “Why couldn’t we have ended up with a ship with its own gate-driver…”
The Shukurae’s eyes at the control lit up in a childish grin as he unleashed a particle beam cannon at the voyeur. “Thirty seconds to impact.”
“Do we change our course?”
“We change nothing until we have a clean sweep!” growled Watzkel.
“Come on,” suggested Chloë to Heather. “Let’s go find something to do.”
“Or eat,” grinned Heather.
“Eat? Five minutes ago you were about ready to cough up your hind claws!” laughed Chloë.
34
Chloë squeaked as she fell out of bed. She would have laughed at Heather’s panicked and contorted form on the top bunk if it wasn’t for the obviousness of the situation: something had just hit the ship! Suddenly the overhead light snapped on and she recoiled from the light. Overhead, Heather sneezed at the light and then fin
ally gave up and dropped to the floor on all fours, landing all but on top of Chloë.
“Get up and get dressed, ladies,” barked Raymond. “We’ve got company!”
“Wait!” fired Chloë, but it was too late, he was already gone.
“Can’t we at least get to a nice solid planet before all the insanity starts?” groused Heather as she made for her clothes.
Chloë and Heather both did a double take as they felt the artificial gravity on the ship shift and reduce itself briefly before returning to normal. “Um, that doesn’t bode well,” offered Chloë.
“Silly me, I thought flying off the top bunk didn’t bode well…”
“Well, from my end, you actually looked kinda funny hanging half out of bed,” laughed Chloë as she quickly got dressed. It wasn’t much of a laugh, but it was all she could muster at the time.
Heather graced Chloë with one of her signature raspberries before finishing dressing. “Oh well, things were getting boring anyway…”
There was a quick rap at the door and Chloë called out, “Come in!”
Raymond re-entered with a serious look on his face. “Good, dressed. Come quickly, we have problems.”
“He said ‘problems’, plural…” noted Heather as she stuck out her tongue. Wit aside, she followed Raymond and Chloë made quick pursuit.
The ship shuddered again and alarms could now be heard in the distance. Raymond paid them no mind as he shepherded the girls to the rear of the ship to one of the escape pods.
Chloë’s eyes went round at the sight of the escape pods, “Is the ship breaking up?”
“No,” replied Raymond evenly. “Not yet,” he muttered under his breath. He helped the two girls into the pod and directed them to the restraints before closing himself in with them. The lights in the pod sprang to life and danced. Raymond typed away before cuing a microphone on the panel, “LC! I have both ladies in the pod and we are sealed tight. We eject on your mark!”
The distorted but unmistakable voice of Watzkel replied, “Understood. Separation in less than 30. We will rendezvous in 36 hours, stay off the regular comms for at least 18.”
“Understood. Have blackbook for comms; will follow protocol.”
“Keep the sun at your back, brave palace cat… Stand by for separation!”
Chloë was too scared for questions and reflexively found herself snuggling up to Raymond in spite of herself. The restraints didn’t yield much, but she was grateful when Raymond noticed and smiled back at both of them.
“Hold on…”
Chloë didn’t know if it was safe to scream, they were in an escape pod after all, quite well isolated from the rest of the ship, but scream she did. Suddenly an eerie blue engulfed the electronics and all her fur stood on end of its own accord. A split second later there was the uncomfortable lurch as the pod separated and its thrusters briefly fired. Moments later they were weightless. Chloë would have felt sorry for Heather, but she was too busy screaming herself. Chloë finally just gave up, teared up, and doubled forward.
It seemed like forever and then there it was, the soft but firm touch of Raymond petting her head. “It’s okay ladies, we are clear. Things are calm now, we separated just as planned. You can unbuckle if you like, we have an hour and a half before reentry.”
Chloë unbuckled, but only just enough to scoot closer to Raymond. She smiled fondly at Heather who had all but crawled entirely into Raymond’s lap. Heather was scared, and sick, and she wasn’t afraid to admit it. But they all seemed calmer there in his arms. Chloë had teased Heather about her affections for Raymond, but they did seem warranted: he was a nice man and was showing the better of himself every day.
“Were we being shot at?” finally came Heather’s voice, muffled by Raymond’s chest.
“Charged particle beams. Low kinetic energy, high electrical charge though. They were trying to shut down the ship’s power without cracking us open.”
Chloë’s mind raced, “They were trying to take us alive at least…”
“There is a sizable reward for you, Lady Chloë, and certain death should anything bad happen to you.” Raymond paused before continuing, “Um, I don’t know if it will make you feel better or not, Heather, but you are now in demand, too.”
“I just want to go home…”
Raymond gently kissed Heather on the top of the head, “We’re working on that…”
“What just happened? Why did we separate from the Shukurae?” asked Chloë.
“We decided to do a round about approach to the jump gate, but still feared the ship was being tracked so we swung by a planet with a small colony as a way point. Either we were being tracked, or someone second guessed us because we soon found a welcoming committee. They spotted us and they started firing at range. The good thing is that ion beams like that make the ship glow on scanners and would easily mask something small, like an escape pod, from being seen.”
“So, we snuck away while the Shukurae go toe-to-claw with the attackers?” managed Heather, still unwilling to change her perch.
“Yes, but only just barely,” continued Raymond as he carefully stroked Heather’s hair. “They are going to eject here in a bit and try to have the cruiser ram one of theirs. But because of the time difference in the ejection of the pods, we will land very far apart.”
Chloë just sighed, there wasn’t really a whole lot to do. They had an hour and a half, and she was all out of questions. Not that she wasn’t curious about a million things, just none of them seemed to make it all the way up to her throat. She tried to sleep, the pod was relatively cozy, and there was good company, but the uncertainty of the situation made real sleep difficult. But sleep she finally did, in spite of it all, and the sleep felt good.
35
“Good morning, Lady Chloë,” called Raymond through the front of the escape pod.
Chloë looked around, the other two were outside and she was still half buckled into the pod. “I slept through reentry?” laughed Chloë.
Raymond grinned, “Both of you did. Come on, we need to try and get some distance under our feet.”
Chloë grinned as she exited the pod and noticed Heather’s antics: she was sitting on the ground on all fours and was extending her claws and retracting them slowly into the soft soil underfoot. Heather looked bright eyed and giddy. Chloë smiled, she hadn’t seen Heather that happy in days. “Lost on a backwater planet seems to suit you Heather,” laughed Chloë.
Heather just turned and grinned, “But there is real ground beneath us! Real soil and plants!” She fired off a raspberry, “Who cares if we are lost, at least it is a real planet for a change!”
“We aren’t lost,” smirked Raymond, “and if things go well we should be able to relink with Watzkel’s unit in a day and a half or two. This planet has already been flagged by the Shukurae’s emergency beacon, so help is already alerted and on the way. We just need to be careful, use our time and resources wisely and we should have no problems.”
“Wisely?” grinned Chloë.
“I heard that!” barked Heather.
“But I hadn’t said anything,” laughed Chloë.
“But I could hear you think it,” grinned Heather.
“Alright ladies,” grinned Raymond as he shouldered a backpack. “Let’s all be nice and get moving.”
Heather frowned, “I can carry a pack!”
“No, ma’am. I have the pack. I want your undivided attention focusing on the local wildlife,” lectured Raymond. “While this isn’t the same flora and fauna you grew up with, I’m sure many aspects are the same none-the-less, and I’d rather not get surprised by anything… especially things with teeth…”
Heather beamed, “I have teeth…”
Chloë laughed and rolled her eyes, it was good to see Heather back to her old self.
The sun started to bear down on Chloë; oh! she had become spoiled by the cool mountain air of the Highlands! She laughed to herself, maybe she should change into her nightgown, it was cooler! She had w
andered two days through the Highlands in her nightgown wishing for something warmer and now here she was wishing for something cooler… It was silly, of course, they had been going in and out of shade all morning, this was just one more meadow and then the gracious trees would provide comfort again. She smiled to herself as she watched Heather, bouncy, alive, alert and positively radiant!
Raymond groused to no one in particular, “If Heather breaks into song, I’m going to throw up.”
“Problems?” grinned Heather as she draped another garland of gorgeous flowers over Raymond’s ears. “If you’d bend over, I could put these around your neck proper!”
Raymond rolled his eyes, “Oughtn’t you be watching for wildlife?”
Heather grinned as she strolled ahead, “I have been. I was the one that spotted that ursine like thing an hour ago, as well as the larger herbivores.”
Raymond just softly growled while Chloë laughed, “She does have wonderfully sharp eyes! You have a problem with all her pretty little flowers?”
Raymond rolled his eyes, “It’s just not… dignified.”
“Think of it as camouflage. Or as a way to cover up your scent so you can more easily sneak up on game animals.”
“Finding the game animals will be easy… just follow the laughter,” murmured Raymond. “I’m sure one of these flowers is going to give me a rash…”
“Aw! Is the brave palace guard allergic to sunshine and roses?” teased Heather.
“We have no idea what these plants are… it’s only statistical that one of them will cause an allergic reaction or something…”
“The blue flowers are Carl’s Lilies, the purple are called Violet Meadow March,” replied Chloë absentmindedly.
“You mean they look like…” began Raymond.
“No. They are. All the plant life we’ve seen is consistent with the old Jacob’s System. This planet was seeded intentionally. I thought that was obvious,” replied Chloë.
Raymond stared back at Chloë with amazement, “Um, no. It wasn’t obvious.”
Chloë Page 15
