by S. H. Jucha
“This is blackmail, Captain.”
“No, Commandant, this is business, and you’re hurting ours. In five, I’m calling the docking manager. She had better give me the okay, or you’ll have a bigger mess on your hands than a missing girl. Enjoy your day, Commandant,” Jessie said and closed the comm before Emerson could reply.
“Why did that feel so good?” Jeremy said, and Ituau’s chuckle said she agreed.
Jessie reached up and tapped Aurelia’s hand.
Quickly, Aurelia tightened her controls and ceased broadcasting her pleasure. “Sorry, Captain,” she whispered in Jessie’s ear. “I’m not used to being around new people, much less normals.”
Jessie waited out the five minutes and nodded to Ituau.
“Terminal arm two manager,” Ituau called on the comm. “This is the Spryte. Ready to begin undocking procedures.”
“You’re cleared to begin launch preparations, Spryte. I’m closing your docking fee account. Terminal crew has been dispatched. They’ll be at your gangway in four.”
“Much appreciate the service, Penelope.”
“No problem, Ituau. You give my regards to that hunk of a captain of yours. Safe voyage, Spryte.”
Ituau closed the comm and regarded Jessie, taking in Aurelia’s protected position behind him. “Any particular manner that you’d like Penelope’s regards delivered, Captain?” Ituau said, smirking.
“I’ve an idea, First Mate. How about you get your butt and some crew down to the ramp, and get us closed up so we can get out of here?”
“Aye, Captain,” Ituau replied, smiling. She winked at Aurelia in passing, to let her know that her conversation with the captain was friendly banter. What Ituau didn’t realize was that Aurelia was quickly learning how to close one aspect of her power and keep another aspect open. She was practicing the curtailing of her transmissions but keeping her reception open, and she was enjoying the warm emotions shared between the captain and the crew. It was a far cry from the environment in the governor’s house.
-7-
Hidden Away
Lise Panoy shooed her servant away with an imperial wave of her fingers. She hated to be disturbed during a massage, but the commandant’s call warranted interrupting the indulgence.
“I’ve been looking forward to your call, Commandant,” Lise said, as she stood and shrugged into a robe. “I’m anticipating good news,” she added, shifting from a congenial voice to a firmer one.
“I’m afraid it’s not, Lise,” Emerson replied. He tried hard to keep his voice from cracking, but he failed.
“Who has her?” Lise demanded.
“That’s just it, Lise. No one has her. We can’t find her. We’ve searched every meter of the JOS, the El’s passenger and cargo levels, the terminal arms, and the ships that were docked.”
“That’s impossible, Commandant. The girl can’t up and disappear. You’ll have to search the station’s storerooms, cabins, and maintenance areas.”
“We’ve already done that, Lise … twice. Are you sure she doesn’t have help from people aboard the JOS, individuals who could hide her in plain sight?”
“What’re you suggesting, Commandant?” Lise asked, wondering who had influenced the commandant’s thinking.
“We know she has to be here, Lise. That’s a given, but we can’t find her either by cam monitoring, hands-on searches, or sniffers. So how can a slip of a girl, who’s supposed to be a topside newbie, hide from us, if it wasn’t because she was getting help?”
“I told you, Commandant, that’s she an empath. What I might not have mentioned is that rumor has it she’s a powerful one.”
“How powerful?” Emerson asked, his anger rising to the surface.
“Aurelia is strong enough to kill Dimitri without touching him.”
“And you didn’t think I needed to know this?” Emerson demanded.
Lise sought to placate the commandant, but the more she tried to explain the decision to limit the sharing of information, the angrier Emerson got.
“Lise, you’ve overstepped yourself this time,” Emerson said, cutting her off. “Once we catch the girl, her capabilities are going to be obvious, and you can bet the entire populace of the JOS and the Belle are going to want satisfaction from the domes, and I don’t mean only the Andropov family.”
Lise was trying another line of reasoning when the comm signal went dead. She eyed the bust of the family’s founding patriarch and then loosed an obscenity at the walls. Her masseuse, alarmed by the shout, ducked her head into the room, and Lise screamed at her to get out.
* * *
Giorgio thumbed his comm unit off and the projected screen disappeared. A smile crossed his face. He’d received two calls within twenty minutes, saying about the same thing. A little more than a day ago, he’d have wagered that both the governor and he stood no chance of evading the punishment of a Review Board. Now, there was a glimmer of hope. He walked up the back stairs to the second floor of the house to update Markos.
The governor beckoned Giorgio into his study when his security head announced himself. He was lying on a couch, a cold compress on his forehead.
“A headache, Governor?” Giorgio inquired politely.
“And why shouldn’t I have one?” Markos grumbled in reply. “I’m about to see my family’s legacy flushed to the recycling plant.”
“Perhaps, I can ease your pain, Governor,” Giorgio replied, smiling, and Markos sat up abruptly, wincing at the sudden movement, to listen.
“I received a call from Lise Panoy. I’ve never heard the woman so angry, and she’s demanding my assistance. The lady wants to know who Helena might have pointed Aurelia to on the JOS.”
“What? She wants to know who Helena knows aboard the station?” Markos replied, not following the conversation’s thread. “Helena’s parents are dead. She has no siblings, and it’s been seventeen, nearly eighteen years, since she was on the JOS. For the love of Pyre, what is Lise talking about?”
Giorgio’s grin got wider. “It seems Lise spoke with the commandant, and he told her they can’t find Aurelia.”
“How’s that possible?”
“That’s what Lise wants to know. The commandant put a bug in her ear about Aurelia receiving help. It’s his thinking that’s the only way Aurelia could have disappeared from sight.”
“They can’t find her?” Markos asked, looking for confirmation from Giorgio, who tipped his head in agreement. “They can’t find her,” Markos repeated, smiling and easing the cold compress from his forehead, suddenly feeling his headache lessen.
“Oh, it gets better, Governor,” Giorgio added. “I’ve heard the same thing from my contact in station security, Corporal McKenzie.”
“Yes?” Markos prodded.
“Aurelia was seen entering a terminal arm, and security sent a team to investigate. The corporal accompanied two senior security people, and they searched every ship with a sniffer. Turns out our girl walked onto the Spryte, visited the captain’s cabin, and walked back out, according to the lieutenant who headed the team.”
“The Spryte? Why does that name sound familiar?”
“It’s Captain Cinders’ lead ship.”
“Well, now, isn’t that a coincidence?”
“The corporal, who’s supposed to be an expert with a DAD, swears the girl was probably still aboard the ship, but he wasn’t allowed to board.”
“Why wasn’t the expert allowed aboard?”
“Seems spacers refer to Corporal McKenzie as Terror. The corporal has a tendency to become overzealous during arrests. He roughed up the wrong spacer one day, and it’s believed his crew took revenge on the corporal.”
“Do they know who attacked him?”
“It’s not known. The attackers were careful to hide their identities. But the crewman, who the corporal put in medical, was from Cinders’ ship. That’s why the captain denied the corporal permission to board.”
“So what proof is there that Aurelia was still on the ship?”<
br />
“None, whatsoever, Governor, but security, with a cam on every cap that translates to the arms, has no image of her ever exiting the arm into the JOS.
“Interesting, Giorgio. Where’s the Spryte now?”
“Undocked and headed to the processing station with a load of ingots.”
“And the commandant couldn’t find an excuse to stop the ship?”
“Rumor is that Captain Cinders threatened the commandant with a ship-wide boycott for interfering with business unnecessarily.”
“Even more interesting,” Markos commented, leaning against the back of the couch and dropping the compress on the arm. “What’s your thinking, Giorgio?”
“I don’t think you and I are clear of this mess, by a long shot, Governor, but I think we’ve bought ourselves some time.”
“To do what with?”
“I think the corporal was right. I think Aurelia was on the Spryte. The timing was right for Aurelia and Cinders to have crossed paths aboard the Spryte before the security team arrived. How long would it take Cinders to figure out that the alert for a downsider was about an empath, a powerful one at that, and she was standing in front of him? Plus, in contrast to Lise’s story of a savage murderer, Cinders is looking at Aurelia — a shy, attractive, sixteen year old.”
“Yes, I see what you mean, but it would be a huge leap to think Captain Cinders would risk his career and his company to protect one girl, a downsider at that, from the authorities.”
“From what I’ve heard about Cinders, he’d do just that.”
“So how does this benefit us?”
“Exactly how, I don’t know. But, with time, all sorts of things can be arranged, any one of which might prevent Aurelia from falling into station security’s hands,” Giorgio said, smiling wickedly at Markos.
* * *
“You’re saying I’m to travel with this captain aboard the Pearl, and then go with the captain of the Annie to this far moon,” Aurelia said, repeating Jessie’s plan.
“Yes, Rules. Remember our story.”
“I’m Captain Cinders’ protégé. He’s allowing me to experience working in space to see if I wish to have a career in mining and exploration,” Aurelia repeated.
“Excellent. I must say, Rules, you’re taking this well.”
“I’ve known only a few men in my life, Captain, and each of them spoke words that didn’t match their emotions. For many years, it confused me, until my mother was able to help me understand that this was lying. You’re the first man I’ve met whose words match what he’s feeling … most of the time.”
Jessie quirked an eyebrow at Aurelia, and she added, “When I discuss my empath capabilities, you speak nicely to me, but I sense troubled thoughts. I don’t think these emotions are directed at me personally. I think you find the subject of sensitives disconcerting.”
“Yes, well,” replied Jessie, wanting to change the subject. Aurelia obliged.
“How long will I be out there, Captain?”
“That’s hard to say, Rules. As I’ve explained, your situation is a great deal more complicated than you imagined. The first step is to contact Harbour and make her aware of your circumstances. She can be a powerful ally for us. I don’t know if she’s willing to risk having you aboard the Belle. That could cause her to find herself and her people at odds with station security.”
“You’re saying I must wait and be patient.”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“Then I wish you to change our story to your captains.”
“In what way?”
“You intend to tell them that I should be treated carefully, and I’m only to observe.”
“Yes.”
“But have you considered the possibility that Harbour and you will find no suitable solution to the charges against me?”
“I don’t believe it will come to that, Rules.”
“And now you’ve said one thing, but I perceive another,” Aurelia said simply.
Jessie wondered briefly if Aurelia’s sensitivity was the cause of her maturing faster than other teens. “You’re right, Rules, I didn’t speak what I thought. There’s a good chance that we can’t find a way to present your case to the commandant without getting intercepted or arrested. We could be shut down because of the influence of the domes’ families.”
“In which case, I would be sent downside with only a few people knowing what the governor had done to my mother, my sister, and me.”
“Yes, that’s the way it would probably turn out, unless we can garner the help of a great many people, who would be willing to stand up to the commandant and the families.”
“Then I think I should be trained to become a spacer.”
“Seriously?”
“Could you not tell that my words matched what I felt, Captain?” Aurelia said, with a straight face, with only the slightest twitch at the corner of her mouth.
“Very funny, Rules.”
Aurelia broke out laughing. “I must practice that. Ituau does it so well, as do you, when the two of you speak to the crew. But, Captain, if there is the chance I might never find justice for what was done to me and excused for my crime, then the only life I might have, for the foreseeable future, is out here in space.”
“In which case, you want to start your training as a spacer.”
“It can do me no harm, and it might be my future livelihood.”
“I would hire you, Rules,” Jessie said, and he put belief behind his words.
Aurelia’s eyes teared up, and, when the captain stood, opening his arms to her, she fell into them. Jessie Cinders was the first man in her life with whom she felt safe.
* * *
“Captain, YIPS docking is secure,” Nate reported. “Unloading will begin within the hour. I’ve commed Captain Hastings on the Pearl, as you requested.
“Thanks, Nate,” Jessie replied, rolling off the unfamiliar bunk. He hadn’t slept in a crewman’s cabin for decades, and he was grateful that it wouldn’t be repeated soon, but Aurelia had occupied his stateroom during the trip to the YIPS. Jessie cleaned up and met Leonard Hastings at the gangway.
“Safe voyage, Jessie?” Leonard asked.
“Easy one, Leonard,” Jessie replied.
Leonard Hastings was hired by Captain Rose, but Jessie had sat in on the interview, and the old man later asked his opinion of the man.
“He strikes me as a tough but fair man, who’ll be straight with his crew, and he won’t suffer fools,” Jessie had said.
Corbin had laughed and slapped Jessie on the shoulder, saying, “Good assessment, son. You go call the man, and let him know he’s being offered the position. I’ll send the contract over to him for review, shortly.”
Jessie had never regretted Captain Rose’s decision. Handling the tanker freighter was a dangerous job, more so than anything, except working outside in a vac suit. The tanker hauled mixtures of dangerous solid gases. The frozen gases were shoveled up and shot through a compressor to liquefy the slush, before transport and transfer to one of the Pearl’s tanks, where the slush cooled and formed into a solid state again.
Much of the mineral ore that the crew of the Annie recovered was sent by sled, which were small, automated, cargo ships, to the Yellen-Inglehart Processing Station, called the YIPS. The sleds came to a halt relative to the station, which charged a small fee for recovering them, but the method had saved the Annie innumerable trips to date.
However, YIPS operations refused to have the compressed, solid gases sent by sled. There was too much of a chance of an errant sled of tanks taking out the station. This required the Pearl to fill up at the Annie’s mining site, make the trip to the processing station, and recover the sleds, which could be attached to the ship’s multiple outriggers.
“What is this JOS alert that the crews of the YIPS are talking about?” Leonard asked.
“Funny thing you should ask, Leonard,” Jessie replied, hooking the older captain’s arm and leading him down the gangway out onto the dock
ing arm, where they would have some privacy from the platform crew. “I happen to have the source of the trouble aboard my ship.”
Jessie spent a half hour catching Leonard up on the details of what had transpired downside at the governor’s house, Aurelia’s escape to the JOS, and her making it aboard the Spryte.
“I presume there’s a reason why I’m being informed in great detail about this girl,” Leonard said, when Jessie ended his story at the Spryte’s launch from the JOS.
“I’m requesting, Leonard, mind you I said requesting, that you take Rules aboard the Pearl, train her as a spacer, and when you rendezvous with the Annie hand her off to Captain Erring. She’ll continue Rules’ training, while she makes the journey out to Triton. During this time, only you will know Rules’ real identity, and it would be easy for you to say you were told nothing else about her. You were simply following the request of the company owner.”
“Except for one small problem, Jessie. If Yohlin and I were to behave as you suggest, then we’d be duty bound to request Rules’ ID and register her as crew trainee in the log.”
Jessie swore silently at the overhead. “Sorry, Leonard, things have been moving too fast. I’ve been focused on how to get Aurelia off our hands and prevent risking the company any more than I already have.”
“That might be your problem, Jessie. If Rules’ predicament is as you say it is, perhaps the girl needs our protection, and this is the fight that spacers have known was coming for generations. The outcome will depend on what side the people of the JOS and the Belle take … whether they stand with us against the domes’ ruling families or not.”
Jessie regarded Leonard, whose face said that the choice was obvious to him. For Jessie, who carried Corbin Rose’s legacy, he was torn. In Jessie’s mind, Aurelia’s delicate, downsider face was contrasted against his crews’ faces, many lined and worn from their years of hard duty in space.
“My thought, Jessie, is that you allow Yohlin and me to join your fight.”
“I wasn’t aware that I had started a fight.”
“What would you call aiding and abetting a girl who was branded a murderer because she fought against the governor’s unlawful imprisonment, the same man who fathered her by a woman he kidnapped?”
