Private Dicks

by Samantha M. Derr

  "Follow the training path, including the quizzes. Don't leave the training program. I don't want you fucking with anything I don't tell you to, you hear?" Kins stepped back, letting Shi approach the panel. Despite his words, his tone was still informational—not friendly, but not unfriendly either.

  "Got it," Shi said, frowning at the panel for a moment before tapping the "Start" button. Kins lingered a moment more, then stepped away, leaving Shi with his training program.

  Despite Kins' claims that their software was completely custom and not at all like regular ships, the training program told a completely different story. The interface had been given a facelift, but the rest of it was pretty standard. Even the interactive training program was the same old shit Shi had seen before. Hopefully, after this, he would never have to complete another training program ever again. They were the most boring things in the galaxy, he swore.

  Still, Shi somehow managed to lose track of time while he was working on it. Kins tapped on his shoulder at 0310—to make up for the ten minutes he'd been late to his shift—and ordered him to the mess. Kins fell into step beside him as he left the engineering section, apparently taking his break at the same time. They climbed into the shuttle, and headed towards the mess.

  The mess was huge, possibly because it was meant to feed the entire crew. If the shuttle map Shi had been looking at earlier was accurate, it was the only mess hall on the ship. It also doubled as an event hall, Shi noted, spotting a huge vid screen at one end. Tables and benches were bolted to the floor along two thirds of the huge room, leaving a wide open space at one end. The vid screen was in the back of the open area, along with something else that wasn't making any sense to Shi.

  A small area was boxed in with a pulsing light fence, the kind that would give a nasty shock to anyone stupid enough to touch it. It contained a small area, and Shi could just barely see someone sitting down within the fence. There wasn't room to do anything but sit or stand, and Shi squinted at the box. It was impossible to pick out anything else, however; between the distance and the light fence, everything inside the box was obscured.

  "What's going on there?" Shi asked, following Kins towards the line to receive their meal. The mess was busier than Shi had anticipated, but likely most of the crew working third shift got their break around this time.

  "Punishment," Kins said, shrugging disinterestedly. He picked up a silver cup and filled it with coffee, then moved to add cream and sugar. Shi followed suit, eschewing the cream and sugar despite the burnt, butter smell of the coffee.

  "What did he do?" Shi asked, taking a sip of the coffee and making a face when it proved to be as terrible as it smelled. It was coffee though, and Shi wasn't going to turn his nose up at that.

  "Pissed Lord Volkov off," Kins said, moving forward. "No one knows how, but it must have been something bad. He's been there for months."

  "Huh," Shi said, then forced a grin. "Remind me to never piss Lord Volkov off. I'd prefer a quick death."

  Kins snorted, and Shi let the conversation drop. He glanced back at the light fence, but it was still impossible to see anything. It couldn't be Elis. Surely Volkov would be keeping him locked away somewhere safe, away from the prying eyes of any spies. Unless he was cocky enough to think he would never be infiltrated? Or maybe cocky enough to think nothing would ever happen, even if an agent managed to get onto one of his ships.

  Shi collected a tray of food, not paying any attention to what the man serving piled onto his plate. He set the cup of coffee on the tray, then wandered across the mess, ignoring when Kins took a seat at a nearby table. Most of the crew was eating at the tables on the opposite side of the room from the light fence, either for convenience—it was closer to the door—or to avoid the spectacle.

  Shi didn't go much closer, not wanting to seem too curious about the display. He doubted anyone would be suspicious of his curiosity, though prolonged curiosity would certainly attract notice. Shi sat down, picking up his cup of coffee and glancing at the light fence again. Closer, he could see the man within the light fence was sitting cross-legged, his arms crossed over his chest and his head bent down, chin almost touching his chest.

  He was the right build for Elis, Shi noted clinically, trying to ignore the way his heartbeat kicked up a notch. He also had Elis' bright blond hair, but without seeing his face, Shi couldn't say one way or the other. Still, how many prisoners did Volkov have? He'd been on display for months, Kins had said, and Shi's stomach twisted. How long had Elis been in Volkov's grasp? Allie hadn't said, and neither had the information she'd given him.

  Could Elis have been caught after their last fight? That would explain why he'd never come back, and why Shi hadn't been able to find him. Shi had assumed it was Elis' way of ending their relationship permanently, but what if he'd not been able to come back? Shi's stomach dropped, and he willed the man in the light fence to look up, suddenly needing confirmation.

  The man didn't stir, and Shi forced himself to start eating his meal. It was tasteless, but that was pretty normal for ship's fare. The only people on a ship who got food that wasn't completely bland were the upper officers and any rich passengers. Shi finished eating quickly, drowning the tasteless food with the terrible tasting coffee.

  He glanced at the light fence again, and froze when he realized the man had lifted his head. He was staring straight at Shi, and Shi swallowed hard because it was Elis. He was far thinner than he should be, but that wasn't surprising. Shi doubted Volkov was feeding Elis well. He looked furious, and Shi could guess why—their last fight had been about Shi taking on a dangerous case, but that case paled in comparison to smuggling himself onto Volkov's ship to try and rescue Elis.

  Shi didn't allow himself to react, but lifted his cup and swallowed the rest of his coffee as though Elis weren't glaring at him. He set the cup down on his tray and stood, turning his back to Elis and crossing the room to the tray collection area. He could feel Elis' eyes on him, and he hoped no one else noticed. The last thing he needed was to garner attention because Elis was paying too much attention to him.

  Eating hadn't taken his full break, but Shi left the mess hall anyway, heading back to the engineering deck. He'd failed a quiz before break—if anyone asked, he was making up for that by returning to work early. The engineering section was quiet, half-staffed as it was, but no one stopped Shi as he climbed back up to the second level to resume his training.

  He couldn't stop seeing Elis' angry expression, even as he restarted the training and tried to immerse himself in the training program again. At least it seemed like Elis was largely all right, even half-starved and caged as he was. He'd expected Elis to be in worse shape—or dead. Perhaps Volkov was keeping him alive and mostly unharmed since he needed to use Elis as collateral.

  Who was Elis' influential connection? Shi fumbled on the training program, hitting the wrong button and getting a quiz question wrong. He hadn't thought about that. Elis didn't have family, Shi knew that. Shi didn't know what had happened to Elis' family, only that they weren't among the living anymore. Who would care enough about Elis to pull strings to save him?

  A former lover, perhaps? A current lover? Shi's heart sank. Kins had said months—he hadn't specified how many. What if Elis had found someone better after their last fight? That made too much sense, and of course, Allie wouldn't tell him. She'd been banking on his attachment to Elis to get him to agree to take on this case. If he'd known that Elis was seeing someone else… well, Shi probably would have taken the case anyway.

  Glancing down at the ring on his hand, Shi sighed. At least he'd accomplished one of his objectives. He knew where Elis was being kept. Now he only had to figure out when they'd be near a planet and activate the transponder. Running his thumb over the polished metal of the ring, Shi scowled and forced himself to focus on the training, pushing thoughts of Elis and his new beau out of his head.

  *~*~*

  Three weeks later, Shi was no closer to figuring out where they were or when they'd be
close to a planet. The engineering panels were useless; the custom programming Kins had bragged about restricted everyone in engineering to only functions that were considered essential to engineering. In Shi's case, he was restricted to only working with diagnostics.

  He'd managed to access Kins' control panel once, but even that had been fruitless. Shi was relatively certain the only engineer who would have access to any kind of navigation or course information was the master engineer, but the man never seemed to leave his panel, and when he did, he locked it down.

  Shi was getting frustrated, despite his best attempts to keep patient. He wasn't sure what to do next—all of his options were risky at best, and would almost certainly get him caught at worst. Three weeks was nothing, really, but every time he went to the mess, he was vividly reminded why he was doing this. Elis didn't look any worse, but it was hard to see him locked up, sitting still in the center of a light fence, unable to even lay down.

  Thankfully, Elis had ignored him after the first night Shi had seen him in the mess. Shi had returned the favor, though he still sat at the same table where he could discreetly gauge how Elis was doing. How long would Volkov keep Elis on display in the mess hall? Volkov would insist on an answer from the government on his demands at some point, and when they balked… well, Volkov would have no reason to keep Elis alive at that point.

  Shi didn't think he was cut out for undercover operations. He much preferred the straightforward cases of tracking stray spouses or missing persons or fraud. He needed to find some way to find out what he needed to know without raising suspicion, but that was easier said than done. It didn't help that the third shift crew was completely unfriendly and standoffish. There were a few people who seemed friendly with one another, but Shi hadn't been able to connect with anyone himself.

  So he was stuck. He couldn't access the information he needed without acting incredibly suspicious, and he couldn't seem to find it out in any other way. Stifling a sigh, Shi punched another few buttons on his control panel to kick off another diagnostic. Hopefully inspiration would come to him before it was too late.

  The 0300 break seemed to take forever to come. Shi kicked off another diagnostic ten minutes before break, only belatedly realizing that he'd kicked off one of the interactive ones that required his input every few steps. Groaning under his breath, Shi resigned himself to leaving for break late, grumbling under his breath as he jabbed the touch pad to answer another prompt.

  "Break, Shi," Kins said, coming up behind him ten minutes later. Shi jabbed another button, scowling.

  "Started the Act Five diagnostic by mistake," Shi said, not bothering to hide his grumpiness. He wanted to go to the mess, to check on Elis, not be stuck at a control panel punching buttons.

  "Break when it's done then," Kins said, hesitating a minute longer. Shi gave him a strange look, wondering what was with the hovering, but Kins turned and left then. Shi rolled his eyes and went back to the diagnostic.

  It took another twenty minutes to complete, and Shi logged out of the console. Standing, he stretched his arms above his shoulders, making his back pop three times. Turning, Shi glanced around the engineering section. Was it his imagination, or were there more people around than usual? Not his imagination, Shi decided, recognizing one of the men conversing with the master engineer as part of the security crew. He didn't recognize most of the others, but they were likely security as well.

  Why was security in his section of engineering? Shi hadn't actually done anything suspicious yet. Maybe it was unrelated to him. There wasn't exactly much he could do if it turned out that it wasn't, though. He was trapped on a ship with no escape route somewhere in the middle of the galaxy. Picking up the jacket he'd slung over the back of his chair, Shi slipped it on. It was navy blue, like the rest of the engineers' jackets, but the only gold decoration was the single line of gold around the cuffs, signifying he was the lowest assistant in the engineering hierarchy.

  Kins had left his console up and logged in, Shi noted as he did up the buttons on the front of his jacket. It was queued up to a star map, of all things, and Shi's suspicions were not unwarranted, he decided. They weren't sure of him, and were laying a trap. A very obvious trap, and Shi wondered what he'd done to attract attention. Perhaps it was only that he'd logged onto Kins' console that once. Volkov was no doubt paranoid, and though it seemed like Kins had bought the explanation that Shi hadn't realized he wasn't logged on under his own name, maybe he hadn't.

  Shi didn't give Kins' console a second glance, crossing the deck of the engineering section towards the shuttle. One of the unfamiliar faces followed him, but Shi ignored it. There wasn't anything he could do about it anyway. Pressing the button to call the shuttle, Shi waited impatiently, tapping his foot as he and the security goon waited.

  The security goon followed Shi onto the shuttle, not making any selection after Shi pressed the button that would take the shuttle to the mess hall. Maybe he was on break now, too? Shi stifled a snort, sprawling across one of the seats on the shuttle and closing his eyes, pretending like he didn't care there was anyone else on the shuttle with him.

  Shi yawned widely when the shuttle chimed that it had reached the mess hall, and slowly climbed to his feet, taking his time so that the other man had to leave the shuttle first, or seem suspicious for lingering. They could be a little clandestine about having him followed by security, Shi thought, rolling his eyes. Maybe they were trying to fluster him into making a mistake? Or were looking for a specific reaction that he wasn't giving? What if he was supposed to get indignant about being followed?

  He was never going undercover again, Shi swore. It was far too delicate a balance, and he didn't think he could manage it. He was obviously not managing it here; if he were, he wouldn't have security following him.

  The queue for food was small, the 0300 rush having died down before Shi had gotten there. Glancing at the time display on the wall, Shi sighed. 0330. At least he could take his full hour, and then there would only be two and a half hours of running diagnostics after his break. If he wasn't dragged off in chains by security first.

  Deciding to deal with that when it came, Shi fetched himself coffee and a plate of dinner, and took his usual seat. He glanced at the light fence, but everything was the same there. Elis sat cross-legged, arms crossed over his chest, his head down as though he was sleeping. Shi pulled out his data tablet, setting it down next to his tray, and queued up the novel he was reading. The security goon had taken a seat two tables over, with his own tray, but Shi ignored him, pretending to read.

  He wasn't making much headway; it was hard to concentrate when he could feel the security goon's eyes boring a hole into the side of his head. Ignoring it as best he could, Shi forced himself to eat, even though it was the last thing he felt like doing. He wasn't going to give them any reason to be suspicious. The coffee was even worse tonight than usual, and Shi couldn't wait to get back to real, civilized coffee.

  If he ever got off this ship, Shi conceded, and it was looking like that was a big if at this point. Sighing, Shi glanced at the time widget on his tablet. 0350. Most everyone was leaving the mess hall now, to return to their stations. There were technically two break periods for third shift—one at 0200 and one at 0300—to keep the ship fully staffed even late at night. So other than the few stragglers like Shi, who had run late going to break, the mess hall would be empty until end of shift.

  Shi could still feel the security goon staring at him, but when he glanced that way, the man was looking away. Shi rolled his eyes, wondering if he was getting paranoid. Probably, but paranoid didn't mean he was wrong about the man watching him. Stifling a sigh, Shi finished his coffee and flipped a page in his book. He could at least pretend to be reading.

  He'd only barely bent his head over the tablet when the mess hall went suddenly quiet. Frowning, Shi looked up, and realized that the light fence around Elis was gone. The lack of its steady pulse was stark, and Shi stared, dumbfounded as Elis rolled off the platfor
m as though he hadn't been caged within it for months.

  Shi scrambled to his feet, snatching up his tablet and heading for the door. Elis glanced at him, quirked a smile, and sprinted that way as well. Shi didn't bother to glance behind him, relatively sure that the security goon was calling all sorts of hell down on his head. He hoped like hell Elis had a plan, because Shi didn't.

  He met Elis at the door, dropping back slightly to let Elis lead the way. He was much thinner than Shi had realized, and Shi suppressed a flash of worry. He could worry when they were safe.

  "This way," Elis said, not waiting to see if Shi followed, turning and darting down a side hallway. Shi followed, barely keeping pace despite Elis' prolonged confinement. It really shouldn't surprise him; Elis had always had more stamina than Shi… and now was not the time to be thinking about Elis' stamina. Elis flung himself around another corner. Shi followed, and nearly ran right into Elis, barely stumbling to a stop before thye collided.

  Elis didn't pay him any attention, pulling a flat piece of metal from a pocket. He dug it into the side of a panel on the wall, yanking viciously. The panel came free, falling to the floor with a clatter that sounded incredibly loud to Shi's ears. He checked, but there was no one in the corridor. No alarms were blaring, and there didn't seem to be anyone chasing them.

  It was odd, and Shi didn't like it. At the very least, the security goon who had been following him should be showing up. Shi really, really wished he had his stun gun. He hadn't missed it before, but he hadn't been in the middle of Volkov's flagship, on the run and with no idea what was going on.

  "Do you have a plan for getting us out of here?" Shi asked. He had lots more questions—how had Elis broken free of the light fence, for one—but that was the most important. If they didn't get away, the rest of the questions didn't matter.

  Elis grunted what sounded like an affirmative. Shi glanced at him, startled to find what looked like half the wall's circuitry on the floor in front of Elis. The little metal tool was in his mouth and his fingers were flying, switching wires around and sending sparks flying. Shi shook his head, taking a few steps away to glance down the corridor they'd turned down. They weren't that far from the mess hall, after all, surely someone was going to come this way looking for them.