Mine to Hold

by Shona Husk

About fifty percent of the prison population would be free, or dead from hard labor, in ten years. He hoped the people at the top were considering how to integrate them instead of creating an underclass like they’d had on Earth.

  “For the duration of this class, needles will be returned at the end of each session. If you would like to keep knitting after this you will have to sign some out of stores. You may sign them out for two weeks at a time. You may not just keep them in your room. If you aren’t using them, please let someone else sign them out. Be considerate.” He smiled and started handing out the sets of needles. Some were bamboo, some were metal, and some had been made out of wood native to Solitaire. It was kind of green tinged.

  As he handed Silke a bamboo set he let himself look at her. She smiled, her fingers brushing his for a moment as she murmured her thanks. She obviously wasn’t here because she’d discovered he was teaching. This was simply a happy accident. He’d been to the bar and the gym but had never managed to see her outside of work. Today was a first.

  “Today’s yarns include hemp, wool, and fuzz. Fuzz is taken from the seed pods of some funky tree on Solitaire.” He held out a piece of the creamy, purply fiber. “It is quite soft, but it is also hard wearing.” He bent down and pulled up the leg of his pants to reveal a sock that was obviously not regulation Air Force uniform, as it was cream with flecks of purple. “I made these over a year ago.”

  He watched as everyone leaned down to get a better look at his sock.

  He let the leg of his pants fall back into place and started handing out the yarn. “One ball should make two socks. The pattern is on your portacomp under knitting, Siren socks. I suggest you take the time to write it into the back of your Solitaire survival book, because when those things die, so does all the info stored on them.” He doubted there would be enough solar electricity generation to recharge all the portacomps, at least not at first.

  A few people’s eyes widened. They always did. He was sure some people were expecting a level of technology that couldn’t be supported. What did they think pre-industrial meant?

  He believed that humans could colonize other planets and he had no doubts that they’d all arrive—after all, he’d done this trip twice before—but he suspected that plenty of people were going to be disappointed, and would wail about having to do actual work.

  It was the conspiracy theorists who claimed there was no base that really pissed him off. Even when he told them he’d seen the planet, they refused to believe there was a base. After all, he’d never been to the surface. Quarantine regs were apparently a poor excuse.

  “Today we will cast on at the toe.” By the end of the first class several people would be begging to be let go, or contemplating stabbing themselves with a needle. He was an asshole so he made everyone do the minimum number of lessons, and if they didn’t try hard enough, he recommended that they came back for more.

  Silke had obviously knitted before, but like most people, finding a way to juggle the four needles had her frowning. Her tongue stuck out just a little as she worked. It was cute … but he knew enough about her to know that she wouldn’t appreciate him thinking that.

  While they spoke when he did his inspection, they had never actually talked. That hadn’t stopped him from looking up her bio on the portacomp. She wasn’t just the vet in charge of Siren’s animals. When they landed, she would be the vet in charge, period. She’d held similar roles on some of the vast meat-producing ranches in the US. She didn’t look old enough to have done some of the things in her bio.

  Yet when he watched her work, both with Vance and the civvie students, he could see that she gave orders and expected to be obeyed. The animal hold was definitely her domain. He always felt like he was intruding when he was there, even though she always had a smile for him.

  “How are you going?” He perched on the edge of her table, his fingers moving as he knitted without even looking. He was making kiddie-sized socks at the moment. Something that could be added to the stores. People would start breeding once the enforced birth control wore off. There was no point in having babies in a fledgling colony that needed everyone working.

  “It’s like operating, only with less blood.” She finished the stitch and looked up. “I didn’t expect you to be teaching this.”

  Most people didn’t. “It’s a hobby. Long space flights need to be filled somehow.”

  She nodded, her gaze on his hands. “You hold your yarn differently.”

  “I find it easier.” He stopped knitting and showed her how he looped the yarn over his left hand instead of his right.

  She copied, then tried to knit again.

  “It takes time to adjust to the change, but I think it is faster in the long run. Most people don’t learn to knit.” Unless they had to. Well-to-do citizens certainly never did. They had people to make their clothes. Among the poor there had been a resurgence of hand-knitted and hand-sewn clothing. He knew from his history lessons that clothing had once been manufactured cheaply and imported. The waste of the early twenty-first century had paved the way for the split society. But Silke wasn’t American, and the Conglomerate was a very different place to the US.

  “My grandmother travelled with my father and I. She taught me to knit … she also taught me how to use the needles in self-defense.” There was a challenge in her grey eyes, as if she was daring him to ask for a demonstration.

  Leo looked at the bamboo needles in her hand. They weren’t that sharp, but they could definitely do damage. “She sounds like a lovely lady.”

  “She was ex-Navy. Knitting was rehab after she lost a hand and got it replaced with a biomechanoid one. I’m sure my father brought her along because she could double as both gran and bodyguard.” She glanced up suddenly, realizing she’d said too much.

  If she’d needed a bodyguard growing up, that suggested she was important. That wasn’t in her official bio. He wanted to press, but held his tongue. Biomechanoid limbs weren’t cheap. They were top of the range, specific for the individual, and impossible to pick without an Xray. Silke came from money. Big money. Was that how she’d ended up on the expedition? Had her father donated, the way so many civvies had? But she didn’t hang out with that crowd. She seemed to keep to herself.

  “I’m sure you’ll have no problems with the socks.” He smiled and moved on to the next student. It nearly killed him to do so. She had him intrigued. The first time he’d seen her, he’d been attracted. The more he learned, the worse it became. He glanced over his shoulder at her back, and the neat blond bun at the nape of her neck. Would she enjoy being kissed there, he wondered? But this wasn’t the time or place.

  He needed to ask her out, but he wasn’t going to do it here, or in front of her assistant.

  She was the kind of woman he wouldn’t mind settling down with on Solitaire.

  She was also the kind of woman who would stab him with a knitting needle if he suggested it. As risks went, it was acceptable.

  * * *

  Silke was aware that he was behind her, she could feel him. She closed her eyes and drew in a breath. She’d come so close to revealing exactly who she was. Leo made it so easy to talk, and he actually seemed to listen. She needed to be more careful. She didn’t want people deferring to her because of who her father was. She’d been fighting his shadow for a long time. She wanted to be respected because of what she did.

  The best part of this one-way trip was that she was free. But not if she told men like Leo the truth.

  He moved a little further away and she watched him out of the corner of her eye. He was explaining something to one of the prisoners. Calm and fair, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Which meant he was probably seeing someone. The really nice guys were busy pairing up with women who were happy to secure a husband fast. It was as if someone had mentioned the gender imbalance and pushed them into action.

  The people who had put this trip together hadn’t thought about it from a biological point of view, only from a practical one. What did they
think people were going to do for sex? How did they expect the colony to grow if there weren’t enough women?

  How was it that men in charge could forget that women were essential to the strength and growth of a colony? They had actually argued for fewer women, because they were weaker, and less capable. Her fingers tightened on the needle. Fortunately, those men had been ignored.

  She wanted a husband eventually. But she didn’t want to be pushed into it just because of someone’s poor planning. All she wanted now was a little fun. She’d been busy keeping her head down and working and not drawing attention, like her father had warned. But it wasn’t enough.

  She watched as Leo gathered up the knitting and put it into the crate for next time. While he didn’t smile much, he wasn’t grim, either. He was attractive—dark hair, blue eyes, brown skin. Despite his many trips in space, he hadn’t turned pasty.

  She, on the other hand, had lost all of her tan.

  He also knew how to use his hands. She’d watched him knit and noticed the way his fingers moved. She liked that in a guy. Dexterous fingers hinted at sensual potential.

  One kiss with Vance and suddenly she was mentally assessing every guy’s suitability as a bed partner.

  It wasn’t going to happen with Vance, they had both agreed. They had also agreed that they would like it to, if things were different, which they never would be—at least not in the next twenty years. Vance also reckoned Leo had a thing for her.

  Maybe Vance had a thing for Leo.

  Her lips turned in a smile. She needed to get out more and find a random. Although was anything truly random on Siren? No, if she found a random they would think they had a shot at more. She’d just get dinner and spend the night alone again.

  She gave Leo a wave and walked out of the classroom.

  * * *

  The mess was fairly empty. She grabbed a table and opened up her portacomp to track down the sock pattern. Sure enough, there was a section on knitting and spinning, explaining how the fibers were worked and turned into yarn for weaving and knitting. Someone had put a great deal of effort into this section. Probably because once these clothes wore out, they’d have to make their own. She doubted there’d be many supplies coming from Earth. The whole idea was that they became independent.

  She really hoped that was possible in her lifetime … and that she had a long life. She scrolled through to the pattern and flagged it. She would write it in the back of her Solitaire survival book. She’d already made many other notes in that book, well aware that if the portacomps couldn’t be charged, there was no backup.

  While she knew the base must be generating some power, the reality was that not everyone would have power in their homes. Essential services would come first.

  Was there a section on candle making, or would it be bedtime once the sun set? What would the sunset be like on an alien planet? She’d seen pictures but that didn’t tell her what the breeze would smell like or feel like. What were the sounds of the planet? And who would she be watching the sunset with?

  Not Vance … he’d be back in his cell by nightfall, unless he was granted special approval. Given the color of his uniform, that was unlikely. She pressed her lips together, remembering his kiss and the desire in his eyes. He was right. But she didn’t have to like it.

  Then there was Leo. Always ready with a smile and friendly with everyone. She’d had enough of rich kids when growing up. They always had an attitude, but he didn’t. Maybe the Air Force had kicked it out of him, or the years he’d spent in space had. Either way, he wasn’t what she expected. In a good way. What would it be like to kiss him? He had nice full lips … she closed her eyes and let the thought grow.

  Someone sat down opposite her. She tried to ignore whoever it was.

  “Silke.”

  She opened her eyes with a sigh. It was one of the civvie vet students, Robert. “You mean Doctor Rask.”

  “Er, but we aren’t at work.”

  Silke glared at him. “No we aren’t. I was enjoying some free time.”

  “I was hoping to join you.”

  “You did.” And you are intruding.

  Robert smiled. “I was hoping you could help me out after dinner with some extra study.”

  Did he actually mean extra study or was that a new euphemism for sex? Either way, the answer was the same. Robert was as slippery as they came, and also lazy. He was failing the course and he had to have only just realized. Maybe he thought he could get on her good side.

  “No.” She paid more attention to her food so she could finish it faster.

  “What do you mean, no?”

  “I have other plans.”

  “I don’t want to fail the course.”

  “So study harder.” All of the information was available through the library to download to his portacomp. All he had to do was apply himself. She knew he hadn’t done any of the extra reading or questions. All of that information came to her so she could monitor the students’ progress.

  “I think I’ll have a better chance if I spend more time on the job.”

  “You want to volunteer for extra days?” She really didn’t want him in the barn. She liked the days when it was just her and Vance. They had a good thing going. Robert would screw that up, and she already knew he wouldn’t put in the effort. He’d expect Vance to do the work.

  “No, I want the job as your assistant. You can finally get rid of that white.” He smiled, but it was cool and calculated, like he’d thought this through for far too long.

  “1113 is the most qualified and experienced vet nurse onboard.” She was careful to use his number and not his name. “He is studying, as well as working, to become a fully qualified vet. The job is his.”

  Robert blinked, as if confused. Which part had confused him?

  “Why would you pick him over me?”

  “He’s qualified, and he does the work without complaint.” Silke gave Robert a pointed look. She knew what he tried to get up to and what he tried to avoid. He was only on this course because his aptitude test had recommended it. He didn’t even seem to like animals. And they didn’t like him. Even Satan refused to chew his clothes.

  “That is not fair. I have more rights than him and that job should be mine.” He picked up his plate and dropped it down a few tables away, sitting with his back to her.

  Silke made a note in her portacomp to watch him. He definitely knew he was failing, and was looking for ways to shore up his position onboard. But he’d get Vance’s job over her dead body.

  Chapter Three

  The lights were set to night in the animal hold. A soft red glow coated everything and cast multiple odd shadows, giving the place an alien look somewhere between a whorehouse and what Silke imagined hell to look like. When she left and locked up, she’d turn them down further.

  For a moment she scratched Satan’s ears and tried not to let the goat chew her sleeve. This was her only unchewed shirt, and her pants had a patch in the ass where Satan had torn the pocket off. The other goats were just as bad, but not as determined.

  “You make sure you give Robert a headbutt to the crotch tomorrow.”

  Satan nodded in agreement. She wasn’t going to get on with everyone. She knew that, and she didn’t expect to, but some people pushed the wrong buttons—repeatedly. Silke made her rounds then turned down the lights. She left the animal hold, the hatch snapping closed and locked behind her.

  Leo was in the corridor, leaning against the wall. He’d taken the shirt of his uniform off—was that his idea of being off duty? His blue T-shirt stretched across his chest, leaving no doubt that he did work out. “I saw you go in and didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “So you waited?” Why? Her heart gave a little dance of excitement, even as her stomach filled with dread.

  “I wanted to see you outside of work.”

  Vance had been right, Leo was interested. She didn’t have to tell him the truth. He didn’t have to know why she was here. He was flight crew. Temporary fun
. She could do that. She needed some of that. If Leo asked her out for a drink, she’d say yes. If he asked if she wanted sex, she’d say yes. It was time to stop hiding.

  “I have a business proposition.”

  “Business?” Her heart sank. He wasn’t supposed to say that.

  If he was about to suggest some kind of illegal trade in guinea pig or chicken eggs, she’d have to report him. He wouldn’t be the first she’d reported for offering her bribes to look the other way. She and Vance had been joking about keeping and eating a guinea pig. It’s what they did. They were friends.

  Who had kissed.

  Once.

  Leo nodded, but didn’t look entirely comfortable. That made two of them.

  “If it’s about the animals, the answer is no. What you overheard the other day was just a long-running joke.”

  Leo frowned before smiling. “I’d forgotten about that.”

  Bullshit. She was sure Leo didn’t forget anything. “Okay then, what’s your business proposition?”

  He looked at her for a moment, then glanced along the corridor. “Did you want to go back to my room?”

  “I don’t take payment.” Just what did he think he was proposing? Was that how he usually got laid … did he have a really small dick? Her gaze lowered to his pants. Maybe it was a sock in his shorts?

  “That’s not what I meant. I’m messing this up.” He pushed off from the wall. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you in class.”

  She grabbed his arm to stop him from walking away. He stopped and glanced down at her hand. Right now he looked just as uncertain as she did. If she didn’t say something he was going to leave, and she was willing to bet that if he left tonight, there would be no casual chat the next time he was in the barn. Whatever had been happening would be dead. In her next heartbeat she realized she didn’t want that. She’d miss their chats. If she couldn’t have Vance, she could at least waste some time with Leo. Sex, no strings. Her body buzzed with excitement.