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Across from us stood a row of cells.
"Aw, come on," I protested as Duff's people freed my hands and shoved me into one.
Saura made a similar sound of displeasure as they pushed her into the one next to me.
"This is a freakin' dungeon!" I exclaimed.
"You're prisoners," Duff replied.
They all returned to the niche and disappeared.
"Dammit!" I slammed my palm against a bar.
Saura stood in silence while I walked off the pain.
In the middle of that, a Frairy appeared bearing water bottles and sandwiches. He shoved the containers through the bars and left without a word.
Which led to more silence as the food and water was gratefully consumed.
"Okay," I said at last. I walked over to the shared wall of bars between our cells to face Saura, who was now sitting stiffly against the far wall. "We're not in a good situation." Understatement. "And I'm sorry for all this. I know how it affects you. It wrecks our partnership. But I'm glad you're here. When I first woke up, I didn't know what happened to you. I was afraid you were at Idwal, and I had no idea how to get back out there to rescue you. Finding the kid and discovering what she knew about what went down out there, then getting someone's official attention was my only hope. And, yeah, I know how bad my presence on this world is for the EA and for the Tabi Empire. I sure as hell don't expect your people to put themselves at risk for me."
Ears snapped out and forward. Amber eyes regarded me even harder than before. She was listening.
"I swear I did not know she was anything special." Someone had to be monitoring our exchange, and I didn't want to pile fuel on the fire by saying the t-word. The Brktar might still be a threat but, apparently, they would have to recover their forms enough to tell someone what they overheard—if they'd understood us. "She's little," I gestured her height, "and white-haired." Like an angel? No. I would end up having to explain the concept to her, and I didn't know how much time we had. "I lost my left arm and my wetware getting her out of the airlock. I tried to get through to you, but the Hand signaled it was shutting down. All I know is whoever destroyed the shuttle wanted the kid dead badly enough to blow Section Ten wide open. They spaced us, Saura!" It was the first time I actually allowed myself to confront the incident since it happened. Outrage and shock choked me into silence.
I forced myself to move on, explaining how I woke up in an auto-doc on a Ritto-ssa ship with the kid hovering over me. How they brought me to the Xix and the kid left the ship while they carried me off. "The Zeeks rejuved my arm. But no wetware." I ruefully lifted my left arm, as if she could see the flesh beneath the layers of armor and shipskins.
She considered me for a long moment. "Is problem," she agreed quietly.
I could not speak.
"But do not have ship, either. So must focus on current problems."
She was right: the loss did not effect the current situation. My heart ached: I would be so much less without her.
"Idwal sent out distress signal when ghost jumped into gravity well." Saura got up and came over to lean into the bars next to me. We stood side-by-side facing each other. It allowed us to talk in lowered voices. "Twisted station face. Dock bumpers stored above Hand came loose and drifted down to block ship."
Drifted. A welcome word for our ship. I remembered those massive cylinders, bigger than the Thief's Hand, that hung above the dock where we put in. One of them, with any gravity, could have shorn our ship right off the station port.
"Bumpers masked Hand, but ghost must have seen put into station. Fired into area and clipped lower hull. Damaged life support. Watched ghost on station sensors leave and return. Saw shuttle drop. Then more alarms. Station cut contact and reactivated defenses. Could not detach from Idwal. Air was going. Had to shut down, seal Hand. Set timer and went into SAC with plan to wake when clear and Idwal would accept codes again. Next thing, wake here."
Things had been as harrowing for her as it had been for me. "Mathet didn't tell me if the Ritto-ssa pulled your SAC from the Vasty or the Hand." I hadn't inspected the unit that closely. I was too elated with the discovery it was here on this world, with her safe inside it.
As for the Thief's Hand, we might never know its fate.
All because of a deal I struck with a Frairy and MoMo while trying to keep our ship. Bitterness rose inside me.
"Maybe Ritto made attack," Saura suggested.
"Ritto ships are big-bellied and round. The ghost and the shuttle that attacked Section Ten were sleek, black, and had spiny profiles." An image of stars rippling out of sight as the ship cruised over them made me shudder. "And the crew was slim, bipedal, and wore black suits." Rittos were big and bulky.
"As soon as I woke in the hospital an Endar calling himself High Jerak Seok came busting in. He wanted to know what I had seen out at Idwal, but he never asked me anything directly. I think he knew more than he let on. Saura, someone destroyed a shuttle full of Humans and massively damaged a Proambu facility to finish the job. There could be a record somewhere that puts us at the scene as witnesses. Someone might still want us dead."
Her ears drifted forward and inclined in what I recognized as intense thought. "Why High Jerak put on ship off the world? Would work best have live Human here. Say you spy, yes?"
Her reasoning made bone-chilling sense. "I thought he was just doing his job, asking questions and getting me off a world where Humans are banned. But now my gut says no. He wanted to know what I saw." The blacksuits at Idwal could have been Endar—among a number of other beings, known or unknown to the Union. We—I—really need to find the kid.
"Could destroyed shuttle come from ghost?" Saura asked. "Maybe defectors?"
"No. That pudgy, soft-curved thing could not come from those jagged, light-sucking black hulls."
"Come from Ritto-ssa ship?" Her ears gave an annoyed flick, "Tabi security thinks you pulled out of Vasty incredibly fast."
Shoff must have grabbed some time to question her while they were running from Endar pursuit after the crash.
"If Idwal sent a distress call when the ghost first jumped and damaged it, it's not unreasonable the Ritto got there quickly. With the fuel platform, the area is not completely isolated." I shook my head. "Here's the thing: a shuttle like that could not get out to a remote area of space on its own. Its systems couldn't sustain life for more than a few days. It came from the direction of the gas giant. I think a parent ship was hidden out there and we missed it."
"Maybe ghost stalking parent ship from edge of system when we drop in." Saura looked thoughtful. "Possibly fired at it."
A ship, hiding from the ghost, its tiny shuttle making a mad dash for the station and the Hand. "You think our cargo was on that shuttle, and the ghost destroyed it."
"Three living beings. Received information while going up fall."
"Why in the hell would they set up a rendezvous in that area of space?"
"Convenience, or hiding activity," Saura said.
"Gods, Saura. We've been seriously played."
"MoMo do not play, Vivi." Her amber eyes narrowed with annoyance. Tabisee were straightforward and humorless in their business dealings with other species. Being the targets of manipulation did not sit well with them.
"The quarantine was a setup," I said bitterly. "Those two clowns wanted us desperate enough to take the job. I walked right into it."
"MoMo did not intend ghost to kill cargo," Saura pointed out.
True. I sighed. "I wonder where the people on the shuttle came from."
She looked at me.
I had seen them. She hadn't. "It can't be a lost Human colony, Saura. Our old subspace tech could never get us that far out, and under Whooex Charter Law, we can't establish a settlement anywhere near Scylla Quadrant. Besides, no one would kill over that. They'd take it to the Union Council and force our colonist out of the area. Then there's our destination after Idwal. I guess we'll never know—"
"Was Jian Jian," she said.
"That's an EA military research base! Why in the hell would we take Humans there?"
"Child is special," Saura reminded me softly.
"I swear I never sensed anything." I hastily took a step sideways, in case she tried to give me a slap to the head.
"And now is on Moneyworld," Saura said. "Endar have used argument of telepathy in Humans against membership since EA first joined Whooex Union."
"And this happens right when the EA is up for consideration for admission. Saura, my planet feeds are dead. I have no idea how much real time has passed since we left Mandragala, but in the warehouse the Endar said a Human delegation is coming. I have to find the kid and get her off this world."
"Is good plan." Her ear position said sarcasm. "How we do?"
"We don't," I said. "I do."
Dusky blue fur started to puff up around her neck and jawline.
"Saura," I hastened to explain, "you are in more danger than the kid and me right now. The High Jerak thinks I'm gone and he doesn't know the kid is here, but he expressed a strong fascination with you in the Ritto warehouse." It had made me uneasy then. Now it sent a flutter of panic through me. "Mathet was fast on his feet with his explanation, but the High Jerak will investigate deeper with Tabi Space Fleet." I didn't even want to consider what would happen if the Endar found the SAC she'd arrived in. "You have to get off this world before the High Jerak comes looking for you."
"I. Help. Find." She clicked the tips of her claws on the bars with each word.
"Okay." Obviously, I wasn't going to be the one to dissuade her. "But we rest first."
She was fresh out of stasis, and I wasn't in much better condition. By silent agreement, we retreated to our bunks and fell asleep.
Two trays of food and several bottles of water sat inside my cell when I next awoke. Saura was working on her second tray when I looked over at her.
"Eat all," she said. "Put extra water here." She showed me the loops on the armor to attach any bottles I didn't drink. It was the old spacer maxim: Take in all the food and water you can, when you can. You never knew when you might get more.
"Yes, ser."
Shortly after we demolished the food, Duff and his crew re-appeared.