Chapter 5

 

We watched vids for most of the trip. I slept a lot on the couch. Vance babied me. It was odd, something no one had ever done for me before. I just enjoyed it, living one moment at a time. I didn't worry about the past or the future. Trouble would find me soon enough. It always had before.

Dariana Grace kept us entertained. She was tall, willowy and shapely. Her hair was every color from pure white to dark black to every shade in between. One vid she was a princess, riding horses and wearing trailing gowns with brown braids almost to the ground behind her. The next she was a pirate, her hair in short spikes. She wore a shipsuit that no real spacer would ever even consider. It looked good on her. The storyline was just as implausible. It didn't matter. The rest of the plotlines were just as unbelievable. And just as enjoyable.

There was something oddly familiar in the set of her eyes and the shape of her nose. I couldn't place the likeness. It was just a fleeting resemblance to someone I knew, but I couldn't make the connection.

It was a very pleasant three days to Piy'Luin. I was feeling almost myself again when the reentry alarm chimed. I went to the cockpit out of habit, before retreating to the couch. Vance was the navigator, Max sat in the pilot's seat. The controls were mostly automated. Almost anyone could have flown it. It didn't make any difference to the itching I had inside to fly the ship. I hadn't been at the controls of a ship for over a year.

Piy'Luin was a spinning disk of silver, floating against a swirling backdrop of blue and green. The station was huge. It's true size was only apparent as we closed in on a docking ring. I stared at the complex knot of interconnecting sections with awe. Piy'Luin made even the biggest station at Besht look like a mining module. Piy'Luin was definitely exclusive, a playground for only the richest in the Empire.

We slid into the docking bay, smoothly enough that only the best automated systems could have managed it. I barely heard the muffled sound of the station attaching support hoses to the ship. There was a dim thud as the docking ramp locked on the hatch. Vance and Max both came out of the cockpit.

"You aren't dressed for this," Max said as he stood over me. "Piy'Luin has a relaxed standard, true, but you'd still be pushing it too far."

"I don't mind staying here," I said, far too quickly. It was a relief not to have to worry about leaving.

"Only for a few hours." Vance said. "You aren't going to duck it, Dace. You are going to enjoy yourself here."

"I'm guessing about a size two," Max said, looking me up and down. "We'll get one outfit and then you can buy more on your own."

I suddenly felt stupid and awkward again. I had no idea if I even had any money.

"Tell you what, Max," Vance said, "I'll stay here and help her access her accounts. You pick up something she can wear and we'll all go to dinner. Then we can decide what else we want to do."

Max nodded. He was already heading for the hatch.

"You don't have to do this for me," I protested, but not very loudly.

"My pleasure," Max said. He gave me a half bow as he cycled the airlock open.

The door slid shut behind him. I was acutely aware of being alone with Vance. He sat on the couch next to me. He wasn't touching me, but I could feel him, a warmth and a presence that made me shiver inside. I didn't dare look at him, afraid he'd see too much in my eyes.

"We can access your account here," Vance said, "but that would let anyone who happened to have a tracer on your id know exactly where you are. I didn't want to say this in front of Max, but I think it might be best if we kept your presence as quiet as possible."

"You think Lowell is looking for me?"

"I'd bank on it." He studied my face. "How long do you want to stay hidden?"

"It won't matter, he'll find me."

"And in a week or two, he won't have any authority over you. Medical discharge, remember? We'll find a Patrol base and sign the final papers before he can do anything to reverse it."

"So what do I do until then? Stay here and watch vids with Max?"

"You come on station and be my guest."

I looked up at him, trying to judge his intentions. I saw nothing but good humor in his eyes. And a hint of something else I wasn't ready for. His smile faded as he searched my face. He was too close. I couldn't back away. I found I didn't want to. I'd spent too much time doubting Tayvis. I wasn't going to make the same mistake with Vance.

That didn't mean I wasn't nervous. He leaned towards me. I knew he was going to kiss me. I told my pounding heart and my sweating hands that I wanted him to kiss me. And I would have let him, if he hadn't accidentally bumped my side.

The pain was intense. I curled away from him, breathing hard and trying not to groan. He backed away immediately.

"Dace, I'm so sorry," he said. "Do you need anything?"

I shook my head. I breathed slowly until the fire faded to a dull aching.

"You sure you don't want something?"

"Water would be good." I didn't want him tripping over himself with guilt for the rest of the day. "It's just tender. Really, Vance, it's almost healed.

He didn't look like he believed me. He handed me a glass of water. He still looked upset and worried.

"It's fine." I sipped the water. "The grafts and treatments didn't work very well, so it's tender. I'm fine, Vance."

He sat back on the couch next to me. "Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"Not really, just my side."

"Then if I'm careful—" He leaned towards me again. "Unless you mind, Dace." He stopped, searching my face.

The hatch cycled open. Vance sat away from me, pretending nothing had been about to happen. I wasn't nearly as good at acting as he was. I sipped the water and tried to calm myself. I still found myself with sweaty hands and shaky breathing.

"That was fast," Vance said.

Max rounded the end of the couch and dropped on the arm with a dramatic sigh. "They found us. We have two days to be at your father's party or we face the ultimate punishment."

Vance stiffened.

"Yes," Max said, nodding at Vance. "We will both be expected to dance with Margarethe and all of her friends at every party for the next year."

Vance groaned. I didn't know if I was supposed to laugh or not.

"We have to leave," Max said. "Immediately. Sorry, Dace, no time to shop."

"Not that I wanted to," I said.

"Amazing," Max said, raising his eyebrows to comical levels. "A female who doesn't shop. Absolutely unheard of."

"Dace isn't like other women in a lot of ways. Good ways, of course," Vance added hastily, glancing uncertainly at me.

"That's fairly obvious," Max said. "She likes Dariana Grace. She has good taste."

"That is debatable." Vance stood. "Shouldn't we be undocking?"

"They gave me fifteen minutes," Max said, "which gives us another eight and a half minutes to defy them. Although if we're late, they'll march over here and haul us back like a couple of runaway children. Too humiliating."

I trailed Vance to the cockpit, leaning in the doorway, watching him do a quick preflight. I wanted to fly the ship so bad I could taste it.

"Stupid social season," Max muttered as he stabbed buttons.

Vance glanced over his shoulder at me. What I was feeling must have been obvious on my face. Vance paused in his course calculations and nudged Max.

"What?" Max said. "Have you thought of a way to get us out of going to your father's party?"

"No, but I'm getting a few ideas about the party." Vance grinned in a way that made me very nervous.

"You want us in deeper trouble?"

"I'll tell you later. Right now, I think Dace wants to fly your ship."

"It isn't technically mine," Max said, but in a way that made me think it was an automatic answer. They both looked at me. "In my experience, admirals don't know how to do anything useful, like flying. But you know, I've almost forgotten you're an admiral. You don't act anything like one."

"To quote her," Vance said, "she's a very good pilot." He grinned wickedly at me. "And a decent engineer."

"How did you ever get made an admiral?" Max stood from the pilot's chair and gently shoved me into it.

"It's complicated," I said, evading his question.

I ran my hands over the controls, familiarizing myself with them. It felt good to be in front of a ship's controls, any ship. I would have happily flown an ore freighter.

"Permission to undock," Vance said. He had an earpiece and was talking to station control.

Lights came on automatically on my board. The connections to the station retracted with a series of muffled thumps. The station and ship coordinated undocking without any input from me. The ship was pushed free. We started to drift away from the station. The engines came on, warming up slowly. The thrust was minimal. The ship veered away, on a course dictated by the station computer. I got to push one button during the entire procedure. It wasn't what I wanted.

We were mostly clear of the station traffic when I flipped the ship over to manual control. An alarm beeped insistently. I shut it up by pushing the override button.

"What are you doing?" Max asked curiously.

"Better grab something and hang on," Vance said.

I barely heard them. I was flying again. I pushed the engines. The ship leapt forward. I sent it on a spinning roll for the sheer joy of it.

Max swore as he scrambled for an emergency handhold. Vance chuckled and continued to program our course. I had no idea where we were going and right then I didn't care. I was flying.

I looped and spun and sent the ship on a soaring path towards the stars. The engine purred, responding to my slightest touch. Even with simplified controls, the ship was not some underpowered toy. I shoved the throttle all the way forward. I felt the power vibrating through the ship as it answered me. I sent it on another looping, spinning run before straightening out on our course vector.

"Jump point," Vance said.

The ship took over the controls again, sliding us through the jump point and shutting down the sublight engines. I sat back in the chair. I had a grin that spread halfway around my head. My side hurt, but I didn't care.

"Are you insane?" Max demanded behind me. "What kind of crazy stunt were you trying to pull?"

"Trying?" Vance said. "I think she succeeded."

"In getting me banned for life from Piy'Luin. You've just given me a reputation for being a reckless and irresponsible pilot." Max glared down at me.

"I was within our course heading the whole time," I said. "They can't technically charge you with anything."

"But they can complain."

"You have to admit that was good flying." Vance's grin was almost as wide as mine.

"I had no idea this old bucket could do that," Max admitted.

"And it was fun," Vance said.

"Daredevil," Max muttered at me.

"And, Max," Vance added as he got out of his chair, "you know perfectly well that they wouldn't dare ban you from Piy'Luin."

Max shrugged. "Who wants to watch another vid?"

Vance shook his head. "I'm going to sleep."

Max watched his retreating back until the door to the cabin shut. He turned back to me. "There's a really good one you haven't seen yet. Dariana plays an undercover operative for the Patrol."

My grin went stiff. I didn't want to watch a vid about my life, even if it wasn't really.

"Don't worry," Max said, "it's nothing like the real thing. Vance told me a bit about you. He was supposed to be the ambassador to the Sessimoniss but something went wrong, didn't it? And you were involved."

"And I'm not supposed to talk about it," I said flatly. "Not to mention I don't want to talk about it."

"Then I'm not asking. I'm watching the vid. You're welcome to join me."

He left the cockpit and rummaged in the galley.

I leaned back in the pilots chair. There were a few things bothering me. Who, exactly, were Vance and Max? I trusted them, I even liked them. But there were pieces that didn't fit. They weren't Patrol, although both had been to the Academy. They also weren't part of the normal crowd of transient spacers, Gypsies, traders, and others that I knew. They were a completely different class.

I had no idea who they really were. I decided I didn't care.