Tink unfolded herself from the hunched-over crouch in which she'd spent much of the last few days. The wait to get through the gate had been interminable, accompanied by one final harassment from Customs to confirm their flag and their paid-up port fees. The authorities had finally allowed them to pop through to Vulcan V, the main gate near the Badlands.
Then there'd been a series of slow slips, since Ish hadn't wanted to go far into the slipstream. There were monsters in the deep, he said. Tink laughed to herself, pressing her hands into her sacrum and arching her back. Navigators certainly had superstitions about the stream.
First, she'd passed the time doing tweaks and optimizations and rechecks on the engines. Then she'd wiled away the slips inspecting and optimizing the algal converter and fuel generator to fix the issue with the intake manifold Alek had pointed out.
They'd finally made it to Vulcan V, near the border of Dominion space. But the Lyra still had a ways to go on impulse...you didn't just pop out of the stream into the heart of the Badlands. Not unless you wanted an asteroid-sized hole in your ship. And the asteroids and failed planetary debris weren't even the biggest danger. That honour went to the zealots and wannabe gangsters and broken prospectors — people full of fanaticism or with nothing left to lose. The only reason any ships came at all were those few prospectors who weren't broke. The ones who'd struck the motherlode and built pockets of opulence amongst the wrecks and the ruins.
Tink had some sympathy for the wrecks and the ruins, being a member of an outcast caste, a vilified people. But that didn't mean she wanted to be in the Badlands or agreed with the captain for taking the contract without consulting the crew.
And now she'd run out of things to occupy her hands and mind, which was why she was in the cargo bay checking their tie-downs and jacks. For a second time. Tink started to lower into a crouch to test them again, but her back decided otherwise. She rubbed at the spot where the lightning bolt of pain had originated.
Squinting at the tie-down at her feet, she realized the night lighting had cycled in, cueing her to sleep. The others were probably all in their rooms, except for Alek, who was on watch on the bridge. But she wasn't tired. Glancing around again, Tink stripped off her boots and jumpsuit, leaving her clad in a tank top and shorts. She shivered, but knew she'd warm up soon enough.
She jogged barefoot in circles around the cargo bay, her soft footfalls barely making a sound, using crates and stairs and winches as a makeshift obstacle course. Once she'd built up a sweat, she did a few stretches then started on the forms of the martial art Kandi had taught her, moving fluidly from one to the next, imagining an opponent in front of her. It was when she was in Crane Catches Fish that she caught a flicker of movement in the shadows. She froze, her head down with one hand stuck out towards the floor, the other leg stretched out, toe touching the ground for counterbalance, butt in the air. She hadn't heard anyone coming down the metal stairs.
A grey form coalesced out of the darkness. Tink exhaled in a smooth flow as Grim came padding across the floor. She held her position so she could scritch his chin. He rubbed his jaw along her standing leg, then turned to look at her as if she were crazy for her current contortion.
"Don't judge. You're not my cat, you know? You're a stray. As soon as we find you a good home, you're out of here." The cat merruped. "No, a ship is no place for a cat." He brushed his chin against her face this time, leaving behind a tickle of fur. She sneezed but managed to hold her pose.
"Triton style works better if you have a sparring partner."
Tink almost toppled over in her hurry to stand upright. "Severn." She brought a hand to her chest and swallowed. "What are you doing here?"
He shrugged, tipping his head towards the lifted shoulder. Most of him was in the shadow of the stairs, only his face and shoulders illuminated. "I couldn't sleep. Thought exercise might help." He nodded at her, and his hair glinted gold where the dim lights caught it. "Looks like you had the same idea."
Tink half nodded, half shrugged, hoping he couldn't see her cheeks flush in the twilit space as she leaned against the container holding the emergency response kit. When he stepped out of the shadows to join her, she took the water he offered. In the light, she saw that, below the white T-shirt, he wore a pair of loose pants covered in cartoon bunnies. She couldn't catch the giggle before it escaped.
He smiled back at her, lifting an eyebrow. "They're my sister's favourite animal." The smile slipped from his face. "Or they were."
Tink's stomach dropped with a thud. "I'm sorry. Is she ...? No, it's none of my business."
"No, it's okay. She's passed. I just forget sometimes. But at least I'll always have the bunnies." The one corner of his lips lifted again, causing dimples to surface, and he bumped his shoulder into hers. "Come on, are we going to spar or what? Bet you galley duty for a week that I can pin you in 5."
Her cheeks reddened again as the image of him pinning her crept into her head, though this time, a touch of pique that he thought he could best her so quickly added fuel to the flush.
"You're on." She shifted, getting lighter on her toes and lowering her centre of gravity. She watched him do the same, rocking back and forth as he circled, trying the snake charmer on her. Tink was having none of it. Rebeka had trained her for years, then Kandi had taken over, and she'd learned not to be fooled by distraction techniques.
Tink almost had him after the first takedown. Hers: she'd swiped his feet out from under him with River Flows, then gotten on top of him...or tried to. He kicked his feet over his head, popping up from the backwards somersault into a stance resembling Awoken Bear.
At Two, he tried to use his bulk to knock her off her feet, but she was small and wiry. He needed more than brute force, and she squirmed out of his grasp. She smiled that his skin was already sweat-slicked, making it easier for her to slip away. Then her cheeks flushed, and she swallowed as she turned to see he'd taken off his T-shirt. Well-defined muscles carved his torso and etched his abdomen, disappearing below his bunny pyjama pants.
For Three, she used her smaller stature to her advantage — well, more his assumption of superiority based on strength — as she ducked under the arm he obviously intended to clothesline her with. She sent her foot into the back of his knee in a rough approximation of Tree Falls. But the move left her sprawled on the ground, and he recovered much quicker than she hoped.
So, at Four, he was on top of her, and clearly thought he had her pinned; she could see it in his face. But, apparently, his teacher hadn't taught him Otter Twists. She bucked her hips, and while he laughed, she sent her elbow into his solar plexus and drove her knee between his legs, catching her foot behind his knee. When she twisted, it threw him off balance. At the last minute, she turned Otter Twists into Crane Breaks Wing, sitting on his back, his arm torqued behind him.
She leaned over to whisper in his ear, her breath a little ragged. "Pinned in five."
"That's okay," he said. "I'm happy to cook for a month if it means being where I am right now." He shifted beneath her. "Though I don't imagine anyone else would like me to."
"Ahem."
Tink sprang up, fists fighting ready, and her cheeks flushed again when she found Alek at the bottom of the stairs. Her hands lowered a fraction as he stepped forward, a smirk on his face.
"Aren't you supposed to be on bridge duty?" Her hands dropped to her hips.
"Kandi took over." His gaze slid to Severn before returning to her. "Aren't you two supposed to be in bed?"
Tink glared at him for a few moments before going to collect her jumpsuit. "Yeah, I am. You two have fun." She took the stairs two at a time. "Jackass," she muttered, not caring if he heard.