I woke up from a long nap. I was in Alwin’s bed. I had no idea where he had bunked down. I decided to give the san unit a try. He always smelt so clean. It made me conscious of my own scent, which was stronger now. I guess I had no choice but to wash regularly myself.
I slipped off my clothes and stood in the tiny rectangular contraption. I put my arms up in the air and stood with my legs apart and my eyes shut.
‘Engage,’ I said to the unit.
Fine spray shot all over me, a hard mist that sluiced me down. Then some sort of light, flickered over me and then jets of hot air. I stepped out feeling and smelling clean. There wasn’t a drop of water anywhere to be seen. I wrapped the cloak around me, while deciding what to wear. It was a choice between the dirty slave clothes or the large, ugly ship suit that Alwin had offered me.
I settled on the ship suit, rolling up the arms and legs and tying it around the waist with a belt. I put the slave clothes in the sanitiser as Alwin had instructed me and went to join him on the bridge. He should have had a response to his message by now. He had sent an email Opeia and Carl Gayens saying he had their daughter in his custody.
When I got to the bridge I stopped short. Alwin had his head in his hands and was groaning. ‘What is it?’ I asked, coming up behind him.
‘Oh, there you are. Mmm, you look clean.’
‘Yes I’m clean, what’s the matter? You sounded upset. Is there something I should know? Have you heard? Are they coming?’
‘No, I haven’t heard. But I found something in the database.’
‘What? About me?’
‘Yes. It’s a story about your kidnap. It was linked to the clone riots. Two weeks after the riot it says you, Rayessa, were returned to your parents.’
‘But you said I am Rayessa.’
‘I know, the gen scan said you are. I’m sure you are. I just don’t know what this article means. It could be a scam. It could be a hoax to scare off a ransom, anything. It could mean that they won’t answer the email.’
‘Well, forget the email. Let’s go find them.’
‘Calm down, Rae. I’ll do some more research.’
‘Why? Can’t we just go to Earth?’
‘It’s not that simple. I’m following a few leads. It’s not easy to track company ownership. AllEarth Corp is owned by a series of holding companies and trusts. The Gayens’ money is all over the place and so are they. I can’t find where they live or where they are now or even where they will be. They like their privacy it seems.’
‘Umm, I have no idea what you just said. What does AllEarth Corp have to do with my parents?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know, just a hunch. I can’t prove anything, but I have an inkling that the Gayens’ family fortune is spread far and wide. Your mother is very rich and powerful. It would take me a year to sort through who owned what and trace it back to the Gayens’ family.’
‘Are you saying they aren’t nice?’ I had a feeling that they weren’t. All that money to buy whatever they wanted. That had to warp them in some way. Part of me couldn’t believe my luck and the other felt squeamish about it. After eking out an existence for so long, I don’t think I could cope with ease. It would be like a vidmovie. I tried to remember the title of the one where Del was adopted by a rich uncle and ended up with everything she wanted. Then she left it all behind for love. Alwin speaking again brought me out of my daydream.
‘No, not at all, just difficult to find.’ He turned away from me and I sensed he wasn’t telling me everything. I didn’t know if it was because he thought I was too stupid to understand or because he didn’t trust me. I went back to the mess to watch a documentary on Jupiter. It was the most interesting thing in Alwin’s vidmovie collection. The narrator was a famous actor and that was all the entertainment I was going to get on this trip.
The smell of coffee woke me. I must have fallen asleep in the chair. Bleary eyed I mumbled to Alwin as he dropped a plate of breakfast in front of me.
‘Scrambled eggs,’ he said. ‘Straight from the rehydrator.’
‘Thanks.’ I dug in with a fork and looked at him from under my eyelids. He’d showered and slept. He looked happier than he had the previous night. My eyebrow rose in query.
‘I got a response,’ he replied, reaching for some sauce.
‘And?’
‘We have to go to the Saturn Space Station and meet them in their private suite at the Regency Grande Hotel.’
‘Is that good?’ A Class-Five Space Station. I never thought I’d see one of those.
‘It’s excellent. I’ve never been to the Regency Grande myself, but I’ve heard it’s a top-of-the-range hotel. Last time I was at the Saturn Space Station I had to stay at the Hyatt. That was good but nowhere in the Regency’s class.’
A puzzled frown met his eager face. ‘You like hotels?’
‘Not particularly. But I travel a bit. I like to compare them. Anyway we’re not staying there, only having a meeting.’
‘What if they don’t like me, Alwin? What will happen to me then? Will you still want to own me?’
He swallowed his eggs, his face still. ‘I don’t know what will happen, Rae. I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t like you.’
‘What about the money to pay back the company for buying me? Will you ask them for it?’
‘Well, I’m hoping the reward will cover it. Or I may have to rely on you to bail me out of jail or send me food packages when I become an escapee or a pirate.’
I laughed. ‘A pirate? You?’
‘Why do you laugh? I’d make a very good pirate.’
I shook my head, still convulsed with laughter. ‘Not with that accent, that name and those looks.’
He looked downright upset with me as he tossed his empty plate into the waste disposal with a flick of his wrist. The skin on his face darkened. He swung back towards me and said, ‘What’s wrong with my accent, my name and my looks?’
I laughed some more, nearly falling off my seat. He grabbed my plate and tossed it into the waste disposal with twice the amount of force he’d used for his. Little particles of scrambled eggs spattered around the flap. He must’ve been upset. Making a mess wasn’t like him. I wasn’t going to clean it either. I calmed down a bit.
‘Well?’ he asked with a bit of anger in his voice.
‘Nothing,’ I said. His eyebrow rose in a silent command. ‘You don’t know many pirates do you?’ I asked.
‘I’ve met a few.’
‘Hardly real ones.’
He scoffed and waved his hand dismissively.
I leaned in close and said in a steady low voice. ‘They’re mean, Alwin. Smelly, nasty, foul-mouthed and ugly.’
‘Oh,’ he said, his anger draining away. He leaned forward, interested. ‘And?’
I tried to hide my smile. He was listening to me, to something I knew and he didn’t. That wasn’t something that had happened before. ‘You’re sweet, clean, speak like a posh, private-school boy and very handsome. No one would believe you’re a pirate.’
His eyes glittered in a strange way. I began to squirm. ‘Anything else?’
I looked away, avoiding those deep, dark eyes of his. ‘Yes, you’re way too clever. You’d never end up a pirate by making a mistake.’
‘What about the money I paid for you? That could leave me in a lot of trouble. Any suggestions?’
He seemed a little nearer. I could feel his body heat seeping into my clothes. ‘Oh if my parents don’t pay, you’ll just have to sell me to someone else to get the money back.’
Both of his eyebrows shot up. ‘What a great idea! I’d never have thought of that on my own.’
His shoulder was in reach so I punched him lightly. ‘I don’t believe you,’ I said. I got up to step around him. I didn’t like the look on his face, a smug, knowing cleverness. ‘You’re smarter than me.’ As soon as I said it I regretted it. I sounded like a spoilt child and ruined the mood. I tried to save myself the embarrassment. ‘You’ve probably thought of selling me a hundred times and planned to take me to five different slave markets.’
I stood there and he stood too, not quite towering over me. ‘Now, Rae, how could you say that? I haven’t thought of it a hundred times and it was seven slave markets.’
Quite suddenly I felt the sting of tears. I knew he was joking but everything seemed to well up and wash over me. My life stank. A sob fought its way up my throat. I couldn’t hold it back. Then I was shaking with my hand jammed in my mouth.
‘Rae?’ He stepped closer to me. ‘I’m sorry, Rae. I wouldn’t sell you. Of course I wouldn’t. We’ll work something out.’
He touched my hair. I wanted to pull away. I was ashamed of my tears, and I hated feeling this way, so alone, so cast off. He pulled me toward him gently and held me close. That undid me. I clung to him, cried all over his immaculate ship suit and mumbled into his lapels.
I felt his hand stroking my hair down my back and patting me softly. It felt soothing, nice. He handed me some paper tissues, and I wiped my face and blew my nose.
It was hard to talk and hard to look at him. ‘I, I’m sorry. I don’t cry, well not normally. I feel so…lost.’ The tears started again, and Alwin wiped them with his thumbs.
‘It’s okay to cry. I forget sometimes you’re just a kid. Not as grown up as you look.’
‘What?’ I half cried, half laughed. ‘I’m not a kid.’
‘Oh but you are. Naive and young. Nothing to be ashamed of, though.’
A whole lot of feelings washed over me then. I knew I was uneducated compared to him, and he was definitely older than me but how dare he say that to my face. A fresh wash of tears trailed down my cheeks. He brushed them away again.
‘You have such lovely grey eyes, and you’re spoiling them with those tears.’
I hugged him. He didn’t back off as I thought he would. He rested his chin on my head, since I only came up to his shoulder. I felt his body through his ship suit, trim, muscled and strong. I stepped back slightly so I could look at him. His face was so alluring. I had to touch it. His gaze seemed to darken when I did. I stroked his hair, felt the dark bristles tickle my fingers. Next thing I knew I was pulling him down to kiss me. Oh what magic. He kissed me back, softly and gently.
And then it was over. ‘Rae,’ he said. He was shaking his head. ‘Don’t do this to me. I have a job to do. You have no idea what you are playing at.’
His serious tone annoyed me. Obviously, he had no sense of mood. ‘I know what I’m doing,’ I said bravely, chin edging up.
‘Really? I bet you don’t. I’m at least three years older than you. That’s not so bad but I’m better educated and more experienced.’
‘I’ll catch up,’ I countered.
‘In some ways you will, but not now, not on my time. I am on the job right now and there is no rule book that covers this.’
I tried to kiss him again.
‘Don’t,’ he said, pushing me away lightly. ‘It’s not right. You are putting me in an awkward position.’
‘Alwin, I want to.’
His eyes burned into mine. Before I knew what was happening he enveloped me in his arms, his mouth closing over mine. Oh god, I thought. He kissed me deeply, like they did in the vidmovies. It felt nice and out of control at first, and then when he wouldn’t let me go it became frightening. It wasn’t just a kiss, it was passion. It was him smothering me, it was him frightening me and it was him overwhelming my senses. What he did stirred me and scared the hell out of me.
After pushing him in the stomach, I struggled out of his grip and broke off the kiss. Wiping his saliva from my mouth, I glared at him, breath heaving in my chest.
‘Sorry, Rae, but you needed to know. Life isn’t a game or a vidmovie script. It is real and dangerous.’
‘Bastard,’ I spat at him and whirled round, heading back to his quarters. I was still sobbing when I reached them. I locked the door and threw myself down on the bed. I was in misery, truly sunk. I really didn’t know why he did that. Why did he make something so simple so complicated? Why did he reject me? Why did he try to scare me by acting all out of control? I truly didn’t understand what he was doing or why.
I stayed in those quarters for the better part of two weeks sneaking out occasionally to grab a meal from the mess when Alwin wasn’t about. I felt so angry, embarrassed and stupid, that I couldn’t bear to face him.
His voice hailing me on the comms roused me from another tear-drained sleep.
‘Rae, we’re coming up to the space station. I thought you’d like to get ready and see the approach. It’s really a big place.’
I didn’t answer him but scampered off the bed. I showered and dressed and raced down the passageway. It was a Class Five Space Station and I was going to meet my parents.