Mr Anton looked down at his wafer, appearing to scroll through it and then he looked me in the eye. ‘No. There were no signs. But perhaps you sold them on to these pirates. I mean your story doesn’t ring true, Ms Stroder. If that is who you really are.’ His voice became a knife, making me flinch.
Right, I was sick of his accusations and his tone.
‘Who else would I be?’ I was interested to hear, as being Rae Stroder hadn’t been too much fun so far. I had no memory of my mother or my life before I came to the outpost.
‘Captain Stroder was never married and had no children according to our records.’
I blinked. ‘Really? So what if they never married. A lot of people don’t bother.’ He was glaring at me, so I drew my eyebrows down into a frown. But I couldn’t keep it up and I began to twist my grimy hands.
‘Yes. You are a liar and a thief. The condition of this station is a disgrace to AllEarth Corp. Thank god I implemented this series of random audits or the company would… Never mind, I can see you are not interested.’
I was shaking my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a light flashing on the command console. At first, I ignored it, as I was lost in my own misery. This wasn’t how I dreamed of leaving this place. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
Remorse got the better of me. ‘Yes,’ I admitted, hanging my head in shame. ‘The outpost is a disgrace. Dad would be very angry if he saw it.’ I looked at Mr Anton then, into his dark fathomless eyes. ‘But what choice did we have? We had to trade scrap for a bit of food now and then. There is nothing of value here so the pirates leave us alone mostly. Like I said there have been no supplies, for years.’
‘But the records show these transactions. More transactions than are reasonable. Why do you think I’m here? I had to investigate. A lot of money has passed through your father’s account.’
‘But I tell you he’s dead, taken by the pirates, really mean pirates. Someone else must be behind these.’
‘Ms… Rae. Do you consent to a gen scan?’ Already he was readying his equipment.
‘What’s a gen scan? Does it hurt?’ I began to scratch. I’d probably developed a nervous rash.
‘It won’t hurt, though it will identify you, if your parents are in the database, that is.’
‘Sure, but I already know who my father is and my mother died when I was little.’
Mr Anton fired up the scan and he held the scan gun over my hair, hands and eyes. It didn’t hurt but I felt weird. This situation wasn’t on my checklist and his ship’s on-board gravity was making me feel ill. It wasn’t what I was used to as it was lighter than the outpost.
He had his back to me as he read the results. ‘There, I knew it.’
‘What?’ I edged out of my seat.
‘You are not Stroder’s daughter.’
I fell back into the chair as my heart did a flip-flop. ‘I’m not? Are you saying my mother was unfaithful?’ My heart sank. My life was just like a vidmovie.
‘No. Your parents are both alive and living on Earth. Wait a minute, I will correlate the results with the news codex.’ The light still flashed on the console almost in time with my heartbeat.
‘Interesting. Now this does put a different slant on things.’ He looked up, his black eyes comparing my face to his readout. I felt uneasy as he studied me quite closely.
‘Why are you looking at me like that? It doesn’t say my parents are aliens or something does it?’ I didn’t know much, but being associated with aliens or being part alien was pretty bad. Or so the vidmovies said.
‘No. I don’t know how to break this to you. According to the newscast archives, you were kidnapped years ago on Earth. It doesn’t say much here but your parents must have been important or rich.’
He stilled as he began to mull things over. I could tell because he was rubbing his chin again. He turned slightly and noticed the light flashing on the console. He went over to it. ‘That’s strange,’ he said as he fired up his scanners.
‘What?’ I asked, still stunned by what he had told me. I only remembered Captain Stroder. I only knew him. He was my only parent.
‘Another ship,’ he said but his tone was different, curious. Not the hard and concise auditor I’d come to know.
He fired up the view screen and zoomed in. The ship looked very similar to his. He frowned, and I became nervous. Two ships in such a short space of time, that was more than a coincidence, it was downright suspicious. Mr Anton must have thought the same because he threw himself away from the command console while I stood mesmerised.
‘Move,’ the auditor shouted. He grabbed me by the elbow, dragged me down the corridor and shunted me out of the hatch.
There was a flash of red and Lollydrop’s hatch snapped in place, severing me from the ship and Mr Anton, who knew so much and told so little.
The planking under my feet shuddered. The outpost was under attack. I ran, dodging falling pieces of ceiling and severed cables. There was a hiss as Lollydrop’s manoeuvring thrusters fired and the tie lines disconnected. The ship lurched once then steadied.
The ship was on emergency launch, and I had to find Gris.
I ducked through to the main corridor and hit the internal comms. ‘Gris. Gris.’ Static bubbled out of the speakers. ‘Come in.’
There was more crackling and Anton’s voice came over the comms. He was swearing like a pirate. ‘Rae take cover—I’ll try and lead them away. Rae?’ The comms died.
I was left to guess where Gris was. I ducked into shadows and crept towards the control room, using my mask to help me breathe. The smell of ozone was strong and the air, not good at the best of times, was heavy with smoke. Three corridors short of my target I saw shadows and heard boots scraping on metal planking. My breath caught in my throat. Gris’ familiar face loomed out of the shadows.
I ripped off my face mask. ‘Gris,’ I cried, launching myself at him to hug him close. His huge arms came around me and squeezed. ‘Oh Gris, I thought you were hurt.’
The squeezing didn’t stop. ‘Gris,’ I said through clenched teeth. ‘You’re hurting me.’ I looked up and saw the blood leaking from his scalp. His face was blanker than usual and there was no sign of recognition. ‘No, Gris it’s me.’ His hold didn’t let up. Darkness grew on the edge of my vision and swallowed up my consciousness.