Annie woke gritty eyed, her leg throbbing in time with an already vicious headache. With a groan, she rolled over and closed her eyes, wishing she didn’t have to get up. But even if she didn’t have a ship repair to finish, she had no time for laying about. Finding that crystal had turned her life into a pressure cooker, and she could feel the pressure ramping up with every second that ticked by.
She forced herself out of bed, and peeled back the bandages Jens had put on the night before. A mangled mess greeted her, still sluggishly seeping dark blood mixed with a milky fluid. The skin around the wound was puffy and red, and warm to the touch. Not good. An infection had set in, had probably been on its way before last night. She applied an antibiotic injection and carefully placed a new bandage, closing her eyes in relief when the wound went numb again.
At this rate, she was in for a visit to the clinic whether she liked it or not.
She took another of Jens’ headache capsulets before heading up to the shop, and her headache subsided to manageable levels. She sighed. Why was everything happening at once?
Her stomach fluttered as the lift rumbled its way up. Last night, Dante had spoken to her telepathically. Like her, he was Talented. Were the others as well? In the night, between fitful sleep and incoherent dreams, a plan had hatched in her mind.
Everything she’d found on the pirates indicated they were a tight group. Rumors said they regularly freed Talented slaves from the Commonwealth.
She didn’t know if Dante, Arcus, and Payne were pirates, but if they were Talented and flying a ship like Niobe, chances were good. Maybe they’d be interested in helping her. Last night, Dante had indicated that finding her had been even more valuable than the crystal, something she couldn’t quite believe. But if she brought the crystal with her, surely that would at least buy her passage off world and the hard coin to start again somewhere else.
But that would require her to trust them.
The shop was quiet and dark when she stepped into it. As was her habit, Annie was up before anyone else. Normally, she’d grab a meat pie and make some coffee, but anxiety had her skipping breakfast and making straight for the fabricator.
True to her word, Salla had programmed it last night, and a shiny new fuel intake and a length of nanograph sat waiting for her. Perfect. Annie put them in her pack and started for the spaceport.
Only a handful of people were out and about in the predawn light. That was one of Annie’s favorite things about being up so early. She set off at a brisk pace, not allowing herself to drag her feet and put off what was coming. She’d run from Dante last night. And now she was going to ask him — ask them — for help. If she thought about it too much, she’d give in to the fear that rose up at odd intervals and urged her to run and hide.
It was a long walk. By the time she was halfway there, her leg was throbbing. The nanites’ numbing effect was no longer strong enough to deal with her injury. Not a good sign.
“Annie?”
It was a measure of just how distracted she was that she didn’t see Payne until she was practically on top of him. She stopped dead. He walked up the pathway toward her, wearing a brooding expression and the kind of body armor that warned people not to mess with him.
Had he been on his way to meet her?
“P—Payne.” Was he angry? He looked angry, wearing a deep frown. Her mind raced back to the night before, thoughts of Dante and her reaction tumbling together in her mind.
Payne scowled. “What’s wrong with your leg?”
“Oh. Um—” She glanced down. “An accident in the scrapyards. A folyark snake bit me, and—”
Before she finished speaking he reached her, plucking the pack from her shoulder and swinging it over his. She opened her mouth to protest, and in the next moment he’d scooped her up into his arms.
“Wh—what are you doing? I can walk.”
“You’re in pain. The last thing you need is more weight on that leg.”
“It’s not that bad—” She cut herself off when he leveled a dark look at her, those eyes so close to hers, her heart stuttered in her chest.
“You have numbing nanites on it and I can still feel the pain you’re in. Don’t lie to me. Is it infected?”
“You can feel it?”
He looked away, his long legs already striding down the path, carrying her weight like it was nothing.
“I know you and Dante talked last night,” he said. “We’re all like you, in one way or another. One of my gifts is empathy. It’s how I knew when you were hungry yesterday, or how bad your headache was.” He frowned at her. “Is.”
Annie didn’t know what to say to that, so she said nothing. It was so odd to be talking to someone else Talented. She’d met others before, of course, but they’d all been children, and fellow slaves of Laripim. And she hadn’t seen any of them in eight years.
“How much have you been using your Talent lately? More than usual?”
She thought about the fall in the scrapyard. “Yes.”
“A lot more?”
She nodded, still cautious about talking so openly about this. No one was out and about near them, so it wasn’t like anyone could overhear, but it just felt odd.
“Drink more of that vora-fruit juice today. We lace it with a nutrient drink that will help your headaches. You’re getting them because you’re pushing your Talent. Think of it like doing something hard physically that your body just isn’t used to.”
Payne cradled her to him like she was something precious. It was a nice feeling. After the first hundred yards or so, she found herself relaxing. It was so strange, someone taking care of her. She even found her eyes drifting shut. Her head leaned against his shoulder as he walked.
They didn’t speak again, but the silence was comfortable, familiar even. Annie realized she remembered this from her dreams. Payne was always the quiet one.
When they reached the spaceport, she expected him to put her down. Instead, he carried her right into the dock where Niobe was berthed and up the ramp into the ship.
Arcus looked up as they entered, surprise written on his face.
“Her leg’s injured,” Payne said. “Probably infected. Some kind of animal bite.”
They exchanged a look, and Annie felt something, almost like a slight buzz in the air between them. They were speaking telepathically.
“Dante’s headed to meet you in the med bay,” Arcus said out loud, looking at Annie. “He has some medical training. He’ll take a look.”
“That’s really not—” Annie fell silent at the quelling look Payne gave her. “I mean, thank you. That’s very kind.”
She didn’t protest when Payne ducked into the corridor, still carrying her. He didn’t put her down until they reached the med bay. It was a small compartment with two medical bunks and barely enough room for the three of them the stand. Dante stood next to one of the bunks, a medical unit beside him. Payne swung her down, placing her so that she was sitting on the bed.
“Let’s see what we’re dealing with.” Dante lifted her leg with careful hands and unwrapped the bandage, and even Annie winced as it fell away to reveal the mess beneath. The teeth of the snake had left two deep, crescent shaped wounds in her calf, and now the skin along each edge was mangled and torn even worse than before. Blood and something milky seeped from the jagged tears. She could see the antibiotic injection and nanites had reduced the redness, but not by much. By tonight, the infection would be much worse, and she’d have no choice but to visit the clinic.
Dante and Payne were silent for long seconds. They each stared at her leg like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Dante looked up, and she was surprised to see his face tight with anger.
“What happened here?” he asked.
“In the scrapyards, a folyark snake—”
“No. I mean more recently. This was starting to heal.” He gestured to one corner of the bottom half of the wound, where the skin was still knit together. “But something tore it back open. It probably wouldn’t have healed right due to the infection, but even so, something caused even more trauma to the wound.”
“Oh.” She didn’t say anything else.
“Annie?” Dante arched an eyebrow at her. He folded his arms, making it clear he wasn’t going to let this go.
“It’s nothing. Marlon knocked me down. He was displeased with my haul from the yards yesterday.”
“This is more than damage from a bad fall.”
She bit her lip, then sighed. It was clear she was going to have to tell them the whole story. “He may have stepped on it.”
Payne cursed, low and vicious. Dante’s face was cold, which was even scarier, somehow.
“Marlon owns your contact, correct?” he asked.
She nodded, afraid to speak. Her heart pounded in her chest. This was it, the opening she needed to ask them to help her leave. If she could get off world, Marlon would never bother her again. He was just as trapped on Omaris as everyone else in Ferrous City.
But the words wouldn’t come. What if they refused? Sure, they seemed to care about what happened to her on some level, and yes, she had dreamt about all three of them before they suddenly appeared in her life, but no one did things without expecting something in return. What if she escaped Ferrous City and Omaris only to enter into another form of indentured servitude? And if she told them about the crystal, if she offered it up, what was to stop them from taking it and leaving her here?
Dante was focused intently on her, almost like he could see right through her and read her thoughts.
A second later, she felt the blood drain from her head. He was a telepath. Of course he could read her thoughts!
“Annie,” he said softly. “You don’t have to be afraid of us. I understand trust has been hard to come by in your life. You don’t know what it means to have people you can count on. But I meant what I said last night. You are far more precious a discovery than anything else on this planet, including what brought us here. The Talented stick together.”
She didn’t say anything, his words washing through her and calming her spinning thoughts. Maybe he wasn’t reading her mind. Maybe she could trust them.
“I—I want to leave,” she said, forcing the words out. “I want to leave Omaris. When you go, will you take me with you?”
Dante smiled. He reached out, brushing the hair back from her face. “Of course. We had already planned to ask you.”
She held his gaze. “And what will it cost me?”
Payne made a noise. “Cost you?”
She glanced at him. He looked angrier than ever, and anxiety raced heat up her spine. “People don’t do things for free. Also, you’re pirates, right?”
Payne swore. He gestured to her leg. “I get that Marlon is a piece of shit who holds your contract over your head and abuses you. But not everyone in the galaxy is like that. We aren’t like that.” He shifted so close his breath warmed her face, his eyes intense on hers. “Marlon’s lucky I don’t find him and break both his legs. I’m this close to locking you in a cabin on Niobe and keeping you there until we take off, just to get you away from him.”
A funny, warm feeling started in Annie’s chest. To her horror, her eyes welled hot with tears. No one had ever said anything like that to her before, both alarming and somehow comforting at the same time. Part of her wanted to throw her arms around him and beg him to do just that. The other part of her whispered it would be dangerous to do so.
Marlon had been all charm when they’d met. So friendly when he’d found her stealing food in the marketplace, offering her a meal and a roof over her head, and a contract to earn herself a “place in Ferrous City”. She hadn’t all the way trusted him, but she sure hadn’t realized the fine print on the contract she’d signed, either.
Annie was never going to walk into a situation with her eyes half closed again. She blinked back the tears.
“You can’t,” she said, pulling back from him both emotionally and physically. “This ship isn’t going anywhere until I finish fixing it.”
“Which is the only reason I haven’t done it yet,” Payne muttered.
“Payne.” Dante gave him a charged look. Something passed between them, and Payne’s jaw worked. Finally, he gave a short nod and left the room.
Annie hadn’t realized just how much his forceful energy was filling space until he was gone. She could breathe a bit easier.
Dante set about scanning her injury, working in silence for a few minutes. He gave her an injection that finally, truly dulled the pain. Annie was grateful, especially when he placed a med unit over the wound to thoroughly clean it and coat it in an antibiotic nanite paste.
“He doesn’t do well when others are hurting,” Dante said quietly, standing back to let the med unit do its work. “But his instincts are no different from mine, or Arcus’s. You don’t have to ask us for help, Annie. We have no plans to leave you in this situation, with the man who did this to you.”
She had to look down so he wouldn’t see the tears stinging her eyes again. Scrap, she was a mess this morning.
She cleared her throat. “I have a job to finish first. This ship isn’t going anywhere until I put her back together.”
Dante nodded. “Yes, that much is true. Once she’s flying again, will you trust us to get you off world and safe?”
She studied him. “You’re asking?”
“Yes. I’m asking if you will agree to go with us. No strings. No contract. Nothing holding you to us. Name a world, or a station, and we’ll drop you off if that’s what you want. But…I do hope you’ll stay with us for at least a little while. I think you could use some formal training in your Talent if nothing else, before making a go of it on your own.” He smiled. “And I’d be lying if I didn’t disclose that we will try to convince you to stay. We may not have known one another long, but we like you, Andromeda Jones. And Niobe could use a good ship’s mechanic on the crew.”
That startled a laugh from her. A part of the crew? Pulling her own weight?
“You’d get your own equal share of our earnings,” he added. “But those are details we can discuss later if you decide you’re interested.”
“You’re offering me a…a job?”
“Yes. I am.”
The med unit beeped, indicating it was finished, and he removed it. “I’m going to use sealant on this to hold it closed while the nanites do their work. We’ll wrap it tight, and check everything again in a few hours. But you should be able to work safely. Just try not to bump it too hard.”
“All right.”
“And let me know if it starts hurting. Later today, we’ll discuss the finer details, like when this ship will be ready to depart, and I’ll show you your quarters while you’re onboard.”
A thrill went through her. It was really happening. She was getting off world.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. As before, the guys took turns bringing her glasses of vora-juice, plates of snacks, and if anything, were even more solicitous than the day before. Annie hummed while she worked, a cautious joy growing inside her. For the first time, she was working on a ship not just for a client, but her herself.
Every bolt, every stitch of nanograph, was one more step toward freedom. Already, she felt a proprietary kinship with Niobe, thinking of the ship as hers on some level.
Her time in the med bay meant she was getting a late start. It took most of the day just to get the fuel intake installed, and the nanograph tubing put in. Then, she broke for a late lunch, waiting to make sure the seal was taking on the tubing and would join properly. Sometimes, nanograph fabricated from scrap didn’t properly change its shape to match whatever ship it was being installed to.
Annie sipped her vora-juice and munched on a sandwich, her gaze following Niobe’s hull. Now that she knew she’d be journeying into space on this beauty, she wanted to make sure everything was in top form.
She was also calculating how long it would take her to put the ship back together. Too long, she realized. Unless she stayed most of the night, she wasn’t going to get it finished today. Especially since she had to make sure that nanograph took, or they’d just risk blowing out the seal and be right back to ground zero again. She didn’t like how long it was taking.
What scrap had Salla used? Annie always had a sense for which scrap had the most life left in it, but it was a knack others didn’t seem to share.
“You ever flown in a ship before?” Arcus asked, sitting himself down beside her.
Annie shook her head. “Just shuttles, and only in the atmosphere. Never in space.”
He chuckled. “Well, get ready for an experience. Nothing quite like a space jump.”
Absently, she nodded, but her attention wasn’t really on him. Which he picked up on pretty quickly.
“What is it?” he asked, following her gaze to Niobe.
“I think I’m going to have to get some new tubing. This one is sealing too slow. I have a feeling it won’t form a strong enough seal.”
He eyed the ship with her, wearing an uneasy frown. “How long will that take?”
She shrugged. “A few hours to fabricate a new piece. Several more to put everything back together. I might be able to draft Salla to help me so we can do it faster.”
“That means you have to go back to the shop?” Arcus asked. “None of us are going to like that.”
Annie shrugged. “I was always going back at least once more. I have things I want to retrieve.” One thing, really. A crystal worth a whole lot of credits.
“At least take one of us with you.”
She turned her complete attention to him. “And how do you think Marlon will react to one of you hovering protectively over me? He’ll get suspicious, and I’d rather avoid that. He might not pursue an escaped servant across the galaxy, but the authorities will pursue a murderer, and you can’t tell me Payne is going to control himself if Marlon gets a little… hands on.”
Arcus glowered. It was not a normal look for him, his features much more inclined to carefree laughter. “None of us will react well to that, Annie.”
“Exactly. Better if I go alone, pretend everything is normal.” She popped the last bite of her sandwich in her mouth, speaking around it. “Safer.”
“Maybe, but Dante isn’t going to like it, to say nothing of Payne.”
She swallowed. “Then don’t tell them until I’m gone.” She gave him an imploring look, and he groaned.
“Don’t look at me like that. You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Yes, I do. I’m asking you to trust me. I’ll go back, fabricate the new nanograph, and be back before you know it with all of my stuff and no intention of ever returning to the shop or Marlon.”
He eyed her for a long moment, and then let out an explosive sigh, running his hands through his hair. “Fine. But I’m walking you most of the way there, and I’m going to wait and walk you back again.”
She shrugged, hopping down from the crate she was sitting on. “As long as you stay out of sight of the shop, that’s fine with me. Just know it’s going to be a few hours.”
“I’ll find something to keep me busy.”