Astra: Synchronicity (26 page)

"Maybe I should leave it here then."

Nadine put her hand on his arm. "It's on the
ship. Worry less." As soon as the words left her lips, she stood
and smoothed out her vibrant dress. "I'll see you on board in one
hour."

Gathering his thoughts on the present, he
nodded toward her. "I'll be there." With that, she strode away and
left his mind swimming in mixed emotions.

One thing was certain—he wouldn't, under any
conditions, ride his hoverbike unless he could absolutely not help
himself. He had far too many regrets in life, and he didn't want
that to be his last.

***

"Are you sure we're going the right way?"

Amii and Xander crawled through access
conduit 12F on the starboard side of the
Schenectady
. The
conduits of space-faring vehicles weren't as easy to access as
designers purported them to be. Jumbles of large cables often
obstructed their path, and as they quickly discovered, not all
areas were passable. Modifications over the years had been
documented and forgotten about, corrected only when they became a
nuisance to mechanics.

They'd been aboard for four days sneaking and
hiding in the most remote areas of the ship. Their supply of
rations had almost run out so they ventured toward the ship's mess
hall to obtain more. Xander was the only one who'd seen the ship's
layout on a schematic before they'd boarded at Icelandia Station.
But Amii thought they should've reached the cafeteria by now. "We
must've gotten off-track after that last detour we had to take,"
she said.

"I think you're right," Xander said as the
two of them approached junction 78 epsilon. He sat down in the
small room the conduit crossroads created. "Lateral conduit alpha
tango should move us back over where we want to be. Why don't you
scout ahead and see if the path is clear."

She nodded and crawled through the hatch
toward the port side of the ship. While the lateral conduits were
generally clear of random clutter, they made up the ventilation
system on the ship. The
Schenectady
maintained a crisp
temperature of 20 Celsius, and the conduits themselves felt colder
than that, magnifying any sounds they made passing through. With
every room occupied for the voyage to Xur, it would be that much
more difficult to escape detection.

The only saving grace happened to be the
hour. Most people lay sleeping in their bunks for the night. Amii
peered through the slats in the grating when she passed over their
rooms with caution. In doing so she'd seen some intimate acts over
the past several days that gave her pause. In days prior she'd
watched with a sense of curious longing, but this time she didn't
spend any time spying.

She knew the situation would soon become dire
if they did not find more food and water before morning. Xander
would never tell her outright that he was famished, but his stomach
rumbled even while he slept. She, on the other hand, was too
on-edge to sleep. She ran on adrenaline, and once their ordeal
passed, she'd need to sleep for a week to recover.

The light from a room ahead radiated into the
ventilation shaft. She approached with caution and scanned the room
for signs of life. A man in a maroon blazer tossed a comtab onto a
couch and stretched out with his arms behind his head. She saw
little more than the top of his graying head and his gaudy
footwear. Just when she was about to move on, she spotted his ring.
The glint of its red gemstone stopped her over the grate as she did
a double take.

Magnius Zoleki.

She'd thought about him far too much in the
course of the past month for a man she held no more than the
briefest of conversations with. His personality intrigued her. He
was the last person she expected to run across en route to Xur,
though his law background fit the qualifications of most political
figures throughout Astra. And perhaps provided reason enough for a
psionic assassin to chase him.

The grate beneath her suddenly shifted
beneath her knees. She eyed the buckling clasps holding it in
place.
If I move across slowly, I should be okay
, she
thought. When she inched her left hand forward, the panel collapsed
under the strain of her weight, and she plummeted headfirst into
the room below with a deafening crash.

She grimaced at the force of the impact
before pulling herself up. Although she was shaken, she suffered no
injury from the fall. The moment he saw her, Magnius leapt off the
couch. She blinked her eyes several times to confirm it was really
him.

"Amii?" He seemed too shocked to say anything
more.

She brushed herself off. "What are you doing
here, Magnius?"

He furrowed his brow and collected his
thoughts. "Why did you crash through my ceiling? And what are you
wearing? I didn't think you were an officer in the fleet."

"I'm not, actually." She picked up the metal
grates on the floor and slid them back into place above her.
Telling the truth might backfire, but bluffing would be far more
risky. "Xander and I are on the run."

"From the AC?"

She shrugged when she fished the last
partition back into its slot. "Sort of."

"Dammit!" He smacked his forehead with the
palm of his hand. "This is bad. If they find you here, all of us
are going to wind up in the brig." When he glanced back at her, he
frowned. "Do you have any other clothes? It's a felony to
impersonate an officer, and I don't think you need to add to what
I'm sure is a colorful criminal record."

Amii glanced down at the disheveled uniform
and shook her head.

He stared at her body with such focused
thought his gaze went through her. "Take them off. I'd be surprised
if someone doesn't come to see what that noise was."

"Not the best pick-up line, I suppose, but
it'll do." She sat on the bed and removed her boots. "You never
answered my question. What are you doing here?"

He politely averted his eyes and turned away
from her. "Nadine asked me to come, and she's the sort of woman you
just don't say no to even when she doesn't explain things."

"Nadine is here?" Amii's face brightened as
she removed her pants. "She'd probably turn over me and Xander to
the authorities."

"I don't think so. Nadine is a believer in
second chances. I never thought a telepath could be a good person,
but she is. She had no reason to help me, but she did. She saved my
life." For a moment he seemed to forget she'd been undressing and
almost turned around to watch her slip out of her shirt. "Uh, why
don't you get into bed…"

He waited until she slid under the covers and
wrapped the sheets around her before his eyes met hers. He sat down
next to her on the bed and rubbed his forehead. She wasn't quite
sure why he seemed so anxious. He took off his blazer and began to
unbutton his black shirt.

Magnius stared at her blond tress. "Mess up
your hair or something."

"Wouldn't it be easier if we had sex and let
everything get messed up in the process?"

He stared at her sternly. "I'm married,
Amii." His features softened after he ran his hands through his
hair. "Well, we're separated, actually."

"Would it help if I told you it wouldn't mean
anything?"

His scalding eyes chastened her. "No. It
wouldn't."

She combed her fingers through her hair,
catching on a rogue tangle before fiddling her way through. "What
do you do back in Astra?"

"I own a fishery on Fantasti."

"So you catch fish."

"No, I don't catch fish."

"Isn't that what people do at a fishery?"

He rolled his eyes. "I hire people who go out
and catch fish. I manage the business. I make the big decisions.
And when things go wrong, I take the blame."

"That sounds fairly dull," she said.

"Well, people need food and not all of us can
traipse around Astra committing every crime in the book and getting
away with it. Xander Adams is unstable and should've been locked up
a long time ago. A brilliant man who's insane is still insane. I
hope the President sticks him in Caldos Minor where he
belongs."

She hauled off and slapped him, a response
sparked by the allusion to what that said about her. That she must
be crazy in some way to go along with Xander. That she too belonged
at Caldos Minor. "Don't ever insult him that way. You are nothing
compared to him."

Magnius' scowl seethed. "Fine. I'll call
security and let them figure out what to do with the two of
you."

"Like hell you will. I'll tie you up and
stick you in the closet for the rest of the trip if I have to."

He grabbed her by the wrist. "You wouldn't
dare." A faint jade glow obscured his ghoulish eyes.

Amii wrested her arm from his grasp. "I'm not
afraid of you."

"You should be."

She climbed out of the bed and headed toward
her rumpled pile of clothes. "I've had enough of this. I thought
someone who's also on the run would sympathize, but I guess I was
wrong."

He lunged for her hand to stop her from
trying to leave, but she spun and evaded him. When he stumbled
forward, she curled her fingers into a fist and threw a straight
punch at his face that knocked him off his feet onto the ground in
a daze. She didn't think; she reacted. In her wildest dreams she
hadn't counted on being able to handle herself in a fistfight. She
knew the right way to make a fist, to throw from the hip, and to
twist her forearm into it. Instinct took over.

While he recovered from the blow, Amii
wrapped her arm around his neck and forced him to get back in his
feet. He could hardly breathe through the crook of her elbow, and
she dug her left hand deep into his kidney to keep him pinned in
her arms. Despite the fact he cried out in pain, she couldn't stop.
She and Xander faced a life-or-death situation, and there was no
way in Astra she'd let Magnius bring them both to ruin.

Just as she got ready to knock him out and
leave him in an unconscious heap on the floor, the door chime rang
and startled her. Magnius used the distraction to free himself. He
swung his foot around and swept her legs out from underneath her,
sending her crashing onto the carpet next to him. He grabbed her by
the neck and lifted her to her feet.

She gazed into his eerie eyes, the whites of
which were entirely emerald. "Magnius," she gasped, "stop.
Please."

He took a step toward her, closed his eyes,
and pressed his lips against hers. The gesture took her by
surprise, causing her to lose her footing, and the two of them
stumbled backward onto the bed. Despite their tumultuous fall, he
kissed her as though it was the only thing keeping him from causing
her serious harm.

The ring of the door sounded again. Her eyes
shot open, and she saw her reflection in his. Her heart began to
race when he ignored it and continued to kiss her intensely. Was he
stupid or did he have some kind of a plan? But she couldn't force
herself to turn away to ask. His desire swept her away in an
unbridled tidal wave of lust, forcing her to hold onto him for dear
life. As her eyes once again drifted closed, she noticed he smelled
the same way his jacket had; the earthy fragrance felt seductive
now, and she'd never again be able to smell it and not think of
this moment.

In a matter of seconds, the door opened. A
security officer had overridden the lock and forced entry. The two
of them glanced over at a lieutenant, who straightened when he
noticed Magnius on top of Amii's mostly naked body with her legs
wrapped around him.

Magnius furrowed his brow in irritation. "I
really thought the crew of the
Schenectady
had more manners
than this because I don't remember asking for anyone to come join
us."

"Someone reported hearing a loud crash," the
young man said in his own timid defense. "Do you recall hearing
anything?"

"Yeah, that was us," Magnius said with false
modesty. "Was it the old lady next door who said something? Because
she looks like she's never had sex her whole life. Next time,
instead of intruding on someone, you might want to give them a call
on the ship's intercom system. I trust we won't be bothered
again."

"Of course not. My apologies." And in
embarrassment, he retreated and closed the door.

Amii sighed. Part of her had been worried
that he'd do anything to get rid of her. Regrettably, when she'd
fallen into his room, she'd involved him as a co-conspirator
whether the allegation was true or not. While the reality of the
situation was unfortunate, she felt as though fate had offered a
helping hand when she needed it most.

Magnius turned back toward her and for a long
time said nothing. His long dark lashes framed his expressive eyes,
which looked hazel in the bright lights. She thought she should say
something but could not come up with anything meaningful or
relevant. Instead, she stared at his rough features and longed for
what had passed.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She shook her head as she gazed up at him.
"Nothing. I'm just a little surprised, that's all."

"Because I didn't turn you over to them?
Well, maybe you can repay the favor one day." The occasional chain
shift in the sound of his vowels gave him an accent she couldn't
place. She wished he would keep talking. About anything, the words
didn't matter. "I know how it feels to be running from someone and
not because of Tiyuri. I ran away from home a long time ago. Not
because of my parents, they were fine. I disappointed them all, and
now one of them is trying to kill me."

Amii wasn't sure what he was trying to tell
her, but she could empathize with him. "Thank you."

He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw
before swallowing and rolling off the bed. "I'm going to call
Nadine. I'm sure she'll know what to do."

Before activating his implant, he tossed her
some of his clothes from across the room. The cotton shirt and
pants would do until she could find Xander and retrieve her old
clothing. When she stood and turned around to dress, she closed her
eyes and held the shirt to her nose. It smelled just like him. When
she put it on, she felt like he was right there next to her. She
couldn't help wishing he were.