Change Horizons: Three Novellas (15 page)

Dana pulled EiLeen up on the ledge and held her close. Sobbing from sheer relief, she pressed her face against her silvery hair. “You’re safe. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

“Calm down,” EiLeen said, “I’m fine.” Her shaking voice belied her attempt to sound flippant. “I really am.” Her tone changed and sincerity laced her words.

“Thank the stars.”

“Can we perhaps dock with the
Koenigin
and get off this disgusting barge?” Sitting up, EiLeen crinkled her nose, which made her look close to adorable.

“Absolutely.” Dana let go of EiLeen reluctantly and peered over the ledge. “He sure looks out cold. You sure that weapon was set on stun?”

“Stun?” EiLeen gave a one-shoulder shrug. “How would I know? The markings were in some weird alien language. That man wanted to turn my brain into mush. For all I know it could have turned them all into condrusliaci fruits.”

“You impossible woman. What the hell is condrusliaci fruit?” Dana’s shoulders began to shake as a slightly hysterical laugh started to bubble up through her chest.

“Green, small, round, and with thorns on their shell. If you prick your fingers, nasty warts will appear within a few hours. The inside is delicious.”

“You’re crazy. I know it now. I’m in…” Dana took a deep breath and steeled herself against the knowledge she might be rejected. “I’m in love with a certifiably insane woman.”

EiLeen’s expression changed. She gazed intently, her eyes unwavering and unreadable. Then they began to shine and crystal-clear tears shimmered, but didn’t fall. “I would argue that you’re the one who might need a psychiatric evaluation for saying that, feeling like that.”

“It might be foolish, but it feels perfectly sane to me.” Daring to hope now, as EiLeen was clutching at her, pulling her even closer on the dirty ledge, Dana cupped her face. “I love you, my Queen.”

“You’re in big trouble, Captain. You might end up regretting ever telling me, because I love you too. I was prepared to live my life on the memories of these days and nights with you, so sure that letting you go on to live your life was the best thing. Now when I know you love me—oh, damn. For the love of the Creator.” She wiped at the now-escaping tears.

“I can’t imagine life without you, EiLeen. You’re amazing. You’re easily the most exasperating woman I’ve ever met, as well as the most courageous, brilliant, funny, beautiful, cute—”

“What?” EiLeen flinched. “I am
not
cute.”

“Ah. Normally you’re not, no. Just every once in a while.” Dana tried for a placating smile. “And you’re dangerous. To my peace of mind, to my poor stampeding heart.”

“And you’re the woman I never thought even existed—the one who tore down my defenses and saw through the royal mask. Not sure why that is. Not even sure this is fair to you, since being with me will end your anonymity forever. Once in my life in the public eye, you’re there to stay, even if you leave me.”

“Leave you?” Startled, Dana began to get up and tugged EiLeen with her. “I could never leave you. How can you even think—”

“I don’t. I mean, I don’t want you to.”

“I—”

“L’Ley to Rhoridan. Come in. L’Ley to Rhoridan and Maxio. Do you read me?”

Koenigin!
Dana tore at her communicator. “Rhoridan here. We’re doing fine but need extracting. Send a shuttle to the dock, Commander.”

“Will do, Captain. Thing is, your vessel is drifting too close to the asteroid belt. Its faint gravity is pulling you in. You might need to locate some space suits, ma’am.”

“Not sure there are any on this rust bucket. How long do we have before we reach the belt?”

“We estimate eight minutes.”

Dana winced. That was barely long enough for the shuttle to reach them. “Keep an open comm signal, Commander. We’re going to the main airlock to see what we can find.” She motioned for EiLeen to follow her as she took off down the half-smoke-filled corridor.

*

EiLeen coughed as she stumbled behind Dana, who shoved some containers aside and pushed on. Her deceptively slender body didn’t betray her strength, but it was impressive.

“Don’t fall behind. We only have a few minutes to find some space suits.”

“Calm down, I’m right here.” She wasn’t about to show how exhausted she was and how her body still ached from the fight with the Onotharian agents. Being slammed into the bulkhead was never a good thing, but having that happen when you were not as well trained as you used to be was even worse. She would definitely sport some interesting bruises if they made it out of the Begoll freighter alive.

“Here. Main airlock.” Dana dived into the smaller area and began opening one cabinet door after another. EiLeen started at the other end, hoping to find the suits right away. When she’d gone through six cabinets and still no space suit, she began to tremble. This couldn’t be the end. They’d fought so hard to stay alive, to complete the mission. To lose the woman she loved before they even got the opportunity to make this new scenario work made her want to scream.

When the cabinets turned up nothing, Dana looked ashen as she sank down on a chair, drawing deep trembling breaths. “Where the hell do these people store their suits?” She checked her chronometer. “Three minutes, EiLeen. Oh, stars.” Her eyes burned nearly visible tracks in the air between them. “I’m so sorry.”

“No. No! Don’t you dare give up—on us or on life. There must be someth—” EiLeen squinted as something caught her eyes. “What is that? That sign?”

“Where?” Dana leaned forward and pushed what looked like some hoses away. “This?”

“Yes? It’s in Begollian, I believe, but doesn’t it say craft and tunnel or something?”

“Tunnel?” Dana suddenly stood up, energized, pushed the hoses aside, and felt around the edges of the large sign. “It might not mean tunnel. It could mean chute.”

“Shoot? Shoot whom?”

“No,
chute
, as in a tunnel to slide through to something. Preferably to where they keep space suits and such.” Dana jumped back. “Oh, gods. Yes!”

A dark hole opened up, totally void of light.

“No time to waste.” EiLeen sat down and pushed her way through the hole. Then she was free-falling. Knowing how important it was to not let her arms flail, but instead tuck them into her body and pull up her knees somewhat, she curled up to try to protect herself from a rough landing.

“EiLeen!” Dana cried out from above just as EiLeen dropped through something with hard edges and landed with a thud on the bottom of it. The air was pressed out of her lungs and she barely had the good sense to roll to the side when Dana came plummeting down. She landed with the same eerie sound.

“For the love of the stars, did they have to use such a hard surface to land on?”

EiLeen could hardly make out Dana’s contours in the dark, whatever it was they had landed in. Still she could see Dana bolting for what looked like a console. “Close the hatch!”

Automatically looking up and feeling the low ceiling with her hands, she found the handle and pulled. Something came toward her but stopped just within reach, and she pressed the handle every which way until it locked.

“What the hell is this?” She felt before her toward Dana’s voice, only to flinch as the light suddenly came on.

“A life raft of the old kind. A tiny space shuttle used by civilians long ago.” Dana glanced at her chronometer. “One minute. No time for preliminaries.” She virtually hammered and stabbed with her fingers at the dirty console before her. The mini shuttle began shaking and a loud hum reverberated around them. EiLeen threw herself into a torn, dusty seat. She couldn’t find any harness or belt, but clung to the armrests as the shuttle began to hover.

“How do we get out of here?” EiLeen shouted over the nearly deafening rumble. “Any idea?”

“Not really. From what I can see, this old heap of junk has a rudimentary weapons array. Guess that’s our only option.”

“You’re going to shoot our way out of here?” She could hardly believe Dana’s intent, but they were only seconds away from hitting the outer part of the asteroid belt.

“Yes!” Slamming her palm onto the console, Dana fired. Explosions erupted all around them and then they were hurled forward, actually pulled, and tossed into space.

“Stars be praised, I hope this thing has no major hull issues. Micro fractures we can deal with, but larger things—”

“Will kill us.” EiLeen found she didn’t have to yell anymore, which was a blessing. She tried to make out the surrounding space through the view port, but it was nearly impossible because of grime stemming from ages of disuse.

An explosion to their port side made them both jump.

“There goes that sorry excuse for a ship.” EiLeen shook her head.

“Which helped save our lives this far.”

“Point taken. Any signs of either the Onotharians or your ship?”

Tapping the sensors, Dana scrutinized the readings. “As far as I can tell, the
Koenigin
is still en route and should be here in two minutes. How much can go wrong in two damn minutes?”

A loud bang sent the small vessel tumbling, and EiLeen flew across the ship and landed across Dana’s legs, hitting her head on the bulkhead. “Holy Creator, you
had
to ask, didn’t you? It’s the Onotharians. It has to be.” She sat up and realized she was nearly straddling Dana’s lap. Hurriedly, she managed to stand up before another bang resonated and inertial dampeners went offline. Clinging to Dana’s right arm, EiLeen tried to stay where she was. All around her, mayhem broke loose as anything that wasn’t bolted to the floor hovered and shifted around them.

“I’ve got you. Can you press the three red sensors at the top right?” Dana yelled. “We have to return fire or we’ll be space dust when the
Koenigin
finds us.”

EiLeen pivoted in midair. The only thing keeping her from floating helplessly from one bulkhead to the next was Dana’s white-knuckled grip on her left sleeve. Stretching herself to the limit, she reached for the upper right corner of the helm console. Three red octagon-shaped sensors blinked at her, just barely out of reach.

“Push me farther up. Hurry!”

Dana pushed and actually let go of the chair with her left arm. EiLeen tried again. Only a few centimeters away, she yanked her hand loose from Dana’s grip and pushed her body toward the elusive sensors. Slamming her fingers against them, she felt the connection in the tiny tremor, and then she was pushed back with such force that everything became black. The last thing she heard was Dana’s communicator and its scratchy transmission.

“
Koenigin
to Captain Rhoridan. That was some shot, ma’am. We brought backup and we’re ready to tow you.”

*

EiLeen opened her eyes with a soft moan. Something was missing. The ceiling was a soft gray color instead of the corroded, stained mess she’d shuddered at aboard the Begoll freighter. Inhaling the air, she found it clean, with a faint, familiar scent to it.

“EiLeen.” An equally well-known voice spoke close to her left.

EiLeen turned her head slowly, for some reason expecting the movement to cause excruciating pain. When it didn’t, she relaxed and then she saw Dana. Dressed in her captain’s uniform, her hair combed in the usual austere bun, she didn’t look at all like
her
Dana. Not until she focused on the light in her eyes and the tears that trickled down her pale cheeks. “Dana.”

“You’re awake. Thank the stars.”

“The shuttle freighter?”

“Space dust.”

“The escape pod?”

“Actually it’s in the shuttle bay.” Dana leaned closer and pressed her trembling lips against EiLeen’s forehead. “I thought I’d lost you this time. You had a nasty concussion, but Dr. Irah took care of that. He said all you need is rest.”

“He scanned my head?” EiLeen became rigid. “Dana?”

“Yes. We saw the implant. You truly do carry the information within you. I thought you meant it as a metaphor at first.”

“Yes. As you saw. Only the intended recipients on Revos Prime headquarters can extract it safely. I didn’t enjoy the idea of the Onotharians lobotomizing me in order to get to it.”

“But what happens once the information is extracted? And why carry it in your damn brain? That’s got to be dangerous to you.”

EiLeen slid over and tugged at Dana to lie down next to her. “You’re too far away. I’m getting permanent neck damage looking over at you like this. Come here.” It was gratifying to feel how quickly Dana moved onto the bed and hugged her. “Now, if you do that, I won’t be able to focus.”

“Sorry.” Not sounding contrite at all, Dana pulled back a little. “Go on.”

“Thanks to Guild Nation’s most accomplished scientists, once the information is uploaded to the Revos Prime mainframe, this device will disintegrate and become a harmless substance that will leave my body the…um, natural way.”

“And now you can’t go there without full military escort, as we know that they know that we know.”

EiLeen exhaled audibly. “Yes. I had hoped to be able to keep working undercover, but I assume those days are over. I’ll talk to Admiral Jacelon about it. I’ve had Plan B figured out for some time, but I need to run it by him and Marco Thorosac.” Thorosac, the Supreme Constellations’ civilian leader and the one with the political power as chairman of the planets’ representatives, would be the one voicing objections. He didn’t know her the way Ewan Jacelon did, and no doubt he didn’t trust someone who was more famous for what she wore and whom she knew than what she did. Hopefully Ewan would persuade Thorosac—they were close friends, after all—to see things her way.

“Can you tell me about Plan B?”

“Not yet. Let’s go to Revos Prime and deliver the goods. I’m assuming we’re on board the
Koenigin
, as you mentioned your physician?”

“We are. In my quarters, as a matter of fact. Commander L’Ley transported all the civilian passengers to the closest space port before going after us.” She drew a line along EiLeen’s arm. “I need—I needed you here with me, but I’ll understand if you want to go back to your quarters. In a day or so, we’ll transfer to an SC cruiser with armed assault craft escort and expedite your arrival at Revos Prime.”