Paradise 21 (2 page)

“Of course, my friend.” Gerald saluted him by waving the champagne glass in his hand. Drips flung across the room and Barliss stepped to the side swiftly, careful not to get any on his pristine, white, ceremonial uniform.

Gerald called over his shoulder. “I’ll be seeing you at the celebration after-party, correct?”

Barliss nodded, but his eyes strayed. “If I can get back to the main deck in time, yes.”

It took forever for the line to move forward. Everyone inched over to talk with him concerning his own impending ceremony, asking embarrassing questions about his intended’s absence. He reached the end of the receiving line, feeling like a schoolboy who’d forgotten to bring his homework. Damn Aries for this humiliation.

“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Byron Locke. You two make quite the outstanding pair.”

“Thank you. Lieutenant Barliss, is it?” The way his name fell off the bride’s tongue made him feel like an inconsequential fly. He resisted the urge to squeeze her hand too tightly as she offered it, instead kissing it properly before letting go.

“Yes, appointed five years ago by your great-grandfather, himself.”

She scanned the crowd behind him, already losing interest. Barliss scrambled to find a topic to prolong the conversation, to make himself memorable and perhaps win a meeting with the commander.

“Such a lovely ceremony—”

“You’re the one paired with Aries Ryder, aren’t you?”

He fidgeted with his lapel pin, as if hailing Aries now would make her appear. “That’s correct.”

“Where is she? I was so looking forward to seeing her today. She was my mentor, you know. She did everything she could to help me prepare for my engineering exams.”

“She’s...” He paused, loosening his collar. “Not well.”

The new Mrs. Locke’s face turned cold. “She’s never missed a day of work in her life.”

“Like I said, she’s not well.” His answer came out more curtly than he intended. Mrs. Locke stepped back as if he’d hit her and wrapped her fingers around her new husband’s arm. Mr. Locke whispered something in her ear. She gave the lieutenant a brusque nod and turned away.

The next pair of guests pushed by him to greet the bride and groom, and his opportunity slipped away. Damn it! This was all Aries’ fault. Frustration boiled inside him like hot mercury. Throughout the whole ceremony, all he’d been able to think of was the future, a future he’d carefully engineered through many years of slippery politics and hard work, a future that granted him Aries as his intended. He had to find her to put her in her place, to remind her being his partner came with certain obligations.

Barliss quietly walked out of the main hall, then picked up the pace, sprinting down the main entry shaft to the personal cells at the rear of the ship. The corridors had an eerie stillness to them, as if the commander had evacuated the vessel and Barliss was the last one left to roam the decks, eternally alone.

Of course, his imagination sped on hyperdrive. Everyone was here, clustered on the main deck, attending the ceremony as dictated in the Guide. Everyone except Aries. Barliss’ worry turned to anger, hardening like crushed steel inside his stomach. She’d better have a good reason for her absence. As his future partner, she’d stained both their reputations.

He reached her cell in a record amount of time, his ten-mile morning runs paying off. He pressed the hailing panel and waited for a response.

The corridor lay as silent as deep space. He buzzed again.

“Miss Ryder, this is Lieutenant Barliss. Are you well?”

He shifted his stance to lean against the door, as if he could hear through the thick, chrome wall. Except for the ever-present hum of the lights, silence insulted his ears. He looked at his wristwatch: 1638. The ceremony had started just after 1500 hours, so she’d been missing for almost two hours.

He pressed his lapel pin, paging the main control deck, tapping his foot as he waited. It took long moments for someone to answer. Everyone was enjoying themselves at the reception.

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

“Activate Aries Ryder’s locator immediately and inform the commander. She’s been missing for two hours.”

“Affirmative.”

He buzzed the door again, wishing he’d taken the time to talk with her at breakfast instead of strengthening ties with the upper command. She’d seemed distant these past few weeks, shoving her food in her mouth to avoid talking. Their meals together ended quickly. Barliss had been thankful for the silence at the time. After all, a woman’s frivolous banter didn’t interest him.

“Sir.” The lower officer’s voice startled Barliss from his musings. He didn’t like the tone of voice or the pause at the end.

“What is it?”

“Her locator. It’s not onboard.”

“How can that be?” Barliss’ tone questioned the subordinate’s capacity.

“Either she’s taken it off and ejected it, or gone with it, but in any case, it’s not onboard.”

Those final words resonated in Barliss’ head, and he fell back against the chrome wall, stunned.

“Why didn’t the alarm sound?”

“I don’t know, sir. She must have tampered with the energy cell.”

Barliss narrowed his eyes “Well, turn it back on. Try a different frequency. Have someone check the escape pods.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m not finished.” His voice snapped on the last syllable like a rubber band. He hadn’t suspected Aries had been scheming to escape, because she embodied the epitome of civility, apologizing for her silence during their meals and blaming her distraction on an accumulation of work. She’d taken up that hot chick Tria’s workload—too bad that one had been stupid enough to get herself killed.

He adjusted his collar, struggling to keep his tone even. “Notify the commander. We’re going to have to reverse direction.”

Aries awoke to flashing lights and smoke. A wailing siren sounded in her ear, each surge aching in her head. Coughing, she pushed a panel to bring up the screen, but the panels remained blank. Trying to control a jolt of panic, she unbuckled the belt across her stomach and heaved herself up, feeling like a supply container was sitting on her chest. She gasped in dismay as she ran her fingers across a jagged crack slicing the main control board in two pieces. The impact had destroyed the mainframe processor, ruining the escape pod.

She’d known the landing would destroy the pod, but that didn’t quell a feeling of vulnerability from washing through her. Aries had stranded herself in a foreign land with no way home. The thought of her parents and the ceremony she’d missed in order to escape flickered briefly in her mind. If her friends and family ever found out what she did, she hoped they would forgive her. To live her life for them would make her miserable—she had to invent her own destiny.

Laughter rumbled up from her gut, light at first, then deepening into triumph. She was free. Halfway stuck in a dune on Sahara 354 was exactly where she wanted to be.

A new light blinked beside her, distracting her from the condition of the pod. Aries brought up her arm to check out the locator. A light on the wide cuff flashed bright green, and she wished she could rip it off. Someone in the
New Dawn
had found a way to reactivate it.

The pod’s display had died, but Aries checked the time on the locator itself: 1721. She’d been unconscious for only a few minutes, but still long enough for the locator to complete at least one cycle of transmission.

If they’d remotely activated it, they knew she was missing. The signal had obviously penetrated deep space, although she’d hoped it wouldn’t. The ship would have the exact coordinates of the escape pod’s landing. That’s how they’d found Tria. Besides, Sahara 354 was the only planet in light years that had any signs of life. Barliss knew her well enough to guess she’d planned ahead.

Aries pulled the energy cell out and the flashing stopped. The crash coordinates had been sent, but at least no more would go out as she explored her new home planet. She dropped the energy cell on the dashboard and watched it rattle to a halt underneath the cracked glass of the sight panel. If she left it there, they’d know she’d taken it out. It would be better if she brought the energy cell with her and reactivated the locator when she found a life-endangering situation, like quicksand. If she found a way to remove the whole device without tearing off a chunk of her arm, she could throw it in, and they’d have to assume her body had gone with it. They’d stop looking for her once their retrieval machine pulled it out.

Aries shoved the energy cell in her pocket and grabbed the backpack she’d spent months filling with all the right supplies. She hit the pod’s manual eject button, and the lid of the craft popped open, smoking and wheezing.

The heat hit her in a tidal wave. She gasped for breath, thinking of poor Tria. The air scorched Aries’ lungs, and she waited for her skin to crinkle or her body to burst. She squeezed her eyes shut to brace for the worst, but she remained conscious. Each intake of breath burned like fire, but then again, she’d only ever breathed regulated air. She had to trust the historical reports. The atmosphere on Sahara 354, although parched, must be adequate.

As the hatch lifted, blinding sun poured in like a thousand laser rays, blazing into her pale skin. She’d read about the sun on Earth and had felt the flames of a lighter on her fingertips, but she’d never experienced such a rush of raw elements. The radiating light infused her with awe, as if a higher power touched her directly.

Shielding her eyes, she peered at the sky, a canvas of cerulean and gold. She’d always wondered what it would be like to stand in an atmosphere. It provided a sense of protection in a blanket spreading above her head, shielding her from the harsh elements of deep space. At the same time, the world felt open and endless compared to the claustrophobic corridors of the
New Dawn
.

Aries stepped out of her broken pod, and orange sand stained her pristine space boots. Her white uniform ruffled in the breeze. Thank the Guide, she had long sleeves covering her arms from the burning sun. The light microfiber repelled heat. As her eyes adjusted to the bright glare, she could make out the plateau of rock from the image on the viewing screen. The pod had landed exactly where she’d told it to. Now all she had to do was get as far away as possible, find a place to ditch her locator, and hide.

After one last look at the steaming wreckage, she secured the clasps on her pack and took the first steps forward. Her boots sank into the ground as if lead lined the soles. Trudging through the sand was cumbersome compared to bouncing along the metal walkways of the
New Dawn
in light gravity. She felt like a toddler again, flailing her arms as she learned how to balance and stand. Although the increase in gravity and uneven terrain made her body work harder, the stretching of her muscles felt good and oddly natural, as if she’d missed a certain pleasure all her life.

Drunk on freedom, she trekked on. A brutal wind hit her face, sending sand particles in her eyes and mouth. Aries coughed and spit on the ground. Her tongue stuck in her mouth like sandpaper.

As a little girl, she’d stood in front of the ventilator, feeling her hair fan out as the air had rushed past the back of her neck. The natural wind on Sahara 354 blew much stronger, a violent force beyond man’s control. Being exposed made her feel weak and vulnerable, but also excited.

She dug in her backpack, found her water bottle, and took a swig of mineral water, trying to get her bearings and adjust to the new levels of gravity and temperature. Her eyes stung and her skin burned, but she was free. Bracing herself against the gale, she ripped off a piece of her uniform and tied it around her nose and mouth. Thank goodness she’d cut her hair to shoulder length. Barliss had fought against the new style, until she’d fooled him into thinking she wanted to make the change so the upper command would take her more seriously, to move up the ranks with him. Only then had he allowed her to chop it off.

The wind swirled mini tornadoes in the sand, erasing her tracks. The pod glinted as a silver spot on the horizon. She’d walked far, but the monotonous terrain provided nowhere to hide. Miles and miles of craggy ridges surrounded her, sand heaped in drifts nearly up to their peaks. A look at her water rations told her she was draining her supply faster than she’d planned.

The sun set, just as a new sun rose on the horizon behind her. Perpetual sunlight. She remembered reading about it when she’d targeted this forsaken place, but only now did she understand the relentless heat. How could she hide in the blazing light of eternal day?

Aries grew angry with herself for not planning her landing better. The
New Dawn
would come and the search crews would find her easily with their scanners. She was the only life-form for miles around. She desperately needed to find those human-sized beings and hide among them. Then, maybe she’d have a chance of being overlooked.

Aries dug a handheld device out of her backpack and clicked it on. The glare of the sun reflected off the plastic screen, making it impossible to read. Sitting in the sizzling sand, she took out her sleeping bag and unraveled the fabric. She draped the cloth over her shoulders like a cape and leaned her head over the mini computer. With her arms outstretched, she shut out the majority of bright light.