The Price of Pleasure (17 page)

Chapter 12

“Do you want a food pack?” Bragan asked Seth, holding up one of the small plastic pouches. “This is the last sweetened one.”

Seth looked over at Bragan with amusement. The man seemed like such a child at times, although Seth knew he had survived terrible things. Despite his suffering, Bragan still took joy from something as silly as a sweetened food pack.

He had gotten to know Bragan pretty well over the past three weeks, and no longer worried that the former slave would turn against him. They were actually doing pretty well for themselves, although it was tedious to sit and wait for rescue in the small, portable pressure bubble Calla had left for them. Of course, they were grateful for the bubble, part of the ship’s emergency survival kit–otherwise they would have been forced to live in their pressure suits, not a pleasant prospect.

“Are you sure you’re a doctor?” Seth asked Bragan. “I thought those sweet packs were supposed to be unhealthy.”

Bragan swallowed his food, then grinned at him. “No, getting trapped on asteroids with no hope of rescue is unhealthy. Sweetened food packs are the least of our worries.”

He cackled quietly at his own joke, then took another bite.

“You’re right about that,” Seth said, his mood darkening. Calla had promised she’d send for help, but in reality Seth knew she might not have. There certainly hadn’t been any sign of rescue so far. If he and Bragan died alone in the ruins of Bethesda base, no one could ever learn how the women had betrayed them. Of course, if Calla and Sarai had wanted the men dead, they could have killed them weeks ago. It was hard to know what Calla’s motivations were, Seth realized. For all he knew, she in love with Jess, and the two of them had coordinated the whole thing. The thought filled him with anger, and he scowled into the silence.

“Snap out of it,” Bragan said. He took another bite of his food, them wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “I’m tired of your moping. Either we’ll get out of this or we won’t, but pouting won’t make it any better.”

“I am not pouting,” Seth said coldly, glaring at the doctor.

“Really?” Bragan replied. “I wouldn’t bet on that. She did what she had to do, you know. I told her to do it. An escaped slave can’t afford to have feelings for a man like you. If she’d been smart, she would have killed us. She loved you too much for that, though.”

Seth turned away, unwilling to let Bragan see how much his words hurt. If Calla had loved him, she wouldn’t have left him to die.

“It was her only choice,” Bragan continued. The man was perceptive as hell, something that didn’t always endear him to Seth. “She had to save the children. She had no idea that you were planning to lock Calvin up. It takes a strong woman to give up the man she loves to save a child.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Seth said, gritting his teeth in frustration. Thinking about Calla made him crazy. He wanted to strangle her. He wanted to roll on top of her and thrust into her again and again. He dreamt of them having a child together, something that was biologically impossible. At times he thought he might lose his mind.

Abruptly standing, Seth stalked across the small open area to their sleeping mats, inflatable cots from the same survival kit that had contained the pressure-bubble. For the thousandth time, Seth thanked the Goddess for leading him to outfit his ship with the highest quality survival equipment available. At least he and Bragan were relatively comfortable in their exile.

“I’m going to take a nap,” he said shortly, lying down on the mat. Turning away from Bragan, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. He knew he would dream of Calla, something he both anticipated and dreaded. Her silken thighs, her sparkling laugh, even her freckles… She was always with him in some way. Trying to reign in his anticipation, Seth closed his eyes. The dreams were all he had left.

* * * * *

“Seth, wake up,” Bragan whispered in the darkness. Seth was alert instantly, his warrior instincts honed from a thousand battles. “There’s something going on at the landing field. That little motion alarm thing you set up is blinking.”

A burst of adrenaline shot through Seth’s body–were they about to be rescued? A list of all those it could be raced through his mind: Pilgrims, Saurellians, the escaped slaves … Perhaps even an innocent trader, as he had pretended to be. Each possibility carried its own risks.

“We need to get into our suits, then head for our hiding place,” Bragan whispered, furiously shoving supplies in a little bag. “Do you have your blaster?”

Seth did. He’d found it in his carryall, right next to the photos of his niece and nephews. Its presence was just another piece of the complex puzzle that was Calla. In the dark times, when he wondered whether she had ever cared for him at all, he looked at it. At least she hadn’t wanted him to die, had given him something to defend himself with. That was something.

When they were both dressed and ready, the two men checked each other’s suits, then quickly made their way through the bubble’s tiny air lock. It was manually operated, and Seth chafed at the delay. It took ten full minutes for each of them to pass through, time that their new guests might use to discover them.

“Here’s the plan,” Seth said tersely once they were both free. “I’ll go down and scout. You go into the mine and guard and hide the food. I’ll call you when things are clear, otherwise stay out of site. No matter what happens, we can’t let them get the Jansenite. If I’m captured, I’ll key my headpiece twice, so they won’t know you’re out here.”

“If I’m going to stay with the Jansenite, you should leave me the blaster,” Bragan said. “You know that, don’t you?”

“I’ll need the blaster,” Seth gritted out. He didn’t say what they were both thinking–that he didn’t trust Bragan with a weapon.

“I can use the blaster to detonate the Jansenite if things go wrong,” Bragan reminded him. “We both agreed that as a last resort, that’s what needed to be done. We can’t let the Pilgrims get their hands on it. Neither of our lives is worth saving if they use that stuff against our people.”

Seth knew the man was right, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to give up his weapon. Bragan sighed in frustration

“Well, if you won’t give me the blaster, that’s fine,” Bragan finally said. “But then you’ll have to stay with the Jansenite.”

“You have no idea how to scout without getting caught,” Seth gritted out.

“Well, one way or another, you’ve got to trust me if we’re going to get through this,”

Bragan said heatedly. “Believe me, if I wanted the damn blaster I could have taken it a thousand times over the past few weeks. Hell, we both know those restraints Calla put on me weren’t worth anything. She didn’t even know how to fasten them all the way, but I didn’t jump you when I had the chance. Face it, Seth, we’re in this together. Let me do my part.”

Wordlessly, Seth handed the blaster to Bragan, biting back a sharp reply. They both knew he was right. Without each other, they didn’t stand a chance. It hurt to give up his only weapon, though. He felt naked without it.

Bragan, muttering something about “fool’s pride,” started moving quickly toward the abandoned mine shaft where the explosives were hidden. Seth turned toward the ridge that lay between them and the landing field.

When they’d first found themselves trapped on the abandoned asteroid, they had considered setting their camp up in the ruins of the station. But locating the bubble on the other side of the ridge had given them several advantages. They were hidden from view, and there was a place to hide the Jansenite. Additionally, the rock formations were such that it seemed unlikely any intruders would be able to detect them with a standard sensor sweep. That alone had made hauling all their equipment across the ridge worthwhile.

Within minutes, Seth had reached the top of the ridge. Crawling on his belly, he raised his view-scope to his eyes and looked out over the landing field. There were four ships there, all of which looked ancient. Either the escaped slaves or the Pilgrims, he decided. The Saurellians would have better equipment. He keyed his comset four times, the signal he and Bragan had worked out ahead of time. Seth hoped the doctor would remember what it meant; a steady diet of nutritious food and companionship had done wonders for the man’s mental health, but he still had a tendency to forget things.

Turning his attention back to the landing field, Seth saw a large group of the men had gone over to the remains of the funeral pyre. They were gesturing angrily. Others made their way through the ruins.

Were they Pilgrims or escaped slaves? Seth wondered. Hard to tell, although he hoped they were escaped slaves. They, at least, would be friendly to Bragan. The two of them had agreed that if the slaves came back, Bragan would go with them without telling them about Seth or the Jansenite. If the Saurellians came, they could both be rescued. They had yet to come up with a successful plan of action to deal with the Pilgrims.

Seth watched for another forty minutes, still unable to tell who the men were. But then about ten of them started digging a large hole near the pyre. Another man started sorting through the burned remains, making a series of complicated, ritualistic gestures over them. They were burying their dead, Seth realized; the men had to be Pilgrims. He had seen enough.

Scooting back until he was well below the crest of the ridge, Seth walked quickly down the hill toward Bragan’s hiding place. They needed to get their camp packed up, and they needed to figure out a plan of action.

Bragan jumped out of the shadows as Seth approached, blaster ready to fire. For a moment, Seth froze. Was the man going to double-cross him after all? But Bragan lowered the weapon as soon as he recognized Seth.

“It’s the Pilgrims,” Seth said, and Bragan’s face fell.

“Let’s get the camp packed up, and then we’ll try to figure out what to do next,”

Bragan said quietly.

The survival bubble was designed to be portable, but it still took them nearly an hour to deflate and move it. They wasted precious air in doing so, but it needed to be done. From now on they would live in their suits. The bubble, even hidden among the rock formations, was too visible. When all was ready, the two men went into the mineshaft. Sitting next to each other, they eyed the boxes of Jansenite.

“It’s amazing that something so small could do so much damage,” Bragan said into the silence, gesturing toward the explosives.

“There’s enough here to destroy this entire asteroid, and quite a few around it,” Seth replied. “Hell, this is more than enough to destroy Discovery station. I wonder what they were planning to do with it.”

“Overthrow the Saurellian occupation,” Bragan said. “We both know how they feel about you guys. One of their core teachings is that ‘humans shall not be governed by non-humans.’ Words of the Celestial Pilgrim himself, if I remember correctly.”

Seth grunted in response, then they both sat in silence.

“I don’t see too many options here,” Seth said. “Not good options, anyway. If we really want to stop them, perhaps the best thing would be to detonate the Jansenite. At least that way they couldn’t use it against anyone.”

“There’s another option,” Bragan said quietly. “You could steal one of their ships.

That way you could contact your people and warn them about how dangerous these Pilgrims really are.”

“You can’t leave the asteroid, your implant won’t let you,” Seth said harshly. “And I’m not going to leave without you.”

“You sure as hell can leave without me,” Bragan said, his voice firm with conviction.

“You can steal a ship and go for help. I’ll stay hidden. You can come rescue me once you’ve found help. It’s our best hope.”

“That could take weeks,” Seth replied. “Do you really think you can last that long?

They’ll find you sooner or later, we both know it.”

“If they find me, I’ll blow the Jansenite,” Bragan said. “I’ve been living on borrowed time for years now. At least this way I’ll get to choose when and how I die. Very few people are that fortunate. I kind of like the idea of taking some of those bastards with me...”

“I don’t like it,” Seth replied. “Saurellians don’t leave each other behind. We’re brothers, we live together and we die together.”

“Well I’m not a Saurellian,” Bragan said harshly. “I’m an escaped slave, and I’m going to die on this rock. I’ve known that for five years. Do you know I’m not even a man any more? They castrated me for looking at one of their women. Give me this, Seth.

Give me the chance to fight back, like a man. I don’t want you to stay with me.

“I want you to warn your people,” he continued. Seth could see the man’s face was twisted with emotion, despite the helmets they both wore. “Don’t fool yourself, Seth, it’s not out of any love for you. I don’t want these bastards to ever buy another slave. I don’t want them to ever hurt another woman. You saw what Calvin did to Sarai. There are thousands of women out there just like her. Take this chance to escape, to save them. It isn’t about leaving a comrade behind, it’s about saving people’s lives. If you refuse to do that out of some misguided sense of honor, you’re as much a criminal as they are. And an idiot, to boot,” Bragan added, disgust in his voice.

Bragan was right, Seth realized. Leaving him behind went against everything he believed in, but saving his people was more important. In fact, saving his people was really all he had to live for. It wasn’t as if there was anything waiting for him if he survived. Calla was gone. From the time he’d realized he would never have a life partner, Seth had lived only to fight. It was time to continue that battle.

“All right, I’ll do it,” Seth said. “But I want you to wait until the last possible moment to detonate the Jansenite. I’ll do everything in my power to rescue you.”

“I know you will,” Bragan said quietly. “Seth, I want you to make me a promise.”

“What?”

“I want you to try and understand why Calla did what she did,” the man said, staring fixedly at the Jansenite. “I think the two of you should give each other another chance.”

“It’s impossible,” Seth said tightly. “Even if I found her, she isn’t my life mate. Our relationship could never grow into anything real or permanent.”