Once he was happy both were taking the implants without complications he left the room. Elizabeth had begged off watching the process, saying the idea made her feel queasy. She sat on a sofa studying the plans to transform the ship. Jess gave her a quick update on the situation, then started working with the ship to create enough drones for Ali and Sal to control.
Not long after he was surprised by a tickling feeling running through his mind. Following the source he felt another presence alongside that of the Wanderer. He reached out towards it, pushing a sense of comfort and safety. The reply sent his mind spinning. It was Ali and a deluge of feelings from excitement to wonder to fear crashed over him. After a few moments his experience dealing with the ship allowed him to filter out the worst extremes and send a message back asking her to calm down, stop sending so much. The answering reply had a strong tinge of ruefulness but was much more controlled. Then another presence appeared, broadcasting tension and worry, and Jess went through the same process with Sal.
With suggestions from the ship’s mind they were soon communicating rapidly using a mixture of speech, images, sensations and ship-built structures such as scans, charts, flight plans and more. It wasn’t telepathy, but it was far more than simple conversation. Emotional overtones tinged their communications. Sal’s often carried a protective feel, a desire to look after Ali and Jess. Ali’s messages to Jess varied – sometimes amused, sometimes caring, often with a warm element he could only interpret as a hug. Occasional flashes of something stronger and far more intimate, something he knew he was leaking the other way too. Each time it happened Sal’s messages gained a deep sense of amusement, while Ali leaked embarrassment.
After twenty minutes or so Jess reluctantly left them to it. He needed sleep and they had the mining operation well in hand. He would take over when he woke up, giving them a chance to rest.
“How’s it going?” asked Elizabeth when she saw him stretching and blinking.
“Fine. Good.” He yawned. “Sorry. They are both handling it very well. I’m going to get some rest, leave them to it. They’ll be stuck in the medical bay for a good few hours yet, so the other cabins are free if you need to sleep.”
“Sounds good. I don’t sleep much these days, but I’ll grab three or four hours.”
Jess went to his cabin. He expected to fall asleep immediately but instead found himself worrying. Memories of Matt’s betrayal flashed across his mind, mixed with concerns over Elizabeth. If she was going to try something this would be the time, he realised. Sal and Ali were stuck where they were and he’d be asleep.
Feeling disgusted with himself, he locked the door to the medical bay and sealed his own door, adding alarms to each. Elizabeth had done nothing to warrant his suspicions, but he couldn’t help himself. Memories of waking in a cell after Matt had drugged him kept returning, despite the monitoring his implants now ran to warn him. Locking the doors helped but didn’t erase the worries. He finally fell into a restless sleep.
Chapter 23
Jess woke to a blow on his head and a deep voice shouting at him. Another blow was accompanied by more shouting to get on his feet. He rolled over to get up only to get a kick to the stomach. Winded and dizzy he collapsed back to the floor. Suddenly hands grabbed him, dragged him and helped him to stand.
He gasped his thanks to the other prisoners, warily watching the guard to see if the beating would continue. Not this time. He’d seen another prisoner who hadn’t stood up yet. A boot to her side made her roll over. Jess stared… it was Ali! His brain was sluggish from the blow it had taken but the sight of Ali being assaulted poured molten fire through his veins. Screaming at the guard he rushed forwards, tackling the man just as he was about to deliver another kick, dragging him to the floor.
The rest of the prisoners scattered to the edges of the cell, crouching down with hands on their heads, desperately trying to avoid the punishment they knew was coming. Three other guards ran over and grabbed Jess, dragging him off, then laying into him with the heavy clubs they carried. Then two of them held Jess, partly restraining him but mostly holding him upright. The beating didn’t hurt as much as he knew it should have. He wondered if his skull had been cracked.
The guard he’d attacked stepped in close, drew his gun and pointed it at Jess’s head. Then, shaking his head, he lowered it, pointing it at where Ali still lay on the floor.
“No! No, don’t!” Jess screamed out. “Please… shoot me, don’t shoot her!”
The guard grinned at Jess then pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times. Each shot struck Ali in the chest, making her body writhe. Jess felt as if each shot had hit him instead. Ali’s wounds hurt him far more than his own beating had. Then the guard fired once more, into her head. Jess screamed as the shot rang out…
He jerked upright, scream still echoing around his cabin. The bedclothes were in a tangled mess around him, dripping with sweat. His heart was pounding and his breathing ragged. Desperately he reached out for the ship, checking the status of Sal and Ali. Both were still safely in the medical bay, busy controlling the mining operation. Elizabeth was in the living room watching a vid.
Checking the time he saw he’d been asleep a little over five hours. Knowing he wouldn’t get to sleep again he used the shower, washing off the night’s sweat and putting on clean clothes before heading into the living room. Despite the time and the shower he still carried a huge knot inside his chest, the dream had been so real and far too close to his fears.
“You look terrible,” Elizabeth said. “What happened?”
“Bad dream,” he muttered, heading for the food dispenser to get a strong coffee. “Really bad dream.”
“Want to talk about it?”
He got his drink, then sat on the sofa beside her, uncertain whether to share his fears or dismiss them. He realised he couldn’t keep quiet, that he needed to talk. In a quiet voice he started to recount his dream, his voice growing strained and cracking several times towards the end. When he finished Elizabeth pulled him into a hug. That was the final straw. He burst into tears. The horror of the dream overwhelming him.
She held him until the tears subsided then he pulled back, feeling embarrassed at having let himself go. She smiled at him gently.
“It’s easy to forget how young you are,” she said. “You carry off being captain so well. You really care for Ali, don’t you?”
Jess just nodded, surprised by her words.
“Can’t say I blame you. If I was, I don’t know, much younger you’d have some competition. Fine looking girl.” She studied him for a moment. “You don’t seem shocked?”
“Why would I be?”
“Really? There’s a lot a people out there who’d disapprove of two women together.”
Jess shrugged. “It wasn’t unusual amongst the prisoners. So long as no one is getting hurt what does it matter?”
“Blimey. Imagine that. Anyways, you’re safe. She’s way too young for me. Tell me, was there ever anyone for you before? Anyone you got close to?”
“No. Ali is the first person I’ve met who I’ve felt this way about. I think I might be in love with her. When she’s around she makes me feel so… well… really…”
Elizabeth laughed. “Don’t worry. Far better people than us have stumbled over describing love. I’m guessing the two of you haven’t… err… spent the night together.”
Jess flushed and shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.
“And by now I’m sure you’ve been through the vids we intercepted and watched some of the pornographic ones, the ones with sex in?”
Now Jess felt like his face was on fire. He froze, not knowing what to say or do.
“Good for you. I’d be damn worried about a teenager who didn’t. I’ll put odds on the fact she has too. Take a bit of advice – when the time comes forget all that, it’s all fake. Just go with your feelings, take it as slow as you can, enjoy yourselves and remember that like anything worth doing it takes a lot of practice to get really
good. The practice is damn good fun, though!”
Now Jess was nearly choking, certain his skin would catch fire if it got any hotter. Laughing again, Elizabeth stood.
“Normally I’d tell you to take your time. Take it real slow, be completely sure. We might not have that long, though. If it feels right, to both of you mind, then grab your chance with both hands. Otherwise if something happens you’ll regret it the rest of your life. I do.”
The last two words were so soft he hardly heard them. She walked off, leaving Jess wishing the floor would swallow him with half his mind while the other half was feverishly thinking about the advice he’d been given. He wouldn’t realise for several hours what a great job she’d done of distracting him from his nightmares.
* * *
Evening saw them working on the sixth asteroid, this one much larger than those before. The speed of the mining had greatly increased. Jess estimated they’d be finished stocking up on the supplies they needed within a couple more days, three at the most.
As they finish eating he told them he had news. The first two robots were fully refurbished. He downplayed the event to avoid another embarrassing failure. When the two robots walked into the room the other three were amazed. Gone were the bulky mining robots, in their place were gleaming sleek machines with no obvious weapons. However they were actually far more dangerous than before, not less. Hidden under their smooth skin was a powerful shield generator capable of protecting both the robot and one person. Lethal weaponry emerged from their sleek bodies at a moment’s notice. They were fast and agile and, as they were controlled through the ship, unusually flexible in what they could do. Despite appearing to be unarmed they carried with them a sense of danger far beyond their previous incarnation.
“They scare the pants off me,” Elizabeth said. “I think we need something more than them though. Body armour for a start, a lot of it. When we take on the station we’re gonna need help from the first batch of prisoners to get the others out. They’ll know the layout, know where to look. We can’t send them back in without protection. We’ll need basic medical packs, too, to deal with any wounded in the complex and the less badly injured once we get them clear.”
“And guns? Do we arm the prisoners?” asked Jess.
“Definitely not! We want an evacuation, not a battle. Give them guns and some of them will go looking for revenge. We need the guards to feel safe too, at least safe from the prisoners. If they start getting shot at it’ll be a bloodbath.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“Don’t be daft. How could you know? This is what I’m here for, planning the stuff you don’t know, can’t know. We will need to buy guns actually, the only place to get this stuff is from an arms dealer. They’ll get suspicious if we just buy armour and medkits, and the one thing they’re happier to sell than arms is information.”
“Makes sense,” said Sal. “We need to be careful, though. We can’t have a repeat of the trouble getting the robots.”
“No, but it’s different this time. We’ll take Robby Robot and his pal over there along. Those shields can protect us from a lot of damage, get us well clear of trouble. We’ll have the equipment loaded into a sealed off section of the ship, use the sensors to scan it and one of the robots to check through it all.”
“Only two of us can go, then,” Ali said. “Which two?”
“Definitely me,” replied Elizabeth. “None of you could carry it off. And I think Jess. He can be my son, though it pains me to say I’m that old. Out on his first business trip with me, learning the ropes. That way they won’t be suspicious if he makes any mistakes.”
“Are you sure? What if something happens?”
“I’ll be fine,” Jess said. “The robots can shield us long enough to get clear, and you two can have plenty of combat drones nearby. I’m pretty sure the ship can make some that are really small too, small enough to fit a couple into each robots’ bodywork. That’ll give a really nasty surprise if anyone tries any dirty tricks.”
Ali and Sal asked more questions before agreeing with the plan, relieved that they would have a direct influence on keeping Jess and Elizabeth safe if things went wrong.
Jess had another piece of news. The remodelling of the ship was advancing well and crew quarters had been completed. They now each had a reasonably sized bedroom complete with an en-suite. The big news, though, was that each included a deep bath, something Ali had talked about wistfully a couple of days before. The news was met with smiles all round.
* * *
Later, Jess and Ali sat together on a sofa talking, Ali snuggled against him. Sal was in the flight deck supervising the mining and Elizabeth had gone to her cabin to soak in the bath.
Their conversation reached a pause and Ali pulled back a little, studying his face.
“You know, the idea of a bath sounds heavenly. I think I might go have a soak too.”
Jess gulped as an image of Ali lying naked in a hot bath came to him. Quickly pushing the image away he searched for something to say.
“I’ve never had a bath. Well, not a proper one. We were sometimes forced into a freezing cold pool of water if there was one handy, or we got hosed down with cold water if we were getting too smelly and dirty for the guards to put up with. Never a warm bath, though.”
“Really? You must try it sometime. There’s only one problem I find.” She spoke tentatively, chewing her bottom lip.
“What?” asked Jess. “Did I mess up the design?”
“No, no. It’s just… well… I can never seem to reach my back to wash it. Would you mind helping me?”
Jess’s jaw dropped, his heart hammered and his breathing was ragged. She laughed at his reaction.
“Umm… yes, of course.”
He was grinning madly now, but so was she. He felt a little confidence return.
“You might have to teach me how, though,” he said.
“I’m sure I can do that. I’ll wash your back first, if you like.”
Unable to contain himself, Jess pulled Ali to him and kissed her, a kiss she returned hungrily. Moments later they were running down the corridor towards her cabin, hand in hand. Jess already had the bath filling with hot, soapy water and it was full by the time they reached it.
Jess paused by the bath, uncertain whether to start undressing. For a moment Ali looked awkward too, then with a sparkle in her eye she shoved him into the large bath, clothes and all. Laughing, she jumped in after him.
Jess’s first experience of a bath was one he thoroughly enjoyed, even more so once they had stripped off their soaking clothes. As the night wore on he had several other new experiences, ones he enjoyed even more. Finally, a long time after entering Ali’s cabin, the two of them lay curled up together in her bed basking in each other’s company. As sleep washed over him Jess was sure he’d have no nightmares that night.
Chapter 24
Jess opened his eyes to find Ali staring at him from a few inches away. He grinned as memories from the night before washed over him, a grin that soon spread to her face.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning,” she replied, kissing him quickly. “You look younger when you sleep, you know. Less worried.”
“Have you been watching me long?”
“Only a few minutes. I was thinking, worrying really, about you and Elizabeth going to the arms dealer. It makes sense but… I don’t know… it’s just…”
“You don’t trust her?”
“Do you?”
Jess shrugged.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just being too cautious because of Matt, but I don’t think we know her well enough to trust her fully. I want to trust her, but something keeps nagging at me.”
“I feel the same. This trip to the arms dealer could be a perfect time to betray us. You’ll have the robots for protection, and the drones Sal and I will control, but what if there’s an easy way to neutralise them or their weapons? She could be leading you straight into a trap. I don’t like the way
she suddenly had this idea, suddenly said we needed armour and the rest.”
“I know, but you, Sal and I would never think of the things she has. The armour and field medkits make good sense.”
“You need bait in a trap, you know.”
“Yeah, I know, but I have an ace up my sleeve, an escape route. You remember how I got out of Stone Snake mining complex?”
“How could I forget? Entering jump space without even a spacesuit! It was madness. You’re not going to try that again, are you? You said it nearly killed you, that you got really lucky.”
“It was, but this time it would be different. The field from the robot will protect me and I can take it and me into jump space. Because I can survive there a bit longer the timing of the ship’s jump isn’t so critical. The chances of success will be higher.”
“And if they have found a way to neutralise the robot or its protective shield? What then?”
“Then we use the ship to start peeling the place apart till I get free. They’ll get the message eventually.”
“Damn, I hate waiting around. I thought now I could control the robots and the drones that was behind me. Instead I’m going to be waiting to see if it’s a trap and, if it is, whether I’ll be able to save you.”
“I think it goes with the territory. Even with control of the Wanderer I still seem to spend most of my time waiting and worrying. Especially about you.”
She stared into his eyes for a few seconds, then laid her head on his chest. He held her close, finding comfort in the feeling. Soon the feel of her body against his led to much more intense thoughts and feelings and they were both swept up in their passion. A long time passed before they emerged from the cabin for breakfast.
They found Sal and Elizabeth sitting at the table eating. Both looked up, took one look at Jess and Ali holding hands and immediately turned away trying to hide huge grins. Fighting the urge to turn and run Jess walked to the food dispenser with Ali, then sat at the table, Ali still beside him. Both he and Ali kept their eyes on their food, stealing occasional glances at each other.
Wanderer's Odyssey - Books 1 to 3: The Epic Space Opera Series Begins Page 20