by L A Warren
“I didn’t know he had done that to her,” Elise whispered.
She and Paula shared Master Tender Marcus as their assigned Tender. They had both endured much beneath his braklav and tutelage. Paula kept to herself. Always had. Despite that, Elise felt a special kinship with Paula, a shared misery.
Alice gave Elise a hug. “You were occupied with your Tender Training. But High Tender vlor’Vardhal made time for Paula between your additional sessions.”
Chandra shivered. “Not just that, but he did it in the classroom and we all had to watch. I didn’t understand why at the time.”
Aomi coughed. A look of disgust crossed her porcelain features. “I believe Lord vlor’Delatris picked up on Paula’s guilt and teased the rest out. It’s an empathic connection, not telepathic. As long as we don’t feel guilty, or give them any reason to be suspicious, they shouldn’t pick up on it. They might get a sense of a buzzing or dissonance, but that’s easily explained by being prisoners of aliens. We all feel that, and we’re a little gun shy, so to speak, after that mass Tender Training. After the first of us completes the Binding Rite, that will be destroyed. I think. I’m still not clear on what the Binding does.”
Chandra hung her head. She spoke softly. “So, what are we doing here? If the Binding Rite is coming at us, aren’t we doomed? Isn’t this all going to come crashing down around our heads?”
Elise looked up, realizing her mind had drifted. She’d been thinking about her upcoming race. She was slated to go against Malikai again. Regardless of the race’s outcome, his point tally already earned him a spot in the semi-finals. Elise had to beat him, not tie with him, if she were to secure a spot for herself in the semi-finals. How was she going to do that?
Chandra’s despair pulled at her and forced her back into the conversation. She needed to give them hope, even when she had very little to offer.
“It depends on how fast I figure it all out.” She reached for Chandra’s hand. “I’ve found a critical flaw in the linking project, but I haven’t figured out how to break the news to Gregor or High Tender Marcus. I’m not supposed to know about this lobotomy job they have planned with the Binding Rite.”
Alice regarded her with interest. “What do you mean?”
“Linking isn’t going to work. At least not with Vendel WOR who are Bound.” She scratched her head. “It’s my belief the Binding Rite makes linking impossible. Binding links a WOR to her master’s will. I can’t link her to another WOR if she’s already linked to a lord. I would have to remove the Binding for it to work and I’m pretty sure that would kill a WOR.”
She glanced at Aomi. “If you have the time, I need you to take a look at it, the sooner the better.”
Aomi nodded. “Sure, just give me direction.”
“I left notes on my gel-flimsy. I have to leave soon, but most of it is there.”
“I’ll look at it tonight.”
Elise turned her attention to Chandra. “If I can get them to believe me, then I might be able to delay Binding for us all. Gregor will be pissed. He can’t wait. Although,” she said with sudden realization, “he’s been strangely quiet about it lately.”
She sighed and glanced at the clock. It was almost time to leave.
“We should be at Malbra before the end of the cycle. Jeena told me the finals will be run in Malbran local space, rather than WOR-space. She’s located a WOR-space capable freighter large enough to hold all of us. She was a little suspicious why I wanted such a large ship. I blabbered something about asteroid mining as a future career. We still need to figure out the WOR-drive. A few months—I mean sun cycles—later, the S’Lorek should be jumping down our throats. Maybe it’ll kill us all before the Vendel Bind us.”
“Elise! That’s a horrible thing to say,” Alice said. “We’ll find a way out of this. Paula has an idea about the Binding Rite. She might be better to look at it with Aomi.”
“Do you trust Paula enough to rope her into this?”
“She’s different now. Paula’s with us. You’re not alone anymore. We’re all pitching in.”
Chandra added, “Yeah, the stuff you’re coming back with from the Tank is amazing. No matter what we do, and despite your comments about the S’Lorek killing us, we have to figure out how WOR-space and the WOR-drive work. WOR-space navigation and propulsion is being worked on as well. We’re all behind you. Just don’t get caught! We need that ship.”
Elise’s heart swelled. She really wasn’t fighting alone anymore. The Fifth Deck had pulled together. Alice was the real inspiration. Her dogged determination to ‘stick it to the bastards’ brought everyone together. Elise may be their champion, but Alice had become their leader. Alice implemented and organized. Aomi and Chandra supported and solved problems. Elise just furnished the required tools.
“All right. I’m tired. I feel like I’m losing the race. Gregor is breathing down my neck, and the High Council will release his oath. I have to get it together. Or find a way to survive Binding and not give all of you away. I have to win the jump-jet circuit so I can purchase a freighter large enough for us all, and I can’t fail at any step. I haven’t even thought about the S’Lorek.”
Alice pulled Elise to her feet and into a hug. “You can do this. You’ve already done so much. We have faith in you. You’re our hero.”
“When does the Hero get to rest?”
Chandra and Aomi joined the group hug.
“Good luck out there,” Chandra said.
“Kick this Malikai’s ass,” Aomi said.
“Have you ever met him in person?” Alice asked.
“Just once.”
“Is he cute?” Chandra winked.
“Don’t know. He was in a flightsuit with the helmet on,” Elise said.
After a few goodbyes and another round of hugs, she disappeared down the bio-cart tunnel. They wished her luck. She would need it. Malikai posed a serious threat to her jump-jet dreams.
Chapter Thirty-One
Gambit, Day 276
Elise hovered outside the start of the jump-jet ring course. Images of WOR-skill and linking diagrams invaded her thoughts. A key piece of the puzzle eluded her, and she couldn’t fit everything together without that piece. It annoyed her. The Bar and Rod skills had resolved their inconsistencies under her attention in the tank. The remainder of the Wheel skills started to fall into place, but her task was far from finished.
Malikai was late. That annoyed her too.
She checked the time again.
The gray WOR-space bubble comforted her senses. It felt like a warm woolen blanket sheltering her from the cold. Outside the blanket, the real world lurked. The jump-jet finals would be fought in real space. Jeena had been practicing with her in simulations. The silver rings were a little easier to pick out in normal space, but flying the course was subtly different.
In real space, the High Council would meet and, if she didn’t figure out some solution, she would lose her mind and the hopes of hundreds. The S’Lorek loomed as a very real threat. Chandra had been right, the S’Lorek had to be dealt with one way or another. If Elise couldn’t link the Vendel WOR, and she didn’t think it would be possible, that left only the Earth WOR to meet that threat. They still had to live in this galaxy, either hidden from the Vendel or as slaves to the Vendel.
Her head hurt from the pressure. So much depended on her.
Communication static hissed over the audio channel.
“Are you ready, Chickadee.” Malikai slurred her name. “This is purely academic for me.”
“Yes, Malikai, we’ve all looked at the stats.” Elise didn’t have the patience for Malikai’s taunts. “How do you think you’re going to stack up against your competition? Three of the other four finalists are women. If I beat you, that’ll make four. Just two men in the top six. What has the world come to?”
He paused before responding. When he finally did, his tone was dry. “As long as they earned their positions fairly, the worlds will handle it. I’ve flown against them all
before, but they don’t really pose much of a threat.”
“You’re a cocky bastard, Malikai. There’s no reason to be so ugly. We all fly the same ships and we all train the same way.”
“Of course we do,” he said with a slur. “And every year, we see novices beat out the competition and break into the semi-finals. Are we training the same way? Is that what you’re saying…novice?”
“You have a lot to learn about sportsmanship. Do you forget who trained me? I’ve earned my place.”
“I expect a clean race, Chickadee. A fair race.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Jeena had warned her about this pilot, but she hadn’t realized how irritating he could be.
He spoke in a low ominous tone. “Let’s just say, I plan on watching very closely.”
A light blinked on her display panel, signaling the course was ready.
“You do that,” she said with annoyance. “Fox or Rabbit?”
“Lady’s choice,” he replied.
“I’ll take Fox.”
“Care to make a wager?” Malikai accepted Rabbit and her display blinked with his confirmation.
“With you? Never,” she hissed. “Just fly your jump-jet. When I come screaming down your ass, don’t be surprised.”
He chuckled. “Such words from a lady.”
“I’m no lady, Malikai.”
“Right, and I’m no lord. See you at the finish, Fox.” The timer ticked down and Malikai launched out of the starting box. The clock counted down his thirty-second lead.
Cheating? How the hell could anyone cheat? All of her races had been as clean as they came. She would show this bastard. The moment his count ended, her console blinked green. She fired her thrusters. Silver rings disappeared behind her jump-jet. Malikai secured a four-ring lead, impressive, but she was determined.
He didn’t even bother to dodge as she narrowed her lead down to a single ring.
“Rabbit turns Fox in five, Chickadee,” he called over the communications channel. “Get ready.”
Elise ignored him.
Malikai dove through the twenty-first ring as she exited the twentieth. She twisted up in a spiraling right-hand arc to set up for the next ring. His jump-jet screamed forward. Malikai pushed for the twenty-fifth ring when he should have been watching Fox. Elise nailed him with her lasers as he dipped below the twenty-third ring.
Hers hit before he passed the twenty-fifth ring, earning her two points.
Elise pulled up and raced back around the torus to the start of the jump-jet circuit. “What was that you were saying? I couldn’t hear…too much static.”
A string of curses was his only reply.
Malikai took Fox for the second race. Elise raced through the rings and established a decent three-ring lead. Malikai came hot on her heels.
She watched him closely. Several shots narrowly missed her ship. None scored. Elise pulled through the twenty-fifth ring and pressed on the thrusters with Malikai less than a ring behind. By the time the fiftieth ring loomed into view, she had increased her lead by two full rings. Elise raced for the finish line.
Rabbit finished first, which earned her two more points.
The point tally stood at four to zero. With only one race left, there was no way for Malikai to win. She chuckled. Her place in the semi-finals had been secured.
Her communications channel hissed to life.
“Seems you’ve improved.”
“I’ll see you in the semi-finals. Thanks for the race.”
“We still have one more heat to go,” he said.
Elise grew still. “The race is over. I’ve won.”
“This has nothing do with winning. I take Rabbit in the last round.”
“What’s the point then?”
“I’ll not have you take a four-point lead. Set up for the last race.”
“No,” she said.
“It’s my prerogative. Set up!”
“Kiss my ass, Malikai. You want it, fine. Rabbit takes Fox in the last round.” That would give him three points. “You still lose three to four. I’m not wasting my time just to soothe your ego. Goodbye.”
Elise accelerated, leaving another string of curses in her wake.
Jeena and Dove greeted her with ecstatic hugs. Larkin was there. His springy curls bounced over his red-rimmed eyes. His entire family had perished on Dunlaap. They had been water vapor farmers, very poor. He’d been the first in his line to go off-world. All their hopes and dreams had been placed on his shoulders. Now he carried their legacy.
Larkin gathered her in a hug and planted a kiss on her lips. He let it linger just a little too long. She hugged him back, not wanting him to feel her withdrawal.
She made quick excuses and ran off the flight deck. The last person she wanted to see was Malikai. His ship hovered above the jump-jet hangar, waiting for the crane to lower his ship to the deck.
The next day, Elise climbed out of the am-net Tank. Carek followed. It was lunchtime.
“I need other WOR, Carek. I’m close but I need to try out a few things.”
She had a headache and her teeth buzzed in their sockets.
“I spoke with Lord vlor’Vardhal. He’s agreed to let the am-net WOR participate.”
She shook her head. “They’re not strong enough. I need Fifth Rank WOR.” She walked up the ramp and the purple soup drained down the tiny holes in the deck. Carek tossed her a towel.
“We don’t have any of those.” Gregor’s deep voice made her jump.
She stepped to the edge of the platform and stared down at her master.
“Gregor! I wasn’t expecting you.” She replayed her conversation with Carek, wondering if she’d said anything she shouldn’t. She didn’t think she’d given anything away.
Gregor reached up and gestured for her to come down. She jumped down into his embrace.
“It’s nice to see you, Gregor.” Her heart raced.
Gregor’s moods had been off lately. Darkness flickered in his steel eyes and the wavy lines of the tattoo over his brow danced.
He removed the hood from her head. “Lord vlor’Vardhal tells me he is pleased with your progress.”
Elise said nothing.
Carek jumped off the platform. “Sire, it’s an honor. Would you like to inspect our progress? She’s been very helpful.”
Gregor’s eyes flicked from Carek to Elise and back again. “I expect my s’vlor to be helpful.”
Carek paused but recovered quickly. “Sire, we were taking a break for lunch. Do you need the Lady s’Lissa?”
Gregor wrapped an arm possessively around Elise. “I had a free moment and thought to share a meal with my s’vlor.”
Carek came to attention. “Of course, Sire. I will leave you.” He gave a brief bow and inclined his head toward Elise.
Gregor allowed Carek to take three steps before speaking. “Mr. Tusel, I hadn’t planned on interrupting your work. I had thought to eat here in the Conclave. Would you please join us? You can tell me what the two of you have accomplished over the past several cycles.”
“Yes, Sire,” Carek said, obviously overwhelmed. “We only have common eating facilities, I’m afraid, within the Conclave proper. We lack private rooms.”
Gregor waved dismissively in the air. “Don’t mind that. I’ve eaten in the common rooms before.”
“Yes, Sire.” He looked at his immersion suit. “Will the Lady s’Lissa be returning to the tank after her meal? If not, we can stop by the changing rooms.”
Gregor squeezed Elise. “Yes, the High Tender has set her schedule. I’m just here to steal a few moments.”
“Of course.” Carek headed toward the dining facilities.
Gregor held her back for a moment. “Tell me, opés, who gave you permission to use that man’s personal name?”
Elise froze. “I…”
“You’ll refer to him properly from now on. Tonight, after your dinner, report to the High Tender for correction. Is this understood?”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Yes, Gregor. Forgive me, I…”
“Silence. I’ll speak to Lord vlor’Vardhal.”
“Yes, Gregor.” Elise swallowed the bile rising in her throat. Shriek stretched and began to prepare. It had been a long time since she had come out to play.
Elise sat in silence during the meal while Carek explained their progress with the linking project.
Gregor placed a hand on Elise’s leg. “I understand you need WOR.”
“Yes, Sire,” Carek said.
“Hasn’t Lord vlor’Vardhal given you access to the WOR in the am-net for your work.”
“Yes, Sire, but Lady s’Lissa feels they are too weak.”
“Is this true, opés?”
“Yes, Gregor. I need stronger WOR.”
“We don’t have trained WOR on the Gambit higher than First Rank.”
“You have ninety Fifth Rank WOR sitting idle on the Fifth Deck,” she countered.
“All untrained.”
“All in the process of becoming trained.” She lowered her eyes and stared at her plate.
Gregor squeezed her thigh.
She suppressed a shudder.
Carek sat on the opposite side of the table, oblivious to Gregor’s actions under the tabletop.
She tried not to pull away, but it was difficult.
Gregor smirked and brushed the hair away from her neck with his free hand. “How would having WOR help?” His eyebrow lifted in question.
“Sire, Lady s’Lissa feels she needs to run a few tests. The linking project is far from complete, but there are a few theories we’re working on which would be nice to try out. They could provide valuable information.”
“I don’t know if the High Tenders would be pleased to know their charges are floating about in the am-net Tank unsupervised.”
Gregor hadn’t dismissed the idea. She was pleased he was thinking about it.
“Gregor, I know it seems like an odd request, but having a few of the Earth WOR will help. I’d like to try out a few ideas. They may even be able to see something I haven’t seen. Is there any way you can talk to High Tender Marcus? Please?”