by Smith, T. L.
I tried not to notice his frown as I dressed. This uniform wasn’t what he was used to, nor the rank stitched onto my collar. The fact the uniforms were here waiting for me cemented the reality I’d led a double life.
I felt a twinge and winced, enough that he saw. He was at my shoulders, his hands gripping them as I rubbed my temple. “I thought you said you’re not sick.”
“I’m not.” I let go of my face. “You’re not the only one who has to get used to me. Right now I’m carrying around both my personalities. Until they merge back together, they’re running into each other, and not too politely. They both want to be in charge.” I turned to look him directly in the eyes, then stretched up to kiss him.
I half expected him to pull away, or at least ask which of us was present, but he kissed me back. After a few seconds the twinges dissolved.
Just about when it seemed this might go further, a beeping of the room’s comm system interrupted us. Reluctantly I pulled my lips away from his. “Yes, this is… Kazan.”
“Colonel, just a reminder the mission briefing will be…”
“Yes, I’ll… we’ll be there. Tell Col. Schaeffer that Maj. Battista will be attending, after we check on our other guest.” There was no response. “Is there a problem, Ensign?”
“No, ma’am. I will relay the information.” The line closed.
Remy was frowning again, not a look I liked to see. “Let’s find Lizzy. Unfortunately we’re gonna get Pissy Lizzy.”
“Oh fun, like I don’t have enough of your personalities to deal with.” He smiled tensely. “I guess if I’m to be trapped with both of you, for God knows how long, I better get used to it.”
Outside in the corridor a soldier stood at attention. “Take me to see Ms. Salazar.” I got a nod and the soldier started aft.
Remy walked beside me, but his fingers brushed the walls. One eyebrow twitched. “What class of ship is this? I don’t recognize the materials.” As an engineer, he knew all the ships in the fleet, and this wasn’t one of them.
“It’s a… prototype.” While the corridor was fairly standard, the metal wasn’t, but I was used to its odd shimmer. “You’ll get a full tour after we find Lizzy.”
When the soldier stopped unexpectedly beside a cabin door, heat surged up inside me. I tapped at my comm. “Schaeffer, come in.”
He answered almost immediately.
“Schaef, you son-of-a-bitch. I’m about to let this woman out and I’m gonna sic her on you. You better have a proper room ready before we get there.”
I cut the link before he could respond and waved my hand over the access panel. The door slid silently open. If not for the change in lighting, Lizzy might not have noticed.
She sat cross-legged on a narrow bunk, reading. “About fucking time.” She uncurled her legs and tossed a book onto the bunk as she stood. “How you feeling?” She gave me a hug.
“They got my headaches straightened out. I’m sorry you got sucked into this, and that they were so inhospitable. I’m fixing that right now.”
“Whatever ‘this’ is. I don’t care, as long as you’re all right.” Lizzy hugged me again, sighed in relief, then suddenly stiffened up. “Now, seriously. Has he been standing outside my room all this time?”
She let go, giving the soldier in the corridor an obvious up and down once-over. “Come here, Big Boy. I gotta thing for a man in uniform, especially getting him out of it.”
The soldier turned a little pink in the cheeks and held his ground, until she took a couple swaying steps his direction, licking her lips wickedly. He took a step backwards, his eyes jerked in my direction. “Ma’am?”
I grabbed Lizzy by the back of her shirt, bra strap and all. “Rein it in girl.” I gave her a pull backwards. “I already promised to turn you loose on the guy who put you in here.”
“Ahhh, come on! I’ve been pinned up in here for days.” She pawed a hand at the soldier. “Twenty minutes.” Lizzy gave the soldier a lip-lick, achieving a red-hot glow over his whole face
I resisted laughing as I dragged her out of the cell, keeping myself between her and her victim. “Okay, ten minutes.” She blew him a kiss as I pulled her down the corridor. “Come find me later, Sweetie.”
I looked back at the traumatized soldier. “I’ll take her from here. Dismissed.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.”
Remy fell in behind us, snickering behind tight lips. When Lizzy got riled up, her wicked sense of humor kicked in. She became a little fireball, embarrassing innocent victims or slicing apart the egos of sleaze-balls. I was looking forward to what she’d do to Schaeffer.
At the approach of more soldiers, I jerked Lizzy back before she got a foothold. “Cool your jets. These boys have a job to do.”
“Oh… and Mr. Jail Warden doesn’t?” She fell back into stride.
I gave her a shrug. “Sometimes he needs to be reminded to treat guests better. I’m sure you can give him an etiquette lesson much more effectively than I can.”
“Oh, goody!” Her low laugh was genuinely evil, proving Lizzy still had her priorities in order. First, good sex. Second, tormenting men. Third, writing. Schaeffer had no idea how vicious Lizzy could be accomplishing her second task in life.
Not trying to pounce on the passing soldiers, she focused on me again. “So, what’s with the weird new uniform, and this?” Lizzy flipped my collar tabs. “You’re suddenly a colonel? Who are these guys and why am I here?”
She touched her own neck. “They shot me up with drugs. I didn’t feel a thing until I woke up. It was like… out of one of those stupid spy movies.”
“No so stupid.” Remy edged in, the corridors wide enough for all three of us. “Seems our dear Shara isn’t who she wanted us to think. She had a lot of secrets and they were unraveling downside.”
“What? She really is a spy?” Lizzy grinned and crooned. “Do-do do-do, do-do do-do.”
Remy snickered again and I looked up at him. A memory flashed back for me. “They didn’t drug you. What did Schaeffer say to get you to come along?”
There was his scowl. “Let’s just say mutual threats were exchanged. He notified Dr. Parsons you’d been contaminated by some toxin, ran bogus tests on her and her staff, then transferred the three of us out to a ‘prepared facility’ for treatment.”
He did well not telling Lizzy he’d been afforded the comfort of my quarters, while she got the brig. I didn’t say anything as Remy further explained my subterfuge all these years.
Lizzy took it a lot more easily than Remy, practically shrugging it off. “Makes sense. I noticed something different after you were married, but told myself that was the reason. I mean, no matter how long you live together, everything changes with the rings.” She jabbed my ribs. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, secrets like this aren’t allowed in marriage.”
“They’re not allowed between best-friend-sisters either.” Remy scowled.
“Hah! Please!” Lizzy rolled her head back at Remy. “We have the biggest secrets, that aren’t secrets, we just never talk about them.”
She saw the confused look on his face. “I knew Shara would marry you before she did. With other boyfriends I knew which were good in…” She dodged my elbow. “…kissing.”
She said it with a wink even Remy couldn’t misinterpret. “She never talked about you, so you were her Prince Charming.”
She dodged my hand, laughing as she bounced off the wall and slipped behind Remy for protection. “Figured you had to be a real toe-curler to make her change so much in just one year.”
Remy blushed, but enjoyed her ribbing at my expense. “Chill it, Sis, or I’ll put you back in isolation.” The open corridors were too public for me.
“To hell with that! I didn’t ask to come on this ride. Oh yummm, happy hour.” Lizzy darted towards two approaching soldiers.
She slid to a stop between them, pulled her shoulders back and popped her breasts out. “My, my, my, all the pretty boys. You two want to come back to my place?” She shi
mmied for them, grinning.
I wanted to crawl under the decking. “Remy, please.”
He laughed as he sprinted up and pulled Lizzy off the two men. He covered her mouth when she started to protest. Just then the doors beside us opened and over his hand I saw Lizzy’s eyes widen.
CHAPTER SIX
Schaeffer stepped out into the corridor. “What the hell is going on out here?” His eyes fell on Remy, then down at Lizzy hanging from his arm.
“YEOW!” Remy dropped all five-foot-two of her and she landed like a cat, on her feet and prowling her next bird. Remy clutched his hand. “She bit me!”
If she had a tail, it would be flicking. I stepped up beside her. “Col. Richard Schaeffer, meet my friend, Lizzy Salazar.”
“Elizabeth, to you.”
Schaeffer started to give her a bow, but only managed to line himself up for the full-force flat of her hand against his cheek.
I had to give him points for not flinching. He simply stepped aside and allowed her entry into the conference room. “I apologize, Ms. Salazar, for your unsatisfactory accommodations. The situation has been corrected.”
He gave me a glare as I followed her in. I pointed her to a chair, Remy to another as I walked around the table set for two. The ensigns assigned to the briefing were already breaking out more place settings.
Schaeffer waited until they were finished before joining us, taking the seat opposite me. “I hadn’t planned on…entertaining.”
“Then, Dick, you should have left me to my reunion, or at least been nicer.” Lizzy snipped at him.
Schaeffer shifted his glare to her. “Would you have preferred not knowing if you’d ever see your friend alive again?”
She met him glare for glare, hers still the stalking feline. “No, Dick, but you would have found me cooperative to almost anything, if you’d asked.”
Did the fingerprints on his cheek just go a shade darker? I tried not to stare as they silently threw death-rays at each other. Fortunately the ensigns arrived with the first course. Schaeffer broke off the show-down. “Please proceed with serving. Our guests no doubt would appreciate a meal before returning to their quarters.”
Food! I dug into my first meal in days. Apparently Lizzy felt the same way, quelling her need for vengeance for real food.
I felt much better and ready to talk business as the last dishes were cleared. I looked to Remy, then Lizzy. “I really do need to find out why I’m here. I promise, as soon as we’re done here, I’ll explain about all this, about me.”
“Sure! We’ll leave you and Dick to talk.” Lizzy agreed, not taking any additional shots at Schaeffer. Deep down that had me worried. She was more dangerous when she was quiet.
Schaeffer watched Lizzy walk away from the table, or rather sashay. She always knew when a man was looking, especially one in her cross-hairs. He looked away as she glanced over her shoulder.
She caught him anyway and winked at me. Maybe her focused on tormenting him was a good thing. The crew would be relatively safe.
Relatively. “Remy, keep an eye on Lizzy? You’re free to take a look around before going back to our room.”
“Sure…” Remy said it with some hesitancy, but didn’t argue about leaving. Throughout the meal he’d been staring around the room, at the shimmering walls. He was more than happy to wander around the ship while I suffered a meeting.
At least he’d be in a good mood later. That thought got my toes curling. I watched him leave.
“Ah…hemm!” Schaeffer cleared his throat, bringing my imagination back to the present. “Now that we’ve dispensed with my punishment, can we get on with it?”
“Schaef, honey, don’t think the punishment’s over.” I folded my hands before me. “But let’s talk mission. You said the LR were behaving oddly? Pissed I left? Sounds sentient to me.”
“Okay, we’ve covered the possibility I might be wrong, but they’re still not rocket scientists. Though not dumb as rocks, or your dog.” He shook his head. “Zebra? Really? All this over a dog.”
“I was a kid. To me he was as big as a horse and had black stripes, like a zebra. They do too, hence the association. Can we move on?”
“Well, reports have it that once the LR realized you really were gone, they became agitated, even aggressive. They won’t have anything to do with the team and charge at them whenever they get too far from the camp.” He reached out to the hologram projector in the center of the table.
A view of LR-442 popped up, a totally virgin wilderness. The hologram didn’t do it justice. He tapped the audio and the room filled with a strange howling. He let it run for a few more seconds, before shutting it down.
“What is that?”
“Your team thinks they’re mourning.” Now it was Schaeffer’s turn to be smug. “We were almost restocked when the reports came in. With this behavior the mission’s at a stand-still. Since you’re the only person they’ve responded to, you’re going back, indefinitely.”
A dozen responses popped in my head, but nothing came out of my mouth. My Kazan-side focused on the LR and I couldn’t wait to get back. My Batista-side paralyzed me. Remy. I couldn’t leave him again, not for that long, not anymore. We had plans. A family…
Wait! That life was a lie. Half our lives together was a lie. He thought I was off looking for DNA mutations. The other half of our lives, I was his wife. I loved him. I couldn’t keep lying to him. I couldn’t throw it away, not for anything.
I could feel them both in my head, starting to mesh, then breaking apart, like now. I rubbed my forehead as the coin spun. It landed, but I refused to see which side was up. I made a promise.
“No!” I pushed away from the table. “I split myself for ten years. It isn’t fair to Remy, or me. We want a real life. I won’t put it off ‘indefinitely’, not for anything. I’ll resign first.”
“Can’t do that till we get back.” Schaeffer put on that smug smirk. “We’ll be there in a couple days. I can’t imagine your guests would appreciate coming this far, only to be confined to the ship because you quit.”
“I can imagine how pissed they’ll be to see a new world, only to have you wipe out their memories of it.”
Still the smirk. “So, what if there’s no conditioning for them or you?” When I didn’t answer it was his turn to push away from the table. “You’ve got three days to be rested and ready.”
He left, but I remained.
I needed to think, without everyone asking questions and looking at me like I was an alien life form. I couldn’t answer their demands if I barely knew who I was right now.
I recalled all the years I’d been out here alone, secretly. Our whole Corps, a secret. Almost fifteen years of secrets. I laid my head on the table, letting memories flood over me of all the missions and all the homecomings, Kazan and Batista.
My image marker, the coin, was tumbling wildly as I tried to shove my two lives into one. Which one was I going to be, or would I turn into someone completely different?
I got up from the table, nervous with that idea, all my memories getting jumbled together. They’d never be able to sort them out again. Was that why I wasn’t a candidate anymore? Would they really leave my memories intact this time? Or Remy and Lizzy’s? I couldn’t be sure, but I had to pass the offer on, give them a choice.
First I had to find them.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The task of finding my friend and husband was simpler than I thought. I only had to follow the shell-shocked backward glances of soldiers I passed. Lizzy had that effect when running rampant. I passed a young captain, her cheeks still blushed.
“Our guests?” I queried to the forward day room.
“Yes, ma’am, and you’d better hurry.” She went on, laughing.
I found Lizzy propped up on the bar. Not at the bar. On the bar, between two soldiers. She saw me and winked, letting her hand fall upon one of the soldier’s buzz cut. She wriggled her fingers. “Ummm, velvety. I could be tempted to run more than my fingers ove
r this.” She scruffled the other soldier’s head too, purring. “I’m thinking stereo.”
“Ms. Salazar! If you would join me, I’ll give you a tour.” Her two somewhat willing victims turned to see me and jumped to attention.
“I’m doing fine on my own. If I get lost, I’m sure someone will be happy to escort me back to my room.”
I gave her the look I’d learned from her mother.
She rolled her eyes. “Ooookay.” She dropped her hands to the men’s shoulders and launched herself off the bar. She bounced lightly. “I looovvve this lower gravity thing.” She continued little bouncy steps towards me, but not for my benefit. “I’ll see you later, boys.”
Remy joined me from where he’d been sitting in the corner. “I thought you were watching her.” I herded them both out of the day room.
“I was.” He grinned.
“And I was watching him too.” Lizzy chirped.
They both sounded like kids, backing each other up. “Fine. I’ll define ‘watch’ later. Right now I need to get you up to speed with what’s going on. We’ll start on the bridge.”
I led the way, speaking almost non-stop, even when we reached the bridge. They stared in total shock at the star field, reduced to a blur by FTL. We had real FTL, though 99.99 percent of Earth had no idea.
I started with the abridged version of history. “As you know, after NASA there was the PSTI. The Private Space Travel Industry led the next charge into space exploration. However, thanks to the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty, ownership of the moon and planets in our solar system couldn’t go private.”
“Yeah. Space wasn’t going to be a repeat of the wild-west days with land grabs and range wars running rampant.” Remy chimed in. “The Earth’s governments created the U.N. Space Alliance.”
“And with PSTI technologies, Peary Moon Base was founded. Resources mined from the moon funded new space stations and research into colonization of Mars, Venus, and various moons. However, it was always dreamed of going further.”
Remy finally took his eyes off the stars to look around the bridge. “And we have? How? Why don’t I… why doesn’t anyone know about this?” He turned back to me, looking me up and down, at the different uniform. “Are you still Alliance?”