by Dixon, Ruby
"So we're your guests," Jade continues. "Until when? And where are you going to take us, if not to Earth? Another space station where we'll be sold off once more?"
"Rather just go back to OUR ship and take our chances," Ruth adds, shooting an angry look my way, as if I'm the one to blame.
"You can't do that," Mathiras says. "Let's for a moment forget the one hundred and some odd slaves in stasis—"
Straik makes a strangled noise. Something tells me he's not about to forget.
"—you won't be safe there. You don't have the supplies, and your ship is heading toward an ice field in deep space. In another month or two, you could be lost forever. If you go into that field, you won't be coming out, and no one will be able to come after you."
"Provided it doesn't completely destroy your ship with debris," Kaspar adds helpfully.
"You say there's an ice field. How do we trust you?"
Mathiras gestures at the computer on the wall. "We can show you on the screens!"
"And how do we know it's not another trick? You're still not answering my question. If we leave our ship, where do we go that's safe?"
"There's a farm planet," I begin. "It's called Risda III, and it's friendly to humans."
"Why does that man have his head in his hands?" Helen asks, interrupting.
We all turn to look at Straik. Sure enough, he's shaking his head, his hands over his face. I try to bite back a smile. I can just imagine how he feels about that. The scandalous uncle his family has been trying so hard to make everyone forget will be front and center, and Straik will be tied to him if he dumps dozens of humans in his lap. This has to be his worst nightmare.
Which makes me kinda amused. Straik's decent enough—the way he treats the clones tells me that—but man, he does not have a sense of humor at all.
"A farm planet sounds like a load of bullshit," Ruth says. "How do we know the moment we agree to this you don't drive us straight to a brothel?"
Mathiras seems unbothered by her skepticism. "We're different than the others you've run across."
"You mean you're not pirates?" Jade asks.
"Well…no, we're pirates."
"But you're different," Jade says, her voice flat.
I turn toward her. I get fear. How long did it take before Zoey started to trust us? I know she's backed into a corner and she's trying to bargain for the best position for her friends and herself. But she has to trust us. If they don't come with us, it's a death sentence. "You can trust me. You know you can."
Her eyes soften as she looks at me, and I see the fear and hope in her gaze. She wants to trust. She does. Jade licks her lips, thinking, and then looks over at the girls across the table, and I realize she's not deciding for herself, but for all of them…and that's going to change her answer. "Look at it from our perspective," Jade says in a soft voice. "Ever since we woke up, we've been abused and enslaved and told that what we want doesn't matter. We've met round after round of pirates who all wanted the same thing. And now you show up—"
"Still pirates, I might add," Alice interjects.
"—and you say you're different," Jade continues. "But you used a stun gun on us—"
—after you attacked us first," Kaspar points out.
"—and then you cuffed us, separated us, interrogated us, but NOW we're supposed to trust you." Jade tilts her head, watching me. "How do we know that you're not going to just put us in chains and enslave us the moment we agree to head off with you guys? How do we know we're not condemning a hundred and thirty-two people to the same fate? Because right now, those people are safe in those pods. They're dreaming, and they're safe, and they're not aware that when they wake up, they're going to be slaves. But if I agree to go with you guys and you betray us, I'm fucking all of them over. Not just me, not just Alice or Ruth or Helen, but everyone."
No wonder she's so stressed. That's a lot of responsibility, and Jade's taken it all on her shoulders, I can tell.
It's a good thing she has someone like me. I'll make sure she never takes things too seriously. I'll make sure she smiles. And I can massage the stress out of her shoulders every night.
Kef me, I think I just gave myself a boner.
I shift in my seat, uncomfortable. Now's not the time. "So how do we get you to trust us? You either believe us or you don't. Whatever we show you, you'll just find an argument against it."
Jade looks over at the others, and no one speaks. She thinks for a minute and then turns back to me. "We're going back to our ship tonight, so we can talk in private. We'll let you know our decision in the morning."
"First of all, that is my family's ship," Straik says in a tired voice.
"Actually the laws of salvage mean it's theirs," Kaspar points out.
"And it's full of slaves," I add helpfully. "I definitely wouldn't keep bragging about the whole 'family' thing if I were you."
He ignores all of us. "Second of all, I don't trust you to go back to that ship and not try to leave."
Ruth just snorts as if he's being ridiculous (which he is). "Where exactly do you think we're going to go?"
"Sabotage, then."
"So send a bodyguard with us," Jade says quickly.
"You mean a hostage?" Lord Straik asks.
Jade's expression tightens. "He's only a hostage if someone's a hostile party."
Spending all night with Jade? In her natural environment? Sounds like a slice of “Yes” to me. Before another argument can break out, I gesture at myself. "I volunteer."
25
JADE
I should have known that Adiron would volunteer. He seems to be fascinated with me. He also seems to not be bothered by anything at all, so I guess he's a good choice. I'm just glad it's not Straik, though it might have been easier for me if it was one of the other two brothers. Adiron just…watches me all the time. And smiles. Like…he's having a blast just being around me.
I don't know what to make of it.
We wait near the ship-to-ship walkway as Adiron grabs a change of clothes. The other brothers don't seem concerned at all, which makes me think that they're exactly who they say they are—not slavers, just brothers looking for an easy score and found us instead. That they will absolutely take us someplace safe and not abuse us. Lord Straik, I'm not too sure about. He watches us with an expression that Alice sums up perfectly. "He looks like he just found out his fancy house has a roach infestation," she whispers to us.
She's right. And humans are the roaches. Straik's family ship IS infested with them.
Adiron finally returns, a bulging bag in his arms. "I'm ready."
Alice and I exchange a look. "You're not supposed to bring weapons," I point out. "This is you being a go-between and guest on our ship while we figure things out."
"It's a change of pants and some fruit," Adiron says, opening the plas-film bag to display its contents. "I knew Jade really liked it and it sounds like you guys are low on everything, so I thought I'd share." He leans in and mock-whispers, "Straik has plenty."
I hand the bag to Helen. "Check this, please?"
Ruth and Alice move forward to pat Adiron down while I train my blaster on him, just in case this is all a trap after all and I'm a bad judge of character.
Adiron is all smiles as his arms and legs are patted down. "Careful, ladies, I'm ticklish."
Ruth jabs a finger into his kidneys, making him wince.
"He's clean," Alice says, turning back to me.
I nod and glance over at Helen. Her arms are full of fruit and she shoots me a guilty look. "Nothing but underpants in his bag. And these."
I turn back to Adiron, who flutters his lashes as if he's oh-so-innocent. "Come on, you," I say, and do my best not to smile. "You're MY guest tonight."
* * *
Returning to the stale air and quiet halls of the Star feels like slipping into a comfortable pair of shoes. Straik's ship might be state of the art for aliens, but after three years of haunting these halls, I feel at home here. Even the musty smell
of the air filters makes me feel safer. I take a deep breath and then look at the others. "Why don't you guys go split up the fruit in the kitchen? I'll show Adiron where he's going to be sleeping."
"You can't wait to be alone with me again," he says, delighted. "I accept." And he holds the crook of his arm out like we're going to go for a promenade. "I'd love to take a stroll."
I want to roll my eyes at him but I'm slowly becoming charmed by his irreverent attitude. He doesn't take himself seriously, that much is clear, and he brought fruit for the girls after seeing how much I enjoyed it. I raise an eyebrow at him. "There better not be the fruit that makes you drunk in that bag."
"Sweetfruit?" He shakes his head. "Nah. No one eats it plain. We just juice it. And I wouldn't bring that. I don't need to interrogate you again. We're friendly now."
As if that solves everything. I glance over at the others, but they're heading toward the kitchens. I want to sit down with them and find out what they think, but I also want to pick Adiron's brain. I want to know the reason he was so quick to volunteer, and if he's got an ulterior motive.
I also want to do that without scaring the others—especially Helen—so I'm going to peel him off from the group and see what I can find out.
Ruth clears her throat behind me, and I glance backward. She makes a quick gesture of typing, and I realize she's going to watch me on the monitors—one of the few things we know how to operate. I nod at her. She's got my back. Then, I turn to Adiron and gesture that he should walk at my side.
The big guy looks a little disappointed that I won't link arms with him, but he shrugs and follows me. "Where are we headed?"
"I'll show you."
We head down one of the halls of the Star, and I keep a careful distance between us. Adiron just watches me instead of looking around, so if he's a spy, he's a shitty one.
I open the door to one of the empty rooms, where the crew used to stay. We've ransacked it for useful stuff, but there's still a clean, made bed and privacy. "You'll be staying right here," I say to Adiron.
"Is this your room?"
"Why would I let you stay in my room?"
"Because I let you stay in mine?"
There's a boyish eagerness to his expression that turns my irritation into laugher. It's hard to get mad at a man who approaches the world with such puppyish enthusiasm. "Nice try, but no."
"Can't blame me for trying." He shrugs, still grinning. "I like hearing you laugh, by the way."
I just shake my head at him. I wish I knew how to read him better. I find it hard to believe that someone like him—a pirate—is so lighthearted and chipper. That solving the problems of the universe is as simple as he makes it sound. "I wish I had more reason to laugh."
"You will," Adiron promises me. "You're with me now."
"You assume we're going to decide to go with you," I point out. "That we're not going to stay here and take our chances."
His expression falls. "I know you don't trust me, but it really isn't safe. Your best bet at any sort of life is to come with us. I promise you, no matter what happens, you're safe with me."
"I want to believe you, but I don't know if I can." I spread my hands. "Whatever decision the four of us make changes the lives of a hundred and thirty-two people. That's a heavy weight to carry."
"I understand." He pauses for a moment and then the impish grin returns. "So can I see your room anyhow?"
How can I resist? I move down the hall, heading for my door. "There's not much to see. All I have is what I've scavenged from what our captors left behind." I open my door and gesture that he can walk inside. He does, and I know my room is neat and tidy compared to his. There's a pretty glass bowl that I found in someone's room that I snagged, just because it made me happy, and a small potted plant. Other than that, I have a few pillows and multiple blankets on my bed, because I like cocooning when I sleep.
Adiron heads in, opening my closet and the attached bathroom, and then gives me a curious look. "This was someone else's room first, right?"
I nod. "When we…woke up, we weren't given rooms of our own. After they left us, we took what we wanted, because fuck them."
His jaw clenches, and I suspect he likes hearing about that time in my life about as much as I enjoy thinking about it. It's in the past, though, and I'm determined not to let it haunt my future. Adiron rubs his hands, looking around my room again, and then gestures at the wall panel. "What do you want me to show you? I can probably get you going on the basics."
"Even if I'm not listed as crew but cargo?"
When he pauses, I know it's a dead end. "Yeah, that's a problem." He turns back to me. "But you can get to the pods? In the cargo bay?"
I shrug. "So far, yeah. Again, I guess it's because we're listed as cargo. We can't operate much, but we can get into the bay."
Adiron nods. "Can I see them?"
There goes my easy mood. I stiffen, wondering if this is a trap of some kind. He was so sly in getting me to drink that juice that I wonder if I won't see another trap coming. "You can see them from afar. There's a window in one of the halls that allows you to see the pods."
I half-expect him to argue, but he only nods. "That's fair." His lips quirk as he looks over at me. "Still don't trust me yet?"
"It's not just my life I'm playing with here."
"And would you trust me with your life, then?" he presses.
"After knowing you for a day? No," I say bluntly. "I trust Helen and Ruth and Alice with mine, because we've been stuck together for the last three years. We're like family. You're…"
"If you say ‘family,’ I'm going to be very sad."
"…like a really pesky neighbor."
"I'll take that. You can get romantic with a neighbor." And he winks at me.
"Are you ever serious? Ever?" Even though he's making me crazy with his assumptions and jokes, there's also something completely charming about him. Like he's as deep as a puddle and he's aware of it, and that's part of his charm. Like despite his job, he's got a ray of sunshine in his soul, and I can appreciate that. He makes me smile, even when I want to throw my hands up in frustration at another one of his cracks.
"Very rarely serious," he reassures me, grinning widely. "But I am definitely serious about a few things."
I snort. "Name them."
Adiron's expression just becomes more and more delighted. "You. I'm very serious about you, Jade. It may not seem like it, but I take your safety—and your need for control over the situation—very seriously. That's why I'm here."
"You volunteered."
"Well, yeah. Because I know I can keep you safe." He gives me a look as if to say the answer is obvious.
"And you think your brothers can't?"
Adiron looks positively wicked in the next moment. "Oh, I imagine they can, but this way, I get to be around you all night long. There's no way I'd give up this opportunity for one of those chuckleheads."
"So this is about me?"
He blinks. "Of course it is. I thought I made that pretty clear."
I purse my lips, studying him. "Is this a trick?"
"Is what a trick?"
I gesture at him, standing in the middle of my room. "You acting like you're half in love with me after we just met."
Adiron beams at me. "Glad you noticed. And I'm not acting."
26
JADE
"I'm sad," Alice says. "We skipped out before we got cake."
"We can have cake when the world isn't burning around us," Ruth points out. "We need to figure out how to outsmart these guys and get our freedom."
Helen just watches as Ruth paces, her head resting on her arms as she leans on the table. She's been oddly quiet, and I get the weird sensation that she's not happy to be back on the Star. That Helen wanted to stay on the other ship. And why wouldn't she? It has new people to talk to, new experiences, new foods, and a guy that Helen apparently wants to try “sexing” with. I worry we're going to lose her if we decide to stay behind, just because Hel
en's ready to start living her life.
And I can't blame her for that.
Since Ruth is pacing, I'll let her be the source of all nervous energy in the ship and I do my best to stay calm and collected. Or I try to, anyhow. I'm chewing my lip a mile a minute and doing my best not to look over at Adiron.
After my disconcerting conversation with him in my room, I steered us back towards the others. Truth be told, I don't know what to think about what he keeps declaring. That he likes me. That he's in love with me. We just met this morning. But there's something about Adiron that makes me think that he falls in love as completely and enthusiastically as he seems to view everything…and he's sincere. And good lord, I just don't know what to think. We've been betrayed and used at every turn for the last few years, and so it's hard for me to believe in “good guys” anymore.
But if I did, I think Adiron would be one. I step closer to the table and pretend to examine one of the pieces of fruit, but I'm really watching Adiron. Adiron, who knew we needed to talk in private and set himself up in the rec room as far as possible from us. Right now he's got a wall panel disassembled, pieces of metal everywhere, as he tries to bypass the system and hardwire the vid screen so we can watch something. He's whistling, lost in his own little world, but I know, I just know, that he's doing all that deliberately so we won't feel like he's listening in.
And I know it's all for my benefit. He wants me to trust him.
I'm both grateful and confused by his actions. It's been so long since I've trusted a man. I've felt utterly responsible for everything and everyone here, because I'm the oldest and the most experienced. They look to me to solve problems. Adiron has made it clear that whatever I choose, he's going to support it and me.
I'm trying not to like that idea too much, in case it doesn't turn out to be reality.