“It's not something I can explain.” She bit her bottom lip and felt her stomach lurch.
“Try.” His tone wasn't cruel, or even angry, but it was implacable.
“Something got inside me on that ghost ship.” Her throat felt raw just saying it.
“What kind of something?” He stopped and turned to face her, face scowling.
“I don't know.” She held out her palm. “It got in through here. I picked up a smooth metal ball and it just melted into my skin.”
He took her hand, looked at it closely, even though the moon was much lower on the horizon now.
“There's nothing to see. Even the doctor on my ship had a look.”
“You sure you didn't imagine it? You were under a lot of stress.”
Anger--more like rage--flared up in her. “Yes, I'm sure.”
“Okay.” His gaze flicked to hers, calm and steady. He still held her hand, and his thumb gently rubbed across the skin of her palm, back and forth. “So what does whatever got into you do?”
She drew in a deep breath, let it out. “Mainly it protects me.”
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Protects you how?”
“I think it can take over my brain and my body easier when I'm asleep, and it used to walk me all over the ghost ship. It disconnected the ship from the Caruso tow line. It led me to useful things. I'd wake up standing over something like a blanket or a light.” She gently tugged her hand free, liking the feel of him too much. “I think it also kept me alive longer, used the water and food in the most efficient way in my body. I don't think I'd have been alive when my team arrived without it.”
Just saying the words out loud was a relief.
“But?” Ben's eyes gleamed as he moved his head to the side.
“But it takes control, and that frightens me. It tries to listen to me, but if it thinks something is for my own good, it goes ahead, even against my wishes.”
“And tonight? What do you think was happening tonight?”
She had already pondered that while they'd walked in silence. Ben had told her in clipped tones that she'd have to come with him, as he wasn't leaving her on her own, and he had to do what he needed to do and get back to camp before anyone realized they were gone.
“I don't know. It must have heard you leave, and decided to follow. I can't explain it.”
He did't look entirely convinced.
Then he rubbed his fingers through his hair again, and glanced at his wrist unit. “I think we're nearly there, so be as quiet as you can.”
“Where is 'there'?”
He hesitated, then lifted both hands to cup her shoulders. “I have a confession to make. I'm not a genuine Trailer.”
She stared at him.
He shook his head and grimaced. “Don't look at me like that. I'm a captain in Arkhoran Special Forces and we've been keeping watch on Veltos ever since we saw some suspicious Caruson activity in the area. We set a small satellite into the atmosphere a few months ago to monitor the planet, and after two weeks it went offline. We worked out where it would have landed if it was shot down the moment it went offline, but we needed to verify. We didn't want to make a big show of looking for it, because we disguised it to look like a weather satellite, and an official search would alert the Caruso that it was something more. If they're watching.”
Tally heard the tacked-on quality to the last sentence. Ben definitely thought they were watching.
“So you needed a way to come looking for it that wouldn't raise any suspicions.” Now she understood his discomfort over refusing to say what injury or incident had led him to be nominated for the Trail. She liked that he hadn't lied to them, even though he would have been justified in doing so to keep his cover.
He nodded, blew out a breath.
“And you think it's near here? That's were we're going?”
He nodded again. “And if I'm right, then taking a look at it will prove whether the Caruso are here or not, and whether they shot it down, or whether it came down due to technical failure.”
She raised her brows. “The Caruso are here. We all saw them shoot down the runner.”
“Yes, but if they shot down the satellite, they've been here for months. That'll tell us a lot. Because they've been invisible. We haven't caught so much as a sniff of them.”
“Have you been looking that hard?” she asked.
“I've been living on Veltos for the last month, sneaking around to the most likely locations, hunting them.”
She tipped her head back to look him in the eye. “That's why you knew what the weather had been doing.”
He didn't smile, as she thought he would. “Yes, you picked up on that slip. What gave me away?”
She felt the hunted, nervous feeling of the last month rise up, and then realized she'd told him the truth already, she didn't have to cover up what she'd become. “My ability to read faces and gestures has become extremely good since the metal bead sank into me.”
“Again, a protective measure,” he mused quietly. “Reading people, to see if they're trustworthy or not, is a survival skill.”
She raised a shoulder. She'd figured that out already. “Sometimes it makes me hyper-sensitive though. I think it's still learning how to interact with me. That time we walked through the forest--after we got off the path--it had me focusing in on too much. I couldn't take the sensory bombardment.”
He was still holding her, his big hands cupping her shoulders, and he squeezed her gently. “You haven't told anyone about this before, have you?”
“I tried.” She closed her eyes. “I told my commander and the doctor I thought the bead sank into me, but I didn't say how different I felt. It sounded too crazy. And they found nothing in my blood tests. I didn't want a psych eval, and I couldn't see myself getting out of one if I told them the truth.” She opened her eyes and sighed. “As it was, they got me onto the Trail ahead of others on the list. They already believed me to be fragile. And I . . . didn't want to give them more ammunition.”
He surprised her by pulling her close, and she remembered that's what he'd done when she'd come back to herself, on hands and knees on the forest floor, waking up to realize she didn't know where she was. Again.
She sank into his warmth, his body solid against hers.
She slid her arms around his waist and let her head rest against his chest, and they stood there quietly for a minute before she forced herself to step back.
“So, I guess you want to get to the satellite and then get back to camp as fast as possible.” She had to clear her throat to talk.
He nodded, his gaze hooded. “And if I've worked out where the satellite fell, I'm guessing the Caruson might have, as well. Especially if they're the ones who shot it down.”
She went still. “You think they might have someone watching it?”
He shrugged. “It would be a real waste of time and a couple of guards, but it's possible. Or they may have set up a perimeter alarm, to see if anyone comes looking for it.”
“In the forest?” Tally asked. “Surely that would be crazy?”
“They could use a high-level camera on a tree, measuring for movement around a certain height level to rule out any animals.”
She nodded, and when he turned and started walking, she tried to be as silent as she could.
She wasn't as good at it when she was the one running her brain and feet, rather than her free-riders.
They'd managed to outwit a special forces officer.
She almost sensed their smugness.
Or maybe it was her projecting. She didn't know what was real anymore.
It was exhausting.
One thing that was real was the big, muscular man in front of her. He was very real.
She kept her eyes on him, and decided that was good enough for now.
Chapter 13
Ben could hear Tally behind him.
She was almost completely silent. He was impressed because he knew she hadn't had any planet-side training. But
it was in marked contrast to before, when he hadn't heard her at all, even though she'd followed him for an hour.
If anything could convince him there was something taking control of her, it was the difference between Tally before she'd woken up on the path, and Tally afterward.
That, and the very real fear he'd seen on her face as she'd looked up at him.
There was no way anyone could put something like that on.
So that meant she was telling the truth, and she had cause not to trust her own body.
He couldn't imagine what that would be like.
He moved carefully through the bush, and even in the dark he saw the burnt vegetation immediately. Small green shoots were already pushing their way through, nature renewing itself, but if the satellite had come in hot, it would have definitely burned some of the foliage.
He slowed down and Tally pulled up short against his back. She kept quiet, and he thanked the stars she was a colleague, a member of the VSC forces, and not a civilian.
He pointed to the charred remains, and felt her nod against his shoulder.
He eased forward, his wrist unit scanning for any sign of a Caruson guard, his eyes going up, looking for signs of a camera in the trees.
He found one small source of heat a little way up ahead, and began working carefully toward it.
He pointed up to where he was going, and then left Tally on the ground as he pulled himself up into the tree and began to climb.
When he got close to it, it suddenly dropped out of the tree, and gave a soft hoot as it coasted away on the breeze.
When he got back to the ground, Tally was grinning.
“All right.” He grinned back. “Better to check it wasn't a camera than assume it was the local wildlife.”
He moved forward again, but didn't bother being as careful now. Time wasn't on their side.
The satellite was lying in a small, blackened area, a twisted heap of metal. He shone a light over it, and then crouched low, trying to work out if one of the deep scores in the metal could be a laz fire hit.
“You think that's the proof?” Tally leaned over his shoulder, her eyes on the same deep groove in the satellite's metal casing.
“Maybe.” He blew out a breath. “It's so damaged, it's hard to say, but my guess is, yes.”
“Which you already suspected.”
He nodded. And then rose up to do a full scan of the satellite with his wrist unit. He'd send it to his team when he finally got comms back.
“Time to go.” They'd been gone two hours, which meant they'd get back long before the sun rose, and might even get a little more sleep. He turned to face her. “You'll keep this to yourself?”
She pursed her lips. “I'm in no position to blab other people's secrets. Not that I would anyway.” She took a step back and then hesitated. “Lenny, Frangi and Soo are trustworthy, though. I think they'd be a help more than a hindrance.”
He gave a slow nod. “And Irwin?”
She hesitated again. “No.”
“And you think that because . . .?”
She shrugged. “The little creatures in my head have made me think that.”
He couldn't help the laugh that burst out of him. “You always talk about them in the plural, not as one single thing, even though it was one bead you picked up.”
She pondered that. “It's just a feeling. It seems to me that they are spread out all through me sometimes.” She rubbed her forearm.
“And what do they think of me?”
Her look was guarded. “They . . . I . . .”
He let the silence stretch out between them.
“We both like you.” Her voice was soft.
“But they followed me.” He felt ridiculous saying it, but Tally believed something had taken control of her, and he believed Tally.
She lifted her shoulder. “Maybe they were worried about you.”
He stared at her, mute for a moment, and then, unsure what the hell he was doing, he leaned forward and kissed her, his hands sliding up her shoulders to hook around her neck.
She stilled, startled, and then she softened, leaning in to him for a moment before she pulled back. She looked up at him, bemused.
He was pretty bemused himself.
“Well, tell them thank you.” He brushed a last kiss on her forehead and then turned and started back.
* * *
They'd reached the camp in silence, and she'd gone straight to her tent.
Ben was right in his prediction that they were able to get a few hours of extra sleep, although she wasn't worried she'd missed four hours. She seemed to need less sleep these days.
The little creatures probably made sure to maximize all her systems.
When the sun rose enough to flood the camp with light, and the birds in the trees around them started up a racket, she crawled out of her tent and started breakfast, frowning because some of the food seemed to be missing.
“What's that look?” Soo rubbed her face as she emerged from her tent.
“Someone's taken some of the food.” She quashed the flare of panic. There was plenty. She hadn't stinted. She had over-ordered. They would be fine.
“Maybe it got stored somewhere else.” Soo sniffed in appreciation as Tally set down a jug full of hot jah. She poured herself and Tally a cup, and then sat heavily on one of the stools set around the fire pit, and started the fire up again.
Tally approved. It wasn't cold, but she liked to hear the crackle of it, and to watch the flames. It was a treat reserved for planet-side escapades.
The smell of the thin, fried strips of derna meat and cooking eggs drew everyone but Irwin out of their tents.
Tally hesitated before she served herself. “Anyone seen Irwin?”
Everyone shook their head so she sat down with the plate she had intended for him. “I wonder if he's the one who took some of my supplies.”
“There are supplies missing?” Ben looked up from his meal.
He hadn't specifically spoken to her this morning, but he had brushed a hand of greeting down her back when she'd handed him his breakfast, and topped up her mug of jah before he'd taken a seat.
“More than I initially thought. A good two days' worth.”
Ben frowned, his gaze going to Irwin's tent.
Lenny stood, walked over to the tent and opened it without preamble. “He's not here.”
“Maybe he decided to scout ahead?” Frangi didn't look as if she believed it.
No one wanted to respond. They all finished their meal and cleaned up, and then while Lenny and Ben began taking down the tents, Tally took a full inventory of their remaining supplies, while Frangi and Soo decided to transmit the message to Frangi's friend Linn again.
“Someone's taken part of the comms unit.” Soo's shout was edged with disbelief.
Lenny and Ben dropped the tent they'd just bagged up and jogged over.
“I'd say, given Irwin is missing, there's no doubt who did it.” Tally straightened from her crouch. “He's taken about three days worth of food, as well.”
“What the hell?” Soo breathed out. “What's he up to?”
“What's missing?” Ben asked, bending over the unit.
“The transmitter.” Soo's hands were fisted on her hips. “He knew what he was doing, too. He didn't damage it, it's just missing a vital part.”
“Can you make another one in the replicator?” Frangi asked.
Soo made a face but began to search the supply hover. Tally wasn't surprised when she lifted the replicator, which looked to be standard VSC issue, and showed them all the power pack was gone. Irwin wouldn't have bothered to take the original part in the first place, if he hadn't also taken away the means to replace it.
Replicators were standard equipment, he wouldn't have overlooked something like that.
He'd also taken the spare backpack, which included a tent.
Easier than him putting down his own tent in the night.
Most of the supplies had been taken off the hover,
and Frangi lifted the last few crates off it so it was empty. “I'm going up on this thing. See if I can see him.” She programed it, and it lifted up, with her standing in the middle.
“How high does it go?” Lenny was looking at it dubiously.
“Maybe tree height,” Ben shrugged. “It's not a bad idea.”
The hover ended up stopping just above the tops of the trees around them.
“Anything?” Soo called.
“No.”
Tally watched as Frangi slowly turned a complete circle, eyes shielded from the morning sun.
And then, out of nowhere, laz fire brightened the sky even further, and Frangi let out a scream of pain.
Chapter 14
Frangi fell, her body hanging precariously off the edge of the hover.
“Bring it down,” Ben roared at her, and ran toward the nearest tree, hauling himself to the lowest branch and then climbing as fast as he could.
When he risked a moment to check on her, Frangi was still lying, limp, on the hover. It remained motionless at the top of the trees, but at least she hadn't fallen off.
“Frangi.” Tally's shout seemed to cut through to her friend, because she shook her head. “Frangi, bring it down.”
Frangi pulled herself more fully onto the hover and it began to sink, to Ben's relief.
Another flash of laz fire lit the morning sky, but the angle was wrong and it overshot.
Frangi gave a moan of fear as it sizzled over her. Ben was glad they'd tried again, though. It gave him a better idea of where they were shooting from.
He reached the highest branch he could that would support his weight, and slid on the glasses that had a zoom mode, flicking his gaze between the lenses and looking at his wrist unit.
Four attackers.
They'd shot at Frangi while they were still a distance away.
Perhaps they thought she'd seen them, but it was still a stupid move. It had given them away.
He began to work back down the trunk, his descent faster than his climb.
Soo and Lenny were standing guard, each facing outward toward the forest, while Tally crouched beside Frangi on the hover.
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