Hand of Steel

by Jessi L Roberts

  I tossed the ball in the air and caught it with my real hand, then tossed it to my left hand. My cybernetics closed on the ball and held it. I kept juggling the ball.

  My cybernetic fingers closed too early. The ball bounced off my fingers and rolled across the floor, coming to a stop next to one of the many plants. Maybe I shouldn’t be practicing. Then, Klate couldn’t sell me. They’d have to throw me into space or something.

  Claws clicked softly outside the hatch. Klate peered into the room.

  I did my best to glare at him, but with only half my face working, I doubted I got the message across.

  Klate padded into the room. He stooped to pick up the ball then laid it on my bed. “If you ever want to talk, let me know.”

  “Get out of here,” I snapped.

  Klate backed toward the hatch. “I hope you can forgive me.” He ducked through the hatch.

  My stomach clenched. God said to forgive, but this? He’d wrecked everything. I went back to tossing the ball from hand to hand. If I had to, I could pretend I had more trouble with my cybernetics than I did. Then I’d catch them by surprise.

  I squeezed the ball in my cybernetic hand. The ball’s shape began to flatten. I let up on the pressure then grabbed the ball in my real hand and squeezed. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t squish the ball with my real hand.

  My cybernetic hand was stronger than my real hand, perhaps stronger than a normal Human hand. Something that strong could be a weapon.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Crew

  With Melsha’s help, I learned to walk in a week.

  “You’re doing well,” Melsha said as I stumbled across the floor.

  My cybernetic leg still felt heavy and unwieldy, but I could run if I had to. I couldn’t let anyone know that. I took another step and purposefully slipped.

  Melsha caught me and pulled me to my feet. If I had fallen, I’d have been able to catch myself with my cybernetic hand. That thing worked really well.

  Doc perched in one of the potted plants near the ceiling. He watched, his tail twitching sporadically.

  I walked across the room and back to my bed.

  Klate stepped into the room.

  I stiffened. What did he want now?

  Klate pulled something from his pocket. My datsheet. He crossed the room and stopped in front of me. “I thought you might want this back. I added a Free Kin Bible to it. You only had a Loyalist one.” He held the datsheet out.

  I hesitated, my instincts telling me not to take anything from the pirate captain.

  Klate waited.

  I snatched the datsheet and walked away from Klate. I climbed onto my bed and flipped open the datsheet. An image of both my parents and me as a toddler took up the screen. It was the last picture I had of Mom. Now, I’d lost both of them. I’ll carry on your legacy, once I get off this ship. If I ever escaped, I could go back to hunting. I could make them proud. Maybe I could even bring in Klate.

  A presence loomed behind me.

  I turned my head.

  Klate stood only a few steps away. His ears drooped.

  “You looked at this whole thing, didn’t you?” I clutched the datsheet to my chest.

  Klate lowered his head. “I wanted to know what kind of person you and your dad were.”

  “And what did you decide?” I demanded.

  Klate bowed his head. “I should have done things differently, tried to get a surrender.”

  I stayed silent, not trusting myself to speak. I couldn’t let grief show, not while I was captured.

  After standing in silence for a few minutes, Klate spoke again. “Now that you’re in better shape, you should sleep in the crew quarters. We don’t want you in the way if someone gets hurt.”

  I glared. I couldn’t sleep in a room full of pirates.

  Klate’s ears twitched. “You’ll only have to deal with it for seven weeks. After that, you’ll be on Tupra.”

  I said nothing.

  Klate ducked through the open hatch and out of sight.

  Seven weeks until they made it to Tupra? Where could we be? Even though the Deathhorn was an older ship, it couldn’t take more than five weeks to cross Ordained space, six if they were avoiding enemies. They couldn’t sell me on Ordained planets, so they needed to go to Tupra to get a good price for me. Then again, they might be headed for Korska. Since my race didn’t live anywhere past Korska, I’d be an exotic slave there, bringing a high price if some alien buyer bought me.

  “Want to practice walking some more?” Melsha asked.

  “I’m done,” I snapped. I began thumbing through pictures on my datsheet. Pictures of Dad and me appeared. I sniffed. I’d lost so much.

  Melsha watched me for a while then stepped through the hatch. Doc followed.

  I wiped tears from my eye. One sad advantage of the cybernetic eye was I didn’t have to worry about impaired vision from tears. I thumbed through the photos on the datsheet, examining every last one of them. I let the tears flow, but I kept myself from crying. Once I started, I doubted I’d be able to stop, and then the crew would see me weak.

  My stomach growled.

  I laid the datsheet on the table. With no one in the room, I could practice running before Melsha brought food.

  I stretched my real leg and hurried across the room. The fast walk worked okay, but could I run? I turned back toward my bed and ran. I made it five steps, then my cybernetic leg slipped out from under me and I fell. I caught myself. At least my arm had decent reactions. I could practice it without bringing much attention to myself.

  I stood and ran. This time, I made it to the bed. I ran back toward the other wall but fell. My real knee slammed painfully into the hard floor.

  I climbed to my feet. My knee ached, but I could always fall again to hide the injury if I had to.

  The infirmary’s hatch whooshed open. The Skallan who had grabbed me in the tavern strode into the room, his red eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?” he demanded.

  I froze, my mouth now dry. My eyes landed on his cybernetic foot, which was nearly identical to mine.

  He stormed toward me, only stopping once he was close enough his breath blew on my face. “Klate and Melsha might think you’re some sort of pet, but I know what you are, hunter. You step out of line, and I’ll make sure you’re sold to the worst master I can find.”

  Claws clicked on the floor.

  The Skallan turned toward the sound. I took a few steps away from him.

  Melsha stepped through the hatch. A bready scent wafted off her, but she carried no tray of food. “Tenned, what are you doing in here?” Her eyes narrowed.

  He shrugged. “Talking to the prisoner.” He stepped around Melsha and left the room.

  She turned to me. “Thought you could eat in the mess hall today.” She shifted from foot to foot, her tail swaying.

  My hunger evaporated. Eat with the pirates? Eating around Doc was bad enough, but eating in the same room as Tenned?

  Melsha touched my real arm, her clawed hand gentle. “I’ll stay next to you if that would help.”

  A bit of the fear lifted, even though it shouldn’t have. Melsha was a pirate like the rest of them and a terrorist as well.

  I stood, careful to put enough weight on my injured knee. “I’ll go.” What choice did I have? Klate probably wouldn’t let me eat until I did what he wanted. Anger flared through me. Other than running, I hadn’t had any sort of victory. The pirates had forced me to do everything they wanted me to do.

  Melsha hopped through the hatch.

  I limped to the hatch. So far, I hadn’t been out of the infirmary.

  I held on to the edge of the hatch as I stepped through. A railing ran along the hallway, something to allow people to move if the gravity went out.

  I grabbed the railing.

  Melsha turned back. “Follow me.”

  I followed her through the sleeping quarters and into the mess hall. Most of the pirates already sat or stood around tables.

 
; I counted nineteen crew members, including Klate. Other than Hirami, who I didn’t consider crew, Doc was the only Chix, not a surprise since they’d won the Tupra War. Only one other Elba sat at a table. The spears crossed in a red X staining her cheek fur symbolized she’d committed piracy and was given no rights as a slave. There were six Torfs, five Skallan, a trio of common Humans, and a couple hirsut Humans. I tried not to stare at the hairy Humans. They barely looked human with all that hair covering their faces. From what I knew, they came from Korska or somewhere even more distant.

  Three long tables occupied the room, but the pirates only stood at one of them. The other two were empty.

  Melsha led me to the empty table farthest from the other pirates. “I’ll get you something to eat.” She headed toward the kitchen, leaving me alone.

  I sat at the table with my back to the nearest wall. Tenned watched me, his red eyes narrowed.

  I hunched down and tried to make myself smaller. He kept glaring.

  What am I doing? I straightened myself and glared back. No pirate was going to make me cower.

  Melsha strutted to the table with two plates of food. She set one in front of me and stood with her plate on the table. Like most Torfs, she ate standing up. She took a bite of her bread and then noticed the direction I stared. Her hackles stood.

  The old Skallan looked away.

  I relaxed but kept my eye on him.

  “He’s Klate’s second in command, a good man but not very friendly. Probably best if you avoid him,” Melsha said. “He’s had a hard life.”

  “I’ll try.” I grabbed a piece of bread. This time, Melsha had mixed some sort of berry into it, giving it a sweet taste.

  I glanced at Melsha’s crossed spear tattoo. For a Free Kin radical and terrorist, she’d treated me well, and I was her enemy. “How did you get that bounty on your head?” I asked.

  Melsha sighed.

  My gut clenched. Had I overstepped my bounds? Then again, what if I had?

  Melsha finally spoke. “My father died fighting in the Tupra war. My family managed to get by without going hungry, but my friends weren’t so lucky. I spoke out against the Company, the people you call the Ordained. Someone reported me for not acknowledging the Company’s divine authority. Before I knew what was happening, I was on an auction block with these tattoos.” Melsha touched her cheek. “All because I was Free Kin and not Loyalist.”

  A bit of guilt settled in my stomach. Dad and I had hauled Free Kin to the auction block before. I tried to remind myself Melsha deserved to be a slave, but I couldn’t get my feelings to agree with my logic. She’d been so good to me.

  “Klate attacked the ship we were on, freed all the slaves.” Melsha gazed at Klate. “I went back to Lokostwa where my family was. Never stayed with them for long. I couldn’t risk it. I walked by the slave auction block at least once a week.” She smiled. “I blew up the whole block and the slave cages around it. Freed them all.” She ruffled her feathers. “I hadn’t thought to wear something to hide my identity. With the higher bounty, I had hunters after me. I almost got caught, then I saw Klate. I pleaded to join his crew. He took me on as a cook.”

  We finished eating in silence, then Melsha stood. “I’ll take you to the sleeping quarters and get you settled in before the rest of the crew gets there.”

  She led me to the crew quarters.

  Both walls had alcoves with doors that made up the private beds for each crew member, much like Wurrud’s ship, though these were clean.

  Only one person lay in an alcove, a hirsut Human. Dark brown hair streaked with gray covered his entire face, leaving his features hidden.

  Melsha opened the sliding door on an alcove. “You can stay in this one. I sleep in the one across from you, so if you need anything, you can ask me.”

  I glanced at Melsha’s sleeping spot. There used to be a second above the first, but the top one’s mattress had been knocked out so Melsha would have more room.

  I climbed into my new quarters. It had plenty of room because it was made with Skallan in mind. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I shut the sliding door. Light shone through the thin white surface. A small drawer was set into in the alcove’s wall. I opened it. My pack lay inside. It smelled of smoke and had a few new burn marks, but it was my pack, the one I’d had before we’d been attacked. I dug through it, finding my handcuffs and some rope, my change of clothes, as well as other supplies, but no weapons. I stuffed it back in the drawer.

  I passed the day in my alcove and read my Bible, then cross referenced it with the Free Kin one. The Free Kin one was almost word-for-word the same as my own Bible until I came to Romans 13, where a few words were changed around, emphasizing that authorities punished evil. I glanced back at my own version, the Loyalist version. Let everyone be subject to their rulers, for there are no rulers but those ordained by God. Whoever resists their rulers resists God’s ordained, and they will receive damnation. Rulers are not a threat to the loyal, but to the disloyal. Do you want to be free from fear of the Ordained? Then remain loyal and you will be praised. For the ministers are God’s servants, but if you do wrong, be afraid, for the ministers do not bear the sword in vain; for they are the ministers of God, revengers to execute wrath upon them that do wrong.

  Klate had left a note beside this entry. My finger hovered over the note. Part of me didn’t want to open it, but then again, he’d never find out. Dad had always said I should know how my enemy thought. I opened the note. Note in the Free Kin version, the authorities ordained by God reward good and punish evil. The Company punishes good and rewards evil. Because of that, they cannot be God’s ordained. The wording in the Loyalist version has changed most of the mention of good and evil to loyal and disloyal in an attempt to remove morality from the verses, thereby forcing people to follow evil rulers.

  So this explained Klate’s actions. He held no one in authority over himself, which meant no one had more right to judge who lived and died or who was enslaved than he did. Maybe he even considered himself ordained.

  I found the bounty list on the datsheet and looked him up again, noting the multiple murders, war crimes, and slave dealing, among other things. The info on Klate’s past was sketchy, but it seemed he’d been born on Saddat, then switched sides during the war. It was rumored he had a wife and daughter on Tupra, but there wasn’t any info about them. Had he saved me because I reminded him of his daughter?

  Outside the alcove, feet, some clawed and others booted, tramped across the floor as the pirates got ready for bed. I put the datsheet into the drawer and lay on my side. With a bit of concentration, my cybernetic eye switched off.

  I lay there for over an hour while the pirates went to sleep. Snores penetrated the thin door, their sounds grating. I could never sleep, not surrounded by enemies. I eased open the door and stepped to the cool floor.

  I crept toward the exit hatch. My cybernetic foot, though covered in fake skin, made more noise than I liked. Almost all the doors to the alcoves were closed. Judging by the size of the alcove near the door, I guessed an Elba slept there.

  I made it through the hatch and into the hallway. So far, so good. From the ship’s vibrations and slight rumble, I guessed we were behind the primary engines. I turned left and headed away from the vibrations. The holds were generally as far away from the engines as possible. I opened a few more hatches and closed them behind me. From what I’d gathered, the hallway was along the edge of the ship, making it easy for the crew to get to the hold without going through the infirmary. The other rooms had no hallway, just a clear path to the next hatch.

  By the time I made it to the hold, my real leg ached from the exertion. I needed to exercise more. The ramp into the hold, which had a ceiling twice as high as any other room, was a bit hard for me to walk down, but I made it.

  Only a few dim lights shone in the hold. My real eye couldn’t adjust to the dimness of the room, but my cybernetic eye took in everything. Cells of nigotum st
ood strapped to one wall near the ramp. Why did the pirates have nigotum? Their ship used perital for fuel. Since nigotum came from Tupra, Saddat, and Chibbink, it wasn’t very good for trading because it was a similar price on all the planets but Lokostwa.

  I thought back to Wurrud’s ship. It had a little more nigotum than this. So that was where they got it.

  Empty cages for slaves stood along another wall. I shuddered a little. If I didn’t behave, I’d likely end up in one of those cages.

  A stack of strange fluffy bales sat in the corner of the hold. There weren’t many of them. When I got closer, I saw they were made of blue leaves. They smelled like Melsha’s bread. I’d never seen the plant before. Was it from Tupra?

  I crawled onto the stack and wedged myself between two of the soft bales. I shivered. I’d forgotten to bring a blanket. The hold, being far from the engines, had a chill to it. I pressed my Human side against the bale and closed my eye. My cybernetic eye blinked off.

  I fell into a fitful sleep.

  A blanket settled over me. I pulled it tight, grateful for the warmth. Where had it come from? My eye opened and my cybernetic one switched on in time to see Klate’s tail vanish through the hatch above. How something his size managed to sneak around was beyond me. Dad’s words came back to me. Never underestimate an Elba’s stealth. Their hearing is sharper than any other intelligent species so they learn to walk without making a sound.

  I nestled under the blanket. For once, I allowed myself to enjoy something Klate had given me. I couldn’t sleep here without some sort of warmth.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Storm

  I jogged through the corridor to the cockpit. It rarely received the crew’s traffic, leaving it clear for me to exercise. I made it near the cockpit, turned around and jogged past the captain’s quarters and back toward the crew’s quarters. If we were landing soon, I needed to be in shape, even if I didn’t recognize the name the pirates called the planet. Though Klate acted like he wouldn’t sell me, I had to be ready to escape if he’d been tricking me.