by Melissa Good
“My own clumsiness. I threw myself against the wall where the harpoons are.” Jess finished the cake and took a sip of the hot tea. “Anyone give you any trouble on the way there and back?” She asked. “Seems pretty quiet.”
“No, everyone was correct.” Dev applied salve to the wound, and sealed it with a breathable skin bandage. “I heard a crewman say they would remain here in the ice space until dawn.”
“Good.” Jess reached up and cupped the back of Dev’s neck, tilting her head to one side and gently kissing her on the lips. “Tomorrow we need to get Sigurd to sell his fish to the bad guys. But between now and then I think we should work on keeping each other warm, don’t you?”
Dev was surprised. They were in a strange ship, where lots of unusual things were happening, and Jess wanted to spend time practicing sex?
Jess’s lips touched hers again, and her body reacted, her hands reaching out to caress the smooth, bare skin she’d only so recently been working on. “Sounds like a great idea,” she heard herself say, as she savored the rich burn in her guts.
“Thought you’d agree.”
She did agree. She didn’t really understand, but as her body pressed against Jess’s, and the sensation built she decided she really didn’t need to understand it.
She just needed to enjoy it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
JESS OPENED HER eyes into darkness, her time sense telling her it was still before dawn outside. The ship around her was very quiet, and just gently moving under her, a bobbing motion that was almost soothing.
Not nearly as soothing as the solid warmth of Dev’s body pressed up against hers though. Jess found herself quite surprised at that, since it had never been her habit to remain in bed with anyone past having sex.
She could have told Dev to go back to her own bunk. The small space was hardly big enough for Jess’s tall form, and it was nothing less than squishy with the two of them there together, but after they’d finished it had just seemed easier to stay where they were.
Besides, she’d said they had to work to keep each other warm, right? It certainly was warmer together under the covering than it would have been apart, and she’d noticed that Dev seemed to get cold a lot faster than she did.
Maybe it was her having been born in space, under all that atmo control. Jess felt the gentle movement as Dev drew in a slightly deeper breath and then found herself wondering if her new partner dreamed.
She hadn’t, this sleep. It had been a restful few hours, matter of fact, and her body appreciated that. Especially after all the energy she’d expended in the fight.
Ah, the fight. Now, Jess could smile about it and she did. Even though the attackers hadn’t been Interforce, it had felt curiously good to wreak havoc again and she didn’t mind admitting that to herself as she lay here in the dark, her arm tucked around Dev’s middle.
She’d noticed that Dev hadn’t seemed to mind the bloody splattering and the bodies. She’d rolled them over to scan with no emotional charge at all. That was a good sign. It had taken Josh a half a year to be able to handle that.
Good sign.
Dev seemed to be nearly perfect, in fact. Aside from her knowledge, and her driving skills, and her willingness to sleep with Jess, she seemed to have all the right stuff anyone would expect in a good tech.
Jess let her eyes close again, as she the gentle rocking lulled her. She had at least two hours before dawn, and she figured getting as much rest as she could before they entered the other side was a very good idea. She felt Dev take another deeper breath and then they both jerked as the comp fastened to Dev’s bunk chimed softly.
“Comms,” Dev said, her voice soft and husky.
“The long arm of the nerdy.” Jess reluctantly released her, unsealing the sleep sack and letting a rush of cold, damp air in. “Brr.”
“Brr,” Dev repeated, grimacing a little as her bare feet hit the deck.
She sat down on the lower bunk and pulled her legs up crossed under her, opening the device and triggering the comms module. She started to shiver, and she rubbed her arms a little as she waited for the connection to clear.
“Hell of a way to wake up, huh?” Jess had her head over the edge of the bunk and was watching her
“Not exactly pleasing,” Dev said. She focused on the screen and studied the readout, watching the scan lines flutter. “Squirt.”
“Figures.”
“They sent ident on the scan,” Dev said. “Ruthgart Chambers.”
Jess pondered that. “Doesn’t mean a damn thing to me. Anything else? Any data?”
Dev stifled a yawn. “He was assigned to Virginia Bluffs. They lost contact with him two standard years ago,” she said. “They’re asking for confirmation of death.”
Jess chuckled.
Dev continued studying the screen.
“Cold?” Jess suddenly asked.
“Well.” Dev sorted through the requests. “Having no clothes on is probably inhibiting my ability to hold this still enough to read, if that’s what you mean.”
Jess bounded out of her bunk and removed the over sheet from her bed sack, ducking her head and taking a seat next to Dev and wrapping the fabric around both of them. She peered over Dev’s shoulder, feeling Dev’s shivering abate after a moment. “Tell them I confirm the ident.”
Dev had to read the letters several times before they made sense to her, the sudden warmth around her distracting her completely. “Okay,” she finally said, tapping in the code. “Should I send the vid now?”
Jess considered the question. “No. Let’s hold off on that until later.” She fell silent for a bit. “Something’s still not right back there. I don’t want to give them too much information.”
“Okay.” Dev shut down the connection and hung the comp on its strap back on the bunk support. “What do we do now?”
“We can get more rest. Got a few hours to dawn yet,” Jess said. “We’re still in that ice split, no sense in wandering around the ship in the dark.” She looked around the cabin, lit only by the faint line of emergency illumination along the floor. “Glad we brought a couple flashes”
Dev considered the gloom, all the more gloomy since she’d shut down the comp. “Why is it so dark?”
“Saving power,” Jess said. “They’re lucky this thing runs on a converted ion generator. They suck in sea water and make ergs using chemical reaction, but getting parts for the damn thing’s a bitch. They turn it off when they can.”
“I see.”
“Got a point. If they don’t have to move and everyone’s sleeping, no sense in running the batts,” Jess added, after a brief pause. “Hate to see what would happen if they had to get moving fast, though.” She rested her elbows on her knees.
Dev cleared her throat a little. “Should we lay back down?”
“Sure.” Jess unlatched the sleep sack on the lower bunk and squirmed into it, waiting for Dev to join her before she sealed it back up. Now, with the coversheet from her bunk, and the full sack on this one, it got nice and warm rather quickly. “Ah. That’s better.”
She felt Dev relax, then she let her eyes close, only to open them a moment later when she heard soft footsteps coming down the hall outside.
Stealthy footsteps. Jess had heard them often enough to know. “Someone’s coming,” she whispered into Dev’s ear. “Shh. Stay still.”
Dev pressed herself against the bunk as she felt Jess ease herself over her, unfolding her long frame and ending up standing at the foot of the bunks. She waited for Jess to clear the edge of the mattress then sat up silently, reaching out to find her jumpsuit and slipping into it.
Once she’d sealed the catches around her throat she lay back down, aware of Jess’s tense figure still locked in place. She couldn’t hear anything, but she trusted that Jess heard what she had heard and was preparing to do something about it. That something might possibly mean light, and Dev wasn’t sure their reluctant hosts were ready to find a bio alt in their midst.
Jess
moved silently, and there was a very faint sound as she drew her blaster from its holster and put the holster back down on the small shelf. There was a brief flicker of red as she activated the weapon, then she put her back against the wall and got in position.
Dev heard the sound of metal cushioned in grease moving, the tiniest suggestion of a echo that stopped at once, and went silent.
Everything went silent. Then there was a rush of motion on the other side of the hatch and then a booming, solid thump hit the surface, making Dev jump before she flattened herself back down on the bed. But the hatch stayed shut, and a faint, soft curse echoed through the steel, before she heard the distinct sound of someone walking rapidly down the hall away from them in bare feet.
Silence came back, then Jess exhaled, and chuckled very softly. “Forgot I jammed my dagger in the lock,” she said. “Poor bastard probably knocked himself silly.”
“Who was it?” Dev whispered.
“Someone looking either for trade stuff or a roll in the hay.” Jess reholstered her blaster and put it on the shelf. “Morons. Probably one of the kids taking a dare.”
“Taking a dare?” Dev squirmed to the back of the bunk as Jess climbed back up into hers. “In hay? What is that?”
Jess chuckled. “I’ll tell you later.” She stretched out on her back. “Sleep if you can. If I get what I want and we end up in the other side’s clutches, there won’t be much time for rest.”
Now what did Jess mean by that? Dev settled back down anyway, composing herself to stillness. When you were in the crèche, you learned how to put yourself down when it was time for it and she did, taking in a lungful of air and releasing it as she let her body go slack and felt her breathing slow.
Who had been at the hatch? What was Jess going to do? Where were they going to go, and if she was with Jess, who’d fly in and help them get out?
How did she feel about going with Jess into that kind of danger?
All questions for later.
She let go. The darkness around her and the relatively soft, gentle motion reminded her strongly of the crèche, and her sleep pod and she went deeper and deeper into the rocking motion and drifted free.
And then, seemingly just a moment later there was a touch on her arm and she opened her eyes to the same darkness, but with a sense of Jess next to her. “Hello?”
“Near dawn,” Jess said. “Let’s get up and see what we can see.”
Obligingly, Dev sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, as the room was suddenly lit with the warm glow from Jess’s suit light. She looked up to see her partner’s body outlined against it, and that made her smile as she stood up and retrieved her sanitary pack from her gear bag. “I don’t think we’ve moved.”
“Me either.” Jess pulled her jumpsuit on over her shoulders. “Ow.”
Dev paused in her motion toward the hatch. “Are you in discomfort?”
“Stupid shoulder,” Jess muttered. “G’wan. We can look at it later.”
Uncertainly, Dev nodded and then she went to the hatch, carefully untwisting the heavy dagger from the lock. She examined the weapon briefly. Despite the impact against it, the metal was unmarred, and it had a dark patina to it that barely reflected any of the glow from inside the room.
“Like it?”
Dev turned to find Jess watching her, with a hint of amusement in her expression. She walked back and handed the knife over. “It’s interesting,” she said. “I hadn’t held one before. It’s heavier than I expected.” She waited for Jess to take it, then she went back and opened the hatch, pausing to listen before she went through it.
Jess slid the knife back into its holster. “Yeah, I guess they don’t have those up there, huh,” she muttered to herself, grimacing as her shoulder wound protested. “How stupid was that? I’m surprised I didn’t gut myself with a fishhook.” She turned the light a bit higher and finished fastening the wrist catches on her suit, feeling the ship move a little under her.
Aside from the shoulder though, she felt pretty good. There was a residual ache in her back from the old injury, but the stiffness she’d felt the night before had eased and she counted herself ready to face the day.
A minute later the hatch opened again and Dev slipped inside. “It seems very quiet,” she said. “Do you want me to run a scan?”
“Sure.” Jess shrugged into her weapons harness, the sound of the catches loud and solid in the room. “Let me take a peek.” She went to the hatch and emerged into the hallway, also lit only by the emergency lighting along the ground. Jess straightened up and peered around, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the gloom.
The shadows faded into silver and gray and she studied the hall, now understanding what Dev had meant. There was a silence around her that set her senses on edge and she turned and ducked back inside the hatch. “Anything?”
Dev was standing near the bunks, her elbow resting on the top one as she studied her scanner, its light outlining her features in a mix of pale blue and green. After a moment she looked up. “I’m not getting any returns, except for the animals in the bottom of the ship.”
Jess’s nape hairs prickled immediately. “No other life?”
“No.”
“Let’s go.” She went to the locker next to the bed and picked up her heavy blaster, seating it into the side holster and pulling her jacket on. “Let’s go see what the hell happened.”
“Okay.” Dev set the comp down and put her jacket on, snapping the catches and then slinging the scanner over her shoulder. She followed Jess out of the room and into the silent hall, hoping her comp had got it wrong since the results seemed to have caused Jess serious distress.
They walked through the silent darkness and Jess paused before the big hatch at the end, drawing out her light blaster and flipping off the safety before she worked the lock. “Ready?”
“Yes,” Dev said, not entirely sure what she was ready for.
But Jess nodded, and paused a second, before she gently booted the hatch open and moved sinuously through it in a continuous motion. She cleared the space then paused again. “C’mon.”
Dev poked her head through and followed, finding the space beyond empty. She walked behind Jess as they crossed the common room, where only a safety light shone over the space the women had been fixing the meal on. Everything was locked down and put away, with bars holding the containers and cabinets closed.
Jess turned gracefully in a full circle, then continued on to the center, inner doorway. “Scan it,” she said softly, turning and making her way over to the porthole to look outside.
It was dark. She could see the outline of the ice around them, a ghostly gray surface that continued to where the crack they had entered through split into a much darker outline. After a moment, Jess turned and looked at Dev, who was studying her comp. “Anything?”
“No.” Dev joined her, turning the scan to show her the screen.
“Okay.” Jess led her to the hatch to the outside and carefully worked the lock, bumping the heavy metal door open with her shoulder as she peered out onto the deck. A cold blast of air hit her and she blinked, before she emerged into the inner deck area.
Still, all silent. The working gear was all put away, lashed against the deck, and only the soft clank of the anchor chain echoed softly in gloom. Jess walked across the open platform, turning as she did to take in the entire area as she crossed toward the big wheel in the back.
Dev continued to scan. She could see the motion below the deck where the fish were, the bio sensors detecting them without any trouble at all. But if she turned around and pointed the scan at the rest of the boat, all it showed was the electronics that controlled it, and the outline of its structure.
No bio signs. Dev wondered if perhaps they’d found a way to shield against the scan, remembering what Jess had said about them not liking intrusion. Curious, she tuned the comp, bringing up her matrix and shaping the waves as she probed the internal structure.
The sine waves rippled, a
nd then she turned, as she picked up something off to the right of where the boat was. “Jess,” she called softly.
Instantly, Jess was at her shoulder, peering over it. “What?”
“Trace echoes,” Dev said. “From over there.” She pointed off to one side, and they both walked over to the railing to peer over it.
The front of the boat was moored into a chunk of ice, the long heavy chain disappearing into the white solid surface. From where the chain emerged was a roughly chopped path, visible now as it moved off into the distance, between two up thrust ice peaks and, just visible, disappearing into an unevenly shaped hole in the ice wall.
“Huh,” Jess said. “They all got off?”
“It seems so,” Dev said. “That explains why they turned everything off. They didn’t need it.”
“And left us there.” Jess’s eyes narrowed. “Nice.”
“I don’t think they really trust us,” Dev said. “Even though we helped them.”
Jess holstered her blaster and put her hands on her hips. “Wonder if this is one of their hidden hole ups,” she said. “I’ve heard about them, but no one ever really found one. Makes sense they’d put it in a place like this. Only an idiot would risk entering the ice like this.”
Dev regarded the path, then she turned and looked at the anchorage. “Why is this a bad thing?”
“Because the ice can shift and close this gap,” Jess said. “Being crushed to death ain’t my idea of fun. I’ve seen the bodies it spits out.”
“Oh.” Dev now felt a bit nervous. “Does that happen often?”
“Hm.” Jess grinned suddenly. “Let’s go see if they left the keys in the ignition.” She started across the deck heading for the control room. “Bet you could drive this if they did.”
Drive this? Dev felt her jaw drop a little. Wait, what? “I don’t think I know how to do that.” She chased after Jess, who was already halfway up the ladder that led to the control house. “We didn’t have any sims for boats.”