Off Center (The Lament)

by Power, P. S.

  "Well, that's the hard part, you see, I might have been a bit generous, calling him my friend. I guess it would be closer to say that I'd heard he had some materials and I wanted to buy them. I did hear he was in trouble. Something about child rape? The message was none too clear, but that was about two weeks ago, maybe three now. I'm supposed to just come in and clear it out. I suppose the company sent you to make sure I'm not skimming?"

  Pran shook her head, but then smiled again, hoping she was playing the whole thing correctly.

  "You didn't get word? Crap. Okay, we need to get out of here. We have an airship, but not a lot of time to explain. What kind of shape are you in? No wounds? After the attack I mean?" It was a risk, but she held the air-rifle up at the sky and started to walk the other way down the road. At first she was afraid she might be shot in the back, but the man actually started to jog after her.

  "What's happened? We didn't lose another base did we? Crud, these people's Special Forces are good. I tried to tell the Major that, but no, our Special Forces are supposed to be miracle workers. You..." There was a close look at her then, and narrowed eyes. "Your accent is pretty good. Are you one of the locals?"

  Pran didn't know what that meant to this man, so shrugged.

  "Sort of. It depends what you mean by that. Right now I'm here to help you. As for the base, we might be talking about the same one. It's hard to know. The Guardians are going to be here in about an hour. We have two of them on the ship, so you'll have to get into something less noticeable. I might have to steal some things for you. Then the Captain will pretend to hire you on. Be nice to the Guardians. People here are polite, and a little afraid of them. Also, stay the hell away from the Judge. She's good looking, but will strip your secrets faster from you than if you just went and confessed." She kept walking, making decent time. The crunch of their boots started to move in time, so she pointed down the path a bit and let him take the lead.

  When she got about five feet back, she suddenly started to walk backwards, not making her own prints at all, and got off the road in time to come around from the right, just as the man started down the road that would take him right into the airfield. The campsite from the night before was right there too, so she managed to grab his arm and pull him toward her.

  He yelped.

  "Hey!" Then he managed to be wide-eyed at her, as she covered her lips with a mitten.

  She waved him to the mouth of the thing and smiled.

  "In here. The Guardian I was with already came back. She clearly left this up for me, but she took the main pack. There should be..." She laid on her stomach and moved into the dark space, coming out with the second pack, that had the food and some matches in it, as well as the her two oil slicks. "Yeah, there's some food in here. Dried, but not bad. I'll go get you some clothing. Get ready to lie your behind off. Claim that you were passing through and just wanted to know if you could get passage in exchange for work on the ship. We'll run a sob story." She grinned at him and winked.

  The man grunted once, but smiled back and climbed into the little hut, playing with the remains of the fire almost instantly.

  "I heard about the ship stuff, but didn't think you were all that well organized. I'm Zeke. Ezekiel. I used to be a Captain, in the Marine Corps. I doubt that means anything to you, does it? Now I'm with the Company. You?"

  "Pran. Bard Pran. No last name."

  The man didn't even think that was strange it seemed, just turning to play with the fire more. Pran waited for him to stop paying attention and walked away, heading to the ship. She had some clothing to get after all. That or help.

  Chapter six

  Mara and Clark weren't standing at the door of the ship like she thought they might be, and as soon as she got there herself she worked out that they were actually behind her, with their kinetic pistols drawn already. They didn't point them at her, so they didn't seem to think that she'd instantly turned into a traitor or anything like that. If it were a play or a story...

  Well, it wasn't.

  If it had been something like that at all, then her ploy to bring the obviously out of place man in the woods in would have been a trap by the other side to get an agent on The Lament, or something stupid like that, as if her random encounter could have been worked out in advance by anyone else? Still, the Guardians were waiting for her to speak, and holding there large clunky slug throwers down at the ground, ready to fight whoever might be following her.

  "Did that man send you with a message?" This came from Clark, and was a deep and foreboding statement, if ever she'd heard one. The man looked incredibly uneasy too, as if he thought that Zeke, or whatever his name was, might be setting something up already. Mara just stared at her.

  Which meant they looked baffled for a second when she rolled her eyes at them and faked a goofy looking grin.

  "What, you mean the new floor washer I found in the woods with almost no clothing on in the cold? That man? Why would he have a message for us?" She waited, but for some reason her friends didn't seem to think she was being half funny enough. They didn't even groan or boo her attempt. Dead silence was almost always a bad thing, from an audience. She decided to change things up then, and actually tell them what was going on. "I told him that we, he and I, are infiltrating The Lament and that something has happened that he might not have heard about. I haven't said a lot about that. I'm currently sneaking back here to get him some clothing that won't stand out like his does and possibly a sack to hide his fire-arms in. He didn't try to attack me at all, and if he has half a brain he'll be expecting me to come back with you two for an ambush. So..." She didn't like the idea but took a deep breath and blew it out anyway.

  After a bit she forced another grin.

  "So, I'm going to actually do all that stuff and see about bringing him back here, if he hasn't already taken off. I would have. I mean, what are the odds of him randomly meeting some girl in the woods that's on his side?"

  Mara looked at her funny and nodded after a bit.

  "I've been wondering about all of this for a while. What are the odds of us having run into any of these things? Infiltrators on The Lament? It's a good ship, but nothing special really. It isn't like Clark or I stand out in the Guardian ranks, and no one else does either, in their own way. Good and hard working, but not people to watch in particular. The closest we have to anyone special is you, and there was no way for anyone to know that you'd be coming along nearly two years ago when Dovish was first put aboard. We know that this isn't the only ship though." She glanced at Clark, who suddenly looked hard in return.

  Pran could see it too, since it was the only thing left, wasn't it? Either they were in the center of a coincidence that was vast in its scope or...

  "They're everywhere, aren't they? They've worked into everything somehow. Each little village, every ship. We can't really know who they are. It-" She went dead silent and then looked at the slightly muddy snow at her feet. "We need to find out more about this. I'll see if I can lure the man in. Do we take him prisoner or get him a job on the ship and try to gain his trust?"

  She didn't know which was the right thing to do, but Clark did, looking out at the tree line.

  "Gain his trust. You'll have to do it. The others we've taken, Dovish and Tammy, they haven't talked. They've given us a bit of information, to try and stop the pain we put them under, but nothing useful to us. The word is that torture hasn't been useful yet at all. So we need to do something no one will expect. Stop and step sideways, as their eyes track to the front."

  That got her to shrug, and smile again.

  "Okay then, I'll go and sign some things out. I don't suppose you two can talk Captain Mina into taking this man in for a bit? I don't know how to do that plausibly." She just didn't even if she, personally, were there in a similar fashion herself. Thankfully Clark just turned and walked off, which she figured meant he had something, or at least was going to get Mina to help a bit.

  Mara turned too, but caught her left arm and sudden
ly pulled her toward the large white ship, meaning she had to take a few quick steps to prevent going down. It was abrupt, but the Guardian acted like she didn't notice that part, and they jogged to get the things from the storeroom. It was mainly just clothing, and a very old and almost too worn canvas sack.

  "For your new friend, to hold things in. Are you up for this Pran? We could just lock him in a cell, when he gets here. Just because it didn't work on the others..."

  "Yeah." The word came out in a whisper. She wasn't afraid, but that didn't mean she really thought she'd be up to pulling something like that off for certain. The drugs wouldn't help her there, would they? Then she faked a bland attitude, and made sure the clothing was all in the large bag, which she slung over her shoulder, the light tan fabric soft from years of use and hundreds of washings. "Or at least I'm willing to try. I don't think this one is like Dovish or Tammy. I think he's one of the military ones that the others spoke of in the woods. He said something that made me think that. If we can't get anything from the regular people, then his part will be harder."

  It had the feeling of being reasonable at least, so Pran didn't wait for an answer, just walking to the door of the ship, down the warm hallway. The ship was always toasty when the engine had been running and they had been all night. She really wanted a shower while the water was still hot too, if she could get one. The one nice thing about her new hairstyle was that it only took seconds to wash. That meant she could have a whole minute under the hot flow of water instead of desperately trying to rinse her hair like the others had to. One of the perks of being her, she realized.

  At the door, Mara stopped her with a hand on the shoulder that didn't have a sack slung over it.

  "I'd say be careful, but since this will probably end up with you dead anyway, I doubt that it's going to help. I can't say that I love the idea of throwing a young girl at the problem, but Clark has the right of it. We need to do something that these people won't expect. We might," She paused and looked around, then leaned in to whisper, her lips close enough to the side of Pran's face that she could feel the moisture of her breath. "We have to assume that there are others on the ship. Spies. It could be anyone. Even one of us. Clark or I. Or you. Keep that in mind. If anyone approaches you, you'll need to be ready to act like you're on their side." She walked away then, since one of the crewmen, an older man who Pran knew to be a drunk, at least in port, came by.

  He smiled at Mara's behind, and then winked at Pran when he realized he'd been caught looking.

  "You know, there was a time when a fine woman like that would have actually noticed me. Probably as she put the restraints on me to take me off to jail for drunkenness." He seemed pleased with his own joke and didn't stop, but Pran, thinking about what Mara just said, answered.

  It never hurt to be friendly after all.

  "Ah, well, isn't that the same for all of us? I mean, not me, though I'm on enough drugs at the moment to keep a small cow awake for the day." It didn't make that much sense, but that was a danger of improvisation. The man looked at her curiously though, so she went on. He even stopped for a bit, and noticed the bag she was carrying. She nodded at it awkwardly. "Don't worry, I'm not jumping ship. I found a man in the woods that got caught traveling, and needs some gear. He might be working with us. I don't know what he can do, but we can't just leave him in the snow. I was out all night, with Guardian Mara? We couldn't sleep, so had to take drugs to keep us up."

  "Oh? Why did she take a young girl out into that kind of weather? Was there anything that couldn't have waited a day that needed doing?" He didn't seem angry, just curious. It could be suspicious, or, she knew from having been around for a whole ten or eleven days, he might just have been bored. It happened on the ship, since there was only so much work to do.

  "Not a bit. We just got caught out, and ended up doing an inventory all day. Say, can you get with the Captain and set up any trade goods we might have for a barter session tonight? Or with the First Mate. Whoever handles that sort of thing. The Headman of Pumpkin Hollow asked about that yesterday. They're pretty well set goods wise, so may have some things to trade that we'd want. Or not. I don't know a lot about things like that. And I'm rambling now. I blame the drugs." She smiled widely, showing even white teeth, and the man reached out and put his hand on her arm.

  He didn't let go, but she understood that he was just flirting with her a bit. They hadn't been by a town with any prostitutes in a while and he was probably wondering if the new Bard was a bit less picky than Mara was.

  "That would be the Second Mate, and yes, I can see what we have in the hold that might work. Just don't let yourself fall too far into things like that. Drug or drink. Trust me when I tell you that a life without those things will be better for you than one with. Look at me, if you need an example. I should be a Captain by now, or at least a lazy First, at my age. I'm only Second on The Lament because Mara is my cousin. Anyone else would have 'forgotten' me at some town or another long ago, instead of collecting me from their drunk tank. I'll end the lecture now. You're collecting a new hire for us? I suppose we could let Apprentice Roy show him the ropes. He needs to have practice training someone anyway." He wandered off then, but looked back at her and smiled a bit sadly.

  Pran took a deep breath and set off, her feet stirring up the muddy ground that wasn't frozen yet near the base of the ship. It wasn't snowing, but there were heavy white clouds above and the glare was killing her eyes as she walked back to the little hut. She fell into a trance, trying to work out where the man would be, certain that it wouldn't be where she left him at all. Her rifle was in her right hand, and she circled around and came through the woods. This meant she was behind the little pine bough structure, which was a bit messier looking now, with the snow on it having been disturbed.

  She almost missed the bit of oil cloth that wasn't completely buried, since it blended with the snow that was covering most of it, and couldn't remember if the lump had been there next to the edge of the log that made up the back of the structure or not, the night before. It didn't move or anything, but she figured that this was new, and that her new friend Zeke would be under it. Possibly ready to kill her. She pointed her own weapon, knowing that if it came to a fight, she was dead already, not just eventually, like Mara figured.

  "Zeke? We need to get the other cloth too. I have clothing for you, and the Captain seems willing to take you on. I told them you were traveling, but you'll need some story about why that was. Maybe to find work or something?" She waited, but nothing happened. For a bit she wondered if he'd simply left, but she tried again anyway, standing well back. "Ezekiel? We don't have a lot of time. Or, well, really you have all day, but I have a show in the village tonight. So..."

  The lump on the ground, near the log, stood up suddenly, throwing snow off. The man spun, and noticed the rifle. He did, as she'd suspected, have a fire-arm out, but he didn't point it at her, but the ground, like the Guardians did. She copied that, since they were supposed to be friends.

  "I'm slipping. That should have thrown you off. What were you, before? Back in the day? Special Forces? A ninja?" He smiled as if that were a joke, and Pran made herself shrug, deciding that she couldn't pull off any of what he seemed to be saying at all. You had to actually know about something in order to fake being it.

  Back in the day? She was clearly too young to have been more than she seemed, wasn't she? Instead of burying herself in a story that would fall apart in about ten minutes, she took a deep breath and got ready to shoot the man. If she could hit him first, it might work to distract him.

  Then she told the truth.

  "No, I'm really just an Apprentice Bard. I used to live at an orphanage. I don't even understand the rest of what you said, but that isn't my job. You can fill me in on that part later. But in secret, since otherwise there's no point in doing this at all."

  She waited but the man just put his weapon away, back in the little leather carrying pouch that was under his fine green heavy jacket and s
hook the snow off of the cloth he was using. He started to try and fold it by himself, but that never worked well, Pran knew, so she carefully leaned her rifle, with the safety on, against the log and put the canvas sack down next to it, touching, so that it wouldn't fall down to easily. They worked in silence, but it didn't take long to get the other oil slick out and folded.

  Brushing a bit of snow from his boot the man, who could use a shave, she noticed again, gave a look that she could only assume was meant to be sly.

  "I didn't know that we had anyone that wasn't converted working with us. How did that happen?"

  "Bribes." She said it naturally, and didn't really know where the idea had come from at all. No one in her life had ever even mentioned the idea, outside of an old play or two in school. She didn't even know what anyone could have done that with, since she didn't have any money at all. What was she supposed to say if the man asked about that? She nearly blurted the rest of it, again, pretty much just going with the truth, not having anything else to go with. "I got into trouble at art school. I was the top student, but I made a mistake and the school council kicked me out. On the day before graduation. I was left on the street with nothing, hoping that I could find some drunk man willing to stick it in me for a few coins so I wouldn't have to sleep on the streets forever. The Guardians and the Judge on The Lament found me fighting with a drunk rapist in an alley. He was raping a townswoman. That got me a place on the ship, and I was approached there. In exchange for helping you, I got my position as a Bard back. I don't know how, but it came from the top. Anything else, and you'll have to explain it to me, but that's why."

  She didn't hold her breath, but moved to her rifle, just in case that story was too dumb for the man to believe. He noticed her doing it and tensed, his hand slowly moving toward his own weapon. Pran picked up the bag instead, and moved back to hand it to him.