by J. S. Fields
“So break us out of this world of yours, and let’s go eat!” Neek said. Preferring telepathy, she’d not projected mental imagery since she was a child, but, slowly, Neek managed to pull together an image of a table of food in the galley of the Pledge. Then she sent an image of herself and the child as they had appeared in the cargo hold, with Neek touching the unconscious girl’s shoulder.
The girl sent back a wave of loneliness, tempered this time. She took the images from Neek’s mind and rearranged them, showing Neek at the table with the food and herself huddled in a corner. Metal mesh walls formed around her small body, cutting her off from view.
With a groan, Neek withdrew the image. “You won’t be isolated, not like you are now, anyway.” When the girl’s frown only deepened, Neek crouched to one knee to look the girl in the eyes. She reformed the image again, with the girl sitting next to her at the table. This time she added Yorden and Nicholas, laughing and eating food off one another’s plates. She raised one of her hands up in the image, constructing a copy of the stuk on her fingertips. She brought her fingertips to rest on the girl’s arm and then pushed as best she could at the girl’s mind.
The child stared at her, sending out confusion. Neek sighed. “The stuk will allow a faint connection. I’m not a telepath, but Neek—my people—have a sort of mental reading ability. If you’d just break this damn dreamscape, I could show you!” Neek watched the child’s eyes for some form of comprehension. “You don’t even hear the words I’m speaking, do you? That’s just great.”
She stood and turned away from the replaying scene just as the main cage collapsed and the Risalians entered. There, in the corner, was a door. She hadn’t noticed it before. Neek marched over. “There’s a reason I don’t have offspring,” she said, knowing full well the girl didn’t understand. “I don’t have patience for this.” Neek opened the door with her free hand and stepped into the next room. The door swished shut behind her, and the background melted from a dark corridor back into the room she had just been in. The scene continued to play.
“We are leaving!” Neek proclaimed emphatically. She walked over to one of the Risalians. “Is this the issue?” she asked, making sure to maintain the mental link she had with the child to ensure her attention. Neek grabbed the Risalian by the tunic, took a gun from hir holster, and shot the Risalian in the head. Xe crumpled to the floor as hir skull blew apart in the exact manner of the girl’s mother.
“This is over, see? Done. It’s not real. It has no hold over you.” Neek continued through the Risalians, firing at each one in succession. When she reached the adult Ardulan woman, the scene was drawing to a close, with the Risalians holding the headless torso. Neek punched one of the Risalians in the face, and xe fell to the ground, releasing the body. She fired her laser gun execution style into the back of hir head. The second struggled to maintain control of the torso. The girl looked on with huge eyes.
Neek stalked back over to the girl and grabbed her arm. “End this,” she insisted, placing the gun into the child’s hand. Neek built an image of the girl firing the gun at the one remaining Risalian and the Risalian crumpling to the floor. Then Neek changed the image back to the Pledge’s galley, overflowing with food.
Comprehension dawned in the girl’s mind. She approached the Risalian with halting steps. The Risalian continued to struggle with the mother’s body. Xe made no move to counter or avoid her—Neek assumed the girl’s mind could only utilize memories it had previously experienced.
She moved as close as she could to the Risalian and then glanced back at Neek. She sent a questioning feeling through their link. Neek sent back assurance.
“One way or another, end this nightmare.”
The girl fired the pistol. The Risalian’s head shattered, and as the fragments fell to the floor, the dreamscape began to melt. Neek felt stabbing sensations in her head, as if the child were trying to burrow into it. Neek sent a memory of pain from her own childhood—a spill onto a gravel road from a hover sphere, and the child backed off, maintaining only peripheral contact.
The dreamscape turned white around them, and the white faded into gray. Sounds—real sounds—began to penetrate the haze. She could feel someone’s touch…
“Neek!” Nicholas shouted, shaking her shoulder. “Captain! I think she’s coming out of it!”
Neek found herself on a pile of blankets, with Yorden standing over her. Her fingers were still stuck to the girl’s shoulder.
“Neek!” Yorden crouched down, cupping the sides of her face.
Neek groaned and tried to sit up, but her attached fingers kept her from completing the action. “Ughhh,” she moaned. “I feel like I just woke up from a night of bad drinking with a Nugel.”
Nicholas laughed and wrapped Neek’s free arm around his shoulders, supporting her weight. “Between dogfights and ceremonies, when have you ever had a drink with a Mmnn…Muh…oh, man. With a Nugel?” he asked.
“I haven’t,” she responded, trying to get her eyes to focus. “But I imagine this would be the result.” Neek glanced down at the child, who was stirring. “Not the child, obviously. The headache. Definitely the headache.”
“We’re glad to have you back, Neek,” Yorden said. She could see the stress lines on his forehead and drew a few conclusions.
“How long was I out?”
“Couple days,” Nicholas responded. “We’re en route to Craston. It has the closest physician who can operate on Neek patients.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Neek said, returning her attention to the child. Through her stuk link, she sent a feeling of friendliness. “Our little friend here is about to wake up as well. We both want food.”
The girl’s eyes blinked open. She squinted at Yorden and Nicholas, only to rear back, burrowing into Neek.
“Oh, they’re harmless,” Neek said, but at the girl’s mental questioning, Neek sent soothing thoughts. “You two want to put together some lunch? There are a number of things I think we should discuss.”
* * *
“Best I can guess, she’s some kind of telepath,” Neek said mid-chew. They had all congregated in the galley, and Yorden had thrown together most of the available food on the ship. Neek took her time sorting through the bits of cold meat and fruit, leaving the fibrous plant material for the girl, who tore through it all at an alarming rate.
“So, uh, Neek,” Nicholas said warily. “Why is she jittery? She was pretty mellow right after you two woke up.”
“Fuck off, junior,” Neek growled. “Kid’s got problems. Risalians are protocol-strict, sure, but what I just saw…” Neek trailed off, and her voice softened. “I know it speaks of my upbringing, but execution? I—we can talk about it later. Maybe after I get separated from my new accessory.”
Yorden huffed. “The Charted Systems’ goal of absolute nonviolence has made all of you incredibly naïve. Peace always comes at a cost.” He looked pointedly at Nicholas. The youth’s expression turned defensive.
“Don’t start,” the captain warned. “I was alive when Earth joined the Systems, back when morality was negotiable.”
“Morality is not—” Nicholas tried to argue, but Yorden cut him off again.
“No. Listen. I’m not saying peace isn’t a great goal, but it takes time for beings to settle into it. This peace—” He gestured widely. “—came on the backs of the Risalians, and it came overnight.” He nodded his head at the girl, who looked up from her vegetable with a wary expression. “Secret Ardulan-creatures in stasis cylinders? Could be pretty powerful if used correctly, if Neek myths are true.”
“Which they’re not,” Neek said quickly as she wiped her mouth. “And if they were, a kid telepath can’t possibly be of that much use. Right?” Neek reconsidered her words after she finished speaking. She’d been forced from her homeworld just as violence left the Systems. It hadn’t seemed unnatural at the time, but now…
“I do not like where this puts us,” Yorden continued. “We’ve got Risalian ski
ffs we’re responsible for destroying and a kid who was probably stolen from one of their ships.” He paused and looked right at Neek. “Did you forget that this is a transport vessel? We move cargo. We don’t always move legal cargo, but cargo nonetheless. Minor illegalities are one thing but this—” He pointed to the girl. “This is going to get us killed.”
“Captain,” Nicholas sputtered as he buried his hands in thick, black curls. “Killed? They’re Risalians, not villains. We don’t kill sentients in the Charted Systems. Our laws won’t allow it.”
Neek caught the flutter in his voice and managed a smile. “Calm down, Nick. I don’t think the Risalians are suddenly going to pull all their transport ships off the borders to come after us. Doubt they meant to shoot at us. They’re certainly not going to take the warships out of dry dock for a kid.” She looked down at the girl on her lap and sent her a questioning tug.
The girl looked up at Neek and smiled, patting her stomach.
“As for her,” Neek continued, “she’s no Ardulan. A telepath, yes. Traumatized, yes. Responsible for forcing peace on trillions?” Neek raised an eyebrow at Yorden. “I think that’s a little unrealistic. Look at her, for andal’s sake. She’s a fucking kid.”
“She’s not human, either, if that helps,” Nicholas added. “She doesn’t match any species in the Systems. I scanned her while you two were out.”
“I want her off my ship, Neek. The Nugels knew exactly what they were doing when they gave her to us. Time to pass the problem on. Are we or are we not taking her to your homeworld?”
Neek leaned her head back against the wall and stared at the crumbling ceiling. The wispy presence in the back of her mind flitted forward, and a tickle that felt surprisingly like a question surfaced. Of course, the girl could be asking for something as simple as more food, or a blanket, or for Yorden to shave his beard, so Neek ignored the possibility that the girl was inquiring about the pilot’s current mental state. Hell, Neek wasn’t even certain what she felt right now. Taking the girl to her planet had seemed like a great idea before, when Neek wasn’t thinking clearly. The last thing the girl needed was to be used as a political tool, even if her uncle was well-meaning. Still, the Neek people were isolationists at best, and the Risalians would have trouble recovering the girl if they got her on-world. Neek would just have to make sure to remain with the girl, filter out some of the crazier zealots and such. She’d talk with her uncle first. Maybe her own parents would be up to raising the girl, which would of course involve many visits.
“I would need to make some calls first, Captain. Get things sorted.”
The captain stood from his chair and made his way towards the cockpit. “Get yourself separated from her. We’ll be at Craston in two days. After that, I need coordinates, one way or another.” His voice dropped. “I have contacts on Craston, Neek. They could find the girl parents there, too. Help her disappear, if you think your planet isn’t the right place for her.”
Neek brought her head back down and turned to the girl, who was looking at her quizzically. “I’ll keep it in mind. Until then—” Neek made an exaggerated movement with her bound arm. “Would one of you be kind enough to bring one of the galley knives? I’d like to see if I can separate us.”
“Nicholas, help her out,” Yorden said, swishing his hips between two ceramic pots thick with bamboo as he headed out of the galley. Still upset, Nicholas grabbed a pointed meat knife from a drawer and brought it over to Neek.
“Oh, cheer up,” Neek said as she awkwardly tried to pry at the dry stuk. “She’s alive, isn’t she? We got her out of that stupid cylinder. I’m not going to just dump her on Neek, if that’s what you’re worried about. Probably not on Craston, either.” Neek handed the knife back to Nicholas. “See what you can do. It’s a bad angle for me, and I’d rather not slice either of us if I can help it.”
“This isn’t okay, Neek. Why are the Risalians—who are supposed to keep the peace—trafficking a kid?” He sighed and plunged the tip of the knife in the center of the stuk on her first finger. It slid in with a little push, and he began a gentle sawing motion around the perimeter. “I’ve read things in some of the old law books of Earth. Really bad things that Terrans did to kids even sixty years ago. Do you think…I mean, that stuff isn’t supposed to happen anymore.” Nicholas finished one finger and then moved on to the next.
“I think we have a lot of unanswered questions. Why anyone would want to mimic an Ardulan, especially when I’m the only Neek off-world… I just don’t see the point.” Another finger popped free, and Neek wiggled it gratefully. “Although I will say that Yorden doesn’t see demons where there aren’t any. Something’s up.”
Nicholas frowned as he cut through the final millimeters of hardened stuk on Neek’s littlest finger.
“Finally,” Neek said. “I want to take a nice, long soak in a tube and try to forget the past few days.” She pulled her fingers off slowly, allowing the still-wet tips to glide briefly over the girl’s arm. Finally, she broke the link.
The child’s eyes went wide, and she dove for Neek’s hand. Neek evaded her, shaking her head, but that only made the girl more hysterical. It didn’t help that Neek’s mind had a distinct emptiness in it. Neek found herself disconcerted by her sudden dependence on the girl’s mental link.
“What’s going on?” Nicholas asked, trying to get his arms around the girl’s torso and pull her off of Neek.
“Broke the link,” Neek answered, dazed.
“She’s going nuts!” Nicholas exclaimed, bracing the girl in a modified bear hug. “Do something!”
Neek blinked a few times and stood. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to try.” She reached down and grabbed the girl’s hand.
The link snapped back into place, clearing the strange fuzziness in Neek’s mind. Panic and fear slammed into her, past the places she had shown the girl she wasn’t to go. The girl dug into more memories.
Her father was going on a long trip, and she wouldn’t see him for months. She was leaving for flight school. Large hands were pulling at her as the sounds of the settees streaked through the sky. She was placed on a light transport with only the clothes she wore. The sound of the door closing and locking. The pressurization of the cabin. The starfield that filled the window as she left Neek’s orbit.
“Fuck!” Neek said as she choked back a sob. “I don’t have time for this.” She sent a strong wave of frustration towards the girl.
Surprised, the child pulled back.
Neek gathered her emotions and forced her voice to steady. “Try to grasp this. I’m not your mother, okay? I have a life, and it doesn’t involve little girls.” She shot an image into the child’s mind of herself sleeping in her quarters, and the girl sleeping on the pile of blankets in the cargo room.
The child stared at her blankly.
Neek let out a small scream of frustration. “Let’s try a different tactic. Nicholas, keep holding her.” Nicholas nodded, tightening his hold.
Neek sat back down in her chair and dropped all her inner barriers. She gave a gentle pull, inviting the girl in. At once, the girl’s mind wove through hers, looking at memories, emotions—anything that caught her attention—but not bringing them to the surface. Neek drove her towards the pool of her current emotions and towards the memories of their recent encounters.
The girl paused in this area for a bit, probing into some sections more deeply than others. Get it? Neek thought in words instead of images. You can’t stay here. It’s not safe. I can’t take care of you.
The girl’s head shot up, and Neek felt her consciousness zip off into another area of her mind. Confused, Neek tried to follow, but the idea of poking around in areas of her own brain made her nauseated. Suddenly, Neek felt a jolt of pure glee come from the child.
You…are…mad. At me, the girl spoke into her mind. At me! Please…no.
You suddenly have language? Neek responded, incredulous.
In your mind, the girl said. You communicate like…like
this? With words? They’re like…symbols to represent images, instead of using images directly.
Me and the rest of the galaxy. Neek gave a gentle push with her mind. You want to back off a bit? We need to talk about boundaries.
The girl retreated to the far reaches of Neek’s mind. I do not…don’t like being alone, she said, fear creeping into her tone. You don’t like it, either.
Learn to deal with it, Neek responded. I’ve got a ship to fly. Besides, you’re not alone. Yorden, Nicholas, and I are here. We’re just not, you know, here.
She tapped the girl on the temple gently.
I guess, the girl responded hesitantly. Why are you so sticky?
Huh? Neek puzzled over the question until the girl sent a mental picture of Neek’s fingertips.
Oh, that. It’s stuk. My species produces it from our sweat glands, but predominantly from the fingertips. It’s supposed to boost empathy, but mostly it just gives away your emotions. She wiggled her free hand, and small droplets of stuk fell on the girl’s leg. Once it dries, it crumbles off.
The girl remained quiet, but Neek could feel other questions forming. Several times, Neek tried to ask the child’s name, but forming the question without…without sounding utterly rude was impossible. Let’s make a deal, Neek offered. You go sleep in the cargo room for a few hours. When you wake up, you can come find me, and we’ll talk a little bit. She paused, and tried to add emphasis to her words. Just for a little bit. Then you go back to the cargo hold, and you stay there, unless I say otherwise, until we get to Craston.
The girl’s eyes started to tear up. Okay, came the weak reply. You’ll be lonely then, too.
Yes, but I’m going to work my way through it. See? She sent what she hoped were feelings of confidence.
The girl didn’t seem convinced but didn’t object when Neek carefully peeled her fingers off.
Neek gingerly handed the child to Nicholas, trying to ignore the sudden emptiness in her mind. Not an Ardulan, Neek told herself firmly. Just a kid. There is no reason to get attached. She will be fine.