Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  “I’m so glad your brother was able to remove the implant and clean out the nanos. I know you are going to be fine.”

  She held his limp hand to her cheek and brushed kisses against his palm. “Soon you will be awake and strong.”

  What am I going to do? She was completely in love with him. At least he would be healthy. And with his family.

  Karvar reappeared, and she pressed a kiss on Kaistril’s cheek. “Sleep well,” she whispered.

  As the men escorted her back to the lonely, utilitarian room, she struggled not to cry. She loved him. Real love, the kind that lasted a lifetime. Locked back into the ugly room, she cried hard, gulping sobs. Kaistril would live…he would get better…he had a full life with a family to return to. Maybe there was even a woman, back on New Prague, some strong athletic Puregen…

  Was there any place for her in his new life? Did he even have good memories of her? She’d been his mistress, while he’d been a slave cyborg…that couldn’t hold good memories for him. She must remind him of his captivity.

  But the ship. Sabralia was sure his memories of their time together on the ship were pleasant. She knew he enjoyed the intimate sexual interludes…but for her it had been life-changing. She would never forget. For her, it had been lovemaking, not just for the pure carnal pleasure, but for the soft look in his light blue eyes after he came, the warm arms that held her without a command. But did he want her in his real life?

  Chapter Nine

  A summons at her door awoke her. She sat up, full of hope that Kaistril would be awake and alert soon.

  However, two soldiers entered her small room.

  “Pack the items you want to take with you,” one of them said.

  “Take with me? Where?”

  “We are moving you to a nonmilitary transport. It is safer.” Confused, Sabralia packed the few items she had placed around the room into her bag. Safer than a military transport?

  “Is Kaistril going to be on this transport, too?”

  “I do not know. He is still under the doctor’s care and may follow when he is stronger. Our orders are to get you out safely.”

  “It will be more comfortable for a lady, than on a military ship,” the other soldier said.

  That might well be true, if the rest of this ship was anything like this room.

  The men escorted her off-ship to a small transport. From there, they flew away to a dock across the Hub.

  One soldier got out to arrange her departure. When he returned, they walked her to a glide path that moved them toward a loading dock.

  The walkway was full of people and even a few herds of farm animals in transport container fields. People were talking all around them, and Sabralia was shocked to hear the language of her homeworld. She turned to the people speaking it.

  “You are from Coloun?” she asked in a low voice.

  “Yes, miss. We are returning to Coloun with breeding stock.”

  “This ship is going to Coloun?”

  “Of course.”

  Anger filled her. They were sending her away from Kaistril. Back to her home world, where Sirn could find her, where Sirn ruled. She turned her face away slowly, trying not to show her emotion to the escort.

  Along the walkway were small booths and portable merchant stands. Several held the Jack boots and glider boards that were so popular with Hub people.

  She had credits, left over from the ship’s sale, and she knew they would work with just a thumbprint.

  She just needed to lose the escort.

  Two young men with a stack of glider boards were near the walkway and she would soon pass them. She caught their eyes and smiled, wiggling a finger to get one to come close. “Get me off this glide path and away from these two soldiers, and I will pay a triple price for a glider,” she said to them, in her home language. I hope they understand.

  The boys’ faces burst into smiles. “Certainly, miss,” one spoke in Coloun.

  “Where to, miss?”

  “Farther down. These men I’m with are forcing me onto the ship. I don’t want to go. But I don’t know how to run a glider or the boots. Could you carry me down a couple levels? And show me how they work? I’ll pay you.” She spoke quickly. One of the guards was starting to frown.

  “Sure. We get it.” Sabralia turned away and walked with her escort several paces, until the two boys suddenly grabbed her on both sides, and yanked her off the path. She screamed as they dropped—she thought they would hit bottom. However, the boys’ gliders suddenly burst on, and they floated down several levels, finally landing in a crowded plaza, full of eateries and other businesses, clogged with customers. Far above she could hear the angry shouts of her escort, and she grinned.

  The glider wasn’t that hard to use, it already held an energy charge, while the boots would have to be moved to rev up. She chose a glider with a narrow hand stick for direction. Then, after paying the boys well and practicing with the glider, she took off to a mid-section plaza, this one very large.

  The soldiers would look for her, she thought. Her bright blue floral cloak would be easy enough to spot. She found a clothing store and covered her fashionable floral cloak with a dark brown one. On impulse, she ducked into a small tea shop after seeing several women at the windows. Soldiers would not think about looking for her there, she was sure. While drinking a cup of spice, accompanied by a plate of sweet buns, she asked general questions about the Hub from her server, a kind-faced older woman. By the time she left, she had coordinates for a safe, but modest, sleeping inn. Some hours later, after she arrived at her safe, tiny room, she tried to decide what to do.

  Kaistril hadn’t sent her away, it was his brothers—that bossy Kyler and that scary silent brother with the hair all slicked back, and the focals…they wanted her out of Kaistril’s life.

  Sirn might still be alive, she’d heard that rumor. Perhaps that was why they’d sent her away. She was still a married woman. But Kaistril said she could be divorced by New Prague law. Or maybe their information wasn’t current and they didn’t know about the coupe…maybe they thought she was loyal to Sirn.

  Sabralia couldn’t think of anything else to do except wait for the guards to quit looking for her. Kaistril…a tear slipped down her cheek. He would be all right. His brothers did care about him, even if they were unkind to her.

  Her credits would last for a long while. There was enough to get on a transport to anywhere. Not to Coloun, though. If Sirn was alive, harboring her would be a death sentence for her cousin. Not that Sirn cared. It was just a matter of pride.

  She could take a transport to New Prague. From there perhaps she could get a message to Kaistril, letting him know where she was.

  Daveed had his personal contact information!

  She left her cubicle and took a transport toward Daveed’s apartments. Daveed and Amira we surprised to see her. They were packing in preparation for their journey to Yonder

  She left them, with full contact information, then searched for transport packages to Yonder. She stayed up long past her sleep cycle, researching various immigration packages, trying to decide what would work for her. Many came with a skilled training course. She would definitely need one of those, since she had no life skills. A transport to Yonder would be boarding in three days. It might even be the same one Daveed and his family was on. She could hide from the New Prague Military until then. At least they were easy to see in their uniforms.

  I will probably never see him again. There was war and more war, and she would be on a remote world, sewing tough work clothing for farmers, or growing herbs for harvest. Kaistril would be with his Tier fighting for freedom. Right before she left the Hub she would beam a message to him through the Hub’s system, so someday he would be sure to receive it, telling him where she was going.

  It was a long time until she slept.

  ***

  Kaistril awoke in a medbed. It took a moment before he remembered Kyler and Karvar. He was on his way home. He stood up, expecting to feel wea
k and dizzy, but he felt great.

  Karvar suddenly burst into the room. “You’re awake. How do you feel?”

  “Great. Not dizzy. Normal. I probably lost some muscle mass, but that will return.”

  Karvar smiled. “Since I’m not familiar with the appliances you wore, we were worried.”

  “Where’s Sabralia?” He could hardly wait to see her. He could hardly wait to get her alone…

  Karvar pushed up his focals and Kaistril frowned. That was a nervous sign…

  “Well, the thing is, Kyler decided…I decided too, that she should return to her home planet. She is Sirn’s wife, you know. A security risk.”

  Kyler joined them.

  “She’s one of Sirn’s wives. He has dozens. And Sirn’s probably dead. There was a coupe at his pleasure palace. We managed to escape.” Kaistril frowned at them. Fury roared through him. They’d sent her away, into danger?

  “She mentioned something about a fight or something.”

  “You didn’t ask her about what happened?” Kaistril stared at his larger brother in disbelief.

  “No. We were concerned about getting you stabilized.”

  Kaistril raised an eyebrow. “Really? You attended Karvar in the surgery to remove the appliance inside my head?”

  “Well, no, but…” His voice trailed off.

  “So, what did you talk to her about?”

  “I didn’t talk to her, all right? We ran a bio on her. We knew she was married to Sirn. I figured she was a security risk. Then we searched her belongings and found films. Dozens of them, with Sirn’s Forces’ encryption.”

  “I knew they were there. We were bringing them to you, you idiots.”

  “We thought she might send information back to Sirn.”

  “Seriously? How does that make any sense! About what? A cyborg getting appliances removed? That she had a lot of his high-tech military secrets?” Kaistril shook his head in disgust. “So find me a transport to Coloun. I’ll meet up with her there.”

  Kyler and Karvar exchanged quick glances.

  “What?”

  Kyler took a deep breath. “She didn’t make it onto the transport. Apparently, she paid a couple glider vendors to glide her off the walkway. The escorts I sent didn’t have floaters on. She got away.”

  Kaistril burst out laughing. “My plump little queen outwitted your ensigns?” He stared them down for a moment, then knew what he had to do. “I want my cyborg appliances. Right now.”

  Karvar looked confused. He pushed his focals back up his nose.

  “They are in my lab. I wanted to look at them.”

  “Get them. And get me some quick food and clothes. Not a uniform.” Then he turned to Kyler. “So do you have soldiers out looking for her?”

  “Yes. But it appears she has many credits, enough to rent a room and find different clothing.”

  “Of course she has plenty. We sold half of the harem’s jewels and a state of the art luxury cruiser.” Karvar came back with a tray holding the cyborg appliances.

  “So you got that inner piece out?” Kaistril asked.

  “Yes. We also ran your blood through a filtering process to clean out the nanos that were keeping you asleep.”

  “Good.” Kaistril grabbed the temple appliance and went to a small mirror over a lav.

  “Well, study up those films, little brother. From what I could see, they hold most of Sirn’s campaign notes, cyborg mechanics and weaponry specs.” As he spoke, Kaistril activated the temple appliance and slapped it onto his head.

  “I can find her with these appliances. They are keyed to her.” He pushed the arm com on over the neatly healed wound and did the same with the thigh appliance. Their lights flashed as the appliances grounded themselves in his body. It didn’t even hurt that much. Data poured into his mind. Just like old times. Only not. Now they would serve his purposes, he wouldn’t be serving theirs. He smiled.

  “I need clothes. Not a uniform. Now!”

  “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

  Kaistril raised an eyebrow at his little brother. “You removed the remainder of the failsafe and the nanos, right?”

  “Y-Yes,” Karvar sputtered.

  “Then it’s all right.” He searched data on his arm com. “Since you idiots lost my woman in the sphere, I’m going to go find her. With my appliances, I can track her. I need my weapons, too.”

  “We wanted to research those,” Kyler protested.

  “Then some of your weapons.” Kaistril’s words were clipped. He was losing what little patience he owned. If he wasn’t so glad to see his brothers, he would have pounded them by now. Putting Sabralia in danger, alone in a hub!

  He looked up at his astonished brother. “I want those items now. If I don’t get them in five minutes, I’m leaving without them. You can tell Maman that you let me go out into a Hub with no weapons.”

  “I’ll get some men to accompany you,” Kyler said.

  “No thanks. If I get close and she sees your men, she might take off. You didn’t exactly make her feel welcome, did you? It will be quicker if I go alone.”

  “I’ve got clothes you can wear,” Karvar said.

  Karvar left and retuned with a small bag of clothing. Kaistril dressed in New Prague clothing—syntho skin leggings, a blue tunic of brushed cloth, and a wide belt that held several compartments. Karvar had the knee-high boots of treated eth skin, which molded to his feet just right. “I’d forgotten how good it felt to be dressed like a Protectorate,” he said. “It is good.”

  “You look fine.”

  Afterwards, they led Kaistril to the dock, trying to dissuade him the whole time. Giving up, Kyler offered him a small blaster and a small credit stick.

  “Don’t need the stick, I have lots of credits. Got a floater vest?”

  What if she decided to hop some transport to somewhere? Surely she wouldn’t do anything crazy. Hopefully she’s holed up somewhere, expecting to hear from me. He tapped a message to her.

  He hadn’t purchased a transmitter code for this sphere, so the transmission wouldn’t go though. He wondered if Sabralia knew you had to buy a transmitter code unless you were calling a local business. There were so many things she didn’t know, going from her agricultural homeworld to Sirn’s Harem. The sooner he found her, the better. “I’ll take your credits after all.”

  After Kaistril left the ship, he searched for her signal. The sphere had many areas where magnetism interfered with his signal search, and he would need to be quite close to her in distance to find her. This could take some time. He found a small glider that would move him faster than his float vest and headed for a Hub station where he could get a transmitter code.

  “I’m coming with you.” Kyler was dressed in non-military clothing.

  “Yes, because she won’t possibly recognize you without your uniform.” Kaistril felt sarcastic, still put out with their highhanded behavior.

  “I’ll stay back.”

  “Good.”

  “Her signal is weak. I have to be within a mile to register her. That was never a problem in the Harem. Here, it could take awhile.” He got access to the Hub com and tried to contact her, but she didn’t answer her com. She probably thought Kyler and Karvar were trying to get in touch.

  Several hours later, Kaistril located her signal on a large plaza in the midsection of the sphere. It was crowded with vendors, traders, small hoppers, and youngsters on gliders and floats.

  He looked for her floral cloak, but didn’t see it. She probably covered it with something drab.

  Then…he found her.

  Sabralia was tucked into the side of a tiny eatery, which seemed relatively quiet. She was wearing a dull brown cloak over her floral one, just as he suspected, and she’d had her hair done in an elaborate coiffure of tiny braids and ribbons. She also wore face paint, quite heavy. She looked different, pretty in an exotic way, older and more sophisticated. Good disguise.

  “Sabra,” he called. She looked up and her eyes opened wid
e.

  “Kaistril? Are you all right?” She flew toward him, and then she was in his arms, soft and sweet. Right where she was supposed to be, and he was never letting her go again.

  He laughed, relieved she was safe. “I’m great. Better than ever. You look wonderful. I was worried about you alone on the Hub.”

  “I’m fine. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

  He pressed his lips to hers, anxious to taste her, threading one hand into her expensive coiffure. Her arms slid tight around his neck and her mouth was as hungry as his. He slid his hands slowly down her back to her bottom, cupped her, and pulled her up tight against his already hard cock, so the juncture of her fit over his swollen member.

  He grinned. “Come. We’ll take a transport to the ship.”

  She giggled again.

  They walked with arms around each other to a small dock.

  “Are you wearing these so you could find me?” She tapped on his arm com.

  “Yes. You can’t hide from me when I have these on.” He pressed a swift kiss on her lips. “My brothers are idiots, but they’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about any of that.”

  “I’ll bet they were shocked when you put the appliances back on.”

  He nodded. “Yes. But I do like the enhanced capabilities they give me. Quite a good addition for a warrior.”

  A transport docked, and as they turned to enter, the door slid open on several men in white uniforms who held small blasters pointed at them.

  Sabralia froze, but Kaistril yanked her off the platform into a fall, while blasters fired all around them.

  “Float!” he yelled as they dropped, and their fall slowed as the vest activated.

  After they descended down, Kaistril dragged her behind a strut, and then they were both sliding down it.

  The transport couldn’t move as swiftly as they did and the soldiers had no floaters on.

  “Under here.” He pulled them under a walkway, close to the top, so they were hidden from view. “We’re gong to slide across the top here, then try to get to that plaza.” He indicated a very busy plaza. The transport was on the other side of the walkway. It would have to cross a busy transport route to get to the plaza, which was jammed with transports, hoppers, and people on floaters and glide rides.