“You are free to roam the Ark as you please,” Prime Minister Treyin said as she dabbed her large forehead with a cloth. “The storms penetrate the Ark’s higher levels, so I would suggest staying away from them unless you’re wearing containment suits. You must also control your emotions. A heightened emotional state will trouble my people.” The female minister gave us all a forced smile, and I imagined troubling her people would earn her ire.
“A few more minutes and you’ll each be escorted to your lodgings,” she continued. “We shall wait here until then.”
The knights began to talk amongst each other, and the squires were enthralled by the chromium tapestries hanging from the living walls. The artwork seemed to have been first etched in lines and then filled with a glowing metal. They depicted the evolutionary cycle of an embryo in stasis that eventually became an Ecomese empath. The final image showed a flaring explosion, and I guessed it represented the death of one who absorbed too much storm energy.
“So you told me you came to Ecoma so your crew can recuperate,” I heard Treyin say to the captain. “Is that all you wish to gain from your visit?”
I was interested in hearing the captain’s answer to the question. I felt a little guilty about eavesdropping, but I stifled the feeling and shuffled a little closer to them while looking at another piece of artwork.
“I wanted to see an old friend,” Captain Cross answered.
“You cannot hide the existence of other motives, Atticus. I know you too well. There is another purpose for your presence here, and it does not involve reconnecting with your past.”
Captain Cross sighed. “Is it possible to hide anything from empaths?”
“I’m afraid not,” Treyin said.
“What about if I had implants?” The captain’s voice was barely above a whisper, and I almost didn’t hear him.
The Ecomese minister gasped, and the gills along her cheeks fluttered. “How do you know about them?”
Captain Cross smiled, and the minister’s eyes bulged.
“You’ve come here to request the implants?” she asked incredulously. “I cannot give them to you. This mission will fail, Atticus.”
“I know you won’t at the moment, but I’m hoping to convince you otherwise.”
“Even you cannot persuade me to give over our sacred technology.”
“Is that a challenge?” Captain Cross grinned. “We’ll be here for twenty-eight Caledonian days. More than enough time for you to see the light.”
The prime minister folded her arms and frowned. “I will remain stalwart, like the ship I once served on.”
“Yet you were not stalwart enough to remain with us.” The captain wore a satisfied smile beneath his peppered beard. “Is there anything the crew needs to know while they’re on your Ark? I’ve already informed them about the Dax.”
“The Dax aren’t much trouble anymore. It’s mostly my people who cause trouble now. The Dax have an embassy which orbits the planet, and they only visit our Ark infrequently for supplies and things. Your people should have no problems with them. Now, I believe it’s time your crew was taken to their quarters.”
Ecomese attendants in sheer gowns filtered into the chamber. They spoke with the knights for a bit before a tall female escorted the squires and me to a large room.
“My name is Alin,” she said as she stood in the doorway. “You will remain in this room until you’re granted approval to leave.”
“Approval from whom?” Neville asked. “Didn’t your prime minister say we were free to go as we please?”
“That is correct. My overseer received a request from two Caledonian knights, and it is my duty to fulfill it.”
“Which knights?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.
“I saw my overseer communicating with a very angry knight with vermillion-colored hair. He was accompanied by another knight who I felt takes great pleasure in death.”
This empath must have read the emotions of Leith and Olav. We couldn’t disobey their orders, so we’d be stuck here.
“Do you know when we’re allowed to leave?” I asked in frustration.
“Yes,” Alin said.
“Can you tell us?”
“No.”
It seemed the knights were going to do the best to make my life difficult.
“So you were assigned to help us?” Nathan asked the woman, and she nodded. “I wouldn’t want to be rude to such a beautiful woman, but you’re not being very helpful.”
“I am sorry,” she said. “I have been given orders. If you wish for anything, please signal for me with this.” The empath held out a palm device, and Neville took it from her.
“Anything except leaving this room, right?” he asked.
“Almost.” Alin bowed her head at us before leaving, and the doorway closed like two intertwining hands.
“Can you believe those knights?” I asked, and I squeezed my fists in anger. “How much longer can they hold a grudge against me?”
“I’d guess somewhere between forever and infinity,” Richard said with a frown.
I glanced down at my prot-belt and brought up the menu. The comms link between the rest of the crew was down. “I can’t contact the captain either.”
I plopped onto a mattress and considered our options. The only thing stopping me from storming out from the room immediately was the knights’ orders. We could always say we hadn’t received them, but that might get our assigned empath, Alin, into trouble.
“And I was looking forward to chasing down a few Ecomese girls,” Nathan said. “Did you get a look at their prime minister? Bend me over and fuck me sideways with a battle-axe; she was gorgeous.”
Richard pressed a hand to the living wall, and the sticky membrane closed over one of his fingers. His eyes bulged in surprise, and he cried out. The wall emitted a pop, and the squire freed himself.
Neville snorted. “I would advise against getting too close to any of the females here. They’ve evolved beyond us. For all we know, they might devour their mates.”
“Oh . . .” Nathan shuddered.
My skin had heated up, and I wiped a layer of sweat from my neck. “Did it just get really hot in here?”
Richard’s face was now flaring crimson, and his shoulder-length hair was soaking wet. “Bugger those knights. I say we leave here. I’m not going to stay here while we get cooked.”
He marched over to the doorway, but there were no sensors or buttons to command the door to open.
“Open door,” Richard commanded. The door remained closed, and the squire gave it a punch. Again, the behemoth attempted to swallow his hand, and he heaved his arm away with a concerted effort.
I searched the living walls for some kind of control panel to adjust the heating but couldn’t find one. The only inorganic objects in the room were the beds and the trunks beside them. It was like being inside a giant’s mouth who’d swallowed the contents of a bedroom.
And it was getting hotter, almost as if we were standing inside an oven.
The scorching heat made thinking difficult, and my brain felt like it was broiling inside my skull. The sweat pouring from my body almost instantly evaporated before more liquid leaked from my pores.
I searched the living walls for something resembling a thermostat, and I found a box made from a bone-like material to the right of the door. I slipped my fingers beneath the casing, gritted my teeth, and tore the box from the wall. Something squealed, and I guessed I’d somehow hurt the Ark.
“Hurry, man!” Nathan yelled. “I think I’m going to melt!”
Inside the box were a bunch of wires and cables that looked like veins and arteries. I wasn’t sure whether tearing them out would kill the heat. It could even make it much worse, but we didn’t really have a choice. If I didn’t do something soon, we would all be dead.
I figured the knights were playing a sick game on us, but I couldn’t be sure they’d end it before we came to harm.
I thrust my hand into the box
and started yanking out the cables. Blue liquid burst from the severed wires, and the room shuddered. The squealing started again, and this time it was so loud my ears numbed in agony.
Then it silenced, and the air in the room suddenly cooled. In a few seconds, it was freezing, and my puffing produced dozens of little steam clouds. My clothes were soaked with sweat, and my throat was harsh and dry.
The doors peeled open, and our assigned attendant stepped inside.
Richard leapt at Alin, and Neville and Nathan grabbed his arms to hold him back. “You almost killed us!”
She clutched her hands to her chest, and her eyes widened. “I simply did as the knights requested. I did not know the heat might kill you. I thought the old race enjoyed warm temperatures.”
“We like it warm, not scorching! I was almost completely roasted and ready to eat!” Richard tugged against the other squires, and I could see him strangling the empath if they let him go. She seemed terrified by his rage, and I felt sorry for the woman.
“It’s Olav and Leith we need to be angry with, not Alin,” I said to the others before turning to her. “Can we get some water?” I croaked.
The empath nodded and returned a few minutes later with one of the giant robots. The machine entered the room with a forty-liter drum of water.
“Will this be sufficient?” Alin asked.
The robot let down the drum, and we all rushed over to it. Nathan pulled the tube from the top, pushed on the valve, and water filled his mouth. After some desperate fighting to get a taste of the precious liquid, we took it in turns to replenish our fluids.
Richard splashed water over his face. “Those bloody knights! They almost killed us!”
“I do not understand,” Alin said. “Did you not sweat out your idiocy?” She paused, and her temples glowed a little. “I sense betrayal. Am I misunderstanding the situation?”
“The knights who spoke to your overseer were playing a trick on us,” I said. A trick didn’t precisely describe what they’d ordered, but I figured this empath would be able to read my emotions well enough.
Alin bowed and then clutched her slender head in her hands. “I am sorry.”
“It’s alright,” I said. “You don’t need to hurt yourself. We’re okay now.”
“I would have prepared water here for you, but I am not accustomed to the hydration needs of humans outside Ecoma. We may have evolved from humans, but our biologies are vastly different, so I did not know. We don’t get many of the old race coming to Ecoma. Those who do come don’t stay for long, and they almost never leave their ships.”
Nathan sauntered over to the female. “What can you tell me about your mating habits? Do you devour your lovers?”
The woman’s face turned blue, and I guessed she was blushing.
“You don’t have to answer him,” I said as I shoved the squire away from her.
“It is no trouble. I merely felt his lust for me along with the question. We Ecomese are not so open with our emotions.”
Nathan frowned. “So you know exactly how I’m feeling?”
Alin nodded, and it was the squire’s turn to blush.
“You may leave us now, Alin,” I said. “Thank you for your help.”
She smiled at me. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Can you tell me where the two knights who spoke to your overseer are staying?” I asked.
“They are two doors down from you in the direction of the main chamber. Do you wish for me to let them know you will be visiting them?”
“No,” I said. “I plan on surprising them.”
“I shall leave your door unlocked then. Please do not leave unless it is absolutely necessary. I do not wish to receive punishment from my overseer.” Alin bowed and left the room.
“If I advised you against seeing the knights, would you listen?” Neville asked me.
“Of course not,” I said. “I’m going to confront them. They can’t be doing this to us while we’re on Ecoma. We’re meant to be keeping our emotions in check and continuously hazing us will make controlling them impossible.”
“Alright,” Neville said. “But let’s wait until morning. Once our anger has cooled off, visiting them now will only stir up a storm. Let’s obey their orders to stay here until the morning. For now, we should get some rest.”
I knew the squires would try to talk me out of going there in the morning, but I agreed with a nod. We’d been awake for over twenty-four hours in preparation for the Stalwart’s descent into Ecoma, so it didn’t take long for the three other squires to fall asleep.
I slipped out of my bed and exited the room. Alin would be punished if her overseer learned I’d left, and I liked the female, but I couldn’t let the knights go unchallenged. After crossing the first doorway, I came to the second and found it open.
Olav was lying on a mattress while he viewed a holo sports projection. The players bounded through the air as they chased a ball. The berserker glanced up and noticed me, and the holo game vanished. “What are you doing outside of your room, Lyons?”
“You tried to kill us.” I had a little trouble keeping the anger out of my voice.
He scoffed. “Don’t be daft. Leith and me just wanted you to feel nice and comfortable in your lodgings. We told the Ecomese overseer to make the temperature unbearable, not kill you.”
“You can’t keep punishing me for what I did, and you definitely can’t punish the other squires.”
“I’ll do what I like.” Olav sneered at me, and I could see his patience quickly running out. Reason told me to leave before I angered the knight further, but my heart wouldn’t let me.
“Sir, please listen. I am not a traitor. I took the mission from the duke because it was either come to the Stalwart to sniff out insurrection or be assigned to the Deira Sector Outpost. I needed the KPs for my mom. She lives in the Dobuni tenements, and I really wanted to--”
“Save your breath,” Olav cut me off. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. You know nothing about what it means to be a crew member. I once trusted a scumbag like you after they gave a similar sob story. Then they went and betrayed me again. Once a traitor, always a traitor.”
“I thought I was serving the queen. When I found out you were hunting portals on Tachion and not committing insurrection, I vowed to tell the captain everything. I didn’t know Polgar would come after the Stalwart when he did.”
“I don’t want to hear it, Lyons. I won’t bother you and your friends anymore, but you’re to stay out of my way. Captain Cross seems to think you might be useful to us, but I reckon you’re one good deal away from selling the crew out again. We were fine clearing portals before you showed up. We don’t need you.”
The knight’s words crushed something inside of me, and I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
I walked back along the membranous passageway to my quarters with my chin planted to my chest. I knew I didn’t need Olav’s approval or respect to be a member of the Stalwart; the captain and my friends had forgiven me, but I hated the berserker thinking I was a traitor when I wasn’t.
I only took the duke’s mission because I didn’t want to be stuck on the Deira Sector Outpost, and I’d honestly believed the crew were insurrectionists. As soon as I learned otherwise, I had tried to make things right.
Now, the better half of the crew branded me a traitor despite the captain’s absolution and assurance I was on their side.
“Squire Lyons!” a female voice called out to me, and I peered up at Dr. Lenkov. I’d never seen the doctor out of uniform, and I had to do a double-take. She had traded her medical uniform for a white silk blouse tucked into tight black pants. The outfit was simple, but it accentuated every beautiful curve.
“I am glad I found you,” she said. “I will be traveling into the city tomorrow. Did you still wish to accompany me?”
I tilted my head at the doctor, confused for a second until I remembered she’d wanted me to escort her into the city to replenish the Stalwart’s medical sup
plies. “Oh, sure.” My thoughts of Olav vanished as I grinned at the stunning doctor. She smiled back at me, and my body buzzed with anticipation.
“Wonderful,” she said. “Shall I meet you outside your quarters at 08:00 CUT?”
I could hardly believe my luck, and my mouth wouldn’t move. So I nodded, and the doctor spun away after giving me a sparkling smile.
Even if Olav and Leith would never forgive me, I still had my friends. I wasn’t going to let the berserker’s words bring me down, so I’d make the best of a bad situation.
Tomorrow was a new day, and I was going to spend it with a beautiful woman who didn’t think I was a traitor.
Chapter 5
The next morning, an Ecomese robot delivered our belongings to the squire lodgings. Excited to spend the day with Dr. Lenkov, I donned my Runetech armor and secured my longsword to my new breastplate’s magnetons. Accompanying the doctor into the city probably wouldn’t lead to any trouble, but I didn’t want to be without my gear after our last mission. I decided against taking all of my weapons since it might needlessly intimidate or scare the natives.
The other squires watched me get ready, and Richard secured the last of my fasteners.
“Don’t you look positively handsome?” he said with a smirk.
“Good luck, Nick,” Neville said.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Nathan commented.
Richard grinned and raised his eyebrows. “Which means do everything.”
“I’m just escorting the doctor to get medical supplies,” I said. “There’s no need to make a big deal out of it.”
“We’ll make sure we’re not around when you get back,” Nathan said. “I’ll even let you use my mattress.”
I chuckled after playfully shoving the other squire, and I stepped into the passageway. The organic door sealed behind me, and I found the beautiful doctor waiting. Her dark brown hair hung loosely to her shoulders, and her floral perfume replaced the salty scent that seemed to be everywhere on this behemoth. She was wearing a skintight grey containment suit which showcased every curve of her flawless figure.
Space Knight Book 2 Page 6