by Aline Riva
“Just do as I say and then we'll talk about what happens next,” Jinx replied, “I know you want to join us.”
His expression changed to one of gratitude.
“Yes, Mr Jinx, of course!” he replied, then he took firm hold of Harvey's cuffed hands and forced him out of the hallway, following the trail of blood left behind where Zeke had dragged Tyler's unconscious body.
While these events had unfolded, Janey was standing with her back to the wall exhausted from screaming and now as she looked away from the blood she visibly trembled as she sobbed.
“Finally, she's stopped screaming!” Mack exclaimed, looking to Janey, “Can you stop that stupid crying sound? Just shut up, you're hurting my head!”
“Don't give Mack a headache, he's my best friend,” Jinx said softly, stepping over a pool of blood and standing up close to the terrified woman, “Remember I said, you might make it. That's very good news for you. Maybe your friend Harvey too – if he's got balls.”
Mack smirked.
“We'll soon find out when we get his flight suit off!”
“I'll be happy to help with that,” Jody added brightly.
“Do you like that one, Jody?” Mack asked, “We can keep him if you want to...Unless Tyler proves adaptable.”
“I was thinking the same,” Jinx remarked, replying to Mack but keeping an intent gaze fixed on Janey as he swept her hair off her face and studied her features, “One of them might be ideal...”
“What... what are you doing?” Janey stammered, looking fearfully at the glint of steel catching on light as he pushed her hair off her face but kept the hunting knife in his hand.
“I'm just wondering if I can modify you...I'm looking for my ideal woman...I'm still not sure you're right, though...”
He let go of her, she had a moment to breathe and then he handed the knife to Jody and Janey gave a gasp as he grabbed her hands, pinning them to the wall above her head, holding her in a firm grasp as she gasped for breath and looked at him in utter fear.
“It's okay,” he said, “Jody's going to cut your flight suit off so I can have a better look at you.”
Mack stood there, gun poised and she saw the rifle and froze, left helpless as Jody carefully pulled the fabric away from her neck and slit down the middle of the suit. She passed the blade to Jinx, who put it back in its sheath, then she took over pinning Janey's hands as Jinx stood I n front of her and pulled the fabric wide apart, exposing her body and plain white underwear beneath the flight suit.
“Is that all you have on?” he said with interest, then he placed his hands over her covered breasts and gently squeezed, she caught her breath and he smiled.
“I think you liked that,” he remarked and she said nothing, remembering the hunting knife sliding across Lola's throat as he slid his hands down her body, taking in the curve of her hips. He took hold of the front of her underwear and pulled on it, looking down at a trimmed triangle of dark hair, then he slipped his hand inside and as his fingers invaded soft warmth and he carefully felt her groin, she gave a sob.
“Please let me go!”
“Shh,” Jinx said softly, “I won't hurt you...”
Then he fell to his knees in front of her and tugged down her underwear, she gave a gasp as he pushed her thighs apart and as she felt him pressing his thumbs against her body and spreading her wide, his breath was on her exposed sex and she wanted to scream.
“I'm not sure,” he said again, “She's not quite what I wanted...”
Then he let go of her and got up and her body sagged with relief.
“How would you feel about a very deep and intimate and life changing body piercing?” he asked, and her face paled and she swayed on her feet as she tried to breathe through her fear.
Jinx looked away.
“She doesn't even make me very hard!”he complained.
“Want me to lock her up with the others?” asked Mack.
Jinx nodded.
As Mack gestured to her with the rifle, she was glad to follow him away towards the corridor, knowing what ever he had in mind, it couldn't be as terrible as being in the hands of Jinx – these people were crazy but Jinx, he was off the scale...
As Mack led Janey away, Jinx turned to Jody.
“Get changed into something more suitable and meet me out the front in fifteen minutes,” he told her, “Bring a med kit with you – I want to go and look for their missing passenger.”
“What about Mack?”
“I need him to watch the prisoners with Zeke – and someone needs to keep an eye on Wolf, too.”
“Good idea,” she agreed, “Have you decided about him yet?”
“Just go and get ready,” Jinx replied and she nodded, reading the look in his eyes and knowing him well enough to know what his reply had meant, then she went up the stairs and left him in the lower hall, waiting for Mack's return.
After Jinx had spoken with Mack, he waited outside and was joined moments later by Jody, who now wore tough boots and jeans and a white shirt. Knowing she would be climbing about wreckage, suitable footwear had been priority. There would be no need for protective clothing, one look at the way the ship had broken up, it was clear most of the damage was to the lower part of the vessel where walkways were buckled, the front of the ship was intact, the back half gone and a mess of twisted metal, scorched in places where the power core had come away as the back of the ship had separated.
Jinx had not needed to change clothing, his shirt was still open and he was perspiring under the afternoon heat of the sun as they made their way across the field.
“Where to first?” Jody asked as she walked beside him carrying a case of medical equipment.
He glanced about the crash site.
“We'll start from the largest part of the debris then work our way up to the ship,” he told her, “If there's no sign of a body by the time we've searched the main part of the Amaryllis, we have to assume she was burned up when the power core blew.”
They carried on walking, approaching a large, torn away section of the engine room, where the wreckage was almost upright, tilted slightly as it rested against trees that had shed limbs and bent on impact.
“So what do you think of Janey?” she asked, “Will she do?”
“Maybe,” Jinx replied, distracted by the fact that they were growing closer to the wreckage, “I mean, if I was at a slave market she wouldn't be my first choice but she's okay.”
“Maybe a slave market is the answer!” Jody said brightly.
“No,” Jinx replied, “Most of them are used and being passed on to second or third owners... most of them are as banged up as this ship we're about to search, just not in separate pieces!”
Jody smiled as she shook her head.
“You know you can always come in with me and Mack. He loves you, Jinx. So do I.”
“And I could ask Zeke for head and he'd give it but it wouldn't satisfy me, not after Cora...”
As he fell silent so did Jody. She quietly reflected on how much had changed for Rik since falling in love with Cora, how that kind of love had become something the rest of them, in their isolated world, had long since lost touch with – real human intimacy, bonding, the pairing of two people... after the crash and being stranded on the planet in the months that changed everything forever, they had all cast aside the ways of the world they used to think of as normal. This was normal now and they were bonded to it, but something had changed him, it was as if love, for Rik, had been the poison apple he never should have tasted...
“Best not think about the past,” she said quickly, remembering it wasn't so long since he had last given in to the urge to dig up his dead love yet again, “We've got a survivor to find – or a body.”
“I hope she's survived,” Jinx replied honestly as they reached the wreckage where a tilted walkway yawned open framed by torn metal, beckoning into a dark and shattered section of the former engine room, “Janey's okay but she doesn't make me...”
He stopped at
the open walkway, turning to Jody as his eyes widened in surprise as he found the word that had been hiding from him for so long.
“I want to feel again! I loved her, I loved Cora so much! I know if I had one of those beautiful creatures, those alien women...I would love her, Jody! Even if she wasn't a real one, as long as she looked like one – at least I could pretend and I think that would be enough, it would make me happy again!”
Jody looked into his eyes and smiled kindly.
“I'd call you insane but I'm not sure exactly what that means any more – so I'll say mad romantic.”
Jinx laughed softly.
“If this is madness give me more of it. You love this life as much as I do, as much as Mack and Zeke do. It's made us all like family.”
“A family of thrill seekers,” Jody replied, “That's how I see it.”
Then they stepped up to the exposed walkway, climbing into the broken remains of the largest section of separated wreckage.
“Be careful,” Jinx said, indicating to torn pipework on a wall half shrouded in shadow.
As she followed him into the gloom, Jody steered around the jagged pipes and then further up as light streamed in through a torn wall, visibility was better. As they turned a corner, the walls were intact but a hole in the roof let the light flood in. There was not a sound about the wreckage save for the chirping of birds in the trees above, birds that had returned after the fright of the crash to look down curiously at the strange sight of the wreckage strewn about at the edge of the forest. It was eerie inside the wreckage, as the sun shone in and the gaping hole in the roof gave a view of trees and blue sky and carried birdsong. They stood together and listened. Not a sound came from within the wreck.
“We should go on,” Jinx told her, “I know this kind of engine space – it's like a labyrinth, typical of older vessels, small crew and passenger areas but vast engine room space...winding corridors that all look the same. It wouldn't surprise me if this ship is a hybrid vessel, it doesn't look like an Amaryllis to me, not going by the alternating links between the pipes and the energy supply units wired to the walls... if I'm not mistaken it's a mix of two models... I know Wolf said Harvey's ship was a souped up wreck but it's much more than one wreck put together to make this vessel!” his eyes lit up excitedly, “I'll have to make some time later to come back out here and log all the power unit numbers...I bet I can name all the makes and models this ship was made of, and the year of manufacture! I love old space vessels, I used to go ship spotting when I was a kid, watching them take off from local space ports. There isn't a vintage model I don't know!”
She laughed.
“That would explain why Mack has always said you're a space flight encyclopedia, Rik!”
“It's a hobby I don't get to indulge in much these days,” he replied as he led the way up to the turn in the corridor, “I sometimes like to identify passing ships without looking at the radar, when they're up close – just to see if I can name them and guess the year of manufacture...”
He paused, having turned the corner first. Then Jinx just stood there, saying nothing.
“Have you found something?” Jody asked as she rounded the corner and joined him.
“Is she alive?” Jinx said in a hushed voice.
He was looking down at the body of a woman who was lying across the end of the walkway, she was in a flight suit, her blonde hair fanned out over the tilted floor, her eyes were closed and a trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
Jinx stepped closer, then knelt beside her as he felt for a pulse. As he felt a weak flutter at her throat, he breathed a relieved sigh as he looked up at Jody.
“She's alive! We have to keep her that way, she's beautiful! I really like her, Jody!”
She knelt down at the other side of the unconscious woman and opened up the case, then took out a small scanner and hit a button.
“This thing won't tell me everything in detail but it is telling me she's got multiple injuries,” she said, looking at the readout on the device.
“Save her, I want her!” Jinx demanded.
Jody gave a sigh as she turned off the scanner and put it back in the case.
“Jinx, if I pump her full of drugs to stop bleeding and repair damage she won't be edible.”
“I said, I want her! This woman isn't food – she's pretty, I like her. She reminds me of Cora!”
“I'll try,” Jody replied, taking a syringe from the case.
Jinx watched as she pushed up the sleeve of her flight suit and injected the woman, who reacted almost immediately, coughing weakly as more blood ran from her mouth.
“I can't do anything more for her here,” she told him, “We have to get her over to your ship, I need access to the med bay if she's to stand a chance of survival.”
Jinx leant over the woman and ran his hand over her hair again, sweeping it back from her face as he pictured her transformed into an alien beauty.
“Sin,” he said softly, “My name is Rik Jinx. I'm going to save you... and then I'm going to keep you, forever.”
“She can't hear you,” Jody reminded him, “And I can't make promises.”
“I've got faith in you. I know you can help her.”
“I've got faith in the supplies on board your ship in the med bay,” Jody replied, “But she's survived a crash, she wasn't strapped into a seat, she's been thrown about a piece of vessel that was torn off on impact. The scan says multiple fractures and internal bleeding. Maybe that can be fixed, maybe not. She may not live long enough to know what you've done for her.”
“She will,” he vowed, “I'll be there when she wakes.”
“And you don't know if she will be willing to adapt, if she did survive,” Jody reminded him.
He looked up from the sight of the unconscious woman who captivated him so intensely.
“So we make her adapt. You'll find a way.”
“As said, I'll try to save her, that's all I can do for now,” Jody reminded him.
“Of course you will. I have faith in you,” Jinx told her.
Moments later they left the wreckage and headed across the field towards the vast, sleek Galaxy Princess, the ship stood far from the wreckage, gleaming majestically in the late afternoon sun as Jinx hurried towards it carrying Sin in his arms.
As Jody ran to catch up she silently wondered exactly how Jinx would react if his ideal but inconveniently smashed up new woman happened to die whilst in her care – his mind was made up, he wanted her – but Sin was badly injured and Jody didn't rate her chances of recovery too highly at all...
Chapter 4
The room was bright, the marble floors clean and polished and the walls were a delicate shade of lemon. All furniture had been cleared from this space but in the next room was a luxurious dining area complete with a majestic table that stretched half the the length of the room, it looked antique like the other furniture and the fine silver ware and the paintings on the walls, no doubt all genuine articles and shipped from earth... But Janey had only seen a glimpse before that door was closed – the other door that led off from this room led to the hallway and Wolf was outside, standing guard.
This room was a complete contrast to the other, with pale walls and marble floors and nothing else but two big cages that looked very out of place, in one cage Harvey sat in a state of shock beside Tyler, who was still unconscious. Janey had been locked in the other cage and as she clutched at the bars and looked across the room to the other prisoners, she tried to get Harvey's attention, saying his name over and over, but he was staring past her, his shocked expression fixed on the blank wall as he sat in the cage and his best friend lay knocked out cold and bleeding beside him.
Then she heard Mack's voice outside, he and Wolf exchanged conversation in a friendly tone, then Mack came into the room armed with a rifle, and closed the door behind him.
As Janey nervously said his name he ignored her, crossing through to the dining room, bringing out a chair and closing the door, then he se
t the chair down against the wall, sat down on it and placed his rifle across his lap.
“Mack... Can I call you Mack? I mean, I can still speak, right? I can still talk to you...Am I allowed to do that?”
As Janey spoke she was on her knees in the cage, clutching at the bars as she looked at him pleadingly.
Mack met her gaze and she saw none of the compassion she hoped for from the one who seemed to be the least aggressive of the group. She noticed a scar that ran into his hair line, then she realised he wasn't in need of the cane right now. Perhaps his use of that cane was down to some kind of accident, it would be something to ask about. So many ideas were flooding her mind on how to try and build a bridge to reach this guy, to find some shred of sanity left in him, but then he spoke up.
“Of course you can call me by my name. Say what you like, I'm here to watch you, not to make a decision about you – that's down to Jinx and the rest of us. We do everything together.”
He smiled. Janey forced a smile back as she fought against the cold terror that she was learning not to show as she hoped maybe this man would be her way out of here, maybe she could save herself and the others – if she could reach some common ground and build a bond...
“So...um...Mack...” she stammered, clutching tighter at the bars, “Why do you all do everything together, are you a family?”
He laughed softly and suddenly the coldness in his eyes was softened by a hint of warmth.
“We're close like a family. We would be, as we've been through a lot together.”
“Are you all from the same place? A colony planet, or earth?”
“Earth,” he replied, then as his mind fogged for a moment he silently cursed the injuries long ago caused by the crash of his ship, and he paused to gather his thoughts.
“I used to be a pilot.”
“Really?” she said, “I bet you've flown that Galaxy Princess Cruiser a few times, must be pilot's dream machine, right?”
She laughed nervously.
He frowned slightly and then his gaze softened a little more as he spoke again after a brief shake of his head.