Jumpship Hope

by Adria Laycraft

  Janlin chewed on her lip as they strolled along. Animal calls echoed over the constant insect hum from the surrounding desert. “Just seems weird that they would be so nice to us, and so awful to Anaya’s kind.”

  “Maybe they have good reason to be.”

  “There’s more. I think the shielding might be operated from the orbitals. I might have to find a way out there.”

  Gordon’s eyes narrowed. “Then we might as well just take everyone once your mate arrives and leave the shields alone.”

  Janlin sighed. “And how are you going to convince anyone of that, human or alien? Look, I like what you’re thinking, but we’re going to need some serious big ideas to make it work. I might have misunderstood, anyway, so I want to do more snooping around before I try and steal a shuttle.”

  “Steal an alien shuttle? Kavanagh, you really do think you can fly anything, don’t you?”

  Janlin shrugged. “Only because I can.” She gave him a sideways look, letting a small smile play on her lips. He just shook his head, muttering about pride and falls. “But there’s even more,” Janlin said, serious again. “I’m not sure if everyone is here.”

  “Well, Fran isn’t.”

  Janlin grimaced. “Right. Anyway, we have to rescue them before we go. I don’t ever want to return to this solar system, not for nothin’.”

  “Well, I have to agree with you there.”

  “Trouble is, Anaya is going for the Hope, but she was reluctant to take the time to get the humans off the Imag warship.”

  “Warship?”

  Janlin sighed. She was supposed to be offering hope, not taking it away. Maybe she should just shut up.

  “The Imag are trying to build a Jumpship of their own, but that ship also happens to be a warship destined to attack this planet. The ship we helped build.”

  “Oi, that’s just bloody great,” Gordon said.

  “Sorry, Gordon, I wanted to cheer you up and I’m doing a bang-up job of it, aren’t I?”

  “No, better to give it all over. Two heads together, right? We’ll get this all sussed out, and we’ll do it in a way that shows the best of us.” Gordon stepped up to one of the glow lights. “These give off no heat, have no discernible power source, yet light this little settlement to guide our way. They come on when needed, and fade when no one’s around. From what you say, these folk grow their homes instead of tearing up their world to build them. I want to know more about these people before I put them in harm’s way.”

  “Okay, okay, you’ve made your point, and I’m not disagreeing with you,” Janlin said. She took the comm-unit from him. “But I’m not going to let Anaya down. Or tell Stepper or anyone else yet, either.”

  “He’ll be pissed that you kept it from him,” Gordon said with a grin.

  “Well, tough. Not like he’s always cared what I’d feel.”

  Gordon took a breath, hesitated, then went ahead. “He really does care about you, you know. Some would say you over-reacted when you split.”

  “Oh, really? And how about when I went to apologize and walked in on him and Fran having a nice shag. Did I overreact that day?”

  Gordon grimaced. “No. But it has been a long time. The least you could do is try to be civil.”

  Janlin turned on him. “There is never a good time for me to revisit this subject,” she said through her teeth.

  “I know, I’m sorry. I just don’t think holding out on everyone is right, and I’m not looking forward to explaining why we did it.”

  “I get that, but I really feel we shouldn’t let this go public just yet,” Janlin said. “What if someone tells one of the Huantag, and they take Anaya’s device from me? Listen, once you have flying gear, we’ll investigate further, see what we can find out about the alien’s shielding.”

  “Or simply sit them down for a good long talk.” Gordon regarded her for a long moment. “I want to go home in a bad way,” he said finally, “but I will not do it at anyone’s expense. And that means you don’t need to do things you wouldn’t normally do just to get me home, okay?”

  Janlin gave him a sad smile. “Okay, Spin.” She reached out and squeezed his arm. “You’re a good man, and I respect that.”

  “You’d better.”

  They returned to the gathering. Janlin left Gordon helping with cleanup and cornered Steve.

  “I heard you were one of the original brains to work out how to manipulate the Jump,” she said, getting exactly the reaction she’d hoped for.

  “As a matter of fact, I am,” Steve said, his chest puffing up a bit. He eyed her, and Janlin hoped he didn’t think she was hitting on him.

  “Listen, when I was down in the bowels of the Imag ship, they had shelves of our parts. Some people have said they’re trying to build their own Jumpship. Is it possible?”

  Steve laughed. “They’re in for a big disappointment. Steel won’t function as our nano-augmented materials can. Folding space is not for the faint of heart, or those lacking the right technology.”

  For someone who had been a captive and slave, Steve looked mighty sure of himself right now. “So, it won’t work then,” Janlin asked.

  “Short answer? Ah . . . no.”

  “And if they try to fly Hope?”

  “Oh, they’ve already tried that, with me in the room as a matter of fact.” His face twisted in unhappy remembrance, then changed to a smug look. “No one gave away the passwords and codes they would need.”

  Janlin wondered if her own codes would be enough. She’d given Anaya every bit of information she could think of to help, but until the moment came, she wouldn’t know if it had worked.

  She worried what the Imag would do when all their hard work resulted in failure. Anaya’s plan now had a serious deadline attached to it. Once they tried to Jump and couldn’t, the Imag warship would head directly for Huantag orbit. She couldn’t very well take down the shields then.

  Unless this was part of Anaya’s plan all along. Perhaps the fact that she had Janlin’s passwords, had the instructions to fire up the Hope, maybe that was all that was needed from her, and the entire brutal race was already in Sol’s system, circling Earth. And maybe her role as destructor of the shields was a backup in case her codes didn’t work. Either way, if they’d played her, all the hope she just offered Gordon was worth nothing.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “NO, PALMS UP! Twist your arms, you’re coming in too fast!”

  Steve whooshed past her and straight into the pile of harvested grass they’d set up precisely for such a moment. It exploded, raining straw-like pieces over Janlin.

  Falco and his mates trilled, and laughter spilled from those watching. Janlin and Gordon moved forward to help Steve up, and he emerged looking more like a scarecrow than a human.

  “Well, guess we have a handle for you, Steve,” Gordon said, smirking. “Scarecrow it is.”

  Steve blushed.

  “Never mind him, you had a great solo flight. We just need to work on the landing. Hold your arms out and let’s inspect your wings for damage.”

  Janlin quickly learned that teaching someone to do something was a lot harder than doing it, even if you were really good at it. She kept her patience, though, and when Gordon took to flying as easily as she had, she recruited him as her assistant.

  They got Steve in the air again, and his next landing brought cheers and applause from the watchers.

  “Much better. Okay, who’s next?”

  Stepper came forward, and Janlin grinned in anticipation. “All right, Captain. Let’s see what sort of flyer you are then.”

  “Be nice,” Gordon whispered at her when she bent to help Gordon get Steve out of the safety straps.

  “Of course,” Janlin said, all innocence. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Gordon just snorted. Above them Steve and Stepper shook hands as the captain congratulated him on a successful training session.

  “It takes some guts to take off, but a lot more to come back down,” Steve said.

/>   Once they had Stepper strapped in and the buckles adjusted, Janlin checked her gear again and launched. She gained a decent height and circled, waiting for Stepper to join her.

  Living in close proximity to Stepper Jordan only made it harder to keep her feelings at bay. She’d left him twice, and was determined to never go back, but his easy smile sent her insides on their own flight patterns. She longed to confide in him about Anaya, and the possibility of going home. When they were a couple, she couldn’t imagine anyone she would trust more, even Gordon. Why did he have to ruin that?

  Every time her thoughts came around to those trust issues, she knew that while she may have been the one to walk away, he was the one that betrayed her, and so she couldn’t trust him with her secret now.

  Stepper launched into the air and spread his wings just right, but he forgot to cut the thrusters back and shot past her. Laughing so hard she could barely breathe, Janlin fired her own jets to follow him, wondering how his old fear of heights was doing just then.

  “Cut down your thrust,” she called as she caught up. The whites of his eyes flashed as he glanced at her, and his face was nearly as pale, but he lightened up on the jets and jerked his arms out and levelled into a wobbly glide.

  “Okay?” she called. He nodded. “Right, then, off you go.”

  The plan was for first timers to circle the village three or four times and then head back down, with Janlin following close behind just as Falco had for her. Already she felt comfortable enough with flying that she knew she could swoop down and help someone to the ground. The Huantag who brought the gear watched this first training group as an added measure of protection, ready to launch into the air if need be.

  Everything had gone so well up to this point, even counting Steve’s crazy landing and Corvin’s jets cutting out, that Janlin should have known something would go wrong with Stepper’s flight. Even so, when his glide suddenly tipped, and his jets fired on full, it caught her completely by surprise.

  Stepper shot off to the east like a rocket on a mission. Janlin swore and hit her own jets, pointing her body into the straightest line she could to try and catch him. With both of them running at full power, she couldn’t overtake him—all she could do was follow. How was she going to help him down now? Her jets would run down first, being used more that day, and even the Huantag would not be able to catch up without augmentation like the jets gave the humans.

  She wasn’t laughing anymore.

  Janlin risked a quick glance back and saw the rising shapes of Huantag coming after them. Already they seemed a long ways back. She pointed her body straight, going for the best aerodynamics she could muster, and tried to figure out what the hell happened with Stepper’s unit. Did the thruster button stick?

  “Later,” she mumbled. “Just get him down safe first.”

  He began to spin, rolling like a fighter jet pulling stunts. Did one of the jets give out?

  “Cut the jets, Stepper!” she screamed into the wind.

  Miraculously, he did, and immediately began to plummet to the ground in a devastating spiral. Janlin tucked her wings and dove, her heart pounding. If she could get below him in time—

  The spiral evened out into a nice glide, and Stepper dropped easily down to backwing perfectly as he landed on a large outcropping of rock jutting from the plains.

  Janlin’s fear boiled away into pure anger, her fury mounting as she flew in and landed beside him.

  “What in the hell do you think you’re trying to prove?” she cried as she landed. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

  Stepper tried to look abashed, but his triumphant grin ruined the effect. “That was quite the rush,” he said. He stretched out his wings, shook them out, and folded them back in again. “This is absolutely the best feeling I’ve had in years.”

  Janlin stared, so overwhelmed by her jumbled emotions she couldn’t speak.

  “I’m sorry if I freaked you out. I just had to test these jets and see what they could do. Don’t tell me you haven’t done the same.”

  Truth be told, she had, very early that morning before everyone showed up for training . . . but she wasn’t about to admit it.

  “Stepper Jordan, you are the biggest jerk I know,” she said, deciding to stick with anger to push the other feelings aside. “Let’s head back before the Huantag have to fly all the way out here just to find out you’re fine.”

  “Wait.” He stepped closer, reaching for her. “I’m sorry, Janlin, really I am. For everything. I know I drive you crazy, and I know you have reason to be mad, but I never meant to hurt you.”

  A long moment of silence passed as she stared at him, wondering if he meant it, wondering what his angle was, wondering what he wanted from her, wondering if he noticed the rush of heat in her face.

  “I can’t believe I let you go,” she said. She sucked in a breath. “I mean, the tourniquet, I can’t believe I let it go.”

  Stepper self-consciously rubbed his arm. “I asked you to,” he said, looking away. “I failed everyone, and the pain was so intense, I just wanted to be free of it all. You know me, ‘live free or die’, right?”

  She nodded, not trusting her voice.

  “I took the easy way out.” He stepped closer, took her hand, and squeezed. “But then I got a second chance at life.”

  She looked up into his eyes, desire rushing through her ears and chasing away all logic. If she were honest with herself, she missed him, missed what they’d had. Nothing ever was the same after that, not ever.

  “I want another chance with you, too, Jannilove.”

  She closed her eyes, and he kissed her, at first a light touch, but quickly rising with passion.

  Finally, she pulled back, both of them breathless. She reached up and cupped his face in her hands.

  “Let me think about it, okay?” She wanted him, wanted to give him anything he wanted, but she also feared the pain he caused her before.

  He kissed her lightly on the nose and gave her his irresistible grin. “Okay.”

  Trills and whistles cut the air, and they turned to see the Huantag closing the distance. Falco led the group, and when he folded into a dive, he quickly outdistanced his companions. Janlin dropped her hand and stepped back.

  “Are you good, Janlin?” Falco said before he even touched the ground.

  “Yes, we’re good, thank you,” she said, punching Stepper on the arm. “My friend here was playing a trick on me.”

  “It wasn’t a trick!” Stepper protested, but Falco trilled, clearly understanding the situation far more than Janlin would’ve liked. She groaned inwardly when she realized his eyesight was likely as sharp as an eagle, or a falcon anyway. He’d probably witnessed the whole exchange, passionate kiss and all. Heat enveloped her all over again.

  “I will return to the village, then, for more training. Please join us when you are ready,” Falco said. If he winks at me, I think I’ll scream, Janlin thought, but Falco simply launched into the air to join the others already on the way back.

  Janlin looked sideways at Stepper. “We should get back too, don’t you think?”

  He nodded, watching the Huantag. “You never did tell me how you managed to get so clean before arriving here,” he said then, and all her doubts and worries and mistrust slammed back into place, dampening the rush of joy she’d felt only moments before.

  “I had some help. I think they were trying to butter me up, play nice instead of torturing me,” she said. Janlin choked on the words, her mind reeling with the implication of her lie.

  “And did it work?” he asked, looking at her now.

  She shrugged. “I was so wrapped up in grief over you I barely remember what all happened. Wouldn’t matter either way, would it? It all depends on Fran and what she translated.” Janlin felt a different rush of emotions at the memories of her and Fran undergoing Imag torture together.

  Half-truths make the best lies, and the only one who would know her story didn’t jive was Fran. Janlin wanted desper
ately to protect Anaya’s plan. What would Stepper do if he found out? She just couldn’t be sure. “What do you think Fran told them?” she said, blithely changing the subject.

  Stepper frowned. “I don’t know, though I am really curious as to why she stayed.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  JANLIN WATCHED STEPPER joking about his idiocy during supper that evening.

  “You’d think I know the difference between on and off, being a captain and all,” he said, drawing laughter. Janlin touched her lips, the memory of their kiss lingering like the coals of a bright fire.

  Gordon elbowed her. “What the hell happened between you two out there?” he said in an undertone meant for her ears only.

  She dropped her hand from her lips. Heat rose in her cheeks, and she ducked her head. “Just Stepper being an idiot,” she said.

  “Get off it, luv,” Gordon said. “You’re blushing like a school girl. He drew you off so you had some nice time alone together, right? So, what, then? Give over.”

  Janlin swallowed, grasping onto the final part of the afternoon’s conversation to help cool her down. “Like I said, Stepper being an idiot. He wanted to test the jets and throw me off.”

  “And?” Gordon drew the word out, urging her to fill in the blank. Janlin sighed.

  “And he asked me to give him another chance,” she admitted.

  “I knew it! Bloody wanker.”

  Janlin laughed.

  Gordon grinned. “I can see why you’d want to, but I can see why you wouldn’t.” He was serious now. “Will you?”

  Her own levity faded. “I don’t know. He also asked me why I showed up here clean, unlike you lot, and I lied to him. Without even a pause, I just knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to reveal Anaya’s plan to him.”

  Gordon sucked on his top lip and shook his head. “And what are you going to do when it’s time to tell them?”

  “I don’t know that, either, but I’ve had a lot of questions come up regarding Anaya and what she really wants from me. I’m beginning to think I’ve been had.”