The Key

by Pauline Baird Jones

  “I have not the skill.”

  She tried a few more keys. “It’s badly out of tune.”

  “You have something like this in your world?”

  Sara nodded. “We call it a piano. Our keys are different, not quite so stiff and we have shorter keys between the long ones, so we don’t have to reach so far to hit notes. How long since someone has tuned it? Or played it?”

  “A very long time.”

  Sara got up and walked around it. The top appeared to be tightly fitted, but it had to open—there it was. A latch. She popped the top up. Gaedon made a small sound of protest.

  “I won’t goon this up. No talking required.” She gave him a quick smile, as she pulled a screwdriver out of her pocket. “Never go any where without this.”

  She turned her cap bill to the back and peered into the guts of the…harmonious. It wasn’t that different from a piano on the inside. The strings looked like wire. The wood looked worn, but no signs of rot.

  She tapped the middle key, then tightened the wire, working it until she got a nice, clear C-tone. Because there were fewer keys, it didn’t take that long to get it back in key enough to try it out.

  Gaedon, to his credit, watched her quietly during what had to be a rather painful process. Hawkins probably hadn’t enjoyed it much either.

  She lowered the top, stowed the screwdriver.

  “See,” she spread her fingers out as wide as they’d go, “I can barely make that chord and I have long fingers. If we don’t end up shooting at each other, you’ll have to come aboard our ship and see my keyboard.”

  She smiled at him. He had a kind of…odd look on his face.

  “I look forward to it.”

  She tried a bit of Fur Elise. Gaedon smiled, as if the sound pleased him. Probably because it was lady-like. She stopped, mentally figured out the chords, then slammed into the opener for Great Balls of Fire.

  Gaedon jumped about a foot, maybe more. He made a move, like he wanted to stop her, so Sara did, trying not to grin.

  “It is…very old,” he said weakly.

  Sara caressed the soft wood. “It’s beautiful. You should keep it in tune. And learn to play it. Pianos liked to be played.”

  “You like harmonies.” Something in his voice made her feel edgy.

  “Well, we call it music, but yeah. It relaxes me.” She itched to try it again, but made herself turn away. Sara crossed to the view port and looked out. They had to be at the top, or close to the top of the ship.

  It was an amazing sight. The Gadi shipped looked huge from this vantage point. The shape reminded her a bit of a sub, with the part she was in sort of like a very large conning tower, only more elegant.

  She looked out into space and just for a moment, saw herself, the way she’d been that day she met Evie. From a trailer park to a freaking alien ship. Dang.

  “You are very far away,” Gaedon said, stopping next to her.

  “I suppose I was.” She leaned her forehead against whatever it was that was between her and space. It was as cool as glass and almost soothing. For the first time since she’d left, she felt a sharp stab of homesickness, a longing for the familiar, the comfortable, the dull, the non-alien.

  “You are sad.”

  Sara looked at him, her eyes shuttering by instinct. She shrugged. “Just thinking how far away…home is.”

  “Home on your planet?”

  Sara nodded. Not that she had one there, but suddenly it was all home, the whole big third rock from the sun, gomers and all.

  She straightened her back, clasping her hands behind her back.

  He looked a bit wry. “Now you look like a soldier again. For a moment you looked…” He hesitated. “That is perhaps why I didn’t see it right away. Did it take Adin Xever long to notice the resemblance?”

  Sara felt her insides twist, but she answered him calmly. “He noticed it right away, but I wasn’t wearing my uniform the first time we met.”

  He went to the desk, opened a drawer and removed a folder. He opened this, spreading pictures, drawings actually, across the surface.

  Miri. Whoever had drawn the sketches had been in love with her. It was there in every line of every drawing. There was one with her hands spread across the keys. Her head was tilted and she smiled, but her eyes were shadowed and sad.

  “The likeness is quite remarkable, now that I can see past the warrior. There are…slight differences, one would expect that after so much time, but you have her eyes.” He removed her cap again, tossing it aside this time. “And you have her hands.”

  His gaze was curious, not avid like Adin’s had been, but that didn’t make Sara feel any better.

  “The harmonious belonged to her. When you sat down to play it, that’s when I saw…her.”

  As he studied her, she could feel herself…folding in, retreating deep inside. When she looked at the drawings, she didn’t see herself in them. Miri had lived a different life, had different experiences.

  Sara felt oddly calm now that it was out there. It had happened. At least that part was behind her.

  “And what was Miri to whoever drew these?”

  “An alliance was arranged between my people and the Garradians, Miri’s people. But it was more than an arrangement between nations. Their hearts beat for each other.”

  No, that wasn’t right. She could feel it. Miri had liked him…but she hadn’t loved him. And there was no alliance.

  This was partly why Miri left. She could feel it—it was a sudden leap forward in understanding. He’d…helped her and she felt obligated. But obligation was a burden, a poor fuel for love. Sara looked at her harmonious. She’d used it as a shield, the way Sara sometimes did with her keyboard.

  “She returned to her people to prepare for the bonding, but the Dusan attacked her people.”

  That wasn’t true either. The city on the island was untouched by war. It was an…abandoned city. And then there was the problem of finding it to attack it. And more than that, she just knew that’s not how it happened.

  Sara had that on-the-edge feeling again.

  Sara picked up one of the drawings. “I can see he was in love with her, but I just see a whole lot of sad in her eyes—not a woman in love.”

  His face tightened.

  “The Dusan wanted to stop the alliance. Their leader wanted Miri for himself. She held the key to many wonders.”

  “Funny how she doesn’t seem to have ended up with either the Dusan or your guy.” She looked at the drawing again. “How long ago did all this happen?”

  “The man who drew these was the father of my father’s father’s father’s father’s father.”

  Was that five or six generations? That was a long way back.

  “That’s him.” He put another drawing down in the middle of the others. He looked nice enough. A bit like Gaedon.

  “I was named after him.”

  Great.

  “I have no idea if I was named for anyone. Not a lot I do know about my family. My parents died when I was pretty young.”

  She’d loved…someone, but he’d…died—or let her down? Yes, he let her down. Broke her heart. Sara felt her pain and…

  There was a baby.

  It felt as if Sara were circling something important, but she couldn’t deal with it now, not in this place, not right now.

  “Only thing I know for sure is that they gave me red hair and a temper.”

  “Did Adin Xever believe that?”

  “I don’t know. Don’t really care. Can’t control what he thinks or what you think.” She hesitated. “Hard for me to believe she’d…give the key to someone several galaxies away. If I was her and I had two guys wanting my technology instead of me, I’d get rid of it. Make sure neither of them got it. But I have a nasty temper.”

  He looked at her, but Sara had the feeling he wasn’t really hearing her.

  “It can’t be a coincidence, your coming here with her…face.”

  Nope. Not listening. Punk.

 
; “I’ve always considered it my face. Had it since I was born. Did I mention I have a temper?”

  This was getting very old. She was tired…damn tired of people not seeing her.

  “I’m not Miri. If you can’t get past that, maybe I should return to my bird and my wingman. As I did point out, talking isn’t really my thing. And then there’s that temper.”

  He sighed. “You know I can’t—this is too important to my people.”

  There was a sort of rushing sound in her ears.

  “I’d like to return to my ship.” She said each word with emphasis.

  “If you’d just sit down—”

  “No.” She lifted her lids and looked at him. “You said we’re guests. Guests leave when they want to. I want to leave. Now.”

  Gaedon looked at her, his expression…regretful. Then his gaze shifted to the four guards. He gave a slight nod.

  Sara had a feeling it wasn’t an order to take her back down to her ship. And that she’d just stopped being a guest.

  She waited, feeling them closing in on her. Just before they grabbed her arms, her elbows jerked back, landing very deep into each man’s solar plexus. When they bent over, clutching that area, she brought both elbows down on the backs of their necks. They dropped like rocks.

  Sara dropped with them, snagging each man’s ray gun before they could hit the deck.

  Before the other two guards could react, she dropped them, too.

  She looked at Gaedon. He looked…alarmed. He should. She almost took him out, too, but—

  Sara twirled both weapons, like she as a freaking gunfighter and tossed one, then the other on top of the drawings.

  She planted her feet and clasped her hands behind her back.

  “I’d like to return to my ship, sir.”

  She hoped he’d appreciate the fact she hadn’t shot him.

  His door suddenly opened. More guards.

  Apparently not…

  “Crap!” Sara jumped for a ray gun, even got her hand around one and was twisting to fire—

  * * * *

  The other two recon flights returned safely and on time, but there was still no sign or sound from Sara or her wingman. Fyn stared at the screen, like that could make the right dots appear there.

  “Let me go check it out, sir,” Fyn told Halliwell. “I’m familiar with that sector.” He was familiar with the whole galaxy, thanks to the Ojemba.

  “You might run into the same problem KILO X-RAY did.”

  “If I jump in here,” Fyn pointed to a spot on the HUD, “this planet blocks sensors. I can pop up, see what’s going on and drop back out of sight.”

  Halliwell stared at the HUD, frowning. “Is the planet large enough to provide cover for the Doolittle?”

  Fyn nodded. “The Doolittle could jump here—” Fyn pointed to a cluster of planets halfway between the hop point. “I—”

  “We,” Carey inserted.

  “We go here. That puts you within radio contact. We clear the area, then you can come the rest of the way.”

  Halliwell nodded. “I’ll let the Patton know.” He looked at the clock. “Be ready to go by 1400 Zulu.”

  * * * *

  Sara woke to a pounding headache and dry mouth. What—oh yeah, the gomers got her with one of those ray guns.

  Crap.

  Fyn said, don’t get shot. Now she knew why.

  She rubbed her temples, but inside her body, her nanites were already working on the pain. Maybe not totally annoying to have them.

  Sara sat up and looked around. There wasn’t a lot to see. She was back in a freaking cell. Okay, now she was starting to get really pissed. She got up and paced to the bars. Couldn’t see anything but hallway.

  “Hawkins? You there?”

  “Donovan?”

  “You all right?”

  “My fun meter is pegged, but yeah, I’m all right. What the hell happened?”

  Sara sighed. “Apparently my…diplomatic skills need work. Did they get you with a ray gun?”

  “No. I got swarmed. I heard you say crap and must have moved or something.”

  “You were kind of out numbered, but thanks for trying.”

  “Can I ask you one favor?”

  “Sure.” Sara half frowned.

  “Don’t tune any more pianos while you’re on box.”

  Sara grinned. “Sorry.”

  “So what do we do now?” He sounded like they could do something.

  An optimist. Good man. I wonder…

  She reached out with her mind and almost immediately she… connected to the Gadi systems. Cool.

  Tracking, fire control, detention security—okay, now she was getting somewhere.

  First thing to do was shut off the surveillance—no, not just shut if off. Overload it. Don’t want them turning it back on at the wrong moment.

  There was a flash and pop, with multiple echoes as it all went down. A slight smell of burning drifted into the air.

  “Do you smell something burning?” Hawkins asked uneasily.

  “Yeah…”

  Now let’s open the cell doors…

  “Whoa,” Hawkins sounded surprised. “My door just opened.”

  “So did mine. Weird.”

  “Is it a trap?”

  “If it isn’t a trap,” Sara said, “they’ll probably come check it out.”

  On the heels of her words, she heard the thump of approaching, booted feet. She flattened herself against the side of the cell, by the open door.

  The first gomer who poked his head in got an elbow to the back of the neck. She also got his ray gun. She popped out and took out his back up. She took his gun, too, went and found Hawkins.

  “Let’s go.” She handed him the other ray gun.

  “Sweet. My first ray gun.”

  “Just keep it on stun. I’d rather not kill anyone unless they force the issue.”

  “Right.” He hesitated. “What was he talking about, who was Miri?”

  Sara stiffened slightly. “Apparently I have a twin.”

  “What did she do to get their skivs in a knot?”

  Sara grinned. “Told him no?”

  “If you can’t take a little rejection, you shouldn’t play in the pool.”

  Despite his words, she had a feeling he didn’t get rejected that often. He was cute.

  He followed her down a narrow hallway to the guard’s station. Sara sat down and pulled up a schematic of the ship on the console—not because she needed to, but so she didn’t have to explain how she knew where to go.

  “We’re here. The landing bay is here. Not too far.”

  “Okay, we make it to our birds, then what?”

  Sara grinned at him. “I’m sure we’ll think of something before then.”

  He nodded. “Okay, I got your six and may I say, it’s very nice.” He grinned at her. Okay, so he was very cute.

  As they started down the corridor, he added, “So now we’re in the worst trouble you’ve been in?”

  “Not yet.” Sara glanced back over her shoulder at him and smiled. “When we are, I’ll try to remember to let you know.” She’d need to be conscious, too.

  “I’d appreciate an update.”

  He seemed awfully cheerful, but there was also a determined light in his blue eyes. He didn’t get to be a top gun just by being a pretty face.

  They reached a door that looked like the lift. She signaled for him to get on the other side, then hit the button. When it opened, three Gadi guards came out—and went down. Hawkins seemed to be enjoying his first ray gun. A lot.

  Hawkins dragged the unconscious men clear of the door, so they could go in. As the doors closed, Hawkins looked at her.

  “What’s to stop them doing that to us? Or just shutting this thing down?”

  Sara looked up. “I’m taking a wild guess that they’ve never run into anyone like us. Or seen our movies?” She pointed to the access hatch. “I mean this is ET we’re dealing with. They might not even have movies.”

 
; Hawkins looked up, then he looked at Sara. “I like the way you think.”

  He crouched down and cupped his hands. Sara stepped in and he hoisted her up. She was able to open the hatch and check it out. It was doable. She dropped back down. And she knelt down and cupped her hands.

  “Ladies first.”

  “Actually, I’m thinking I’ll stay down here.”

  “And do what?”

  “Play dead.”

  His brows arched. “I see where you’re going.”

  He must have seen the same movies she had.

  He stepped in her hands and she managed to boost him up, though it was a near thing. She may have brass ones, but she was still a girl. Once Hawkins was in position, she lay down on her back, with the ray gun on her chest, her hand clasped loosely around it. Hawkins crouched in the opening, covering her with his ray gun.

  She followed their down progress in her head. “Get ready,” She whispered.

  He wasn’t to know she’d been messing with their sensors, giving false echoes all over the ship—and giving the Gadi a false read of incoming bogeys. Even with all that, Gaedon would know they’d head for the landing bay and their ships. He had to take the threat of incoming seriously, though. She could see all the ships, with most of gomers in them, leaving the landing bay.

  There were still about twenty gomers left, though. And it looked like there were five covering the lift access. Twenty-five guys—who weren’t used to fighting dirty, she’d bet. Still doable.

  The lift stopped. There was a pause, the doors slid back. Through lowered lids, Sara saw the five men hesitate. One of them spoke into some kind of fixed communication station.

  “Commander, the woman is down. No sign of the man.” He signaled to two of his men to secure her. And then turned his back on them.

  Bad move.

  Sara waited until both men were bending over her to open her eyes.

  “Smile.” Their eyes widened, but that was all they had time for before Hawkins dropped them. As they went down, Sara took out the guy on the communication station first, then the other two.

  Hawkins dropped down beside her.

  “Go out low and fast. There’s cover, if you break right.”

  Luckily he didn’t stop to wonder how she knew that. He nodded and dove out, rolling to the right, firing as he went. Sara followed on his heels, doing a diving roll to a cabinet of some kind. Energy bursts passed over their heads. Sara connected with their ships and started prepping them for take off.