by Elin Wyn
But as the level clicked to the full brightness of day shift, like smoke, the ghosts disappeared into the night.
Mack started to follow them, but I called him back.
“Please,” I forced myself to meet his eyes. “Help me get her back to Granny’s, and then do whatever you want.”
Mack
I picked up the blonde woman, her thin form weighing almost nothing. Her head lolled back, and Zayda gasped.
“Isn’t that the woman we saw last night?”
A quick glance confirmed it. We’d seen her before we arrived at the viewport. Before Zayda's touch had made me feel whole, only to have her leave and shatter everything again.
She walked beside me in silence. The woman stirred in my arms, then shrieked, fighting with me.
Zayda rushed to her, as I lowered the woman to the ground, still standing ready to support her.
“It's alright, it's alright.” Zayda held the woman's arms, searched for reason in her face. “He’s one of the good guys, I promise. Nowhere safer you could be than with him.”
The touch of her gaze on mine was like a kick in the gut. I believed her when she said it. Then why had she left our bed?
“Those men,” the woman shuddered. “Those things…”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Let's get you somewhere safe.” Zayda kept her arm around the woman's shoulders and I fell back to follow them.
I’d keep my word. Wait till they were safe inside of Granny's. And then… The future stretched black and blank in front of me, just like my past.
I thought of the woman's abduction, the fight against the helmeted figure, the wrongness as I touched it.
There was something there; I knew those things in black. But the memory slipped away even as I reached for it.
We reached the residential hive to see Granny already standing in the door, waiting for us.
“Is there anything you don't know?” Zayda's voice held a forced lightness.
Granny's quick eyes flicked between us, even as Marga wrapped her arms around the frail woman, bringing her inside.
I stepped back onto the walkway, ready to lock the door on the last few days. Lock the door on Zayda.
Granny paused on the doorstep.
“You two, wait for me.” Her voice sounded twenty years younger, commanding.
“I need to head over to the docks, the earlier I get there, the earlier I'll find a berth.”
Granny’s gaze narrowed. “Last night I told you I'd rather have a favor than credit. I'm calling it in now.”
The door closed behind her and Zayda slumped against the wall.
I fought to keep my voice even. “Are you hurt?” I shouldn't care, right?
“What were those things? What are they doing here?” She sounded lost.
I didn't put my arms around her.
It wasn't long before Granny came bustling out the door. “Come along, children. I have a favor I want from both of you, and then, if you like, we'll call it even.”
We passed through the edges of the bazaar, and Granny Z glanced at Zayda’s crinkled dress.
“That's a lovely outfit,” she said, her voice gentle. “Might want to talk to your tailor myself one of these days. But you might want something more suited to travel, where we’re going.”
“Travel?” we asked in unison, but she ignored us and stopped by a booth filled with clothing and general gear.
Granny negotiated a quick transaction with a much younger man whose gaze at Zayda's form while he estimated her size made my fists clench.
In minutes, Zayda stepped out from behind the curtain, dressed again in plain black pants and a light gray shirt.
Too close to her uniform from Minor, if anyone had asked me. But the cut of the fabric was softer, not the unflattering boxy form.
“Just as lovely, child, and now a little more practical.”
The young man smiled as Granny patted his cheek and we were off again.
We followed her up and down glides, shifting levels and sectors, and from Zayda's quick looks around, I wondered if she was as lost as I was.
Before long, she confirmed my guess. “I don't think I've ever been to this section before.”
Granny laughed. “Not surprised. Private docks. Not a lot of public traffic.” She kept walking, but the question seemed to have broken her silence. “When I was young, my family was going to marry me off. A wealthy man, and a powerful one, but old. And I'd never met him. Didn't love him. Ended up running away with a scoundrel and a rogue.”
Twisting and turning through corridors, she stopped with her hand over a lock plate. “We had a good life. He left me a lot of memories, and this.”
She opened the door and stepped through.
Lights clicked on overhead one by one, the sequence filling the chamber with brightness, all trained on a long silver shape.
I followed Zayda into the room, and, for the first time since our meeting, all of my attention was ripped away from her.
“It's beautiful,” Zayda breathed.
“She,” the old woman answered. “She is.”
An antique runner, sleek and deadly, with curves out of a pilot's dream.
Granny didn't move any closer, but her eyes caressed the ship. “She's The Queen. My husband's ship. I haven't taken her out in years, not entirely certain my old bones are up to the G-forces anymore. But I have her checked out pretty regularly, whenever I find a pilot I think I can trust.”
She snorted.
“Paying the berthing fees is the only thing my worthless grandson does that I approve of.”
Zayda ripped her eyes from the ship to look at Granny. “The Queen.” Zayda’s tone made me turn. “What was your husband’s name?”
Granny Z just shook her head and smiled. “Nobody important, just to me. Anyhow,” her voice cleared of memories, “that's the favor I’m calling in. Take her out, give her a good run, and bring her back in one piece. A good ship’s not meant to sit still.”
I ran my hand over the hull. “How do you know I could even fly her?”
“I'm old, not stupid. Try again.”
Void, this was everything I had hoped for, dropped into my lap. But with one complication.
I looked over at Zayda then refocused on the gleaming lines of The Queen. Much safer.
“Do we both need to go?” I tilted my head towards Zayda. “She might have other plans.”
“Well, child? Do you?”
“I’ll go, if you'll have me.” Zayda's voice was flat, even, expressionless.
Fine, if she could handle it, so could I.
“Do you want us to leave now?”
“Darkness, no. I'd rather you didn't crash her the first time out. Neither of you slept nor had breakfast.” Granny turned away. “Missing sleep, that's not that much of a problem. Breakfast should never be skipped. Come on.”
Zayda brushed my arm as I passed her on the way out. “I’ll keep out of your way.”
I took a deep breath, kept going. “As far as I'm concerned, you won't be there at all.”
Granny introduced us to the proprietor of a little hole-in-the-wall curry shop and ordered for us. “You can find the way back to The Queen now, can’t you, children?
“Yes, ma'am.”
Zayda nodded, eating her food with a distant look, tapping her ring finger. I knew that expression, she was thinking about something, puzzling something out. And I hated that it wasn't my business anymore.
“Can we take her anywhere?”
“Don’t crash her, try not to get into a firefight, don’t be gone too long.”
I blinked. “No battles. We can do that. I'm not sure how long we’ll be gone, should be no more than a station cycle or two.”
Granny pushed up from the table. “That's fine. I keep her restocked and fueled.” She winked. “Never know when you'll need to make a quick getaway.”
Zayda looked up sharply, but didn't say anything.
After Granny left, I finished my bowl. “Definitely bett
er than we got on Minor. Don't think this is where our fresh greens ended up, though.”
Zayda smiled faintly. “I know you don't want me to go with you. I can stay down here, disappear. She doesn't need to know.”
I snorted. “That old lady knows everything. I need that ship, and we owe her. And you owe me.”
Eyes lowered, she nodded. “When do you want to go?”
“Now's fine, unless you need to do any other little errands.”
I was being a dick. But I had to build some space between us, or the next time she disappeared...
No good thinking about that. I just wouldn't let myself get attached again. Shouldn't have in the first place. I waited for her to finish and then paid the smiling woman for our meals.
“Friends of Granny Z, you can come back anytime.” She disappeared into the back of her booth, effectively dismissing us.
“Ready?” I turned away from the table but waited until Zayda had stood before leaving the shop.
All the way back to The Queen, I walked half a step in front of her to keep my hand from reaching over and wrapping her fingers around mine.
Still, I watched her, as her curious gaze took in every level, every sector we crossed. But still she seemed distant, resigned.
I guess she, too, had decided things were better this way.
We entered the codes for The Queen's dock and I walked around the sleek silver hull again.
“I've never seen anything like her.” Zayda stroked the graceful folds over the outer hatch.
“I don't think I have, either. Whatever happened to me, surely I’d remember something like this.”
Now that I had a ship, the compulsion to head to the unknown coordinates pressed harder in my skull. I rubbed the side of my head, avoiding Zayda’s worried glance.
“Come on, let's check out the inside.”
Runner class ships like The Queen don’t have a lot of extra space, just enough for the cockpit, basic stores, and a drive.
I walked towards the cockpit and Zayda dropped to the decking, tapping it until she pulled up a panel.
“What are you doing?”
She glanced up from the compartment.
“Figured before we ended up in space, it wouldn't hurt to see what sort of machinery we had under the hood. I'm not much of a mechanic, but I know the difference between a flux and an impulse drive.”
She ducked back down and I nodded.
That was good.
Wasn't sure I did.
Entering the cockpit, I smiled. This I knew.
I sat down, ran my hand over the controls. I could fly The Queen. I could fly her all the way home.
I couldn't be certain that the instruments arranged in the elegant panel before me were in the exact order I'd worked in before, but the function of everything was clear.
Almost everything.
One set of controls sat to the side, and no matter how I imagined using them, I came up blank.
“Mack,” worry threaded through Zayda’s voice. “Could you come back here for a minute?”
I raced to her side, ready for disaster.
“No.” She put her hand on my chest to calm me, then pulled back as if she'd been burned. “It’s not an emergency, just an issue.”
I wanted to grab her hand, instead focused on keeping my voice even. “What sort of issue? Do we have a problem?”
“Not exactly a problem. But I've never seen this before.” She pointed to a spinning ball of golden lights trapped in a web of silver that sat in what I assumed were The Queen's engines.
“Never seen it at all before, never seen this configuration. It’s a bomb? Help me out here.”
She stuck out her tongue at me.
“It's not a bomb. I promise I would have started with that.” Her attention returned to the puzzle before her. “What we have here is a fully functional folded drive, embedded in a flux engine.” Her fingers tapped her leg to a rhythm only she could hear. “I think we might want to do a few test jumps to a very empty space before heading to wherever you're going.”
“Why?”
“Because, if this is what I think it is, we could end up appearing in the middle of a sun.”
Yup. That counted as something between an issue and a problem. Not something we were equipped to handle, though.
“If we needed to know what it was, Granny would have told us, right? Let’s assume she doesn’t want us to wreck this beauty. How are we on fuel? I know she said it was stocked and stored, but she wouldn't be the first person to get scammed.”
Zayda raised her eyebrows. “I don't think many people scam her. Not more than once. But you're right, let's make sure this isn’t the once.”
Quickly we determined the stores contained enough food and fresh water for a two-week trip, maybe more if we were careful. As well as a disturbingly comprehensive medical kit.
“When we get back,” Zayda said, “I think I want to ask her a few questions.”
I laughed. “Good luck getting her to answer them.”
By the time I called flight control and got our departure path off the station arranged, we had settled back into an easy truce.
I reminded myself it was just that.
A truce, temporary.
Zayda settled into the copilot's seat. “You promised me you knew how to fly this thing.”
“I guess we'll find out.”
Carefully, I followed flight control’s recommended path, deliberately going no faster than an antiquated glide.
I snuck a glance at Zayda. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead and she gnawed on her lower lip. Clearly an excess of caution wasn't making her any more comfortable.
“Let's go.”
And, with that, I kicked The Queen into gear. She moved like a dream, hyper responsive to every flick of the controls.
“Now, this is more like it.” Zayda’s eyes were bright and excited.
I could smell her adrenaline in the air and, for a moment, my concentration was lost.
“All right, let's see what else this baby can do.” My hand hovered over the unfamiliar controls. “You say this thing can fold space, pop us from one sector of space to another without any time spent in warp?”
She was back to gnawing at her lip, but she nodded. “I think. That's what it looks like. I've heard rumors of such things being put together. Never seen one.
“Mack, where we’re going... How long would it take us to get there with just regular jumps?”
My hands paused. “I don't know.”
She reached over the space between us and squeezed my hand. This time, I didn't break off contact.
“Then let it take as long as it takes. Punch in the coordinates, and let's find out where we’re going.”
I closed my eyes, saw my hands moving over the controls, not this panel, but one close enough. Didn't think, didn't try to pull the memory into focus, just did it.
I felt the hyperdrive kick in.
I looked at the readout. “Looks like it will be a couple of hours before we arrive. Granny’s certainly getting what she wanted. A nice solid workout for The Queen.”
Zayda's finger had started tapping imperceptibly.
“No.”
“What?
“Stop thinking, stop wondering about Granny.”
“But aren’t you just dying to know?”
“No. I have plenty of mysteries without adding her in. And, besides, you need to sleep. Take a shift on the rack, try not to think about anything, and I'll wake you when we get there.”
Wherever there was.
Zayda
In my dreams, I tried to run towards something. I couldn't see what it was, but I knew I wanted it more than anything, but my feet were tangled in a sticky mess. Long cords wrapped around my arms as I tried to free myself, but, whatever I did, I was trapped.
“Hey, darlin’. Zayda, we’re almost there.”
The dream released me as soon as I felt the touch of his hand on my cheek.
I sat up and he st
epped back from the narrow bunk.
The cold weight I'd carried in my chest all day got heavier, but there was nothing to do but carry on.
“Be right there.” I nodded towards the privacy booth and Mack headed back to the cockpit.
I splashed water on my face, rebraided my hair, and took a selfish minute to stare into the mirror.
Good.
At least I looked as crappy as I felt.
Normally, I could tell myself that whatever the job was, I'd get through it. This is what I had been trained for. That the Agency, that Stanton, had saved me and that's where all of my loyalty should be.
This time, the words were like ashes in my mouth. Bitter and useless, and all I had left.
I slid into the copilot’s seat and fastened my harness. Mack’s tension filled the cockpit.
“Ready to see what's there?”
He nodded, jaw tight, and then punched us back into normal space.
What the hell?
We emerged in a meteor field, and only Mack’s reflexes kept us out of the way of an oncoming chunk of ice.
But that wasn't what caught my attention.
In front of us floated a giant spaceship. Rather, the remains of one.
The hull was battered, pieces ripped away and covered in metal scaffolding. I couldn't tell if it was being repaired or broken down completely.
“Mack...” I looked over at him and undid my harness, kneeling by his side and violating every safety protocol in the book.
His face was pale, bloodless, his eyes stunned and wide.
“Mack, talk to me. What is that?”
“The Daedalus. What happened to The Daedalus?” he whispered.
And he didn't seem to hear anything I said.
Before I could ask for more, in a shimmer of pale light, a cluster of tiny silver ships, sharp, triangular, and deadly, formed a cloud between us and the wrecked ship.
Their noses all pointed at us, and I braced for weapons fire.
But nothing came.
“Hunter’s Darts. But they're not attacking.” He blinked, seemed to realize where he was for the first time.
“Zayda, strap back in. This isn’t going to be good.”
I followed his orders, but they didn't advance, didn't fire.