Too Close to the Sun (The Sun 1)

by Popp, Robin T.

  “Fine.” He snarled. “But don’t hold your breath waiting to get there. We have another stop to make before we return.”

  “What do you mean another stop?”

  He thought he detected a note of worry in her tone. That was fine with him. Let her worry about being stuck with him for a while. Why should he be the only one to suffer?

  “My mission isn’t over. I intend to stop the Harvesters. And if that means going to another planet to do it, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

  “I don’t want to spend that much time with you.”

  “Actually, it’s not that far. Just over in the next quadrant.” He'd been laying in their course, but at her quick breath, he looked over at her. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “No...nothing. Which planet?”

  “Why?”

  “Damn it, Nicoli. If you’re going to haul me all over the universe, you can at least tell me which planet you’re taking me to.”

  “Coronado, of course.” He studied her face closely. Most people would not have detected her small flinch, but he saw it. "The people there need to be warned about the Harvesters' Rebirth project. Besides, I'd think you'd be excited to be going home. Aren't you Coronadian?"

  “Yes, of course. We should warn them.” She stood up abruptly and headed for the door. “Excuse me. I’m tired. I’m going to lie down.”

  He watched her practically race from the bridge, then turned back to look out the front viewport, glad to finally be alone with his thoughts. There was a time in the not too distant past when logic ruled him, but from the moment he’d transferred back into his body, emotions bombarded him, controlled him. Or maybe it was from the moment he’d found Angel, lying helpless in the donor room. The timing between the two was so close it was hard to tell which event triggered this emotional upheaval, but it needed to end. There was work to be done.

  He sent a message to USP headquarters providing the coordinates of the Harvesters’ planet. A contingent of soldiers would be sent to see that any operations still functioning were shut down and the survivors transported some place where they could be watched and cared for. Personally, he didn’t care if the whole damn race was exterminated.

  Once that task was completed, he began working on a computer program to access the data he'd copied from the Harvesters' computer. Work was what he needed now and the Harvesters' database would provide him with plenty of it.

  * * * * *

  A few hours later, Angel woke from a nightmare. It was one that was all too familiar and left her feeling panicked and breathless. She sat up in bed, skin damp with perspiration and noticed that the air in her room was stifling hot.

  This scenario, too, was familiar. Angel didn’t even bother to find her shoes before racing barefoot to the bridge.

  “What’s going on?” She paused to take a couple of deep breaths. “I came as quickly as I…” She looked around, but there was no one there.

  Out the front view screen, she saw only empty space and stars. When she listened for sounds, she heard only silence. There was no one attacking the ship, no immediate danger. Yet something was wrong.

  Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to relax and in doing so, noticed the results of the diagnostic scan still on the computer screen. Everything appeared normal, until she saw the readout on the rear thrusters.

  She headed to the thruster uptake shafts on the lower level and found Nicoli kneeling on the floor before an assortment of tools. At her approach, he glanced up briefly.

  “I saw the diagnostics on the bridge.” For some reason, she felt the need to explain being there.

  “Yeah. There’s a problem with the uptake. The thrusters overheated and shut down. Which is why it’s so damn hot in here – no air flow.”

  Though they were talking, the tension between them was nearly a physical thing weighing on her. She hated it.

  “Can you fix it?”

  “I’m going to try.” He picked up a small torch and activated it, adjusting the blue light at the end until it was the size of the tip of his finger.

  Seemingly satisfied, he turned off the torch and clipped it to his belt. Looking over at Angel, he frowned. “Where are your shoes?”

  “I, uh, thought we were under attack. You know, the heat in my room…” She paused until the reference clicked and he nodded.

  "Right."

  "Anyway, I didn’t want to waste time looking for shoes if there was trouble. Since I'm here, is there something I can do to help?”

  "You know anything about uptake shafts?” She shook her head no, causing him to sigh. "Doesn't matter. Follow me.”

  “Where?”

  Nicoli nodded his head toward the shaft. “Up there.”

  Her eyes drifted to the shaft’s opening and saw only the endless black void beyond. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

  “Well, for one thing, it’s too small. We’ll never both fit in there.”

  “Nice try. But I’ve already been in there and I promise you, there’s plenty of room for both of us.”

  “Well, then, um - I don’t know anything about repairing a ship. So I really won’t be much good to you.”

  “Can you hold a luminator?”

  She sighed. “Yes.”

  “That’ll do. There’s a hole in the shaft and I need to seal it by fusing this plate over it.” He held up a square sheet of metal. “One hand to hold the plate in place while the other operates the torch. That leaves me one hand short to hold the luminator, which is why I need you. Understand?”

  She nodded, unwilling to embarrass herself further. Reluctantly, she accepted the cylindrical tube he handed her and watched as he climbed through the shaft’s opening.

  Almost drawn against her will, Angel took a step closer. Nicoli worked his way along the shaft and as he did, the darkness slowly swallowed him until, too soon for Angel's comfort, he disappeared from sight.

  Angel swallowed hard. I can't do this.

  The bottom ledge of the opening was about waist high. She activated the luminator and after assuring herself that the beam shone strong and steady, she directed it into the shaft. Immediately the blackness disappeared and with the shiny metal of the shaft’s four walls reflecting back the light, it didn’t seem nearly as daunting. She could even see Nicoli’s feet not far ahead.

  With only a moment’s further hesitation, Angel ducked her head into the shaft, used her elbows to drag herself all the way in and then began to crawl after Nicoli. She heard him moving steadily forward ahead of her. Concentrating only on the task at hand, Angel moved one arm forward, then one knee and so on, edging forward, never daring to look behind her where the luminator's beam couldn't reach, knowing if she did, she would see the darkness closing in.

  Angel didn’t know how long they crawled along the tunnel - shaft, she mentally corrected herself - but the further in they went, the windier it became. The hole in the shaft was sucking out the ship's air so fast that the resulting current was strong enough to push them along so they reached the hole in no time. In fact, once they reached the spot, the air was rushing past them so fast that Angel was more worried about finding a way to anchor herself in place so she wasn't dragged any further up the shaft.

  “You okay?” Nicoli must have heard how hard she was breathing and thought she was worried about suffocating. "I know if feels like you're getting hit in the face by a cyclone, but if you turn your head to the side a little, your head will block the wind enough that you can draw a breath.”

  “I’m fine,” she lied. “What do you want me to do?”

  The shaft was wide enough for limited movement and Angel saw Nicoli studying her face, as if gauging her composure. If he thought her voice sounded unusually tense, though, he didn’t comment on it.

  “I need you to come closer and direct the light here so I can see where I’m welding. It won’t do us much good if I accidentally hit a tyrillium cable and blow us all to kingdom come.”
<
br />   Against her better judgment, she crawled forward until she was wedged between Nicoli's legs. Feeling his muscled thighs on either side of her hips had her senses tripping down memory lane to the night they'd been together. Had it been only yesterday?

  There was no way he couldn't feel the way her heart raced inside her chest but she hoped he'd assume she was claustrophobic and scared to death, which of course she was.

  Trying not to think about where she was, Angel watched Nicoli work, moving the light occasionally when he progressed to a new portion of the plate. For a while, the sight of metal edges melting and fusing together distracted her. Nicoli’s ability with the torch was impressive, making the entire operation seem easy and effortless.

  “There,” he said after finishing the last bit and shutting off his torch. “That should hold it until we can make it to the nearest space station for repairs. Brace yourself. I’m going to have the computer start up the thrusters while we’re in here to make sure they work. I don’t know about you, but I’d just as soon not have to crawl all the way in here again.”

  Angel nodded, but remained silent.

  “Computer, fire the rear thrusters.”

  There was a moment of nothing. Angel could almost taste the anticipation. Then the thrusters roared to life, jolting the ship violently as it shot forward. Angel, slammed against the side of the shaft, lost her grip on the luminator and it went sailing through the air. Unable to turn easily in the narrow space, Angel could do nothing more than watch helplessly as it rolled out of view, taking the light with it. As the light faded, the walls of the shaft closed in.

  Angel froze. The sound of her pounding heart grew so loud she could no longer hear Nicoli moving in front of her. She was alone, paralyzed by fear and trapped inside an all-too-familiar nightmare, one that had haunted her since childhood.

  Chapter 13

  “Angel?” Something was wrong, he could tell. Her breathing had become harsh and erratic. It seemed absurd to him that this woman who had braved Free Rebels and Harvesters might be afraid of the dark. And yet…

  “Angel?” He spoke calmly, but again there was no answer. He wasn’t sure what to do. He reached down, hoping to comfort her, but when his hand touched her, she flinched and began to whimper.

  “It’s okay. It’s only me. You’re safe. I promise you, you’re safe.” He tried to sound convincing as he inched his way closer to her in the shaft. The next time he touched her, she didn’t flinch, but the low whimpering sounds continued.

  With effort, he maneuvered himself until he lay alongside her. It was a tight fit and they were wedged together, but that made it easier for him to wrap his arms around her. To his relief, she didn’t try to pull away.

  “Angel, it’s okay. I'm with you and I'm going to get you out of here. You’re safe with me.”

  His words were met with the sound of chattering teeth and he knew she was losing ground to her growing panic.

  “Just concentrate on the sound of my voice. Everything’s fine.”

  He kept murmuring words of reassurance, knowing that what he said wasn't nearly as important as his tone, so he kept that as soothing as he could, all the while holding her close.

  Slowly, he felt her relax. How long they lay that way, he didn’t know. He didn’t care. It felt good to hold her. It felt right - and he knew that as soon as they were free of the shaft, he'd never again have this opportunity.

  “Nicoli?” Her voice came softly, muffled from where her face pressed against his shoulder, her breath warm against his neck.

  “Yes?”

  “I want to leave. Please.”

  “You got it.” He promised. “I'm going to slide past you so I can guide you out, but I'll be with you the entire way."

  When he felt her nod, he worked his way down the shaft until he was behind her. Then grabbing her ankle, he gave it a gentle tug.

  “Just move with me," he said, his words sounding unusually loud in the small space. We’ll go nice and slow.”

  It seemed to take forever, with Nicoli stopping periodically to make sure she was okay.

  "Not too much further now. The tunnel's getting lighter."

  They reached the opening and as soon as he climbed out, he turned to help Angel by placing his hands around her ankles and pulling her toward him. When she was clear enough, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her down. Without releasing her, he turned her toward him so he could see her face.

  She wouldn't look up at him, seemingly absorbed in her study of the floor. “Wow, that was embarrassing,” she said in a tone filled with self-condemnation.

  “Don't worry about it. We all have our private demons."

  "Maybe.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “If you don’t need me right now, I’d like to go back to my cabin. I’ll, uh, come relieve you on the bridge in just a little while.”

  He nodded but didn’t say anything. She started to walk off, but stopped after taking just a few steps. He watched as she seemed to struggle with herself. Finally, she turned to look back at him. “Thank you for, you know, your help.”

  “No problem.” He watched her walk away.

  After putting away the torch and other tools, Nicoli returned to the bridge. All systems were working. Well, working as normally as they could under the circumstances. He laid in a course for Delphi IV and, taking the controls, set a moderate speed out of the Darwin Zone.

  Once they were safely away, his thoughts inevitably drifted back to Angel.

  “Everything okay?”

  Nicoli glanced at Yanur as the older man walked in and sat down in the co-pilot’s seat.

  “For now.” Nicoli turned back to the vast emptiness of space looming ahead of him and they fell into a companionable silence.

  After several minutes had passed, Yanur said, "About what happened with Angel back there on the Harvesters' planet --"

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Excuse me?” Yanur sounded confused.

  Belatedly, Nicoli realized Yanur had no idea what had happened between him and Angel back at the Rebirth Colony and this wasn't going to be a lecture about not taking advantage of innocent young women. At least, not yet. “Forget it. You had something on your mind?”

  “Yes. An apology.”

  Nicoli nodded. “All right. I accept.”

  “Accept what?”

  “Your apology.”

  “Oh. No. You misunderstand me. I'm not apologizing to you for letting her undertake the dangerous task of restoring you to your body - not when she had proven herself to be capable and clearly the better choice between us.”

  "Then you're apologizing for lying to me."

  "No," Yanur said. "Knowing how Althusians view the role of women, you didn't leave me much choice. I knew you wouldn't agree so I made a strategic decision to omit certain bits of information. A military man such as yourself can surely understand such a strategy - and this is a military mission, is it not?”

  Nicoli hated it when Yanur got this way. "If you're not apologizing for sending Angel to retrieve my body and you're not apologizing for lying to me, then what exactly are you apologizing for?"

  "Nothing. The apology we're talking about is the one that you must make."

  That surprised him. "What am I apologizing to you for?"

  “Not to me," Yanur correct. "To Angel. For jumping all over her when she's saved your life - not once but three times by my count.”

  For jumping all over her. It was an unfortunate choice of words because that's exactly what he'd done back at the Rebirth colony. The memory of it left him feeling guilty because while it had been necessary, he shouldn’t have enjoyed being with her as much as he had.

  His guilt made him defensive and he lashed out at Yanur. “She wouldn't have had to risk her life with the Free Rebels if she hadn't stolen our ship. And as for what happened back on the planet? I'll have you know that she nearly died - twice. That's what you - we - let her walk into."

  Yanur sighed. �
��But she didn't die - and more important, neither did you."

  "I'm too tired to keep arguing with you," Nicoli said, setting the controls on autopilot. They were safely out of the Darwin Zone and he wanted to be alone to think.

  Alone to brood.

  Rising from the pilot's seat, he crossed to the open doorway.

  “Nicoli.” Yanur stopped him. "It's not a bad thing for women to know how to fight and protect themselves - if that's what's bothering you."

  Nicoli felt the last thread of his control snap. “My mother had those skills - and she paid for them with her life. Knowledge is not always power. Remember that."

  * * * * *

  Thirty minutes later, Nicoli stepped out of the D-U feeling clean, but not refreshed. Irritation rode him like a gnat on a tiger’s butt. He didn’t know what to think of Angel. The situation would be so much simpler if she would behave like other women.

  Then he wondered what other women he meant. The cold, hardened women in the Forces? They were well versed in combat.

  Or was he thinking of the submissive Althusian women? Most of them were incapable of making a simple decision much less engage in a fight to the death. He couldn't possibly want Angel to be more like them.

  The truth was that Angel was unlike any female he’d met.

  Securing the towel about his waist, he tried to push her from his thoughts as he opened the closet. He was in Yanur's room because Angel was using his. He should have retrieved a change of clothes from his room before he undressed but he'd been too preoccupied to think of it. Now he needed a fresh change of clothes - because he wasn't putting the dirty ones back on - and the items hanging in Yanur's closet were too small.

  He glanced at the clock. It had been about two hours since Angel had left him on the lower level. Surely by now, she was on the bridge. There was no reason he couldn't go to his cabin and grab a set of his clothes.

  With that in mind, he left Yanur's cabin and headed for his own. He stopped outside the closed door and, as a precaution, knocked. When there was no answer, he palmed the access pad. The door whooshed open, leaving him staring into a familiar empty room.