The Girl In The Box

by Janet Miller

  In answer she handed him the e-tab. It held the information that Jacky had uncovered. The General looked though it, noting the dates and individuals who’d been spying on him. A fierce dark-blue stare pierced her. “You believe this information?”

  “I believe Jacky. He’s got no reason to lie to you or me. He’s rather an admirer of yours, General Garran.”

  A little of the fierceness faded away and a smile hovered around his lips. “Just Garran, please. It’s good to know I have a few fans. Who are you, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “Amirilla Asteras. I’ve got third comm watch on the station.”

  “Ammi?” His voice had turned sharp again and his eyes raked over her, lingering on the box that replaced her feet. “You wouldn’t by any chance know my son?”

  His disapproving stare was just what she’d hoped to avoid. A sob threatened to expose itself. “Yes sir, I know your son. No, he doesn’t know about…this.” She pointed to the box. “I don’t intend to tell him either. There’s no reason for it - we’re friends, he and I, nothing more.”

  Agitated, she grabbed the e-tab from Garran’s hand and her cuff pulled back from her wrist revealing her bracelet. Garran’s eyes widened. He snatched her hand, pulling her wrist closer. Silently he stared at the engraving. “And you got this, where?”

  For a moment it was hard to find her voice. “Ganth left it, the night he tried to see me.”

  He dropped her hand like it had burned him. “You don’t know what that is, do you.” He pulled up his own sleeve, revealing a similar band, but decorated with a small bird with long legs. “It’s a stork, the emblem my wife chose. She wears mine, with a crescent moon. They’re marriage bands.”

  He sat down, heavily. “You are not just my son’s friend, Ammi. Surely you can see that.”

  Stunned, she fingered the narrow bracelet. “All we’ve done is talk. We haven’t even seen each other. He was wearing a respirator…”

  “Which he’d probably intended to remove as soon as he found you so he could attach to you and force a marriage. He even had a band made.” Garran’s laugh was bitter. “I know my son. It’s been months since he last asked about going home for the next marriage meet. Instead, he kept a close watch on when we’d be putting into the station... it wasn’t hard for me to guess he was attracted to someone here. Clearly someone I wouldn’t be happy about.” Again he stared at her box.

  That was enough! Ammi reassembled her tattered pride. “I might not be what you want, General Garran. I might not even be what your son wants given that he doesn’t know about my condition. But there’s a lot more to me than a pair of misshaped legs. I came here to warn you - someone is after you and they may very well strike anytime now. As for this…” She removed the band from her wrist and held it briefly before handing it to him. “Tell your son that space monkeys don’t like to be forced into anything.”

  She glanced over her shoulder once before wheeling back to the station. It was worth it to see the odd look on the General’s face. The man almost looked impressed.

  * * *

  “Noble Cause to Station Blue. Ammi, are you there?” She rested her head on her hand and ignored the call. “Ammi, it’s Ganth. Please talk to me.”

  Now he was saying please. He didn’t say please when he was trying to force a wedding with her. No sir, not a ‘please’ then. Then leaving her that bracelet and making her think it was just a present, not a marriage proposal. Miserably she rubbed the place where the band had rested. She missed it.

  “Alright Ammi, if you won’t talk to me, then I’ll just have to talk to you and hope you listen. First, I’m sorry about not being up front about the visit the other night. I really wanted to see you and you kept putting me off, so I decided to surprise you. And, yes, I had a marriage band with me, but I wasn’t going to force you to marry me. I couldn’t even if I wanted to, you’d have to agree. I just wanted to be prepared. I thought you might be happy about it. I mean, I love you Ammi, and I think you love me. Why shouldn’t I want to attach to you? Why shouldn’t I want to marry the woman I love?”

  His dad must not have told him. She flipped on the switch. “I told you before, Ganth, you don’t know enough about me. There is something I need to tell you…”

  “Ammi! Sweet Gaia, you’re there. Look, I know we need to talk. I want to do it face to face. Please, I promise I’ll keep the respirator on, let me come over.”

  Let him see for himself what she really looked like. It probably was the only way. But to watch his face as he learned the truth… Would he be like his dad, dismiss her as unworthy? Would he pity her, be angry, or just run as fast as he could? Whatever it was best to get it over with. She opened her mouth to invite him.

  A loud squeal from the proximity alarm stopped her.

  “What was that?” Ganth asked as she opened the console viewscreen and pointed the imager to the space outside the station. Something was coming in, fast, on a collision course.

  She opened a cross-station hailing, the alarms blaring, probably dragging everyone from whatever cozy hole he or she had retired to. She answered the frantic queries as they poured in.

  “We have an incoming tanker pod, a runaway, collision in two minutes, location…” she did the math, figured out the trajectory. Stared at the point of impact, redid the calculations. The pod wasn’t aimed at the station, it was directed at the Noble Cause!

  Ammi flung herself at the still open line. “Ganth, your ship is the target! Break docking locks and get out of here. You have one minute, forty-five seconds to clear.”

  He didn’t falter. She heard his frantic muttering as he prepared for emergency undocking. Thirty seconds past, then forty-five. Less than one minute left. With less than thirty seconds to spare she heard the Noble Cause’s engines go online and a gentle tug on the station as the ship broke the locks.

  The station’s normal roll took a new direction from the momentum of the ship blasting free. The turn caused a change to Ammi’s calculations and she desperately tried to catch up, feeding the information to the station at large while doing so. “Station, new impact coordinates, section zero, three, seven…”

  Abruptly her voice faded. Ammi raised her head and stared at the room around her for the last two seconds before the incoming pod hit the station outer hull a mere twenty meters away.

  * * *

  It was dark. No lights—not even emergency backups. Cold. Hard to breathe too. Life support must be out. Her head ached and something warm trickled down the back of her neck.

  She hurt. Well, that was a positive - if she hurt she wasn’t dead. With a hull breach she shouldn’t be alive. The hull must not have ruptured, or if it did, the self-sealing walls had saved her. Ammi tried to lift her head. She was lying on her side on the floor. Reaching down, she felt her bare legs. She’d been thrown from the box.

  Of course, with debris scattered everywhere, there was no way she’d be able to use her wheels anyway. Reaching down her back, she felt for the leads that connected her lower spine to the control system. They’d been torn out and the area felt tender. Thick liquid covered her fingers when she brought them up to her nose. A metallic smell, blood. She would need repairs.

  Assuming she lived. She didn’t seem too injured, but to live she needed air, the one thing in fairly short supply.

  Lights flickered on and a small buzz came from her communications console. The speaker sprang to life with a loud squawk. “…I’m showing the power on, but nothing else. There may be no atmosphere in there.” It was Captain Thompson, station commander.

  “There has to be, otherwise… I just can’t accept that she’s dead!”

  Ganth’s voice! What was he doing here, wasn’t he on his ship? Even through his respirator his sweet voice enthralled her and dying was no longer a reasonable option.

  “We can’t open the safety doors until we know the hull is intact. If she’s alive, she can tell us that.”

  “But with her legs, maybe she can’t reach t
he comm,” Ganth argued. “Listen, I didn’t space walk across half a kilometer to wait outside a door.”

  Legs? Ganth knew about her legs and still wanted to see her? Suddenly it became important to get off the floor, get to the switch. Hoisting herself onto her arms, Ammi dragged herself to the console, thanking her lucky stars she’d spent time in the station gym building her muscles. She pulled herself up to a sitting position then reached up to hit the open switch. She took a deep breath. “Comm reporting. Amirilla here.”

  “Ammi!” Ganth’s voice was jubilant. “Blessed Gaia, you’re alive.”

  Thompson’s voice interrupted. “Report, Asteras. What’s the status in there?”

  Another breath, shallower - there wasn’t much air left. “Hull seems intact, life support minimal. It’s cold and hard to breathe.” The exertion was too much. Faint, she leaned back and closed her eyes.

  Ganth voice broke in. “Hear that? Get the door open.”

  A low buzz followed and a few minutes later she heard the door slide open. Strong warm arms slid around her and a respirator mask was fit to her mouth and nose. Fresh oxygen tantalized her lungs as she breathed deeply. Ganth’s voice was in her ear, “I’ll get her to sickbay.” The warm arms hoisted and carried her from the room.

  She breathed in, deeply. A rich musky odor enveloped her nose, tingling. “I thought you said the air smelled funny in one of these. It smells wonderful.”

  “What you smell is me, Ammi. You’re wearing my respirator.” Ganth stuck his face into her hair, breathed deeply. “You smell good, too.”

  Abruptly, his breathing became uneven and he leaned against the wall of the corridor. Deep in his chest she heard his heart pound erratically. Over the mask she stared into his face, the intense concentration in his eyes, mouth.

  “Ganth, what is it?”

  He took several deep breaths, let out a ragged laugh. “Nothing. And everything.” He lifted her higher and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead before resuming his way to the sickbay. “It’s only that I’ve attached to you.”

  Sudden exhaustion overtook her. Warm, safe, oxygen to spare, she leaned into his comforting embrace, closed her eyes and drifted off into a pleasant haze.

  * * *

  She awoke in a bed, the gentle sound of medical instruments pinging gaily around her. Peeking, she saw the austere white walls and clean lines of the sickbay. Opening her eyes further she saw Ganth on the stool near the bed, eyes half closed. Yes, she could see him as Garran’s son. He had the same dark blue eyes and dark hair, cut medium length, but not as grim a face as his father. Handsome, of course. When she moved, his eyes flew open. He pulled closer to her, his hand on her forehead, fluid worry in his gaze.

  “Ammi, how are you?”

  “I’ll be okay.” She could breathe, move. Her back hurt, not surprisingly, but not too much. Sudden concern overtook her. “You aren’t wearing a respirator. What about…”

  His laugh was indulgent. “Not to worry, I can only attach once and that’s already happened. To you, Ammi, just as I expected. I knew you were the one from the beginning.”

  His words thrilled her. “But Ganth, my legs.”

  “You told my father that there was more to you than your legs, and that’s true beyond measure. I told him the same thing. Dad will accept that, and if he doesn’t, Mom will convince him.” He chuckled. “She is going to love you.”

  What he’d said about her not reaching the console. “You knew, before?”

  A sheepish grin overtook his face. “I’ve known a long time, Ammi. Months ago I broke into the station’s computer system and downloaded your records. I wanted to know more about you.”

  “And it doesn’t matter?”

  “Matter, no. Mind you, Gaian medicine is far beyond what they practice around here. Artificial limbs, bone reformation. My mom is a doctor, she’s bound to have some ideas. I can’t promise that you’ll walk, but I suspect we can do better than a mechanical chair for you.

  He leaned in closer. “But no matter what, I said I loved you and I always will. How can the woman I love be anything less than perfect to me?” He pulled the twin star bracelet from his pocket. “Ammi, a Gaian man isn’t complete until he finds his mate. Please, accept this, be my wife.”

  He’d known the truth all along and still loved her, accepted her as she was. Joy enveloped her and she felt her lucky stars smile. She fastened the band around her wrist.

  “I love you too, Ganth. I guess I’ll need to make one of these for you. What would you think of a ‘jack in the box’ as the symbol?”

  Leaning forward, his lips met hers in their first real kiss. All the stars in the galaxy whirled and danced. When they parted he touched her cheek, stroking it with the back of his hand. “You could make it a girl in the box, instead. Whatever you pick, I’ll be proud to wear it.”

  ###

  About the author:

  Janet Miller, often known as Cricket Starr, is the author of over twenty-seven titles at Ellora’s Cave, Samhain, Red Sage, and New Concepts Publishing.  These titles include the 2004 PRISM award winning Violet Among The Roses, 2011 PRISM award winning Bad Dog and the Babe, and 2006 EPPIE award winning All Night Inn.  She has two Romantic Times Top Picks and nominees for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award for Beloved Enemy under her Janet Miller name, and Fangs For The Memories by Cricket Starr.

  Janet specializes in futuristic romance under her own name and futuristic, fantasy, and paranormal romance under the pen name Cricket Starr.  Not all of her books are erotic, but she knows a good love scene when she reads or writes it.

  For more information visit her website at: www.cricketstarr.com

  Promises To Keep Excerpt

  Prologue

  [Somewhere in space]

  Symon turned and stared at the tall, dark-haired man, dressed in his usual black uniform. “We need women, Garran. If we don’t get them from Earth, where do you expect them to come from? The Outer Colonies have their own troubles, they can’t provide for us.”

  General Garran Doranth stared at his second-in-command. He had no answer, as Symon had already known. Instead of dealing with the question, he shifted in the chair and scowled. “I don’t like bringing Earthers to Gaia. I still believe it’s a mistake.”

  On the other side of the conference table, Bethan, Symon’s wife, stirred and exchanged glances with her husband. From the head of the table, Garran watched the silent nods and raised eyebrows as the pair silently communicated and a fleeting amusement passed through him at how well they understood each other. She squared her shoulders and returned her gaze to meet his eyes. Garran stiffened under his sister-in-law’s stare.

  It was apparently her turn to persuade him.

  “I understand how you feel, Garran. We both do, but what choice do we have?”

  Briefly, he let her gentle voice soothe him. It was so like Metta’s--but it wasn’t and he’d never hear his wife’s sweet voice again. Old pain eliminated the brief comfort he’d taken.

  Oblivious, Bethan continued. “The situation is simple: we have too many men and not enough women. No matter how you dislike it, this is the only solution available. Have you been in the crew quarters recently? They grow impatient, weary of waiting. There has been talk….”

  The word caught Garran’s attention. “Talk?”

  Symon took up the battle. “Yes, talk. Talk of going out on their own to find women. And you know what a disaster that could be. You may not like it, but this is the only choice we have.”

  No, he didn’t like it. “It might not even work. They might not be suitable.”

  “It’s worked in the past. Even you can’t deny that. And you can’t argue that the few Earth women we have acquired haven’t made excellent wives.”

  Garran nodded grudgingly. He’d been angry when the ship’s doctor had attached, but the woman had turned into a good addition to his crew, in spite of his misgivings. But to bring in others.… “They will change us. We need so many, it will change w
ho we are.”

  Bethan laughed. “And who’s to say it wouldn’t be good for us to suffer a little change? We’ve become too isolated. That was part of the problem in the first place.” At his ill-humored grunt, she reached over and patted his arm. “Who knows, Garran, perhaps you could find someone….”

  Fury sprang within him without warning. Clenching his fists he turned on her. “Not … even … in … jest!” His voice felt like a raw wound.

  She stared at him, white-faced, and Symon moved to her side, slipped a comforting arm around her waist. The hurt in her eyes made him pause. After all, they were his best friends, the only people Garran could name as family, and slowly he reined in his temper. When he spoke again his voice was gentler. “Both of you know better than that.” He tried a reassuring smile but failed in its accomplishment. “Besides, you know I’m immune.”

  They moved closer and stood as a couple, united against him. “We promised them,” Symon told him. “It’s been five years now, and we swore we would find our men wives.”

  “And we always keep our promises, don’t we?” Garran stood and moved to the far side of the room and examined the star field in the view-screen. The individual points of light moved leisurely past, and just as slowly he nodded. “A man should not live alone. I’m proof enough of that. Very well, I agree. As you say, we have no other options. Our men need the women and this is the best way to get them.”

  The wall next to the screen held a small picture, a holopic of a woman holding a small child. The three-dimensional image caught his attention. This image was all that he had left of his wife and daughter. A chill passed through him and he placed one large hand next to it on the wall.

  “No one should have to be alone.”

  Chapter One

  [Earth, 2488]

  “No one should be alone at a time like this.” Sarah stepped into the dingy hospital corridor and flagged down a passing nurse’s aide. “Andrea. I need you!”

  Andrea glanced down at the stack of white towels she carried, a worried look on her face. “But Dr. Johnson, Dr. Masterson asked me to bring these to his office.”