Found Girl

by Pauline Baird Jones

  “Thank you,” she murmured absently.

  For what?

  Arian looked at him, opened her mouth to explain, then closed it. Her hands gripped the arms of her seat as she felt the sparks inside her. Whatever they were, for now, they were helping her. She shook her head and studied the flotilla. Just because it had been pirates back then did not mean—

  If it looks like a pirate and acts like a pirate—

  “It is probably pirates?”

  That would be my assessment.

  What was the word Coop had used? “Crap.”

  Indeed.

  “Do you think the Boyington sees them?” She tipped her head, listening, but could detect no sound of alarms in the outer bay. That did not mean they did not know.

  I do not have access to their systems.

  The communications between this ship and the scientists on the Boyington was limited. Their scientists had pressed for more and been turned down. She did not blame them for worrying about their secrets. She was worried about them finding hers.

  She hesitated, unsure of the protocol. Surely they knew…but what if they didn’t?

  I would advise contacting them.

  She activated the permitted communications channel. At least they were not one small ship against many this time.

  * * *

  Coop was on the bridge when the call from Arian came through.

  “This is Arian.” A long pause. “On the alien ship in your bay.”

  Coop smiled, but her next words erased the smile.

  “Have your sensors detected the contacts that appear to be approaching this location?”

  Pappy straightened in his command seat, his gaze slashing toward Coop. “Contacts? Do we have unknown contacts on tracking?”

  The tech at tracking looked harassed. “Scanning…I do not show contacts of any kind approaching, sir.”

  Pappy frowned. “Ms. Teraz, would it be all right if we sent one of our geeks down to take a look?”

  There was a short pause.

  “The Companion can link your sensors if you prefer.”

  “Tell her we’d like to take a look first,” Pappy ordered.

  Coop relayed the message, with a bit more diplomacy in his choice of words.

  “Go with him. Take Tiger with you,” Pappy ordered.

  Coop opened his mouth to ask why then remembered that word wasn’t part of his brief. And he probably knew. He was to watch the geek, while Tiger kept an eye on him.

  “Yes, sir.”

  * * *

  Arian tried to tamp down the flutter of excitement. It was not wise to wish to see him. Once her ship was repaired, surely she would be invited to depart. You are a problem for me, young lady, the Colonel had said.

  She made herself focus on the alert, initiating a series of deeper scans on the cluster of ships. She glanced at Rhubreak. “How odd to encounter yet more pirates.”

  The surprise would be in not encountering pirates. They seem to be the one constant of inhabited systems.

  At least they were not one small ship against many this time.

  She lifted her head as she heard the vibration of footsteps on the ramp. She turned as Coop appeared in the opening, his usual lazy smile marred by tension. He was not alone. Behind him was Tiger, a fellow pilot she’d met in the canteen. She’d liked the younger man, recognizing the same strength and confidence in him that she saw in Coop. He looked tense as well. Behind Tiger was the geek that the Colonel had mentioned. She must have met him before because they did not introduce him.

  “What you got?” Coop asked his attention on her data screen.

  She gave him a quick update, watching his brows pull together in a frown.

  “How far out?”

  “Several of your ship days at their current speed and track,” Arian said.

  He cocked a brow at her. “Any sign they could move faster if they wanted to?”

  “There are indications that increased speed is possible,” she admitted, pulling up that data so they could see it.

  “What makes you think they’re pirates?”

  Arian produced a somewhat blurry image of the lead ship. It was a fearsome looking thing, the sides heavily decorated with distorted faces and humans killing and torturing each other, and other species. The images were disturbing and violent.

  “Whoa,” Tiger said, giving Coop a comical look. “All that needs is the Jolly Roger flying from a mast. We going to go take them on, sir?”

  Coop tapped his radio. “Colonel Boyette? Can I send you the sensor data we’re seeing?”

  Arian heard his radio crackle, but not the words.

  “Definitely need-to-know, sir.”

  The geek worked out a way to transmit the data to the Boyington’s bridge in a manner, she assumed, that was more acceptable to the Colonel than linking. While the geek worked her controls, Arian studied the stream of data on another screen, her unease increasing with each minute that passed. It was true the ships were several cycles out—

  Even as she thought this, the flotilla of ships made a hyper jump that halved the time to intercept.

  * * *

  The tension on the bridge of Arian’s ship had doubled since the incoming bogeys had jumped again, cutting in half their time to an intercept with the Boyington. Coop stared at the screen as if his attention was the only thing keeping the bogeys from jumping again—

  Apparently, he was wrong. This jump halved the time again.

  “Why the delay between jumps,” he muttered.

  The geek looked up. “It is possible their jump drive needs to recharge. Depending on their technology, the jumps can be a huge energy drain.”

  And they’d want to make sure their shields were at full strength before they got too close, Coop thought grimly.

  Tiger listened to something on his comm, then looked at Coop. “They’ve upped the threat level. We’ll have to head for the fighter bay if it goes up again.”

  Coop nodded, wondering if the bogeys would have fighter ships and what their weapons and defenses were like? Would they find out in time?

  The data changed again. The flotilla jumped once more, and then smaller bogeys appeared to erupt from the ships, as if in response to his question.

  “What’s what?” Coop looked at the geek, but it was Arian who answered.

  “It is a barrage.”

  “Why would they launch so soon?” Coop asked with a frown.

  They wouldn’t. Pirates make their profit with plunder. Scan the barrage.

  Coop presumed the last request—order?—was directed at Arian because she began manipulating her controls. It was her turn to frown.

  “That’s odd.”

  “What’s odd?” Tiger asked, coming to stand at her other side, and exchanging a quick, worried look with Coop.

  “The explosive yield is very small—” She stiffened. “There is a high probability that this barrage is designed to disable your defenses without destroying your ship.”

  “How could they know our defenses?” Tiger asked, not sounding too worried.

  He has a point, but we also do not know what these weapons will do.

  The data changed again as the ships and barrage jumped closer as if something linked them together, once more halving the time to intercept.

  Coop keyed his radio. “Red alert. Shields up. Incoming fire.” His face was grim now. “I’ve got to—”

  The klaxon call of alerts, both outside in the bay and on this ship, cut ruthlessly across his words.

  * * *

  “Now what?” Coop asked, pausing his half-turn away.

  “The anomaly is opening again,” Arian said tersely. “Multiple contacts emerging. There is not time to alter course. Some of these could impact the Boyington negatively.” She looked up. “If your Colonel was to order the launch of your smaller ships—”

  “They will interact even more negatively,” Tiger finished for her.

  “How long?” Coop asked urgently.

  “Ev
eryone should brace for impact.” The anomaly had opened very close to the ship and was growing in size, like a golden whirlpool forming in the dark of space, though that could be how her sensors “read” the data.

  “Brace for impact!” Coop snapped into the radio.

  Arian heard the whir as Rhubreak activated his seat restraints. Arian glanced at her seat, but she hadn’t gotten around to fixing those restraints and what would the man do? It seemed wrong to secure herself when they could not. Can we brace the ship for impact? If not, they were going to sustain much more damage when the exterior of their ship interacted with the sides of the Boyington’s bay.

  I will attempt to deploy—

  The outer edges of the anomaly reached the Boyington. It shuddered. She staggered but managed to stay on her feet. The scientist was not as fortunate. Tiger reached a hand down to him, yanking him upright without ceremony.

  “Hold on to something,” he told him tersely.

  “It is going to get worse,” she told them. There were many rocks emerging from the anomaly.

  “Brace for multiple impacts.” The Colonel’s voice was calm coming to them over the larger ship’s communication system, a stark contrast with the blare of collision warnings.

  Coop caught her glance and said, “Our shields are good. Gonna get bumpy, but we should be fine.”

  Arian appreciated his optimism and hoped their shields were better than hers had been. She’d been through an anomaly and was not eager to ride one again. There was also the question of how the shields would fare against the incoming barrage. She returned her attention to her screen, splitting it so she could monitor the anomaly and the incoming flotilla.

  “They’ve jumped again.” Her voice was a different calm, or so it seemed to her. And the things her fingers could do were not things she knew that she knew. It had been somewhat like that when they had been under attack in the other system, but this time it felt more. When one unpacked a file in a computer system, information became available. This was how it felt inside her head. As if data were unpacking and expanding. She glanced down and thought she saw those odd flickering lights under her skin again. She glanced at Coop, but he was staring at the screens. She flexed her fingers and put them back to work.

  Her screen showed the perspective of the Boyington, so Arian altered the angle, wondering what she could learn from seeing it from the view of the incoming hostiles. Her gaze narrowed. It was possible that the growing edges of the anomaly might interfere with, or blunt, the barrage.

  As if in a slow motion race, rocks of many sizes continued to track out of the anomaly. If it were the only problem, that would be good news, but in the spinning bands of energy, sensors show rocks in many sizes. Something about the shape and flow of the anomaly puzzled her. They had called it a wormhole, but she did not think it acted like a wormhole. Knowledge not yet unpacked teased at the edges of her mind. If only she had the time…

  But she did not. There was only time to warn her companions, “Brace—” She was not sure what to warn them to brace for. The circular motion of the anomaly was very similar to the movement of water. But that might be a sensor problem, not reality. That part of her brain that was studying new knowledge recognized many unknown elements in the situation.

  The scientist grabbed the back of Rhubreak’s seat. Coop and Tiger grabbed onto the pilot’s seat, Coop grasping her elbow, perhaps in hopes of stabilizing her. She knew logically she should get more secure, but her brain, her hands kept working the controls. Her hands wanted to steer the great ship, but she did not have this access. So she kept sending data to their bridge in hopes someone there would make the correct decision.

  Her mind counted down to the next energy wave impact. She softened her knees, hoping to stay on her feet.

  Realized this wave carried many rocks—the Boyington began to slew around as rocks slammed into the shields. Through the soles of her boots, she felt the engines strain against the drag of the anomaly. So far the anomaly was winning.

  One of her ship’s panels blew, spewing steam, and the smell of something burning competed with the acrid smell of fear. She glanced back. The scientist was gray. And a bit green.

  The data stream started to flow both ways. She was not sure if the lights, or she, had done that. The engines continued their fight.

  The rest of the barrage was almost on them.

  The outer edge of the barrage slammed into the curving edge of the anomaly, multiple flashes lighting her screen. This light appeared to travel around the mouth of the anomaly.

  “Five seconds to impact,” she murmured, softening her knees and widening her stance. Even as she braced, she tried to force her sensors to break through to the flotilla behind the barrage.

  …two…one…

  These hits were different. Energy pulsed through the Boyington and her ship, crackling on metal and frying some circuits in her ship. She could only imagine what they did to the larger ship. One of her screens flickered and went dark. She split the screen that still worked, but now the data came through in fits and bursts and was filled with static.

  “Shields are down forty percent,” she said. “One engine offline…”

  Despite this, it looked as if the Boyington continued to make headway against the gravitational pull of the anomaly. In random pulses, it seemed as if the light from the barrage continued to track along the ringed edges of the anomaly. Had it connected? The anomaly appeared to pulse, then double in size, increasing the pull on the Boyington.

  This has happened before, she realized. They’d chosen not to fight against the anomaly because it seemed the lesser of two evils, but now she wondered if they could have pulled clear had they wanted to. Did weapons fire increase the size of the anomaly? This felt important, but there was no time to worry this either. She’d think about it later.

  If they survived.

  “The Boyington is entering the anomaly,” she said.

  “What?” The scientist’s word ended on a high-pitched shriek as the Boyington lurched from more impacts, then the spin of the anomaly applied spin to the ship as the engines began to lose the battle.

  Her fingers flexed, but she’d done all she could from here.

  “Shields are down to fifty percent and dropping,” she intoned. The spin increased, centrifugal force building.

  Multiple impacts from the rocks in the anomaly could not stop the inexorable and increasing rotation. Coop shouted something, but the words sounded slow and far away. There was a sideways yank as the anomaly engulfed the ship. More circuits popped, and her screens all went dark.

  She felt Coop’s arm go around her waist.

  They both staggered, as they fought the pull toward the outer wall.

  The spin increased.

  Someone slammed into them.

  She felt Coop stagger, felt him fight to keep them upright.

  He couldn’t.

  His arms wrapped around her as they went down. She felt the jolt as they hit the deck. Felt her legs lifting over her head as she somersaulted toward the wall—

  7

  Not all who wander are lost.

  For some reason, the words were there in Coop’s head as he woke to pain, darkness, alerts clamoring for attention, and the sense of being tangled with other bodies. And it felt like his face was mashed into a wall.

  He cranked one eye open and found his face was half mashed into a wall. The other half was mashed into Arian. Her eyes were closed and blood dripped from her chin onto the metal floor they were also mashed into.

  “Arian?” He didn’t know how to get untangled without hurting her. Or himself, he had to admit. At least one arm was bunched uncomfortably under there somewhere. He kind of thought he was bleeding, too, if the warm trickle from his scalp was his and not hers.

  She gave a soft groan and her lids lifted. She stared at him in confusion, but it faded fast. As if she knew what he was going to ask, she said, “It hurts everywhere.”

  “Same here.” Though it wasn’t al
l bad. They were also mashed together in a way that made up for the bad. He felt disinclined to change bad to worse by moving. In fact, it would be pleasant to close his eyes and just hang on to the girl—

  Smoke drifting in the air, burned into his nostrils, mixed with the smell of fried stuff and fear. Funny how it always smelled the same. There was a groan, possibly two behind him, and Coop felt limbs being pulled away from what he realized now was a people ball. The pain ramped into the unpleasant zone, so once he could, he rolled to his side and sat up, leaning against the wall while he caught his breath. Easier said than done. Might have a broken—or bruised rib. Since both hurt like a son-of-a-gun, it didn’t matter which unless he moved too much and punctured something. He carefully probed the spot and decided he could get up, then wondered why he was in such a hurry when what he’d already done had set his head spinning—or maybe the ship was still spinning. Either way, his stomach did this thing he didn’t much like. Be embarrassing to toss something on the deck of her ship. And give them something to slip on if things got gnarly again.

  Then he remembered what had been going on before the wormhole arrived and he struggled upright. He had to steady himself against the wall for a minute before he looked around. Looked like her ship was as unhappy as they were. The emergency lights pulsing didn’t help his head any. In fact, they stabbed into his eyes like knives. He took a breath—didn't want to start crying—reached out, and helped Arian up. Okay, that hurt. He let the geek and Tiger get themselves upright, hoping it was the lighting that made them both look green. Only one who seemed to have come through it mostly intact was Arian’s companion. That was some good pet carrier.

  Coop tapped his radio. “Boyington? Colonel? Anyone?”

  Arian moved unsteadily to the pilot’s seat and sat down. She blinked a couple of times to clear the blood from her gaze, then started playing with the controls. At least it didn’t seem like anyone was shooting at them.