“The Urclock?” Coop asked.
She could tell this affected Coop’s colonel in much the same way it had affected Coop, which was not well. She nodded, watching the colonel for his reaction.
“Might?” the Colonel asked, instead of the words she thought he’d use.
He kept surprising her.
“The Phoenicopterians believe it will save them from the Mycterians once more.” This was not exactly the answer to the question he was really asking. He wanted to get his people home. He wanted “might” to change to “would.”
“Why should I believe this clock can get us home or save the birds?”
Arian considered how to answer this, but there was no answer he would like. “The anomaly that brought us here was, I believe, a smaller version of what is possible if we could access the machine. It…” somehow she knew that she did not know this science, but she did know the machine and how to use it. She knew she had once used the machine… “…folds space together, making it possible to move…” she almost faltered at the look in the colonel’s eyes “…even a whole system from one place to another almost instantly. A larger version of the comet drive on the shuttle craft.”
The Colonel looked stunned speechless.
“It is how the munshi—though that is not the name they called themselves—” She frowned. “I am not sure how that name came about—but they moved them to this sanctuary and built the array that hid them. The Phoenicopterians know this. Their memory is long and time is…different for them. I sense that the clock did not just change their location, it changed how they mark time.”
The Colonel opened his mouth, closed it, did this twice before he managed to ask with impressive calm, “How does this help us get home? It sounds like we just move to another sanctuary.” If it even works, his tone said.
“You have the coordinates of home,” she pointed out. For an instant, she saw the machine, saw how to enter the coordinates. “To help either of you or the Phoenicopterians, the clock must start.” Were the other six still out there to answer? She did not know this either, not without the clock.
“Why is the clock important?” he persisted.
“It, I think it might be an alarm or a call to arms. Or simply a way to keep in touch.” She made a gesture to her head. “Inside here, knowledge is stirring. It is there, but I do not have complete access yet.”
“That’s a big yet.” His tone was flat, chilly.
She looked at him, waited until he met her gaze. “It is…a matter of trust, is it not?”
There was a long silence, so much silence she thought she could hear their separate heartbeats thumping like the ticking of separate clocks. Finally, he sighed.
“Those are two not-great options, young lady.”
“Both are filled with risk and danger,” she admitted, “but only one offers the hope of getting home before…” She stopped, because they knew better than she what they would lose.
“You,” the Colonel pointed at Arian, “wait here and you,” this time he indicated Coop, “come with me.”
The look Coop gave her as they left tried to be reassuring.
* * *
Pappy led Coop to his ready room. When the door slid shut, cutting them off from the bridge, Coop tugged at the collar of his uniform shirt and didn’t sit when Pappy sat in the chair behind his desk. Instead, he stood at attention. For what felt like a long time, Pappy stared at the wall as if he’d forgotten Coop was there. Coop didn’t make the mistake of doing anything to break the silence, even when a bead of sweat formed between his shoulders and rolled down his back. Might have got a few drops on his upper lip, too. Reminding himself that he was in love and that it wasn’t a crime didn’t help as much as he’d hoped it would.
Finally, Pappy shifted and said, without looking at Coop, “How deep are you in?”
Coop didn’t ask him what he meant. “I love her, sir. I asked her to marry me.” He hesitated. “She said yes.”
Now Pappy swung the chair around to face Coop. “Does she know what any of that means?”
Coop’s chin lifted. He came to attention. “Sir, yes sir, she does.” He hoped.
Pappy’s gaze bored into him, even harder than when he’d been interviewed for this expedition. He didn’t flinch or look away. Dimly he knew that more was on the line this time, more than his life, more than dying far from home, or never seeing home again. He’d made fun of love, teased his mates who fell for it because he hadn’t understood. He hadn’t understood. A guy laid down his life for his country, but if he was any kind of man? He fought for love if he was lucky enough to find it. He didn’t die for it. He lived for it.
“Sir, neither of us knows what’s going to happen next. I’d like to have what time we can together.”
Pappy suddenly looked tired instead of fierce. Had there been someone he’d left behind, Coop wondered. A love sacrificed to duty? It wasn’t a question he could ask, but he wondered when Pappy nodded.
“All right, Banshee.”
The use of his call sign was an indication that he was, for now, out of the doghouse. His gaze slammed into Coop again. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Coop grinned. “Does anyone when they are in love, sir?”
That surprised a laugh out of the old man. Then he signed. “We don’t have time for anything fancy.”
“We don’t want fancy. Fancy takes too long, sir.”
He nodded as if conceding that. “Get her in here then.”
Coop’s heart jerked. His brain might have, too. Then he straightened again. “Sir, yes sir!”
“Better get your wingman in here, too. You’ll probably need him.”
* * *
“I’m sorry it wasn’t a fancy wedding,” Coop said, as they left his colonel’s ready room.
Arian lifted her hand, studying the small, sticky bandage that Coop had put there to symbolize what had happened. Not much of it had made sense to her, but she did not need sense. She was happy. A new sensation, but one she liked.
“How could I miss what I do not know?” she asked, slanting him a shy look. Around them, no one paid them any attention. She was dressed like them still, so perhaps that helped, but how could they not see the change? She felt as if every part of her had changed, even more than the changes she’d felt emerging from inside her head since leaving Bosakli. This…wedding—he’d called it—had left her feeling as if she were new. Not a clone. Not Arian of Bosakli, but someone else. Not a wife yet. But even that did not encompass the sense of wonder she felt. It was as if she turned over a leaf and discovered a new plant instead of the one that had been planted. Not munshi or meta or Arian. Not Mrs Cooper or Ms Teraz as they’d called her in the ready room. What or who she was had no name yet, but that was all right.
Partners. Couple. Two halves of a new whole.
You are becoming.
Thank you for coming to my wedding, but get out of my head.
There was humor in his fading words. Congratulations…
Coop tugged at her hand, drawing her into his side to murmur, “Nervous?”
She looked up at him and shook her head. “No.” Trust. Was this what it felt like? If it was, she liked it, too.
He punched a panel, and a door slid back. The room was small and serviceable. Not unlike her room back on Bosakli and yet it felt entirely different. She eyed the bed.
All right, so maybe she was a little nervous. She didn’t realize she’d stepped back until her back reached the closed door. A hand came to rest on one side of her head, then another hand—no, Coop’s hand—came to rest on the other side of her head, trapping her in—no, not a trap or a cage. It was an embrace. A safe spot. It was a place she wanted to be.
He leaned in, feathering kisses from her temple, spent a little time nibbling behind her ear and then moved on to her neck and along her chin. It was very…pleasant.
Her heart rate increased. Her breathing shallowed. A warm languor stole through her, nudging out nervous and replacing
it with something else. Falling. She was falling…
Her lashes lowered, and her head tipped back and to one side as he sought more access to the under side of her neck. She sighed deeply.
Trust.
She lifted her lashes because she needed to see him. His eyes burned with intent. She traced a lean cheek, then pushed her fingers into his crisp hair, releasing his scent into the air. She fell faster, but there was no fear now, just anticipation. His head lifted, his hot gaze meeting hers.
“Teach me,” she said.
He grinned. “That’s the plan, sweetheart…”
* * *
Coop walked next to Arian, her hand firmly clasped in his, their shoulders brushing together as they walked back to the hangar bay. Heat rose again as he recalled how nice it had been to wake with Arian next to him in the admittedly narrow bed. She’d been so sweet, so trusting, then so scorching hot as they learned how to please each other. As he’d noted when he kissed her the first time, she learned fast.
“We’re headed in the wrong direction,” he muttered.
She stopped glancing around, a puzzled frown twisting her mouth into the perfect shape for kissing. He noted they were already a bit puffy from his attentions. He resisted an urge to smooth a thumb across them because he was pretty sure that would lead to activities that would make them more puffy.
“Are we?” she asked, looking at him, then her lips curved up into a slow smile as awareness sparked in her eyes.
“Now, why are we going to fix your ship?” No, not her ship. She was one of them now. He lifted her hand to his mouth. He knew it, knew all of her so much better. Seemed a shame not to take what he’d learned and expand on it.
“Because your Colonel, um, suggested very strongly that we finish? I believe he is hoping we will find more information in its databases.”
“Oh yeah. The old man sure knows how to kill a honeymoon,” he muttered, tightening his hold on her hand so they walked as close as they could and still manage forward movement. He saw her mouth open to ask the question and added hastily, “What we did last night, that’s a honeymoon.”
She looked alarmed. “It is not over forever, is it?”
“We can take up where we left off tonight,” he promised. She looked so relieved he to had think about Pappy at his most frustrated to keep from turning back. Old man could have given them more time, especially it if was going to take them a century to get home again. Damn nice of Tiger to make sure food arrived at regular intervals, so they didn’t have to go anywhere.
They paused at the hatch door and she looked up at him. The reserve gone from her gaze. Now there was only love and desire. For him. For a moment he felt shaken by it all. She trusted him. He couldn’t let her down. Because he didn’t know the words to tell her this, he said instead, “I love you.”
Her lips curved more. “And I love you.” She sighed deeply. “I did not know happiness was possible. I did not know what it felt like until now. I feel…new and…” she shook her head and laughed. “I do not have the words.”
“You don’t need words,” Coop said. “You can show me later.” He hit the hatch control realizing he felt different, too. New. Older. Who had the totally appropriate hots for his girl, he might add. He gestured through the open doorway. “After you, sweetheart.”
The dragon was waiting at the top of the ramp, his tail flicking slowly from one side to the other. His beard flared black for a long moment.
I did not expect to see either of you this day.
“I didn’t either,” Coop said. “Sure wasn’t my idea.”
“Coop’s colonel wishes us to complete the repairs to this ship,” Arian said, slanting Coop a smile that held a promise.
“So the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can—” Coop paused when color tinted her cheeks, “do something else. That’s not fixing a ship.”
The dragon turned away, his nails making a clicking sound as it headed toward the bridge.
“Sir?”
Coop glanced back. The ensign on guard there stood at the bottom of the ramp. He arched a brow.
“Someone called Tiger wants a word, sir.”
Coop’s fingers tightened on Arian’s for a long minute. What did Tiger want now? He frowned. Okay, a lot of things. He sighed.
“I will get started on the engines,” she said, returning his squeeze before easing her hand free of his.
“Don’t get lost,” he admonished.
“I will try not to.”
Her chuckle was warm, and he hesitated for a minute, struck by how much she’d changed from their first meeting, what, two weeks ago? More or less. For a second he felt a flicker of doubt. How could anyone change that much? And then he realized how much he’d changed. He mouthed the words he couldn’t say because of the Ensign. Her smile widened, then she turned and started down the corridor.
He didn’t want to leave. He tested his gut. It was uneasy, but not twitching. He headed slowly down the ramp, turning at the bottom to look back, but Arian was out of sight. He stepped down and started toward the bay control console and pushed the button.
“Tiger?” He released the button so he could hear Tiger. Nothing. Had the dude called him and then left? “Tiger—”
The ramp of Arian’s ship began to rise. He heard someone shout, someone that sounded like him yelling something about closing the bay doors. He ran toward it, would have thrown himself in the gap if the ensign hadn’t grabbed him and pulled him back.
“Engines are firing, sir!”
Still struggling against the ensign’s hold, Coop stumbled back, and finally let himself be pulled through the hatch. It closed just in time, but he could hear. He could hear the ship leaving, taking Arian with it. Could still hear her screaming for him from inside that ship. He sagged against the wall, his hands over his face, trying to think—
“Get to your Dauntless, Captain.” The curt order from Pappy yanked him back. He didn’t know when he went from walking to running. With the words from the dragon echoing inside his head.
She did not do this. I did not do this. I am sorry…
30
Arian tried to access the engine compartment and was thrown backward by a force field. Dazed, she scrambled to her feet, felt the engines begin to fire under her feet and raced toward the hatch. She slammed her hand against the hatch release, but it did not move. She threw herself against the metal, screaming Coop’s name.
She could not lose it all. Not now when she knew what it was she’d lose.
The ship launched. She staggered, fell again, rolling over once before her head struck a wall. She slid sideways as the ship banked and began to accelerate. She rolled onto her stomach and managed to get to her feet. She staggered her way to the bridge, brushing the wetness from her eyes with an angry movement.
From his seat, Rhubreak looked at her as she sat down. She couldn’t strap in. She hadn’t fixed them yet.
“Did you—?”
I did not. I am sorry. I did not realize it was capable of launching.
She tried the controls, but without hope. The master of the ship had called. It obeyed its master now. She felt this, even as she fought it. She sank back, defeated for the moment, but steel formed in her spine. “I will never forgive this. I will not do what you want. I will not obey your master.”
There was no response, though she had the sense the ship heard her.
She had a thought. “If you think I will help you breach the array—” She stopped. This had to be why the ship had kidnapped her. She had done the calculations in the Garradian ship, not this one. Did it seem as if the forward thrust slowed? “If you return me to the Boyington, I will give you the programming to leave this system. If you don’t, I will not help you. I will die first.” She felt Rhubreak looking at her and said, without looking at him, “Coop is my husband. His people are my people now. I am grateful for my rescue from Bosakli,” now she looked at him, “but I did not ask for this. And you did ask me to do this.” Neither the ship no
r its master, could hold her to a bargain she had not agreed to.
The ship was not accelerating anymore, but it had not turned back.
“You have two copies in cold storage. You will have to be content with those.” She looked at Rhubreak again. “Tell it that I mean what I say. Tell it!”
He blinked. It knows.
“I’ve changed. I’m not like them, or her, whoever I was copied to be like. I’m—”
You are becoming.
That wasn’t Rhubreak. She knew his voice.
“I am becoming me.” She looked around her. It could keep her out of some of the systems, but she could still damage this ship. She saw her small bag of tools and grabbed it, yanking out one with a long, thin point. She held it over the control panel. “You will have to release me or kill me.”
There is fighter craft launching from the Boyington.
“My husband is coming after me. His people are coming after you.” She did not know until this moment that she’d wondered if the Colonel would let Coop come after her. “I am one of them now.”
She felt the sensation of slowing as the engines began to power down, saw on the screen as the ship prepared to make the turn back to the Boyington. Her shoulders slumped with relief. She lowered the tool to her side.
Give me the code to access the array.
“Not until I’m on the Boyington and off this ship.” She didn’t know how, but she knew it hesitated. “I will keep my word.” To Coop and to the Phoenicopterians. Her voice softened. “I am sorry I drove you into a ditch. I wanted to be free. I will be free—”
The ship jerked as if some great hand had grabbed it.
Tractor beam.
She staggered and almost fell. The engines whined, trying to break free. As if it knew it needed help, the ship released the controls. She dropped into her seat, her hands flying across the controls, initiating a scan of the ship that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed them. When it appeared on the screen, her blood turned as cold as the clones in cold storage.
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