by Damon Alan
“To the urns. We need to clean this off quickly.”
Salla looked at him quizzically, his voice unheard.
Eislen raised his voice and pointed toward the kitchen. “Water! We must clean ourselves and then leave here right away.”
Salla nodded and rushed from the room. The other two men followed her, and Eislen went last. They ripped the muslin curtains from the kitchen shutters, using them to wipe the gore off. Salla pulled a palm sized chunk of Greldin’s skull from Bogner’s clothing.
Eislen studied her as she cringed, but she stood strong and kept her wits as she dropped the fragment into a waste bucket.
Once clean they returned to the front room, where Greldin’s body lay. Eislen picked up the weapon from the floor and laid it in a basket near the front door. A sliver of smoke exited the hole on the end of the stick.
Damn you, Greldin. I told you that part bites…
He put the rest of the weapons inside the basket as Elvanik and Bogner looked over Greldin’s corpse. Eislen wasn’t sure how he felt as he saw Bogner grab Greldin’s money purse. He chose to not deal with it. “We’ll get a blanket, cover this, then we can carry it in the streets without suspicion.”
Elvanik nodded his agreement as he stared at the body. “His mother trusted me to keep him out of trouble.”
Eislen rested his hand on his new friend’s shoulder. “Peter Corriea, one of the newcomers, taught me how things are among his people. This is how violent their weapons are. Some are much worse. Greldin is just the first of our friends to fall if Sarah Dayson sides with the adepts.”
Elvanik’s eyes roamed over Greldin’s remains, then he nodded. “Let’s hope her conscience is a wall that keeps her from picking sides.”
“Don’t count on it,” Eislen replied. “She sees to her people.” He looked down at the basket. “As do we.” He walked the sole bedroom. “Fresh clothes, then we leave. Guards will be here soon if the neighbors heard that gods awful noise”
“If?” Bogner asked, incredulous.
“Good point.” Eislen shook his head. “Let’s change and go.” He opened the door to the room and held it for the others.
Elvanik didn’t move. “What about him? We can’t just leave him like this.”
“There’s no time. He stays as he is. If we’re caught the adepts will burn us to death where we stand.” Eislen gestured again for the other three to get into the room and change.
Two minutes later they were in fresh clothes and walking out the door. A few neighbors were standing outside their homes, wondering about the noise. Eislen ignored them.
“Where to?” Salla asked.
The plan gelled in Eislen’s mind almost as fast as Salla had asked the question. “We’ll get a room at an inn by the sea. We’ll stay one cycle, and when the next longnight comes we’ll steal a boat and make our way. The storms will decide our fate.”
Elvanik smiled at Eislen, for the first time with genuine warmth and respect. “I was wrong in my first assumptions of you. If anything, Salla underestimated your resolve.”
“Say that after we’ve survived our escape,” Eislen whispered so passing strangers wouldn’t hear.
Elvanik’s voice dropped to a whisper as well, sounding even more conspiratorial. “We must leave town now. The guards will get a description of Salla from the landlord of the house. Adepts will pull the memory of her appearance from his mind. They’ll be looking for her.”
The fear in Eislen’s stomach mixed with frustration. Life was certainly more complicated now than as a goatherd. “You’re right. We go by sea as you suggested. Let’s head toward the docks, we’ll find an inn down there to spend the night.”
Everyone agreed, and Salla slid her arm into Eislen’s as they walked. “We’ll make it.”
“Of course we will,” Eislen agreed. “The gods are on our side. We just have to be more careful than Greldin was. Or we’ll join him in front of Tsungte.”
“That’s not going to happen,” she chided.
“Good. I don’t wish to be judged an idiot by the deities.”
Chapter 10 - Pharmacology
20 MAI 15329
The bridge of the Schein was center mass of the ship, so the effects of Orson’s piloting incompetence weren’t usually felt by Orson himself. But the list of injuries among the crew were rising rapidly. Almost as quickly as morale was dropping among the mutineers.
“Orson, just hit the emergency stop,” Andersott yelled over the comms from his precarious position in medbay.
Orson laughed as he soaked in the mental visual of Andersott pinned to a wall. He spoke to Jace over his chuckles. “Well, everything has a learning curve, and mistakes have a price. Like Andersott pinned by centrifugal force as the ship rotated like a boomerang. I need to learn to run this beast somehow.”
“Emergency stop!” the medical officer yelled again.
By the stars, his pleading was savory. “Oh, alright, Andersott, don’t get your panties in a bunch.” This was the third time in a week Orson has placed the ship in a hard enough spin to wreak such havoc.
“I’ve learned so much, Andersott, and look at all the practice you’re getting at playing doctor,” Orson said. After a while the medic’s whinings became annoying.
“Only because Dr. Ganjee refused to cooperate with you and heal any of our men,” Andersott replied. “Shooting him was probably not your best leadership move.”
Annoyance turned to anger in a flash. “Don’t test me, Andersott,” Orson said. “Leopold, please emergency stop the Schein.”
“Full stop, emergency burn,” Leopold56 replied.
“There, Andersott, in a few seconds you’ll be in free fall again. Won’t that be nice?” Orson asked.
“I’m coming to the bridge,” Andersott said.
“Delightful. Captain Orson out,” Orson said and waited for the link to close. “Dammit!” he yelled at Jace. “I can’t get the hang of this thing. Why doesn’t the Alliance military just let the AI fly the ship?”
“I’m sure one went rogue, or something. I saw that happen back home when I was a kid. Housecleaning AI. Beat my friend’s Dad half to death with a mop,” Jace tossed in. “That was funny, but man, I don’t want to die with a mop handle up my—”
“Full stop,” Leopold56 said.
“Thanks, Leopold,” Orson said. “You’re the only one around here doing much right.”
Leopold56 remained silent.
“I need a pilot. Starship pilot, not one of those marine shuttle jockeys,” Orson said.
“You offed all the marine pilots,” Jace observed. “And, come to think of it, you also killed the two spare starship pilots when you spaced the idiots loyal to Dayson.”
“Shit. What’s that leave us? Me spinning us like a top every few hours?”
“Heinrich. She’s the command pilot. Best on the ship. She’s still in the brig,” Jace offered.
“Andersott said she’s got some sort of infection from her leg wound. She’s loopy. Besides, she’s about as mean of a bitch as I’ve ever seen. She’d never help us.”
The bridge door hatch chimed. “It’s Andersott. Let me in.”
“Say the password.”
“Screw you, Orson. PLEASE let me in,” Andersott said, his voice rising.
“Good boy,” Orson replied as he keyed the hatch release.
The hatch cycled open and the red faced medic floated in. “You need a pilot. You broke Ombe’s arm with this latest maneuver.”
“First officer Jace and I were just talking about that. Heinrich is the only pilot left on board. Help us think of a way to get her to cooperate with us.”
Andersott looked puzzled. “Only pilot left…”
Andersott’s face dropped, and he looked rapidly between Orson and Jace. “That’s why I’m not getting any casualties from the cargo bay?”
“Slow down, Ensign Andersott. First of all, it’s “sir” when you address me. Secondly, the ladies are all fine. The men weren’t cooperating as I’d l
ike. Private Morden heard them conspiring to counter the mutiny. Can’t have that, now can we?”
Andersott looked at Jace, “Is that what you signed up for?”
Jace sneered. “I signed up for the same thing you did, Andersott. Fresh air, a plot of dirt, and a harem of my own.”
Andersott glared at Jace, then turned back to Orson. “I demand that you stop killing people. That was never mentioned when you recruited me.”
Orson stared at Andersott for a minute without replying.
As Andersott’s willpower ebbed, the medic looked away.
Having established dominance, Orson spoke. “You don’t get to make demands now, Ensign, I make the demands. I never said this would be a democracy. Did I? No, I didn’t. I promised you some women of your own, that you’d be head of our medical community, and you jumped on my wagon. So don’t go lecturing me, idiot. How’d you think I was going to get those things for you, ask Captain Dayson with a bouquet of roses and a bottle of wine?”
“I didn’t think about it.”
“Shut up,” Jace said. “Now isn’t the time to cry about the cost.”
“I never—”
Orson didn’t let him finish. “—You never, that’s right, and now you have a few women with your name tattooed on their backsides so maybe you finally will. Just do what I say, fix my men, keep the crew happy and focus on the mission.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” Andersott whined.
“It would be a sad day in the med bay if I thought you weren’t being useful. I bet the medbay AI can guide just about anyone to work as well as you.
Andersott’s voice rose half an octave. “I trained for a long time.”
“You can be replaced,” Orson assured him. “Don’t think otherwise.”
The officer’s face dropped toward the floor, and he took some time to respond. “I can make Heinrich cooperative,” Andersott said, his voice low and broken.
“Can you?”
“I know how to alter a drug which might help.”
Orson rolled his eyes. “How convenient, and just when I was starting to think you might not be necessary.”
Andersott audibly gulped, which made Orson smile. “Adamaxitin. It’s a brain stimulator, I synthesized it at university as a way to make money. Illegal as hell, but it makes the brain extremely efficient, open to suggestion, and eager to learn. It paid my way through school. The students used it to study. Even idiots were picking up astrophysics after a few weeks on it.”
“Open to suggestion?” Jace asked.
“I know an alteration to the drug that makes that part much more prevalent. After a week or so she’ll start getting more cooperative. She’ll be perky, happy… not the snarling dog she is now. I had to tranquilize her to treat her leg,” Andersott replied.
“Hah! That sounds like the ultimate anti-depressant. For all of us.” Orson laughed. “Andersott, I had a good feeling about you all along. Why don’t you pick out a test subject for each of us, and we’ll see just how cooperative the women get, right?”
Andersott looked uncomfortable.
“What the galaxies is wrong with you? Did you think they were just going to throw themselves upon your manly mercy? No, trust me, of the trillions of women out there, not one is going to throw herself at you. Without your drug we’d have to subdue them and break their wills, one by one. That involves beatings, broken bones… but if you can make the ladies cooperative… well, Andersott, you might have to be promoted to my second officer with that kind of usefulness.”
“It won’t hurt them, I guess…” Andersott said, his voice trailing off.
“Who for you Jace?” Orson asked.
“Anyone but Heinrich,” Jace answered. “Although I bet she tears the sheets.”
“I think I’ll take that one for myself,” Orson gestured dramatically toward his medic. “I think we need to promote Andersott, don’t you?”
Jace nodded.
Orson saluted. “Ensign Andersott, as High King and Captain of this ship, I dub thee Doctor Andersott.”
“I’m—”
“—a genius. Get to work making that drug, Doc, and get Heinrich ready for testing purposes. After that, set up a couple of ladies for yourself, if that’s what you’re into. I think you deserve a special first experience.”
Andersott’s face turned pink, but he spun around and exited the bridge.
“Idiot,” Orson said after the hatch closed.
“If he can make that drug, though… I’ve never heard of it.” Jace shrugged his shoulders.
“Neither have I. It’s probably a mindwipe level crime. But if he can do it...” Orson shrugged, his hands outstretched.
Jace grinned. “Then it’s show time.”
Chapter 11 - The Edge of Safety
Longnight
Eislen opened the door to the inn and let in the others first. A bell rang as the door opened, chiming with the wind as a sea water and rain drenched gusts flurried into the room. Forty steps behind him the ocean surged against the edge of the pier, spraying into the dark sky.
The weather had gone very wrong on their walk to the inn, but it had hidden them with great success from the city guard.
Rain dripped from their soaked clothing onto the floor. A voice called from the back. In a stone hearth a banked fire crackled softly.
“Terrible hour for customers,” someone complained from the other side of a door. A male voice, creaking with age.
An older woman stepped out from a back room with a candle. Muttering to herself as she crossed the floor to greet her customers, she looked over the three men and Salla. “You’re out late, aren’t you? A trawler getting in at this hour?”
“No ma’am,” Eislen answered. “We’re travelers. Looking to find a place to stay until we find a boat we can afford.”
The woman stepped closer and looked in his face. After a bit she spoke. “Seems okay. Four scrit a night, one for each of you. That doesn’t include food or drink.”
Eislen looked at Bogner, and gestured toward the woman. “Greldin pays for our stay.”
“What?” Bogner said, incredulous. “Oh, all right.” He opened Greldin’s money purse and pulled out four mother-of-pearl coins for the woman.
“Down that hall, at the end. Common room, eight bunks, but you four are the only ones in there,” she said. “I’ll keep it that way if I can.”
They picked up their basket to go to bed, causing the woman to notice it.
“What’s in that?” she asked.
“A few clubs to deal with criminals on the road. A bit of food. Spare clothes.”
Eislen wondered for a minute if she’d demand to look into it, but she either didn’t care or knew better than to press strangers asking for a room in the middle of longnight.
She nodded. “Sleep well, travelers. You can buy hot food here when you wake up if you like. My prices are good, a scrit will feed you all day.” She turned away and shuffled back toward her door.
It was a struggle not to audibly exhale.
They dragged themselves down the narrow corridor to the common room, the events of the secondday finally taking their toll. They shed their outer clothes and dropped onto the bunks. Eislen took a bottom bed, near a shuttered window. Salla sat down next to him, then lay down and nested into his arm.
They were snoring moments later.
Chapter 12 - Ultimatum
20 MAI 15329
Halani Seto rested at her station. Duty was light, the fleet orbited well above Refuge. Ships and shuttles local to the Hinden reported every two hours, usually just a quick conversation . The ships away from the flagship reported twice daily by recorded message since distance made conversations cumbersome.
Halani’s panel lit up, indicating an incoming recording. The system identified it as from the Schein. She wondered how things were going with the crew illness Private Jace Sedwick reported for the last several days. Dr. Jannis wanted to fly out to the Schein, but the ship was too far away for that to be re
asonable, and FTL capacity was something the Seventh Fleet no longer possessed.
On long duration patrol, The Schein would be away from the fleet for nine months conducting a survey for potential outer solar system resources and better locations for the four listening posts the Yascurra hastily emplaced last year.
Halani put the report into her ear piece.
“Hinden, this is Captain Orson of the Schein…”
Captain Orson? How sick are these people?
“… I have secured control of this vessel and relieved Captain Lorre of his duty. As of now, the Schein is no longer part of the Seventh Fleet, and unless you comply with my requirements, we are at a state of war. I have a list of demands to be met. Captain Dayson, you will comply with these demands, or I will destroy the people on Refuge you seem to love more than your own.”
Halani paused the playback, and hastily called the surface, using the fleet emergency code.
On the ground security would be racing to Fleet Captain Dayson’s location to protect her from any threat to her person.
Halani’s call didn’t take long for a response. “Captain Dayson, what’s the situation?”
“Sir, sorry to bother you. It’s the Schein. Someone named Orson just sent us a message, saying he’s in control now… you need to listen to this.”
“Let me put my ear bud in, Lieutenant,” Captain Dayson said. “Okay, ready.”
“Playing now.” Halani followed along as her commander listened from the beginning.
“…you seem to love more than your own. Here is my list. You will hand over the colony ship to my men. We will use it to find another system we can colonize, one without brainers. I will transmit a list of shuttles you will hand over for our use. I have a list of machinery, supplies, and weapons we’ll expect to be stored on board the colony ship when we take it.”
“Pause,” Captain Dayson said.
Halani heard the captain speaking to someone else, barking orders in the background. Hearing her commander jump into action was a comforting feeling.