She side-stepped, giving herself time. “The Federation themselves want me because just my name alone causes civil strife. There are people who believe so strongly in Glave and his ideals that my presence causes them to question everything around them. If the descendent of Glave is here among us, they think, then we must be as degenerate as the humans he fought against and there must be a purging, just as the Staff of Ammon was razed and humanity was washed clean of all that was foul.”
“You’re an idea, too,” Lilly said softly. Her eyes gleamed.
“Yes.” Catherine smiled at her. “I remind them of the idea. Then there are the ones who object to their cities and worlds being cleansed in any way. They would rather the status quo be preserved, so naturally, they appeal to the Federation to help them preserve it.” She shrugged. “I am unwelcome as myself no matter where I go. So I rarely go among anyone as Catherine Shahrazad anymore.”
Brant tilted his head. “Who else wants you?” he asked. “You said ‘The Federation themselves want me,” which implies someone else does, too.”
Catherine sat up and gathered together the empty plates and cups. “Cadfael College,” she said shortly.
“The College?” Lilly said, sounding winded. “But…why?”
“Her mythical DNA,” Bedivere said softly.
Catherine swallowed, keeping her eyes down.
The silence made her look up. Lilly was staring at her, puzzled. Brant was simply watching her. Bedivere was the only one with any warmth in his expression.
“I don’t understand,” Lilly said softly. “I’m trying to see the other side, I really am. But why would the college want you personally? They could access any of your off-spring, if they really wanted viable DNA…” Her expression was bewildered.
Catherine made herself say the words. “I don’t have any children.”
Lilly’s mouth dropped open and Brant’s eyes narrowed.
“None?” Lilly asked softly.
“It wasn’t my choice,” Catherine said.
“None at all?” Lilly repeated. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears.
“I bore a child, but not to term.” Catherine sighed again. “It was a monster. It would not have lived even if I had managed to bear it to full term. Later, the proctors told me they suspected this might happen, but that sometimes life surprised them, so they had wanted to find out. To experiment.” Her mouth turned down at the bad taste. “Then they explained that I would never be able to conceive a viable baby.”
Brant gave a soft sigh and looked up at the sky. “Now it all makes sense.”
“I’m glad that makes you happy,” Catherine said dryly.
“It doesn’t,” Brant said flatly. “My heart aches for you in this. But now I know the truth, it explains so much…”
“Yes,” Lilly whispered and wiped her eyes.
“You asked,” Catherine reminded them. The sunlight was glittering harshly, making her blink. Her discomfort made her want to squirm. “Don’t forget, you still work for me,” she added, as the brightness intensified in the corner of her eye. She turned to see what was reflecting so sharply in the midday sun and saw the silver streak heading toward them, winding its way through the thin, crisp air, leaving a trail behind it that stretched back to the crest of the mountains.
She scrambled to her feet. “Incoming!” she shouted.
Both Brant and Lilly looked around.
Bedivere threw himself forward, his arm out. Catherine wondered what he was doing, then his arm took her out at the knees and she toppled to the ground, landing heavily. Bedivere pushed upward with both arms and threw himself on top of her. His arms came around her head and he dropped his upper body down so that her head and chest were completely enclosed.
Surprise was the only emotion that occurred to her.
Then the ground shook and the air throbbed in her ears as the blight bomb exploded.
“The ship! The ship!” she screamed, struggling to get out from under Bedivere, who was lying with the weight of solid rock on top of her. Fear was short-circuiting her thoughts. She shoved and wriggled, gasping, almost moaning at the rich, coppery panic flooding her.
Then Bedivere rolled to one side, out of her way, looking beyond her head toward the ship.
Catherine pushed herself up into a sitting position and twisted around to look at the ship, as Brant and Lilly picked themselves up. She was expecting to see metal ruins and burning remains, but the ship hovered fifty meters above the ground and the grass beneath was blackened and smoking. As she looked, the pulsing sound of the engines reached her.
She looked at Bedivere, astonishment rising above the fear still running freely in her veins. Bedivere was watching the ship. Concentrating on it. He was controlling it through the mesh tether.
“Fed drones!” Brant cried, making Catherine jerk back around to look. From the same direction the blight bomb had come were dozens of black and red vaguely human figures. They were Federation fighters in their enhanced armor and they could cover kilometers in seconds. They were heading their way.
“Everyone, to the ship. Now!” Catherine cried. “Bedivere, bring it closer!”
The ship immediately dipped and moved toward them across the valley. The throbbing pulse of the engines grew louder.
Lilly was already sprinting and Brant broke into a loping run that covered the ground faster than Lilly.
Catherine grabbed Bedivere’s sleeve and tugged.
“Concentrating,” he whispered.
She nodded, even though he wouldn’t see it. “Just put your feet forward. I’ll steer.” She kept a grip on his sleeve and led him as he hurried forward, his gaze far-seeing and unfocused.
The ship slipped across the meadowy grass, flattening it. It hovered as Lilly reached it. Lilly threw herself up onto the edge of the ramp, which was a meter above the ground.
Catherine looked over her shoulder as Brant reached the ramp and turned to wave them on. The leading drones were close. If they had managed to destroy the ship, then there would be no chance of out-running them.
One of the leading drones dropped to one knee, his arm lifting. Catherine didn’t know what he had for weapons, but the posture was telling. She yanked on Bedivere’s arm. “Get out of the way!” she screamed.
The ship jerked sideways and upward, a maneuver that would not have been possible if it had been any other pilot. The explosive roared underneath the belly of the ship, missing by mere centimeters. Brant and Lilly clung to the ramp support struts and hydraulic legs, thrown about by the sharp movement.
Then the ship slipped toward them and came to a halt a few steps away.
“Hurry!” Brant called and held out his arm.
Lilly copied him.
Catherine threw herself forward, gripped Lilly’s arm and hauled herself up onto the edge of the ramp. She could see from the corner of her eye that Brant was dragging Bedivere on by gripping his clothes and yanking like Bedivere was a sack of rocks. Having been underneath him, she knew exactly how heavy he was.
As soon as their feet left the ground and their bodyweight was more-or-less on the ramp, the ship lifted upward at a dizzying rate, while also pushing forward, heading out of the valley and away from the point of attack.
“Watch for Fed ships!” Catherine yelled at Bedivere as he rolled fully onto the ramp, as Brant gripped an arm and a trouser leg and held on.
The ramp closed and the screaming throb of the engines and the building wind cut out. Bedivere scrambled to his feet. “Two carriers coming in,” he muttered and ran for the hatch that was closest to the flight deck.
Catherine took off running after him.
“What do I do?” Brant yelled after her.
“Weapons console!” she yelled back.
Chapter Sixteen
It took Brant five minutes to figure out where the weapons console was. Lilly leaned over from her own boards, slapped the switch that changed out the back-up system feeds for the weapons controls and by that time, they were out
of the atmosphere and the two Federation troop carriers were in their field of sight.
“Carriers,” Bedivere murmured. “We can out-run them.”
“Then to the gate and let’s get out of here. Straight to Drusiss, Bedivere. I’m tired of running scared.”
He nodded.
Catherine turned to look at Brant, who was frowning his way through the controls. “You guard our rear,” she told him.
“Done,” he said flatly.
“Lilly, we’re jumping in…” She looked at Bedivere.
“Sixty-four minutes,” he said flatly.
Lilly opened her mouth to protest, then shut it and nodded. Her face was pale.
Catherine didn’t have time to talk after that. It was the most crowded and short jump prep she had ever been through and only the mild comfort of knowing that Brant was watching their rear stopped her from melting down altogether.
Bedivere accelerated all the way to the gates, which were closer than normal to the planet because there were so many gravity wells in the system that gate placement was a logistics nightmare. It made the jump even more precarious, but the closeness was going to help them, this time.
They passed through into the wormhole the gates generated with the carriers close behind. As the soundless, featureless hole engulfed them, Catherine sat back in the chair, all her muscles weak. For a moment she couldn’t move.
“Why didn’t they fire on us?” Brant said. “They’re military carriers. They’d have nukes and more on board.”
“They want me alive,” Catherine said sourly. “That’s why they tried to take out the ship first, instead of just lobbing the bomb on our picnic blanket.” She stirred and looked at Lilly. “You. In the rec room. Now.”
Lilly’s eyes widened, but she nodded and followed Catherine off the flight deck.
Brant and Bedivere came behind.
The dinner table was still covered with the remains of their preparations for the picnic. Most of it had toppled and spilled, or had slid right off onto the floor. None of them had been expecting to take flight before they returned to the mess. Catherine made note. Next time, clean up first.
She confronted Lilly, as Brant slid into the room around Bedivere, who stayed in the doorway, which happened to block any way out and also happened to put him right behind Lilly.
“It’s nothing personal,” she told Lilly. “But the only way the Federation could possibly have known we were on Sunittara was if someone told them.”
Lilly’s mouth dropped open. “You think I am working for the Feds?”
“I know that Brant isn’t. I also can personally account for his every move since Bedivere landed us on Sunittara and surprised us with the picnic. You, however, disappeared into the engineering section after we landed.”
Lilly shook her head. “I’m not Federation! I swear! There was another warning light showing. I wanted to check on it because Bedivere said he was going to keep the engines on trickle while we were dirtside. That’s all!” She backed up as she spoke, until she rammed into Bedivere, who gripped her arms.
Lilly looked up at him over her shoulders, her eyes wide. “What if there’s some sort of tracker on the ship?” she asked.
“There isn’t,” Bedivere said flatly.
“A passive one, that only activates when beckoned.”
“It’s not possible to plant any sort of electronics in the ship,” Catherine said. “We would know.” She shifted closer.
Lilly tried to move backward, but Bedivere kept her grounded.
Brant shifted in toward Lilly, too. She drew in a sharp breath.
“I can deliver a lot of pain before you pass out,” Catherine said softly. “I won’t like doing it, but I will because you’re threatening the safety of my ship and everyone on it.”
Lilly bit her lip. She was trembling. “I’ve told you everything!”
“You like to spend a lot of time down in engineering, tinkering around,” Brant said softly. “If anyone could jury-rig a squirt signal, you could.”
“Bedivere, take her into the surgery,” Catherine said. “I can wash that room down easier than this one.”
He almost lifted her off her feet and Lilly kicked and struggled. “Wait! Wait!”
Bedivere put her on her feet again, his fingers digging into her arms.
Lilly licked her lips. “I’m Aneesh, all right? I would sooner spit on the Feds than tell them anything.”
“Aneesh?” Brant said, sounding stunned. “A College cleric,” he added softly.
“I’m just a beginner,” she said urgently, quickly. “I’m a Tridith, that’s all.”
“Cadfael College. That explains the way you think,” Brant said softly.
“They made me take engineering training—I don’t know why. But even before I’d finished, I was presented to one of the Eistav. She told me I was going to put the training to use. She told me about you and the ship and that I should get a job with you. You were advertising. Word had passed.”
“You were to spy on us?” Catherine asked.
“Just general reports,” Lilly said quickly. “Profiles, mostly. And I haven’t sent anything for months. I never even told them where you were going because I didn’t know!”
Catherine hesitated. “The College and the Federation are traditional rivals,” she said. “Sometimes outright enemies. It doesn’t make sense that an Aneesh would report to the Federation.” She looked at Lilly. “I want to see the reports you sent. All of them. Who were you reporting to?”
“One of the Eistav. I don’t know which of the three. They don’t mix with Tridith.”
“Describe her,” Catherine said.
“Tiny. With big brown eyes and masses of silver hair.”
“Nephele,” Catherine concluded. “Well, that fits. She was the one that directed the disaster on Egemon.”
Brant drew in a sharp breath. “The College arranged that?”
Catherine gave him a sour smile. “That’s something the Ammonite don’t want you questioning. Where their orders come from is a well-buried secret. Welcome to the real world, Brant.”
He shook his head, not in disbelief, but in sorrow.
“Let her go, Bedivere,” Catherine said tiredly. “She can go and get her reports. You’ll know if she deviates from the direct path to engineering, or if she tries anything cute like sabotage.”
Lilly rubbed her arms. “You didn’t ask why I haven’t sent a report in for months.”
“I don’t care.”
“It turns out that the only people I really trust are on this ship.” Lilly gave a sour grimace. “You tell the truth whether it will be welcomed or not.”
“Not always,” Catherine told her and waved her away.
Brant sat on the nearest chair with a heavy exhalation. “Well, hell.”
“Read the reports when she brings them back, please,” Catherine told him.
He nodded.
Catherine looked at Bedivere. “Your turn. Do you want to do it here or somewhere else?”
Bedivere touched his chest. “Me?”
“I can leave,” Brant said, getting up.
“No, stay if you’re comfortable. Lilly will come back here,” Catherine said. She crossed her arms, looking at Bedivere. “Two seconds. Here, or go?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Why do we have to talk at all?”
“Here, then,” Catherine said. “Do you want to tell me what the hell you were thinking of, when you dropped on top of me out there?”
Bedivere’s eyes widened. “I was protecting you.”
“You’re supposed to protect the ship!”
“I did. That blight bomb would have completely destroyed it. I got it out of the way!”
“You thought of me first, though,” Catherine insisted.
Bedivere stared at her and his jaw flexed. “That’s my job,” he said woodenly. “Above all, protect the passengers and crew.”
“If this ship was still the commercial carrier it was designed to
be, that would be fair. But it stopped being that not long after I bought it.” Catherine shook her head. “The ship is your absolute first priority. Without the ship, we all die.” She wondered why she was getting angry. She could feel the heat and fury rising in her, like a thermostat about to blow its top.
Bedivere’s eyes were glittering. He was angry, too. “So what was I supposed to do today? Sprint for the ship and let the drones take the three of you?”
“Whatever you did or might have done, it should not have included shielding me from that bomb. You’re not invincible, Bedivere!”
And that, she realized, was the root of the problem. He had taken risks for her. He had risked himself. The fear she felt, even in retrospect, made her feel a little ill. That was why she was angry. How dare he make her feel like this!
He took a step closer to her and the fury in his eyes was all too clear. Catherine fought the need to step back away from him. She lifted her chin and looked him in the eye.
“It’s my body,” he said quietly. “My decision. And I will go on protecting you whenever I can, because that’s my privilege.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but he silenced her by kissing her.
It was unexpected. No, not expected, for as soon as his lips touched hers, she realized that she had been thinking about this the entire time he had been standing there in front of her, defiant and stubborn.
But only in the back of her mind. Even in her wildest imagination she had not let herself wonder what it might be like. The thought had stayed buried.
Until now.
But the kiss was perfect. His lips fitted against hers, warm and gentle, but there was strength there, too. And when his big hand curled around the back of her head and held her steady while he deepened the kiss, that was perfect, too.
He was hot against her. Strong.
And abruptly, she realized exactly what she was doing. She pushed herself away, breaking the kiss. The motion of moving backward drew her attention to her limbs and how weak she was. After centuries of indifferent and sometimes interesting sex, what she was feeling now was almost overwhelming.
She was shaking with it.
Bedivere was watching her with puzzlement in his eyes. His chest was lifting, more quickly than usual.
Faring Soul - Science Fiction Romance Page 11