Out of Orbit- The Complete Series Boxset

by Chele Cooke

  Olless gave her a smile that, for once, didn’t look polite or forced. She blinked twice, those wide eyes ever brighter under the unnatural white lights.

  “Would my calling him E’Troke—or Edtroka as you Veniche pronounce it—make it easier for you?”

  “No. But Grystch—”

  “Is his father’s name, I know.”

  “He’s not his father.”

  “No,” Olless said. “But we all suffer the sins of our fathers. Having him remember that—”

  “Is unfair! He’s nothing like his father.”

  Georgianna strode a few steps down the corridor away from Olless. She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it back from her face. Olless pushed herself from the doorway and followed.

  “Have you ever met the Volsonnar, Miss Lennox?”

  “No.”

  “Then, how are you so sure that Edtroka shares none of his traits with the man?”

  Georgianna turned. Olless was so angular, as if her body had been made for a singular purpose, with nothing to spare. Even the flowing dress didn’t hide that. If anything, it made her shape more impressive.

  “The Volsonnar invaded Os-Veruh and ordered the enslavement of the Veniche. Edtroka fights against that very thing.”

  Olless smiled broadly.

  “Both very bold actions, wouldn’t you say? Perhaps even a little thoughtless?” she asked. “Both men acted without a full understanding of the ripples their actions would cause. The two are more similar than you may think. Their motives may be as different as the sky and ocean, but their actions are rock and stone.”

  Georgianna turned away from her again, letting out a heavy huff. She heard the footsteps behind, following her further down the hall. She turned back.

  “Are you trying to find him?”

  At the other end of the corridor, Keiran’s footsteps were silent and Georgianna had to fight to keep her gaze on Olless’ face. She wondered if he was even wearing boots, for surely no one could tread so quietly. She didn’t dare look and risk Olless following her gaze.

  “I must admit, I am surprised you care so much,” Olless said.

  He crept forwards and Georgianna crossed her arms over her chest, glaring up at this woman who was nothing but professional as he slid along the wall like a shadow. He disappeared through the doorway Olless had left open behind her.

  “Why shouldn’t I?”

  “You care deeply for the man who purchased you like a prize. While he may not have made you wear one of those horrendous collars, he put the mark of slave on you just the same.”

  “He did that to protect me. The Tsevstakre commander wanted to buy me. He—”

  “Is that what he told you?”

  Olless’ smile was too broad, her tone too sweet. Her eyes crinkled in amusement. She raised her brow and her face looked stretched and tight. Too tight, in fact, like it had been made for another person.

  “A week before your purchase, Edtroka contacted me for instructions on how to proceed. He seemed wary of two slaves who had escaped from the commander’s service.”

  The cold metal around her began to leech warmth from Georgianna’s skin, down through her toes and out through her fingers. Her stomach began filling with ice water, a drop for every word coming from Olless’ thin lips.

  “He was worried that Mr. Cartwright and Miss Wolfe may have taken information with them. Information that, if used, might make the commander more suspicious than he already was. Edtroka had been working against his race for some time and despite his father’s position, he knew he was not untouchable.”

  The cold spread down her legs, solidifying into hard ice. Even without the odd artificial gravity, Georgianna wasn’t sure she’d have been able to lift her feet to walk away now.

  “He told me that there may be a way in, a method to contact these two…” Olless paused and gave her words—and the ice—time to settle before she continued. “You, Miss Lennox. He told me you might be able to make contact with them if you were freed from the compound.”

  “No…”

  Keiran peeked around the doorframe. He held up the device as he slipped away along the corridor.

  “Your brave, honourable Edtroka Grystch purchased you on my orders. No more.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “You were a means to an end, Miss Lennox,” Olless said, the false kindness slipping from her voice to reveal the venom underneath. “You were useful, I grant you. You saved Keiran for us and I have allowed you into the meetings to keep their attention.”

  Georgianna took a step away but Olless made no move to follow her this time.

  “You are welcome in the camp and once we move on the Adveni, of course. We can always use more medics, even if they are of limited skill compared to our own. However, should you meddle in affairs above your station, I will have no trouble ensuring your presence is no longer necessary. Are we clear?”

  Georgianna’s throat tightened as she tried to force a gulp.

  “Perfectly.”

  Olless’ pure, polite smile was back in place.

  “Then good evening, Miss Lennox. I will leave it to Beck or Keiran to keep you apprised of our progress.”

  Georgianna turned and ran along the corridor without returning the courtesy of a goodnight or goodbye. Her hands shook harder than ever and her breath came in shallow pants. She could only pray that Keiran would be able to get the information they needed from the device, because there was no way she was marching into war behind the Cahlven now. Dhiren was right; they’d learned how to stand still and take orders for far too long.

  The sun was barely above the horizon as they approached the Cahlven shield and the barrier to the camp. Ever since the Cahlven up in the ship had detected Nyrahby craft beyond the borders, trips outside the shield had been limited to those gathering food, and all Veniche had to be accompanied by Cahlven soldiers.

  Dhiren had wanted to leave in the middle of the night, cloaking their departure in darkness. It had been Keiran who shut him down. If the Cahlven had a way of monitoring people going through the shield, he said, then passing through at night would only alert them all the quicker. At dawn, it could at least be conceivable that a party were going out to hunt. Dhiren wasn’t happy with the delay, but at least he’d agreed.

  The shield shimmered before them. Rays from the rising sun bent and spread across the forest floor, dappling the leaves into fractals of colour—from a burning red sunset to the deepest indigo. Georgianna hitched her bag higher onto her shoulder and patted the knife in her belt.

  “Point of no return,” Dhiren said.

  Keiran reached out and touched the shield with the tip of his finger. The hairs on his arms stood up and he let the shudder run through his body, visible to all.

  “Theft, disobeying orders, I think we’re already past that.”

  Georgianna had to agree with Keiran. After stealing the device from Olless, packing up supplies and weapons, and disobeying the orders given to them by the Cahlven, she highly doubted that crossing through the barrier would make any difference.

  She wondered if it would only be the Cahlven who were angry with them. Beck and the others might believe they were setting back the war by stopping Edtroka from handing himself over. They might think them traitors, running to save their own skin. Dhiren had never done anything questionable against the other Veniche in the camp, but his incarceration had been enough to sow the seeds of distrust amongst the others within the shield. He had told Georgianna the reason for his detention—murder, three Adveni, that they’d caught him for—but after hearing conversations between him and Edtroka, she wondered if there was something else to his past that they hadn’t told her. Dhiren had been a little too angry at Edtroka’s disappearance, but even she didn’t trust his temper enough to ask him about it and hope for an honest answer.

  “Come on, we’re wasting time,” Georgianna said.

  She balled her hands into fists, squeezed her eyes closed, and stepped forwards. The elec
tricity in the shield buzzed through her. It wasn’t unlike the cinystalq, but where that had caused searing pain, this was like pushing through thick grass as it tangled around her limbs, holding her back. With another step, the sensation was gone, little more than the tingling of the current finding its escape.

  Dhiren snorted loudly and she opened her eyes.

  “What?”

  He waved his hand in her direction.

  “I’m sorry, but your hair is ridiculous.”

  Georgianna spun to look at him. Both Dhiren’s and Keiran’s hair stood on end, waving lazily in the breeze. She rolled her eyes and nodded to each of them.

  “You look great, too. Both of you.”

  Reaching up, she realised that her own hair was just like theirs, only worse. Long strands floated aimlessly in the air and she had to rub her hands repeatedly over her head to make her hair behave. Dhiren licked his palm and slicked his back, which seemed to do the trick. Keiran merely grimaced and shook his head.

  They trudged east through the remnants of forest. What hadn’t been destroyed by the Nyrahby bombs was thick and hard to pass through, and wide sections had been reduced to little more than charred debris. Dhiren had told them of a ridge that ran south a few miles east of the shield. If they could get behind it, they would be able to travel a decent distance without being spotted by the Cahlven. How they would avoid the Agrah and the Nyrahby, on the other hand, they would just have to work out as they went along.

  “This would have been a lot easier with Wrench here,” Keiran grumbled.

  Georgianna glanced over her shoulder. Keiran was rolling a cigarette, barely watching where he was stepping. Dhiren forged on ahead of them.

  “Why?” Georgianna asked.

  “He could have helped with the technology. I don’t know what you plan for me to do with this device. I can just about turn it on, but if it’s in their language, we’re screwed.”

  “The bigger the party, the bigger the chance we’re spotted,” Dhiren said, brushing a branch out of his way. “I don’t particularly want to be followed and dragged back to the Cahlven’s troops before we get half a mile.”

  “Yeah, well.” Keiran brushed off the comment and licked the edge of his cigarette paper as Georgianna turned away.

  She quickened her step, catching up to Dhiren, and considered overtaking him. He knew where they were going better than she did, but she figured if she just walked straight he’d tell her if they needed to change direction. She didn’t want to think about the other reasons Keiran might want Wrench with them, like perhaps having someone to talk to so he could go back to ignoring her as often as possible. He was doing this for Edtroka, she knew, not because he wanted to do something for her. Personally, she wondered if it wouldn’t have been better if he’d stayed behind. With Edtroka and Keiran now missing from the Cahlven camp, the responsibilities of the Veniche would fall entirely on Beck. He’d do his best and he was a good leader but she wasn’t sure how well he’d be able to withstand the demands of Olless and the Colvohan with no one there to back him up.

  Georgianna bristled at the thought of Olless and her revelations, but she couldn’t disregard the words that now spun around her mind. Even if Edtroka had bought her on Olless’ orders, he’d still done it, he’d protected her. So why did the idea of Olless ordering him to buy her sit so uneasily in her stomach?

  The click of Keiran’s lighter snapped her alert. She could smell the smoke as he blew it into the air.

  “Alright, what’s up with you?” he demanded.

  “Who?” Dhiren asked.

  “George. She’s been… off.”

  “How would you know if I’ve been on or off anything?”

  She pulled her bag tight against her back, grasping the straps to keep herself from fidgeting. She glared ahead, focussing on the sound of the leaves beneath her boots. With the echoes from the tree trunks, it sounded as though there were more of them walking. She checked behind but saw nothing.

  “And there it is.” Keiran chuckled. “The off-ness! You were all hopeful words and pleading for me to help yesterday and now you’ve barely said a word since I got the damn machine you wanted.”

  Georgianna shook her head and rolled her eyes. Dhiren appeared at her side and leaned forwards to get a good look at her face.

  “Yeah, I see it. She’s pissed.”

  “I’m not. Leave me alone.”

  “Oh, okay. I’ll upgrade that to really pissed,” Dhiren said with a grin. He walked backwards a few steps, looking at Keiran. “You do something, Zanetti?”

  “Apart from help her? No. You?”

  “I’m sure I’ve always done something. But in this case, I don’t think it was me. So, who else do we have?”

  “Well, there’s Cartwright…”

  Keiran appeared on her other side. Both of them grinned at Georgianna and each other, waiting for her to crack. She scowled and concentrated on her feet. Let them be amused by their new game. Let her be the source of their entertainment. It seemed it was a running theme in her life, people using her for their own gains.

  “Maybe she’s pissed E’Troke left without saying goodbye,” Dhiren said. “Poor abandoned little drysta.”

  “Leave it alone!” Georgianna snapped.

  “And we have a winner!” Dhiren cheered, clapping his hand against his thigh. “So, E’Troke pissed you off. Was it because he left?”

  “No,” she said. “I mean, yes!”

  Keiran raised an eyebrow, leaning towards Dhiren with a knowing smile.

  “Lying.”

  Dhiren nodded his agreement.

  “Did he leave you locked in a compound for two years?” he asked, smiling blandly at their stares. “No? Just me? Okay… Did he kill someone?”

  “He lied to me, alright?”

  Dhiren snorted.

  “Join the queue, lovely.”

  “What did he lie about?” Keiran asked.

  Georgianna scuffed her boot against the leaves and growled under her breath. She didn’t want to talk about it but they had a long way to go with little else to discuss. Keiran certainly wouldn’t want to talk about their relationship with Dhiren listening in, and truth be told she wasn’t sure she wanted to discuss it, either. No doubt, if she didn’t tell them, they’d just find other ways to torment her until she did.

  “When I was talking to Olless last night she told me that Edtroka bought me because she ordered him to. He wanted me to contact Alec and Nyah.”

  Keiran frowned and blew out a cloud of smoke.

  “And my deal with him had nothing to do with it? I agreed to make his trip in return for getting you out, or have you forgotten that?”

  Georgianna glared back at him. A crunch echoed between the trees and she glanced at their feet, brushing leaves aside in the hope of seeing twigs hidden beneath the leaves. Dhiren paused when he realised she’d stopped.

  “Are you sure that’s all it was?” she asked Keiran as she turned in a circle. “That he didn’t have some other agenda?”

  Keiran frowned at her. He shrugged.

  “Of course he isn’t sure.”

  The cigarette fell from Keiran’s fingers. The three of them spun around. The cigarette hit the ground and Dhiren and Keiran had both drawn weapons before the last word was out of Alec’s lips. He stepped out from behind a tree trunk a short way back, a smug grin on his lips. Holding up his hands to show them empty, he walked towards them.

  “He didn’t care as long as he got what he wanted. Never really cared about consequences, did you?”

  While Dhiren snarled and replaced the knife at his hip, Keiran launched himself across the gap. He grabbed the front of Alec’s shirt and slammed him back against the nearest tree.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Georgianna hovered between Keiran’s fury and Alec’s amusement. Dhiren approached and grasped Keiran by the shoulder. Shrugged off, Dhiren waved Georgianna forwards as Alec was slammed into the tree again.

  “What are you do
ing here?” Keiran demanded again.

  They pried Keiran from Alec, hauling him back. Alec brushed himself off and checked the back of his head for blood.

  “I saw you packing bags and knew you were about to do something stupid, so I followed you.”

  “We’re not going back,” Georgianna said.

  She adjusted her stance and folded her arms. Alec grinned at her and rolled his eyes.

  “Run back and report to Beck, Cartwright. Send people after us, see if we care.”

  “You’re going to find the Adveni, right?”

  “What do you care?”

  Alec grinned and stepped forwards.

  “Because if you’re going to Adlai,” he said, plucking Keiran’s battered cigarette from the leaves and holding it out to him, “then I’m coming with you.”

  Georgianna hopped on the spot. She flailed her arm to keep balance and smacked the heel of her boot against the trunk of the nearest tree. Dhiren watched with amusement but didn’t come closer or offer to help. Rocking uneasily on one foot, Georgianna upended her boot and three small stones tumbled out onto the mossy ground.

  The pebbles had been bothering her for hours. As she trudged through the forest, each step shifted them under the arches of her feet and between her toes. She’d complained about the irritation twice but tried to ignore it, assuming they would find Edtroka quickly once they reached Lurinah Forest. After all, they had a map on the device Keiran had stolen for them.

  Hours later and they were no closer to finding Edtroka than when they had first stepped between the tall trees. She’d finally given up, telling the others to stop. As she unlaced her boots, Keiran had taken the opportunity to prod at the Cahlven device again.

  “Look closer on the map,” Alec said. “Most of them can do that, you know. Make the map look bigger.”

  Keiran glanced at Alec with a raised eyebrow and shook his head, going back to the device. He slumped down on a large tree root and chewed his lip, staring at the screen. Alec approached and stood at Keiran’s shoulder, leaning over him.

  Georgianna tugged her boot back on, balancing against the tree trunk. The rains had drenched the ground even beneath the cover of the leaves. After so long walking with stones under her feet she didn’t want to spend the rest of the afternoon with one wet sock.