Breathing Space: Sunblinded Three (Sunblinded Trilogy Book 3)

by S. J. Higbee

The Cap’s sneer was solid English hauteur. “You are raving. As if I’d demean myself by sabotaging the business I helped set up.” His hand gesture implied that none of this would exist without his invaluable input.

  As Lnard’s congested face turned a darker shade of puce, Mum stepped in front of him, putting her hands on his shoulders. “Please. Don’t let him jab you into taking a swing at him. He’ll knock you to the edges of the galaxy with a grin on his smug face, just because he can.”

  “And I shouldn’t have to witness you pawing your latest sex toy, woman!” bawled the Cap, his self control now gone. “You’re my wife!”

  “A role you made a living hell when we were together!” Her answering yell could probably be heard on the dregging skyhook.

  I’d been away from home for more than four years, survived a shuttle crash, kidnapping, being blown up, Norman’s lethal mind games and headed up the foremost merc band in Sector Two. But watching Mum and the Cap fighting – again – took me right back to similar unhappy episodes as a child.

  Meanwhile, Baby Jessica was bawling in her crib. I made my way to the corner where she was lying and gently slid my hands under her shuddering little body. “Ah babygirl, what’s all this noise, then?” I crooned, lifting her up and cuddling her, breaking into a nonsense lullaby under my breath. Pure habit. Gently jigging her as her ear-holing noise subsided into snuffling sobs, I looked up to see two pairs of eyes drilling holes into me.

  “Lizzy – that you?” Jake, who’d let us in on the current family meltdown, was now taller than me.

  “Nah.” The stick-thin, pre-teen next to him didn’t stop gnawing his nails to add, “She’s long gone. Don’t you ever plug into the Stardust? Everyone in the galaxy is looking for her. This here is just some saddo plant prodder—ˮ

  “Watch your mouth, Luke!” I snapped.

  They looked at each other.

  “It’s her, right enough,” said Jake.

  The two youngest boys were standing together, wide-eyed and mute as they stared at the scene. Mattie had his hands over his ears.

  Wynn strode out into the middle of the row, shoving himself between the Cap and Lnard, who were standing nose to nose. “A scene like this in front of the children isn’t the way to go!”

  Lnard had the grace to look abashed.

  However, the Cap didn’t miss a beat, merely turning his anger onto Wynn. “When I want some plant-plucker telling me how to conduct my affairs, I shall ask. In the meantime, I’d appreciate you removing your sorry self from my business,” his voice dropped into a snarl, “before I do it for you!”

  “Don’t you dare threaten one of our most talented artists!” shrilled Mum, all set for Round Two.

  “Enough!” The word rang round the room as I recalled I had a backbone. “Once this mess is over you sorry lot can fight yourself to a standstill for all I care, but no more of this in front of the children. There isn’t time.”

  The Cap drew himself up. “How dare you—ˮ

  “It’s Elizabeth, John,” Mum said. “So she dares because she can.”

  His slack-jawed expression would’ve been funny at any other time.

  I took advantage of his momentary speechlessness. “There’s trouble coming, which is why I’m here. Right now, we need to replace the doors and windows with something that will keep out more than sunlight and a few tourists.”

  “Trouble? What are you babbling about? Replacing perfectly good doors and windows costs far too many creds!”

  I took my time threading towards them, jigging Baby Jessica, who was objecting to my raised voice. When I was close enough to the battleground – Mama and Lnard on one side, with the Cap on the other, I breathed, “Eddy…”

  The Cap frowned. “You sure?”

  “’Course I’m sure! The P’s info network is the most sophisticated in Sector Two.” I won’t be spoken to like some know-nothing. Not anymore.

  “Clearly not. Or the Hawking Atrocity wouldn’t have happened,” he sneered.

  I turned to Mum and Lnard, profoundly glad the drosser wasn’t my biological father. “So why the mouthmatch?” As Lnard’s face darkened and he drew breath, I added, “Keep it down. Jessica doesn’t need to hear your yelling.”

  “All our holo projectors have been jammed! We can’t receive any customer enquiries throughout Humanspace. No prizes for guessing who’s responsible.” Lnard’s glare could’ve drilled smoking holes through the Cap, who opened his mouth to reply.

  “Before you all start tearing lumps outta each other again. Don’t reckon that Mister Wright was responsible for blocking your holo sig. He’d have to be at the edge of Homespace to pull off such a stunt.” Cerk’s timing was perfect, as he looked up from the holo projector he was fiddling with.

  Everyone swung round to face him, clearly startled anyone else was in the showroom. Mum sucked in a breath and Lnard put an arm around her.

  Cerk continued, “Or he’d need way more processing power than he’d be able to afford from down here, dirtside.”

  “So who did this, if it wasn’t John?” asked Mum.

  “How should I know? I’m just telling you who it can’t be,” snapped Cerk.

  I had a sick feeling in the pit of my gut. “Could this jamming have been done from beyond Homespace – from deep into Humanspace, for instance?”

  Cerk slowly shook his head.

  A curse nearly escaped, until I recalled the boys were listening and watching our every move.

  “My guess is it’s originating from the outer edges of Homespace. What I can’t figure out is why.” Cerk brushed a speck off the projection pad.

  Oh, I can. My stomach slithered down to somewhere around my knees. “When you discovered the equipment was staled, what’s the protocol to get it fixed?”

  Mum huffed, clearly exasperated. “We pressed the FixMe button, of course.”

  “Which does?” Maybe I’m wrong – maybe it’s different here on Earth.

  She rolled her eyes. “It sends an automated message to the holo server notifying them we need them to sort it out!”

  “Who recorded the auto-message?” I crossed my fingers behind my back, desperately hoping it was Lnard.

  “Me! Is that a—” Her face changed as she suddenly caught on. “So he now knows where we are.”

  I nodded, feeling sicker than a space-spooked cat.

  “You’re making a supernova out of a sunspot! Typical wo—ˮ The Cap stopped himself at the sight of Mum’s expression, adding, “So how’d the boy get hold of such high-end kit, eh?”

  “Once he took over Hawking, the boy was responsible for snagging seventeen ships. There were also at least another couple of dozen in the defence net around Erato, not counting another nine vessels still listed as missing, presumed swallowed up by the boy’s smuggling operation. So – in answer to your question – the boy has such kit coming out’ve his ears.” I turned back to Cerk. “How long will it take him to arrive here from the edge of Homespace?”

  He shrugged. “Depends what he’s riding on. Where he’s coming from. Where he lands. Could be as long as three more days, or he could be here in twenty-four hours.”

  Suffering Mercury! Truly grateful for the veil, I clenched my jaw together. It’d be bad for morale if I was seen to be squeaking at the notion of facing my psychotic brother. Mum clearly had the same impulse, as she clamped her hand over her mouth, her eyes widening. While Lnard and The Cap glared at each other.

  A terrible wail came from the corner. Luke had dropped to his knees. “He’ll kill meee… he’ll kill us all!”

  The broken one…

  Handing Baby Jessica to Wynn, I dashed across to him. “Hey! Mum and me – we stopped him before.” I knelt and put my arms around him, my heart twisting at the sheer terror on his face. I’ve never hated Eddy more than that moment as I felt Luke’s fragile boniness shuddering against me. “That’s why I came back. To haul his arse to a halt. He’s never won a fight against me in the whole of his sorry life, and he won’t now. Shh.
C’mon, sweeting. You’ll scare the littlies—ˮ

  “No he won’t!” came Sammy’s piping voice from behind me. “I’m not a squamous sniveller like Luke – I bit him on the leg before. I can do it again!”

  “That’s the spirit!” The Cap marched across and clapped Luke on the back, raising his voice over the boy’s terrible noise. “Let’s brace up, eh? Keep it together for the women’s sake.”

  “Oh yeah,” I snapped. “Me and Mum are shaking in our shoes at the notion.” I turned back to Luke. “Don’t worry, you and your brothers, you’ll be long gone from here.” And so will Wynn. Because the mere thought of Eddy getting his slimy hands on him made me feel every bit as queasy as the notion of him once more terrifying his brothers.

  *

  As soon as I was able, I retreated to the office and removed my veil so I could access my augs in order to track down any ex-P’s members who’d retired to this corner of Earth. And sure enough, there were a couple. One had branched out into supplying Security equipment. With Cerk’s help, I was able to link up with the bloke, who offered to immediately come out and give us a quote for an instant refit for all the windows and doors.

  He was well before my time. In fact, he nodded familiarly at Mum and scowled at the Cap, so that’s how far back he went. And he was happy to immediately source and fit alpha grade blastdoors that would withstand most firepower up to maser cannon strength, along with tamper-proof durasteel shutters for the windows. Though that proved less satisfactory in civvy-land where, apparently, you could only slightly shock potential intruders, instead of thoroughly crisping them – the feature I preferred.

  Worse, the Cap took it upon himself to contact the local police and demand protection. It didn’t occur to him to delegate this job to someone who didn’t have an unhappy history with the local peacekeepers. So despite raising his voice and repeating, several times, that his family were being targeted by Eddy ‘Killer’ Wright, the adminite on the receiving end of his demand – after ensuring she was dealing with the John Wright, spokesman for the local Tru-Faith Church – grudgingly offered to extend one of their patrols to swing by every hour or so, to check everything was still solid.

  Which was what finally decided me. I ushered Cerk into the office. “Take Wynn and the children and go to ground. You know how to run – I’ve seen you in action. You’re not on Eddy’s scope right now and there’s no reason why you should be.”

  Cerk swallowed. “I… hadn’t been planning to stick around.”

  “Quite right, too.” Why should you? “I’m asking you to take the children and Wynn along with you, is all.”

  “I don’t do children.” He rolled onto the balls of his feet, as if about to speed-boost out of the building, clearly jittery.

  “You won’t be landed with them indefinitely. My word.”

  He locked looks with me. “And what happens if none of you make it out of the building upright and breathing?”

  “I’ll give Wynn details of where the children can be sent, so they’ll be safe and cared for.” I tried to keep the pleading out of my voice.

  He stared into the distance, chewing his lip. “And if I don’t, they risk falling into the hands of the Killer of Hawking.”

  I kept quiet, willing for him to agree.

  “Can’t believe I’m doing this,” he finally muttered. “Don’t think I’m a safe pair of hands, cos I’m not.”

  “What’s this about?” Wynn asked, walking into the room. Though judging from his stance, I reckon he already knew.

  “We need to get the boys away.” I ached to look at his beautiful face. One last time. However, on another level I was glad I’d replaced my veil before the contractors arrived – because hiding behind the cloth mask somehow made this easier. “If Eddy gets his hands on one of the children, or anyone else who can’t fight…” Like you, for instance. “…it’ll hamstring us bigtime.” I held my breath, my chest aching with all the unsaid words I’d not yet got around to saying.

  He hugged me. Hard. “Don’t you get yourself killed, you hear me?”

  And I knew I’d won.

  But this was the Wright family, so it wasn’t straightline.

  “You’ve arranged what?” snapped Mum.

  “Don’t tell me you want them around! If you had an atom of sense, you’d accompany them. It’d go a lot easier with Baby Jessica and the boys.”

  Grief flickered across her face. “I thought I might really have a second chance. To get it right.” Before morphing straight into merc-mode. “While I’m grateful for your help, Elizabeth, I’m getting mighty tired of your taking over without stopping to ask, first.”

  A habit I acquired when you were regularly drunk and incapable. “Sorry,” I said incincerely, fumbling for my cred card. “I’ve no idea how much to send with Wynn. What would be sufficient to cover all their expenses for...”

  “All contingencies?” suggested Mum.

  I nodded.

  She named a sum that seemed far too small. So I doubled it and transferred it to Wynn’s card.

  The Cap was engrossed in telling one of the fitters installing the new shutters how he used to run a merchanting ship and this particular grade of durasteel shuttering was one of the main stock items he transported.

  That’s not such a coincidence, given you shipped materiel for Norman and his mercenaries… “Could I have a word, please?’

  The fitter gave me a look of pure gratitude as I drew the Cap away. “I’ve made arrangements for the boys to go with Wynn—ˮ

  “Unacceptable!” he snapped. “I know nothing about this current bedwarmer of yours—ˮ

  “An unfortunate admission seeing as you had him chopped off at the knees,” I said.

  “I have plenty of church members who would be honoured to open up their homes to my sons!”

  “Who Eddy could track down in a heartbeat.” I paused, wondering whether he’d always been this unpleasant, or if it was the current stress bringing out the worst in him. “Mum wasn’t the only one he threatened – he also vowed to take his brothers apart.”

  “Half-brothers! Eddy – like yourself – is no child of mine.”

  We’d been walking towards the room at the back, where the boys had gathered and Mum was gabbling a bunch of instructions regarding Baby Jessica’s care at Wynn and Cerk. On hearing the Cap’s latest idiocy, I skidded to a halt. “What put that tilted notion into your head?”

  “Stands to reason!”

  “Not any reason I’ve had access to. Whereas, I have had access to all his data, including his DNA results. And he is your son, not Norman’s.”

  The Cap shot me a look of pure hatred. “You lie! If he wasn’t the General’s son, why did he take Eddy in? Why not turn him over to the authorities to see justice done after he’d attacked you and your mother?”

  “Because Norman could use someone who enjoyed inflicting pain and suffering. It was one of the General’s great talents – using the right person for the right job.”

  The Cap’s grin was more of a snarl. “Until he made the mistake of taking you under his wing. I’m betting he purely regretted that move, before he met his end.”

  “A point you’ll be able to raise with him one of these days, when you join him in Hell.” I’d reached the end of my airline regarding the drosser. Small wonder Mum had pickled herself in alcohol while living alongside him! I took a breath and tried to regain my fraying temper. “In the meantime, maybe you’d like to say good-bye to the sons you are prepared to acknowledge, before they leave.”

  “Where are they going?”

  Is this some test, or is he really this stupid? “I’ve no idea. It’s safer that way.” I left, unwilling to waste any more of my precious time on him.

  And entered the small room in time to see Jake, scarlet-faced and furious, snarl at Wynn, “You gotta be tripping over some event horizon if you reckon to scoop me up like I was some dribbling kid and take me outta harm’s way!”

  Mum was standing back, her face a mask
. I realised, with a jolt, that she wasn’t keen on Jake leaving, either.

  I stepped forward to sort this out.

  Wynn got there before me, pulling his veil off before he spoke, “Nope. I’d already figured that any brother of Elizabeth’s would know how to handle himself in a fight. Thing is…” He turned to the boys bunched together by the door, all scowling. Luke was struggling not to cry – and failing. Then back to Jake. “With you alongside, I reckon me and Cerk will be able to keep them propped up and functioning while we go wherever it is we’re going. While without you, they’ll be too much of a handful.”

  “I knew it! You want a baby-gofer. Someone to feed and fetch and carry and mind the baby. I watched Lizzy slogslave herself to a shadow minding this lot.” He jerked his head in the direction of the boys. “I’m not falling into the same trap. I don’t do babies!”

  “Despite your Mama’s worries, I’m not fussed about Jessica. She’s the easy one. I like babies. And once I’ve dusted off my skills, I’m handy at changing nappies, feeding and winding – all that stuff.” Wynn lowered his voice, “But we’ll need everyone to look happy. Like they trust the adults looking after them. And if they don’t, people will look twice at us and remember what they saw. That’s where you come in. Another adult – one they trust and follow.”

  “Hah! You say that now. And then I’ll get lumped in with them, the minute we walk outta door.”

  Wynn shook his head, his gaze steady. “No, you won’t. My word. We’ll be walking out’ve here and negotiating a planet I don’t know. And yet we’ll have to blend in. I’m gonna need every ounce of help I can get. If you’re man enough to step up and shoulder a portion of the burden, there’s plenty of the adult stuff to go around.”

  Mum stepped forward, apparently convinced by Wynn, where she’d been merely in unwilling agreement with me. “Please, Jake. He’s right. They’ll probably won’t succeed in getting the children away quietly without your help.”

  Jake stared at her, clearly shaken. Then back at Wynn, straightened his back and gave a quick nod. Looking heartbreakingly like a pic I’d seen of Mum as a raw recruit

  Wynn clapped him on the back. “Good man! Cerk will upload the details of the first leg of our journey onto your com. Meantime we’ll need to swing by and pack some essentials – you’ve got the housecodes, I’m assuming…”