Telek hadn’t expected that. His body refused to relax. It could be a trick.
“Can you understand us? Can you speak?”
“He should be able to, though two of the ones I examined were altered to have no vocal cords,” the doctor said.
“I understand you,” Telek said. “But I don’t understand this.” He waved around the room. “Where am I?”
“On the Ghost of Jupiter. We’re privateers,” the man said.
Telek wrinkled his nose. “I don’t know what that is.”
“Sort of pirates who work for the military. We raid ships that don’t have the Confederation’s ID beacon. I’m Alessandro Bellomi, the captain of this ship. I have a lot of questions for you if the doctor says it’s all right.”
“He seems okay, but I need to examine him while he’s awake.”
“No! Don’t you touch me!” Telek braved her wrath. He flung a hand out at her, then realized something was wrong. “My bracelets.”
“Those horrible things are illegal, and I removed them. I probably should have waited until I ran all my tests to see what I was dealing with, but I couldn’t bear seeing them on anyone,” Eklund replied. “Do your wrists hurt? Let me examine you.”
“No!”
Bellomi put a hand on the doctor’s shoulders. “Let him be for now, Odd. He looks all right. Probably shouldn’t make him too nervous.”
“You don’t trust doctors,” Eklund said.
Telek shook his head. “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me. My body fixes itself. It made the fights more enjoyable.”
“You seem fairly controlled,” Bellomi said. His eyes never left Telek and yet the scrutiny didn’t bother him.
“I was made to fight. Doesn’t mean I like it. I won’t rip up the ship, if that’s what you’re worried about. I wouldn’t know how to fly it if I did kill you all.” Telek shrugged. “You don’t have to sedate me, but depending on who else they boxed up to sell, you might want to keep the others under. Some of us are completely mindless. We’ll attack anything in sight. Others of us, like me, were bred for fighting and… things worse than fighting.” He couldn’t suppress the shudder running through him, remembering the ugly sexual things that had been done to him. Even a chimera could tell that some of the things they were made to do weren’t normal.
“No one is going to make you do anything here, but I need to know which of you I can trust and which I’ll have to keep sedated until the military gets here to deal with you,” Bellomi said.
“You would trust us?”
“Until we have reason not to. You might be grateful not to be on your way to a new slaver. Also, this is a pirate ship. We’re all armed.” Bellomi smirked.
Telek liked this man. Most people were afraid of him or just avoided chimerae as beneath notice, but Bellomi was treating him like a man. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, so he decided to do something he had never done: trust another person. “The stunners won’t work on us—not strong enough.”
“Don’t worry. We have a lot stronger weapons.” The smirk grew, then instantly faded as a scream echoed through the ship, followed by a growl.
Telek’s head snapped up, knowing that sound. The primal part of him reacted to the sounds of carnage, and he pushed the doctor and the captain out of his way. They followed right on his heels down the corridor. Just two doors down, Specib, a chimera Telek disliked, flailed at a woman, looking as if he were swimming in the blood pooling around them.
Behind him, Telek heard his companions yelling. The woman Specib was ripping apart still moaned, so she was at least alive. Telek launched himself at Specib, knocking him away the best he could in the cramped room. His claws raked across Specib’s face, and the chimera brought up his arm, filled with rigid spines that would disembowel if Specib could catch his opponent right.
As it was, the spine grazed Telek’s chest, raising a line of blood. A stunner whined, hitting Specib squarely, knocking him back a step but doing little else. It might be a good thing Bellomi didn’t just take Telek’s word on that. The stunner gave Telek an opportunity. Sinking his claws into Specib’s neck, he ripped. The chimera went down in a shower of baby blue blood. Telek raised his clawed hand to finish the attack, but something burned between his shoulders. His head bounced off something on his way down; then there was nothingness.
“HOW is Lexip?” Arianna asked, worming her way back into Odd’s cramped office. Gyal, the Ghost’s Vasrach third in command, was with them. His amber eyes shone out of skin so black it reminded Al of ravens back home. Al had been interested in his trusted officer, but the Vasrach had a complicated three-sexed system of reproduction, making interspecies relationships impractical.
“She’ll survive, but she’ll be in a regeneration tank for a while,” Odd replied.
“And the chimerae?” Gyal asked.
“I snowed under the one who hurt Lexip, but it might not hold. I’ve upped the sedatives on all of the chimerae but one. We’re getting close to dangerous levels, but with their nanites, it might be safe enough. They obviously metabolize the drugs faster,” Odd said.
“And the one you didn’t drug?” Gyal’s thick eyebrows rose.
“He seemed to be reasonable enough,” Al broke in. “It was my call. I know he could be a danger, but he was quick to try and protect Lexip.”
“Or just attack another chimera like he’s trained to do,” his twin rebutted.
“I trust Al’s judgment. Is it possible to get this chimera to point out others that might be safe to allow to regain consciousness? We could return the most dangerous back to their cryochambers. It’s not very humane, but it might be safer all around. The chambers couldn’t be too dangerous to their health. Chimerae are too expensive to take risks with,” Gyal said.
Al nodded. “Ari, update Rollins’s people with the dangers these chimerae represent. Gyal, you have the bridge for now. I’m going to work with Odd and see if we can get more cooperation from Telek.”
His men filtered out. Odd went to the cabinet and got a transdermal unit, filling it.
She handed it to him. “I’d use your blaster on the highest setting, but if he gets in close, and you don’t die immediately, hit him with this. It’ll take him down.”
Grimacing, he took the unit. “Thanks.”
Al went back to the sickbay unit. Telek sprawled on the bed, the thin sheet barely covering him. They hadn’t bound down his strong limbs, a potential error. Odd was right. He did look mostly human and a very well-formed one at that. Al hadn’t been struck by a man’s physical beauty this strongly in years. Of course, Telek would be a fine genetic specimen. He had been engineered that way. The only currently visible hints of his non-humanness were the opalescent claws tipping his strong fingers and the thick shock of hair surrounding the broad planes of his face. The hair color reminded Al of a cloudless sky over the Mediterranean.
Equally blue eyes suddenly opened, startling Al. Telek groaned, crunching up on the bed. “Whatever you shot me with hurt.”
“Sorry, but I can’t have you tearing someone limb from limb on my ship.”
“Specib would not have been as kind to your woman.”
Al sat on the chair jammed into the corner of the room, even though sitting might not be his best idea. “I understand that. Even so.”
“I can’t promise my nature won’t take over, but I will try to restrain myself.” Telek rubbed his head. “Hanne’s people will come looking for us.”
Studying the chimera, Al realized there was every possibility the man could explode off the bed and kill him if he wanted to. He almost regretted having the horrid shock bracelets removed. On the other hand, Telek sounded more resigned than anything else. “That’s a risk of my profession. Usually people will try to get back what I’ve taken.”
“You steal. Why?” Telek’s cold, fire blue eyes bore into Al’s. “It is wrong, isn’t it?” His lips dragged down. “I thought maybe I heard that. I don’t really know.”
“No, you’
re right. I guess you can call it the family business.” Al shrugged, leaning against the wall. The sickbay room felt stifling warm. “We’re privateers. We pirate for the Confederation’s military. Anyone not carrying a Confederation beacon is fair game. I get to keep a good share of what I take, and I’m afforded the military’s protection. Of course, it’s dangerous work and sometimes I end up with cargo that’s more trouble than it’s worth.”
The chimera grinned, his eyes echoing it. “Like me and my kind.”
“You are definitely a problem. The military wants you. Your very existence is highly illegal. That doesn’t mean they’ll punish you, but they will want to know everything you do about your handlers.” Al hoped he was right. For the most part, the Confederation of Planets was benevolent. They probably wouldn’t imprison or destroy the chimerae for something that wasn’t their fault.
“And if we don’t want the military?”
Cold fingers rolled up Al’s spine. “I don’t know.”
Telek shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You can fight. You have to be good to take on the Alaisaigae.”
Al’s mind tumbled the difficult word around in his mind for a moment. It wasn’t the ship’s name. “Is that the company that created you?”
“Hanne did that.” He spat the words out, his tongue flicking over fangs better suited for the mouth of a lion than a man. Then again he was part Dat, one of the vicious animals found on the Nye Norge colony, according to Dr. Odd. “I think she owns Alaisaigae. She runs it, I know that.” He shuddered, sitting back down on the bed. “We were her children. She made us call her mother. I might never have had a real mother, but instinct tells me what she called mothering isn’t right.”
“From what Dr. Odd said, I have no doubt of that.”
“What now? Do I stay in this little room? I don’t want to be around doctors.”
“I promise you, Odd is okay. She won’t hurt you but no, I think I’ll move you to the brig for now. Please don’t take that as a sign of mistrust. We have very few guest quarters. You will be behind a force field there, and it’s not terribly private.”
“I am a slave. I don’t even know what private feels like,” Telek snorted.
“I suppose that’s true. I have two questions for you. One, you mentioned there are others who are like you, in control. Can you point them out to us? Secondly, if I put all of the ones I can hope will not randomly gut my crew into the brig for now, will you be able to resist fighting each other? I’m not sure how ingrained that urge is.”
“We get along fine for the most part, the ones you have in mind. We’d rather not hurt and bleed. We’d rather be left alone. Others, like Specib, live only to kill. I don’t know what your military will do with them.” His brilliant blue eyes slotted. “I don’t want to know.”
Neither did Al, really. “Do you feel up to pointing the safer ones out now so we can slip the others back into cryo?”
“You only stunned me. I’m fine.” His lips curled up at the corners.
“That was the next setting down from a killing blow. We don’t use it often because it can cause the heart to stop.”
“Don’t worry. Mine is designed to restart even if I flatline in a fight.”
“That’s… scary and probably handy. Come on, let’s see who’s who among the booty. I might be able to arrange for you all to be let out of the brig with a guard. I know you have no reason to trust us.”
Telek nodded. “No one has ever been nice to me before. I’m not really sure what to do here. It’s… I have no idea how to handle it.”
Al reached out to touch Telek’s shoulder but hesitated a moment, not sure of how Telek would take it, then let his hand drop. He felt sorry for the chimera, a deep well of pity, but at the bottom was something different. “You’ll figure it out. Right now you can return the favor by helping me to keep my crew safe.”
“I can do that.”
AL KNEW they were taking a risk allowing their transgenic cargo to just wander around. Some, of course, were still locked away in cryo units, but the ones Dr. Odd thought were safe to be in public were freed under the watchful eyes of security crewmen.
The captain saw Hurley, security, sitting a couple of tables away from the viewing port in the ample rec room. He and his sister firmly believed in having entertainment for their pirate crew to keep them occupied when they weren’t robbing freighters. Hurley was watching the chimera who had caught Al’s eye: Telek.
The chimera was all but pressed to the portal. Al went over to him, knowing the man was most likely well aware of his presence, but his wide eyes never left the stars beyond the portal polymer.
“It’s always a little breathtaking,” Al said, even though he had become jaded to such views.
“We were kept in our cages below the complex, brought up from underground only to fight or be taken to the game rooms. There were no windows, nothing we might be able to use to escape. I’ve never really seen the stars,” Telek replied. “I didn’t know there were so many, or that it was so stunning.”
Al went to pat Telek on the shoulder but pulled up short, remembering the doctor’s warning that the chimera might take any touch as a threat. “You can stay here as long as you’d like to. If I can help, let me know.”
“Thank you. I think I will stay here awhile, if that’s okay.”
“It’s fine. Enjoy the view.” Al wanted to stay and watch with him but felt like he was intruding. There would be other, better times to linger.
“Stay,” Telek said, pointing to the window. “Tell me about them. Are we close? What are they, anyhow?”
“Stars. They’re usually balls of hydrogen. We’re not very close to any of them. We don’t want to be. They’re light-years away.”
“What’s a light-year?”
“It’s a measure based on the distance light travels in a year.”
“I have so many questions.” Telek’s inhumanly blue eyes lit up. “There is so much I don’t know.”
Al grinned. “I’ll do my best to help. Are all of your companions this eager?”
“No, many are too afraid to come out of the brig. They’re afraid of the openness and do not know how to deal with others.” Telek turned to look out over the rec room. “To us, people are either opponents or someone out to hurt us. I didn’t take that into consideration. This is making me want to either run or fight.”
“Do I need to be worried?”
“Not of me. I can handle this, but I wouldn’t force the others out of the brig. They feel safe there. That’s a new thing for us. It’s a good thing.”
“I’m glad, but it’s probably the first time anyone felt safe on a pirate ship.”
“So far you haven’t shocked, beaten, or raped any of us. That was our daily life, so pirate ship or not, we’re faring a little better.”
“No one here will touch you guys. If someone does, tell me or Arianna. I know not reacting to it will be counter to everything you’ve been created to be, but I need you to let us handle it.”
“We were created to be monsters.” Telek turned back to the observation window. “I’d like to be something else.”
Al had no idea what to say. Having no frame of reference, he was at a loss. Instead, he decided to take a chance, and he rested his hand on Telek’s shoulder. He felt the muscles bunch up under his fingers, and Telek looked at him. His smile suggested he had never really tried to use his lips in that manner before.
“Do you think that’s all I’ll ever be?”
“I think everyone can change, Telek.” Al let his hand drop. “Your transgenic nature has geared you for action, but that doesn’t mean you have to remain nothing more than a creature that fights for the amusement of others.”
“If I want to talk about stuff, ask questions, can I come ask you? Captains are busy, right?”
Al smiled. “I’ll be sure to try and find time to talk.”
Klaxons drowned him out.
Al whirled, heading for the door. Telek moved along in his wak
e. The comm-link chirped.
“Captain, we have visitors, no I.D. beacons,” Retashed, one of his helmsmen, said.
Al tapped his wrist unit, replying, “On my way.”
“They’re coming after us, aren’t they? I said they’d never let us go easily,” Telek said, now loping alongside him.
“We’ll see if you’re right.” Al didn’t waste time telling Telek not to follow. There wasn’t much harm he could get into on the bridge. “Guess you don’t know anything about ship-to-ship combat.”
“The only help I can be is if they come aboard ship. Want me to go to the brig and get the others ready if we’re needed? Believe me, they’ll fight to stay free of the Alaisaigae.”
“That would be the best thing you can do right now,” Al said, and Telek whipped around, heading off. Al hoped to hell he didn’t get boarded, or Telek and the other chimerae would have blood and bodies everywhere. He hoped they could tell friend from foe. He probably should have pointed out the wrist units and flaming sword and hourglass symbol everyone had on their work shirts, throwback heraldry to the pirates of the high seas days.
Arianna was already on the bridge when he arrived. “What’s happening?”
She nodded to the viewscreen. “Small craft, very maneuverable. They seem to want to take a bite out of us. Looks like one of the craft they had guarding the cargo ship.”
“Their cargo has offered to fight back if we get boarded,” Al said, slipping behind his gunnery console.
“I am somehow not comforted by that fact,” Arianna said, tapping the screen she shared with Helmsman Retashed. Al had always admired her skill with flying. He was the better shot, however.
“Me either, but they refuse to be recaptured.” Al primed the weapons bay. “Let’s do this.”
Arianna and Retashed slammed the ship forward after the smaller craft. It tried to lay down a line of fire, but Arianna spun the Ghost out of range. The Ghost’s crazy path made it hard for Al to lock on his target. That brought a smile to his face. Who didn’t like a challenge? He grazed the pursuing ship’s stern, but not enough to penetrate shields.
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