by Joyce Lavene
He smoothed the perpetual wrinkle between her brows. His touch was like a current, electrifying her, her uniform sliding from her along with her thoughts and doubts. He touched her everywhere, leaving a tingle of awareness along the length of her body. She could never remember feeling so alive, so free of herself and the world around her. Yet there was a hint of fire there that started to warm her in other ways --
There is that too...but for later. For now, come with me. Trust me. Take my hands --
She wasn't sure at first what had happened. One moment, they were together in the cargo room and the next, they were outside the cruiser. They were above the cruiser in the rain and the wind but the elements didn't seem to be touching them. The night was black and endless. The sky stretched forever past the planet and toward the stars. Other worlds waited. There was no time there. No today, yesterday, or tomorrow. She could ride the currents of the storm and feel the pulse of life around her.
There was more than she'd thought, more than she'd seen. She looked at Kat and saw him as if for the first time. He was more than just a man. He was an entity of light and beauty. She was more than just an orphan from Farga. The light of her entity was incredible to behold. That she had lived for so long and never known.
A wild moment of exhilaration consumed her before it occurred to her that they were dancing on air far above the cruiser's dark hull. Common sense and self- preservation began to exert its influence on her. Kat's hands were on hers. She looked into his eyes for reassurance but could find none. She felt herself falling towards the ground and screamed once, losing sight of everything but the dark ground coming closer. She hit hard, feeling a quick wave of nausea.
Nausea? She dared to open her eyes. She should have been squashed on the ground, not feeling anything. Instead, she was back in the cargo area, lying naked on top of her own clothes. Kat sat in the same position he'd been when she'd first entered. Had it been a dream?
No dream.
"My clothes are off. I guess that wasn't a dream," she said aloud for her own peace of mind. What happened to her?
His eyes opened and the light went dim. "You lost faith, Sadah. Forgive me. I knew you were not ready for this experience. I sought to show you what you could be...with patience and guidance."
Kat watched as Gael rose gracefully from the floor, sweeping up her uniform with one slender hand. Part of him tightened painfully at the sight of her and he smiled. It had been too long since he'd found anything about a woman to arouse him. This woman whose spirit joined so perfectly with his own would bring him other pleasures as well. And how he would pleasure her!
Gael pushed her hair back from her face and pulled her uniform into place. "Thanks for the experience but if it's all the same to you, next time yell at me or knock me down. I'd enjoy it more."
Kat followed her out of the cargo area and to the bridge where she took out the last of her Try-sting tabs. She would have taken them but he stopped her, his hand sliding over her own. He snatched the tabs from her hand before she could react. "If you were Rian, you wouldn't have cause to doubt your self or your abilities."
"If I were Rian, you might be right," she replied evenly, though the effort showed in the tightening of her lips. "But I'm not. I'm Fargan and I'm ENDO. None of this..,this stuff is compatible with anything that I am."
"And yet it's a part of you. You've seen and felt it."
"So you say."
"You're not convinced?"
She looked at him sharply. "I've seen Rian mind magic. "
He searched her face and saw the anger and fear in her eyes. "You aren't so simple as to think I've used magic on you, Gael. I won't let you deny what's happened to me or yourself this way."
"The only way you'll ever prove to me that any of this is real is when you're back on Miccah and I'm drunk in my bed at ENCOM and I start to hear other people's thoughts. I'll call you when it happens. Until then -- "
"You're a hard, stubborn female! Are all Fargan women so?"
"I don't know," she replied easily. "I've never met another Fargan woman -- not since I was a child. You'll have to go there to find out."
"You haven't been back to your home world in twenty years?"
"No. I haven't. And I don't plan on it happening. I'll take those now." She nodded at the pills in his hand.
"These?" He opened his hand to allow the orange dust to filter through his fingers to the floor.
Gael kept herself from doing him violence with an effort, going instead to where she'd left her blanket and wrapping it around her. She shut her eyes as she sat down on the floor.
"Pretending to sleep?"
"Yes."
"It's amazing you can sit still, Gael, Sadah." He sat down at the console and began to monitor the storm.
There was silence except for the noise of the storm outside the cruiser while long moments passed.
"Kat?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you all right now? I mean, really -- "
"I'm all right. And I'm touched by your concern."
Gael turned her head away and didn't speak again. Infuriating Rian! She peeked out from under her blanket. Infuriating naked Rian!
Kat smiled, letting the silence lengthen. He closed his eyes and reached outside the cruiser carefully with his mind.
Chapter Twelve
It was nearly daybreak on the planet when a bleary-eyed researcher found the answer. The freighter, hovering far above the planet, was thrown into instant alert. Captain Amato didn't take time to dress in her uniform before she bellowed at the young Fargan boy to follow her to the lab. "Well?"
The researcher shook his graying head. "It's not good."
"Just get on with it."
"It's some sort of living material or at least the decayed remnants of living material. I don't really know what kind. ENDO or ECHO will probably have to sort that out."
The breath hissed from Amato's thin chest. "How long?"
"Oh, probably about the same time as the original breakdown of the ore processor," he replied casually, enjoying seeing the woman uncomfortable.
"Let me see." She pushed him away from the equipment, studying the material with a jaundiced eye. She turned to Toine. "You. Get Denby."
Denby had been enjoying the captain's hospitality since the others had departed for the planet. Amato's dislike of the ENDO officer made her action a vengeance and a rebellion. He left the young female crewmember sleeping in his bedport, wrapped a short robe about himself then followed Toine to the lab. He blinked in the harsh lights of the white room. "Amato?"
"It's worse than we thought," she told him with no preliminary. "Take a look."
"What is it that I'm seeing, Captain?" He looked at the material in the protected environment.
"The remains of a living creature." The man had the mentality of a steel pipe.
"Are you certain?"
"The equipment made the diagnosis," the researcher replied. "I simply reported it. The information will be transmitted directly to ENCOM from here."
Denby looked at the researcher with panicked eyes. His hair was wildly disarrayed around his florid face. "Has it already been transmitted?"
The captain looked at Denby closely, trying to fathom his thoughts.
The researcher yawned. "Well, not yet. I wanted you to have a look at it first but I have to send -- "
"No! You, boy, go to your quarters. And you -- " He faced the researcher. "You've done your job here. We don't need you anymore."
When the two were gone, Amato sidled up close to Denby, assessing him slyly. "What do you have in mind, Alan? If we don't report the findings, she will."
"Not if she doesn't know."
The captain laughed harshly. "How would you suggest we keep her from knowing? They won't allow the plant to restart operation without these findings."
"They can't be altered?" Denby grasped for any relief.
"ENDO would know at once. She isn't stupid and this equipment is second nature to them."
&nbs
p; "Then there's only one answer."
Amato eyed him sourly. "That's not what I see, Denby. I have a career -- "
He grabbed her roughly, shaking her, then flung her to the floor at his feet. "There won't be a career left for anyone after this fiasco, unless we do some fast thinking. Guardsman rewards initiative, you know."
She was at him in an instant, a small, slender knife at his throat. "Don't ever touch me again, you stupid pig. I know what this means. Total close down of the operation. ENDO and ECHO overrun the place looking for something that left this material behind. There would probably never be any ore taken from here again, even if they don't find anything."
"That's why we have to act, Amato." He held her gaze and eased her hand away from his neck. "We can't let this happen. If this operation closes down because of this stuff, Guardsman will ruin both of us."
"What do you know that you aren't telling me, Denby?" She moved away and sheathed her blade.
"When we lost our bid for Planet 9, Guardsman lost one of its last chances to stay in business. The ore operation on Parsis 3's dead moon is all but tapped out. If we lose this planet, Guardsman will cease to function. We need time to locate new resources but we can't do that without funds."
"So. They're willing to do anything to keep this operation alive? Anything?" The wheels began to move slowly in her brain.
"I have authority to do whatever is necessary to get this operation going again and to put enough blame on Bonding that Central rethinks their contract on Planet 9."
"What does that include?"
He looked her straight in the face. "Restarting the ore processor before the storm subsides on the planet. They won't be able to get a message off the planet and once the processor is in operation, without the proper gear, ENDO and ECHO will lose two of their top agents."
"What about our people? Senfald is down there with a crew of twenty. They only just finished the repairs and are ready for start up."
Denby smiled. "I can stand the loss, Captain. What about you?"
"How will we explain their deaths to Encom? ENDO and ECHO officers don't just die without a good explanation."
"I have all the proof we need that Bonding agents killed the two officers and the Guardsman crew on the planet because they found out about the Bonding sabotage scheme."
"You're more clever than I gave you credit for being, Denby." Captain Amato smoothed her hands down her thin body. "You know I'll back you up. Whatever you need."
"Let's contact your crew." Denby warmed to his subject. "We can restart operations from here?"
"Of course. I'll clear the control room and handle it myself."
"Wait for my signal."
Toine waited until the other two had passed him in the corridor. Neither one saw him. He had to find a way to warn Gael. Maybe there was still time.
***
"It can't be repaired without a part from the freighter," Gael told Kat, wiping the rain from her forehead, leaving a wide swath of black dirt that already covered the cruiser. The rain was still coming down but not as harshly. It quickly erased the mark, leaving her face wet and shiny in the dim light.
Morning had come bringing some let up of the weather but not enough to try to send a ship down from the freighter. Adding to that, when Gael tried to power up the cruiser, she found that the storm had been more than just sound and fury. A large chunk of rock material had been flung against the outer hull rupturing a critical closure that would leave them vulnerable to loss of pressure as they left the atmosphere.
"We'll have them send it down with the material results. I'd like to check on the processor work."
She nodded and followed him to the plant. The building was washed out brown in the gray morning. The wind still whipped wildly, catching at their clothes, the ECHO blue and ENDO red of their uniforms bright beneath their waterproof garments.
"It's finished." Senfald met them at the door. "I sent up the test results a few hours ago and they check out. We're ready for start up as soon as we get the lab answers."
"They're still working on that?" Gael was surprised. "Those results should have been ready during the night."
"I told you, Lieutenant. Our traveling equipment isn't what ENDO or ECHO would be used to. We hardly ever do research. They just need some time."
Gael wasn't convinced. There was an obvious need to light a fire under someone on the tests. She started back for the cruiser when Senfald's COM link came up.
"Maybe this is the tests now." He smiled, going for the COM.
Amato's face was indistinct but visible on the channel. "We need start up confirmation from you again, Senfald."
"Right away, Captain." He shrugged at Gael's arched brow and went to the control panel.
"Captain?" Gael hailed her. "Are those test results done?"
"No, Lt. Klarke. Our equipment is not up to your standards, I'm afraid."
"So everyone keeps telling me. However, Captain, we must have those results before start up can occur. I'm sure Guardsman wants that to happen as quickly as possible."
"You're right, of course," Amato agreed smoothly, "and as soon as we can -- "
Kat pushed the captain's droning voice from his senses. He'd heard a voice clearly and it wasn't the captain's voice. He tried to separate it from the emotional turmoil that suddenly engulfed the group on the planet. "The young Fargan boy. He -- "
Gael watched him as he ran off through the plant towards the cruiser, wondering what was wrong. The rest of the crew that hadn't been with Senfald joined the group that was at the control panel. She decided to leave Kat to sort out his own problems and followed the techs.
"There's a problem," Senfald told her as she reached him. "The control panel is jammed. The ore processor is set to begin operation."
"Cut the damned cable," a large man yelled from Gael's left side.
The group was loud and angry, clearly frightened and anxious.
"Wait." Senfald smiled weakly. "Wait a minute. They have control on the freighter. They can switch off from there."
Amato's image wavered on the COM link but her voice continued. "We cannot receive your message, Senfald. Send again."
"It's all right," Senfald told them all. "I'll send the distress pattern on the com link. Even if they can't get -- "
The lights came up and the sounds of a fully processing plant began to come to life around them. A deep whirring sound coming from below them in the ground announced the beginning of mining operations. It would only be a matter of minutes before the release of the deadly gases that had devastated the planet's surface.
Several of the workers ran for the cable area with laser clippers in hand only to be turned back by the already focused protection grid. "We waited too long! This place could hold off an army."
Gael pushed Senfald out of the way as he stood at the control, stunned. She took out her weapon. Aiming for the control panel, she systematically destroyed all the control functions until all that remained was a ruined black mass.
"What now?" She turned to Senfald impatiently.
"The ore begins to be processed and the gas kills us all."
"What about destroying the main processor unit?"
"It won't work. It has a protection grid that would block you."
"We'll have to take that chance," she yelled over the noise of the processor. "Start getting your people to safety on the cruiser. Try to contact Amato."
He stood there, not moving, staring off at the COM link that was dead by then.
"Move it!" She screamed the command at him. "There's no time!"
He came to life finally and started to round up the group while Gael ran for the processor platform. The shouts of the terrified workers screamed through the plant over the grating sound of their own deaths; the mining of the brown-black ground far below the surface.
Gael reached the processor unit and searched for the most vulnerable place to stop its operation. There wasn't enough power in her weapon to destroy the entire assembly. She
had to pick her shot carefully. It had to be in the main power distributor. She started coughing in the stench that was already rising from the fathomless blackness of the pit.
Taking deadly aim, she fired at the power coupling, discharging the entire weapon into the gray metal. There was a popping sound she could hear clearly above the other sounds in the plant. Then the protection grid retaliated, returning her fire back at her in the form of energy waves. She dropped down but not in time to miss the ripples sent throughout the entire space. The force hit her full on, knocking her to the dirty floor, unconscious.
Kat felt the blast hit Gael like a blow to his own body. Sickened by the force of the energy wave, he dragged himself to the cruiser.
The first group of crewmen nearly trampled him in their haste to get inside to safety. He ignored them, pulling back from his attachment to Gael after realizing that she was unconscious but not in immediate danger. He punched in the link on the COM panel and the young Fargan boy's face came up on the screen.
"You are in danger," he was repeating over and over in Fargan, like a chant. "They mean to kill you all. You must leave the planet now."
Kat couldn't understand him but could sense the warning from the words. He felt an intense buildup of power that had nothing to do with the mining operation. The power washed over him as though he were not in its path.
The bridge of the cruiser was crowded with the crew from the plant. The man nearest the door closed it on another group of frantic survivors. "There's not enough room. We'll all die if we don't close this door."
The gas in the plant was reaching a dangerous level. There wasn't time to argue with the man and protect Gael. It took time to construct a shield -- precious minutes that would keep her safe until the air cleared. Until then --
The men in the cruiser were never sure afterwards what happened to them. It was like a piece of their lives had been taken away, not to be found again, as Kat summarily took their normal mind function and left them sitting on the floor like un- animated puppets. The door opened and the rest of the crew came aboard, gratefully finding room to stand beside their slack jawed companions.