Outer Bounds: Fortune's Rising

by King, Sara

  Her eyes fell on Milar’s huge hunting knife. The Bouncer captain had given it to her as a sort of memento, and as soon as she was out of sight, Tatiana had tossed it into a corner, wanting nothing to do with it. Now she went and retrieved it.

  The razorlike blade glinted bluish in the bright lights of her barracks room. Gripping it in a tight fist, she left her room and started toward the Nephyr block.

  Before she even had a plan, she was standing in front of the outer door to the prisoner compound. Taking a deep breath, she put her hand on the biometrics pad and let herself inside.

  Down at the end of the corridor, behind a desk, the Nephyr from the auditorium was filling out datawork. “Oh,” he said, seeing her. His filigreed face broke into a smile. “Reconsidered, Captain?”

  “I did,” she whispered. “Can I see him?”

  The Nephyr’s blue eyes drifted down to her knife. He was still smiling. “What are you going to do with the knife, Captain?”

  Kill him, Tatiana thought. “Something special,” she said.

  The Nephyr chuckled. “It’s against regulations to allow someone to enter the prisoner’s quarters armed. Too much chance of…injury…”

  Tatiana reddened and looked away, but her fingers tightened on the hilt of the blade. For a brief, insane second, she considered trying to use it on the Nephyr. Then her brain kicked back into gear and she realized she would be turned into a bloody pretzel the moment she tried. Unhappily, she decided she’d have to find some other way to accomplish the deed.

  But how was she going to kill Milar without a knife?

  Then the Nephyr winked at her and said, “But in your case, I think we can make an exception.”

  Tatiana jerked her head to look up at him, stunned.

  “After all,” the Nephyr said, “You delivered our long-lost brother back to us after all these years. We owe you a little time alone with him.” He smiled, displaying perfect, replaceable teeth.

  Nephyrs always creeped her out, but this one’s words chilled her, and made her back away. “Thank you,” Tatiana managed, from a safe distance.

  Still grinning, the Nephyr said, “Just give me a moment to finish filing this report. Feel free to sit down.” He gestured at the waiting area chairs, then moved back to his desk and entered something in the datapad. Tatiana listened to his fingers rap against the pad warily, wondering if he had guessed her intent and was sending for arresting officers. Sweat began to heat her underarms as she forced herself to resist the urge to look over the desk to peek at what he was typing.

  Finally, the Nephyr finished entering the data and returned the pad to hibernation.

  Standing, he smiled and said, “This way, Captain.” He turned and led her deeper into the complex, past rows of solid metal doors with tiny windows covered by sliding blocks of metal. He stopped in front of one of them, flipped on the light outside the door, opened the lock with his palm, and motioned for her to step inside.

  Reluctantly, Tatiana did.

  Milar hung from the ceiling in the center of the concrete room like a slab of dragon-covered meat. His wrists were chained together and held above him, and his feet were similarly chained to the floor. He was barefoot, still wearing the bloodstained, tattered pants he had been captured in.

  He hadn’t even lifted his head when the lights had come on.

  “That to your liking, Captain?” the Nephyr said. “I can reposition him, if you would like.”

  “No,” Tatiana whispered. “That will be just fine.”

  As soon as she spoke, Milar lifted his head and froze, his eyes on his knife.

  Tatiana’s entire body was trembling, now. “Hi Milar,” she said, wishing her hand wasn’t so slick on the handle of the blade.

  His attention was on the weapon, not her.

  “Oh, you remember it, huh?” Tatiana asked with false bluster, feeling like she was blundering, speaking too loud, announcing to the Nephyr her intentions with every breath, yet knowing the moment she dropped the act she’d be thrown in a cell beside him. “You remember what you did to me with it?”

  “Never hurt you with a knife, sweetie,” Milar sneered, raising his head to meet her gaze.

  He’s buying it, Tatiana thought, both grateful and agonized at the same time. Didn’t he know she wouldn’t come back just to hurt him? Did he really think she would want to see him tortured? I’m trying to help you, she pled with him. Please see that.

  The Nephyr, however, brushed past her and planted a fist in Milar’s exposed stomach. The blow swung him backwards on the chain, leaving the colonist’s breaths ragged and gasping.

  “Glittering…cupcake…” Milar gritted, once he’d swung back into place and caught his breath again. “Let me down and try that.”

  “Oh, we will,” the Nephyr said in a voice that congealed in Tatiana’s gut like a cancer. When the Nephyr met her gaze, Tatiana backed away from him, unable to stop herself. “But first the Captain, here, would like a chance at you.”

  “Does she now,” Milar said, his face darkening. “Well, give it your best, pumpkin. Ain’t nothin’ in the world you’ll be able to do to me that’ll top that time I had with you.”

  The Nephyr punched Milar again, leaving Milar gagging and choking. Tatiana bit her lip. Nephyrs were strong. He was probably breaking bones or ruining organs.

  “That…the best…you can…shit?”

  “Would you like me to gag him?” the Nephyr said calmly.

  “No, I want to hear him scream.” God, she wished she wasn’t trembling so bad. She felt like her knees were going to simply drop out from under her, but Tatiana knew she had to keep up the show or she’d lose her opportunity. Or, worse, the Nephyr would start to recognize her nerves for what they really were.

  The Nephyr laughed. “Oh yes. An enemy’s scream is a wonderful balm.” He went and leaned his back against the door, grinning at her. “May I suggest the scrotum?”

  At Tatiana’s look of horror, the Nephyr laughed. “Oh, it’s coming off anyway, Captain.”

  “She doesn’t have what it takes,” Milar sneered. “Look at her. Poor little thing’s so terrified of me she can hardly breathe. She couldn’t do it. Her heart would stop first.”

  “Do you want another lesson, Miles?”

  Milar spat. “Bring it on, cupcake.”

  “I can’t do it?” Tatiana cried, before the Nephyr could start forward again. Fear and anger powered her, lending her words a shrill scream that made the Nephyr halt. She stormed past the Nephyr, leaving the doorway for the first time. “You think I can’t do it? Whatever made you think I couldn’t do it?”

  Milar gave her a mirthless smile. “Only about a week of watching you beg for mercy like the yellow government squid you are, coaler.”

  She was angry, now. Either Milar was a very good actor, or he sincerely believed she was here to torture him. “You sonofabitch. You…you…”

  “Would you like me to gag him?” the Nephyr asked again.

  “No!” She lunged forward and rammed the blade up against Milar’s throat, but the colonist jerked backwards just in time to avoid cutting his jugular. The way he was hanging, she wasn’t tall enough to press her advantage and slice open the artery.

  Why’d he do that? Tatiana’s mind screamed. Why doesn’t the stupid bastard realize I’m trying to kill him?

  Behind her, the Nephyr laughed and touched Tatiana’s shoulder. “Careful there, Captain. You don’t want to end our fun prematurely.”

  “You’re right,” Tatiana said, eyes tearing up. She blindly reached for his pants. “I’ve got other things I want to do first.”

  As soon as she slid the blade under the cloth, intending to accidentally ‘slip’ in cutting them off and gouge the femoral artery a few dozen times, the Nephyr laughed. “Actually, I think I’ll leave you two alone together. How long should I give her, Milar? Ten? Twenty minutes?”

  When Tatiana looked up at the Nephyr, blind with tears, the cyborg smiled at her. “How about an hour?”


  Tatiana’s hand started trembling. If he gave her an hour, she could make sure Milar had time to bleed to death. Make sure, and maybe apologize before she did it.

  Don’t apologize, she thought. It’ll just make it harder to watch him die.

  “All I ask, Captain,” the Nephyr said, giving Milar a pleasant smile that made Tatiana’s guts crawl, “Is that you leave some for us.” Then he turned and, winking at her, he said, “I’ll go keep an eye out at the front desk. It is against regulation, after all.”

  As soon as the door shut and Tatiana heard the Nephyr’s footsteps retreating, she turned her attention back to the knife she was about to thrust into Milar’s thigh.

  Kill him, her mind raged. Don’t even look at him. It doesn’t matter what he thinks you’re here for. Just do it. She pushed her knife hard against his leg. Would he jerk? Would she hit the mark? She flushed, feeling him breathe above her, silent, watching her. Her whole arm felt weak, her entire body dizzy and disoriented with fear and adrenaline.

  “The whole ballgame can change in an instant, huh, coaler squid?”

  When she jerked and looked up, Milar was grinning at her. Tatiana flushed, realizing he must have heard her speech to the commendation gathering, and must have made the right connections.

  “When did you realize you had the hots for me?”

  Tatiana’s face began to burn like Milar had drenched it in napalm. “I absolutely. Do. Not.”

  “Uh-huh.” The dragons on his neck were bunched up, he was grinning so hard.

  “Listen, floater,” she said, scowling. “One moment I was in my soldier, the next Patrick had a gun to my head. That was a whole different ballgame.”

  “I don’t think that’s what you were talking about, sweetie.” Milar’s golden brown eyes sparkling with amusement.

  Oh Aanaho, Tatiana thought, immediately looking down at the knife. I can’t do this.

  “I’ve got one request, squid,” Milar said. “Granted, that is, that you’re here to kill me, rather than play with my balls like that Nephyr seemed to think.”

  Tatiana nodded. “I was going to go for the femoral artery.”

  “Tell me something, then,” Milar said.

  Tatiana grimaced and squeezed her fist around the knife. “You’re making this harder than I want it to be.”

  “I don’t give a damn,” he laughed. “I’m the one about to get his leg sliced open.”

  He’s got you there, tootz. “Fine,” Tatiana muttered. “What’s your question? And please make it quick. I really wanna make sure you can bleed out this time.”

  “Sorry to inconvenience you, sweetie. I’ll do my best to oblige,” Milar said. His face was still smeared with that idiotic grin.

  God, he was beautiful. Like something right out of her…

  “Then oblige already!” she cried.

  “Which dragon?” Milar asked. “The red or the black?”

  Unable to stop herself, Tatiana lowered her eyes to the sleeping forms on his torso. Each one was elegant in their steady rise and fall with his naked chest. Tatiana swallowed, hard. “They’re both good.”

  “You got a thing for dragons, don’t you, squid?”

  Tatiana brushed tears from her eyes. “You are a jerk.”

  Milar was grinning like he had the Wide. “You remember how I said I only lied to you once?”

  Tatiana glared at him. “Then you dumped me like a sack of potatoes.”

  “Wanna hear what it was about?”

  “Not especially,” she muttered. “Just let me kill you, all right?”

  “Back on the ship, I said I didn’t have a thing for cyborgs.”

  Tatiana’s breath caught. He couldn’t possibly mean…

  “But I actually kind of do,” Milar said. “One of them, anyway.”

  Oh God. It was her best fantasy and her worst nightmare, all in one.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. “Can I kill you now?”

  “You’re not going to kill me,” Milar said. “You’re going to let me down, wait until the feeling comes back into my arms, and then give me my knife.”

  Tatiana snorted. “I don’t think so. Then we’d both be dead.”

  “Trust me,” Milar said. “Cut me down.”

  “Screw you!” Tatiana cried, horrified. “You’re just trying to manipulate me into letting you go so you really can have your way with me before…” She swallowed, then looked away. “I didn’t come here to talk. I don’t want your apology. I made a mistake, outside Deaddrunk. I should’ve killed you. I just want to get it over with.”

  Milar snorted. “Listen to me, coaler squid. You’ve got a choice to make, and you’ve gotta make it quick. I can get us out of here, but only if you let me down and give me my knife.”

  I can get us out of here… The words burned in Tatiana’s mind like coals. Us. He wants to take me with him.

  “We’re wasting time, coaler. Wideman was right, and it was gonna take a hell of a lot of stubbornness on your part, but here’s where you decide. Help us—let me down—or stab me in the leg and go right back to being the nice little coaler operator everybody cheers for. Choose.”

  When she said nothing, Milar eyed the door. “And choose fast. You ain’t gonna get another shot at this.”

  “All right.” Tatiana said the words before she realized what she had said, but knew it was too late to take them back. “All right,” she repeated, swallowing hard. She glanced up at the chains hooking him to the ceiling. They were well out of her reach, by a long shot. “But, uh, how?”

  “See the clasp holding the leg irons to the floor?” he asked, pointing with his nose.

  She looked down, then nodded.

  “Unhook em. Then get down on your hands and knees and let me stand on your back.”

  Tatiana grimaced. “You could step on a node—”

  “I know where all the nodes are,” Milar said. “Just hurry and do it.”

  Hanging there, helpless, Milar didn’t exactly look like he had what it took to get out of the Nephyr compound alive.

  “Trust me, sweetie,” Milar repeated softly.

  Grudgingly, Tatiana squatted and unhooked the foot clasp. Then, reluctantly, she got down on her knees and presented her back for him to stand on.

  “Ready?” Milar asked, putting a big bare foot on her shoulder blade.

  “Yeah,” Tatiana said, gritting her teeth. Then, as he grunted and pulled himself up, she muttered, “Aanaho, you’re heavy.”

  “Yeah,” Milar said. She heard metallic jingling as he fiddled with the chains above his head. “Girls tell me that a lot.”

  “Really?” Tatiana snorted. “How many girls have let you stand on them?”

  “I was thinking more lying on them,” Milar said, jumping down. He grinned at her stupefied look, the chain that had held him to the hook now dangling between his legs. “Thanks.”

  Tatiana sat up, glaring. “You knucker.”

  “But if you don’t believe me, I can show you in person someday,” Milar said. He started rolling his shoulders, wincing.

  Tatiana’s heart fluttered. “Um…”

  Milar grinned at her. “You just turned redder than a Shrieker’s butt, so I’ll take that as a yes.” He pulled a tiny slip of metal from his hair and had begun fiddling with the locks on the shackles.

  “I’m not interested,” she babbled. “Not interested at all.”

  After sliding the magnetic strip through each lock, Milar threw the whole mess aside and looked at her. Then he shrugged. “Your loss.”

  Tatiana gasped. He’d been so nonchalant… Like he didn’t care, one way or the other. Her hand tightened on the blade.

  Milar looked at her and chuckled. “I knew it.” He bent and started working on the locks around his ankles.

  “Knew what?” Tatiana demanded. Then, “You crawler, the last thing I want to do is have you on top of me.”

  “Under you, then?” He pulled the shackles aside and tucked the magnetic strip back into his hair.

&nbs
p; Tatiana’s face began to blaze. “Um…”

  He laughed. “My knife?”

  Tatiana held it to her chest. “I’m not interested. Really.”

  “Sure, pumpkin,” Milar said. He reached forward and wrenched the weapon out of her grip. Deftly, he depressed a tiny trigger mechanism in the handle and the pommel popped open, exposing a secret compartment on the inside. Milar tapped it into his palm, exposing a tiny collapsible EMP-wand.

  “Thank God for small miracles,” he said, grinning from ear-to-ear. He glanced down at her. “You ready for this?”

  The way he said it, Tatiana was pretty sure he didn’t mean open the door and get the hell out of there. She eyed the EMP wand warily. He could do more damage to her with a single pulse from the wand than he could in ten minutes with his knife. “Ready for what?”

  “Cutting out the lifeline they put in my neck.”

  Tatiana froze. “No.”

  “Tough.” He handed her back the knife. “You know where they put it?”

  “I can see the stitches,” she snapped. “But I said no. I don’t know what to look for.”

  “You’ve got me to talk you through it,” Milar said. He knelt in front of her, bowing his head so she had a good view of the back of his bull neck. “See the lump?” he said, pressing on it with a big thumb, “Slice it open, but don’t pull on it yet.”

  Tatiana glanced at the door. Standing, she was only slightly more than eye-level with him. “How long is this going to take?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Milar said. “We can’t go anywhere until I’ve got this thing out.”

  Which was probably true. His lifeline was probably being monitored by the minute, at least by one of the base AIs.

  Looking at the knife in her hand, Tatiana grimaced. “I’ve never cut anything in my life.”

  “Think of it as a steak,” Milar said.

  “It’s not a steak.”

  “Think of it as me, then,” Milar said. “And hurry the hell up.”

  “Okay!” Tatiana cried, sticking the knife into his neck. When it began to bleed, she grimaced. “I think I hit the wrong spot.” Her blade was sticking out a full two centimeters below the lump.