The Counterfeit Captain

by Henry Vogel

  Oh, hell, Arktu was monitoring the data pad and read the map Lilla pulled up on the pad. I slapped my forehead, then another idea hit me. “But why doesn’t Arktu track the data pad and just send Marn right to us?”

  “We don’t know what that means, my Captain,” Sko said.

  “The explanation is complicated, but Arktu should be able to use machines to find the data pad we’re using. Then he could just send Marn straight to us and save all of this other trouble.” I looked up to gaze off into space and once again found myself suffering vertigo as I stared at the settled area halfway around the cylinder of the ship. “Maybe Arktu let the sensors in this part of the ship fall into disrepair because he didn’t want to waste resources fixing something he never used?”

  I looked back at my companions. “Whatever the reason, we’ve still got big problems. I don’t know how we’re going to get to the elevator—that’s the moving room to you, Raal.”

  “That’s why I came looking for the three of you,” Raal said. “I can help you get to it.”

  “Why would you help us against your own people?” Sko asked.

  Raal glanced at Sko before shifting his gaze to me. “Like I told you, she was nice to me when she didn’t have to be.”

  I waited for Sko to say something like ‘oh yeah’ and get on with asking what Raal’s plan was. Instead, Sko stayed silent and stared intently at the boy. Raal, meanwhile, tried looking everywhere but at Sko. In the end, Sko’s unwavering attention dragged the boy’s eyes back to meet his gaze.

  “What?” Raal demanded.

  “I’m waiting for you to tell me the real reason you followed us,” Sko replied. “A typical teenage boy doesn’t trail after a woman the Captain’s age simply because she didn’t kill him when she caught him with his pants down.”

  “Maybe I’m not typical,” Raal protested. “And maybe I don’t trust that Dustin guy and think you need to shoot him with your blast thing, because that will be best for my people.”

  Sko nodded once. “I believe that’s part of it.”

  “That seems like more than enough to me,” I said. “And I think it shows uncommonly good sense on Raal’s part to not trust Smith.”

  “Yes, but if that’s the main reason he’s here, Raal can help the nomads best by making sure we get captured. Even if Smith proves untrustworthy, by the time he finishes dealing with us the nomads will have left this part of the ship and never return to it.” Sko shook his head slowly. “If those are Raal’s only reasons for following us, I cannot risk trusting him. He will do what is best for the nomads, not what is best for us.”

  I sighed, realizing that Sko was probably right. I wanted to get to the bridge before Arktu sent more kids to the acid bath and had let that desire get in the way of my better judgment. “Point taken, Sko.”

  In a sudden rush, Raal blurted, “I followed you so I could see Lilla again.”

  “What?” Lilla and I both asked.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a satisfied smile spread across Sko’s face.

  “I’ve never met a girl who wasn’t part of my tribe before,” Raal muttered, looking at the ground before him. “None of the girls in the tribe are my age. And even though she was laughing at me, I liked Lilla’s laugh.” Raal’s voice dropped even lower. “And she’s really pretty, too.”

  I had believed the boy’s insistence that he would help get Lilla back to her family was nothing more than a clumsy attempt to impress Sko. Watching Raal watching Lilla for her reaction to his confession, I realized just how unobservant I’d been of late. Perhaps I’d missed the clues because Lilla had also missed the clues. Apparently I am not the only one who can spot how others feel about each other without being able to spot how others feel about me.

  “You came all this way just to see me again?” she asked, staring at Raal in surprise and wonder.

  “Well, yeah,” Raal replied, as if traipsing across forty kilometers of wilderness in the hopes of seeing Lilla again was a no-brainer. Based on Lilla’s responding smile, the honest simplicity of his answer obviously pleased her mightily.

  “You never lost Marn’s trail, did you boy?” Sko asked.

  “Of course not,” Raal scoffed. “What kind of tracker loses the trail of two dozen warriors who aren’t bothering to hide their path? I was looking for you all along.”

  “And you’d never do anything to hurt Lilla?” Sko added, his tone intensifying.

  “No!”

  “Two of Smith’s men have already tried to force themselves on Lilla,” Sko continued. “If she falls into their hands again…”

  “They’ll have to kill me to get to her.” Raal turned to Lilla. “And if you see the men who tried to— to— well, they’re dead men when I see them!”

  “Nancy already killed them,” Sko told him. “But now I believe that you will do all in your power to help us.”

  I turned a surprised look on Sko. “All it takes is a confessed infatuation with Lilla to win your trust?”

  “In this instance, yes.” Sko waved a hand toward Raal. “Do you believe what he just told us?”

  I nodded. “I do.”

  “When a man joins you to fight against someone, he may betray you if it will ensure his victory.” Raal bristled at that, but Sko waved him down. “But a man who fights to protect one of your own will never betray you because betrayal may endanger the very person the man fights to protect.”

  “If Sko is happy, I’m happy.” I looked at Raal, who was grinning at Lilla. “Welcome to the team, Raal. So, what’s your plan for helping us get past Marn and his men?””

  “I will lead you around the men—I know how Marn will arrange them—to a place where you can see the moving room. Then double back and come up from the direction he expects you to come from. I’ll tell him you’ve stopped for the day and then lead him away from the moving room.”

  “And what will happen to you when Marn finds out you’ve tricked him?” Sko asked.

  “He’ll probably beat me and maybe send me into exile.”

  “But what if he kills you?” Lilla gasped. “We can’t let him do that, Nancy.”

  “I agree,” I said, then stared off into the distance for a few seconds. “Lilla, find out where the next closest elevator down into the ship is. Maybe we can just avoid Marn completely. Raal, did Smith give Marn any devices? A pad like the one Lilla has or some way to communicate with Smith?”

  “I don’t think so. Smith used a pad to show Marn where the…elevator…is. This is all part of our tribe’s territory. Once Smith showed it to Marn and explained the map thing, Marn knew exactly where to go.”

  “Good. Arktu is probably monitoring our pads and will know we’re trying for another elevator. Maybe Smith and his men will try to intercept us, but Marn won’t know where we went.”

  Lilla pulled a pad out of its case and reached for the power button. Sko reached over and covered the button with his hand.

  “Wait until morning, Lilla. We need sleep and I don’t want to give Arktu all night to plan for our new destination.”

  I dropped my head into my hands. “Good God, I should have thought of that.”

  “You’re tired and you can’t think of everything, my Captain,” Sko said, putting an arm around me. “Finish eating and then get some sleep. Raal and I will keep watch tonight.”

  I nodded my head wearily and did exactly as Sko suggested. I finished eating and lay down facing away from the fire. I just managed to curl an arm under my head before sleep claimed me.

  Sko shook me gently, drawing me into wakefulness. I smiled lazily, hanging onto the last vestiges of sleep for just a moment more, and pulled Sko down into a long, slow kiss good morning.

  “I’ll deliver on the promise in that kiss tonight, once we’ve taken care of Arktu,” I murmured as our lips parted.

  “And I’ll hold you to your promise, my Captain.”

  Sko pulled me up into a sitting position and I looked around. Lilla and Raal sat a few meters away, fiercely not w
atching Sko and me. Lilla pretended to play with the data pad and Raal pretended to watch. I found their attempts to give Sko and me the illusion of privacy touching and not a little funny.

  Sko handed me a cold bird wing as I called to the teenagers. “Okay, you two can stop pretending to play with the data pad. Lilla, it’s time to find out if there’s another elevator we can take. Start off with a range of ten kilometers from the elevator.”

  Lilla issued the command to the data pad. A couple of seconds later, she grinned and spun the pad around so we could see it. “Got one—maybe nine kilometers past the first elevator, if I’m reading this right. Let me check the best path.” Lilla turned the pad back to face herself. “Display the shortest path from our current location to the new elevator.”

  A puzzled look came over Lilla’s face. “That can’t be right.”

  “What is it, Lilla?” Sko asked.

  The girl turned the pad so we could see the screen and pointed to a crooked, winding path to the newly located elevator. “It says the shortest path to the elevator is twenty-two kilometers.”

  It took us a few minutes to finally coax the reason for the circuitous route out of the data pad, but the path made perfect sense once we did. The elevator entrance was atop a fifty meter tall cliff. The long route traded distance for a safe ascent.

  I took the pad from Lilla. “Display the route from the new elevator to the bridge.” I studied the new addition for a moment. “I think this will do. It’ll take us longer to get to the elevator, but the new elevator opens closer to the bridge than the original one. On top of that, the path takes us straight through officer territory.”

  All three of my companions turned uncomprehending looks my way and I realized they’d have no idea what ‘officer territory’ meant. “That’s where officers live and sleep. With a little luck maybe we can even find the captain’s cabin and search it. It’s a long shot, but we might find a log book or journal explaining what happened.”

  A look of awe came over Raal’s face. “Do you mean the Captain?”

  I’d gotten so used to Sko and Lilla, I’d forgotten we’d never really explained what was going on to Raal. “Yes, more or less. Tell you what, I’ll explain as we walk.”

  And I did just that. Raal listened attentively for a while before drifting back to walk with Lilla and discuss what I’d told him. After ten to fifteen minutes spent absorbing and discussing my revelations, Raal returned with questions for me. This cycle went on for most of the morning before Raal decided he’d had enough for one day.

  As with Sko and Lilla, the concept of anything existing beyond the ship was hardest for Raal to wrap his head around. Unlike those two, he came up with a new approach to visualization.

  Raal walked silently next to Lilla for a few minutes before asking, “Can that pad show you what it looks like outside the ship?”

  Overhearing this comment, Sko stopped for a rest and we all gathered around Lilla and the data pad. I detected a slight tremor in her voice as Lilla said, “Display a view outside of the ship.”

  A second later, a star field replaced the map to the elevator. The odd asteroid spun past, otherwise it looked pretty much the same as when my starfighter launched from the Phoenix just a few days before. I spent the next few minutes trying, once again, to explain about stars and planets. Once again, even with visual aids, I met with little success.

  Obviously, Sko agreed with me about that. After a few minutes, he said, “We aren’t getting anywhere with these questions, but we can get somewhere with our feet. Lilla, bring back the map to the elevator and let’s get moving.”

  The trek to the elevator proved surprisingly uneventful, though thoroughly exhausting. Even Sko and Raal were breathing hard when we finally reached the elevator entrance. Lilla and I were leaning on our menfolk—Sko’s terminology—for support by that time. We rested for an hour, eating what food was left over from the night before and what we’d gathered during the walk.

  Sko took that hour to teach Raal how to shoot a laser and a blaster. Then I gave all three of them tips for aiming. Finally, as ready as we’d ever be, I summoned the elevator.

  Five minutes later, we entered the elevator. I made sure no one was in position to get shot the second the door opened even a crack and then we waited. Tension rose as quickly as the elevator descended. At long last, the elevator ground to a halt and the door slid open.

  A blaster cracked and an energy bolt scorched the back wall of the elevator. At least some of Smith’s men lay in ambush just outside the elevator.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Officer Territory

  A loud voice followed the blaster shot. “That was a warning. Do what I say or you’ll never leave the elevator alive. Throw your weapons out into the corridor then come out with your hands up.”

  Still off to the side of the elevator and out of our attacker’s line of sight, I caught Sko’s eyes and held up three fingers. He readied his blaster and nodded. I lowered one finger, then another.

  And then Raal tossed his bow out of the elevator and called, “I’m coming out. Marn sent me with a message, so please don’t use your blast thing on me.”

  Lilla’s eyes widened in alarm, no doubt mirroring my own. I urgently whispered, “Stay still, Raal. You can’t trust those men.”

  At the same time, another voice outside the elevator said, “Sounds like a kid to me, Tom. And look at that piece of crap he threw on the floor. He’s got to be one of those savages.”

  A look of true outrage crossed Raal’s face and, fists clenched, he stepped into the view of Smith’s men. “I made that bow by myself as part of my trial of manhood. With it, I have killed meat for my tribe. Can you say as much about your blast things?”

  “Looks like you riled the little man up a bit, Brett.” This was Tom, the first voice. “I think he’s coming to whup your ass.”

  “I will be happy to fight all four of you—after I deliver my message from Marn.”

  I grinned, impressed at Raal’s cleverness. Thanks to him, we knew how many of Smith’s men were outside the elevator. Even better, I doubted they had any serious cover to hide behind.

  “He sure is mindful of his duty,” the one called Brett said.

  “That is because Marn will beat me again if I fail him again—and this time he won’t be merciful,” Raal said.

  “Why’d he beat you the first time, kid?” a curious Tom asked.

  “I was on guard when the woman and the girl freed the villager.”

  Raal lifted his shirt and Lilla gasped—quietly, thank God—at the black and blue bruises on his body. How had the boy kept the pain from showing since he’d joined us?

  A soft whistle came from someone in the hallway while another voice murmured, “Damn.”

  “All right, put your shirt down, boy. I believe you,” Tom called. “Come on out.”

  Raal released his shirt, which dropped to cover the bruises. His left hand reached behind his back and moved as if rubbing a sore muscle. Out of the sight of Smith’s men, he showed three fingers. As he took his first step forward, he lowered one finger.

  Sko and I readied our blasters. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lilla ready hers, too. I wanted to tell her to stay out of the fight, but the only way she’d be safe from Smith’s men was if they were all dead.

  Raal took another step and lowered another finger. With his third step, he lowered his last finger and dove for the floor. At the same time, I leapt into the open and snapped off a shot at random. It didn’t hit anything but it made Smith’s men recoil in surprise.

  “What the-”

  “It’s her!”

  I took stock of the view down the hall as Sko rolled to one knee in front of me and Lilla flopped onto her stomach next to Sko. Four of Smith’s men stood at various ranges down the corridor.

  Two men—Tom and Brett, I assumed—stared at us from six or seven meters away. Their faces registered shock at our sudden appearance. The arms holding their blasters swung at their side, we
ll out of position to fire. Two more men were just leaving the cover provided by a crossing corridor about ten meters from the elevator. Those two held their guns up and ready, but had to worry about hitting their companions if they fired.

  Sko, Lilla, and I fired our blasters simultaneously. The military officer in me cheered our accidental precision. We ruined the precision just a bit by all firing at the same target. I don’t know if Tom or Brett was on the left, but one shot blew off his gun arm, one got him in the groin, and the third caught him full in the chest. The man was dead before he hit the floor.

  “Tom!” the other close one—Brett, obviously—cried as he desperately raised his gun.

  Behind Brett, the other two men hastily backed toward the cover of the cross corridor. Both took quick shots which went wide.

  One of them yelled, “Brett, get down so we can shoot!”

  If Brett heard them, he didn’t react quickly enough. Unfortunately for him, he had to raise his gun a couple of feet while the three of us just changed our aim by a few degrees. We didn’t manage the same precise volley with our second shots, but they were close enough. Two of the shots hit Brett’s chest, sending him stumbling backward. The third shot hit and severed the man’s neck. Brett’s head was blown free, bouncing off the ceiling before dropping and rolling to a stop between the remaining two men.

  “Ain’t nothing worth this!” one of the men cried and bolted down the side corridor.

  Equally panicked and apparently afraid of striking off on his own in the ship, the second man bolted across the corridor and after his companion. Lilla fired first, just missing behind the man. Sko and I shot together, but the moving man wasn’t nearly as easy to hit as the first two men were. Neither of us came close to hitting him. He passed out of view and we heard the two men pound down the corridor as fast as their feet could carry them.

  “Is it safe to get up?” Raal asked.

  “Yes, Raal.” Sko stood and, in two quick strides, offered a hand to help the boy to his feet. “That was quick thinking.”

  “And clever,” Lilla added. “But why didn’t you tell us Marn hurt you so badly?”