The Last Child

by Troy Osgood

  And it wasn’t like I had a wide variety of clothing.

  I wore my dark green military issue jacket all the time. Long sleeved shirt underneath, blue in color today, and dark pants with boots. Didn’t have a need for much else.

  We walked out of the cockpit and into the hallway. Doors led off, four to each side. Six led to sleeping compartments and the other two to storage rooms that were on either side of the control room.

  “This is my room,” I said pointing to the second door on the right side, the first of the bunks.

  There wasn’t any markings on the doors. Nothing to indicate that one specifically as mine.

  “The rest are empty, you can take your pick.”

  Almost immediately, without any thought, she pointed to the one directly across from mine.

  I nodded and showed her how to use the keypad, teaching her the code to open it. The door slid open into the metal wall and we entered the room, the lights turning on automatically to show a decent sized room. Along one wall was a bed attached to the wall and a desk. The other wall had two doors, the closet and the private refresher. A comfortable looking couch was against the far wall that faced a viewscreen mounted to the side of the door.

  It was identical to the other five rooms.

  There was no decoration and the room had a disused look. No one had been in it for five years. The ship’s air rotation units kept it clean of dust but there was still a musty feel to the room.

  “It’s not much,” I said as Kaylia walked in and looked around.

  She turned around and ran to me, giving me a hug, holding tight.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” I said, putting my arms around her awkwardly. “You’re going to be okay.”

  She stepped back and raised her hands, moving the fingers in a pattern.

  “Does that mean ‘thank you’?” I asked and she nodded, smiling.

  The pattern repeated, slower with more emphasis on the finger movements.

  I duplicated them. My motions were jerky which probably gave my sign language an accent but Kaylia smiled. I did it a couple more times, getting the movements down.

  “How do you say ‘You’re welcome’?”

  She showed me. It took a couple times but I got it.

  Smiling, she walked over to the bed.

  I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me.

  *****

  I waited until I was sure Kaylia was asleep before I started searching the news.

  The galaxy is a big place and there is always a lot of news floating around out there. I didn’t keep up as much as I should have. Part of it was by choice. I’d made the decision to isolate myself when I got out of the military, to be a vagabond and just go from place to place. No home, just me and the ship. Being out of the loop meant I didn’t catch anything from earth. The other part was about the galaxy being so big.

  Each planet had its own news. Each cluster had its own news. Each system had its own news. And then there was the galaxy wide news. I didn’t know many people that kept up with it all.

  Luckily there was the Galactic Feed. This was a galaxy wide application that took all the different news feeds from all over and condensed it into more easily digestible segments. You could modify the Feed to give the news you specifically wanted. The Feed was also a connection to galaxy wide entertainment, shows and music.

  The problem was still that it was a lot of information and what I specifically would be looking for wouldn’t be available.

  That was because of the other problem with the Galactic Feed and any cross-galaxy communications.

  It didn’t exist while in wildspace. Each ship was isolated. There was no way to get a signal through, into or from wildspace.

  There were millions of relay satellites all over the galaxy, hundreds in each system, that would give a boost in power to the signal so that it could go from system to system, but it was as a signal that couldn’t be deciphered well in wildspace. So a ship would enter a system and get an infodump of everything.

  All of it at least hours, if not days, out of date.

  I had the Wind’s systems programmed to get me a dump whenever I was insystem for a couple hours. No point doing it if just insystem to do the next jump.

  If the Tiat had taken Kaylia from Turesa to CU145792 that would have been at least 42 hours and up to 54 or more hours ago. She’d only been on the rock for a couple of hours so that helped narrow it down. Like an idiot I hadn’t asked when she had been taken. But in my defense, I was new at this rescuing kidnapped people thing.

  I was on that rock long enough to get an infodump so I might get lucky.

  Turning on the vidscreen, I entered my password for the Feed and started my search.

  Back in my Special Ops days, I worked with a lot of intel operatives. I was the muscle, the direct action gunner, but I was involved in enough behind the scenes planning that I had picked up a couple of things in how to analyze intelligence.

  First you started with what you knew to be true.

  In this case it wasn’t much. And while I was running through the small amount of facts in my head, it occured to me that Kaylia could be making it all up. She could be lying about her name and everything else.

  I paused, leaning back in my chair and thought about it. I didn’t think so. My instincts told me that she was telling the truth. She was a lost and scared girl that for some reason had chosen me to save her.

  I almost laughed at that. If my old unit could see me now. I was not a nice person. I didn’t go out of my way to help others. I looked out for me and me alone.

  Leaning forward I started typing search commands into the Feed.

  What I knew: a young Thesan girl was kidnapped by the Tiat and her parents killed.

  Yep, that’s a lot.

  I started with the news from Turesa going as far back as a week ago. I started scanning headlines, using the Feed to narrow it down with some keywords. I started with “missing girl” and variations of that.

  Nothing.

  The Tiat would have wanted to keep this quiet, that’s why they went out of their way to hide on CU145792. But would the Thesans? I changed my search tactics and looked up the missing persons news feeds.

  Nothing.

  The Thesans hadn’t reported her missing? That was very odd.

  Why would both sides be keeping it quiet? Who was she?

  Changing the tactics again I started looking for family deaths and for good measure I threw in the name Kaylia had given me. Yoterra.

  That found something.

  A family had died in a small farming settlement outside the major city on Turesa. Father, mother, two sons and their only daughter. Yoterra wasn’t listed as the mother’s littermate, still wasn’t sure what that meant. Instead she was listed as the regional governor of the planet.

  That was a surprise. She was a pretty high ranking Thesan.

  The news had a video of her speaking, talking about the tragedy. She was pretty enough for a Thesan. Tall, couple inches shorter than me, couple years older. Coal black fur with gray highlights, wearing what I assumed was the height of Thesan fashion. She looked every bit the part of the regional governor speaking at a tragedy of people she knew personally.

  But there was something else about her that caught my attention. The way she stood, her bearing.

  Yoterra was military.

  Why would the Tiat kill a farming family and kidnap the daughter? Along with faking her death? And why was the only other person I knew involved the regional governor? Who was or had been Thesan military?

  I was starting to worry that I had stepped into something very big and very bad.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I searched the Feed for a while longer, not finding anything else. I even looked for more information on Yoterra but all I could find was standard stuff for a regional governor on a colony world. Nothing about military. Nothing about why she might be of interest to the Tiat. I had gotten to thinking that they had taken Kaylia to use as leverage a
gainst Yoterra.

  The idea had merit but it just didn’t feel right. Not completely. There might be something there but there was also something else.

  Not even midway through the first jump and I had run out of ideas. I didn’t think I was going to find out anything else from the Feed. And I didn’t think Kaylia could or would tell me more. She probably didn’t even know. Wouldn’t be the first time an innocent and unknowing kid had been involved in something adults should have left them out of.

  I had one more avenue to explore. I composed a quick message and programmed it to send once we got to the first hop point.

  Checking the chrono on my wristcomm I saw it was approaching what would normally be dinner time for most species. I kept an odd schedule so never ate on a regular pattern. Most ships carried two pilots, working alternating shifts, so one would always be up when hit a hop point. Normally those were safe, no problems, but there was always a chance and so a pilot was on duty. It was just me so I couldn’t always do that. I needed to sleep.

  The Wind’s navcomputer would automatically recalculate the next hop, accounting for the normal variables of ion storms and orbits, and take us into wildspace. There was nothing for me to do, not really. But I normally was awake and in the cockpit when hitting the hop point.

  That was a ways out and I was getting tired. It had been a weird and stressful day. Probably could use some food.

  I left the cockpit and entered the hall. I lightly tapped on Kaylia’s door.

  “You up? I was going to make some food.”

  No response but I thought I heard some rustling and banging.

  Concerned I hit the controls and opened the doors. It was dark, nothing but shadows. I could hear flailing from the bed, a banging as she tossed and turned and hit the metal wall. The lights were turned off by the bedside controls so I hit the manual override. Kaylia was on the bed, the sheets and blanket thrown on the floor and she was thrashing wildly.

  It was like she was trapped in a nightmare but worse. She was flailing her arms, like she was attacking something. Tossing back and forth, banging her arms and legs against the wall. I was surprised I hadn’t heard it in the cockpit.

  “Kaylia,” I said, quietly at first but repeated it louder.

  No response.

  I took the couple steps to the bed and stopped. Her fingernails had elongated. They were now claws and they looked sharp. Her face was a mask of rage and pain. Tears flowed down her cheeks, her eyes tightly closed.

  This was no normal nightmare and I wasn’t sure what was happening to her but I had to stop it. She looked to be in so much pain.

  “Kaylia,” I yelled reaching for her hands.

  I managed to grab one and was surprised at how strong she was. For such a small thing, there was strength there. I could barely hold on. The other arm came close and I managed to grab it as well before the claws could connect.

  I held her steady and slowly the fit, or whatever it was, stopped but she still shook. Through it all she had made no noise. The shaking stopped.

  Her eyes were now open, looking up at me in shock, and more tears fell. She was silently crying.

  I sat down on the bed, noticing that her fingernails had shrunken back down to normal size. I gently pulled her up and wrapped the crying girl in a hug. I wasn’t sure what else to do so I let her cry into my shoulder for as long as she needed.

  *****

  Kaylia calmed down eventually and we went into the galley to make some food. She sat at the table and watched as I attempted to make a well balanced meal.

  I’m a single guy. Well balanced was not normally on the menu. I had plenty of ale, true Earth variety, and junk food but not that much for a growing girl. I’d have to stock up when we got to Dynuit. We’d make do until then.

  She was now wearing one of my older jackets. Faded and worn, it was big on her but in a way it fit. She seemed to like it.

  “Sorry I don’t have anything that fits you,” I said. “When we get to Dynuit, we can see about getting you some real clothes, okay?”

  Kaylia nodded and smiled, no trace of the sadness and misery from before.

  The whole episode was weird. It wasn’t just crying from the loss of her parents. I’d seen that kind of grief before. This was something else. Grief and rage, a madness to lash out. It kind of scared me to be honest.

  And the fingernails turning into claws?

  Thesan nails were strong and normally longer than other species. They could be sharpened to a point and used as a weapon. It was a remnant from an earlier time in the Thesan’s evolution, when they were more wild and animalistic. Their nails could not grow into claws. Not like I had seen with Kaylia’s.

  I was tempted to ask about that but she was so peaceful at the moment.

  We finished eating and I cleared the dishes, putting them into the washer. Grabbing a bottle of ale from the cooler, I turned around. Kaylia was looking at me.

  “There’s a vidscreen in the lounge,” I said and pointed that way. “Not many vids to watch though and can’t get anything else well we’re in wildspace. I have cards but don’t know any games that a kid should play.”

  She gave me an annoyed look and her fingers started flying. I could guess what she was getting at. Took offense to the kid comment.

  “Slow down,” I said. “I don’t speak that,” I added and moved my fingers randomly.

  Kaylia laughed. It was silent, but her whole face lit up. Her body and face performed the action of the laugh, eyes sparkling, even with no sound.

  It made me smile.

  “So here’s a thought,” I said when she finally stopped laughing and looked at me again. “Why don’t you teach me that sign language?”

  She nodded. Enthusiastically.

  I was probably going to regret this. I’m not a good student.

  *****

  The time passed quickly. Turns out, I was pretty good at her sign language, parts of it anyways. It was a combination of Tradelan with some Thesan concepts thrown in. I already knew her language, or enough to get by, so that made learning the sign that much easier. There were still some of the Thesan words I missed but I could get the basics of what she was trying to say.

  When we weren’t doing that, I taught her the basics of ship control. She learned how to program the navcomputer, work the weapons and the basics of piloting. Kaylia was a quick study, even though she didn’t get a chance to put it to practical use.

  This part took longer as she had to ask questions in sign and I had to first interpret what she was getting at then describe it to her. It took a bit to get into a pattern but we got there.

  And the hours passed.

  Kaylia was smart. Very smart. She picked up on things quickly, grasping concepts that took me months to understand. I was impressed. The kid was also funny and sarcastic.

  Surprisingly I was enjoying having her around.

  She was in the co-pilots station, watching the controls and watching what I did as we hopped out of wildspace and into the outer edges of the Dynuit system. I had disconnected the co-pilot’s board so she could hit the buttons and move the controls and not do anything to the ship. She followed my movements as I changed over to the sublight drives for in-system movement, reorientated the ship and started us towards the Dynuit Station.

  The Nuit were part of the Planetary Council; like the Terrans, Thesans, Tiat, Dyers and most of the other spacefaring species in the galaxy; but they rarely involved themselves in politics. They like staying neutral and keeping to themselves, relatively. They had two planets out of the seven in the system, only their home being habitable and they had never expanded out of this system. I didn’t know the names of the planets and they didn’t allow much non-Nuit traffic onto the planets themselves. Not Deep Space and not Inner Core. They had copied the Inner Core though and built a station at the edge of their system.

  “Kaylia,” I said pointing out the view window at the shadowed object that was in front of the nearest planet. It looked small at thi
s distance. “Do you see that?”

  She leaned forward in her seat and looked where I pointed. Turning to me excitedly, she signed.

  Is that the station?

  “Yep,” I answered.

  The station grew as we got closer. At sublight speed it took about thirty minutes and Kaylia was staring at it the whole time. I got the feeling she hadn’t done much space traveling and the Tiat had most likely kept her locked up.

  It went from a dark shadow to hundreds of bright spots of light that started to define the shape. Dynuit Station was a long cylinder with a much wider disc shape at the top. The length had four giant solar panels attached to it and widened as it connected to the disc. That was two thicker rings with a thinner connecting ring and some structures built on top. Lots of lights could be seen in the rings. An arm came out of the thinner ring with a relatively smaller structure attached. Ships of different shapes and sizes could be seen coming in and out of that structure, the docking pad. The Nuit Military were housed in the cylinder as well as the buildings on top of the disc. All station operations, housing and shops were in the three rings. The whole station rotated around and orbited the gas planet beneath it.

  I put on my headset and keyed the comms.

  “Dynuit station this is Nomad’s Wind, Terran registration SE6890, requesting permission to dock.”

  I glanced at Kaylia and saw her slump a little in the chair, eyes downcast. She was no longer as excited. I wondered what happened, it was a sudden shift, and was about to ask when station controls came back.

  “Nomad’s Wind, you are free to dock at bay 29.”

  “Acknowledged control,” I replied and disconnected.

  I took the headset off and realized why Kaylia was now sad. There had to be some communication between ship and docking. She was realizing that she could not do that part. It could prevent her from actually flying the Wind, or any ship.

  “After we leave Dynuit, remind me to teach you how to automate the ship’s comms to send docking messages,” I said as I brought the ship in closer to the ring.