He shrugged. ‘I don’t know, just a hunch. I can’t prove anything, but I have an inkling that the Gayens’ family fortune is spread far and wide. Your mother is very rich and powerful. It would take me a year to sort through who owned what and trace it back to the Gayens’ family.’
‘Are you saying they aren’t nice?’ I had a feeling that they weren’t. All that money to buy whatever they wanted. That had to warp them in some way. Part of me couldn’t believe my luck and the other felt squeamish about it. After eking out an existence for so long, I don’t think I could cope with ease. It would be like a vidmovie. I tried to remember the title of the one where Del was adopted by a rich uncle and ended up with everything she wanted. Then she left it all behind for love. Alwin speaking again brought me out of my daydream.
‘No, not at all, just difficult to find.’ He turned away from me and I sensed he wasn’t telling me everything. I didn’t know if it was because he thought I was too stupid to understand or because he didn’t trust me. I went back to the mess to watch a documentary on Jupiter. It was the most interesting thing in Alwin’s vidmovie collection. The narrator was a famous actor and that was all the entertainment I was going to get on this trip.
The smell of coffee woke me. I must have fallen asleep in the chair. Bleary eyed I mumbled to Alwin as he dropped a plate of breakfast in front of me.
‘Scrambled eggs,’ he said. ‘Straight from the rehydrator.’
‘Thanks.’ I dug in with a fork and looked at him from under my eyelids. He’d showered and slept. He looked happier than he had the previous night. My eyebrow rose in query.
‘I got a response,’ he replied, reaching for some sauce.
‘And?’
‘We have to go to the Saturn Space Station and meet them in their private suite at the Regency Grande Hotel.’
‘Is that good?’ A Class-Five Space Station. I never thought I’d see one of those.
‘It’s excellent. I’ve never been to the Regency Grande myself, but I’ve heard it’s a top-of-the-range hotel. Last time I was at the Saturn Space Station I had to stay at the Hyatt. That was good but nowhere in the Regency’s class.’
A puzzled frown met his eager face. ‘You like hotels?’
‘Not particularly. But I travel a bit. I like to compare them. Anyway we’re not staying there, only having a meeting.’
‘What if they don’t like me, Alwin? What will happen to me then? Will you still want to own me?’
He swallowed his eggs, his face still. ‘I don’t know what will happen, Rae. I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t like you.’
‘What about the money to pay back the company for buying me? Will you ask them for it?’
‘Well, I’m hoping the reward will cover it. Or I may have to rely on you to bail me out of jail or send me food packages when I become an escapee or a pirate.’
I laughed. ‘A pirate? You?’
‘Why do you laugh? I’d make a very good pirate.’
I shook my head, still convulsed with laughter. ‘Not with that accent, that name and those looks.’
He looked downright upset with me as he tossed his empty plate into the waste disposal with a flick of his wrist. The skin on his face darkened. He swung back towards me and said, ‘What’s wrong with my accent, my name and my looks?’
I laughed some more, nearly falling off my seat. He grabbed my plate and tossed it into the waste disposal with twice the amount of force he’d used for his. Little particles of scrambled eggs spattered around the flap. He must’ve been upset. Making a mess wasn’t like him. I wasn’t going to clean it either. I calmed down a bit.
‘Well?’ he asked with a bit of anger in his voice.
‘Nothing,’ I said. His eyebrow rose in a silent command. ‘You don’t know many pirates do you?’ I asked.
‘I’ve met a few.’
‘Hardly real ones.’
He scoffed and waved his hand dismissively.
I leaned in close and said in a steady low voice. ‘They’re mean, Alwin. Smelly, nasty, foul-mouthed and ugly.’
‘Oh,’ he said, his anger draining away. He leaned forward, interested. ‘And?’
I tried to hide my smile. He was listening to me, to something I knew and he didn’t. That wasn’t something that had happened before. ‘You’re sweet, clean, speak like a posh, private-school boy and very handsome. No one would believe you’re a pirate.’
His eyes glittered in a strange way. I began to squirm. ‘Anything else?’
I looked away, avoiding those deep, dark eyes of his. ‘Yes, you’re way too clever. You’d never end up a pirate by making a mistake.’
‘What about the money I paid for you? That could leave me in a lot of trouble. Any suggestions?’
He seemed a little nearer. I could feel his body heat seeping into my clothes. ‘Oh if my parents don’t pay, you’ll just have to sell me to someone else to get the money back.’
Both of his eyebrows shot up. ‘What a great idea! I’d never have thought of that on my own.’
His shoulder was in reach so I punched him lightly. ‘I don’t believe you,’ I said. I got up to step around him. I didn’t like the look on his face, a smug, knowing cleverness. ‘You’re smarter than me.’ As soon as I said it I regretted it. I sounded like a spoilt child and ruined the mood. I tried to save myself the embarrassment. ‘You’ve probably thought of selling me a hundred times and planned to take me to five different slave markets.’
I stood there and he stood too, not quite towering over me. ‘Now, Rae, how could you say that? I haven’t thought of it a hundred times and it was seven slave markets.’
Quite suddenly I felt the sting of tears. I knew he was joking but everything seemed to well up and wash over me. My life stank. A sob fought its way up my throat. I couldn’t hold it back. Then I was shaking with my hand jammed in my mouth.
‘Rae?’ He stepped closer to me. ‘I’m sorry, Rae. I wouldn’t sell you. Of course I wouldn’t. We’ll work something out.’
He touched my hair. I wanted to pull away. I was ashamed of my tears, and I hated feeling this way, so alone, so cast off. He pulled me toward him gently and held me close. That undid me. I clung to him, cried all over his immaculate ship suit and mumbled into his lapels.
I felt his hand stroking my hair down my back and patting me softly. It felt soothing, nice. He handed me some paper tissues, and I wiped my face and blew my nose.
It was hard to talk and hard to look at him. ‘I, I’m sorry. I don’t cry, well not normally. I feel so…lost.’ The tears started again, and Alwin wiped them with his thumbs.
‘It’s okay to cry. I forget sometimes you’re just a kid. Not as grown up as you look.’
‘What?’ I half cried, half laughed. ‘I’m not a kid.’
‘Oh but you are. Naive and young. Nothing to be ashamed of, though.’
A whole lot of feelings washed over me then. I knew I was uneducated compared to him, and he was definitely older than me but how dare he say that to my face. A fresh wash of tears trailed down my cheeks. He brushed them away again.
‘You have such lovely grey eyes, and you’re spoiling them with those tears.’
I hugged him. He didn’t back off as I thought he would. He rested his chin on my head, since I only came up to his shoulder. I felt his body through his ship suit, trim, muscled and strong. I stepped back slightly so I could look at him. His face was so alluring. I had to touch it. His gaze seemed to darken when I did. I stroked his hair, felt the dark bristles tickle my fingers. Next thing I knew I was pulling him down to kiss me. Oh what magic. He kissed me back, softly and gently.
And then it was over. ‘Rae,’ he said. He was shaking his head. ‘Don’t do this to me. I have a job to do. You have no idea what you are playing at.’
His serious tone annoyed me. Obviously, he had no sense of mood. ‘I know what I’m doing,’ I said bravely, chin edging up.
‘Really? I bet you don’t. I’m at least three years older than you
. That’s not so bad but I’m better educated and more experienced.’
‘I’ll catch up,’ I countered.
‘In some ways you will, but not now, not on my time. I am on the job right now and there is no rule book that covers this.’
I tried to kiss him again.
‘Don’t,’ he said, pushing me away lightly. ‘It’s not right. You are putting me in an awkward position.’
‘Alwin, I want to.’
His eyes burned into mine. Before I knew what was happening he enveloped me in his arms, his mouth closing over mine. Oh god, I thought. He kissed me deeply, like they did in the vidmovies. It felt nice and out of control at first, and then when he wouldn’t let me go it became frightening. It wasn’t just a kiss, it was passion. It was him smothering me, it was him frightening me and it was him overwhelming my senses. What he did stirred me and scared the hell out of me.
After pushing him in the stomach, I struggled out of his grip and broke off the kiss. Wiping his saliva from my mouth, I glared at him, breath heaving in my chest.
‘Sorry, Rae, but you needed to know. Life isn’t a game or a vidmovie script. It is real and dangerous.’
‘Bastard,’ I spat at him and whirled round, heading back to his quarters. I was still sobbing when I reached them. I locked the door and threw myself down on the bed. I was in misery, truly sunk. I really didn’t know why he did that. Why did he make something so simple so complicated? Why did he reject me? Why did he try to scare me by acting all out of control? I truly didn’t understand what he was doing or why.
I stayed in those quarters for the better part of two weeks sneaking out occasionally to grab a meal from the mess when Alwin wasn’t about. I felt so angry, embarrassed and stupid, that I couldn’t bear to face him.
His voice hailing me on the comms roused me from another tear-drained sleep.
‘Rae, we’re coming up to the space station. I thought you’d like to get ready and see the approach. It’s really a big place.’
I didn’t answer him but scampered off the bed. I showered and dressed and raced down the passageway. It was a Class Five Space Station and I was going to meet my parents.
Chapter Fourteen
Space Station Alpha
I stepped onto the bridge, dressed in my slave clothes and multicoloured cloak. I looked halfway decent and certainly better than in an oversized, grey ship suit. Alwin looked up as I entered. ‘Rae.’
I turned away without acknowledging him and sat in the other seat. He keyed the view screen shutter and it opened.
I sucked in a breath. The Saturn Space Station was huge. It must have had 200 levels, with protrusions and spires up and down its skin. Small pinpricks of light emitted from it and it glowed silver in the sunlight. So this was a Class Five Space Station. This is what drew people away from Outpost 311. This was the place I’d dreamt about. Although in my dreams my arrival was always grand, like Del Divlan’s promotional tour. With the press taking images and broadcasting them live. No, I was arriving like a fugitive without even decent clothes to wear. I began to fear that this family Alwin had found wouldn’t want me or perhaps it was a mistake and I wasn’t related to them at all. A nervous clenching worried my stomach.
As my gaze tracked along the skin of the space station, all of the hubs, ports and gantries merged into one. My heartbeat upped a notch, leaving me short of breath.
Our ship headed to the lowest level of the space station, or was it the top? I couldn’t tell because as we drew closer we could only see what was in front of us. Other ships were circling in, following the assigned holding pattern. We were inserted in the queue and when operations cleared us we headed for our allotted landing bay.
Alwin groaned loudly when the landing fee notice flashed up on his screen. Then I saw him wince as he authorised the transaction. His gaze slid in my direction but I turned away and stared at the console, trying to count the number of green lights. Perhaps being an auditor wasn’t so interesting after all if the pay was so low that a mere landing fee hurt.
I forgot my angry, nasty thoughts about Alwin because the approach to the landing bays was even more breath-stealing than the approach to the station. As I watched, things that were miniature grew larger, vagueness turned to detail. Some of the rivets in the outer skin looked as big as I was.
‘Rae,’ began Alwin, ‘can you power down the main drives for me. Centre panel, bottom row.’
‘Sure,’ I said, thawing a little. I’d just realised that I was going on a big adventure. There were more people on this space station that I’d ever seen in my whole life. I was going to see them all at the same time, not drawn out over the years of my life.
Alwin used the thrusters to nudge himself into the landing bay’s buffer field. There was a slight bump when it engaged and slid us into place.
He powered down the ship and launched out of his chair. ‘Give me five minutes, Rae. I need to clean up and I think a change of clothes is in order.’
I shrugged, feigning disinterest. Guiltily, I realised that I’d locked him out of his quarters and that he was probably itching to shower. There was a san unit off the bridge, he’d been able to use that at least.
Looking over my shoulder I saw him bouncing down the passageway. I tapped my fingers on the console while I waited to step into my dream world. My mind started weaving different futures for myself but they all came to nightmarish conclusions because of my failings. My parents were going to be disappointed in me, I just knew it. Hey, I was disappointed in me and Alwin… No need to even dwell on what he thought. I sighed to distract my tears. I had to think positively. I looked out toward the other landing bays. I could see small ships whizzing around a large freighter and also other ships that came to dock and gantries that were sliding along deep grooves in the skin of the station. That helped to pass the time and help me forget about my self-doubt.
When Alwin returned I tried not to stare. He wore a suit, not quite a ship suit, but something tailored. It was dark, with a white insert like a ‘V’ down the front. My eyes travelled down to take in the narrow leg of the suit and the fitted boots. He looked, well, great. Even better than Nel Wingham. And that was saying something. My mouth hung open for a bit and then I snapped it shut, deciding it was better to ignore him. There was no point in torturing myself over him after all.
‘Come on, let’s see some sights on the way to the Regency Grande. We’re a bit early so we have time.’
He keyed the hatch and stepped out. The gravity was very odd at first. It seemed to fluctuate. I already felt seedy so the uncertain footing didn’t help. I scrambled after him with a handful of robes clutched in my hand and found the gravity steadily increasing as we entered the corridor. I felt self-conscious but he didn’t comment about my outfit or my bad footing.
An official in a pale, blue uniform greeted us as we passed out of our landing bay. I stared at him until Alwin tugged my hand and drew me forward.
‘Don’t stare like that, Rae,’ he whispered to me.
‘Sorry. He’s the second-cleanest person I’ve ever met in my life.’
Alwin’s brows drew together and then he shrugged. ‘Let’s take the lift to the main promenade. We have time for a quick look at all the beautiful people before we meet with your parents.’
‘Sure, why not?’ My mind was everywhere at once. I didn’t think it was possible to contain such excitement. I was taking a stroll towards the rest of my life. What happened in the next few hours would change my life or destroy it. Alwin had made it clear that I couldn’t be part of his world. I’d never forgive him for what he had done to me. Him and his stupid audit and that kiss, of course. I flushed with embarrassment at the thought of it.
There were only a few people in the large corridor as we waited for the lift. The ceiling was rounded and easily three times my height. It was so clean too. Obviously there was no need to cut it down for scrap.
‘It’s so big,’ I said as I gaped again, unable to hide my wonder.
‘Yes,’ replied Alwin, a smile quirking his lips. ‘They drive huge conveyors along here.’
I blinked. I’d seen a conveyor on one of the documentaries on Lollydrop. I didn’t want to be standing in the corridor when one lumbered through.
The lift doors hissed open. It was already half full of humans and aliens. They didn’t even glance at us when we stepped in. Alwin stared at the lift door after telling the lift where we wanted to go. I did the same, if only to stop myself from gawping at everything and everyone. I couldn’t help letting my gaze wander. Everyone stared at the lift doors, like they didn’t care to notice anyone else. As each stop passed by, Alwin drew me out of the way, as people got out on their particular floors. More people flowed in and soon we were pressed up against the back wall of the lift. I noticed how everyone adjusted themselves so that there was an equal distance between the next person. The resulting spacing had an odd sort of symmetry to it.
I was very aware of Alwin, standing next to him. His hand flew around my waist as the wall behind us slid open. He prevented me from sprawling onto the floor of the main promenade. My gasp of surprise petered out when I took in the people, the shops, stalls, and glittering bits of hanging decorations. The noise of the people as they walked and talked washed over me and hurt my ears.
‘Oh god, I can’t do this!’ I began to shake, my stomach looped over itself. I turned to run.
‘Rae, what is it? Come back.’
Chapter Fifteen
The Service Entrance
Before I had gone too far, Alwin grabbed my hand, squeezed it once and stepped forward. I clung to him, overwhelmed by the colours, people, smells and sounds. Then as I grew accustomed to my surroundings, I noticed things. The people wore all types of clothing, sleek ship suits in all colours, uniforms in the same pale blue as the officer that greeted us and others in a muted green and pale mauve. There were rich robes like the ones I wore and people dressed in gems and gold and nothing else. Elaborate hair or none at all. I hadn’t seen anyone dressed as well as Alwin.
Rayessa and the Space Pirates Page 7