Aaron didn’t answer immediately, instead he rubbed his eyes furiously. He sincerely hoped they wouldn’t be keeping everyone who had a sad story. “Fine, she can stay. If it turns into a problem–”
“Then we’ll deal with it at that time,” Susan said for him, smiling warmly the whole time.
The next prisoner they interviewed was a man in his mid-thirties. His name was Eban. He had short black hair and looked to be in excellent physical shape. His profession was starship astrogator, which pleased Aaron to no end. Perhaps Adam’s idea of cherry picking the most desirable of the prisoners would work out after all.
“So you have experience plotting courses through space?” Aaron asked, already liking this Eban quite a bit.
“Oh yes. My last job was aboard a starliner, the Celestial.”
“And what did you get arrested for?” Aaron asked.
Eban leaned closer. “Well, I have a strong desire for Pendul Whiskey and it’s not legal in the Miram Union. They caught me importing quite a bit, uh, without proper permission.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound too bad,” Aaron said, and then it occurred to him that it was fairly petty; certainly it wasn’t a reason to wind up on this prison ship. He glanced at Susan and she was staring at Eban. Her eyes were glued to the man; she wasn’t even blinking. He turned his gaze back to Eban, who calmly smiled back. Something seemed wrong and he didn’t know what it was. “Susan?” he asked cautiously.
Susan jumped like he had poked her. “What?” she demanded.
Aaron stared at the woman in consternation. “What is the matter with you?” he finally asked. Then he shook his head. “Never mind. What do you think of Mr. Eban, here?”
In answer Susan turned her gaze back on the astrogator. “I believe he’s telling the truth about his profession, but not why he was arrested.” She glanced back at Aaron, “He’s very guarded and I can’t sense the first emotion, but when he was talking about his last job, I caught some very ugly flashes. I think he used the starliner to travel from system to system, so that he could find victims.”
“Victims?” Aaron repeated, looking back at Eban. The man was stock still and he was staring back and forth from Aaron to Susan. He had gone very pale. “What victims?” Aaron repeated.
“I don’t know what she’s saying–” Eban said, but Susan talked right over him.
“He’s a killer and I don’t mean out of necessity. I mean he likes to kill and uses his job to help him stay out of trouble.”
“That crazy!” Eban exploded and he jumped to his feet. “Absolute rubbish!”
Aaron ignored him but studied Susan for a moment. “You sure?” he asked. She nodded and he pulled a plasmic from his pocket and fired pointblank. At the last moment, Eban realized what was happening and tried to dodge out of the way, but he was too slow. The shot caught him in the side and swung him around.
Eban landed beside the bed and lay there gasping. There was a huge hole in his side and the pain had to be unbelievable.
Aaron held the plasmic out to Susan, who took it wordlessly. “Get my chair too,” Aaron said as he stood and reached down. He grabbed hold of Eban’s legs and dragged him from the cell out into the hangar.
Eban seemed to be in shock. He was groaning every few feet, but not screaming like he probably should have been.
Susan followed, carrying both small chairs. “What are you going to do with him?” she asked.
Aaron didn’t answer but instead kept walking towards the main hangar door, which was closed. He walked past the large hangar door to the much smaller door in the far wall. It was the airlock.
They took a break after Aaron finished disposing of Eban’s body. In actuality, the man had still been alive when he hit vacuum, but no one was shedding any tears, it was probably a just punishment.
The break lasted thirty minutes and Aaron returned to his stateroom and took another shower. He felt dirty, and something else. He took him a while to determine exactly what it was, but then it dawned on him; he was feeling fear. He had nearly let a monster on the ship with them, and it was possible that it could happen again. He spent most of his shower time sitting on the floor, letting the scalding hot water work him over.
He finally forced himself to get out and get dressed. Susan would, by now, be waiting for him on the hangar floor. He sighed and hurried out into the hall.
The next prisoner they interviewed was Eric. He was the prisoner that had tried to bully his way past Jessica into the main part of the ship. His graying hair was all disheveled and he wore a scowl as they stepped into his cell.
Aaron sighed, already knowing this was going to be another tough interview. He even wondered if this might turn into another spacing.
“Bout damn time,” Eric said. The scar on the left side of his face looked whiter than normal and he seemed to be grinding his teeth. His jaw was rather pronounced and it gave his face a somewhat bestial look.
“Hello, Eric,” Aaron said calmly. He sat down in the small chair he carried and Susan followed suit. Eric did not sit down, but continued to stand.
“When do I get out of here?” he demanded.
“Not for a while,” Aaron replied. “We’re traveling to a place where we can get you forged documents and then we’ll turn you loose. We’ll need a list of planets where you would like for us to set you free.”
Eric watched them intently for a moment. “You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?” he finally asked.
“Of course,” Aaron answered. “I can understand your doubting us, but it’s unfounded.”
He was silent for another moment or two and then Eric nodded. He took a step to his left and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I want to be let go wherever you let my partner go.”
Aaron glanced at Susan and saw that she too looked confused. “What partner?” he asked.
“Thomas,” Eric answered. “You can’t miss him—big black guy with dreads.”
“Thomas?” Aaron repeated the name like he had never heard it before. “You and Thomas are partners?”
“Yeah, have been for years.”
Aaron glanced at Susan and after a moment she sensed his gaze. She turned her head, nodded, and then shrugged. Aaron could tell she was confused, but he was telling the truth. “Why don’t I bring him in here so that we can all discuss this together?”
“Now you’re talking,” Eric said with obvious enthusiasm.
For a moment Aaron thought the man was trying to trick them—trying to get him to leave the room so that Susan would be left alone with the prisoner. Well, if that was Eric’s plan, he was in for a surprise. Not only could Susan handle herself in a fair fight, it was nearly impossible for a telepath to have a fair fight—her extra abilities tended to give her an unfair advantage.
“Let me go and get him,” Aaron said. He stood and reached out a hand to touch Susan’s shoulder. She turned and smiled up at him and he saw that her left hand was still in her pocket—undoubtedly she had a firm grasp on her plasmic.
Aaron stepped out of the cell and began moving down the line. He stopped beside every door and took a quick and secret look. He located Thomas five cells away and quickly opened the door.
Thomas had been lying on his bunk, but he sat bolt upright as the door opened. His eyes focused on Aaron and he tensed as if expecting some sort of trick.
“Is Eric your partner?” Aaron asked.
“Why?”
Aaron sighed, hating the fact that the man had answered his question with a question. “Because he says he is and that he wants set free on the same planet that you get put off on.”
Thomas’ forehead wrinkled in confusion. “You mean you were really telling us the truth?”
“Damn it!” Aaron said with a bit more anger than he meant; his tone caused Thomas to tense back up. “I’m getting tired of everyone asking me that. Of course I meant what I said.” He motioned with his left hand; his right was still grasping the plasmic inside his pocket, “Now come on!”
Th
omas didn’t need to be told twice but jumped up and walked from the cell. Aaron let him take the lead and motioned towards the left as they walked through the door.
It only took a few moments to get Thomas situated beside Eric on the small bed. Aaron returned to his place beside Susan.
“So, when are you going to let us go?” Thomas asked.
“Not for a while yet,” Aaron replied. “It’s kinda important to get out of Unionists’ territory first. But we need to know some information. What was your occupation before you were arrested?”
Thomas looked wary. “Why do you need to know that?”
Aaron took a deep breath and resisted the urge to dump the lot of prisoners on the first non-Unionists’ planet they came upon. After a moment he spoke, but it was in a slow and steady voice. “It would look awful suspicious if we gave you papers that identified you as a gynecologist and you are, in fact, a welder.”
Thomas didn’t answer but Eric snickered and then said, “He got you there.” He shrugged at Susan. “I guess it don’t much matter. We were crewmen on a merchant ship.”
“Really?” Aaron said, his surprise was obvious. “And what did you do aboard that ship and why were you arrested?”
“We worked for a man by the name of Adams; he owns a decent sized shipping company over in the Antarra sector. Most of the work was pretty boring. We helped load and unload the cargo.” He grinned a little sheepishly. “Some of those ports can be pretty nasty; we also helped protect the ship and cargo.”
Aaron nodded, the explanation made sense to him. “So did you get arrested for fighting with the locals or something?”
Thomas picked up the story. “No, we were approached several months ago and asked to do some smuggling. The man who asked was Adams’ supervisor—he assured us we wouldn’t get caught.” The faces of both men had turned angry, it was the first real bit of emotion that Thomas had shown.
“Let me guess,” Aaron interjected. “You got caught and there was zero evidence that pointed back to this supervisor?”
Eric nodded. “The bastard covered his tracks well. I imagine he was sweating over what we might tell the interrogators.”
“And he’ll sweat even worse if he ever finds out we’re alive,” Thomas added.
“I’d advise keeping him in the dark,” Aaron said, “as the Unionists’ authorities don’t even know you’re alive.” The looks on both men’s faces still looked stormy so Aaron decided to give a little more free advice. “Entering the Miram Union, for any reason, would be absolute foolishness. You’ve been given a second chance, and I advise you not to waste it.”
Susan leaned over and rested her arm on Aaron’s chair. She casually patted his elbow: Pat, Pat.
Aaron looked at her in surprise. He had expected three pats which would have meant these two were not welcome on their ship, but she had given him the sign that keeping these two around was a possibility. He stared at her for a moment and then she finally shrugged and the meaning was clear: It’s your call.
Aaron turned back to the two men. They weren’t stupid and they recognized that something had just passed between Aaron and Susan. Both men were a little tense, like something bad was about to happen.
“Relax,” Aaron said, and then he looked at Susan one more time; she just nodded back at him. He sighed and turned back to Eric and Thomas. “Would you two like a job?”
Eric didn’t answer, he just sat there looking wary. Thomas tilted his head to one side and asked, “What kind of job?”
“I’m getting a ship. It’s a medium sized freighter and I could use some cargo handlers and,” he paused thinking of the right word, “and maybe some muscle.”
“Smuggling?” Eric asked.
“When the opportunity presents itself,” Aaron replied, “but there will be absolutely no unapproved smuggling or side jobs. If you want to smuggle something on my ship, then you will let me know about it ahead of time. If I say no, then it won’t happen.”
“How much you paying?” Thomas asked.
“Half-share of the net,” Aaron answered, “Captain gets two, ship gets six.”
“No deal,” Eric replied instantly. “We each want a full share.”
Aaron laughed—he couldn’t help it. “You want a full share to sit around on your asses, occasionally loading or unloading some crates, and in general make a nuisance out of yourselves?”
“You forgot that we’re also going to eat all the food, stay drunk most of the time, and occasionally piss ourselves,” Eric added with a grin.
“Forget it!” Aaron said and stood up.
Susan also stood up, but she put a calming hand on Aaron. “Hold on a moment,” she said and then turned to the two men who had remained seated on the edge of the bed. “Meet us in the middle, how about three quarters of a share?”
The two men looked at each other and Thomas shrugged. They turned back and Eric spoke, “Alright, you got yourself a couple of crewmen.”
“Great,” Aaron said, his tone leaving no doubt that he thought it was anything but. “You can leave my ship whenever you like, but if you betray any of this crew, I won’t stop until I find you and kill you.”
Eric snorted. “Is that supposed to be a threat?”
“No,” Aaron replied calmly, “it’s a warning. Leave whenever you want to, but don’t do anything underhanded.” He took a step towards the door, but another thought caused him to pull up short. “One more thing, I, uh,” he wasn’t sure how to ask this next question so he just sort of blurted it out, “will you guys need one room or two?”
Both men stared at him blankly for a moment and then Thomas grinned; it looked decidedly out of place on his normally placid face. “No man, we’re brothers, not lovers.”
Eric looked bewildered for another moment and then he grinned a very ugly grin. “Oh, I don’t know, it’s been so long even your hairy ass is starting to look–”
“Stop!” Aaron said quickly and rather loudly. Eric cut off in mid-sentence and once again both men tensed up. This time, however, Aaron wasn’t angry. He grinned at the two. “You’re painting a picture that I have no desire to see.”
Both men relaxed and Eric even chuckled.
Another thought occurred to Aaron and he felt it best to lay down some rules. “One more thing, there’s going to be a young lady joining us on the ship.”
“Really?” Eric asked and the man was almost leering. “How young?”
“Too young,” Aaron answered and his tone had gone rather cold again. “If anything inappropriate were to happen with her, I would feel completely in the right to space the offending party.”
Eric lost some of his leer just then. “Kind of harsh, isn’t it?”
“Perhaps, but then again that’s the point.”
Eric shrugged and slapped Thomas on the shoulder. “No problem. We like our women a bit more,” he paused and ran his eyes over Susan, from the tip of her toes to the top of her head, “experienced.”
Now it was Aaron’s turn to laugh. Susan and the two men stared at him. “Try something with her,” he said, motioning towards Susan. “I dare you.”
Susan looked back at Eric and Thomas and smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile; it was more a smile of challenge. Neither man said a word.
After locking Eric back in his cell and returning Thomas to his, Aaron leaned against the wall. He wasn’t convinced about inviting either of those two men along. “You sure about those two?”
Susan shrugged. “I’m not sure. They’re definitely tough customers but I don’t get the feeling they’ll turn us over to the authorities, and besides, I have a feeling this new life of ours is going to be pretty tough. We just might need men like them along.”
“Well, it’s done,” Aaron replied. He took solace in the fact that it could always be undone later. “Let’s take a break and go see how Russell’s doing.”
They walked the corridors of the small ship until they found the Captain’s quarters. Aaron pressed the small button that set off a buzzer
inside the room and then they waited.
Presently the door slid open and Jessica stood there. She looked like she had just got out of the shower; her hair was wet and she wore only an oversized shirt that hung down to her knees. She backed out of the way and let them in. “Don’t get him riled up, he needs his rest.”
Aaron looked at her bare legs sticking out the bottom of the shirt and he nodded. “I’ll just bet he does.”
Jessica reddened at his implications, but her only response was a clinching of her jaw.
The room was bigger than the small cubby hole that Aaron had slept in, but not too much. The bed looked long enough that Aaron’s feet wouldn’t hang over the end, so it was definitely longer than the bed he had claimed. This room, being the captain’s, had its own private bathroom. There also was a tiny metal desk near the entrance to the bathroom. Just to the left of the main door sat a small table and two chairs.
“Cozy,” Aaron said.
Russell was lying in bed with the blankets down around his waist. His arm was in a sling and he had bandages wrapped around his middle.
“Is your patient going to live?” Aaron asked, looking at Jessica.
“Most likely,” she replied with a grin. “He had a broken arm and two broken ribs. I fused them, but I don’t want him overdoing it.”
Russell smiled and started to sit up, saw the look on Jessica’s face, and remained lying back in bed. “I was wondering if you two were going to come and see me.”
“Sorry,” Aaron said and he meant it; they should have come first thing. “Been busy trying to decide what to do about our cargo.”
“Any problems?” Russell asked and he looked concerned.
“Nope,” Aaron replied. “Just a lot of complaints about the cooking.”
“Cooking,” Russell repeated, sounding intrigued. “You know, I could go for something to eat.” Jessica’s face clouded a bit and he hurried on, “I’ve got to keep my strength up.”
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