by Tasha Black
“We don’t have anything like this back on Terra-4,” Rose said.
“That’s the fun part about a space cruiser,” Leo told her. “Everyone is from someplace different. We’re all getting used to something out of our comfort zones.”
She smiled in spite of herself.
Leo was super nice. Anna was very lucky to have such a great partner.
Rose had spent most of her life scrambling for survival. She hadn’t given a lot of thought to romantic entanglements.
But if she did one day, she hoped she could find someone half as nice as Leo. He was wonderful with their little boy, Tolstoy, and friendly with all the passengers, too.
And the love he felt for Anna was palpable every time the two of them were in a room together.
But there was no time in Rose’s life for a relationship like that. She had Agro to think about now.
And deep down, she had to admit that part of the reason she was working so hard was the hope that maybe if she could create enough surplus, they would allow her to send some supplies back to Terra-4. She knew in theory that corporations sometimes gave bonuses to their best employees.
Rose was so busy fantasizing about sending containers of supplies back to Terra-4, that she failed to notice where they were going until it was too late.
Two security guards flanked a metal double door.
“Is this… the holding cell?” Rose asked.
“Sure is,” Leo replied. “Thanks, boys.”
The two guards opened the doors for them.
A horrible sensation crawled under Rose’s skin and she felt her stomach contract.
“I didn’t steal anything,” she heard herself say in a hollow voice.
“What?” Leo asked.
“I would n-never steal from this ship,” Rose stammered.
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Leo said. “You’ve done nothing but enrich the Stargazer II since you got here. Oh—oh gods, did you think I was bringing you here to arrest you? That’s not it at all, Rose. I’m so sorry that my actions caused you distress. That was not my intention.”
Blood rushed back to her head and she felt almost faint with relief.
Leo offered her an arm.
She shook her head, mortified.
“I have learned from Juno and Zane that things are not good for your people on Terra-4,” Leo said gently. “But I’m getting the feeling that I don’t fully understand how bad the situation is.”
Rose nodded mutely.
The situation on her homeworld was bad enough that any Terran could be taken into Cerulean custody at any time, for any reason. Or for no reason at all.
And the treatment in those squalid cells was horrific.
She shivered at the memory.
“You’re among friends now,” Leo told her. “And Anna can meet you somewhere else if you prefer. I’m sure she would understand if we need to postpone the meeting.”
“I’m fine,” Rose managed.
He eyed her with concern, but when she didn’t show him any sign of weakness he nodded and moved on. They walked on until they reached a door, which Leo opened by placing his hand on the sensor pad.
Inside, Anna sat on the far side of a large, gleaming white table with two raised rings protruding from its surface.
“Thank you so much for coming, Rose,” Anna said with a welcoming smile that actually managed to set Rose at ease a little. “Please, have a seat.”
She patted the chair next to her.
Rose walked over to sit beside her, thinking it was odd to sit beside the boss.
“See you later, ladies,” Leo said, giving a wave. “I’m heading back to check on the engine room guys.”
Anna blew him a kiss and he pretended to catch it before he headed out the door again.
“I have a proposal for you, Rose,” Anna said. “I hope you’ll keep an open mind about it.”
“Of course,” Rose told her.
“Juno let me know that it was unlikely you would agree to help, and I understand her reasoning,” Anna said carefully. “But I see the way you look out for this ship and its interests. And I hope you will be willing to assist us in another matter.”
Rose nodded.
“You’ve been an excellent addition to Agro, but your military training makes you eligible for a new position,” Anna explained. “One that comes with a promotion to Lieutenant, and the commensurate pay raise, of course.”
“That sounds amazing,” Rose told her, desperately trying not to calculate how much of that pay raise could go home to Terra-4 to help the neighborhood. It was a full four pay levels over what she made now. “But keep in mind, my military experience was mostly in Agro. I did basic combat training, but primarily it was civilian-level work.”
“That’s why we would give you the promotion,” Anna said. “This job is above civilian-level.”
“What’s the job?” Rose asked.
“There is a prisoner in there in holding,” Anna said. “And he doesn’t belong there. I would like to have him remanded into your custody.”
“What’s he in for?” Rose asked, mystified.
Why would Anna think she was suited for this assignment? She didn’t have any experience with guarding prisoners.
“His name is Rex Tylarr. He was our head of security until a few days ago, and he saved Ambassador Scott’s life during the assassination attempt,” Anna said, with feeling. “He’s in here because he’s a Cerulean.”
Rage began to buzz in Rose’s chest.
“Say something, Rose,” Anna said.
“No thank you,” Rose managed.
“That’s all?” Anna replied.
“I’m not interested,” Rose said, through clenched teeth.
“I don’t want to pressure you, Rose,” Anna said carefully. “But this is important. You’ll just be holding him on house arrest with a proximity device. And it’s only until we get to a port that has a trial by jury system.”
“Look, I didn’t come halfway around the universe just to babysit a Cerulean to save him from lock-up,” Rose said, her temper getting the best of her as she’d been afraid it would. “They certainly don’t mind locking up Terrans back home.”
“Rose, he’s a good man,” Anna said softly.
“Oh, poor him, getting locked up and judged because of his race,” Rose said. “That’s what Ceruleans do to my people every day.”
“He’ll stay with you for a few days, and then it will be over,” Anna said. “But you’ll keep the pay raise for as long as you serve on my ship.”
“There’s not enough room in my quarters,” Rose said automatically.
“We’ve already moved your things to a suite on the upper levels,” Anna admitted.
“You assumed you could buy me?” Rose asked, feeling stung.
“I didn’t want to pressure you with this,” Anna said. “But Ambassador Scott asked for you personally.”
Ambassador Scott.
She was the politician who was trying to end Cerulean occupation of Terran planets.
She was the person Rose had met, with stars in her eyes, grateful that someone in power wanted to help Terran like her.
Rose had thanked Ambassador Scott, and offered to be at her service anytime, in any way that the ambassador wanted.
She hadn’t expected anything like this.
Rose opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it again. What was she supposed to say?
A sensor beeped, jarring her out of her thoughts, and the door to the room slid open.
A huge Cerulean staggered in. He wore nothing but a pair of torn leather breeches. A black tattoo curled around one side of his massive blue chest.
His dark hair hung lank around his shoulders. His beard didn’t cover the swelling and bruising on one side of his jaw. On the other side his eye was nearly swollen shut, and dried blood ran in rusty rivulets into the beard.
He looked up at her with his good eye.
A lightning flash of recognition went through Rose.
She had seen him before on the ship, before his imprisonment, at Juno’s wedding. But it was his expression she recognized more than his face.
He was furious. As much as she was.
For an instant, she felt a burning kinship.
“Sit down, please,” the guard behind him said quietly.
The big Cerulean looked away and the strange connection between them was broken, to Rose’s relief.
“Rose, this is Rex,” Anna said. “He was our head of security until recently. I think you may have seen him on duty at Princess Juno and Crown Prince Zane’s wedding.”
Rex looked pointedly down at his hands, which were now chained to the two rings in the table.
Fresh blood was beginning to seep from his injured eye.
“Did you not give him medical treatment before jailing him?” Rose heard herself ask.
“He wasn’t injured in the attack,” Anna said softly.
Rose studied his injuries again, taking it in.
“So these were inflicted while he was in custody?” she asked.
“He won’t confirm it,” Anna said, as if Rex weren’t sitting right there. “But you can imagine that the others might view him as a traitor since he squelched their assassination attempt and saved Ambassador Scott.”
“What the fuck are you doing back there?” Rose yelled at the guard as she jumped out of her chair before she knew what she was doing. “It’s your job to safeguard those prisoners, not let them kill each other like animals.”
The guard blinked at her with frightened eyes.
“No,” Rex said, breaking his silence at last.
Everyone turned to him.
“This is a luxury cruiser, not a prison,” Rex continued in a deep, calm voice. “The biggest job the security staff here should have is to deal with a guest who’s had a few too many cocktails and might need to dry out for a night. We’re not set up to hold a military coup as prisoners. Security is doing the best they can.”
Rose blinked at him, opened her mouth, closed it again, and sat down, at a loss for words once more.
She had to admit to herself that she had some grudging respect for the Cerulean, even if she would never come out and say it to anyone else.
“Rose, if you agree to this, we will all be so grateful,” Anna said softly. “Please, help us do the right thing.”
In spite of her best efforts, Rose felt her resolve crack.
But she couldn’t trust herself to say it out loud.
Instead, she gazed directly into Anna’s eyes and nodded once in surrender.
Thank you, Lieutenant Mendez,” Anna replied.
4
Rex
Rex awoke suddenly the next morning to the sound of an earsplitting whistle.
He jumped to his feet automatically, braced for an attack.
It took his brain a little longer to catch up with where he was and what was happening.
Things were different. He had been sleeping in a soft bed instead of a concrete cell floor. He was clean, from his body to his clothing.
And standing before him, instead of a cadre of his murderous countrymen, was a tiny, furious woman with a whistle.
Rose Mendez, his would-be savior, and his latest captor.
He had been moved to her rooms, but it was just another kind of cell.
“What’s going on?” he asked her.
“It’s oh-five-hundred hours,” she snapped. “This is when I go for a jog.”
“Okay,” he said. “Enjoy.”
“You have a proximity tracker installed,” she reminded him. “So you go where I go. And I’m not giving up my morning routine so you can lay on your ass. You have ten minutes to get ready and meet me in the living room.”
He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck without thinking about it.
They had implanted him with the proximity tracker last night. He was in so much pain from his other injuries he had hardly noticed the sharp pinch between the vertebrae of his neck.
Now, if he and Rose got more than ten meters apart, he would get a warning tone that buzzed in his skull. If he didn’t get back in range within three seconds, a powerful shock would be delivered, incapacitating him.
It would do the same if he tried to use his natural power to amplify his battle abilities.
She was already stalking away, presumably to get dressed.
At least the suite seemed to be small enough that they could have privacy without activating the tracker.
He hustled to his own washroom and cleaned up quickly. When he made it back out into the bedroom, he was transfixed by the sight of the ship’s forest growing brighter through the glass.
The rooms on the upper decks all had incredible treetop views of the glassed-in forest that provided oxygen for the ship. The sight could not have been more unlike the false windows in the crew’s rooms on the decks below the main level.
Rex realized he was watching the sunrise, or at least an approximation of it, via the light source over the trees.
The pink glow brought back memories of his childhood on Cerulea, fishing with his grandfather, their skiff hovering over the brilliant indigo ocean as their large sun turned the waves pink and then fiery orange.
“I run every morning,” Rose said flatly from the doorway. “I hope you can keep up.”
“I’ll do my best,” he told her.
He had decided it didn’t help to be silent, he’d tried that last night and she had glared at him anyway.
But now she looked even angrier than before, if that was possible.
He was angry with his whole situation, but mostly hated himself for being attracted to her.
You’re just lonely, he scolded himself. She’s not really that attractive. Don’t go getting Stargate Syndrome.
But unfortunately for Rex, she really was that attractive. There was no denying it. And just his type, with her curvy little body and high energy.
But they were destined to resent each other, so he was determined to keep himself on a short leash.
She was certainly keeping him on one.
They headed for the platform, Rose already two steps ahead of him. She clearly wasn’t worried about turning her back on such a dangerous criminal. Of course, she could manually activate the tracking implant and light him up like a supernova any time she felt like it.
When she placed her palm on the sensor, he saw her expression go grim before she said, “Main Level.”
The platform dropped and her jaw clenched.
Realization dawned on him. Being from a backward planet like Terra-4, Rose wouldn’t be accustomed to traveling by platform.
He looked away, not wanting to deepen her distress by appearing to have noticed it.
At last they bumped to a stop at the main level. Rose stepped off the platform and proceeded to do a little light stretching.
Rex joined her. The movement felt both heavenly and hellish on his sore muscles. He restrained a groan.
He’d now gone almost sixteen hours without a beating. That had to count for something.
“Let’s go,” she said and took off.
She was fast for someone so small.
With his longer legs, he was sure he would be able to keep up, even though he was hurt and out of shape from his time in lock-up. At least he hoped he would.
The main corridor was basically deserted at this hour. Little as Rex had wanted to be awoken by a whistle, he appreciated Rose’s determination to run at this time. They had the deck to themselves, with the exception of a handful of food service workers opening their shops to begin the day’s cooking.
They rounded the first corner of the forest and he got to enjoy the view of the trees from ground level.
He wondered, not for the first time, what the old world of Earth must have been like. The descriptions of forests in their literature did no justice to what the thing in the center of the ship was really like.
And on Earth there would have been animals in there, too.
&nbs
p; Rex felt the ship’s forest had life enough in it without a bunch of creatures scurrying about.
Rose was still a bit ahead of him. She set a pace and kept to it, he had to hand it to her. At first, he’d thought her initial burst of speed was just to impress him. But she really was fast.
If they did this every day, he would be back in tip-top form in no time.
He remembered how quickly he’d gotten in shape during his days as a Cerulean soldier. The daily runs had been exhausting but exhilarating.
A vendor ahead of them pushed a ten-foot tall cart across the corridor. At their speed, he judged they would not need to slow down to miss it, and Rose didn’t alter her pace at all.
As soon as the cart disappeared it revealed a little old couple on the other side.
Rose barely managed not to careen into them.
“Oh,” the woman gasped, startled.
Her husband slipped his arms around both her shoulders to steady her, a concerned expression on his face.
“I’m so sorry,” Rose said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“That’s all right, dear,” the woman said in a quavery voice.
“Are you okay?” Rose asked.
“Oh yes,” the woman said.
“But, Maude, we’d better—” the husband added.
“—yes, dear, we’d better—” Maude said.
“—head back to our room now,” the husband finished.
“Good-bye,” Maude declared. “Come, Howard.”
The two of them continued their walk past Rose and Rex.
Rose watched after them, shaking her head.
“You couldn’t have seen them,” Rex offered.
“I scared her half to death,” Rose said. “I don’t belong on a cruise ship.”
“Of course you do,” Rex laughed. “Everyone does. It’s a melting pot.”
“It’s melting your brain,” Rose replied. “Less running your mouth, more just running.”
She took off again, and he followed, feeling the slight victory of having had an exchange with her that wasn’t all bad.
They ran on in silence, nothing but their harsh breathing and the rhythm of their steps bouncing along the empty corridors.
As his body grew tired, Rex felt himself retreat to the most remote part of his mind. The feeling was almost religious.