by Tasha Black
All Cerulean soldiers were trained in a sort of self-hypnosis to avoid amplifying involuntarily.
The ability to retreat slightly from physical sensation had been a haven to him in the holding cell.
Rose slowed to a jog.
They had reached the far side of the forest. He wondered if she planned to cool down on the way back.
But she slowed further to a brisk walk, and then approached the double doors that led to the Agro department.
“I don’t think we’re allowed back here,” he said as lightly as he could.
“I work here,” Rose said. “At least I used to, before they turned me into some glorified babysitter.”
“Oh,” he said, trying to get his mind around the idea that this fierce woman was actually a farmer, able to nurture and nourish living plants in the hostile conditions of space.
“I have to check on something,” she said. “So that means you have to come with me. Don’t touch anything.”
“Don’t worry,” he said.
Agro was serious business on a ship like this one. Security was trained to make rounds but be respectful.
He followed Rose in the doors and was amazed at what he saw.
The whole room was bristling with color. Peaceful greens and yellows, but also the bright reds of peppers and tomatoes, and a brilliant orange fruit Rex had never seen before.
Every square inch seemed to be thriving. There had to be at least twice as many varieties here as there were the last time he’d been through, and all of them practically bursting out of their containers.
“Rose,” one of the workers dropped what she was doing to scurry over. “It’s so good to see you. We were worried you would forget about us.”
“Never,” Rose said, smiling.
Rex watched, agog, as she greeted various workers and checked on some sort of deal she had going on.
“Make sure Danla drops off the containers before you let her pick any produce,” she was instructing a young Camelina, who was literally taking notes. “If we don’t have the containers, we can’t trade the surplus when we get to port.”
Rex was impressed. He had never known a cruiser to operate on a surplus. Typically they were relying on dehydrated food sources for all but the biggest VIPs by the time they got close to port.
“Is that Rose?” someone was calling from deeper onto the Agro floor. “We have a problem.”
“Oh boy,” Rose said.
Rex noticed that although her tone was grim, she actually looked a little pleased.
She liked her work.
He suddenly forgave her for resenting him so much.
Clearly, she was an inspired leader at Agro. Compared to that, guarding him probably did seem like babysitting.
“Come on, blue,” she said.
They headed toward the owner of the worried voice.
“What’s up, Zyrxa?” Rose asked.
“There’s something missing,” the young woman said. “In the utility storage.”
“What’s missing?” Rose asked, heading for the utility storage room without waiting for an answer.
Rex and Zyrxa followed.
“There wasn’t much of it left,” Zyrxa said. “But the box of nitrate supplement is gone.”
Rex knew enough to know that nitrate was an inexpensive fertilizer.
He also knew it was very poisonous, and could even be used in improvised explosives, although it would take a large amount to do any real damage. It was supposed to be kept under lock and key.
“Who has access to this closet?” he demanded.
Both women spun to face him.
He remembered, too late, that he wasn’t the head of security anymore.
“I’m sorry,” he said immediately, raising his hands in surrender. “Force of habit. But nitrate is poisonous for human consumption. You’ll want to take this seriously.”
“The only people trying to hurt anyone on this ship are your people,” Rose said in a frigid voice. “Is there something you’d like to confess to?”
Any sympathy he’d felt for her a moment ago was gone.
“Of course not,” he said. “I’m only suggesting that this could be serious. I’m glad to volunteer my services to help get to the bottom of it.”
“We’ve already reported it to Jensen Wayne,” Zyrxa offered.
“There, you see,” Rose said with satisfaction. “You aren’t irreplaceable after all.”
“Oh, you mean the guard who saw me almost get murdered in my cell three times a day and couldn’t put together what was going on?” Rex asked. “I’m sure Jensen will do a great job solving this potentially deadly mystery.”
Rose’s face went blank.
He watched as she clenched her fists.
“Shit,” she said quietly. “Shit, shit, shit…”
He waited, unable to believe that he was about to watch her do the right thing, in spite of how much she hated him.
At last, she sighed and turned to him.
“What would you do if you were still in charge?” she asked.
Rex didn’t hesitate.
“Put Jensen on task gathering information here. Have him find out who had access to the room, when was the last time anyone saw the nitrate, watch the feed, interview everyone,” Rex told her. “And I’d hightail it to Sanitation to check the ship’s water supply myself. Right now.”
5
Rose
Rose headed into Sanitation.
Rex’s footsteps were sure and steady behind her, for which she was horrified to be grateful.
If someone had actually stolen nitrate from her department and put it in the water supply, it could be catastrophic.
“We’re ruling out a worst-case scenario,” he said quietly. “That’s always the first task in these situations.”
“What made you think of it?” she heard herself ask.
“It’s a head of security’s worse nightmare,” he said. “Contamination of the air or water is the worst thing that can happen in flight.”
She nodded. It made sense. Up until a few days ago, the welfare of the ship had been his top priority. She wondered how much he cared about the well-being of the Terran passengers onboard.
“Thank you for letting me help,” he said. “It’s hard for me to stop doing my job.”
“Me too,” she said.
“I noticed that,” he told her.
“What are you doing in here?” an angry male voice demanded.
A tall humanoid with tentacles streaming from his head strode into view.
“Rose Mendez, Agro foreman,” she said. “There’s a container of nitrate missing from my department, we need to check the water supply now.”
“Shit,” the humanoid said. “Come on. Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked, noticing Rex.
“Long story,” Rose said before Rex could answer. “I’ll tell you after we test the water. He’s not a threat.”
“Clearly,” the humanoid chuckled. “That’s the head of security. I’m glad they busted you out, man.”
Rex smiled and Rose resisted the urge to punch him in his handsome blue face.
Lucky for her, several people had already done that. She didn’t need to injure her hand for him to have a black eye.
She felt a sudden pang of remorse for her uncharitable thought. No matter what she said, she didn’t believe prisoners should ever be treated that way.
The humanoid was already calling his supervisor through his wrist comm. By the time they got to the lab she hoped the testing would have begun.
“Why didn’t we have someone turn off the water supply on the way here?” she asked Rex.
“Because it’s not easy, and we don’t want to cause panic,” he replied. “It’s early in the morning, most people aren’t using water at the moment. In the time it would take to convince the founders to take that kind of action based on wild speculation, we could actually have some solid answers.”
Rose thought about who would be using water this ear
ly.
It would pretty much only be the workers.
The universe was set up to reward the wealthy and punish the poor. Every day Rose had new reasons for this knowledge to be reinforced.
She set her jaw and picked up the pace, leaving Rex and the Sani worker to scramble after her.
But the lab door was sealed, so she had to wait for them to catch up.
Behind the door, she heard voices and quick footsteps.
The humanoid slapped his palm to the sensor and the door slid open to reveal a bustling lab.
Techs of different races bent over microviewers and test kits as others jogged in carrying vials of water.
“How much nitrate was lost?” a tech in a long white lab coat asked Rose, without introducing herself.
“Maybe a pound or two,” Rose estimated. “It was mostly empty. We’re restocking when we get to port.”
The tech frowned. “By itself that’s not enough to contaminate the whole water supply. Our filtration system would be able to handle that much.”
“Main reservoir,” one of the runners called out, handing three separate vials to three techs.
The tech spun on a dime, her movements belying what she had just said.
Each tech took a vial and went to work examining it under the microscope, using some sort of paper testing strips and pulling out single drops to place in the various parts of the kit.
The whole room was silent now, focused on their work.
To Rose, the time seemed to expand forever. She wondered what she could have done differently. It had never occurred to her that someone would try to poison the water supply. She respected the chemicals she worked with in Agro, but obviously not enough to appreciate the harm they could do in the wrong hands.
“Clear,” the tech in the long coat, who had been using a microscope called out.
“Clear,” the tech with the paper strips said a moment later.
Everyone waited while the third tech completed his testing with the kit.
“Clear,” he said at last, with a happy smile.
The room erupted in cheers.
But the tech in the long coat pulled Rose and Rex back to the door. They stepped outside and it sealed behind them.
“Are you still worried?” Rose asked, once the three of them were alone.
“Not about the water,” the tech said. “We’ll continue testing the samples that were taken from all over the ship. Although if someone really wanted to do damage, I’m sure they would have hit the reservoir. But I am confused about one thing.”
“What is it?” Rose asked.
“The amount of nitrate that was taken,” the tech said carefully. “Even if it had made it to the reservoir, and if the filtration system had failed completely - it’s not enough to really make anyone sick. At worst, it might make them… lethargic?”
“Why would someone want to make people lethargic?” Rose asked.
“That’s what I’m wondering,” the tech said.
“Thank you for your hard work,” Rex said.
Rose turned to him, wondering why he was dismissing the tech.
“My pleasure, sir,” the tech said with a warm smile. “Good to see you out and about.”
They watched her go back into the lab.
“What was that about?” Rose asked.
“She told us what we needed to know,” Rex said. “She’s a scientist and a good one. But she isn’t going to think outside the box, which is what we need to do now.”
“You mean think about motive?” Rose asked.
“Exactly,” Rex said.
“I assume we head back to Agro to find out what Jensen dug up?” Rose asked.
“Exactly,” Rex said.
They headed back the way they had come.
“You work in Agro,” Rex said. “What reason can you think of for someone to steal that nitrate?”
“Well,” she thought out loud. “The most obvious reason would be to fertilize something.”
“Is that likely?” Rex asked.
“On a space cruiser, not really,” Rose said. “And it wasn’t enough to do much with anyway. It’s certainly not valuable compared to the price of a ticket on this ship.”
“Who has access to the space?” Rex asked.
“Good point,” she said. “I guess it’s not going to be a guest, it would be someone in Agro. In which case, they didn’t take it in order to grow something. They have access to grow whatever they like in the employee hydro bay. Some of our biggest developments come from experiments there.”
“What about illegal substances?” Rex asked.
“We’re traveling in intergalactic airspace,” Rose said. “There is no such thing as an illegal substance here.”
He frowned.
She pondered, then had a sudden thought that made her cheeks burn.
“Think of something?” Rex asked.
“Well, I’m thinking of myself,” she admitted.
He nodded, but didn’t respond, giving her space to figure out how to say it.
“I’ve got kind of a reputation in Agro,” she said. “Since I started, we’ve been able to boost production, and eliminate waste.”
“That’s great,” he said with an approving smile.
She felt an involuntary flush in her cheeks at his praise. Damn his easy smile. And damn the way it made her insides flutter.
“But everyone knows how much I hate waste,” she went on, pushing the thoughts aside. “I’ve been known to lose my temper when good produce gets ejected. I wonder… I wonder if someone spilled that nitrate.”
Rex nodded.
“If they did, they might have just swept it up and not said anything,” she said. “You know, thinking I might be angry.”
“It makes sense,” he said thoughtfully. “The simplest explanation is usually the correct one. If that’s what happened, how would you find out?”
“I’ll have someone check the waste facility in Agro,” she said, already touching her wrist comm.
Zyrxa picked up immediately, “Hey boss.”
“Can you check the waste facility?” Rose asked. “I’m thinking someone might have spilled the nitrate and swept it up without saying anything. If that’s the case, I don’t care who did it, I just want to know we can call off the search.”
“On it,” Zyrxa said.
They walked on.
A few minutes later her wrist comm pinged.
“Yes?” Rose asked.
“I’m sorry, Rose,” Zyrxa said. “There’s no sign of nitrate or the packaging in the waste facility.”
“Does Jensen have any leads?” Rose asked.
“Not yet, he’s still working,” Zyrxa said.
“Thank you,” Rose said, signing off.
She frowned. The spill would have been a great explanation, and it would have reassured her about the loyalty of her employees.
“Who would have taken it?” she wondered out loud.
“We’ll figure it out,” Rex replied.
“Let’s go back to the rooms and get changed on our way,” Rose suggested. “The ship is waking up. We shouldn’t be running around in sweats.”
“Sounds good,” Rex said, rubbing the back of his neck.
The tracker.
A pang of recognition made her wonder when he had gone from being her captive to her advisor and confidante.
She studied him out of the corner of her eye.
But he continued, half a pace behind her, wearing a respectful expression.
She might have forgotten who was in charge, but he clearly hadn’t. There was no need to pull rank on him just yet.
But she had better keep her wits about her.
She was ready to kick herself for being attracted to him.
And, contrary to what she had expected, spending more time together was making it even harder to ignore.
6
Rex
Rex followed half a pace behind Rose as they strode back toward Agro.
Things had been
going well, but she’d gotten quiet when they were headed back to their rooms to change.
Her quiet mood made him cautious.
They both scurried into their rooms to change quickly and met back in the living room.
Now she wore a stoic expression and didn’t even look back to check on him as she headed down the main corridor toward Agro at a breakneck speed, dodging guests and employees with no regard for what would happen if she lost him.
And why should she worry? He was the one who would be jolt-shocked and knocked out in front of everyone, not her.
Hell, she would probably be happy to see him hurt and humiliated. Most Terrans would.
But he didn’t really think Rose felt that way.
She talked a lot of trash, but in reality, she seemed to have basic respect for his rights.
Earlier today they had even been working together, bouncing ideas off each other and maybe even enjoying trying to untangle the mystery of the missing fertilizer.
It had been hard for him to ignore how beautiful she was when she was intensely interested in something. He was drawn to her, drawn to the huskiness of her voice, the way she tilted her chin when she was listening, the way her eyes met his…
Oh.
The impossible occurred to him and he almost forgot to keep walking after her.
Was she attracted to him, too?
No. That was crazy.
She’d spent so much of their time together saying she didn’t want to babysit a Cerulean, it seemed impossible.
But as he looked back at the day so far, he realized that she had grown cold just as he lost his resolve not to notice her as a woman.
Maybe she was unhappy that she was attracted to him, too.
His heart sang at this idea, even as he attempted to squelch his hope.
Not that it should really be hope.
I’m her captive. She’s my keeper. My people conquered hers and occupied her lands. She wants nothing to do with me.
But his heart still pounded, and he had to focus not to bump into any of the passengers as he followed his intriguing captor.
A few minutes later, they reached the entrance. She placed her palm on the sensor and the double doors slid open.