Atrophy (27 page)

He winced as Zahli slapped him across his back. Except Rian outdid that by stepping forward and shoving the gun up under his chin, forcing him to tilt his head back.

“Shut your mouth, or I’ll shut if for you.”

“What are you going to do, Rian? Kill an unarmed man just because I touched your sister? You could at least make it a fair fight.”

Rian pulled the gun away and slammed it down on the table. “Fine. You want to fight this out?”

“Hell yeah,” he replied, at the same time Zahli yelled “no!”

Zahli wriggled out of his hold. She scooted in front of him with her back pressed against his chest. “I’m not going to stand here and watch you two fight like brainless idiots. I’m the one who encouraged Tannin. He wanted to follow your stupid frecking rules.”

Rian picked up his gun and shoved it back into his holster, at last seeming to wind down a notch or two. “Yeah, he looked like he was following the rules really well a few minutes ago.”

Tannin couldn’t stop himself from touching her, even under threat of death, because, before he’d quite realized what he was doing, he’d caught her hand, lacing their fingers together. She glanced up at him for a second then returned her gaze to Rian. “This isn’t just some casual affair, so you’re going to have to get used to the idea. I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”

“Actually, I don’t have to get used to the idea.” Rian hooked a thumb into a loop on his weapon’s belt. “One of you is out. I won’t have both of you on the ship anymore.”

Zahli scoffed. “That’s rich. Who are you going to kick out? Tannin, when you’re so desperate for his hacking skills, or your own sister?”

Rian’s lips thinned as his gaze locked on her and it hit Tannin that the captain had already made up his mind. And his decision was going to hurt Zahli.

“I’ll go,” he put in before Rian could say anything stupid. He looked down at Zahli, smoothing a strand of hair from the side of her face. “It’s your home. You’ll always belong here before me.”

Never mind that he had no credits, nowhere to go, and was still wanted by the IPC. But for Zahli he’d do anything, even face the risk of returning to Erebus.

“Actually, it’s not my home.” She looked back at Rian. “Home is on Dalphin, where we grew up. Maybe it’s time I went back. Because that’s what you were going to say, right, Rian? That you’re choosing Tannin and your obsession with the Reidar over me?”

Rian looked away from her. “It’s not an obsession.”

Zahli made a noise that conveyed all her disbelief.

Tannin turned her to face him, not caring what Rian did or thought any longer. He placed a palm against her cheek and tilted her head up. “You don’t have to do this, especially if you think it’s for my benefit.”

“Yes, I do. Rian was going to force me to leave, anyway.”

“We can’t take you to Dalphin until we’ve been to Kasson Three and then Barasa to follow up on Quaine Ayden,” Rian put in.

Zahli turned to Rian, moving out of his embrace altogether. “Because god forbid kicking me off your ship should interfere with your plans against the Reidar. Don’t bother. I’ll catch a public transport from Tetsu after we’ve been to Kasson Three.”

She brushed by Rian and strode out into the passage, anger and hurt clear in her posture.

Rian glared at him for a moment, as if the results of that conversation had been his fault, and then walked over to pick up his shirt.

“Put your damned clothes back on. And don’t touch her again.”

Tannin shoved his arms through the sleeves and threw it over his head. “All bets are off, Sherron. You kicked her off the crew, so you get no say.”

Rian hauled back and punched him. His aim was damn near perfect, because he landed his fist almost in the exact spot on his jaw from a few days before. “She’s still my sister, so watch your frecking mouth.”

Tannin flexed his jaw and before he could think too much about it, took a swing, catching Rian unguarded. Rian took the hit without a sound and when he straightened, his lower lip was bleeding.

“That’s the last time you hit me, Everette, or next time we’re in void-space, you and the hatch will be getting closely acquainted. And don’t forget, you’re always going to be one sub-space comm away from going back to Erebus.” Rian wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, taking away most of the blood. “I came down here to tell you we’re almost at Kasson Three. It’s time for you to roll.”

Rian turned and started back up towards the bridge. Tannin followed, his steps reluctant, wishing he could feel better about hitting the goddamn insensitive bastard. All he felt was a hollow ache at the knowledge Zahli would be leaving. What had he expected? Had he really thought for even half a second that whatever this was between them could be a forever kind of thing? There were too many obstacles he couldn’t see a way around, the biggest and most obvious being her brother.

But no matter what Rian expected of them, no matter what did or didn’t happen, it was too late for him. He’d fallen hard for her. The question was, how would he live with that once she’d left?

He wanted to go with her, wanted to tell Rian he could freck off, no matter what the guy had done for him. But he couldn’t, not if he wanted to stay out of Erebus and keep Zahli safe. If he left with her and the IPC authorities caught the two of the together, Zahli would be implicated in his escape and the punishment for that was the same life sentence in hell he’d so recently escaped. No matter what he felt for her—or maybe because of it—he couldn’t risk all that for Zahli.

Up on the bridge, he slid back into the co-pilot’s chair, checking nothing had gone wrong with his program.

Lianna glanced at Rian. “Where’s my coffee?”

Rian glared at him. “I forgot it. Something distracted me.”

She shot Rian an annoyed look then returned her attention to her display.

“We’ll be coming onto Kasson Three’s short range scanners in another few minutes. That’s when they’ll know we’re heading right for them. The gravitational field of the black hole is already playing havoc with the
Imojenna’s
sensors.”

“Are you ready, Everette? We might only have a few seconds before we have to turn tail and make a run for it.”

Tannin wanted to make a smart-ass comment about the ex-war hero running away, but instead he focused on the screen in front of him, turning his mind to what needed to be done. “I can have the data ripped in ten seconds.”

“Good. Lianna, tell me as soon as we’re in short range, and keep an eye out for weapons.” Rian took up a stance in between the two seats, tapping a boot as he looked out the viewport.

There were a few minutes of silence, punctuated by the steady hum of the
Imojenna’s
engines. In the lower levels, Zahli was probably packing up her things, getting ready to leave them
. Leave him
. The pain in his chest increased to a dull throb.

“Thirty seconds to short range.” Lianna’s even voice interrupted his wallowing.

She started counting down the seconds, increasing his heart rate.

“Three…two…one.”

Tannin held his hands at the edge of the screen, ready to initiate the sequence as soon as Rian made a noise, yet nothing happened. They continued skimming through space; there was no attack and Rian hadn’t moved from his rigid position. Five minutes went by. Then ten. And then fifteen. At last, Rian turned to Lianna.

“How far out are we?”

“A little over an hour. That bright star in the middle of the viewport is the space station. If we travel a bit farther we’ll be able to see it more clearly, but I don’t think we should. The delta-shield is only just holding up. The black hole is beginning to pull us off course, and our clocks are starting to show evidence of the time dilation that happens close to the event horizon.”

“But the space station is right on top of the black hole?” Tannin asked. Though space had been colonized long ago, black holes still remained a mystery.

Lianna nodded. “It’s almost on the verge of the event horizon.”

“Then how is it even still there? How come it hasn’t been ripped apart and sucked in?”

She shook her head. “I can’t explain it. There’s no way any ship or station could be positioned so close and not be destroyed, but it’s sitting there like the black hole isn’t even affecting it.”

Rian looked over at him. “As interesting as this
isn’t
, we came here for a reason.”

“Wait.” Lianna leaned forward, her brows creasing. “A ship just appeared on our scanner.”

“Short range or long range?” Rian didn’t sound particularly worried.

“Short range, just beyond Kasson Three. According to the logs, it came from— No, it must be wrong.”

Rian sent her an exasperated look. “Can you explain in a way that makes sense to people
not
inside your head?”

“According to the information, the ship came
out of
the black hole.”

Rian stared at her for a minute and Tannin could all but see the man thinking the baffling, impossible revelation over.

“Bring the ship up on the viewport.” He strode to the pane of crystal.

Lianna tabbed up a resonate data image, but it flickered and wavered, showing nothing clear. “I’m having trouble with interference from the black hole. Let me see if I can compensate.”

She frowned over her screen and little by little, the image cleared. When it did, Tannin sat back, not quite believing what he saw. The ship looked enormous, sleek and made from a light gray-green metal. It shimmered in a way he’d never seen anything else do, not in this universe anyway. He didn’t want to say it, but that ship looked
alien
and far more advanced than anything flying around in this day and age.

“They came
through
the black hole. But where from?” Rian asked, not seeming as shocked as Tannin.

Something flickered at the edge of his mind. “I read an article once, like a scientific treatise from this physicist who theorized that black holes were actually gateways to alternate universes. I think he was laughed out of academia.”

Rian turned to look at him, the blaze of something in his expression, as if what he’d just said was the last piece of a puzzle.

“Alternate universes? That would explain a frecking lot.” He glanced back at the ship on the viewer and shook his head. “Go ahead with the data rip. See if you can get anything from that ship while you’re at it. Lianna, get ready for weapon fire evasion.”

Tannin launched the program. Ciphers streamed into the
Imojenna’s
logs, but an alarm started chiming, another icon flashing red in the corner of his display.

“I’ve got weapon fire coming on hot.” Lianna’s fingers flew over her monitor and the ship tilted, going into a hard-banked turn.

Rian grabbed the back of the captain’s chair, bracing his feet against the slant.

“Everette, you got what you needed?”

“Just a few more seconds.” The information continued flooding in and he kept the link open as long as he dared. His program picked up an opposing worm, so he shut the whole thing down. One Reidar virus had been more than enough. “Got it. I’m done.”

“Take us out of here, Lianna,” Rian ordered.

With some pretty smooth moves at the helm, Lianna got them clear of the space station’s defensive arrays. Tannin stood, needing a break from all the excitement, a bite to eat, maybe a few hours sleep. And he wondered how serious Rian had been about the
don’t touch my sister
threat, because with Zahli’s imminent departure, he couldn’t think much beyond finding a few quiet minutes to make love with her one more time.

But all his plans were waylaid when Rian called his name before he reached the stairs.

“I want you down in my office going through that data ASAP.”

Tannin nodded in resignation and sighed as he turned away. Part of him wanted to tell Rian where to go, but he’d come up against the hard, implacable wall of their captain enough for one day. He’d do what Rian asked, but he wasn’t letting Zahli leave without one last perfect moment of paradise.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“W
hat do you mean you’re leaving?” Kira asked.

Zahli took another shirt out of her cupboard and stuffed it in her bag, but the stupid thing was already full to overflowing. How had she managed to accumulate so many clothes? “Rian doesn’t want me onboard anymore.”

“I can’t believe Rian would want you gone. He’s your brother.” Kira grabbed a handful of T-shirts from the top of the carry-bag, started folding with efficient movements, and then put them back in again, which created more space than how she’d had them all screwed up and crammed in.

“Apparently that doesn’t count for much.” She yanked a pair of pants out of the locker and threw them toward the bed, anger and resentment swirling through her. “He picked Tannin over me.”

Kira came around the bed and sat down next to the suitcase. “Tell me what happened, from the beginning. This obviously wasn’t just another brother-sister thing.”

She sighed and dropped down onto the other side of the bag, flipping in a sleeve hanging out the side.

“Rian caught Tannin and me together. He said one of us had to leave, and I asked him who he wanted to go. He didn’t answer, but I could tell he wanted to say me. One way or another, he would have forced us apart. At least this way I get to decide how it plays out.”

“And what does Tannin have to say about this?”

She looked down at her hands, remembering the feel of Tannin’s smooth muscled skin beneath her fingers.

“He hasn’t said anything. Rian’s had him working nonstop on the information they got from Kasson Three. But Tannin and I never made any promises to each other. I don’t expect anything of him.”

Except that was a lie. She may not have said it in words, but she cared very deeply for him and part of her wanted him to be her knight, to come home with her to Dalphin. However, the pragmatic side of her brain knew that could never happen. Tannin didn’t have settle-down in his future, not when he was a fugitive from Erebus.

Besides, she needed Tannin to stay here and look out for Rian. She hadn’t realized it until she’d had a quiet five minutes to think, but that whole episode with Rian coming back to the ship near-dead had really scared her.

More and more, Rian and his singular goal of going after the Reidar terrified her. For a long time now, she’d been worried he would get himself killed. But the vague idea that it could happen and
seeing
it happen were two entirely different things. Rian wouldn’t be dissuaded from his mission, and she’d she couldn’t sit around waiting to watch him die. Which was why volunteering to leave hadn’t been that hard.

So long as she didn’t think too closely about Tannin.

If she spared him a thought, even for a second, she might not find the strength to depart. Because as much as Rian risked getting himself killed, he could also get the rest of the crew killed. As devastated as she’d be if Rian died, if Tannin got killed she’d be destroyed.

Kira stood. “It just seems wrong.”

With weary movements, Zahli got to her feet and finished putting as much in the bag as she could. Some things were going to have to remain behind.

“It’s not like I’m never going to see any of you again. You know Rian likes to have some downtime at home at least once a year.”

Kira made a frustrated noise. “Great. So we’ll go from being best friends to seeing each other once every twelve months, if we’re lucky. I don’t know if I want to stay on this junker without you.”

She sent Kira an exasperated look. “
You
they need. I don’t see any other doctors around here. What do I really do except run our trading business? Anyone else could do that.”

“You keep things together, Zahli. I’m sure Rian will come crawling back in a matter of weeks when this ship starts falling apart and he runs out of credits.”

She smiled, though deep inside it would have been easy to give into tears. “Well then I’ll be able to tell him to get lost.”

The ship rumbled as the subspace engines gave way to the heavy-atmosphere engines. They were coming in to land on Tetsu. She reached down and fastened her bag closed.

“I’d better get down to the cargo hold. Rian doesn’t want to be dirt-bound any longer than necessary. I’m probably lucky he’s not just chucking me out the hatch from orbit.”

Kira laughed. “I’d like to see him try. Then he’d have a real mutiny on his hands.”

Zahli lugged the bag over her shoulder. She plodded to the door and paused to take down her fortune bells. She looped them up and put them in a side pocket of the case, then continued down to the cargo bay. As she expected, no one was down there. She hadn’t told anyone else she was leaving, and Rian wouldn’t either. Kira had found out only because she’d caught her in the middle of packing.

Zahli stood next to Kira, trying not to let memories of everything that’d happened in the past weeks weaken her resolve as the ship touched down with a slight thump.

Boot steps sounded on the stairs, but she didn’t turn because they were Rian’s. He walked past her without a word and went over to hit the hatchway release. She took a breath, waiting while the ramp lowered to the ground.

He waved a hand, gesturing along the walkway. “Say hello to Nyah for me when you get there.”

Zahli cut him a sideways glance, wanting to say something poetic like
screw you
. Instead she nodded, looking away from him across Tetsu’s spaceport. Kira pulled her in for a quick hug, and as she said goodbye Zahli tried not to think about Tannin. The least her brother could have done was let them say their farewells. Knowing Rian, he’d probably locked Tannin in his office again.

She adjusted her hold on the bag and walked off the ship, resisting another glance at her brother—she didn’t want him to see how upset she’d gotten.

As she stepped off the bottom of the ramp, she heard Tannin calling her name. Zahli stopped and turned to see him hit the cargo bay landing off the stairs and come running out to her. He caught her waist, out of breath, his dark hair tousled and looking gorgeous.

“I’m sorry. I would have come down sooner, but Rian locked me in his office and tried to scramble the codes.” He shot an annoyed look at Rian, who stood in the middle of the hatchway, feet braced wide and palms on his weapons.
Yep, right on the money
. Her brother was so predictable.

Tannin’s hold tightened on her, “You don’t have to go. I don’t want you to leave. Surely we can find some way—”

She shook her head, dropping her bag so she could wrap her arms around him one more time. “I have to. You know Rian will force us apart one way or another.”

He pulled her closer. “Then I’ll come with you. I don’t care if I owe Rian for getting me out of Erebus. I’ll find some other way to pay him back.”

“You can’t. We both know that. It’s too dangerous for you off the ship. And I need you here anyway. If I’m not going to be around to look out for Rian, I know you will for me.”

A troubled expression crossed his face. “Please, Zahli, don’t ask that of me.”

“I already have. It’ll be fine. And it won’t be forever. Rian likes to have downtime at home. By the time that comes around, maybe he’ll have mellowed and we can consider things then.”

An outright lie. Rian wouldn’t ever mellow out, not about this. If anything, he’d get more stubborn.

Tannin held her closer. “I just found you. I’m not ready to let you go.”

Unhappiness crowded her until she felt numb. “You’re not losing me. I’ll be safe at home. You can call me whenever you want.”
But it won’t be the same
.

He dropped his head and rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as he took a ragged breath. “Zahli, I—”

She closed the small gap between them, a tear tracking down her cheek as she caught his lips against hers. She couldn’t hear what he intended to say, not now. Not when she had to be strong and leave. This saved Tannin from getting caught and ending up back on Erebus.

She broke off the kiss, finding it hard to breathe. “I know. I do, too, but I can’t hear it. Not now.”

He leaned back and looked at her, pain in his green eyes. “It shouldn’t have to happen like this.”

What could she say? It wasn’t fair, but it had to be this way. “I have to go, or I’ll miss the transfer to Dalphin.”

He tugged her in for one last soul-searing kiss, and she could taste his sadness. Or maybe it was hers. But the moment ended too quickly. She had to let him go and pick up her bag, waving as she walked away. The image of Tannin standing there, fists clenched, expression angry and hurt, stayed with her as she crossed the spaceport to the public transfer station. She had a feeling it was an image her mind would refuse to relinquish for a long time.

T
annin leaned back in his seat, three miserable weeks after leaving Zahli on Tetsu, scrubbing both hands over his face. His eyes felt like someone had been rubbing sand in them.

He’d been holed up in Rian’s office working nonstop on the information they’d ripped from Kasson Three as they traveled by hyper-drive engines through void-space to Barasa. Rian hadn’t wanted to risk gate travel if it wasn’t necessary.

At last, the data was beginning to come together through the bits and shreds of information. As he painstakingly pieced together the jumbled ciphers and codes to resemble packets of intelligible information, Lianna, Callan, and Rian searched for anything useful. So far, they had nothing.

Lianna had told him they were only a couple of rotations from Barasa.
Thank Christ
. He needed a break, needed to get off this goddamn ship and away from Rian. Away from the constant reminders of the moments he’d shared with Zahli and the raw memories of how that had ended.

With a sigh, he sat forward, studying the lines of numbers and binary codes. This one had been bugging him since the start, and he couldn’t get a handle on it. It was more compacted than the other information he’d sorted through and seemed to have a pattern, but one his mind couldn’t decipher.

“Got anything new?”

He looked away from the screen, his eyes blurring. Rian came to sit at the desk across from him, a cup of coffee in each hand. He scooted one across the surface, sloshing some of the steaming liquid.

“No, I’m still working on that same section.”

Rian shot him an irritated expression over the rim of his mug. “So move on to something else and leave it until last. There’s plenty of other info to keep you busy.”

Tannin leaned his elbow on the table and braced his palm against his jaw, his head feeling too heavy. That coffee was just what he needed. “I’ve already organized a couple more packets of information, if you want to start reading through those. When you’re done, if I haven’t cracked this I’ll find you something else.”

Rian grabbed his commpad from the middle of the desk and tabbed it on.

“You know, we’re probably lucky we haven’t come up against anything in code or some secret alien cipher. Of course, if we did find something like that, then we’d know we were on to something important.”

Tannin bolted upright, knocking his mug and spilling half the contents across the desk.

“Watch it!” Rian glared at him and went to get a towel.

But he didn’t care about the coffee, not when he’d just gotten the answer he needed.
A code
. Of course. He felt like an idiot that he hadn’t thought of it himself.

“I’ve got it.” Satisfaction chased away his weighty fatigue. He sent the data to the large screen viewer on the wall and stood as it streamed down the display.

Rian came and leaned a hip on the end of the desk, crossing his arms. “It looks like a list of names.”

Tannin took a step closer, catching a name here and there, until the entire list had downloaded and the screen stopped scrolling. “That’s because it
is
a list of names.”

“But for what?” Rian walked over and touched the screen, moving the record upward again, page after page flowed across the monitor.

“Wait.” Tannin pointed at a name. “Isah Ayden. This page lists most of the IPC’s world leaders, other High Presidents, like Ayden.”

Rian flicked to the next page. “This page is a list of CEO’s of some of the biggest corporations in the universe.”

Another few pages went by and he stopped Rian again.

“This page is IPC officers.” Tannin read down the list. “Zander Graydon.”

Rian turned to him. “I think this is a list of people they’re replacing.”

Shock ricocheted through his system. “But it’s massive. There are thousands and thousands of names. Surely people would notice?”

Rian pushed his hair back and paced toward the table. “I’m sure some of these people, like Isah Ayden, have already been replaced.”

“And Zander Graydon’s name is on here.” He shot a glance at Rian, not wanting to voice his suspicions. But it wasn’t like he needed to save the captain’s feelings on the matter. The guy was as stone cold as they came, he’d proven that time and time again.

Anyway, if what Rian said was true, then the IPC and the entire galaxy were in a lot more trouble than anyone could have imagined.

“How sure are you that it was actually Zander Graydon we had onboard?” Tannin asked, the words coming out slowly.

Spinning back to face him, Rian hooked a hand on his belt, his movements agitated. “What sort of question is that? I’ve got no idea. I hadn’t seen the guy for years before that.” Rian stopped and closed his eyes for a second. “Oh,
jezus
.”

“What?”

Rian pushed his hair back, shaking his head. “When those Reidar came for Ella, I saw Zander take a pulse pistol hit. He should have gone down. Anyone else would have. But he shook it off and kept firing.”

Tannin didn’t know Zander very well, but since this war had totally screwed up his life when Broc had been killed, he could relate to what Rian was probably feeling.

“So there’s a good chance he’s already been replaced.”

“We’ve got no proof, but I know someone I can put on it.”

Lianna appeared at the office doorway, stopping him from replying. “A recorded transmission has just come through. The originating source is the same one Baden Niels used to contact us when we were on the Rim.”