Dark Beneath the Moon (51 page)
“Not PrimeCorp,” I said, a little more vehemently than I’d meant to. I’d keep my promise to Luta Paixon, and I wouldn’t sell it—or anything else—to PrimeCorp. That wasn’t even a difficult promise to keep. In retrospect, I could see how Alin Sedmamin had used me, even while I thought I’d been using him. He’d seen my pain and my need for revenge, and he’d used that to send me off to do his bidding. I’d only thought I was in control. I could see that now.
I stood and paced to the rear of the small cabin, still restless. I could see it, but I didn’t like it. I’d thought I knew what I wanted, too—what would make me happy. Revenge on Emmage Mahane and her family. A way to let go of the past, finally, to shake off the ghosts of my mother and father and get on with my own life. And I’d ended up suckered in to Luta Paixon’s happy little family, trading away my sweet revenge for a brief taste of belonging. Actually caring about other people for a while.
“Well, I can set a course if you tell me where you want to go,” Pita said. “If it’s not going to be PrimeCorp and it’s not going to be Genusana, where to?”
Where to, indeed. I stood still in the middle of the cabin, cupping the warm mug in my hands. Really, I could go anywhere. I didn’t feel driven any more. I didn’t feel tied to the past. I felt . . . I felt free.
It simply hadn’t happened the way I’d expected.
Maybe the most important things in life rarely did.
I flopped into the pilot’s chair, set my drink in the holder, and fired up the main drive. “Let’s do Genusana after all, Pita. They’re a good, clean company. If he wants me to sign something, that shows they’re on the bright side of the law, right?”
“If you say so. The course is laid in. But two minutes ago you were against signing anything.”
I kicked the drive over and swung out of the shadow of an asteroid where I’d been parked, waiting for my messages to come in and pretty much staying out of the Protectorate’s way. I’d heard a rumour they might want to talk to me, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to do that yet. Or ever.
“I had a chance to think about it, Pita,” I told her with a grin. “After all, there’s nothing that says I have to sign my
own
name.”
Sherry D. Ramsey is a speculative fiction writer, editor, publisher, creativity addict and self-confessed Internet geek. When she’s not writing, she makes jewelry, gardens, hones her creative procrastination skills on social media, and consumes far more coffee and chocolate than is likely good for her.
Her other books include
One’s Aspect to the Sun
,
The Murder Prophet
,
To Unimagined Shores—Collected Stories
, and
The Seventh Crow
. With her partners at Third Person Press, she has co-edited five anthologies of regional short fiction to date. A member of the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia Writer’s Council, Sherry is also a past Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer of SF Canada, Canada’s national association for Speculative Fiction Professionals.
Sherry lives in Nova Scotia with her husband, children, and dogs. You can visit her online at www.sherrydramsey.com, find her on Facebook, and keep up with her much more pithy musings on Twitter @sdramsey.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Luta Homecoming Delayed
Chapter 2 – Luta Cats in a Blanket
Chapter 3 – Luta Moving Targets
Chapter 4 – Jahelia Hunter and Prey
Chapter 5 – Luta Pavlovian Responses and Other Intriguing Behaviours
Chapter 6 – Luta The Past Throws a Long Shadow
Chapter 7 – Jahelia Cat and Mouse
Chapter 8 – Luta Take a Deep Breath and Jump
Chapter 9 – Luta Of Unusual Moons and Unexpected Visitors
Chapter 10 – Luta Out of the Black
Chapter 11 – Jahelia Curiosity as a Dangerous Pastime
Chapter 12 – Luta Enemies Resurrected
Chapter 13 – Jahelia Alone in the Dark
Chapter 14 – Luta Rocks and Hard Places
Chapter 15 – Luta Council of War
Chapter 16 – Jahelia Echoes and Old Nightmares
Chapter 17 – Luta Wormhole Explorers
Chapter 19 – Jahelia Nothing Left Behind
Chapter 20 – Luta Collateral Damage
Chapter 21 – Luta In the Belly of the Beast
Chapter 22 – Luta Through a Glass, Darkly
Chapter 23 – Jahelia Zelendu and Jousting
Chapter 24 – Luta Truce and Negotiations
Chapter 25 – Luta Patching Hearts and Engines
Chapter 26 – Luta An Unexpected Displeasure
Chapter 27 – Jahelia What Pita Knew
Chapter 28 – Luta The Enemy of my Enemy
Chapter 29 – Jahelia Rude Awakening
Chapter 30 – Jahelia Completely Freneza
Chapter 31 – Jahelia Out of the Proverbial Frying Pan
Chapter 32 – Luta And Into the Proverbial Fire
Chapter 33 – Jahelia Brothers and Sisters in Arms
Chapter 34 – Luta The Body’s Betrayal
Chapter 35 – Jahelia Friends and Frenemies
Chapter 36 – Luta Bonds Forged and Broken
Chapter 37 – Jahelia The Sisterhood of Kicking Butt
Chapter 38 – Luta Cerevare’s Choice
Chapter 39 – Luta Decisions of Last Resort
Chapter 40 – Jahelia Trust and Other Rare Commodities
Chapter 41 – Luta The Enveloping Fog
Chapter 42 – Luta After the War