Embarkment 2577 (25 page)

It seemed like such a long time, but it
wasn’t even a second. A part of my mind functioned well enough to wonder how
there could be flames and smoke in space. Then, darkness finally embraced me.

Anya’s voice came from a great distance, and the
humming of the teleporter was even farther away. Neither made any sense to me.
“I’ve got him.”

The words meant nothing. The ship my husband was on
was gone, and I would never see him again. I would never hear his voice, never
feel his touch. Alone.

Well-known, strong arms caught me just before I hit
the floor. They were clearly a hallucination. Adam’s voice said, “Alex.”

It was insistent, but not really there. The voice came
from the darkness, and giving in held much more appeal than staying in a world
of light where I would be on my own.

Anya’s melodic voice drifted across the void. “She
thought you died.”

My husband’s voice sounded worried, “Alex, sweetest,
remember to breathe. I’m here, everything’s alright.”

If he came back as a ghost just to tell me to breathe,
it was probably important. Forcing air into my lungs took such a big effort and
I had no power left to struggle when the arms hoisted me up in the air, lifted
and carried me just like Adam used to do.

“That’s better. Now, open your eyes, silly.”

No way. I wanted to tell Adam’s ghost I wasn’t silly,
but opening my eyes was out of the question. I peeked out under my lashes and
saw a black uniform, exactly like Adam’s. It felt like it against my cheek too.

Anya’s voice said, “Alex, honey, he’s not dead. I
teleported him just in time.”

Maybe I could open my eyes a little more. She wouldn’t
lie to me, not Anya, but she might be mistaken.

Adam held me, looking at me with a concerned frown. “I
promised to try and come back.”

Anya filled in, “John’s ship needs a lot of repairs,
but we did it. The Bell if free.”

Neither of them made any sense, but it didn’t matter.
I hit Adam’s chest with my palm. “I thought you were dead!”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

I hit him again. It was wrong, but it was beyond my
abilities to hurt him. “Don’t
ever
do that again.”

I loved them both
so much it almost hurt. Anya knew. She smiled. “I love you too.”

“You look like a scared Ensign right out
of the academy. It doesn’t become you. Spill it.”

My Captain’s eyes looked right through
me and could probably see the wall on the other side. Visiting his office all
alone wasn’t one of my best ideas. I took a deep breath and plunged in. “You
know how John’s ship was almost destroyed when he saved us from the black
hole?”

Blake leaned his elbows on the table and
tapped his fingertips together. “It would be hard to miss considering I’ve
housed it in a cargo bay for three weeks.”

“Yeah… About that…”

“He needs three more weeks?”

“I was actually thinking… He didn’t have
to come save us, and he put everything on the line for us. Maybe you could ask
him to hang around for a while?”

He blinked. “You want me to ask a
drunken criminal to come live on the flagship of the Confederacy?”

“Yes, but it sounded better in my head.”

“Alex…”

This would be a good time to say
something really clever, but I didn’t have anything clever, so I went with
truth. “You know he means the world to Anya, and to me.”

Blake opened his mouth and I blurted
out, “He’s Adam’s father.”

Way to go spilling secrets. At least I
had the Captain’s full attention. “You have got to be kidding.”

“No… And he doesn’t want people to know.
He doesn’t have to stay forever, but it would be so great if we could keep him
here for a while.”

Should I try a pouty face, or would that
be too much?

“Dammit, Alex. We are the law. We’re
supposed to
catch
people who steal and smuggle and put them away.”

I nodded. Adam gave me the exact same
speech once. Blake got to his feet and stared out a window. The view hadn’t
changed for weeks; John’s ship wasn’t the only thing damaged after battling the
black hole.

He sighed. “Are you sure he’s Adam’s
father?”

“Yes.” It was a little more complicated
than that, of course. Androids aren’t exactly born. Still, for all practical
purposes, it was true.

“Very well, but know I’m doing this for
you.
As long as he’s on the ship, you’ll be responsible for him, and I expect
pristine behavior.”

“Of course.”

He tugged at his jacket. “Alright. Let’s
get this over with.”

Right now? Well, no time like the
present…

John stood outside his ship with Anya by
his side. The floor around them was littered with pieces of burnt out
machinery. Towing the Bell had been beyond the limits of reason and physics,
but he still did it.

He stiffened when we approached.
“Captain Jones…”

Blake poked a deformed and blackened
piece of metal with his foot. “It has been brought to my attention that you’re
good for crew morale.”

John laughed heartily. “Who said
that
?
Alex?”

Anya poked his shoulder. “I’m crew.”

The corners of Blake’s mouth twitched.
“The Confederacy and I owe you a great debt. Feel free to… remain aboard.”

Anya squealed and threw her surprisingly
solid holographic arms around the Captain. John said, “I don’t know…”

I nudged him. “C’mon. You don’t have to
stay forever, but it would mean a lot to us to have you here.”

He looked at me and whispered, “You
don’t even have booze on this cursed boat.”

On the way back to the lift, Blake
smirked. “Now you owe me one. Someone’s coming in from the Sanyer system to
hitch a ride with us. Meet her and set her up in a guest room, will you.”

“Sure.”

The transporter room reminded me of a
hospital. It was cold with crisp white walls, and sported a smell of ozone. Adam
explained the process once. I couldn’t remember if a person’s matter was
transformed to energy, sent to another place and put back together again, or if
the first version was destroyed and another created in its place. Either way,
it freaked me out.

I didn’t have much time to think about
it; when I entered, the transporter pads electrified and the air shimmered. A
split second later, a woman stood in the room.

She took a step forward, down from the
pad and shook my hand.

“Welcome to the Bell. I’m Alex, and I’ll
be showing you to your quarters. The Captain will be with you soon, I’m sure.
He had an emergency on the bridge.”

Little white lies… She was beautiful;
tall and slender with platinum blonde hair falling around her shoulders. Her
smile was warm, but her grey eyes so cold they chilled my blood.

“It’s nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Jane.
What a pleasure to get a ride on such a fine ship.” She sounded friendly
enough.

Walking through the corridors towards
the lift, we talked like women getting to know each other, keeping it mostly
neutral, but exchanging personal details to make a connection.

“I’ve heard there’s an artificial life form on this
ship. Isn’t it just fascinating? Do you know him? Is he, I mean, does he seem
human?”

Figures. The mere idea of Adam made beautiful women
flock around him. “He’s my husband.”

Jane stopped and fixed me with her cold eyes.
Something in her stare sent a chill down my spine and made me want to squirm.
Why did this woman make me feel like a mouse facing a hungry snake?

“But you’re human, aren’t you Alex?”

“As human as they get.”

The hatred in her eyes vanished. She linked her arm
with mine and tilted her head a little against me. “So, how did
that
happen?”

“He crashed. I mean literally crash landed…”

“Alex, would you mind taking me home for tea? You’re
the only one on the ship I know, and it’ll be a long journey. The guest
quarters will still be there.”

I could relate to the need for friends. When I first
arrived to the ship I was both lonely and terrified. I had Adam to look out for
me, of course, but I didn’t know it at the time. She was probably curious about
the android’s home too… “Of course.”

I loved our living room, but Jane looked around with a
frown. She walked up to a shelf and poked the decorations.

“What kinda tea do you want?”

“I don’t drink tea.”

“Really? I could have sworn you said you wanted tea…
Coffee? Cocoa?”

She stood very close to me all of a sudden, and ran
her hands over my shoulders. “What’s with all this meaningless lull in here,
Alex? What would an android want with paintings and pottery?”

Considering how empty the rooms were before Adam met
me, probably nothing. “I don’t know, but he seems happy.”

I tried to shrug her hands off, but they were glued to
my shoulders.

She shook me. “I know he’s not as proud of his
heritage as he should be, there’s some small programming flaw there, but it can
and will be corrected.”

“Oh shit. You’re Eve, aren’t you?”

I knew Adam had a sister, but I never imagined having
to face her.

“Aren’t you a clever little sack of meat?”

She hardly finished the sentence before she grabbed me
by the neck and banged me against the wall. “How
dare
you, human?”

I couldn’t answer. She held me too tight and black
spots danced before my eyes. Eve was just as strong as Adam, but with no wish
to be careful. Was this it? Would I die in the claws of an insane android?

“What would possess you to think you’re…”

The door slid open and I heard Blake’s voice, “I hate
when people just appear…”

He cut the sentence off short. I was probably quite a
sight held up in the air, clasping the hand that choked my life force out.

Adam stepped into my field of view. “Eve, let her go.”

“Now, why would I do
that
? You ran away from me
and mother for THIS? These bags of bones are pathetic. You’re an ungrateful
little twit.”

“I spend time with them because I like them.
Especially this one and I’d appreciate you putting her down.”

“Why do you try to be so much like them? So much
effort for nothing.”

Blake interjected, sounding almost as calm as Adam. “I’m
Captain Blake Jones. Let us talk about this.”

Eve squeezed my throat a little harder, making me
wonder if my lips were blue yet.

“There’s nothing to talk about, human. I just want
what’s mine. That’s him.”

My husband took a step forward when Eve nodded in his
direction. “I’ll go with you. Just let go of my… Let her go.”

Maybe the word
wife
was better unsaid. Eve
lowered me enough to allow my feet contact with the floor and let me get a
whiff of air. “No. Your little pet here is coming with us. We’re taking a
shuttle. You will lead the way, or I’ll snap this human’s neck.”

Adam didn’t move, and she shook me. “Are you tired of
her already? That would be great progress for being you.”

He turned around without a word and walked into the
corridor. Eve pulled me along behind him, completely ignoring Blake, who dove
for the radio. “Security to level three.”

My captor laughed. “You’ll have to do better than that
to stop me.”

The only person able to detain her was incapacitated
because I let myself be taken hostage. I needed to win time, but how?

She probably wouldn’t kill me as long as we were on
the Bell. Adam was just as fast as her and probably stronger, and given half a
chance he’d deal with her without mercy. I was her shield.

Adam glanced over his shoulder. “I’m coming with you.
You have my word I won’t try to escape, if you just let Alex go.”

Tilting her head to the side, she pretended to think
about it. “No. We need her.”

For what? On second thought, I probably didn’t want to
know.

Up ahead, a door opened and John came out of one of
the lifts. He took one step into the corridor, stopped, and stared. “Cheryl?”

Eve stopped too, and laughed. “No. Not Cheryl. You
must be Sebastian. Isn’t this quite a family reunion, who would have thought?”

It was the first time I heard his real name. He looked
much more like a John.

Confusion flashed over his face. He knew about Adam,
but Eve was a later model and we never talked about her.

The android didn’t need more than one hand to hold me.
She could strangle me just fine with two fingers… She trailed a gun at
John’s chest. “Cheryl is dead. She was a weak and useless human, craving
obedience from me she didn’t deserve. You will join her now, Sebastian. You
were a spineless coward who abandoned her, and it’s fair you should accompany
her in being dead.”