Embarkment 2577 (8 page)

The bartender rolled his eyes, and Adam
answered in a detached voice, “Well, she is a girl, and my friend, but not
technically my girlfriend.”

The man let a heavy hand fall down on my
shoulder and murmured, “Good. Then you won’t mind if I buy this cutie a drink.”

Adam’s expression never changed. He
lifted the man’s hand off effortlessly, and as he answered, “Actually, I do
mind,” the man’s face wrinkled with pain.

“Alex, this is Leonard who runs a
multispecies club further down the promenade. Unfortunately, he was just
leaving.”

Leonard bobbed his head up and down in
agreement, and groaned, “Pleasure to meet you, Alex. Dude, please let go of my
hand, I wasn’t going to have her join the show or anything.”

“That’s good, because I will throw you
out an airlock before that happens.”

I could visualize it, and deeming from
the papery colour on Leonard’s face, he could too. I smiled and waved my
fingers in the air, “Bye, Leonard.”

The Viking jogged towards the door as
soon as Adam’s grip on him loosened. The bartender leaned his elbows against
the counter. “That man never learns. Remember when he tried to make Anya join
the show and she shot his beard off?” Turning to me, he added, “You like your
drink hon’? Want another one?”

I most certainly did.

Once we left the pub, the masses of
people had thickened. My eyes darted around, trying to take in everything at
once.

“The afternoon shift is over. There will
be a new burst of people at midnight.”

It made sense. “Where are we going?”

“Just a little further.”

He took me to a restaurant, and
disregarding most of the guests wearing uniform and the waiter being a shiny
robot on three wheels, I could pretend we were on Earth. Adam even ordered food
to keep me company, but mostly played with it. He built a fort of potatoes on
one side of the plate. It was cute, and I wanted to say something about it, but
I couldn’t think of the right words, so I pretended not to notice.

I’d seen him eat and drink. What did he
do with the stuff? Asking about his inner workings seemed intrusive. He was so
sweet and I didn’t want to offend him. My curiosity would have to wait.

Evening turned into night, and we
strolled through the dimly lit arboretum. Adam sounded apologetic, “I guess the
plants are sleeping. We’ll have to come back in daytime.”

“I’m impressed with how big it is. I
wonder how many different kinds grow here.”

“There should be thirty four thousand
eight hundred and thirty seven. There used to be more, but we dropped some of
them off not long ago.”

I tucked my hands around his arm again.
“Thirty four thousand? That’s crazy.”

“Not really. There are about three
hundred thousand kinds of plants on Earth, and that’s one planet. These come
from many places.”

Considering the size of the ship, the
area could be huge, stretch over several floors, even. It was more than large
enough for me to get lost.

Adam paused in front of a little bush.
“This one, right here, is a part of a bush from California. It’s more than
thirteen thousand years old.”

We moved on in silence, and my mind
played with the same questions as always. Now might be a good time to talk
about it. “So… When are you going to tell me?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Tell you about
what?”

Men. Impossible. “About us. You don’t
seem to mind spending all your time taking care of a lost girl. What am I to
you? How long were you in my time? What happened?”

“I’m not going to tell you. Maybe your
memories aren’t the same as mine, and if you’re biased by my point of view you
might never remember.”

From
my
point of view, there were
flaws in his logic. “But…”

He interrupted me, with the same
infuriating calm as always. “I could only tell you my side of the story, and
you have the right to make up your own mind.”

About what? Him? Surely some eloquently
presented facts wouldn’t hurt me. “Really?”

“Really.”

He paused to pick a flower growing next
to the path. I expected a horde of angry gardeners yelling plants shouldn’t be
touched, but we were still alone. He put it in my hair, and I grumbled, “You’re
just trying to distract me.”

“Yes. Is it working?”

When we reached my door, he gazed into
my eyes with an indecipherable look on his face. “Good night, Alex. I’ll see
you tomorrow.”

He bent down a little to kiss me on the
cheek, and the touch sent a burst of electricity through my skin. I didn’t want
him to go, but I wasn’t able to ask him to stay.

It had been an eventful day, and I was
exhausted. My mind wanted to keep poking at the android mystery, but my body
said no. Sleep took me so quickly I can’t even remember going to bed.

Blaring alarms made their way into my
dreams. Who was dumb enough to set an alarm clock? I sure hadn’t. Pulling a
pillow over my head didn’t silence the noise, and I finally sat up. “What’s
going on?”

The always friendly and almost human computer
voice announced, “We have been boarded, Alex.”

Boarded? What was the silly machine
talking about? “But we’re okay, right?”

“I cannot answer that question. The
bridge crew and most of the officers have already been taken prisoners.”

“Prisoners?” As peculiar as my new
friends could seem at times, they always appeared to have everything perfectly
under control. An enemy able to come aboard and snatch them all up must be
formidable.

The phrase “bridge crew” churned in my
mind. Wasn’t the bridge were my android friend went every night? To command the
ship? His kiss still burned on my cheek. I wanted more of them. That meant we
both had to live.

The normally neutral computer voice
changed into Anya’s. It was easy to forget she was a program and not a flesh and
blood person. She must be stored in the mainframe for the night.

“Alex, I’m trapped in here, and they’re
restricting my access to the systems. I can’t get to my mobile unit. Someone’s
coming your way, you have to hide.”

Great idea, but where? I ran into the
living room, but it was too late. The door slid open and I dove down behind the
sofa. More clothes would have been good. Lying nearly naked on the floor with
my breasts pressing against the cold tiles was uncomfortable, not to mention
undignified and ridiculous.

I heard footsteps and held my breath.
Could they hear the pounding of my heart? It echoed like a drum in my ears,
drowning out the noise of someone rummaging around in the room. I crawled
forward ever so little to take a peek.

A pair of big and hairy feet clad in
leather sandals came into view. The creature had long and tobacco coloured
toenails. Might be normal for the species, but still… disgusting.

Glancing further up revealed more fur.
The intruder walked upright like a human, but had a strong tail. When standing
still, it leaned its weight on it. A stout body ended with four arms evenly
spaced around it. Was that clothes, or did it wear its ribs on the outside of its
chest?

The head was also furry, and boasted a
snout, multi-faceted eyes, big horns, and a number of fangs sticking out
through the mouth. It might very well have been pretty to other members of the
same species, but I found it horrendous.

The big feet moved closer to my hiding
place. Had it seen me? No, it turned away and stood with its back to me. If it
moved just a little I’d be completely visible, and there weren’t any better
places to hide.

Fear spurred me into action. I jumped
up, grabbed a heavy lamp from the table next to the sofa, and hit the creature
over the head with all my strength.

I was lucky. It might not have been
sensitive at all in that region, but it worked. The intruder sank to the floor.

Left to my own devices I might have
stood staring the rest of the day. Anya’s encouraging voice broke my paralysis.
“Well done, Alex. They’ve overridden all the locks, so I can’t help you secure
the door.”

More aliens could come running in at any
moment. I needed to secure the one I had. “Anya, could you replicate some rope
or something to tie it up?”

The replicator hummed to life and a
number of cuffs and chains appeared. What was I supposed to do with all this? I
had to touch the creature to figure it out, and its coat was oily and
unpleasant. “Eeeew.”

As much as I fumbled, only minutes
passed before all its hands, feet, and tail were restrained. I dragged it over
the floor, towards the closet, groaning. “Dumb thing. How can someone so small
be so heavy?”

“Well done, Alex. Thus far you’ve gotten
a hundred percent more of the intruders than our highly trained personnel.”

Yay for me. “So… What happened?”

“The Bell answered a distress call. We
lowered our shields to send over an away team, and several thousand Logg
teleported on board. Our crew was greatly outnumbered. There was no choice
besides surrender, or everyone would have died.”

Logg. That must be their name. Very
fitting for something that heavy and furry. Had Adam been on the bridge, forced
to raise his hands in the air and capitulate when faced with an overwhelming
number of weapons? Maybe they shot someone in his crew to make him.

I wanted to ask if he was okay, but it
seemed petty to worry about one person when the entire ship was in danger. “Where
is everyone now?”

“High ranking officers are kept in the
brig. The rest of the crew is being teleported over to the intruders’ ship.”

“Why?” It was a superfluous question. I
could think of enough reasons on my own. My imagination was coloured by
Hollywood of my own time, and most of my mental images were probably bloodier
and more violent than the truth.

If all these highly trained and armed
people were overrun just like that, what could I possibly do? They had Adam,
Jia’Lyn, Ima, and Blake. I was just a lost girl who couldn’t even remember her
own past.

I could probably hide, at least for a
while. Maybe call for help, but to whom, and how? “What do we know about them?”

“They’re not known as great inventors
or thinkers. They steal technology and ships. They’re strong and have excellent
hearing, but poor eyesight.” Good thing Anya was there and not the ordinary
computer; it would have given me an hour long lecture.

A little fraidy-cat like me should be
good at hiding, especially if they didn’t see all that well. I had a weapon
from the captured Logg. I could at least
look
threatening.

I hugged myself. “Where’s the best place
to hide? In plain sight. Where’s the closest help? In the brig. Where is the
brig, anyway?”

Anya sounded weary and I couldn’t blame
her. Me being the last person free on the ship was not a good thing. “Take the
lift to level thirty-three, go down the corridor to the right, and through the
seventh door on the left.”

I counted the numbers on my fingers.
“Thirty-three, right, and seven.” It seemed simple enough at the moment, but
given the stress of a ship filled with hostile aliens, maybe not so much.

“Anya, I need to hide. Maybe a disguise
or something. What do you think?”

Going into the ship seemed like madness,
but I would certainly be captured if I stayed where I was and did nothing.
Being caught when at least
trying
to act would be better. Worst-case
scenario, I’d be shipped off with everyone else, or killed with everyone else.

A couple of minutes later, I was dressed
in a newly replicated Logg suit. I, of course, had only two arms and no tail,
so I pulled a bandage around one of the arms, pretending it was hurt from a
fight with someone in the crew.

I put a bandage on the tail too. It
wasn’t a good disguise, and it wouldn’t explain why my limbs flopped around,
but it was the best I could think of. “I look like a stuffed toy.”

“Sorry. It’s the best I can do. Act with
confidence and they might not look too closely.”

Good advice.

Anya admonished, “Don’t talk to anyone.
The chip will help you understand them, but your voice will give you away.”

“What chip?”

I could visualize her rolling her eyes
when she answered. “The language chip you got implanted in your brain when you
first came here. How do you think you can communicate with everyone on the
ship?”

“Oh…” I just assumed everyone spoke
English. I attempted to cover my stupidity with muttering, “My voice is wrong.
Can I alter my voice? No. I’ll have to find a reason not to talk to people.”

A new object appeared in the replicator.
It was a small skin-coloured patch. “Take that, Alex. Put it on your throat.”

The next few words came out slower and slower,
and I panicked when I realized the computer lost power. “I’m being… shut…
down…”

With those last words, the room fell
silent and all lights went off. I stood in complete darkness for a long moment
before the emergency lighting came on. I could see enough not to walk into
anything, but the world was much too dusky for my taste. “Anya!”