When Sparks Fly (22 page)

“Well, don’t take too long about it. The
betting pool isn’t leaning in your favor, and I could use the
money.”

That made Blue smile. “You’re betting on
me?”

Zsak grinned back. “Couldn’t resist a sure
thing.”

Chapter 16

Xera cornered Blue the next day. She was
waiting for him as he came out of his bedroom, leaning against the
wall, her arms folded. He considered her and waved an arm back
toward his room. “You want to talk in there?”

She gave him a look and led him to the empty
commons. The rest of the supposed farmers, that is, the security
team, had already eaten and were off working the rock.

She waited until they were seated and then
said mildly, “What exactly are your intentions toward my
sister?”

He raised an eyebrow, questioning her right
to even ask.

She shrugged, realizing his intent. “Our
father is dead. Somebody has to look out for her.”

“Are you asking me if I’ll marry her?”

Xera exhaled forcefully. “I already know you
will. I’ve grilled Zsak and I know about the betting pool. You’ll
ask.”

“You don’t like it.”

Xera shrugged. “My sister’s getting older,
has her future established in The Spark. She wants to get married
and may think you’re the best she’ll get. Whether it’s true or
not…Well, I’d hate for her to settle.”

He glowered at her. “Is that right?”

“Of course, it would all be all right if you
loved her,” Xera added, nonchalant. “So many men just care about
her money, which is all tied up in the inn, you know. Not much in
loose change.”

Blue had to smile at such transparency. “I’m
not after her money. I have my own.”

“How’s that?” Xera asked.

“Good investments, and I’ve saved some of my
salary. That’s the way we working-class types do it.”

Her eyes narrowed. “So, you’re saying you
love her. She’s not just another sort of investment?”

Blue leaned in. “I’m saying that’s between
Gem and me. I’m not about to tell you how I feel when I haven’t
even spoken to her. Now, if that’s about it, I’m hungry. Care to
get me something from the kitchen?”

Xera stood up and her eyes raked him. “You
seem hale enough to me. Go find your own food.” Then she flounced
out.

“What’s up with her?” Gem asked, looking
over her shoulder at her departing sister as she entered the room.
“Hey, are you hungry? I saved something for you.” Almost shyly, her
gaze skated over Blue’s as she headed for the kitchen.

“Thank you!” He rose and followed, settling
down at a table closer to the stove so he could watch. “Your sister
doesn’t like me.”

Gem laughed. “What else is new? She likes to
mow people over. It irks her when some of them don’t lie down and
take it, don’t let her walk over them. She has her wonderful
moments, for all that.”

“Maybe she can go back to the academy soon,”
Blue suggested. He knew she was tired of being someplace other than
where her career required.

“I think that will help.” Gem slid a plate
toward him. “Any chance of it happening soon?”

He savored a bite of what she’d given him,
considering. “Depends on Azor’s part of the operation. He’s close
to an arrest that will take out the player who sent the hit men
after you, but they’ve got a few things to tie up first. Once that
happens, you can go home. Even if the results of the trial didn’t
convince that smuggler to drop his grievance, your enemy will be
too busy to trying to save his own sorry hide to worry about you.
Most likely, the contract on you will be ignored once his assets
are seized. No money, no service. Assassins don’t work for
free.”

“Glad to hear it,” Gem said dryly. “Who
exactly is my enemy, anyway? Are we sure yet?”

“Can’t tell you,” Blue said. He tried to
keep his tone conversational. “Could you pass the hot sauce?”

Gem sighed and slid it over. “So…are we
talking a matter of weeks, or what?”

“Maybe. Got cabin fever already?”

“Yeah. I’m twitchy,” she confided. “I don’t
know what to do with all this down time.”

He considered the immaculate kitchen.
“Cooking and cleaning aren’t enough?”

Her smile was wry. “Honestly, it’s like a
vacation. I was never good at vacation; not that I ever got much
experience. I hardly know what to do with myself.”

Blue gave her a sly look.

“No, Blue,” she retorted.

He shrugged, gave an amused smile. “Can you
blame me? I’ve got plenty of free time, too. And I desire you.”

“Well, maybe you should learn something new
to do in your free time. Why don’t you help me cook today?” she
suggested with a smile. But it was obvious she didn’t expect him to
say yes.

“Sounds good!” he replied. “Just don’t get
upset when I set myself on fire.”

To Gem’s surprise, she found Blue a good
hand in the kitchen. His arm was stiff, but there were plenty of
things he could still do, and he worked without complaint. She
found herself actually enjoying his company.

When she stepped outside later to call the
guys in for dinner, she was surprised to see Xera covered in grime
and sweat, her short, dyed-green curls plastered to her head. She
looked more like a field hand than a pampered seductress. It was
obvious she’d been working beside the men. If they had visitors
now, her condition might be hard to explain.

Xera just grunted when Gem pointed it out.
“I’ll go soft in that kitchen. I need to stay in shape for the
academy.”

Gem made a noncommittal hum as she gazed out
over the farm. In the distance she could see the transport-sized
rock-splitter robot they’d rented. It slowly rolled over the dirt
closest to the iceberg, pausing to emit sonic waves that shivered
the solid rock into smaller dirt particles. At a rate of 2,000
square feet an hour, the machine had its work cut out. This
particular asteroid was roughly 27 miles wide and 44 miles
long.

Not all of the rock would be turned to farm
soil, of course. Buildings were already being “printed” with a
giant construction arm. Also rented, the construction machine was
very simple to use. Once a site was leveled and prepped, the
machine and its crew of two got set up. All you had to do was
select a design and keep the “printer cartridge” full of cement.
Once started, the machine could print one three-dimensional house
per day. On day two the hollow walls were fitted with pre-fab,
wireless energy transmitters, snap-in light fixtures and plumbing.
The third day would see the filling of the hollow walls with a type
of spray insulation. After that the roof would go up, for the walls
would have had time to cure. Super-efficient solar panels would be
mounted on top.

Gem had to admit the process was amazing.
She could see herself investing in a venture like this. But
suddenly she wondered who was funding it. This kind of setup wasn’t
cheap. For that matter, who would knowingly allow a bunch of Narc
officers to use this equipment?

Blue shrugged when she asked him. “Maybe
Zsak knows.”

“It’s a private investor,” his friend
remarked. “He’d rather not have his affiliation with our office
mouthed around, you know? I can tell you he has a few bucks,
though. Constructing this type of digs isn’t cheap.”

Freshly showered, Xera set her supper plate
down at their table of four. “I’ll say. Have you seen the
blueprints for this place, Gem? It’s going to look like a private
estate! Not sure what they’re going to grow that will make enough
profit to pay this place off before doomsday, though.” She shook
her head.

“Medicinal herbs,” Blue supplied. He set his
computer on the table and changed it to projection mode. A
holographic map spread out before them.

“I’ve had time to read,” he explained,
answering their curious looks. “Once dried, some of these plants go
for as much as illegal drugs would, but they are completely
lawful.” A series of plants, complete with captions, scrolled past.
“They hope this will serve as a model for other farmers who want to
pay off their land, too. A portion of this island will be set up
for tenant farmers to grow their own food, both for themselves and
their livestock. It should be a nice place once it’s done.”

Gem looked at Xera, both pleased and amazed.
“We couldn’t afford a whole rock, but this is genius. What about
investing in something like this? Someone with some business sense
could make a real go of it.”

Xera shrugged. “It sounds rosy, but what are
the risks? Crop failures, bad tenants…How many ventures have we
seen go bankrupt? I say we keep all our money invested in The
Spark. You have plans to expand, remember? It’s not as exciting to
stick with what you know, but it is practical.”

Gem mulled that over, still tempted to
diversify. “It would be nice to have a trustworthy financial
advisor, someone who’s already found the path, you know?” She
relented at Xera’s frown of concern. “Don’t worry, I see your
point, sis. I really don’t want to risk our futures.”

Zsak poked a vegetable with his fork,
hesitated, then passed it up in favor of meat. “You seem to be
doing well enough with what you’ve got,” he remarked.

Blue shook his head slightly, but if he had
any doubts, he didn’t elaborate. “As soon as the rock bot gets done
breaking up the soil, we’re going to seed it with good microbes,
bugs and fungi. When that’s done we’ll start the first green
manure. In a couple of months it will be plowed under to enrich the
soil. We’ll do that a couple of times before the cash crops are
started.”

“Not that we’ll be here. Seriously, why
bother? Whatever our deal is with the owner, why not just throw
some fertilizer down and get farming?” Xera asked.

“A person could do that, and wear out the
soil,” Blue explained. “This is the most economical way to build
the soil up. An owner would want really good dirt to produce the
best plants. The best plants get top dollar. To do otherwise just
isn’t good business sense.”

“Huh,” Xera said, and promptly lost
interest.

Gem considered Blue with interest. She’d
never seen this side of him, never known he cared anything for
business. Now that he was being his true self, what else might they
have in common? She asked more questions, and before she knew it
they’d whiled away most of an hour just talking investments and
commerce.

Xera had long ago wandered off in boredom
when Blue finally excused himself to go take his meds. Gem nodded
absently and watched him leave, then rose to go take a walk. He’d
given her a lot to think about.

It was dusk outside, with the last rays of
the sun sinking over the rim of the asteroid island. She imagined
the belt of breathable air outside, and imagined farther still, to
the unseen islands beyond, dotting the edges of sight. The area
must be a beautiful view from a ship.

Her aimless roaming took her down into a
crater where the sunshine quickly retreated, leaving only long
shadows. There was a three-story ridge to her left, but the low
walls on her right allowed her to glance over and see their craft
and the entrance to their home caves.

It was cooling off as night fell. She’d go
back in a little bit, but she wanted to think about Blue a little
more.

A sudden faint noise to her left made Gem
turn her head. She glanced up, but there was nothing to see but a
rock wall. Then a following shout made her look back and to the
right. A crushing weight immediately dropped onto her left
shoulder. Something cracked, and then the weight rolled off her
arm, hit the ground and settled hard against her ankle.

Gem howled in pain and dropped helplessly,
barely registering that it was a huge rock that had felled her. She
gritted her teeth against the waves of pain, each beat of her heart
bringing a new agony.

Footsteps sounded as someone ran up. Blue
snatched her hand, lifted her up and ran with her, never giving her
a chance to protest, not saying a word even if he could have been
heard over her shrieks. He was hurting her, and she raged against
the pain, not understanding why. She was so agonized by the time he
set her down in their home cave that she couldn’t make out what he
was saying.

He left her and someone else took his place.
It was Xera, and her sister was trying to soothe her, but her body
hurt.
She couldn’t breathe.

There was a tiny sting against her good arm,
so insignificant it barely registered. In moments the pain receded,
became manageable. Gem began to curse Blue.

“He saved your life,” Xera told her
fiercely, breaking in against her rant. She helped the group medic
cut off Gem’s shirt. “Someone dropped a rock on you. He’s gone out
hunting the man who did it.”

“What?” Even with the meds, Gem whimpered as
the medic probed her shoulder.

Someone new skidded in with a medical kit
and handed the medic a scanner. He stopped probing to wave the
device over Gem’s injury. At the view of her bones on the display,
he grimaced. “Nasty break there.”

“Do we need to get her to a doctor?” Xera
asked anxiously.

The medic frowned. “I
am
a
doctor.”

“Okay, but can you fix this without a
hospital, I mean. Does she need surgery?”

He shook his head. “I can fix her up on the
ship; it’s got everything I need. We’ll have to move her, though,
and we’ll need a stretcher. Looks like her ankle is banged up, too,
though that’s only a bad bruise. See?” He held the scanner over the
ankle in question.

Xera winced. “I’ll go see what’s keeping the
stretcher.”

“Just don’t go anywhere alone,” the medic
warned.

He covered Gem with a blanket. Grateful, she
closed her eyes and tried not to think too hard.

They hadn’t found the attacker.

Blue studied the ground as the rest of his
team fanned out. There were a few tracks in the dust, then nothing.
It was as if the man had suddenly vanished.