thieves. Aye, thieves." He settled to the back of his chair, his face almost disappearing in the shadow.
"What happened?"
"Learn you every knot, says you?" He grabbed a stoker and prodded the logs, though they were obviously fake. It was only the fuel leaking through their skin that burned.
"They just left?"
"Just left!" He jerked back to her. "Those three weren’t what they seemed. False companions, I sees it too clearly now and too nebulous then. We worked hard on legitimate missions, for a price, but the cause was good. Twasn’t enough for Roberr. He leaned on the each of us. 'Take a mission here, running contraband for the Ilhoued nomads', he says to Janus. 'Pays good, but it has to be off the books. Help an outcast doctor, escape his jurisdiction', he says to Marsell. All the whiles, I says, its got the savor of . . . " Retinbour looked down at his leg. "Nevermind that. Theys three turn on me. Takin' jobs behind my back. Instead of runnin' the smugglers down, I’ve got them perpetratin' it on my own ship."
"What’d you do?" Thinking of that empty room, Aiyela was afraid to hear the answer. "Did you," she gulped, "space them?"
"Don’t be thinkin' ya knows me so well. I never caught 'em. Not until it was too late. They’d scrounged them together another ship, and why not? They’d filled their purses between their jobs and mine." Retinbour seemed lost in the room. "Twas about to give her this room, to be ours. She to be my wife. Instead of her bein' in her old cabin, she be gone. And with her, Janus and that moon crumb Roberr. I tracks them down."
"What’d she say?" Aiyela wouldn’t say it out loud, but this was the best story she’d ever heard. Smugglers and runaways! Romance! Heartbreaking betrayal!
"She spun me a tale about some poor sap—poor indeed, they must have earned a pocketful of crown. Telling me I was thick headed and dare’n' to say they were in the right. I told her if it was true, I’d net the problem another way. But she . . . I’d lost her by then. Wouldna hear a word." Retinbour leaned back as if defeated by the telling. "Haven’t heard or seen her in five years."
Wow—no wait, what? "That’s it?"
"That’s it?!?"
Aiyela’s bubbled like a teapot, "You invite this girl on the trip of a lifetime with two friends who must have also been your friends, set up this awesome room with fabric and wood and a kitchen and a fireplace. I bet there’s a bathtub behind that door over there! And she wants to do something different and after all this time you don’t even listen to her side of the story!"
"I said what she said!"
"You said that she said, but you didn’t listen to what she had to say! Who turned off the radio, you or her?"
"Little woman, you best be hearin' what I say. I-I—" He cut himself off. "It makes little difference who turned off who. Right is right, and we do right!"
"You. Are. A. Pirate! You spend your time trying to convince people that you plan to capture them, steal their stuff, and boil the flesh from their bones!"
"Privateer." Retinbour tried to change the subject. "And yer might be confusing pirates and ogres."
But Aiyela wasn’t having it. "And then when you catch the wrong one, you have to pretend to be stupid so that you can keep on pretending to be cut throat! Right is right?!?"
"Yer to young a person to be understanding these things."
"I’s be old enough to be—" She shook her head, hoping pirate talk wasn’t contagious. "I’m old enough to know that when someone acts like a pirate but isn’t a pirate, they should know there’s another side to someone who loves them and holds good things true even if they do something different than they would. You’re right, you did have a crew once. These robots, they’re not a crew."
Retinbour stood up. "It be time for you to put to space."
It seemed Aiyela had succeeded in escaping the clutches of the pirate captain Retinbour. But seeing as he was evicting her having never really intended to harm her, it seemed like a small victory. She would much rather have been held a while longer if she could have gotten him to drop anchor in his senses.
She might even have had a chance to use one of those shower stalls . . .
As she was boarding the ramp onto her ship—which Retinbour’s droids had refueled and repaired—Aiyela called out a thank you. He nodded—almost nodded. It might have just been a frown that tugged down on his face. She started to add, "That it had only been five years," though for a fourteen year old that sounded like a very long time, "and he could still patch it up with Marsell." But he acted as though he hadn’t heard her and sounded the decompression alarm.
Aiyela hurried inside and sealed the ship. As she put out, she pitied the pirate and wished she could have done more to help him. Maybe if her soup had been better he would have been less crusty inside? Maybe if she’d watched her mouth a little more he wouldn’t have been so snappy?
Or maybe he would have put her off sooner? Maybe she might have escaped without ever having a talk with him?
There was no way to know which was best. Whether she’d helped or hindered, she prayed that God had a better plan for that crippled man than to sit alone in his ship full of droids with only his bad memory for company.
Aiyela plotted her course and shifted space, glad that she could still meet her deadline with the cargo. It briefly occurred to her that she didn’t know what was in Bird's crates. Retinbour had opened them, but it must not have been what he was looking for. That made her wonder what his mission was? What cargo was he looking for?
Oh well. Without answers, she reheated her chai tea, grabbed her blanket and settled in to finish The Frauline Gambit. She got a couple chapters further along when she realized she had no idea what had happened since she picked the book back up.
The book went back on its shelf between the radio and the bulkhead. With nothing else to do, nothing she had the energy to do—there was always something on the verge of falling apart—she turned on the radio and set it to scan. Who knew what chatter she might catch a bit of? Maybe she’d find a show?
"—ell." A voice harrumphed. "Are you out there?" That scratching sand voice was fresh and unmistakable anywhere. "Marsell from Mauliston, are you out there? This is your old . . . This is Retinbour. Are you out there?"
The pirate repeated the same thing though in different ways, adding details without giving away too much about either of them. Over and over, he called for the next couple days till finally someone answered. "Hey, uh. I think I might know Marsell," said another man. "Or at least, where you might be able to find her."
Romance!
###
About J.S. Clark
I (J.S. Clark) hope you enjoyed your time with Aiyela. I began writing this series after New Arbor Day as a refreshing change of pace, inspired by my wife Alisa who has had her share of hard days along with me. But the first episode was so much fun to write, that I've made it my break of choice between my other, more "serious", projects. I say that with quotes because revisiting more childlike times and stories is good for the soul, and despite what someone might think it is very serious work.
As always, remember that for an independent author marketing is the toughest chore, especially since for most of us, this is work we squeeze out of our sleep. So if you enjoyed this, tell someone else. That's easily the biggest favor, for a new writer. Just tell someone else.
J.S. Clark lives in southern Ohio with his wife, Alisa and their assorted, adopted cats, dogs, and other living paraphernalia. Most of the time, he's operating a small oasis of good, quick food (not fast food) called the Happy Turtle, located in West Union Ohio. He couldn't do it alone so his wife does at least half the work. Outside of that, together they're learning self-sufficiency on a small, potential farm, and endeavoring to live as disciples of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah. With the time God gives him outside, and in the cracks of that daily work, he writes.
He always has another work on the burner, but don't worry we'll be seeing Aiyela soon enough. At the time of this publishing, he has one published novel New Arbor Day and is deep
in a sci-fi epic novel Evangeline, the continuing adventures of Aiyela, and a sequel to New Arbor Day tentatively titled God of Heroes.
Check out J.S. Clark's blog at https://pen-of-jsclark.com and follow him on twitter @jsclark5768 for the latest on these and other projects and happenings!
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