Darsey was sweaty and exhausted. She felt as though her body had been pummelled in a space wreck and she stumbled down the lengthy corridor behind Wing, wondering if she had ever been happier. The thought shocked her and she stopped in surprise. It seemed disrespectful to her lost crew to be enjoying herself on the Bandit, but she had to admit that it was true. She had definitely been having fun. For nearly two hours.
Darsey abruptly realized that she was falling behind and hurried after Wing, reluctant to be left alone in a dim passage that looked flat, but felt like a switchback to walk. She leaned forward to climb the corridor as it started to rise even more steeply and her muscles protested at the strangely invisible slope. She pushed on until her boots suddenly slipped and she almost skidded into Nightwing as the uphill section abruptly changed to downhill. She shook her head at the unexpected switch in gravity and wondered if it was related to the weightless rebound caves that dominated the recreation section they were in.
Darsey had no idea why Wing had kept his promise to teach her rebound so soon after their fight, but she wasn’t about to complain. Despite the passage of less than a week, her violation of his files might never have happened. Neither had mentioned it again and she suspected that Pertwing had been ordered to forget the incident. Darsey had learnt from the console that the bracelet was a kres wedding band, but nothing else. Pertwing had remained resolutely silent about further details.
Wing stopped and looked back in time to see her skid down another invisible slope. “Need a rest?” he asked with a friendly smile, steadying Darsey as she slid to a stop beside him.
She blinked at the long corridor still ahead of them and the shadows that hinted at unseen hills, but shook her head.
“No, I’m okay. I was just thinking.”
“Now I’m worried,” he stated, but his grin took any edge from the comment. “Would you like to share the thought?”
“I was thinking that rebound is fun.”
“That it is.”
“But I was also wondering about this corridor. Why the slope?”
“Character.”
“I beg your pardon?” Darsey asked, blinking in surprise, and Wing looked at her uncertainly.
“Is that not what you say when somesuch is wrong with the Bandit because it’s old? Character?”
“Oh yeah, character. I’m not sure I understand, though. Is it something to do with the rebound caves being weightless?”
Wing smiled encouragement at her guess, but then frowned and threw out an arm to strike the wall. Darsey jumped away, until he swayed and she darted back to offer support, tucking herself under his arm.
“Are you okay?”
“Sure. I’m stellar. Must’ve slipped between an ‘up’ and a ‘down’ patch, that’s all.” The kres straightened carefully, before stepping away from Darsey and the wall. “See? Possibly just shocked because you’re right. The different demands for gravity in the caves and the close-by cabins would need energy plus to orient the full passage. It’s easier to use multiple gravitational axes, which means the slope changes all along the corri-” Nightwing broke off again and shook his head. “P’raps I’m explaining too well. It seems like the passage is twisting.”
“Definitely not. Wing, are you sure you’re fine?”
“Truly, I’m good too.”
“Really. Then why are you holding onto me?”
Nightwing looked down at his hands and seemed shocked to see them clutching Darsey’s shoulders. “Shorry, Darsh...ee,” he mumbled, before tilting to one side. “Bad. A-shash-a… ashins… kill me.”
“Wing!” Darsey stepped into his collapse and braced herself under his arm just before he fell. She pivoted to swing his limp form into the wall, pushing him hard against its support and managing to keep him upright. His face was pale and as translucent as amber beneath its faint glitter.
“Wing!” she hissed urgently, but there was no response. She touched his forehead and it felt sweaty, but not unusually hot. Her fingers slid to the pulse in his neck and she felt her own heart race as she found it. It hammered against his throat, quick and thready with unexpected surges.
Wing slumped further and Darsey cursed as he started to slide sideways. She used her fear, giving it free rein to help her find the strength to haul him upright again. She wedged one shoulder beneath his underarm and took a deep breath. Calm returned and she reached down to awkwardly access her new com. “Computer-”
“My name is Pertwing,” the console’s voice responded, forcing Darsey to control her temper as well as her terror.
“Something’s wrong with Nightwing. Do you know what?”
The glow of a diagnostic scan flickered from Nightwing’s com and its aura settled around his forearm. If Pertwing was concerned, it hid it as well as Darsey. “He is metabolising over two hundred units of gene-tailored anaesthezine,” the machine answered without alarm. “Sweat activated and with a combination rate too slow to alert sensors. It was made specifically to render Nightwing, and Nightwing only, unconscious.”
“He’s been drugged?” Darsey’s mind raced. “How dangerous is it? Can you counteract the effect?”
“Anaesthezine is seldom fatal. Any genuine poison would have been scanned by ship security. However, Nightwing’s com is not a med bay, and I have no way to alter its process. Shall I alert the ship’s healer?”
“No. Don’t tell anyone Nightwing’s unconscious.” Darsey twisted carefully and reached up to lightly slap a golden cheek. “C’mon,” she coaxed, resisting the urge to shake him. “Wing, whoever drugged you is looking for you right now. Wake up. Somebody’s coming to kill you, so snap out of it.” She bit her lower lip before slapping him harder, but there was no response. “How long will he be unconscious?”
“Fifteen minutes plus,” the com replied.
“Damn.” Darsey readjusted his weight against her and tried to ignore the growing strain. She considered trying to drag him, but with the unpredictable slope of the rebound corridor that seemed prohibitively slow. “O-kay,” she muttered and took a deep breath. “We’re on our way back. Pertwing, let me know if anyone approaches. Can you do that?”
“Yes, within a limited range.”
Darsey nodded absently and then forgot the console. She reached to grip Nightwing’s nearer wrist, running through a training exercise from years ago in her mind. Satisfied that she remembered the process, she placed her feet wide and braced herself as she bent forward to take his weight across her shoulders. She pulled hard on his arm, while thrusting against his thigh with all of her com-enhanced strength. Unfortunately, she was stronger than she expected and Nightwing was lighter. Much lighter. She propelled his limp form onto her shoulders at speed and it showed no sign of stopping. Oh, crap.
Darsey grabbed for Wing’s hip, just in time to stop him flying straight over her and into the far wall. His body fell, to drape awkwardly across her shoulders and she staggered in a circle as if she was drugged too. If only. Why did the slave have to get stuck with all the work? A giggle escaped Darsey and she clamped down on hysteria even harder than Wing’s legs.
Despite her efforts his body slipped further, until his torso swayed beside her while she clung grimly to his thighs. She took a steadying breath and then a careful step, but her burden was too unbalanced and she staggered into the wall. She cursed loudly, almost covering Pertwing’s incredulous comment.
“What do you attempt, human? Inverting Nightwing will not reverse unconsciousness.”
“No kidding. How heavy is this guy?”
“Converting to the kilo measure you filed, Nightwing weighs fifty-six kilograms.”
Darsey stopped trying to tug her burden further into position and slumped against the wall in surprise. “You’re joking right? That’s impossible. He’s way too tall and muscular to be that light.”
“Hollow bones that are carbon based,” the computer explained brusquely. “I sense mutt approaching.”
“Can you help me? Turn off the gravity in this section or someth
ing?”
“Negative. I do not have such authority. However, I note that Nightwing’s centre of balance across your shoulders is still twenty cents to the left-”
“Thank you very much,” Darsey snarled. “I’m aware of that.” She chewed her lip while she leaned against the wall and hunted for inspiration.
Voices echoed along the passage and her pulse accelerated.
“Pertwing, could the technology used to camouflage a ship be used to hide a person?”
“Yes, but it would take more power than your com can channel. Two mutt are approaching from the leeward of the ship.”
“I have no idea what direction that is, but I can hear them. Are they dressed for rebound?”
“No.”
“Great, we’ll go back and hide in a cave.” Darsey pushed herself urgently from the wall and at the same time managed to shrug Wing’s comatose form into a more secure position. She took a step that was fairly straight and then another. Her third stride wavered and she had to stop before momentum unbalanced her again. She stood swaying and sweating heavily as muscles already tired from rebound demanded some rest. “Computer,” Darsey gasped, “can the com disguise Nightwing?”
“It does not have the finesse needed to hold convincing facial features, or the power to disguise his total body.”
“Just- ah- just color his hair. Brown, blond and blue, like ManDaNiah’s. What species is he?”
“ManDaNiah is a gentik, but Nightwing is unconscious and that is what his hunters will look for-”
“Do it,” Darsey ordered in a clipped tone, and Pertwing silently obeyed.
Nightwing’s hair shimmered briefly and from the corner of her eye, Darsey caught a gleam of brown and blue. She raised her head, wincing at the pain in her neck, and looked down the twenty metres of twilit corridor that still stood between them and the closest rebound cave. The murmur of the approaching mutt grew clearer. Their voices were worried and she made out the word, “Jileea”.
Darsey took another careful step toward the sound and this time kept going. Her pace was slow, but steady and she breathed deeply. The tremor of the approaching guards’ tread carried to her feet and the name, “Nightwing” also rumbled around the corner.
Darsey grimaced as she panted her way up and down the switchback passage. It seemed this drama was being played out by her prime suspects, but this time she’d have to face down Jileea’s blaster without Wing’s help. The mutt’s voices were now a constant low rumble, a thunder of concern about failing their boss and they were nearly at the corner ahead.
However, Darsey ignored the assassins completely. All of her attention was on walking and a simple series of steps that were straight. The fact that she was walking toward two mutt who were hurrying toward her was irrelevant. The cave entrance beckoned from just before the corner and she moved steadily toward it.
“Human,” Pertwing’s voice hissed from the com, but Darsey was too close to potential enemies to risk responding. “You must go the other way. You must run. The mutt are close and they are searching the rebound caves.”
I know, Darsey thought as clearly as she could. I’m counting on it. We’ll pass through the search line and be safe. We’d never make it to the link at this pace. It’s over two hundred metres away and you can bet they’ll be watching that too. Can the com move Nightwing’s limbs?
There was no response and Darsey wondered if Pertwing understood the message. She took another stride, long and desperate, as the noise from the mutt reached the corner. The step was too ambitious and she started to fall, so she threw herself at the court entrance with the last of her strength. She saw a mutt’s leg appear around the corner and then her body toppled forward. Nightwing flew over her head and she collapsed into the cave after him, but neither hit the floor hard. They tumbled into the weightless space and everything slowed. Darsey’s momentum drifted her into firm padding, before bouncing her back to the middle of the oval chamber. She floated across it and saw Wing turning limply beneath her. Her need for rest was almost overwhelming, but adrenaline kept her moving.
“Pertwing!” she hissed, and was reassured by an instant response.
“Ye, the com can control the arm it’s attached to and move Wing somewhat. I’ll send it proper signals. The mutt are six metres away. Four. Two.”
The console fell silent, but Darsey was already moving. She gave a triumphant shout and shot herself across the sphere, between the mutt and Nightwing.
“My game, ManDaNiah,” she crowed. Now, Pertwing.
Wing’s com pulsed and he seemed to push away from the lower quadrant. His left arm rose in the traditional salute offered to a victor. Darsey responded with the requisite nod and Nightwing’s arm pulled the rest of his torso down in an answering bow.
“Another game?” she called to his unconscious form, and his com pulsed again to pull him to the central starting point.
“Game good?” grunted a voice from beyond the chamber, and Darsey swivelled in apparent surprise.
She saw two mutt through the entry field and to her relief they were both strangers. They seemed to be on their sides, so she sent a thought to her com. Its gentle surge tilted her until she was on the same orientation as the mutt in the corridor.
“Sure it’s good,” she answered casually. “I’m winning. I don’t know how a gentik thought to beat a mermaridian.”
The two hulking males laughed at the idea and Darsey had to hide a shudder at the gleam of their teeth. Neither seemed to have any lips. They were lost within silky silver hair in one case and rolls of fat in the other.
“What you’n think?” the bigger mutt yelled toward Nightwing, making his belly ripple with anger and indignation.
Wing floated with his back to the strangers, but his left hand tilted in a gesture that was unfamiliar to Darsey.
“Too late say’n ‘no matter’ now,” grunted the other mutt, and both laughed again.
“Much too late,” Darsey agreed. “Do you want to watch? I certain-sure like an audience.”
“Ye,” they agreed without hesitation, and Darsey hid her shock. Perhaps the mutt were suspicious of her. “Great,” she said super brightly. “So you’re both off shift. You don’t have any work to do?”
Their synchronised response was so dismayed that she had to hide a relieved smile. Both mutt gaped and their horror was obvious.
“Work,” they groaned and exchanged a fearful glance.
“Us’n work,” the hairy one apologised, before they both backed away. The other nudged his partner and hesitated.
“Not shift. This not our’n shift. Not work, no. Just fun. Fun for boss. Or friend. Yes. Boss our’n friend. So, do for her now’n.”
“Hurry,” the other hissed, and pulled at the rolls of fat encasing his partner’s arm.
The two bowed deeply and turned away. They moved off amid more anxious muttering and Darsey’s legs turned to jelly. If there had been any gravity in the rebound courts, she would have fallen. She sagged anyway and the movement wafted her lower to bounce gently against the curve of the cave. Wing drifted across the space above her and his com pulled his hand down to slap his thigh repeatedly in a slow sarcastic clap.
“Miraculous,” Pertwing drawled. “The primitive can out-think mutt. What a triumph for humans. Do you realize you’ve just put an enemy between Nightwing and safety? How do you plan to return him to me?”
“Why would I want to?” Darsey inquired mildly. “Coming home to you doesn’t exactly thrill me.”
“I can keep Wing safe,” Pertwing snapped in its first outwardly agitated response.
“Perhaps, but his quarters are going to be watched. This section has been searched and cleared, so it’s going to be ignored. When they don’t find Wing they’ll think about searching again, but by the time they realize he’s slipped their net it’ll be too late. In less than ten minutes he’ll be conscious and able to take care of himself. All I have to do is keep us out of sight ‘til then. The rebound ruse works wel
l-”
“Against mutt,” Pertwing interrupted, “but whoever planned this is certain-sure no mutt. When they fail to find Nightwing, they’re likely to re-search the rebound courts. An assassin would never risk using too many mutt, so the courts were likely the sole place they covered. You can expect another visit of a more terminal nature.”
“Well, a terminal would know,” Darsey quipped, but the flush of her success was rapidly changing to unease. She chewed her lower lip and looked thoughtfully at Wing, who had come to rest floating at an angle across the court.
Unfortunately, the entire passage side of the cave was transparent to allow spectators an excellent view. Hiding inside the brightly lit court was impossible. Unless…
“Pertwing, I need Nightwing’s com.”
“You have your own com, human.”
“No, I need his and I need all the power it can give. Enough for all-over camouflage.”
“Impossible. I can't channel energy enough-”
“No. Not the sort of disguise you’re thinking of. I don’t want to be invisible. I just need enough color to blend with my surroundings. Can you manage that? It won’t have to stand up to close inspection.” I hope.
There was no answer from Pertwing, and Darsey threw herself impatiently across the court. The pulse was perfectly judged and her legs flexed to halt her easily against an intersection of colors that formed part of an eye-twisting pattern around the hollow sphere.
“I’ll float here,” she explained, “exactly where the purple, lime and puce meet. Color my body in the same way and a mermaridian will look straight past me. Especially if you lower the lighting. What do you think?”
“What you describe is possible,” Pertwing admitted. “Lower lighting is easy-as. Greon encourages such saving. The colors are more difficult and will use extra energy. So much power may overload even Nightwing’s com and such a drain will be noted in the nest.”
“It doesn’t matter. If we use it, we’ve been found anyway. Spies on the bridge won’t matter. They might even help. Greon can’t be part of this. If he wanted Nightwing dead, he’d just do it, but my disgusting owner seems to be a decent senior. Greon might help us-”
“Idiot,” Pertwing interrupted happily. “The leader will watch his crew die with pleasure. He wants only the strongest to serve. However, I will release the com to you. Nightwing’s survival requires it. I will also add any power that you need.”
“Then we have nothing to worry about,” Darsey stated firmly and belatedly hoped that Pertwing didn’t ask about the fingers she had crossed behind her back.
A click that echoed from the curving walls announced the release of Nightwing’s com and Darsey kicked off to snatch it from the air as she swept across the chamber. She flipped to push off from the far wall and shot back to her lurid intersection. Two hours of rebound had made her body well used to the moves needed to cover the court in pursuit of the correct energy pulse. A back thrust stopped her in position and she snapped Wing’s com into place on her other wrist. It hung there for a moment, loose around her smaller arm, before gradually tightening.
There was a brief sensation of uniform coolness as the com settled into place and then a euphoric surge so strong that Darsey’s arms and legs jerked wide. Her pulse leapt as she breathed in sharply and the world seemed to come into focus around her, less colorful, but clearer than usual. Her body spasmed again as it struggled to surf a wave of energy unlike anything she had felt before.
The healthiest and fittest moments of Darsey’s life seemed weak and sickly in comparison to the wellbeing infusing her now. A sleeve of energy flowed from the com to encase every cell and maximise its function. She breathed in sharply once more, and then sighed as her physiology started to adjust to sensations that were far beyond any extreme it had previously known. That sigh seemed to last an age and her next breath was just as slow and shallow. Respiration that would once have suited deep meditation was all her enhanced metabolism needed.
Darsey shook her head in amazement and nearly twisted it off her shoulders. “Ow,” she complained automatically, before realising that there was no corresponding pain. She rubbed her neck carefully, and came close to putting her hand through the wall when she swung it down again.
Darsey gave a startled laugh that suddenly became an anguished cry. The euphoria sweeping her body vanished and she was swamped by pain flowing from her newly commed wrist. The hurt was so intense that she froze in place, unable to do more than gasp sharply, dragging air past her teeth and into lungs on fire. She managed that single breath and then her body convulsed, thrashing across the cave with full combat strength. She twisted and spun, almost kicking herself in the back of the head with one heel, while the other smashed through the strengthened curve of the wall. She felt as though she was tearing herself apart.
However, before Darsey could find another breath to scream, the pain disappeared. It stopped as abruptly as it had started. She slipped seamlessly from unimaginable hurt back to utter wellbeing. The transition was so sudden and so welcome that anything beyond her body became irrelevant. She concentrated on simply breathing and each lungful absorbed her. That simple and familiar act felt so good that she slipped into a reverie, oblivious to anything else. She was jerked back to the present by an unwelcome voice.
“That seemed odd, but com enhancement does take adjustment,” Pertwing instructed testily. “Try to show some restraint, human.”
“I show restraint every time I talk to you, machine. And if that’s a warning, it was late.”
“Perhaps, but this one is not. A mermaridian is fast closing from the link.”
Darsey’s breathing deepened slightly, but it was remarkably easy to stay calm. She glanced at Nightwing, and a kick of her foot took her to his side. She hooked the same foot beneath his chest and hoisted his floating form into her arms with a single flick of her toe. “Party time,” she murmured, “and we need a piñata, my friend.”
16
The Hunt