Jess Granger

Part Two, Posts 11-20

Ethel stared at the com in her hand. So small, so insignificant—so capable of causing terrible damage to those who crossed her. Devar wanted her head. He deserved it after what she’d done to his ship. He’d come after her, but what other choice did she have?

She’d have to face him eventually.

She spared a glance at Qinn. He’d hardly come to her rescue. She felt a sharp pang in her heart. No one ever came to her rescue. She always had to find her own way out. It was getting tedious.

Ethel took a deep breath, then slid her fingers across the com, initiating the virus. She watched as it spread like a wildfire through the code and infected the nav-pings coming from the Pevar ships.

“Brace yourselves,” Ethel warned.

She clutched her hand over Keo’s soft body as she ducked under the console.

A high-pitched whistle reverberated through the cavernous shelter, followed by a moment of stillness, as if chaos held her breath.

Boom!

The impact from the first Pevar ship shook the ground beneath their feet.

“L2, Patch the shields. They’re falling fast!” Ethel shouted.

As the second ship hit, Qinn ducked under the console, a section of the ceiling fell, crashing over the console above them. Qinn grabbed her and pulled her closer to the wall, shielding her from the debris with his body.

Ethel couldn’t breathe as her stomach twisted in knots. He was protecting her?

She stared at him in disbelief, his face so close to hers as three more ships crashed outside. The blaring lights of the fire warning system initiated, but she didn’t hear the siren as she remained transfixed.

His expression looked so hard and resigned, but his hand squeezed her forearm.

Another ship crashed, and electricity discharged through the power array. The lights died, plunging them into darkness.

L2 let out a metallic hiccup as she continued to work the shields.

Three more ships crashed. She heard the miners scream, but couldn’t move, and couldn’t see anything, even Qinn.

“Stay still,” he whispered.

Smoke turned the air sour. The darkness clawed at her. She felt trapped, so helpless, but all was still.

It was torture. In the dark, she could feel Qinn’s warm breath on her cheek. Was it over? Had she taken them all out? How long did she have until Devar arrived to kill her?

She tried to pull her hand out of Qinn’s grip, but he held her fast.

Ethel closed her eyes and tried to breathe, but her panic reached up and grabbed her around her neck, choking her.

She tried to pull her hand free, but Qinn maintained his firm hold, locking her to him, holding her in. She saw little sparks of white explode in front of her closed eyes as she exhaled and coughed.

Falling on to her elbow, she tried to suck in a hasty breath between coughing fits, but couldn’t get any air.

There was no air.

“Hey, easy,” Qinn soothed as he let go of her wrist. She felt the warmth of his palm seep into her lower back as he pulled her out from under the console. “Breathe, sweets. It’s okay.”

She stumbled to the side, tingling needles of pain shot through the backs of her legs as her circulation returned to her limbs. Her coughing continued, shaking Keo out of her coat. He held on to one brass button with his beak as he flapped his wings and scrambled for a grip with his feet.

Again she felt Qinn’s body closing over her, sheltering her.

She stumbled away from him. “Let go of me, alright?” she managed to choke out as stinging tears seeped out of her eyes. She hastily swiped them away with the back of her hand.

“You dying on me?” Qinn asked, he held out his hand for support. She looked at it, but didn’t take it.

“I will be if I don’t get out of here right now.” She scooped Keo onto her shoulder then jogged toward the metal staircase leading down to the crowd of miners.

“Wait,” Qinn protested.

Yeah right. She had just saved all their lives, but now hers was in jeopardy. Devar was close, he had nearly hacked into her system back at the ship. It wouldn’t take him long to find her. She had to get out of there.

“It’s been a blast, but I’ve got to go.” Ethel patted L2 on the shoulder, as the android blinked sleepily and smiled.

She stashed her com in her pocket then took the stairs two at a time. Frances ran toward her carrying a rifle. Ethel took it from the shocked woman’s hands.

“I don’t know what you did, but thanks,” Frances began. “You saved us…”

“Yeah, thank me later. Is there a vehicle I can borrow?” Ethel checked the charge on the rifle and glanced behind her as Qinn ran down the stairs with a focused look in his eyes.

Frances pointed into the tunnels, and Ethel ran without looking back.

Devar’s not going to show you any mercy. You humiliated him.

Life was too short for regrets, but Ethel wondered if the price she was about to pay for pride was too much. She reached a small runner, nothing more than a cart used to haul junk around the mining compound. It would have to do.

She threw herself into the driver’s seat with a frantic urgency as she started the ignition and pulled the steering levers toward her. As she turned, Qinn lept onto the cart and held on to the roof support.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t care,” she shouted as she cranked the levers. It didn’t shake him. Fine, she gunned it toward the silo doors. The tiny engine whirred under the strain. She had had sanitizers with more power. Great.

“Who’s after you?”

She hit the brakes, but still couldn’t shake him. She threw the cart back into gear.

“Ethel, let me help.”

She stopped the cart again and stared at him as he swung into the passenger seat.

“Why would you want to help me?”

“Because you just saved my life.” His clear blue gaze pierced her. Snerk! She didn’t need this. How long was she going to try to do things on her own?

“I need a place to hide,” she admitted.

He nodded. “We can go into the city, blend in with the crowds, or we can hide in the ruins down in the canyon.”

Ethel considered her options. Her hand strayed to the rifle in her lap.

Qinn reached over, turned off the cart, then held out his hand. Ethel reluctantly took it, resigned to the fact she had to trust him. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. It seemed like any time she trusted anyone, she ended up an inch from death. She was far too familiar with that place.

He left her near a junction of two tunnels as Mr. Sun-god ambled down a back passage, then the tunnel roared with a ground shaking noise. A beast of a machine surged toward her. The dim light glinted off the spinning blades churning on the front.

“Dang,” Keo commented. Ethel swallowed a lump in her throat and stroked his back.

“Come on, we’ll get there quicker in this,” Qinn shouted over the roar of the engine.

Ethel climbed into the monster and let Qinn drive. She was exhausted. She just wanted to feel safe enough to sleep. They drove through the desert, the machine flying over the sand like a ship on a hot, dry ocean.

“Hey, you falling asleep over there?” She felt Qinn shake her arm, and immediately woke up, barely aware of the strange nightmare she’d been having of a man with a stilted voice, and some whacker with tight pants and a poofy shirt.

“What?” Her heart was racing, but immediately she settled down, grateful that the world made sense for a moment.

“You’re fading out on me. When was the last time you slept?” Qinn asked.

“I don’t remember,” she admitted. Her eyes burned. The brief taste of sleep hadn’t been enough. Her whole body felt on the verge of collapse. Her stomach growled. Great.

It didn’t take long for them to reach camp again. Qinn stopped the digging machine, and jumped out as Ethel took in the destruction around her. All his crates, his books lay scattered over the sand, half buried from the storm. A fire burned the remains of a stack of crates near the cliff wall, and his shielded tent had collapsed.

He watched the burning crates with unspeakable sadness in his expression. He knelt and pulled a leather bound book out of the sand and shook it off. Straightening some of the pages, he tucked it under his arm.

Ethel pulled herself out of the vehicle and jumped down to the ground. Keo took to wing.

“Can I help?” She knew this feeling. She’d been in this place. He’d just lost something he dearly loved.

The heat of the blazing sun beat at her. They couldn’t wallow in this for long. Qinn looked up and shaded his eyes from the fierce heat of day. “We have to go into the caves. Come on.”

He pushed through the near broken shield of the tent, and tossed out a couple of blankets and a sack of supplies. Ethel shouldered the sack, and helped him back out of the ruined tent. Then they began the slow trek down to the floor of the canyon.

By the time they reached the dry river bed, Ethel felt on the verge of collapse. She could barely hold her eyes open and the sun felt like an executioner at her back. She fell to her knee, and Qinn immediately stooped to help her up, shouldering the pack on top of his own burdens.

“Come on, sweets, we’re almost there.”

“You know, I hate it when you call me that,” she choked out of her parched throat.

“Yeah, I know.” He lifted her and carried her into the fissure in the canyon wall.

Relief poured over her as soon as the cool air of the cave kissed her overheated skin. Suddenly chills gripped her. She fought out of Qinn’s hold, and stumbled toward a large stone near the wall of the cave.

Qinn shuffed off their supplies, dug through the sack, and then knelt beside her. He pressed his hand to her forehead. “You’re burning up. Take off your overcoat.”

Panic gripped her. “No.”

He grabbed the back of her neck, and brought a canteen up to her lips. She drank even as he scolded her. “I’m trying to help you.”

Her hand clenched around the silver sphere in her pocket. She couldn’t let him find it.

“I’m cold,” she admitted. Her whole body started shaking. She couldn’t control it.

He looked in her eyes. “You’re overheated, exhausted, and about to go into shock. If we don’t cool you down, you’re going to die. I don’t feel like digging a grave out there, so you need to do what I say.”

Ethel fisted her hand around the map and reluctantly shrugged out of her overcoat. The chill struck her like a physical blow, as she let the warmth and security of her grandfather’s coat fall to the floor leaving her in nothing but her tight black support top, pants and boots.

Qinn wrapped a strong arm around her shoulder and hooked his other arm behind her knees. With one swift and effortless move, he lifted her and carried her deeper into the cave. Streaks of some sort of ore, or maybe it was a living organism clinging to the rock, glowed with a soft, pearl-like light. She rested her head against his hot shoulder, seeking his warmth. She felt so cold.

“Is your name really Ethel?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s been passed down mother to daughter or granddaughter for over a thousand years.” She pulled the map closer to her chest as she closed her eyes. It felt so good to let go, even if it was only for a moment.

“How unfortunate for you,” he teased.

She huffed in response. “Your name isn’t exactly the pinnacle of masculinity.”

He laughed. “It’s short for Qinnaltoranechaltohalan.”

“I’m sorry. That had to be a kicha to learn to spell as a kid.” He lowered her feet to the ground. She tried to put weight on them, but she felt sick and weak. She collapsed on the fine packed dirt of the cave floor. The entrance to a building had been carved into the cave wall on the far side of the chamber. The glowing rock swirled in manipulated patterns across the ancient building. It was beautiful. She drew her attention back to Qinn. He knelt beside her and placed a hand on her forehead, then shrugged off his own shirt.

“No passing out on me,” he commanded. “Are you Tel-Arnath’s daughter?”

“Damn,” she grumbled. Her head pounded and swam as she fought back her swelling nausea. “How’d you guess. It’s the name, isn’t it?”

“You look like her.” He stood and half slid down a smooth incline, then dipped his shirt in a clear, dark pool.

“I wouldn’t know. I think I only met her once,” she responded. He climbed back up, and wrapped the soaked shirt over her burning shoulders.

She shouted as the cool water touched her burning skin, then clenched her teeth tight. Qinn offered her some water and she drank it, then he removed his hat and gently fanned the damp cloth draped over her back.

“Is she really dead?” he asked in the still silence.

Ethel took a deep breath. The nausea began to wane, but she still felt dizzy and weak. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s out there somewhere wreaking havoc on someone. I don’t really care to be honest.”

“What do you care about?”

“I care about surviving,” she admitted. “I’m not going to die yet. I’ve got too much to do.”

Qinn chuckled as he nudged the flask again, urging her to drink. “Good, I’m not a big fan of dead chicks in caves.”

Ethel gave him a sidelong glance. “Are you always this irreverent?”

“Mostly,” he answered. “Who’s after you? What does he want?”

Ethel stilled, another chill drifted over her exposed shoulders. she tried to say the name, but it stuck in her throat. Her heart raced with fear, and something else. “Devar Palorian.”

“Never heard of him,” Qinn dismissed.

Ethel looked him in the eye. “The Darkness of Halthal.”

“What?” Qinn jumped to his feet, and turned a quick circle, as if the Darkness stood behind him. “How did you curse yourself with the Darkness?”

Ethel felt the hot flush of her humility burn her cheeks. She felt Qinn’s still gaze on her, the observant stare of a scientist.

“You loved him.” He crossed his arms, and Ethel looked away. She couldn’t bear his scrutiny. “The man is a monster and you loved him.”

“He’s not a monster,” she blurted. Her voice caught on the last word. She hated that word. If Devar was a monster, she was too.

“No?” Qinn knelt again and scooped up a handful of sand. He let it slide through his palm, watching the grains in the dim light of the glowing rock. “He’s a bloodthirsty mercenary, and singlehandedly responsible for the bloody revolt of Tanar.”

“One man does not start a war,” Ethel warned. Her own guilt twisted in her gut. The bloodbath on Tanar was only part of the reason she’d left. She had thought Devar’s intentions were noble, but then she found out it was all for the money, and before she could speak to him, she ran. It was how she left that ensured her death if Devar ever caught her.

Qinn huffed. “That’s a load. One man can inspire a war, and that was a slaughter.” He took a deep breath. “Did you sleep with him?”

“What does it matter to you?” she shouted, finding her strength. By the powers that turned the universe, she wished she had simply stolen his conveyor and gotten out of this mess.

He looked away, his golden skin darkened across his cheeks and forehead. Was he blushing? Ethel felt the cold map in her palm.

NO, she was done trusting men. This was her business, and she’d take care of it.

“What did you do to him?” Qinn asked.

“I infected his ship with a virus so he couldn’t follow me when I left. He was stranded in the gap for fifteen cycles, and missed a shipment that ended up costing him a lot.” Ethel didn’t see the point in lying. What good would it do her now?

“How much?”

She glared at him. “A lot.”

“And now he wants his money back,” Qinn supplied.

“Or his payment in blood,” Ethel countered. “I can’t let him find me.”

“You’re right. If he does, you’re good as dead.”

“Are we done talking about my ill-fated love life now?” she groaned. The once cool water of the soaked shirt now radiated her over abundant body heat.

“Does he love you?” Qinn asked.

If Ethel knew the answer to that, she wouldn’t be in this mess. “Devar loves money and power. I have neither.” Which is why Devar could never find out about the map. “What about you?” She squinted. “What are you anyway?”

“I’m Tecochan,” he admitted, rubbing his shoulder.

Ethel opened her eyes in shock, expecting his skin to start glowing at any minute. They could use the light. “Really? What are you doing so far from home?”

Tecochan were notorious for isolating themselves.

Qinn shrugged, “I was working on tracing the early Yan influence on Rusalc culture when my investigations in the origins of our Tuccan myths led me here to these ruins where I uncovered the oldest evidence of a Bavoran city within these caves. I found accounts of a Pevar invasion that forced the Bavorans out of the desert and into the wastelands beyond.”

“There are wastelands beyond the desert?” What sort of planet was this? Whatever it was, it certainly wouldn’t be a hub of interplanetary tourism any time soon. “Are the caves safe?”

“Until nightfall. Then I’m going to have to gather what I can salvage from my work here and try to make it to Angar before they manage to kill me.” He took his wet shirt from her shoulders and waved it through the cool air before placing it on her skin again. “But then you’d know a thing or two about that, wouldn’t you?”

“Don’t judge me.” His hands lingered on her shoulders. Ethel shuddered as she watched his guarded expression.

“You’re a pirate, yet I have a hard time seeing you as a killer. A dirty hack, yes, but not a killer.” His cool palms slid down her arms.

Yet another man who woefully underestimated what she was capable of. How many Pevar wouldn’t return home by nightfall? Whose fault was that? Hers. Her guilt pulled at her heart. She wanted to believe she could be honorable, but she was willing to steal, and kill to survive. It was the only thing she had learned from the mother who abandoned her with nothing but a name and a reputation.

“You don’t know what I am,” she warned.

He fell silent as he shook out their blankets and laid them out near the pool. Ethel listened as Keo blissfully bathed at the edge of one of the rocks, his wet feathers slapping against the damp stone. He garbled and sang an old freighter jaunty that echoed in the still black of the deep tunnels beyond.

Her stomach growled as she touched the back of her hand to her burning cheeks, then took another drink.

“Stay here, get some rest,” Qinn ordered as he donned his hat. The dim light shone on his bare chest, and Ethel found herself lingering on the details of his honed body. She’d never seen a Tecochan glow. She tried to convince herself that her riveted attention was pure curiosity, but that would be a lie.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to head up and salvage what I can before dark.” He turned and disappeared in the murky darkness of the cave.

Ethel pulled herself over to the blankets and let herself collapse for a minute. Drifting in and out of sleep, she couldn’t stop her mind from racing. This whole miserable experience was a painful accident. She needed to get to Talon. The next piece of the puzzle had to be there.

She opened her eyes, and wondered if she had actually opened her eyes in the still darkness. She could hear the occasional flick of one of Keo’s wings as he slept. The poor bird had to be as exhausted as she was. The cold stone dug into her back. Where was Qinn?

Ethel closed her fist around the small silver sphere, her map, her only hope. It had warmed to the temperature of her palm, a solid chunk of reassurance that someday she wouldn’t have to worry about if she could find enough to eat, or if one of her many debts was about to be paid in blood.

“Please, Appa, help me see what I need to see,” she whispered.

She listened to the stifling silence of the cave. She could hear a whisper of air hushing the deep reaches of the caverns, and the soft rush of an underground river moving deep beneath the parched desert above. With Qinn around, it was her last chance to check the map before escaping her arid nightmare.

Her heart beat faster. With wide eyes, she tried to take in the darkness, but even the glowing ore embedded in the walls had dimmed. She traced the familiar pattern over the tiny bumps and groves of the sphere.

With a flash, it came to life, hovering over her hand and projecting the beautiful shifting aura out. She watched it, mesmerized, looking for the one symbol she had managed to decipher, the hooked claw.

It had to mean Talon, it was as good a place to start as any. She reached out and brushed the tips of her fingers through the glowing symbols swirling around the floating orb. They shifted and changed, as if trying to speak directly to her, but she couldn’t understand them. Nothing in all her research had helped her decipher their strange message.

A shadow moved over the illuminated rock wall to her left. She stiffened, then let the ball drop to her hand, plunging the cave into darkness.

Her heart raced as she stashed her map in her support. She tried to keep her breathing slow and silent as she fell back on the blanket, and pretended to sleep. Her rush of fear and adrenaline charged through her blood, even as she forced herself to remain still.

The dark around her remained unbroken. An endless stretch of what was probably only seconds ticked through her racing mind. Just when she began to feel safe, two orbs of light blazed to life just to her right.

The glowing white hands cast strange shadows on Qinn’s face as his eyes flashed a brilliant and eerie silver.

Ethel screamed and threw herself back against the cave wall.

“That’s an interesting trinket you have there,” he murmured.

“Will you turn your damn hands off,” Ethel shouted, shielding her eyes from his glowing skin. They dimmed enough to let her open her eyes again. Drifting green and pink spots floated through her vision as Qinn sauntered closer to her.

“What was that?” Qinn insisted.

“Nothing,” she flattened her palm over her breast, pressing the sphere into her skin.

“You didn’t look at it like it was nothing,” he countered crouching in front of her. His glowing hands rested on his knees. “You looked at it like it was everything.”

“And why should I tell you? Who are you? I don’t trust you.” She fought to her feet and retreated, but the darkness of the cavern swallowed her, and forced her to stop. She watched the wall of rock in front of her as the circle of light behind her grew, casting her shadow over a delicate stalagmite.

“Even though I owe you my life?” His warm hand touched her shoulder. She gave in to its pressure and turned. “Even if I could help?”

She brought her eyes to his, and they glowed, his open expression sincere. How could she trust him? Everyone she’d ever trusted gave in to greed and screwed her, literally and figuratively. She didn’t want to feel vulnerable again.

But vulnerable was better than feeling so terribly lost.

“It’s a map,” she confessed. “It belonged to my grandfather.”

Qinn’s eyes widened just slightly. “Can I see it?”

Ethel felt her heart racing as she pulled the sphere from her support. Qinn’s gaze lingered on the bare skin just above the simple garment then flickered down to her hand.

She activated the map, and it hovered between them. The glowing symbols embedded in the shifting aura outshone Qinn’s hands. He let them fade as he reached up and followed the path of one of the symbols with his finger. His face looked serious and enthralled, as if he’d just set himself before an irresistable puzzle.

“Amazing,” he whispered, as their eyes met through the aura.

“I think I need to go to Talon. Look at this here,” she offered, showing him the symbol.

“No,” he countered. “This is old, much older than any settlement on Talon, but very advanced technology. I don’t recognize it, but these symbols are similar to markings on artifacts found by Weira. This is probably Yelori, in which case, we’re dealing with a dead language.”

“My grandfather thought it was a Borkan map to a quazine strain.”

“No, quazine is mundane compared to this.” Awe filled his voice.

“How do you know?” she whispered.

“I’ve got a feeling, and when I get a feeling like this, I’m never wrong.” He smiled at her, his eyes shining brighter. “Looks like we have to take a trip to the library.”

Ethel’s heart dropped to the floor. “The great library is in the center of the empire. I’ll be arrested.”

“For what?” Qinn tilted his head an incredulous look on his face.

Ethel turned off the map and stashed it back in her support. “You don’t want to know.”

“So what do we do now?”

Ethel sighed and sat down on a smooth mound of rock that seemed to spill from the cave wall. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve been chasing after this thing half my life, and I’ve never gotten anywhere with it.”

Qinn rubbed his chin. “We need some advice from someone who knows alien runes. Yishat might be able to help.”

“Who’s Yishat?” she asked.

“My mentor. Now the only question is how to track the old bear down.” He crossed his arms, his glowing hands dimmed as they disappeared beneath his elbows. Once again, Ethel wondered what he would look like with his whole body glowing. She blushed and stifled the thought. “We’re going to have to get out of here. You up for leaving?”

Ethel jumped to her feet. “Am I ever.”

“Good. I’ll call Anne.”

It didn’t take long to stash what little they had, including Keo, who protested at having to hide under Ethel’s coat. Once they had what they needed in hand, they waited at the cave entrance. Ethel watched Qinn closely. She didn’t know what this treasure was, only that she’d now have to share it. The thought grated on her. The map was given to her, and now she had no knowledge, and therefore no power. She didn’t like to feel powerless, especially when a man held all the cards. But what choice did she have?

What would she do to protect the treasure?

She didn’t want to think about that. She wasn’t a completely ruthless killer, but she knew her limits, and treasure was one of them. She didn’t want to share, so at some point, things would come down to her vs. him.

It was best not to get her heart tangled up in a battle like that. She’d learned her lesson with Devar.

As the sun started to creep through the floor of the canyon, Ethel heard a deep rumbling in the distance. Qinn had been taking a nap with his hat over his rugged face. He now sat up and smiled.

A hov-runner spun to a stop, whipping up a cloud of sand in its wake. A cheerful looking woman with a bright shirt and coated goggles gave them a smile.

She jumped out of the hov and gave Qinn a big hug. He laughed and patted her on the back. “Thanks Anne, you have a ship at port?”

“Sure thing,” the woman answered, casting a look over at Ethel. “Who are you?”

“Lucy,” Ethel drawled as she got to her feet. The less people who knew who she was the better. Devar was still on her tail.

“Good enough for me, I don’t judge,” Anne stated hopped back in the hov. “Get in. I’ve got the ship powered up and waiting for us.”

“Excellent.” Qinn offered Ethel a hand as he pulled her into one of the hov seats, and let his pack fall to the floor. “I love the start of a new adventure. Now we just need to figure out where we’re going. Hey Anne,” he shouted above the roar of the engines. “You know where Yishat is?”

“Not a clue.”

“Great,” he frowned.

“You don’t know where we’re going?” Ethel prodded.

“Yishat likes to hang out in one of three places. Ungun, Palars, or Cheno. Take your pick. Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Great, all three are simply lovely, if we don’t get killed.”

The story continues in Part III