CHAPTER 16
Artemis
Iwas bouncing on the balls of my feet, impatience making me jittery as I waited for the hangar bay’s doors to open and let us out.
Baldr was just on the other side, and I needed him in my arms now before I burst right out of my skin.
Light spilt in through the small crack at the top.
Slowly – painfully so – that sliver of light widened, yet my view was still blocked.
I couldn’t see anyone on the ground, the ramp still pointed to the sky, even if it was at an angle.
Not good enough.
Dave Junior was vibrating beside me just as much as I was, though I suspected he was more eager to be off the ship than to see the others.
That was if he was even aware of what was going on.
I had no concrete evidence of his intelligence, but I was pretty damn sure he understood everything he heard.
Bromm and Cadmus stood on either side of me, hands clamped on my arms in an attempt to soothe and ground me, but I wasn’t having it.
Reece, standing close by with his parents, caught my eye and his lips twitched when he realised they couldn’t hold me back.
After a quick glance at the lowering ramp he jerked his chin in the gap’s direction, giving me permission to do what I needed to do.
When it was finally low enough for my body to squeeze through, I activated my nanites and rose into the air before Bromm or Cadmus could stop me, then zipped through the gap into the dry heat of Gerinium.
A familiar squeal of delight drifted up to me through the combined gasps of the crowd below, and then Baldr rose above them all to join me as we levitated high up over their heads.
I held out my arms for him to enter and then wrapped them around him as soon as his little body flew into mine.
‘An’ie A!’ he cried into my chest and I nuzzled my nose into his hair, inhaling deeply.
I had to separate the scent of dry, scorched earth from his natural baby scent, but I managed without coughing too much.
My lungs would take a moment to adjust to the new environment, but my nanites would speed up the process and filter out the harmful substances I would inadvertently inhale.
Our names were being shouted down below and I pried my eyes open a crack, just enough to see the ramp had fully lowered and my guys were ahead of everyone else as they chased us from the ground.
Dorian met them halfway, his head tilted up to keep Baldr in his sights and my heart lurched with affection and gratitude for the man that had kept him safe while I couldn’t.
In the distance I caught sight of Dave Junior sprinting as he took advantage of the wide open space, a dust cloud covering his tracks that I assumed obscured his form from sight, because no one was screaming.
I’d let him run while I got my ducks in a row, then hunt him down when it was time to eat.
I didn’t want to disturb his moment of freedom, even if it was difficult to breathe through the smog.
As we descended to the ground, I held Baldr close, enjoying the heat of his small body against mine and the way his squishy cheek pressed against my shoulder.
I didn’t bother moving him as I reached for Dorian, pulling him into a hug as soon as he was within touching distance.
Baldr didn’t seem to mind being wedged between us, settling in like he was surrounded by safety.
‘Thank you,’ I whispered into Dorian’s ear, my arms tightening as my gratitude swelled.
‘You’re welcome,’ he whispered right back.
The tender moment shifted something between us, something indescribable and irreversible.
We weren’t the closest of friends, not like I was with Bromm, Cadmus, Reece, and Addy, but there was an almost tangible rope connecting us now, twisting around Baldr as it met in the centre.
And then a sharp sting on the side of my head broke through the moment and I pulled away, covering Bald’s head with my hand while I searched for the threat.
‘Tassie,’ Dorian hissed at a young woman around our age who was standing nearby, her expression just as dark as her skin.
It was clear she was the culprit because she was holding another rock in her hands, gearing up to throw it again until Dorian’s tone stilled her hands.
When she turned watery eyes on him, I felt like I had just stumbled into the middle of something I wasn’t supposed to be privy to, let alone get involved in.
But he met her with a coldness I had never seen from him before, his disapproval clear in every pulsing line of his tense muscles.
‘Are you with her?’ she demanded.
‘After everything we’ve been through, you went away to start a family with another woman?’ she screeched, then turned her vicious glare onto me.
‘You’re nothing! You’ll never be good enough for him.’
‘Tassie, that’s enough.’ His words were low, dangerous, and cutting.
She recoiled as if he had physically struck her, then ran off with a dramatic cry.
Dorian sighed and shot me an apologetic look.
‘Sorry about her.
She’s…’ he trailed off, apparently unsure how to explain his relationship with the odd woman.
‘Complicated?’ I supplied, but he shook his head.
‘My crazy ex,’ he corrected, but his shoulders slumped as if the admission had cost him a lot.
‘Just ignore her.
It’s what the rest of us do,’ a woman with the same black hair and blood red eyes as Dorian said as she joined us, flanked by more people that shared the same features.
‘Hi, I’m Saffie, this one’s big sister.’
I took her proffered hand and shook.
‘Artemis.’
‘Quite a show you put on there, ma’am,’ an older male that the siblings clearly got their red eyes from stepped forward, a wry grin stretching across his face to reveal two small dimples in either cheek outlined by a multitude of laugh lines.
‘Rett Ituk.
Dorian’s father.
It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Artemis. We’ve heard a great deal about you.’
I grimaced.
‘Hopefully not all bad…’
His laugh was booming and at odds with his skinny frame.
I would have expected something more lyrical or breathy over the boisterous monstrosity interspersed with ground-shaking snorts.
It was utterly magnificent in its ugliness yet somehow welcoming all at once.
I loved it.
‘Not at all! Quite the contrary.
We were beginning to think Dorian was making up stories for clout, but you’ve just proved he wasn’t embellishing at all.
You’re quite the woman, Artemis.’
I grinned at the tall, thin man with his lanky limbs waving about in his excitement, immediately comfortable in his presence.
Once the rest of the introductions were made, Una, Dorian’s mother, ushered us away from the ship.
‘Come on, kiddos.
Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way so we can get everyone settled,’ a woman with thick black hair cascading around her shoulders in luscious waves pushed through the throng of bystanders and took charge of the situation.
If she wasn’t so clearly Dorian’s mother I might have taken offense, but I could see her need to round everyone up and organise us all.
I kind of wanted to sic Addy on her and see how well she fared, but I thought that might be too mean.
‘What needs to be done first?’ Dorian asked.
The fact that he knew I would have already had a plan in mind sent a warmth throughout my body I only got around Bromm and Cadmus.
The one I used to get when I thought Tormik and I might have become something more.
Something significant.
I stepped away, suddenly afraid of those feelings and what they meant and unwilling to dig deeper to decipher them.
‘I need to check on the children and call Libby, then we should all discuss what to do with the prisoners and the freed captives.’
He frowned down at me when he noticed the sudden change in my demeanour but dismissed it soon enough.
‘That’s doable.
The kids are still on the ship.
We haven’t got anywhere else to put them where they won’t escape, so we kept them where we knew they’d be safe and accounted for,’ he told me, leading us away from our original getaway ship that I’d fixed up from the Forbidden Planet.
‘Have you heard from Libby?’ I asked him as we walked and Baldr perked up at his mother’s name.
‘We haven’t received any attempts at communication since you last spoke,’ he informed me, his tone polite and professional despite the underlying tension his question caused.
It was unusual for him to be worried about Libby beyond general concern for a stranger, and I wondered how close he got to Bal these past few days.
I glanced down to see his big green eyes already looking up at me and smiled.
It wouldn’t have surprised me if he had managed to capture Dorian’s heart. He was the most lovable kid ever, as far as I was concerned.
Testing the theory, I passed him over to Dorian who took him without any explanation or complaint, as if holding him was the most natural thing in the world, snuggling him close to his chest and stroking his hair.
He did it all unconsciously, the actions more habit than choice and I couldn’t help but smile.
Yeah, he was a goner.
Bal also seemed perfectly content in his arms, so I let him hold onto him for a little bit longer, just until I had finished checking in on the rest of the children and the crew.
I took him back when we headed for the cockpit, both eager for more cuddles and out of necessity for when I contacted Libby.
I couldn’t restrain the cheeky grin over his reluctance to part with him even though they were in the same room, and his mother seemed to share the same sentiment.
‘You can hoard your own babies when your own.
Let the poor girl take him,’ she teased, smacking him lightly on the arm when he grumbled and groused.
Bal joined in, reaching over to give him a tap alongside some nonsensical baby babble that had us all cooing and laughing.
‘He’s a sweet boy,’ Saffie said, a glint in her eye that had me pulling Bal out of her line of side.
Her husband stepped forward and shoved something in her mouth that she started to gnaw on and he gave me an apologetic wince.
‘Cuteness aggression,’ he explained.
‘She was terrible when ours were that little.
Kept trying to chew on their chubby bits.’
An unattractive sound that was both a snort of laughter and a scoff of disbelief escaped me.
‘She’d had better luck trying to get her teeth around Dave Junior.
Baldr’s mother and I taught him from the beginning what to do if someone ever tried to hurt him.
He’d probably bite back, only ten times harder.’
Dorian, Bromm, Cadmus and Reece chuckled, knowing I was right, but the others tilted their heads in confusion.
‘Who’s Dave Junior?’
‘Oh, um… My Kikshrut.’
‘What’s a Kikshrut?’ Joanie asked.
Dorian held out a hand to stop me from answering when I opened my mouth to do just that, mischief swimming behind his eyes.
‘You’ll find out soon enough,’ he said ominously, leaving them to stew in the mystery.
We shared an amused look.
I’d let him have his fun. Dave Junior wouldn’t cause any problems in the meantime. Maybe.
Or maybe not.
We’d just have to wait and see.
Stepping through the doors into the familiar cockpit, we were greeted by the sight of Eloria and Julius playing a game of cards on the holo-table in the centre of the room.
They glanced up at the intrusion, an array of emotions flashing over their features before they both settled on some form of relief.
Julius stood first and shook my hand.
‘Glad to see you back safe and sound, Captain,’ he said, barely a stammer in his words.
He retreated back to his designated station, which allowed Eloria to take his place.
Instead of a professional handshake, however, she pulled me – and subsequently Baldr – into a tight embrace.
‘It’s good to have you back, Arty,’ she said when she pulled away, only to draw the others into an embrace one after the other with similar sentiments.
‘I’m glad you got here without any issues,’ I told them, ‘but I need to let Libby know that, too.’
Eloria smiled and gathered the cards to the side and out of the way.
‘I figured as much.
Let me just clear some space.’
I turned to the others who followed me in.
‘I’m just going to update Libby so she can see Bal and know that he’s okay.
I won’t be long.’
‘Take your time,’ Una said.
‘I know what it feels like to be away from your son and not know if he’s okay.’
Dorian pulled her into his side and rubbed her arms to soothe her.
‘I’m here, Mama.’
I turned away when she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his shoulder, an ugly feeling rearing up inside me that I recognised as envy.
I’d never had a mother to love me the way she clearly loved her children, and I never would.
It had been a long time since I’d let those feelings in, having long since thought I’d squashed them.
I didn’t like that they were choosing to come back now, so I focused on the holo-table and calling Libby.
She answered quickly like she’d been waiting by the holo-tab the whole time, her blue-tinged face twisting with her stress and worry. ‘A?’
‘I’m here, Libs.
And Bal.
We’re safe,’ I immediately assure her, feeling my tension ebb alongside hers.
‘Thank fuck.
When I didn’t hear from you…’
‘It just took us a little longer to reach Gerinium, but everyone’s back together again.’
‘When Dorian contacted me and you weren’t there I feared the worst,’ she admitted, but I scoffed in response.
‘You know I’m harder to kill than that.’
‘It wasn’t death I was afraid of, A, and you know it.’
I softened my approach.
‘I know.
I’m okay.
It was just a bunch of useless pirates. They were almost too easy to take out.’
Her grim expression mirrored my own feelings on the matter.
‘That’s concerning in and of itself.
Are you sure you weren’t followed?’
‘No one has followed us so far, but we’re expecting company eventually,’ I admitted.
‘But for now we’re safe and no one is trying to attack us.
I’ll be leading the discussion for how we’re gonna get the kids to the Forbidden Planet soon, though.
This is just a pit stop on our way back, I promise.’
‘Good.
We need you here, A.
The girls don’t listen to me like they listened to you.
Apparently you’re scarier,’ she joked.
I sniffed haughtily.
‘I am scarier.’
She scoffed.
‘I’m pregnant.
I’m scarier than you any day.’
‘Whatever you say, Libs.’
‘Mama! See soon,’ Bal interrupted, drawing Libby’s attention to where he rested on my lap.
‘Hey, baby boy.
You’re right. Soon.’
A scream reverberated in the background and she winced, looking over her shoulder before turning back with impatience and stress written in the lines of her face.
‘I’m sorry to cut this short but another one of the girls is in labour.
I’ve got to get back…’
‘Go.
I’ve got things covered on this end and you’re needed over there.
I’ll call you when we have a plan.’
‘Love you both,’ she called.
‘Love you, too.’
Una stepped up after Libby’s face dissipated, worry lines created a deep V between her brows and around the corners of her downturned mouth.
‘There are more of you? And they’re pregnant? On the Forbidden Planet?’
‘Holy shit…’ Rett swore, comprehension dawning.
‘The Kikshrut… It’s not possible.
They’re not real…’
‘You’re not talking about those beasts from the stories, are you?’ Joanie asked, and Dorian cleared his throat.
‘Dave Junior won’t hurt you,’ he told them.
‘You have a dangerous legendary beast as a pet, and you named it Dave Junior?’ Una screeched.
‘He’s not my pet,’ he argued.
‘DJ’s a sweetheart,’ Eloria defended him.
‘As long as you don’t piss him off,’ I emphasised.
‘And he seems to prefer females over males, so if you’ve got an extra appendage or two swingin’ between your legs I’d keep your distance, but he won’t hurt anyone unless you threaten me first.’
‘Oh, my…’ Una swooned and Rett pushed forward to stabilise her.
‘What have you gotten yourself into, son?’ he asked Dorian as he fanned his wife.
Dorian simply shrugged, unbothered by the drama.
‘Honestly, the Kikshrut isn’t the worst part of all this mess.
Just wait ‘til you meet the scientists we’ve got locked up on the other ship.’
‘Um, no,’ I cut in.
‘No one is meeting them.
You’re going to stay as far away from them as possible, do you understand me?’ I looked each of them in the eye as I hammered in the seriousness of the situation with a glare.
‘Is it safe to have them here?’ Una asked, face pale but her feet back under her again.
‘As safe as it can be.
They’re locked up tight and under twenty-four-hour guard,’ I reassured her, but when I caught sight of Reece’s pinched expression, I wondered just how secure they really were.
What did he know that I didn’t, and why hadn’t he told me?