17 Penny
“I’ll protect you, Natascha,” I said, smiling down at my little sister. “Even better when I come back.”
“Who’s going to protect you when you’re in boot camp?”
“I’ll protect myself. That’s why I’m going. I’m going to be tougher than nails. But you have to promise that you won’t get into trouble while I’m gone.”
“Promise.”
I opened my eyes and saw lines of bluish lights above me on a metal ceiling. It didn’t take me long to remember the firefight on that alien station. The screaming and explosions and the fear of getting swept away in it all was very vivid.
And the knife in my side.
I wriggled my toes, thankful that I could move them at all.
So, my implant was still functioning. That was good.
I wasn’t in immediate pain, either. I realized I was under a thin thermal blanket when I tried to move my arm.
The room I was in was cold, but not unbearably like Thilar’s cell.
In the corner was a floating orb that hummed softly and from it came a glowing, orange light.
I suspected that was the source of the heat.
Carefully, I rose from a gel-like mattress to try and get my bearings.
Looking around, I could see I was in a small, square room the size of my studio apartment on Earth.
There were a few stacks of metal canisters against one wall like the room was meant for storage, but at least I wasn’t on the floor.
In fact, I was very naked under the thermal blanket.
There was a reassuring lack of uncomfortable weight on my neck that calmed me. I lifted a hand to find that the collar was gone and all that was left was a slightly rough ring of scarred skin where it had been.
At the very least, I was somewhere better than that space port if I was no longer wearing a collar. I wrapped the blanket around myself and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, moving my hand down toward my abdomen to find a raised line of skin where the knife had punctured.
How long had I been asleep if it was already healed?
There was a hydraulic hiss to my left and I turned toward it, straining my stiff neck. Sunhai appeared in the doorway dawning a pair of form fitting pants and an equally form fitting gray shirt.
“Ah,” she said. “You are awake. I knew you would be.”
I sighed with relief. I didn’t know her very well, but she was about the most familiar thing in my life at the moment aside from Thilar.
“Sunhai,” I said, my throat dry and raspy.
“The men are eating,” she said as she stepped into the room. “I said you needed sustenance, and they doubted you’d be awake. But I knew.” She held out her hand, giving me a little bar wrapped in silver. “Monrians… not much for taste. Only nutrition.”
“That’s ok. I’m not really sure I remember what it’s like to taste food anymore.”
I took what I assumed was some kind of concentrated food bar and peeled off the silver wrapping. It reminded me of astronaut food. When I bit into it, it was dense and moist, but it didn’t taste like much of anything.
“Water?” I asked.
Sunhai stepped over to a box that seemed to be acting as a bedside table and picked up a bottle, handing it to me. I popped the top open and immediately started gulping down the fresh water until I was almost choking.
“How long have I been out?” I asked.
Sunhai shrugged, leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed. “Not long. The medical tech very good here.”
“So, we’re on a monrian ship?”
She nodded again and then pointed to the end of the bed where a stack of clothing was folded near the foot.
“They have machine that makes clothes to fit. They gave me this suit,” she said excitedly, showing off the outfit she was wearing, which perfectly hugged her feminine muscles like some kind of Olympic track runner.
I reached for the set of clothes and found that it was a similar two-piece suit like Sunhai’s with a long magnetic zipper down the front of the shirt.
It was all made of slightly thicker material as if it was fitted just for me to shield against the cold of the monrian vessel.
And, since my sense of modesty died on Mekah Prime, I dropped the blanket to change.
I wavered a bit and gripped the wall for balance while Sunhai obliviously wandered the room.
Once I was in the new clothes and fully zipped up, I felt like I was about to pilot a ship into battle.
It had straps everywhere as if I was supposed to be decked out in weaponry and there were pockets down the legs and on the breasts.
“Suits you,” Sunhai commented. “Thilar said this design would be best. He studied your little cuff thing.”
“It’s good,” I nodded. “Kind of like my old uniform.”
I looked around the room, studying my surroundings, when I saw a familiar little trinket sitting on a stack of boxes near the door.
My Buddy. I took a few careful steps to retrieve it and snapped it around my wrist for the first time since I woke up on that asteroid.
When the face lit up, I was relieved, but the tiny, flashing notification that there was still no signal killed my spirit a little.
Not that I was surprised. I didn’t know where the hell I was and if my Buddy couldn’t connect to the Nexus, that meant I was still pretty damn far away from anything remotely human.
I sighed loudly, drawing Sunhai’s attention. She stepped up behind me, looking over my shoulder as I fiddled with my cuff.
“What exactly does it do?”
“It’s called a Buddy. Everyone on the Nexus has one. It has most of the information we need, but we’re too far for me to send an SOS.”
“SOS?”
“I can’t send for help.”
“Right. Well, at least we not on Mekah. Monrians have very strict rules. They will not hurt us.”
“Where exactly are we going?”
“Pek-Tol was killed. Mekah was dismantled.” She shrugged. “They will be going back to the one who holds their contract.”
“Someone was contracted to destroy Mekah?”
“Seems so.”
“I thought they were only hired for war.”
“They hired for whatever pays. They not take contracts that hurt their honor, though. Their codes are precise. Well… some do not follow them, but those are not welcome in colonies. They are bad-bloods.”
“How many monrians are out there, exactly?”
“Cannot say. Enough to make galactic army. Or a hundred. They expensive. Contracts can last many cycles. Even generations.”
I bit my lip, thinking about the conflict with the gek—the green bastards that destroyed the cargo ship I was on and got me into this whole mess in the first place. The Nexus could use a small army of monrian soldiers. Even one could do some damage judging by what I saw on Mekah.
“What do monrians want? I mean, how do they like to be paid?”
Sunhai frowned. “Mostly gold. Gold used in most of their tech.”
Before I could ask anything else, the door to the room slid open and a tall, gray-skinned man walked into the chamber, his pupils shrinking against the lights.
He looked similar to Thilar in color and build, but his face was wider with a squared jaw and dark strands of hair braided tightly back.
Unlike Thilar, who kept his hair shaved close to the scalp on the sides, this stranger had a full head of hair.
He said a few things in his own tongue, glancing at Sunhai for clarification.
“He wants to know how you are feeling.”
“Fine. Considering.”
She translated and the man gave her a curt nod and then turned and left the room again.
“He wants us to follow,” Sunhai said.
The two of us tailed the big monrian through silvery hallways.
There weren’t many turns. There were doors lining the passage though as if there were a hundred different chambers.
The only one we used was the large door at the very end of the hall that opened into some kind of control room.
A circular table dominated the center of the space, crowned by a holographic projection of a galactic map.
Constellations shimmered in pale blue light, connected by faint lines and clusters of symbols I couldn't decipher.
I didn't recognize a single constellation.
Even the highlighted regions were unfamiliar, and I'd spent some time studying stellar charts.
We definitely weren't anywhere in space I knew.
On the far side of the table stood Thilar, bathed in the hologram's cool glow.
His hair had been braided neatly down the center of his scalp, the intricate pattern far more elaborate than before.
He wore a fitted black two-piece uniform that matched the attire of the other monrians.
Like mine, it was covered in straps, pockets, and fasteners, but his were arranged with purpose, making mine look improvised in comparison.
And it looked damn good on him.
I had only just woken from what could have easily been my last sleep and I was thinking about how attractive an alien man in a suit was.
I blinked, trying to cleanse myself of those thoughts when the other monrian started to speak, drawing Thilar’s attention. Sunhai leaned against the wall next to me, translating everything so I could understand.
“He says that we not long for Tallian space. That is who holds their contract.”
“Tallian space?”
“The Tallian Empire is large and formidable. Their prince has been employing monrians for very long time. They are neutral in most matters.” She chuffed. “Until someone angers them. Pek-Tol angered them.”
The man continued to speak and then his eyes fell on me, making me straighten.
“He wants to know what happened in the arena.”
“What do you mean?”
Sunhai sighed. “This is the beginnings of a trial. For Thilar. For forcing himself on you.”
My brows furrowed and my eyes swept toward Thilar, silently urging him to speak up, but he was quiet, waiting for my response as patiently as the stranger was.
“I don’t get it,” I said to Sunhai. “What did he do wrong?”