When the Golondrina landed, Lynx, Ciro, and Dr. Jane were already waiting at the private free-port. The ramp lowered. Vas and Reyer stepped out with the two extra kit bags between them.
Dr. Jane came forward and took her bag from Reyer. Ciro walked up to his brother.
“You’ll have to get Lynx to help you pack up your tech-junk,” Adan said. “There’s only so much you can expect me to do.”
“Yeah-yeah,” Ciro said, half smiling. He motioned to the bot.
“Why are we out here?”
“Dr. Jane wanted somewhere quiet to work.”
“A hot springs? Do we have enough credits?”
“More than enough.”
Vas noticed his brother’s cheeks turn red. “You want to tell me what happened, or do I have to pry it out of you?”
Ciro looked into Adan’s eyes. “Whatever you do, don’t challenge Dr. Jane to a game of poker. Ever.”
Reyer and Vas glanced in Jane’s direction. She pretended not to notice, but she couldn’t hide the hint of a self-satisfied smile.
Ciro went on, “The reason we’re so late is because we needed more funds, and Dr. Jane preferred to earn them at the table rather than have me hack into the nearest bank.”
Jane threw her kit bag over her shoulder. “Come on. I already have the annex set aside for us. My treat.”
Ciro stared after the doctor until Reyer nudge him with her elbow. He blushed again and went to help Lynx pack his electronics.
Vas and Reyer followed after Jane.
“How many rooms are in the annex you got us?” Vas called to her.
“Two bedrooms, two main rooms, and the patio-garden,” Jane glanced over her shoulder. “And there’s a shower, so please tell Ciro.”
“Luxury,” Reyer said.
Vas turned his head to look at her. “I wasn’t aware you knew what luxury was, Miss Reyer.”
“I read. When I run across a word I don’t understand, I look it up in the dictionary.”
Adan let out a silent huff of laughter.
Reyer added, “I think it would be best if Dr. Jane and I took one room, and you and Ciro took the other.”
Vas grimaced. “Miss Reyer—”
“You don’t need to remind me about your mission, but maybe I need to remind you that you need sleep. There’s a lot less danger here than anywhere else we’ve been. You can have Lynx watch over both me and Dr. Jane at night.”
“I snore, don’t I? Go on. You can tell me.”
“The other option is what? You and me, Ciro and Jane? I bet she’d love that. Or how about us all in one room? Then we could listen to the two of them squabble all night.”
“All right, all right. You’ve made your point, Miss Reyer.”
“You’re agreeing with me?”
“It looks like it.” The captain’s voice was twisted with resignation as he thought about how often he wound up doing that, despite all his original inclinations.
When Reyer didn’t respond, he glanced at her. She was gazing at him with slightly narrowed eyes.
“What?” he said.
“That was easier than I thought it would be.”
“Easier than you thought? I’m insulted.” Vas shifted his bag higher on his shoulder. “I’ll admit, when I’m given the mission to protect someone, I don’t like the idea of leaving the task to a bot, but I know sense when I hear it.”
“And you listen to it?”
“Maybe I’m learning to.”
The annex was larger than Reyer had imagined, and it would have been even larger than that, but half the space it could have filled was given over to a patio and garden. The building and grounds mimicked Old Earth oriental style. Jane had already turned on the outdoor lamps and some of the lights inside. The soft orange light spilled out onto the rocks and plants that seemed to the thriving in the alien soil.
Jane had left the sliding door open when she entered. As Vas and Reyer came up to the opening, they saw her drop her bag on the dining room table.
“So how is this going to work?” she asked. “Seeing as how I’m kidnapped and all, are you going to tie me up and throw me in a closet?”
“I think we would feel slightly guilty doing that, considering the nice place you got us,” Reyer said.
Ciro walked in with his kit bag over his shoulder and his case in hand. Lynx was carrying the water container. The bot slid the door shut after he entered.
Reyer went on, “We were thinking that it’d be you and me in one room and the Vas boys in the other.”
Jane’s eyes darted from face to face. “That’s it?”
“Is that a problem, Doctor?” Vas asked.
“No.”
“Lynx will be in the room with us,” Reyer said.
Jane nodded. “That makes more sense. I’m fine with that. Come on, Alix—we’re taking the room that opens onto the garden.” She threw her bag back over her shoulder and led the way.
Reyer half shrugged, half waved to Ciro and Vas as she followed their captive down the short hall.
“Follow them, Lynx,” Vas said. “You’re to maintain a watch on them at all times if I’m not there. Your primary orders are to protect Miss Reyer and contain Dr. Jane.”
“The order to contain Dr. Jane will mirror the instructions given to me by Miss Reyer at 1611 planet time today. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“If I am forced to choose between primary orders?”
“Protect Reyer.”
Lynx nodded to indicate he had received his instructions, then followed after the two women, taking the water container with him on the assumption he could watch it there.
Stolen novel; please report.
Ciro stepped up beside his brother. “You should have at least hesitated before making that decision.”
“Why?”
Ciro hefted his large case onto the table. “For the look of the thing. Think about it—Dr. Jane is now at least as valuable to the Rising as Reyer is. Maybe more, considering the fact we know why they’re after her.”
“Until Ito says otherwise, I still have a job to do.”
“Uh-huh.” Ciro opened the case and pulled out several pieces of hardware.
“Come on, Ciro. Set up your little world later. Let’s get ready to bunk. And I order you to shower tonight.”
“I was going to hit the hot springs, but I have to set this up before Dr. Jane gets out here.”
“Why?”
“I’m laying claim to my area. If I move my stuff to make room for her, I’ll probably get more space than if I have to ask her to move her stuff for me.” He tapped his forehead. “You have to think ahead.”
“Ciro, if Dr. Jane demanded every bit of this room, she’d get it. As you pointed out, her study of the xenos is kind of important. You’ll take that side table, over there, and be grateful for it.”
“Is that the reason why they got the bigger bedroom too?”
They’d gotten the bigger bedroom because Jane talked fast and Vas hadn’t forgotten Reyer’s face when she’d looked out the window of her quarters back on Home Base—but he was not about to admit that to his brother.
He said, “The woman who earned the credits to get us into this five-star vacation spot gets to pick whatever room she wants. You want to try telling Dr. Jane otherwise?”
“Nah. I guess that’s fair,” Ciro admitted. “I can’t wait to get back to Home Base.”
“Bored already?”
“At Home Base I don’t have to share a bedroom with my bossy older brother.”
“The word is ‘captain.’ Your older brother, the captain.”
“Funny how I never see you try to pull rank on Reyer or Jane.”
“I’ve never had to. They don’t give me grief.”
“Yes, they do. I’ll bet it’s because you wouldn’t know what to do if they laughed at you.”
Captain Adan Vas gave his brother a scathing look that was only slightly marred by his smirk. Then he went back to their room.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Jane returned from the hot springs in a good mood. She was idly drying her hair as she walked back into the room she had claimed. Lynx was only a step behind her. The robot slid the door shut after them.
“Oh!” The doctor stopped short.
Reyer had clutched the towel she’d been about to shed tighter around herself when Jane entered, but she visibly relaxed when she saw who it was.
“I’m sorry,” Jane said. “I should have knocked.”
Reyer stepped away from the knife she’d been reaching for. “Don’t worry about it. I’m jumpy by training.” She walked over to the far wall and knocked on the edge of the sliding door that opened onto the garden. “Vas, Lynx is back. You can take a shower now.”
There was a scuffling noise. “Goodnight then, Miss Reyer, Dr. Jane.” His footsteps grew fainter as he walked back along the patio.
Jane’s attention was caught by the web of bruises and bandages along the top of Reyer’s back. She was so focused, Alix was able to catch her staring.
“All right. What happened?” Jane asked.
“You already know.” Reyer dropped the towel and started to pull out her sleeping clothes. The bruising and bandages went all the way down to her hips.
“Do you want me to leave or something?”
Reyer smiled, but didn’t look up from her kit bag. “I was a soldier, Doctor. You don’t get to be body shy as a soldier.”
“Then, do you mind?”
It was unusual to hear Jane sound hesitant. Alix stopped and glanced over her shoulder. The doctor came closer to inspect the damage. When Jane reached out and gently touched a bruise, Alix gasped.
“Did I hurt you?”
“No. Your hands are cold.”
“How did they do it?”
“They slapped me with the flat blade of their machetes.”
“I think they must have slapped you pretty hard. They did this to find out where the xeno home world was?”
“Yes.”
Jane noticed a peeling bandage and tried to flatten down the rolled edge. “You’ll need to get it re-dressed soon.”
“Would you like me to have Captain Vas or Master Ciro fetch the first-aid kit, Miss Reyer?” Lynx asked.
“No, thank you, Lynx,” Reyer said. “It can wait until tomorrow.” She finished getting dressed. Most of the wounds were hidden by the tank top, but the abuse to her arms and shoulders still showed.
Jane finally looked away. “It looks painful.”
“It was at the time. It’s not so bad now. I’ve had worse.”
Jane didn’t doubt it. She’d noticed some of the older scars during her inspection. The doctor hunted down her own sleeping clothes and pulled off her robe. “You should have come with me to the hot springs. I hear they’re supposed to be good for healing.”
Reyer sat down on the low bed. It was the hot spring’s attempt to blend a western mattress with their eastern style. “No. Vas—Captain Vas—and I should still hide. We want to give you as much time as possible to do your research.”
The doctor turned to her and demanded, “How long have you been running for?”
“How long have I been actively running because of this manhunt? Or how long has the Supremacy had me down for assassination if they find me?” Reyer laughed at the frustration on Jane’s face. “It’s a different kind of life, Doctor.”
The doctor finished getting dressed and sat down on the other side of the bed. “Call me Jane,” she said. “We’re roommates now.”
“You seem angry.”
“Well, it’s stupid! War is stupid!”
Jane flopped back on her half of the bed and ordered the overhead light to turn off. The sunlight reflecting off the planet’s rings cast a dim light through the translucent panes that had been tinted to look like rice paper.
“There should have been a better way,” she finished.
“I agree.” Reyer’s concurrence was quiet but fervent. She laid down beside the doctor. “It doesn’t really matter, Jane. We’re not trying to make you a soldier—”
“Wonder Boy is.”
“Ciro probably wants another…intellectual to talk to.”
“You were going to say ‘nerd,’ weren’t you?”
Jane felt the mattress shake from Reyer’s suppressed laughter. “You can’t prove it. Anyway, most of us aren’t trying to make you a soldier. We’re simply grateful you’re willing to help us learn about the xenos.”
That last sentence was so quiet Jane had to turn her head to hear it.
“I don’t get you,” the doctor grumbled. “You’re willing to travel around in a dinky runner ship for days on end, you’re beaten for information, your life is constantly in danger, and you can’t even go to a hot springs. Is it really worth it to you?”
“Yes, it is.” Reyer added in what Jane had come to think of as her “teasing” voice, “Besides, aren’t you the one who left all those projects, classes, and a nice house behind so you could do research?”
“Well, that’s actually important.”
Reyer smiled.
“Don’t get me started! I had to study xenos in secret when everyone should have been begging me to do the work. The only people who are willing to help me are…”
“Rebels?”
“Who turned out to be fairly decent.”
“Almost human?”
“You know—for rebels.”
“Are we best friends now?”
Jane jerked the covers over herself. The two of them lay there in silence for a while, listening to the wind rustling the leaves of the small trees in the garden.
“Alix.”
Reyer hummed to show she was listening.
“You’ll let me keep all the information, right?”
“I promise.”
“You’re not going to use me and then kill me?”
“So maybe not best friends.” Reyer tried to sit up, but it hurt her back too badly. She dropped down onto the pillow. “Jane, I wish I could tell you that everyone in the Rising is some kind of noble, honorable warrior, but we’re only people. But I will promise that if you stay with me, I’ll do everything possible to make sure that you have access and rights to every piece of information you discover. It’s the least we could do to repay you.”
Jane noticed how Reyer almost growled the phrase “everything possible.” It was strangely comforting.
“If anything happens to me,” Reyer went on, “stay with Vas.”
“Which one?”
Reyer started to say something but then changed her mind. “Either. I have a feeling both of them have a bit of a thing about honor.”
“Ciro’s a dork.”
“Yeah. I like him too. Still, dork or not, I trust he’ll keep his word.”
They both fell silent again.
“And, Jane, thank you for your sacrifice.”
Reyer rolled over so all Jane could see were the bandages and bruises on her back.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Vas was laying on the lower bunk with his hands behind his head. He knew Ciro, who was leaning over the edge of his top bunk, could see his eyes were closed. He also knew that probably wouldn’t stop his brother.
He was right.
“So!”
“Go to bed, Ciro.”
“I’m in bed.”
“Go to sleep then.”
“I only wanted to ask how it went today.”
Adan took a while to answer. “What do you mean?”
“Oh. We’re still pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about? No problem. That’ll totally fool me.”
“Ciro, I’m too tired to play games. Will anything short of violence be enough to get you to shut up?”
“Sure. Tell me how it went with you and Miss Reyer today.”
“We stayed on the ship while you and Jane went out—gambling, as I’ve been told. It’s a small ship. Not much to do. We played chess. She read. It was boring.”
Adan opened one eye. His brother was still watching him. Then Ciro grinned and disappeared.
“What?” Vas demanded.
“What nothing? You said it was boring,” Ciro said.
“Yeah. I did.”
Vas felt uneasy. He knew that couldn’t be the end of it—it had been too easy. He took a deep breath.
“Of course,” his brother said in a low but distinctly audible voice, “that doesn’t explain your smile.”
“Nothing happened!”
Ciro’s head reappeared over the edge. He watched his older brother with narrowed eyes, then disappeared again. “I believe you.”
“What an honor.”
Silence.
“And I have to say,” Ciro said, “I’m very disappointed in you.”
Vas kicked the bunk above him hard enough to make the frame of the bed shudder.
Ciro was laughing. “Goodnight, bro.”
“Grow up, Ciro.”