“We’d destroy the jump engine and likely fry the whole ship’s power grid in the process. Aaron, you know that. It has to complete the jump cycle before we can do an immediate turnaround.”
He turned on Ford and screamed, “She’s out there alone!”
“Don’t you think I know that!” Ford yelled back, in Aaron’s face.
Caph stepped between them and pushed them apart. “Where’s that fucking Kayehalau at?” he softly said. “We’ve got to find him. He was down here with her when it happened. See if he knows what the fuck’s going on.”
Aaron got on the com link. “Kayehalau,” he barked, “this is Captain Lucio. Report immediately.”
Nothing.
“Find his ass,” Aaron growled at Ford. “I want it on a fucking silver platter.” Kayehalau’s words to him in the galley after Emi’s interrupted striptease came to mind. How he apologized for causing Emi’s discomfort, but how the tone of the words at the time had hit him wrong.
Maybe Emi had been right all along.
Cold dread flooded Aaron’s gut. “Find him. Now.”
Ford logged in to his console from the cargo bay override panel. “He’s in sick bay. Alone.”
The men raced from the cargo bay. Five minutes later, they charged through the door of sick bay.
They stopped at the sight of Kayehalau’s lifeless body stretched out on the bunk. A voice recorder lay on his motionless chest. A hypo with an empty bolus, and two additional empty boluses of potassium lay on the bunk next to him.
“Fucker killed himself,” Ford said as he picked up the hypo, which held a third, now-empty bottle of potassium. “Shit. He was alive when I tracked his chip.” He reached over and touched Kayehalau’s arm. “Warm. He just did it.” He looked at Aaron. “Want me to try to revive him?”
“If you do, I’ll fucking beat your ass.” Aaron reached out, grabbed the voice recorder, and hit play.
Kayehalau’s placid voice filed the sick bay. “Dear Captain Lucio. By the time you find this, you will have discovered Dr. Hypatia’s untimely departure. I am afraid this is my fault.” He went on to detail what he’d done, indicating notes he’d left on the sick bay computer for synthesizing the antidote to the drugs he’d given her in case they found her alive.
“She was right all along in her assessment of me, Captain. I did not count on her empathic abilities overwhelming the effects of the drugs I gave her. I never intended to do her harm. I certainly never intended for this to happen. Since I am going to die anyway, the only honorable thing I can do now is end my life. I hope you find her safely before irreparable damage is done. My most humble apologies for what I have caused. Please use this at any official inquiry as evidence against me. I fully admit my part in this, and my guilt. I alone caused this.”
Aaron felt the strength leave his legs. Fortunately, Caph caught him and eased him into a chair.
“She was right,” Aaron whispered. “Son of a bitch, she was right the whole time. She didn’t want him on board from the second she met him in Dobros’ office. She begged me to refuse the assignment.” He closed his eyes. “I didn’t listen to her.” He cradled his head in his hands. “Oh, no, I didn’t listen to her.”
Ford tapped into the sick bay computer. “Found them. Here’s his notes.” He transferred a copy to his personal handheld. “Motherfucker had it planned down to the second. He was going to transfer them to her, then remove them from her when we emerged from the jump. Fucker was going to use her as his incubator.” He slammed his fist against the desk. “Son of a bitch! She said she didn’t trust him. Why the hell didn’t I believe her? Why the fuck didn’t I listen to her?”
“Because he planned it,” Caph softly said. “He planned it that way so we wouldn’t. He wanted us to think she was going through space sickness. He didn’t want us to believe her.” He turned and walked out of sick bay. From the corridor, the other two men heard Caph’s long, anguished wail and a loud crash as he kicked or punched something.
Chapter Twelve
Emi struggled to focus. After five days in the pod, she knew without a doubt she was losing her memory.
At times, she just couldn’t remember why.
She’d made notes that auto-displayed on the pod control panel to remind her to do things like completing a log entry. And a trigger to instruct her to jettison the data buoy and activate the beacon if it looked like rescue wasn’t coming.
By day six she’d forgotten Caph’s last name and had to listen to her log notes to remember why she was there. And it was cold. So cold. In a moment of clarity, she caught herself bumping up the temperature yet again and included a reminder why she had to keep it cold. When she later realized she was ignoring that order and turning the temperature up anyway, she locked the thermostat down with a password.
Not like I’ll remember the password to unlock it, at this rate.
A nearly panicked giggle escaped her at that thought.
Out loud and silently, she repeated a mantra. She didn’t want to ever forget her men. Aaron, Caph, Ford.
Aaron, Caph, Ford.
By day nine, it had become a multisyllabic one-word chant. Aaroncaphford. At times she wasn’t sure what it meant, only that it was desperately important she try to remember.
By day twelve, Dr. Emilia Hypatia didn’t know her own name, much less what the small boxy thing was in the pocket of her sweatpants. She suspected some sort of instrument, but the reminder that kept popping up on the control panel screen said she had to leave it in her pocket. Then she had to follow more instructions to activate a beacon and dump a buoy, whatever those were. When a prompt asked if she wanted to clear the lifepod’s databanks after the buoy was jettisoned, she selected yes, since there were no instructions not to.
She also felt afraid. So afraid. And fucking cold! There didn’t seem to be a way to make it warmer. The thermostat setting had been locked by some goddamned doctor.
Why would a doctor want to keep it cold in here? Fucking bitch.
She wrapped the blankets around her more tightly.
Where was she? She couldn’t even remember how she’d gotten here, only that she’d escaped, and at the time she’d been very afraid.
The rings on her left hand meant something, but she couldn’t quite remember what. Aaroncaphford.
Was that her name?
She spent her time staring out the view port into the inky blackness.
Chapter Thirteen
The woman lay on the bunk and shivered despite the four blankets securely strapped around her. She had no idea how she’d gotten there, or where she was. Only that it was cold.
And she was scared.
Aaroncaphford. She had no idea what that meant.
She didn’t even know her own name.
There was very little food. She suspected she’d better not eat unless she had to. Water also seemed to be at a premium. She guessed she might be in space based on what she saw through the small ports and the fact that if she released the strap holding her down to the bunk, she and her blankets wanted to float off.
Why is it sooo cold?
Aaroncaphford.
Was that where she was from? Going? Her?
She closed her eyes again and prayed whatever was going to happen happened soon.
Aaroncaphford.
Chapter Fourteen
The woman forced her eyes open and stared out the small view port. She had no idea where she was, how she got there…or who she was. All she knew was that she wished she had a bunch more blankets than she did.