“Michael, come on!” The voice was old-sounding, but the words were definitely that of a young boy. I walked faster. I wanted to get this introduction done and over with so I could find a dark corner somewhere else on the dead ship and lick my wounds, so to speak.

  Layo had stopped walking when I finally caught up to him. He was standing in front of a pool of ocean-blue water. The waterfall I kept hearing was across from us, raining daintily into the pool, creating gentle ripples. I could see a glowing form sitting behind the water. Tall and regal, the figure made me utterly nervous. It didn’t have the form or bearing of a ship’s heart. This was the mysterious Mama.

  She slithered across the pond, then stopped directly in front of us. Her all-black eyes blinked slowly at me, her head cocked as she looked me over completely. Mama’s body was reptilian, long and smooth, pale and glowing in the oxygenated air. “You’re not a ship doctor. You’re different. There is an odd scent to you. I’m not familiar with it.”

  “You’re not what I was expecting either, ma’am. You’re more, umm…” How did one tell a large snake lady that she was not the cephalopod I expected? It felt like a trap.

  She tipped her head in acknowledgement. “I am Gracieus. I have been on this ship for a very long time, and you are the first humanoid I have seen in a while. What happened to my people? They were taking care of us, and now they are not. I have sent the boy out on occasion when noises occur outside the garden, but he doesn’t understand organics, and he doesn’t have long-term breathing capability as you do. I hadn’t thought to create a being with a closed-circuit respiratory system. How have you managed it?” Her eyes blinked out of sync from each other, but she never stopped staring at me.

  “My, ah, suit is equipped with an oxygen system and a closed face mask.” I gestured back toward the airlock, where my helmet sat. “Ma’am, I was wondering if I could get something to bind my wrist up? There was an incident, and I need to keep it elevated.”

  Mama, or Gracieus, drifted closer to me, her tongue tasting the air as she scented me. “Your smell is so familiar, yet I cannot place it. I do see that your arm is in many pieces. Layonisus!”

  Chapter 16

  “Yes, Mama?” Layo had changed back to the sweet young boy, but I couldn’t look at him without terror now.

  “Find some bindweed and cut two lengths of it. Do it quickly or there will be no food for you tonight.” Gracieus jerked her head, and Layo loped off into an area of the greenhouse I hadn’t been able to explore yet. “I thought I had taught him better manners. Was it he who snapped your inner framework?”

  “Ah, yes. I don’t believe he did it on purpose. He wasn’t aware of his strength, and he grabbed my arm,” I explained, smiling through the pain.

  “A growing creature such as he needs both incentive and punishment in order to thrive and learn. As he disobeyed my orders, he needs to be punished.” She shook her head as she sank her body deep into the pool. “Now explain. What are you? You are not Terran, and yet you have the physiology of one. You have psychic bonds with a foreign creature, something very familiar to me, and yet I cannot place it.”

  “My shuttle was being chased by pirates, and my co-pilot dumped me off in hopes of drawing them away,” I said, wincing as I thought of Reia. There had been no word from the commanders about her status. “We figured this vessel was abandoned, as the hull had been breached.”

  She waved away my words and flicked her tongue out, sampling the air again. “Explain this bond between you and the other creature. It feels faint. I am intrigued and repulsed at the same time.”

  I stepped back, away from the pool. I didn’t like that she was repulsed. It sent tingles down my spine in a very bad way. Maybe now was the time to take charge of my destiny and get the hell out of this place. “I, ah, apologise for repulsing you. It was never my intention. I’ll just go back to the gardener’s office and hang out there. Everyone’ll be happy, right?”

  “Where are you going? Why are you backing away? Are you not the one who was desperate to meet me?” Her slick body touched the rim of the pool edge, and it didn’t look like she was going to stop. “Your body is dripping with fear, and I must confess, it’s making me hunger.”

  Well, shit. That sounded like it was a good time to start moving. I really didn’t need Layo’s help with the bindweed. “Listen, it looks like it’s getting very close to lights out, so maybe I should disappear like you always want me to. We’ll talk again in the daylight.”

  “That is for Layo’s protection. You may stay. I would like to know more about your kind. Come, sit by the pool.” She waved her arm, offering me a seat on the pool’s lip, and I shuddered accidentally and obviously. “Why does this bother you, mechanique?”

  “Just not used to your kind of people, I guess.” I blinked at her knowledge of what I was. I hadn’t realized she knew. And now that she did, it terrified me. The very idea of being within her reach as she tasted my emotions and hungered for me made me sweat and twitch. She was learning too much for me to feel safe in what I had considered a sanctuary of sorts. “So, um, thank you, for, uh, meeting me tonight. But I think it’s probably best if I, you know, left. Don’t want to give anyone any ideas right now.”

  I gave a jaunty wave and despite the pain in my broken and useless arm, I moved quickly back through the overgrown path. Mama was not what I expected, and I had this nightmare moment of imagining being crushed by her snakelike body and swallowed whole.

  Sweat dripped down my face as I wrestled with the helmet. Trying to get it on my head and locked into place was a challenge. I hadn’t realized how fucking difficult it was to do things with one hand. Blowing out some air and pausing, I wrangled with the helmet one last time, and I nearly cried at the satisfying click as it latched into place. Being out in an airless section of the ship allowed me to breathe so much easier. Gracieus made my skin crawl. I moved to tap the commlink and bit my lip hard at the agony. I needed to talk to someone familiar. I needed my Eizen.

  “Computer, connect with Commander Sartris.” Maybe using voice commands would work. I had gotten so used to my hands, I might have forgotten about the easier way.

  “Michael? What’s up? I thought we were going to stick to not contacting me for a while?” Commander Wild’s voice wasn’t the one I wanted, but I was thrilled to get someone who knew me anyway.

  “The… creature in the greenhouse is some form of ship’s heart but not really. She’s a snakelike creature. And I think she has the capability of creating life or golems. I can’t tell. Think she’s a Nabire. Not sure, though. Never saw pictures of them.” I continued moving upward. I had to get far away from the greenhouse. I didn’t want to be caught by Layo if Mama did decide to set him free.

  “Lieutenant, your voice is wavering. Are you okay? Are you able to get to a safe location?” Wild asked, alert and focused. He was more in tune with what I was saying.

  “Working on it now, sir. The corridors all look the same in the dark. I can’t tell if they’re safe at all.” The pain was a living thing, and it pulsed in a timely fashion. I was pretty sure the only thing keeping me upright was my need to get away.

  “Give me access to your computer. Can you do that? We should be in range for you to do that now. I can see the asteroid belt on the long-range scanner,” Wild ordered. “We are roughly half a day away. I’m sure we can convince Padua to push her capabilities.”

  “It’s just she said she could taste me, and she knew I was a mechanique. She didn’t like how I smelt. She kept saying stuff, and then… and then… Layo wasn’t a little boy anymore. He was this hulk-like thing,” I rambled on, lost in my hell. Telling Gracieus about being able to breathe with a face mask was the dumbest thing. I gave her an idea, and now, what if she implemented it?

  “Michael, it’s Eizen. I need you to breathe with me. You’re starting to hyperventilate.” The familiar voice of my most important person helped calm me down. He timed his breathing with mine, and within moments, I was mostly back to myself. “Okay, are you in a safe location yet?”

  “No, sir. I’m still on the lowest deck. Safest location is two decks up,” I said, keeping the deep breaths going. “A lot of the stairs are blocked and too close. I’m trying to find a ‘secret’ one.”

  “Have you granted Wild access to your comm? It will help us help you.”

  I looked at my arm with the screen and my broken one. I could probably muddle through giving permission, but I wasn’t sure if the pain was worth it.

  Eizen sighed. “Talk to me, Michael. You’re hiding something.”

  “Not hiding anything. Just trying to get as much distance between me and the greenhouse as possible.”

  There, that set of stairs with the broken door. It would be perfect. I thought it was the one I crunched my knee on. I knew there were missing risers and difficult workarounds. It would be perfect in case Layo managed to figure out how to breathe without life support. Eizen was rumbling in my ear, and it kept me smiling as I knew it pissed him off when I ignored him.

  “Mick, are you listening to me?” That was my grumpy Commander.

  “Eizen, I’m tired. I want to go home.” I wasn’t expecting those words to come out, but they were the truth. I was ready. My adventure off ship was done. I wanted home. Bracing myself for the inevitable pain, I lifted my broken arm and pressed a finger against the screen. “Lieutenant Michael Collins granting complete access to Commander Wild.”

  The screen flashed bright and immediately dimmed. I smiled and lifted my arm and rested the fingers on my shoulder. I gave access to Wild and not Eizen for a reason. I didn’t need Eizen to know everything, and I was pretty sure he would take issue with a lot of “everything.”

  “Lieutenant, I want you to reach into your left leg pocket. There should be a medipack. I want you to open a pocket on your right arm and slide the medipack into the capsule slot. It should just connect right in. Can you do that for me?” Wild’s voice in my ear was calm. His instructions were short and kept me focused on the words.

  I managed to do as he instructed, and the painkiller began to work immediately.

  “Did that work? Okay, good. I can see it. Now I want you to tie a strap around your wrist and then loop the other end around your neck. Can you do that?”

  I patted my waistband where more of my off-ship supplies were. Sure enough, I found a nylon strap. With careful deliberation, I wound a loop of the strap around my broken wrist and managed to get the other end around my neck. I was sweating profusely by the time I had my arm comfortably settled against my chest and my shoulder. I slid down to the ground and gasped for air. Shit, I hadn’t realised how much energy it took to do something that simple. “It’s on.”

  “That’s good. How are you feeling? Is it safe for you to go to the bridge? Was there power there before?”

  “I can’t remember.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I want you to go there anyway. It’s far away from your creatures, and you should be able to block both doors. You should be able to hide out there until we get you. Can you do that?” Wild asked again.

  I was getting mightily tired of being asked if I could do something. “Yes, Commander. I can do that. I am fully capable of a lot of things, so stop asking me that,” I snapped as I stood back up. My head swam a tiny bit, but that was completely normal, and I didn’t need to mention it. “Okay, I am going up—”

  “Michael? Why is it so dark? I’m scared, Michael. Can you come back? Mama is so sad.”

  How? How did he find me? How was he able to wander around in a spaceship in the freezing cold without air?

  “Michael!”

  Footsteps banged on the risers, and my hackles rose in agitation. This was not the boy Layo. This was the monster, and I scrambled up the next flight, my feet slipping on the frosty risers. Wild and Eizen were frantic in my ear, trying to get me to listen to them, but all I could think about was getting further away from the Layo who had broken my arm with a mere grasp.

  I didn’t know what deck I was on, but I didn’t care. I had to get out of Layo’s line of sight and into someplace dark and safe. I only wanted a minute to catch my breath. One room had a door that was slightly ajar. It had tables that were higher than regulation and basic scientific paraphernalia. I could hide in there.

  Ducking behind a table with panelling on one side, I sat and banged my head against one leg. My chest hurt as I tried to regulate my breathing. Everything was beginning to throb as I struggled to calm down. I lifted the comm screen to my face and saw my vital signs were all over the place. I hoped Wild managed to hide this information from Eizen. I didn’t want him to freak out. I had a feeling shit had gone down on Padua and Eizen’s emotions were off-kilter.

  “Michael? Are you in here? Mama told me these rooms are dangerous. You shouldn’t be in here because of a nasty bug in the air.”

  “Well, isn’t this lovely? Good evening, little fishy. I thought I’d give you the heads-up that we discovered a wee little ship with lights going on and off in random locations, kinda like a little fishy looking for a way out. I can help with that, ya know.”

  Well, shit, of course he had to reappear. I had thought—no, I had hoped he had found other fish to fry. Why was this happening to me now? I was tired. I didn’t have the energy to deal with two hostiles.

  His little boy cadence made me shiver and tuck my legs closer to me. I winced as I accidentally jostled my arm.

  Layo shuffled into the room. His feet scuffed against the floor as he explored slowly. “Michael, you should come out now. I can make you better. Are you mad because I hurt you? I didn’t mean to! Mama reminded me that you are fragile and I have to be careful with you. You can come out now, Michael! I told you I’d be good!”

  I stayed down and kept as still as possible. I strained my ears, trying to suss out where Layo was. A muffled beep from my comm screen stopped me from breathing completely. I begged silently for Wild or Eizen to stop talking. I covered the speaker and prayed Layo hadn’t heard that.

  “I wonder, Michael,” the pirate intruded on the general comm, “how you would react if I told your friend there where you were? What would he do? What would you do?”

  Okay, this was getting creepy now. How did he discover my name? I didn’t know what to do. I froze and just waited for the ground to open up.

  “Michael, come on! I don’t want to play hide-and-seek anymore. I want to go back. It’s so scary out here. I think I heard noises. They didn’t sound familiar, and now I want to go back to Mama, so come on!” His voice deepened and grew rougher with each word, making me shiver. “I know you’re in here. So stop messing around.”

  Layo didn’t hide his movements, as I could hear him throwing chairs around and shoving equipment crashing to the ground. I lifted my head from my knees and studied my zone of freedom. I saw another door two tables away that looked like it could easily be pushed. A beaker crashed centimetres away from my feet.

  First, I needed to know exactly where Layo was and time my movements so I could get to the door before he could catch me. Taking a deep breath and another, I shifted to my knees and scrambled away from the table, hoping my belief that Layo was metres away was correct. I tripped and stumbled to the door, only to see the grotesque hand stopping me from opening it all the way.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Hiding.” Be succinct and tell the truth. How else does one get away from a hormonal, raging boy?

  “Why? Mama was so sad when you ran away.” His gruesome head moved into my line of sight, and I was treated to an up close and personal view of an all-black eye similar to his mother’s. It was disturbing. “We don’t have time to play games.”

  “I realize that, Layo. But I don’t think I should go back to Mama. The lights are out now. I have to stay out.” I might have been lying through my teeth. I wasn’t sure what time the lighting system shut down, but I was pretty sure it had happened or was going to happen fairly soon.

  Fear and confusion danced across Layo’s face as my words penetrated his thick head. Lights out was ingrained into his psyche. I could see him twitch as he thought about the implications.

  “No! Mama said it was okay. She said it was safer for us to stay in the forest where there was… light and food. We have to go back.” He stomped his foot in anger and more furniture crashed to the ground, startling both of us.

  Taking advantage of his frozen state, I opened the door and slipped out through the tiny opening. I pulled the door closed tight and limped away.

  “Michael! What did you do? Michael, don’t leave me in here!”

  I took a deep breath and moved away from the room. If Layo used his head, he would remember the second door, the one he entered by, and he would be able to leave the room easily.

  “Michael? How are you doing? Your vitals were all over the place for a minute. I thought you were going to pass out on us. Tell us your plans.” Wild’s voice was a soothing reminder I wasn’t alone and I had people at my back.

  Chapter 17

  I let out my pent-up air and thought of the best way to tell Wild about Layo finding me. I didn’t think it was necessary he knew, but those higher-ups were so uptight about protocol. “I’m having a bit of trouble getting to the bridge. A momentary issue, but I think I’m good now. Just a deck more and then I’ll be all good.”

  “Are you sure about that, Michael? Are you going to stand there and say everything is all good?” Eizen’s voice broke through Wild’s calm manner, and I cringed.

  “Yes? Because it’s all true?” I moved slowly. My small light kept getting absorbed by the darkness ahead of me. I desperately wanted to rush, but I knew logically that was a bad idea. On my first explorations, the bodies were strewn about and were potential tripping hazards, and the floor was slick with frost. I kept an ear out for Layo, in case he figured out how doors worked.

  “Michael, who are you talking to?”

 

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