Kira opened her eyes, unaware that she’d closed them. She gasped and reached out, grabbing the wall for support. She was in the engine control room… with Eric. She looked around, her heart suddenly thundering in her chest. Nothing looked out of place aside from one of Eric’s utility knives laying on the floor several feet away.
“ Eric…what happened? How’d I get here?”
Eric swore softly. “You really don’t know?”
“ What? Did something happen? Did I black out? I used to do that when I was a kid. I…I even heard that I did some things during the black outs.”
“ How old are you?”
“ I’m thirty seven Terran Standard years.”
“ Impossible!” Eric blurted out. “You look like you’re twenty two!”
Still upset, Kira shrugged his surprise off. She needed answers, not more dilemmas. “Good genetics, I guess. Other than this trip I’ve never gone under cold sleep.” She paused before bitterly adding, “At least not that I can remember.
“ What about body mods? Cyber or Genetic?”
She held up her arm with the data input link on it. “Just this. I swear.”
Eric swore again. “Tell me Kira. Tell me why you’re here. How’d it happen? When were you born? What’s your story — you’re full story.”
She looked at him, chewing on her lip even as her lip trembled. Here it was, the moment where she decided what her future held. Maybe. She didn’t know, she’d never tried telling her story to anyone before. Then again, she’d never let herself begin to trust anyone before. “I’m not crazy! Please believe me, I’m not crazy!”
Eric stared at her, expressionless. “From the beginning.”
Kira nodded, sniffing back unshed tears. “I’m Kira Eskew. I was born at the hydro farms in the near Earth orbit. School was normal, friends were normal. Then I started having my blackouts when I hit my teen years. They came and went and I’m not sure what I did to get by, but I always had money. I got this data port during one of them, in fact.”
Eric whistled softly. “That’s one way to avoid the pain of surgery.”
Kira smiled sadly. “I’d rather have the pain. Do you know what it’s like having entire blocks of your life missing? I held different jobs, receptionist, model, aeroskimmer shuttle pilot, janitor, and a bunch of other entry level things. It was always something new, and I never really knew how I got them.”
“ That’s amazing,” Eric whispered.
“ Try annoying. Up until just now I haven’t had a blackout in a couple of months. That’s a record! Well, it was. I’d hoped they were over but I guess not…”
More tears fell, prompting Eric to step closer and gather her up in a comforting hug. “That’s why I ran away. I’m scared of what’s going to happen to me. And to you. I don’t want to wake up somewhere else and not have you with me. Or what if I don’t remember you at all?”
“ Five million Core Script,” Eric spat out abruptly. “That’s the price on my head.”
Kira stared at him for a long moment. “That’s…a lot of money,” she ventured. “I can’t think of a safer place for you though. Always on the move and no real address or clue where you’ll be next. No reason to trace your name either. Does anybody know you’re on the Rented Mule?”
He shook his head. “Just me…us, I guess.”
“ Well, that’s my story,” Kira said. “There’s a lot of holes in it, but it’s all I’ve got. I’m scared shitless of what always seems to happen to me, but I’ve never told anybody before either. Maybe I just needed to trust somebody to make it go away. Or maybe I’ll never see you again.”
Eric nodded, then looked away. When he looked back at her he focused on her eyes and said, “I’m fucking crazy, but I believe you. Everything you’ve just said, I believe. I’m willing to risk it for you. Not anybody else, just you, Kira.”
Kira found herself smiling. The smile faded quickly. “Why are you looking at me like that.”
“ Just trying to make sure every part of you hears me, so that way I’m burned into your memory to keep you from pulling the blackout again.”
“ Oh!” Kira smiled again. “I hope it works!”
He let out a laugh. “Me too. Now come on, we’ve got a date with some hibernation bunks.”
“ Don’t suppose the Captain would let us share one?”
Eric laughed. “Don’t even ask, trust me! The good thing is the time will pass quickly.”
“ Do we have time for me to apologize for running out on you?”
“ I bet we can squeeze it-mmph!”
Chapter 6
Kira woke up slowly, coming out of a fog that she had to fight her way out of. She remembered something about a conversation she had with another woman, but she could never see her face. As the light intensified she memory of the dream faded.
“ Kira? You with us?”
Kira groaned and opened her eyes, squinting even though the lights had been turned low. A familiar figure loomed above her. She smiled in spite of herself and removed the attachments that allowed her body to enter the hibernation sleep. A moment later he was helping her out of the tube and handing her a robe.
“ Want to help me out of my bed too?” Tarn called with a nasty leer in his voice. Thumb protruding between index and middle finger, Eric gave Tarn the universal gesture everyone throughout the Coalition worlds had only one definition for. Tarn laughed again.
“ Be at your stations in fifteen minutes, I want know what our status is,” Captain Sharp ordered. He headed off to his own quarters to change, leaving the rest to make do in the communal locker room.
“ If you hurry you can get there before the men,” Eric urged.
Kira’s eyes widened. She winked at him and hurried off, thankful that her body was responding to a normal wakeup instead of the forced one. Until she stubbed her toe going through a hatch, that is. Limping, she still made it to the locker room before the others and slapped her hand across the occupied button. Breathing an unnecessary sigh of relief she let the robe fall and turned to the full length mirror. She studied herself, noting how growth during hibernation was effectively halted.
Then again she’d always been exceptionally lucky when it came to her body. She seldom needed to use any depilatory creams, for example. Aside from her long hair that was currently died red her body didn’t seem to grow any. She’d wanted to get that checked out at a doctor’s office but the opportunity had never presented itself. Her finger and toe nails were similar, they seemed to grow to a set length but never beyond. She’d gotten used to it over the years but it still seemed bizarre.
Kira looked up, looking in her own eyes. She jumped and spun around, looking for the dark shape that was behind her. There was no one there. She looked around, her heart beating quickly in her chest, but still no one was there. She turned her head to glance in the mirror again but all was as it should be.
Kira straightened, then wondered why she had been crouched so low she was almost on her hands and knees. She’d been comfortable, but why would she want to duck? She shook her head again and walked to her locker, intent on dressing quickly. She definitely wanted a shower before she had a chance to get Eric alone, but right now she was more interested in getting out of the locker room.
No further peculiarities haunted her as she dressed and left the locker room behind. She walked past the four men waiting in the hall outside, with Tarn alone being the one to grunt, “Finally!” Eric just flashed her a smile and shrug, then moved past her into the room to change.
Kira considered waiting but decided she’d do better to get to the bridge. She needed the Captain happy with her, not frustrated. Especially if she was really going to try and stick it out with Eric. Staying on the Rented Mule made the most sense to her, at least for now. She knew he’d stick up for her, it was the least she could do to give him the same respect.
“ That was fast,” Sharp said as he entered the bridge and took his seat. Kira smiled to herself, she’d heard him coming and smelled the cologne he’d splashed on. It wasn’t out of any hopes of bedding her, she knew, but just
