It couldn’t be true.
The Universe could not be that cruel.
I awoke back in the cell. This time the lights were on, which was almost worse because I could see how much they had pounded on me—and on Narcissa.
They hadn’t touched Chiraine yet, but she was freaked out that she would be next.
The thought of my father crept back into my mind like a black fog of despair. I took a deep breath. I had to get past this. Just for now. I had to lock the pain in a box. Keep it separate from what was going on right here, right now.
Otherwise we’d all be dead.
I took another breath and looked around through half-closed eyes. This cell would certainly be monitored, so I played up how injured I was and let out an anguished groan.
“Jannigan!” Chiraine cradled my head.
“Am I glad to see you,” I said weakly.
“What did they do to you?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just happy I made it back to you.” I gently pulled Chiraine close and kissed her tenderly.
Her eyes widened in surprise, but there was no resistance as our lips locked. She met my kiss, and returned it passionately.
When we finally parted, I looked her in the eyes. Then my lips brushed her ear.
“Trust me,” I whispered so only she could hear.
As I eased back, I saw her nod almost imperceptibly.
“Don’t worry,” I said to both Chiraine and Narcissa. “I didn’t tell them where it was.”
“Where what was?” Narcissa asked.
“The Kryrk,” I said.
“You better not have,” Chiraine said. “We had a deal.”
Confusion played across Narcissa’s face.
“Need-to-know basis, sweetheart,” I said to her.
“Maybe we should use it as a bargaining chip,” Chiraine said.
“That’s my call,” I said. “Since I’m the only one who knows where it is.” I said that last bit in order to protect Chiraine and Narcissa.
“But—”
I cut Narcissa off. “You ladies are just going to have to trust me.”
“I guess we have no choice,” Narcissa said.
From the glint in her eye, I gathered that she finally picked up on my act and was playing along.
I stretched out on my back and let the cold seep into my head. Maybe it would freeze my headache.
Chiraine moved close to me, her soft curves pressing against the side of my body.
“What am I?” Narcissa said. “Chopped liver?”
I grinned and patted my other side, beckoning her over.
“Purely for warmth,” she said, as she came in close.
As I dozed off with a woman on either side of me, I couldn’t help but remember my birthday, and especially the after-after party with Lir and Preity.
Hmmm.
Some time later—I didn’t know how much later—the loud clang of our cell door opening woke me up. Two soldiers pushed a semi-conscious Ana-Zhi into the cell.
“Prisoner exchange,” one of the guards grunted as they hauled me to my feet.
“Ana-Zhi, you okay?”
“Alive,” she mumbled as she tried to keep herself upright.
Narcissa jumped to her feet and helped Ana-Zhi get into a seated position.
As they dragged me from the cell, Chiraine asked the guards for food and water.
“You start cooperating, and maybe we’ll talk about that,” the taller guard said.
“This is inhumane,” Chiraine said.
“Take it up with the Field Marshall,” the other guard said. “You’ll get your chance soon enough.” She leered at Chiraine.
Panic rolled in my stomach. I needed to figure something out, and soon.
The soldiers marched me through the maze of corridors that wound through this level of the ship. The place was just as empty as the last time they had taken me out. As I glanced up and down the hallways, I tried to take a mental measure of the ship.
And when I was shoved into the lift, I twisted my body so I could see the touchscreen as one of the soldiers punched in a destination. It looked like there were ten levels.
A big ship. Definitely could be a Hammerhead-class. They typically ran around 125,000 tons.
The lift headed down three levels until the display read 7. We exited into a hallway that was much narrower than those on the upper levels. The passage was crowded with all sorts of power conduits, data cables, and ventilation ducts. It felt like an engineering level, functional to the extreme, and more geared towards housing equipment than crew.
After so many twists and turns that even my captors seemed lost at points, we finally arrived at a circular bay—either science or medical by the looks of the equipment. The bay was ringed with a series of doors.
The two men at data stations in the center of the bay barely looked at me as we pushed through a door marked 7-17-4-E. It led to an anteroom with a pressure door on the far end of it.
Inside the anteroom waited a short, gaunt, middle-aged man wearing the tailored tunic of a medical officer. He had a severe-looking face with sharp cheekbones that looked to me like someone had been a tad overeager with their cosme procedures and had kind of messed things up way back when.
“The prisoner, Doctor Tarsch.” The closest soldier shoved me forward.
The gaunt doctor surveyed me like I was a slab of meat, walking around me in a circle. Then he said, “I was expecting someone of average height and mass. I will need to do some recalibrating. Bring him along.”
We passed through the pressure door and then down a short metal staircase that led into a compact laboratory.
“Place him there.” The doctor indicated a small, low platform in the corner of the room.
They shoved me up on the platform while the doctor hunched over a datapad.
“Keep him still,” Doctor Tarsch said. “And stand clear.”
One of the soldiers withdrew his sidearm and aimed it at my head. “Don’t move, asshole.”
“I wasn’t intending to.”
A bunch of concentrated light beams flashed on to my body. I guess I was being scanned.
They winked off, suddenly.
“Okay,
