There was another pause. I still didn't feel like saying anything.
"We are docked at a station," she continued. "We rip-jumped to get to a star system with a station, obviously. And you managed to do it without a trained navigator. I'm not sure what to make of that. Except that I am no longer of any value to you."
She scooted forward to get a closer look at me as she talked. The lighting was dim in the room with a brighter source behind me. She might not have been able to make out my features well and was just guessing about my worried look.
"You haven't gotten rid of me yet, so that means one of two things. The first option is that your opportune time has not yet arrived. Perhaps you plan to release me here on this station before you leave. That would be very civilized of you. The second option is that you still have a use for me. But I can't for the life of me figure it out. How long do you plan to stay silent?"
I gave her only a heavy sigh as a response.
"I need to tell you, Kash," she said with a noticeable change in her tone. Like she was about to reveal a deep dark secret. "I'm sorry for how I treated you."
"Bullshit!"
"Ha ha!" she laughed. "I knew I could get you to talk. But seriously, Kash. What is it that you want?"
"I haven't decided yet."
"Then let me help you," she said as she stretched out sideways to show me her full form, resting her shoulder against the right side of the barred crate. "I played a strong game with you, Kash. And I was winning most of the time. However, I drastically underestimated your power of persuasion. When you stole Strawberry from me I should have known that I was nearing my end. But I'm a proud woman, Kash. Or, at least I was until recently."
"It doesn't matter how or when the score changed, only that you won in the end. And here I am in a cage with no bargaining power. I fully realize that you have total control. You expect me to try and talk my way out of this mess, but I won't. In a way, I deserve this for how badly I judged you. So, instead, I can only make a request. I would say that I'd be surprised if it didn't fall on deaf ears, but that is not the case. You are a better man that I gave you credit for."
"I don't know how you ended up here, Kash. In the future, on that planet. But I'm fairly sure that you were not a hero where you came from. But that doesn't make you evil. I saw you as an opportunist because you were a mirror reflection of myself. You have reason to believe that I caused the death of Captain King and Pilot Koradd. I shall not attempt to convince you otherwise. My desire to take over as captain could not have gone unnoticed. No more than yours could. The reason that I am saying these things is this: I know where we stand. But I also know that we are much more similar than we led ourselves to believe."
"So now, the plea for my life," she said with a smile.
"Finally."
"Yes, well I told you that I would be long winded. You did so little talking since you arrived. The only thing that I have been able to figure out is that you don't want me dead. Isn't that true?"
Dammit. Even without me saying hardly anything I felt like she was the better manipulator.
"Release me at this station or take me with you to the next one. I can still serve as navigator until you get a new one, if you like. My chance of getting control of this ship is zero now. I can see that clearly. But I'm skilled at my job and won't have any trouble finding a new post. I'll go on with my life and leave this chapter behind. You need not fear any repercussion."
"Is that right?"
"I ask only one thing of you," she said then. "Let me have a shower this morning. You can watch if you want. I don't care. But there are places on my body that have never been this dirty before. Please, I beg of you, Kash. Let me clean up."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
I stood there with my trusty futuristic sword in my hand. I hadn't held it since the day I returned to the ship from the caves. I certainly wasn't permitted to carry it around on the station. Believe me, I checked. The way the girls had talked about Clark's Station in advance I had half expected to land in the gunslinging old west of the United States. Instead, open weapon carry was strictly forbidden.
I had met with Strawberry and the other official members of the crew to discuss the Sage situation. Like me, they seriously doubted her veracity. However, our plan to leave her here on the station would go a lot better if she was agreeable, and showered too.
Teddy carried the electroshock pistol with which Sage was already intimately familiar. I couldn't shake the image of her body convulsing in pain when he used it on her before she took his place in the cage. I was confident that my weapon
