Scavenger Princess Page 5

She yanked on some bits of nanograph tubing that had embedded themselves in the inner hull wall, thinking. So. If she accepted that none of this was coincidence, where did that leave her?

  One, she’d found a rare and valuable prototype crystal this morning, one stolen from her former owners the night before.

  Two, the thief was dead, and the company had put a large reward out for the crystal’s return.

  Three, this ship and its crew, an Ivaldi ship, had shown up on the same day.

  Four, these were her princes, the three men she dreamt about on a semi-regular basis, repeated dreams that imagined a different life for her, one in which they all lived together.

  Annie let out a long breath. No, this was her own head. She had to be honest with herself, if with no one else. They hadn’t just lived together. They’d loved each other. In the dreams — which she wasn’t even sure were really dreams at all — she flew the galaxy with these men as their wife, or the next thing to it.

  And five, the three of them had a strange conversation in which they talked about looking for something on the beach. Could they have been looking for her crystal?

  She put down her knife, staring blindly into the depths of Niobe’s engine. All she had was a crystal that could either make her rich or get her killed, and a lot of supposition. She had no idea who these men really were, or what their motives might be.

  She rubbed at her head. Well, it was unlikely she was going to discover those answers right this minute. She got back to work, and tried hard to keep her mind on the job.

  Eventually, she put away her knife and crawled back out of the ship’s innards, standing and stretching the kinks out of her back and shoulders.

  “All done?”

  She was surprised to find Dante approaching her, instead of Arcus.

  “With this part, anyway. I’ll need to fabricate a new intake valve, and some replacement tubing. That will take time.” She ran some quick mental calculations. Marlon’s printer was slow, but it would do the job. “Probably at least overnight. Then I have to get the valve installed, knit the tubing together, and make sure everything is working properly. Then I can finally put all of this—” she gestured to the decking littered with parts “—back together for you.”

  “Excellent. You’re finished for the day, then?”

  “I am.”

  “I’ll walk you back to your place of business.”

  “Oh.” Uncomfortable, she searched for what to say. “It’s not mine. And that’s not necessary.”

  “And yet, I will still walk you back.” He extended a hand toward the docking bay door, and unsure what else to do, she started toward it. The tool trolley was staying since she’d be returning in the morning, so there wasn’t even anything to grab before she left.

  “See you tomorrow, Annie,” Arcus called from where he and Payne were standing together, cleaning up the dishes of food and crates. She gave a little wave in return. Payne said nothing, but his eyes followed her until she left the dock.

  Once they were out of the spaceport, Annie tried again to reason with Dante. “This really isn’t necessary. It’s not a long walk, and I’ve made it many times alone.”

  “Three miles is a short walk?” Dante gave her a small smile. “Never mind. I’m sure you’re right.” He still kept pace beside her.

  In his tailored jacket and high end armored clothing, he stood out and garnered far more attention than she would have alone. To her surprise, though, no one hassled them, or followed them, and after the first glance most looked away as though they found nothing of interest.

  Odd. People here were always interested in off worlders, especially if they had money.

  “How is your head?” Dante asked after a little while.

  “My head?”

  He touched a hand to his forehead. “You had a headache earlier. I could…see it, in your eyes.”

  “Oh. Yes. It’s much better, thank you.” She studied him. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course.”

  “Why did you come here? You’re not in the market for a new ship, and there isn’t much else here except the shipyards.”

  “Well. I’m afraid I can’t go into details.” He gave her an apologetic look. “Except to say it was for a business deal.”

  “And Niobe? That fuel intake didn’t blow itself up. That was deliberate sabotage.”

  He scratched his chin. “Let’s just say not everyone involved was happy about this deal.”

  “Something to do with Laripim’s new prototype ship power?”

  His eyes narrowed. “What makes you say that?”

  She gave him a pitying look. “Please. News is all over the city about the crystal that went missing, how Laripim has a reward out for it. Every junker who’s ever searched the scrap is out there right now, looking. And you lot show up on the same day the news hits.”

  For a long time neither of them spoke. Then, he said, “Maybe we came for a business deal, but ultimately found something else.”

  She huffed a laugh. “Something else? What else is there?”

  “Something more important. More valuable than any crystal.”

  Annie shook her head. “I can’t imagine what that would be.”

  “I can.”

  Annie’s heart thumped in her chest. She had the odd feeling that he was talking about her. But how could that be? Unless…maybe she wasn’t the only one who dreamed impossible things.

  Annie.

  “What?”

  I don’t know what your life has been, but you don’t have to stay here. You could have so much more. Be so much more.

  She shook her head. “You don’t know anything about me.”

  I know you’re Talented, like me.

  Fear washed through her, so deeply ingrained she had no control over it. The denial was instant, automatic. No. I’m not.

  You are, he said gently.

  She stopped dead in the street. Her hands were curled into fists, one of them pressed tightly against her pounding heart. You’re wrong.

  Then how are we having this conversation?

  She stared at him. “We’re…” Only then did she realize she hadn’t seen his mouth move. He was talking to her inside her head!

  “I—I have to go.” Without giving him time to respond, she turned and ran. She didn’t look back to see if he followed. She wasn’t even sure, deep down, that she was running from him. She just had to get away. Away from the conversation. Away from his voice in her head. Away from anything that came close to admitting what she was. Everything in her rebelled at the idea.

  It had to stay secret. That was how she survived.

  Her bad leg slowed her down before she’d made it halfway back to the shop. But by then she was alone. There were other people on the street, of course, but no one so much as glanced at her. She was just another junker girl, running from something or someone.

  What was she going to do? Anxiety stabbed her, turning her stomach. Just stay calm. It wasn’t like Dante could turn her in, right? He was Talented himself. Clearly. Her instincts screamed at her to run, but where would she go? Omaris had the shipyards, and the scrapyards. There wasn’t a lot more to it.

  Limping now, and close enough to home that she knew most of the faces she saw, Annie let her thoughts circle as she continued on. It had sounded like Dante was offering her something. A chance to leave Omaris, maybe. She bit her lip. And if she did, would the things she dreamt come true?

  Would she fall in love with him? With them? The idea frightened her almost as much as Laripim coming for her, though she couldn’t have said why. In her dreams, she’d been free. Free to stay, free to leave, free to choose her own future. If that wasn’t paradise, she didn’t know what was.

  “Annie!” It was Salla, waiting for her at the shop entrance. She looked anxious. Annie quickened her pace to reach her. As soon as she was within touching distance, Salla stepped forward and took both of her hands. The other woman had a pale undertone to her brown and weathered
skin.

  “Marlon’s been lookin’ for you.”

  Alarm skittered down Annie’s spine. “I was on that job all day.”

  “I know. Told him that. Don’t know what he wants, but he didn’t look happy.”

  The two of them shared a look. When Marlon wasn’t happy, someone paid the price. As long as scrap and credits kept rolling in, Marlon acted the part of the jovial boss, magnanimous and understanding. But as soon as one or the other stopped, he became what he really was, a bully who owned contracts for their labor. Contracts with such a huge percentage and interest so high it often took a lifetime to earn them out.

  Annie had few choices when she escaped from Laripim. No one gave handouts here. You earned your keep, or you starved. Marlon had been the best option out of a bad lot. And he hadn’t cared where she came from as long as she earned her keep.

  “You turn in scrap this morning?” Salla asked, her face anxious.

  “Yeah, but less than usual. Snake bit me out in the yards.”

  “What?” Salla looked horrified. Her gaze roamed over Annie, looking for injuries.

  “My left leg,” Annie clarified, waving a hand toward it. It was starting to throb now. The healing nanites needed refreshing, and her run hadn’t helped it any.

  “You never been bit before, girl.”

  Annie rolled her eyes. “That’s what Marlon said. I better get inside and find out what he’s pissed about.” She was afraid she already knew. Did he suspect she had the crystal? “Can you do me a favor? I’m not sure how long this will take, and I need to fabricate a fuel intake valve and some tubing to house it for a CT34.”

  “Fuel intake. On a CT34? How the hell did that go bad?” Salla held up a hand. “You know what? I don’t need to know. Sure. What length?”

  “About this long.” Annie held her hands apart to indicate the length of tubing she’d had to cut out.

  “All right.” Salla grabbed one of her hands and gave it a squeeze. “You watch yourself.”

  “I will.”

  Annie limped inside. The shop itself was quiet. She didn’t see either Jens or Marlon about, but that just meant they were both probably below. Marlon didn’t live here, but he made himself at home whenever he wanted to, and sometimes even slept overnight in one of the empty rooms.

  Better to get it over with.

  She made her way to the back and took the lift again. It had been a long day and fatigue and exhaustion were catching up with her. She leaned against the wall as the lift began to move, closing her eyes. Whatever Marlon was upset about, it was unlikely she could do anything about it. She wasn’t admitting to having the crystal, and she couldn’t magically produce more scrap from this morning.

  Right now, she just wanted her bed and to sleep for twelve hours straight. Without dreams. She’d be lucky to get six.

  When the lift stopped, she muscled the door open. She was still pushing on it when someone grabbed her shoulder and propelled her out of the lift and across the room. She staggered, tripped over her bad leg, and fell.

  A piece of twisted nanograph landed beside her, so close to her face she flinched when it hit the floor with a metallic clang.

  “You call this a proper tithe?” Marlon’s voice was filled with scorn, but not the cold rage she’d have expected if he suspected she had the crystal. Relief washed through her, leaving her limp and trembling.

  “I lost half my day to that scrapping snake!” she shot back.

  Light headed and nearly giddy, Annie forgot how Marlon reacted to anything that smacked of defiance.

  A booted foot came down on her injured calf and pressed. Agony shot up her leg and she held back a scream, tears blurring her vision.

  “Don’t you sass me, girl. Snakes is always in the scrapyards. You have a quota you owe me every day, no excuses. You fall short, you get interest added to your ledger like everyone else.” His boot ground down and she writhed, gritting her teeth. “I’m adding extra for the sass.”

  Annie whimpered, unable to hold back the sound as she felt blood seep through the bandage. He’d reopened the wound, tearing the progress the nanites had made in sealing it.

  “You shorted me, girl, no two ways about it. I should be taking it out of your hide, but I need you on that ship repair.” Marlon considered her, his weight never easing off. “You finish that job tomorrow, get back in the yards. Find me that crystal, and we’ll be square.”

  Annie hadn’t noticed Jens, but he made a noise from where he stood in the kitchen. “You want her back in the yards day after tomorrow, that leg o’hers needs to work proper, boss.” Jens kept his tone casual, like he was making an observation about the weather. It was always dangerous to draw Marlon’s attention in these moods.

  But this time he didn’t react with anger. He seemed to consider Jens’ words, and then the pressure on her leg lifted. The pain continued, but it downgraded slightly, just enough so Annie didn’t feel like she was about to throw up. She lay there and tried to stop her tears, focusing on her breathing.

  “See to it,” Marlon said, jerking his head at Jens. He cast one last look at Annie. “Day after tomorrow better be the best haul o’yer life.”

  She listened as his footfalls moved away, not daring to move until the rickety lift door had closed and it started to rise. As she pulled herself up Jens was suddenly at her side, his big shoulder under her arm.

  “Thanks,” she said. It surprised her that he’d stepped in. Jens didn’t normally risk himself for others, not even Salla, and the two were close.

  “Don’ fish none,” he rumbled. Jens hadn’t been born on Omaris, and wherever he’d originally called home had a lot of phrases that weren’t common here. So far as Annie understood, this one meant don’t fuss about it.

  He helped her to sit on one of the kitchen stools, and wordlessly, unwrapped the bandage on her leg. It had soaked through with blood. She could tell by the grim look on his face when he saw the wound, that it was bad. As if the pain she was in wasn’t a good enough indication.

  “Well?” she asked when his silence stretched on.

  Jens shook his head. “Wound started to seal. Tore open. Fresh injury on top o’old. Gonna take longer to set right.”

  He disappeared down the hall, returning a few minutes later with a medical kit. Neither of them spoke as he dressed the wound with a bandage identical to the old one. They both knew it was less than she needed, but they didn’t have anything better on hand. The numbing effect of the fresh nanites finally eased her pain and she let out a long breath.

  Jens glanced up at her. “Should go t’the clinic,” he muttered. But he didn’t say it with much conviction. They both knew she didn’t have the credits, and he wasn’t volunteering to cover the cost.

  “It’ll be fine,” she said. “As long as Marlon leaves me the scrap alone.”

  Jens gave her a meaningful look. “That crystal got him crazy. You go lookin’ and don’ find it, he get crazier.”

  Annie ignored the pit in her stomach his words caused. He wasn’t wrong. Marlon was only going to get more dangerous. She needed to figure out a plan, and soon.

  Jens helped her limp to her room, leaving her there to go and find his own bed. Annie didn’t bother changing for bed. The idea of wrestling off her clothes and into fresh ones was too much, and she’d only have to turn around and do it again in the morning.

  The soothing numbness of fresh nanites was a chill that spread up her leg. The pain receded to a dull ache she could barely feel behind it. It was the only reason she was able to relax enough to sleep, and even then, it took far longer than she would have liked for her thoughts to settle and stop circling.

  She fell asleep thinking about her three princes, now more real than ever. Maybe real enough to help her escape. It was the last coherent thought she had before her dreams claimed her.

  Chapter 6

  Annie woke gritty eyed, her leg throbbing in time with an already vicious headache. With a groan, she rolled over and closed her eyes, wishing
she didn’t have to get up. But even if she didn’t have a ship repair to finish, she had no time for laying about. Finding that crystal had turned her life into a pressure cooker, and she could feel the pressure ramping up with every second that ticked by.

  She forced herself out of bed, and peeled back the bandages Jens had put on the night before. A mangled mess greeted her, still sluggishly seeping dark blood mixed with a milky fluid. The skin around the wound was puffy and red, and warm to the touch. Not good. An infection had set in, had probably been on its way before last night. She applied an antibiotic injection and carefully placed a new bandage, closing her eyes in relief when the wound went numb again.

  At this rate, she was in for a visit to the clinic whether she liked it or not.

  She took another of Jens’ headache capsulets before heading up to the shop, and her headache subsided to manageable levels. She sighed. Why was everything happening at once?

  Her stomach fluttered as the lift rumbled its way up. Last night, Dante had spoken to her telepathically. Like her, he was Talented. Were the others as well? In the night, between fitful sleep and incoherent dreams, a plan had hatched in her mind.

  Everything she’d found on the pirates indicated they were a tight group. Rumors said they regularly freed Talented slaves from the Commonwealth.

  She didn’t know if Dante, Arcus, and Payne were pirates, but if they were Talented and flying a ship like Niobe, chances were good. Maybe they’d be interested in helping her. Last night, Dante had indicated that finding her had been even more valuable than the crystal, something she couldn’t quite believe. But if she brought the crystal with her, surely that would at least buy her passage off world and the hard coin to start again somewhere else.

  But that would require her to trust them.

  The shop was quiet and dark when she stepped into it. As was her habit, Annie was up before anyone else. Normally, she’d grab a meat pie and make some coffee, but anxiety had her skipping breakfast and making straight for the fabricator.

  True to her word, Salla had programmed it last night, and a shiny new fuel intake and a length of nanograph sat waiting for her. Perfect. Annie put them in her pack and started for the spaceport.