Captain Cosette (26 page)

I'm
confused
.

“
So,” she said, “you'll need for me to pretend to be your sweetheart sometimes.”

“
Um, yes.”

“
And you'll have to act the same way towards me.”

“
Sometimes.  Yes.  If that's okay.  If you don't mind.”

She folded her arms and narrowed
her eyes.  “You sound like that's going to be the hard part of the job for you.”

His eyes widened. 
“No, not at all.  That's the easiest part of it, actually.”

“
Why?”

“
Because, well….” He swallowed.  “I already feel that way towards you, anyway.”

She blinked. 

What
did
he
say
?

“
You do?”

“
I know it's silly of me, and don't make fun of me, but actually, yes, I want to be with you, to have you with me, more than you realize.”

“
What?”  It was her turn to stammer.  “When did that happen?” 

He smiled ruefully. 
“I guess it was back when you managed to land that cruiser that was torn open and I realized you were something special and a terrific pilot.  But when you cradled the head of the woman who had just threatened you with a gun, and you sang to her as she died, I realized you were the first woman I’ve ever met that I wanted to be more than a friend.  But I couldn’t say anything because I thought at first that you and Rasora…”  He shrugged.  “And then it didn’t seem appropriate, because I was an officer…”

She interrupted him. 
“Are you saying you love me?”

“
Well, yes, actually, if you must put it that way, I guess I am.”

“
Really?”

“
Really.”

“
But that’s not how it works in the books.  In the books, the man grabs the woman and kisses her, and then she…”

“
You mean, like this?”

He bent down, wrapped his arms around her, and suddenly, astonishingly, she was receiving the first kiss of her life.

Don’t
faint
,
don’t
faint
,
oh
,
good
heavens
,
do not
let
me
faint
!

She almost did faint.  If Dyson hadn’t been holding her, she would have fallen to the ground.  All the strength went out of her and she could hardly focus.

He looked into her face.  “Well, now,” he said softly. “Where did that come from?”

She struggled to speak. 
“You mean those stars and comets and fireworks just now?”  She collapsed her head against his chest, inhaling his essence.  “That was me.  I confess it.  I’ll go with you to the end of the galaxy, if you want me.”

He hugged her and whispered,
“So you think you could pretend to be my sweetheart?”

She patted his shoulder, keeping her head still so she could hear his heart. 
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

“
You’ll accept the assignment, then?”

“
Yes.”

“
Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“
Oh, I do.”  She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face tighter against his chest.  “Believe me, I do!”

“
Well, let’s get going then!  We have to make arrangements and get our ship ready!  We’ve got a war to fight!”

She laughed and kissed his cheek
.  Then she climbed up into the flyer and into the pilot’s seat.

“
Don’t you want me to fly?” he asked as he climbed in beside her.

“
You may be the diplomat, Major, but I'm the captain of this ship and I'll do the flying from now on.  Sit down and buckle up!”  She powered up the engine.  “I am going to show you how to make this thing move!”

The flyer leaped off the ground and into the sky
, putting the highlands and all of her childhood behind her.  Then she leveled out and soared over Toulouse as graceful and swift as the morning wind.

She never looked back.

The End

Background photo by NASA

Sage Sundrud, model.

Books on Amazon.com cannot be found easily without reviews.  If you enjoyed this novel, it would be kind of you to look it up on Amazon and post your thoughts.

Morgan Keyes has helped me greatly by critiquing my writing.
  She is the author of the novel DARKBEAST, a fantasy novel for young readers which can be ordered on Amazon.

The novels of R. Bruce Sundrud are suitable for all ages, and feature romance and betrayal, heartbreak and wild adventure.  They are available on Amazon.com both as eBooks and printed novels. 

WHEN I AM ALIVE, I WEAR LAVENDER

BAD TIMES AT HORSESHOE STATION

CHILDREN OF A DISTANT STAR

THE POCKET UNIVERSE

ABOVE AND BENEATH

HERO OF THE GALAXY

THE SAND PRINCESS

SCAVENGER CREW

HEARTS OF IRON

GOLDENEYES

And the highly opinionated guidebook:

HOW TO WRITE SWELL

Scavenger Crew

Book One of the
Crusader
series

The captain paused, and then pointed straight up.  “Do you see this ceiling, young man?  What do you think lies one foot beyond it?”

“Space?”

“That’s right.”  He lowered his hand.  “How long do you think you would last out there without a space suit?”

“I don’t know, a few seconds I guess. Then my blood would start to boil.”

“And your eyeballs would explode, et cetera, et cetera.  You’ve been watching too many movies.  Humans have been hauled back into ships after three minutes in hard vacuum and have recovered.  Fifteen seconds out there, though, and you’re unconscious.  That means that someone else would have to drag your sorry rear end inside, and who do you think that would be?”

What is he getting at?

Ken shrugged.  “I don’t know.”

“Your crew, that’s who.  We spend our careers inches away from death and we depend on each other to stay alive.  We depend on each other to act within guidelines.  If there had been a disaster earlier, every passenger would have been taken care of except you.  No one would know where you were, and no one would go looking for you in the engine corridor because there was a sign telling passengers to stay out.”

He pushed a stack of printouts to one side and continued.  “I’m telling you this because they won’t teach it to you at the university, this idea of depending on each other, not until you actually get aboard a ship and start to form a crew.  But if you don’t understand it already, it might be too late for you to ever get it.  You see what I’m saying?”

Ken nodded.

“I’m probably wasting my breath.  Go back to the passenger area and stay there.  And when you get to military school, don’t you go where you’re not supposed to or they’ll send you back to working on the railroad or whatever you were doing on Hansen’s Planet.  You see what I’m saying?”

Ken cleared his throat.  “Yes.”

“Good.  I hope so.  Now go on, get out of here.  I’ve got a ship to manage.”

Ken stood, uncertain how to leave politely.  “Thank you, Captain.  I appreciate the advice.”

“Yeah, sure.”  The captain pulled a paper in front of him and pointed to a door.  “Go.”

Ken stepped out the door and met the security guard again.  “Follow me,” the man said, leading Ken down a corridor.  “Did he give you the talk about dying in the vacuum of space?”

“Yes.”

“You’d do well to remember it.  Knowing how to do your job is not the only part of being a crew member.”  He opened a door marked Passenger Lounge, and Ken entered.  “Remember, Mister Aedan, you’ve still got that bracelet on, and if you remove it before you leave the ship, I’ll know it.  And the captain will eject you into space, or at least try to.”

“I understand.”

The security guard closed the door. 

Ken ignored the glances of the other passengers as he went back to his room, feeling both angry and sheepish.  He had been chewed out before, but somehow, after he had walked out of his house and headed towards Spaceport, he had felt that he was now an adult and beyond such things, or so he thought until the captain had talked to him like a child again.

I’ll have to be more careful next time.

The thought that he should actually start obeying signs did not occur to him.

Bad Times at Horseshoe Station

Ruby folded her arms.  “From the time this planet was discovered, Chancel looked at Horseshoe as something to exploit and run roughshod over.  They’ve monopolized it and stifled any competition, which is why we decided to build up here in orbit.  Those so-called safaris are nothing more than excuses for rich people to shoot animals they haven’t taken the time to understand.  Belle Enterprises wanted to make money through sight-seeing, ecological vacations, activities that wouldn’t harm the biology.”

“Boring stuff, in other words,” said Ricardo.  He winked at Victor.  “She doesn’t like the guns and the danger.”

Ruby’s voice hardened.  “No, what I don’t like is killing things we don’t understand.  You haven’t studied the food web; you don’t know what part these creatures play, and you don’t know how much damage you’re doing.  By the time we get some interplanetary laws to protect this planet, who knows what will be lost forever?”

“Oh, come on now, Ruby.  These are common beasts, not rare, and we don’t hurt the females.  The young are already on the way.  We’re just harvesting the bull males.  Besides, it’s a chance for men and women to live the way we used to before we got over-civilized, to get out in the wilds and to fend for ourselves.”

“Is that why you have a crawler with wine and gourmet cuisine following as you fend for yourselves?”

“These are high-class people; they demand their luxuries.”

“While they fend for themselves.”

“The money’s good.  Isn’t that what matters?”

Victor could see that the words were getting through, but not the meaning.  It was too painful to watch, even though on the surface it seemed a simple discussion.  He sat down beside Cydney and helped her with the telescope controls.

They were focused on some slow-moving grassland creatures that looked vaguely like rhinos when a call came in from Oscar.

“Ruby, we’ve got bigger problems than I thought.”

Ruby turned away from Ricardo.  “Speak to me.”

“This sweeper’s been down a long time.  Some big stuff has drifted into this orbit, and it’s moving fast.  There’s some, wait a minute, some.....” 

Oscar fell silent, and the four of them stared at the speaker, wondering what was happening. 

Victor’s stomach tightened. 

Then Oscar broke the silence.  “Ruby, get everyone into the rescue pods, now.  Hurry!  My sensors just picked up some large stuff coming your way fast and there’s no way I can get this sweeper fixed in time.  I’m so sorry, Ruby, I didn’t go when you asked, I’m sorry, and now, oh my lord, look at those...I can’t....Ruby, get out of there!  Get....!”  A burst of static, and the speaker fell silent.

Ruby put her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with unbelief.  Then she turned and shouted.  “The escape pods are beyond the workers’ kitchen, that way!  You heard him!  Run!”

The Pocket Universe

The Escaped so reminded Madison of a rat that she labeled it the Rat Witch.  “Speak the Common Tongue,” she commanded, and flicked her fingers at it.

The Rat Witch whirled and ducked, and the spell flew harmlessly over her head.  She glared at Madison with large black eyes.  “
Eeya
mooglit!
” she snarled, shaking a fist.

Madison resented being called a
mooglit
, whatever that was.  Before she could ready another spell, the Rat Witch reached into her robe and pulled out a small black ball.  She flung it at Madison and the ball burst into flame in midair.

Madison caught it smartly and juggled it like a hot potato, keeping an insulating layer of magic on her hands.  The ball felt like pumice and smelled of sulfur. 

Nasty little creature.

She threw the fireball back at the Rat Witch and while the creature was dodging, she cast her spell again.  “Speak the Common Tongue!”

This spell flew faster and brighter and struck the Rat Witch head-on.  She cried, “Woop!” and flipped over on her back.

Madison walked up slowly, not trusting the creature, but she seemed to be out cold.  Her face was a cross between a rat and a spiteful little girl with skin problems.  The staff was made of a rich dark wood, topped off by a green gem held in place with strips of leather. 

She placed the staff on the Rat Witch’s chest and scooped her up with both arms.  “Time for you to go back,” she muttered, and carried her across the lawn towards the door to the wine cellar.