Children of Steel (47 page)

They exchanged greetings, Balizar rather
warmly, Herza somewhat stiffly. "We're here early because there was
a change in scheduling, I knew you wouldn't have seen it because
you've been out the whole time. So rather than have you get in
trouble with the Captain I though we'd just come out here and get
you."

"Gee thanks, I appreciate it." Something
didn't seem right about what they were saying, but I couldn't place
it. "Just let me get my stuff." I went back to the room and grabbed
the few things I had. I turned around and saw that both Helena and
Herza had followed me.

"I guess this mean's your going then Raj?"
she said quietly.

"I don't know," I could see Herza was looking
dagger's at me, "we don't leave orbit for a while, but I really
need to talk this over with my friends first."

"Hyberious would have liked to say goodbye to
you, you know."

"Where is he anyway?" I asked

"He had some special business to attend to;
he should be back any minute. If you could wait for him, I'd sure
he'd greatly appreciate it."

I could see Herza suddenly had a sap in her
hands and was getting ready to use it too!

"No, I'd better go. But don't worry; you know
that the Astra stops here regularly, so you’ll see me again." I
gave her a hug, and glared at Herza, who palmed the sap but kept it
ready.

"Bye Helena, and give my regards to your
Master. Tell him I'm sorry I had to miss him." I looked in her eyes
and for a second she kind of got a bit of a wild look, then there
was a soft thunk and her eyes glazed right over.

"What in the Hell did you do that for?" I
asked Herza as I gently laid her down on the bed.

"Look in her hand," she said tightly.

I did and found a slap needle, the kind used
to knock people out.

"What's that for?" I asked confused.

"I'll tell you in the car, come on." she
grabbed me and dragged me through the hall to the front door, where
Balizar was amusing the head servant with some anecdote or
other.

"Well, got to go," he said. "Give your Master
my regards and tell him I'm sorry we missed him." And grabbing my
other arm they hustled me out the door and into the company car out
front.

Balizar jumped into the driver's seat and we
took off like a rocket.

"What's this all about?" I asked them.

"Any problems?" asked Balizar.

"She tried to drug him when we left, that's
all."

"I'd really like to know what's going on if
either of you don't mind talking, and what's this crap about a
schedule change? You could have just called."

"We've been trying to call all week Raj,"
said Balizar, "But nobody's been getting through."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah," picked up Herza, "It seems you
girlfriend there was quite taken with you. So was her boss, he's
been trying to buy you for two days now."

"You're kidding?"

"Didn't he offer to buy you out?" Asked
Balizar from the front seat.

"Well yeah, but I wasn't really sure."

"Well he's not taking any chances, right now
he's trying to bribe the local company rep to sell your contract
without your approval."

"I didn't realize I'd made such a big
impression on him," was all I could think of to say.

"Well, we found out yesterday about his
offers, and decided to get you this morning. Just in case."

"Do you think the company rep will sell my
contract?" I asked curious.

"Nah, he knows I'd kill him if he did. That's
assuming the Captain didn't have him arrested first. The company
frowns on that kind of thing."

"But we were still afraid he might try and do
something to make you miss ship's movement," added Herza.

"So that was why Helena had the palm needle,"
I sat back amazed, "Gee how sweet."

"How sweet!" thundered Herza furious, "Raj,
they were going to make you a slave!"

"Actually more like a pampered pet," I
replied smiling.

"And that's okay with you?" She stated still
steaming.

"Weeell," I said slowly, "it's a tough call.
She's really something else, her Master seems to be an okay guy,
and they treated me better than anybody in my entire life." I
leaned over and goosed Herza, who jumped. "Except of course for you
folks."

"I still think you're an idiot to even
consider it," she mumbled, somewhat mollified.

"It has its advantage's, I'll give you that,"
put in Balizar from the front seat.

"Especially when it's somebody really
important you're owned by."

"What's that on your arm anyway?" Asked
Herza, "It must have cost a fortune."

"Oh, I stopped somebody from assassinating
him, and this was my reward. Nice huh?" I took it off and showed it
to her.

"I take it that happened about two days ago?"
asked Balizar.

"Yep, so I guess that was when he decided to
try and buy me for Helena. You know I'm going to have to send her
an apology, Herza's hitting her with that sap really wasn't very
nice."

"Probably a good idea, who knows when you'll
be back, right?"

The drive back turned out to be
anti-climatic, with nobody trying to stop us at the last minute, or
anything else equally exciting. Balizar did order me back to the
ship as soon as we stopped however, so I went to my room and got
into a uniform, grabbed my stuff and went. The things I had bought
on that first day were sitting on my bed, so I just tossed them
into my bag with the other stuff.

I wrote a quick letter on the way up though,
and had it sent by local mail to Helena. In it I apologized about
what Herza had done, but told her that the needle had been a bad
idea. I also told her that the next time I came through, I expected
to see her again and who knows? Maybe I'd stay too.

Loading went fairly quick, as we were taking
back mostly jewelry and other craftworks. That kind of stuff, while
expensive, doesn't really take up all that much space and we left
with one of our pods two-thirds empty.

I was surprised to receive a letter from both
Helena and her Master before we left orbit. She accepted my
apology, and hoped I would return, saying she would miss me
greatly. Hyberious commended me on making my escape, saying he was
still sorry to see me go and that if I should change my mind in the
future, the offer still stood.

I felt good about that last part; it's always
nice to have an option.

As always, things went back to their normal
routine once we broke orbit. I wouldn't say totally normal, there
was some fallout from my little adventure. The first was that
pictures started appearing on some of the ships bulletin boards, of
me all done up in jewelry and lying on the litter with Helena. I
got a lot of ribbing about that, it seems quite a few members of
the crew had seen me during leave too.

I finally managed to track down the culprit,
and wasn't too surprised to find that Rudy was the responsible
party. He didn't look very happy when I finally caught up with him
in the flight room.

"Hey, can't you take a joke Raj?" he looked
at Dave and Gabe for help. They just ignored him.

"Calm down, I just wanted to get some
copies," I told him, laughing at his expression.

"You're not going to get any revenge?" he
asked skeptically.

"Well, I don't know about that," I smiled,
"But to be honest I had a great time, and wouldn't mind some
pictures to remember it by."

"Any truth to the rumor that they tried to
buy you?" asked Gabe while he was checking his cards. We were a day
from jump and the traditional poker game was in full swing.

"Sure is, they really appreciate talent back
there on Pharaoh," I smiled smugly.

"More likely they appreciate stupidity," said
Dave raising the bid, and I snorted at his comment. "I also heard
that Balizar and Herza had to drag you out of there, that they
weren't going to let you go," he finished.

"If it wasn't for my desire to be with
Cassandra, I can tell you right now I probably would have stayed.
As for being rescued, well Helena was considering trying to get me
to miss ship's movement. I guess she figured I'd give up and stay
then."

"What'd she do?" asked Gabe.

"She was going to hit me with a slap needle,
but Herza laid her out from behind with a sap."

"Ouch!" said Dave, "You better watch out for
Herza Raj, I think she considers you
her
property."

"Nah, she's just overly protective." I
replied, but I wasn't so sure I believed it even as I said it.
She'd been avoiding me since I came back on board. Mist and Katrine
had both been by; they thought the whole thing rather funny. But
Terease and Lyle had both confirmed that she was in a bit of a funk
at me, I just hoped she never ran into Cassandra, or there would be
fireworks for sure.

We made jump the next day without mishap.
There was a clan meeting set for that night and I had definite
plans for Herza, regardless of what she thought.

I arrived a little late to find everybody
comfortably sprawled about. I plopped down next to Herza, and when
she tried to turn away, I put her in a leg lock.

"Knock it off Raj," she hissed quietly.

"Am I forgiven?" I asked quietly.

"I haven't decided yet."

"Well can you at least be civil until you
decide?" I asked smiling.

"Okay, but no funny stuff, you're still in
the dog house buddy." she growled, but stopped trying to turn
away.

Balizar had been watching us, and now that it
appeared settled he started in with some questions. "Any regrets
about coming back Raj?"

"No, not really. It was a tempting
proposition though, I mean I might have ended up a slave, but I
would have been a very pampered one at that. He's a very powerful
man on Pharaoh, and actually quite nice."

"First time you lost it he would have turned
you into dog food!" Herza said growling crossly.

"No, actually he liked my propensity for
violence," I turned back to Balizar, "Do you know he had a copy of
my
entire
record? Everything? Including my screw ups?"

"Really?!" said Balizar shocked, "How in the
world did he get those? I'm going to have to do a security check
immediately."

"And he still wanted you after reading it?"
said Terease laughing, "No wonder you were so tempted! They must be
as crazy as you!"

"Worse actually," I grinned evilly at her,
not hard after watching Helena for a week. "Made me feel like the
voice of reason for a change."

"Now I know it's bad!" chuckled Banner,
"Remind me never to get in trouble there."

I then showed everybody the armband, as well
as the other things I had gotten as gifts.

"This must be worth two hundred thou easily,"
Sharazad told me while given the stuff careful examination.

"You're kidding!" I said abashed.

"No I'm serious. Pharaoh is known for their
art work, and this is top quality. On some major planets you could
get as much as a quarter mil for the armband alone. If you decide
to sell it, wait till we're someplace that has a lot of rich
people."

That made me stop and think for awhile. I had
been pretty lucky once again; this stuff would make a real dent in
my bill. On the other hand though, if I should ever go back to stay
I wouldn't need to sell it. Decisions, decisions.

Everybody talked then about what they had
done and seen while planet side. I heard the story from Balizar
about how the Captain notified him that someone was trying to buy
out my contract, and how they had tried to call me several times
after that.

"Fortunately, Mist and Lyle remembered where
the place was and told us. But after seeing all this wealth, maybe
we didn't do you any favors, huh?" We all laughed at that one and
after everybody had calmed down I reassured them that I was happy
to be back.

"Nothing makes you feel so wanted as a daring
rescue!" and I gave Herza a hug, who grumbled at me again.

We broke up a little later after that, and I
got up when Herza did.

"And what do you think you're doing?" she
said looking at me. Those who were still there watched with
interest.

"Going with you, what else?" I replied
innocently.

"Oh no you're not!" she replied hotly.

"Okay," I said as I quickly tripped her from
the side, "I guess you're coming with me then!" And I scooped her
up before she realized what I was up to. Throwing her over my
shoulder I made quickly for the door as everybody applauded. Herza
started biting kicking and clawing for all she was worth.

"I'm going to kill you for this you lousy
bastard!" she yelled between bites. I ran to my quarters as fast as
I could, it hurt like the dickens.

I made it there in record time, about twenty
seconds, tossed her in and locked the door behind me. I had a large
gash below the ear, several deep bites on my shoulder and who knows
how many slashes on my back. I could see my blood on her claws and
muzzle.

"Let me out of here now!" she growled at
me.

"Not until we settle this," I growled back, I
was hurting now and that started to trigger my own temper. "I want
to know why you're so mad at me. So I thought about leaving, we're
not mated and you don't own me!"

She just came at me with her claws out then
and attacked. At least she didn't touch her knife. It was a rather
quick if bloody and vicious fight, she managed to rake my legs with
her feet when I grabbed her, and I got a sore head from head
butting her a good four or five times. Once that slowed her down a
bit we traded some elbow and knee shots, then just as suddenly as
she had started, she stopped.

I leaned back against the wall; my head
rather dizzy from those headbutts myself.

"I just didn't want to lose you yet, that's
all," she said collapsing on the bed with a choked sob. "It's bad
enough that you're already spoken for, but then you go and consider
giving up on that commitment, and
I'm
not the one you were
going to give it up for! Of course I'm mad, madder than hell! I
love
you Raj, and I want you for myself!"