Destiny Abounds (Starlight Saga Book 1) (28 page)

Merlo hoped she’d have time to. This trip would only last so long, after all. But she didn’t really want to ruin the moment by dwelling on that fact right now, so she did what she normally did and put such bothersome thoughts aside. She’d deal with it later, she told herself.

Merlo shivered slightly. She’d been pretty warm from the activities, but now that her body was no longer entwined with another, it was cooling down again. She didn’t want to summon her suit just yet, though. 286 looked back over her shoulder at the motion, slowly looking Merlo’s naked form over again. She grinned. “You cold, Merlo?” She drawled it out, sounding sarcastic or perhaps playfully mocking.

Merlo really liked something about the way 286 drawled out her name. She had no idea what it was, but it thrilled her a little each time 286 said it that way nonetheless. “Yeah. A bit.” Instead of reaching for the covers, however, she just snapped her suit back into place, the layers of nanoweave rushing from the port imbedded into her spinal column and sheeting over her exposed skin. Within the span of a second, she was securely clothed again, and the suit immediately began to regulate her body heat. Cold wasn’t a problem.

“Heh. That’s neat.” 286 shook her head in an almost disbelieving fashion and took another long drag from her vice.

“What?”

“Oh, just you and that suit. That shit’s pretty out there, you know? At first I thought you were just making it all up.”

Merlo grunted. “You believe me now, right?”

“Sure.” 286 said it in a way that could just as well have meant “whatever.”

Like many things involving 286, Merlo didn’t really know how to read that response. But in the end it didn’t really matter. She’d either believe her or she wouldn’t; it didn’t change the truth. Besides, she was relatively sure 286
did
believe her. “You like the suit?”

“Eh. I’d like it better if it wasn’t all you wore.” 286 grinned back at her.

“Yeah, well, you don’t get to decide that.”

“Yet.”

Merlo snorted with unexpected laughter at the Prisoner’s comment, and the playful arrogance of it. After it subsided, she laid on the bed and 286 smoked in silence for a long, comfortable moment.

“It’s just pretty strange is all. Haven’t seen anything like it before. And I’ve seen some crazy stuff.”

It took Merlo a moment to realize the other woman was still taking about her suit. “Yeah, well, to me this whole Kinetics thing is just as crazy, so there.”

“Heh. Yeah. That’s pretty out there, too.”

A thought hit Merlo, something born of a holovid series she’d taken a liking to. “So, the whole Kinetic moving objects with your mind thing... Is that like telekinesis? Like mental powers?”

In response, 286 slowly turned toward her, giving her an absolutely flat expression with the vapor stick half dangling from her mouth. She seemed to give Merlo just enough time to wonder if she’d said something stupid or upsetting, when 286 burst out in belly laughter. She barely caught the little white stick with her Kinetics before it tumbled to the ground.

“For a moment,” 286 paused for a breath, “I thought you were serious.”

Merlo, mildly but not seriously indignant, squirmed herself around on the bed until she was in a vaguely upright position. “What about it?”

286 sighed exaggeratedly, smiling down at her. “It’s just funny to me that you had a hard time believing in Kinetics, but thought that psy-stuff was real. It’s science fiction, Merlo. Doesn’t exist.”

“How do you know?”

“Cause I know a lot about that kind of thing, the science behind Kinetics and stuff. Besides,
everybody
knows it. There have been scientists trying to prove it’s real for two fucking centuries, but it’s not, so no one has. That’s part of why it’s so popular in media, ‘cause it’s not bounded by all the science and facts that Kinetics and other stuff is.” 286 flicked her used up vapor stick at Merlo’s trash can, but it missed, bounced off of the wall, and rolled under her bed. Merlo sighed as 286 made no motion to go get it.

“Fine, fine. No need to get your panties in a wad about it.” Merlo grinned right back at the Prisoner anyway.

“Maybe I want to get
yours
in a wad instead.” She leaned in toward Merlo.

Merlo didn’t even know what that was supposed to mean, but it got the message across well enough that her body recognized it. And then suddenly, the moment broke as quickly as it had come. 286 leaned away, stretching high over Merlo’s head and yawning impressively widely. “I’m tired,” she managed to utter in garbled tones though the yawn. “Can I just crash here? I’m tired of sleeping in that Sirrah’s room all the time.”

“Um, sure. I need to go… check on some stuff anyway. Like the navigation controls.” She watched as 286 rolled past her and folded her long, bare body up in Merlo’s sheets, not seeming to care that it wasn’t much cloth to wrap up in. “So, you and her, are you…?”

“Nah, she won’t sleep with me.” 286 paused to yawn again, louder this time. “Says she ‘can’t do that with clients or projects.’” She said it in a very bad impression of Sirrah’s voice and inflection that made Merlo snort with amusement. 286 briefly cracked open one hazel eye. “Why, you jealous, Merlo?” She drawled out the name again, with the expected results.

Merlo just huffed and shrugged at her, adding in a bit of an eye roll to accentuate it, even as she wondered briefly over the answer to that herself. But 286 seemed to accept the response, then snuggle up to Merlo’s singular pillow. Merlo stood up, stretched briefly, then retrieved her datapad from where it nestled between the bed and the wall. She tucked it away and briefly detoured to the bathroom to wash her face and clean up before heading to the door. But, as it slid open and revealed the empty hallway ahead of her, she paused. “286?”

There was no response, but she didn’t think that meant the Kinetic was asleep. “What’s your real name? You didn’t tell me.” There was still no answer, and after a moment, she shrugged and started out. She could always ask again later.

She almost walked out and missed the response. “Thought I told you, Merlo.” The woman still looked as if she were asleep, except for the fact that she was talking, voice slightly muffled by the not-so-fluffy pillow. “Prisoner 286.”

“Is that really it?” Merlo couldn’t keep a light tone of skepticism out of her voice. She just figured there was more to it.

“That’s all
anyone
knows, Merlo. Now get out of here and let me sleep. Talky later.”

After a moment, Merlo did just that, shaking her head at the woman’s attitude, but also smiling with amusement. But Merlo had lied. She didn't really need to check the nav, at least not yet. There was something more immediate to her interests she needed to check first.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Defusing

Sirrah

The door chimed, drawing Sirrah’s attention and announcing that there was a visitor at her door. She looked up from her digital copy of
The Expressions of Mountains
, an Altairan classic, with curiosity. She imagined the visitor was Captain Branwen, since 286 wouldn’t ever bother to knock, and she hadn’t been expecting anyone else today.

“Yes?” She raised her voice so the com system would pick it up, and made a vague wave of her hand, an indication to the ship’s sensors for the door to slide open. Sirrah tucked away her datapad and looked up, mildly surprised to see the ship’s pilot, Merlo, standing there.

The short girl had on her outlandish, militant bodysuit, as always. Currently, she had messily tousled silver hair that made Sirrah smile on the inside because of how it contrasted with the stormy expression on her face. She didn’t let her mild amusement or her concern at reading Merlo’s face show, of course. She could tell from the woman’s posture, her messy hair, and something in her expression that she’d recently been… well, intimate. Of course, she didn’t let that realization show either.

“I need to talk to you about ‘Prisoner’ 286.” Merlo said, her tone grating like loose gravel with its barely-constrained ire.

Of course. Now it was apparent what 286 and Merlo had been doing. Sirrah sighed. At least Merlo hadn’t barged into her room, a sign that she actually wanted an explanation, not just to point fingers or sling accusations. Still, there was no telling what 286 had told her, or why.

Smiling demurely, Sirrah elegantly rose to greet her guest. "Please, come in." She gestured to one of the two ornate, padded chairs in her small, but now tastefully appointed room. As the pilot stepped in, she moved over to join her at the little table. "Merlo, wasn't it? I'm afraid I haven't caught your surname as of yet."

Merlo stood, wordlessly refusing to sit with a rigid, military stance. "Merlo's enough." She crossed her arms. "Don't try to sidetrack me. I've heard you Kalaset people are manipulative, and I’m not buying it. Where in the ‘verse do you get off putting an explosive collar on a person?"

Sirrah closed her eyes, steadying herself against the pilot's ire, so pronounced it was almost palpable, and also against the quiet discomfort she held over the situation herself. "It was not my choice to collar her, nor can I say that I completely agree with the practice. There's just—"

Merlo cut her off. "Completely? So you kind of agree with it? The fuck does that mean?"

Sirrah frowned barely, disapprovingly. "I believe that it is a difficult situation, and I am not completely sure that there is a perfect solution at this point."

"So the solution is to threaten to blow someone's head off if they do something you don't like? What’s so difficult about that?" Merlo’s sarcasm and anger hung heavily in the air.

Sirrah sighed. "Merlo, are you aware of why she was incarcerated?"

Merlo frowned. "No, not... exactly. But that’s no excuse for something like this."

"I agree that these methods of constraint are extreme. But so is the danger that 286 presents to others, and thus the precautions that were taken by the Altairan government had to be greater than ordinary as well." Sirrah softened her expression and shifted her posture to show Merlo what she needed to see: a lack of aggression, and her very deep, very real, well of compassion for Prisoner 286. "Do you have any idea why someone like me would be traveling with a notorious criminal like her?”

Sirrah watched as Merlo bristled, but then calmed, reacting to Sirrah's subtle manipulation as she'd expected. The pilot opened her mouth then closed it, seeming to rethink her words before starting over. "Okay, fine. Why?"

"Because I care about her." She paused to let the innate honesty of her statement sink in and watched the series of expected emotions roll across Merlo's face: surprise, doubt, then curiosity. "The Altairan government was unwilling to continue attempting to rehabilitate her. This is noteworthy, because this is the first time such a thing has happened in the last several decades. Altair believes that everyone can be reformed; either through learning to change their actions, or by adapting Altairan policies to accommodate cultural and social differences.”

Sirrah stood, drifting gently across her room and retrieving her tea set, and beginning the nearly automatic process of setting it up while she continued. “But she was too dangerous, posing too great a threat to those responsible for keeping her imprisoned. They were very, very close to giving up on her. But as a final recourse, they asked the Kalaset to send a representative to evaluate her for a unique rehabilitation program. Since I was both nearby and willing, I volunteered to determine whether Prisoner 286 could be rehabilitated by the Kalaset."

"And you decided that she could? So you’re just taking her to them, or what?"

"I decided that whether she could or not,
I
had to try."

"Why?" Merlo's expression hardened over with distrust and obvious cynicism.

"Because I believe that everyone deserves a chance." Sirrah looked away thoughtfully, her hands still continuing to set up and pour tea. "When I first walked into that room, her presence was astounding. I had never encountered anyone remotely like her. She was so... vital, so dangerous. I was immediately drawn to the incredible complexity I saw in her eyes, and I knew that very moment that if there was any way to make this work, I would find it. I had to save this woman from falling through the cracks, few that there are, of the Altairan system."

Some of Merlo's anger slipped away, replaced by skeptical curiosity. "And what would they have done to her?"

"I can't say for sure. There are very few cases which the Altairan system does not handle excellently. The rehabilitation of prisoners is highly successful, and rarely does anyone present so great a challenge to that system. If they were ready to give up on her, it meant they felt she was truly disturbed, possibly unsavable. But what I saw in her eyes was not a hopelessly lost soul. I saw something incredible, something beautiful and great... something worth saving. Something that still defies explanation even now."

Merlo lowered her gaze to the table and the steaming hot tea Sirrah had placed before her, eyebrows furrowing ponderously. "Yeah... I guess I know what you mean."

Sirrah's face exuded compassion. "I don't know for certain I can fix her, Merlo. I'm not even sure it's fair to say she is broken." She sighed softly. "She just doesn't... fit the society she lives in. She’s different, and her life made her that way. But somehow, I have to help her find a way to coexist. It’s just not fair to her otherwise."