Viking Unbound (11 page)

Mitzi sat back. “Don’t think you’ll get off that easily, Science Officer. Have you any idea how much money FREN invested in this project?”

Frey looked Mitzi right in the eye. “Sure I do, but maybe you should be thanking me. You’ll save a fortune because he’s already defrosted. Although I didn’t cause that, I
did
follow orders and keep him alive.”

Gron nodded. “You did. Captain Travis agrees with that at least.”

“I appreciate Captain Travis’s support,” Frey said tightly.

After a quick glance at each other, Mitzi and Gron rose to their feet.

“We will continue this conversation after the Viking has cleared his initial health assessments. If he
doesn’t
clear them, we will require your presence in the medical lab.”

“To do what?” Frey looked up when Mitzi finished speaking.

“To be tested yourself. Until then you’ll be held in custody by security.”

“This is ridiculous.” Frey scowled at the female. “The Viking is here, and he’s in one piece, largely due to me. I understand that you have to follow protocol and that you need someone to blame for his defrosting. Just let me resign from my post and go home.”

“You will not be allowed to leave Alpha Three until we have completed our inquiries.” Mitzi turned and banged on the door. “If you are deemed to have breached your contract with FREN or TSA, you will be prosecuted.”

“Great,” Frey muttered as her two inquisitors went out to be replaced by four huge guards. “Not even one com call home? Or the Pavlovan ambassador to talk to? At least a word with
someone
who might understand and protect me?”

“Come with us, Science Officer Frey.”

She checked out the guards and realized she had no choice but to do as she’d been told. All she could hope was that Einarr was safe and that he wasn’t worrying about her at all. That would be for the best. Her chest tightened as if her heart was being squeezed tight. She refused to give in to the desire to cry. She had a sense that she would need all her strength to stand up to whatever was going to happen next.

Eventually, after walking through what felt like miles of corridors, she was gently maneuvered through a thick metal door into a small windowless cell. The door was locked before she even had time to turn around. With a sigh, she sank down onto the side of the small bed and shoved her fingers into her hair, loosening the braid.

She searched for Einarr in her mind but there was nothing, only a cold empty space where his thoughts should have been filling her. He wasn’t dead. She would have known if he was, but he definitely wasn’t conscious. Tentatively, she reached out to the only other Pavlovan she knew.

“
Slavin
?”

“
Tecky, Are you okay? The whole crew has been detained at the base, and is being interviewed one by one. We have no idea what’s going on.”

“I’m sorry about that, but I’m not surprised. They are probably looking for evidence to use against me. I also doubt FREN wants a bunch of you wandering around the galaxy telling stories about a defrosted Viking right now
.”

“
I had the same thought. I wonder if they’ll force a memory erasure for the whole crew?”

Frey shuddered. For a Pavlovan, the TSA’s casual attitude to wiping sensitive data from their population’s minds was considered barbaric. It was also hugely damaging to telepaths. Everyone knew that the TSA tended to do a mind sweep first and deal with the inevitable claims from outraged citizens afterward. If said citizen hadn’t gone crazy…

“
Have you seen Einarr?”
Frey couldn’t help but ask.

“
No
.” Slavin hesitated. “
They knocked him out and took him to the medical wing. I don’t think they will let me see him
.”

“
I’m certain they won’t let me see him. I’ve been locked up in the high security wing
.”

“
Have you told them that you are mated to the Viking?”

“I didn’t see the point. It’s not as if they are going to let me stay with him or anything.”
Tears pricked behind Frey’s eyelids and she resolutely swallowed them down. “
It’s better for him if he doesn’t have to deal with me while he is rehabilitated
.”

“
I don’t think he’d agree with you
.”

“
He doesn’t have much choice. Neither of us do.”

“
Still… If I do see Einarr I’ll tell him that you’ve been detained
.”

“
Don’t. I don’t want him to think he has to rescue me or anything
.” Frey took a steadying breath. “
There is something you can do for me, though
.”

“
What is it
?”

“
Find out if there is a government representative from Pavlovan on this base and tell them about me. Tell them everything.
”

“
Done. Anything else?”

“Check and see when the last time these planets aligned? I bet it was around four thousand Earth years ago when Einarr and his brother were first trapped in the ice.”

”I’ll do my best.”
Slavin paused
. “I have to go now. It’s my turn to be interviewed. Wish me luck.”

Chapter Eight

Einarr opened his eyes and stared up at yet another white ceiling. He was bound to the bed and he couldn’t move anything but his fingers and toes.

“Oh good, you are awake.”

There was a whirring sound, and his pallet suddenly rose at an angle until he was almost vertical but still strapped to the bed. The healer, Aziz, who had welcomed him to the base, stood beside him, her bright blue uniform now covered with a white coat.

He fixed her with his most intimidating glare. “I am getting tired of being knocked out, tied up and treated like an animal of low worth.”

She had the grace to look ashamed. “I am sorry about that. We wanted to get as many of the medical unpleasantries accomplished as possible while you were unconscious.”

He became aware of a myriad of small irritations on his skin, as if he’d been eaten alive by a swarm of biting insects. His head felt as if he’d received another blow from an axe.

“Where is my brother?”

“His ship hasn’t landed yet. It is expected within the hour.”

“Then I wish to be free to greet him.”

She sighed. “We’ll do our best. We’re still waiting on test results.”

“I do not care what you are waiting for. I want to see my brother.”

“If he’s survived as well as you have, you’ll be seeing plenty of him. The pair of you will need to enter a program of extensive rehabilitation.”

Einarr ignored that. “Where is Frey?”

“Science Officer Frey?” Aziz’s expression sharpened. “Why do you want to know?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Because she is of my blood.”

“I’m not sure I get your meaning.”

“Frey belongs with me. Where is she?”

“I
believe
she’s still here on the base.”

“I know that.” Einarr said impatiently. “She needs to be here with me.”

“Why?”

“She is my
female
. Her blood called me to her through the centuries.”

Aziz cocked her head to one side. “Do you really believe that?”

“How could I not?”

She wrote something down on her white slate. “How do you know Science Officer Frey is still on the base? Do you smell her blood or something?”

He remembered too late Frey’s warning to him about not sharing his powers. “You talk to me as if I am a beast hunting his prey. Let me free. I will find Frey and my brother.”

“I can’t let you go until I’ve been given the okay by FREN and the TSA.” She patted his arm. “Let me go and check on those test results. I’ll be right back.”

She showed him how to lower and raise his bed and some other things and then went out with a cheery wave. Einarr felt an unaccustomed slow rage build within him like a fire licking at a thatched roof. Someone had removed all his clothing and his arm rings leaving him in a thin blue shroud like garment that barely reached his knees. He took a moment to observe the nature of the webbing binding him to the bed and then concentrated his magic. There was a horrible burning smell, but his bonds refused to break.

Nonplussed, he tried again, but he was still trapped. Reining in his anger, he took a deep breath and focused on Frey. Her shields were up, guarding her thoughts, but they were no match for him.

“
Frey
.”

“
Einarr, oh thank Gods, are you okay? Have they hurt you?”

He wanted to smile at the raw emotion in her voice. “
I am well. I will come to you soon.
”

Silence.

“
You…don’t have to do that. I’m fine. You focus on helping your brother. He’s going to need you
.”

Einarr frowned. “
I will of course help Aki, but I will also find you
.”

“
There’s no need.”

He felt as if someone had punched him hard in the guts. “
Frey, I…”

He jumped as the glass light over his door flashed red and started wailing like a thousand howling wolves. He couldn’t even cover his ears. A voice bellowed out.

“All security teams to the docking bay. All security teams to the docking bay.”

The dock must be where he’d landed and where Aki was expected. Einarr glanced at the door and then pushed the button Aziz had shown him how to use if he wanted help. No one came. After another few seconds, he forced another pulse of magic through his bound wrists, causing more of the foul smell and a slight softening of the rope-like substance. With an almighty roar, he wrenched his arms free, ripping through the restraints and set to work on his ankles.

Wedging the chair against the door, he searched the room and found his belongings stacked neatly on a shelf in the cupboard. There was still no sign of his weapons. Dressing quickly, he moved the chair back against the wall and peered out of the door. The hall was deserted, as if the screech of the alarm had driven everyone away.

Frey jumped up as the security alarms started blaring and sensed the guards outside her door moving away. Sticking her fingers in her ears she walked over to the door, reached above it and managed to shut the alarm up.

“
Einarr? Did you hear that? It’s an alarm. It should stop in a moment.”

She leaned against the door awaiting his response. If the alarm had scared her, what had Einarr made of it?

“
I am well, Frey.
I believe Aki’s ship has been sighted.
I’m going to see what is happening down at the docks. Can you join me there
?”

Frey thought he sounded remarkably calm considering. “
I don’t think so. I’m locked up
.”

“
Then
I will find you when I’ve dealt with Aki
.”

“
It’s okay. I’ll try and get out of here myself. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I will find you, Frey, regardless.”

She was torn between gratitude at his obvious sincerity and fear that he meant it. “
Be careful
.”

He snorted. “
I will do my best. I assume they will be reluctant to kill me until I have paid for my journey here
.” He paused. “
If you plan to escape, mayhap you could find my weapons and bring them with you
?”

“
Sure, why not?”
She grimaced at her slightly hysterical response.

“
Now I just have to find my way back to the docks,”
Einarr continued speaking.
“It is hard to read most of these symbols on the walls.”

“Oh that’s easy.”
Frey said, pulling up the map of the base in her head and relaying it to him
. “Go to level 01 and look for a symbol that resembles three inverted ‘v’s like the head of an arrow. That’s the sign for the docking bays. Aki’s ship will be coming in to one of those. It will be pretty obvious which one it is if the entire Alpha Three military is surrounding it.”

His laughter saturated his thoughts, and for a moment, she forgot to hold him at arm’s length and simply enjoyed being so in tune with him
.
It wasn’t fair for him to have to face the might of Alpha Three all by himself.
She put her hand on the control panel on the wall of her cell.

“
I’ll try and join you
.”

The security system hadn’t banked on a Pavlovan’s telepathic ability to disrupt electrical patterns and currents. It was a flaw she was more than happy to exploit. She’d already lost her job, and her future was in doubt. What was to stop her helping the Viking? If she was being screwed by FREN, Gods knew what they planned to do to an ancient Viking.

Letting out a slow breath, she placed her hand back on the control panel and focused on the intricacies of the security system until she understood the flow well enough to reach in and telepathically disrupt it. Her cell door lock clicked open, and with a soft prayer, she eased it open an inch until she could see out onto the corridor. There was no one there, only the flashing red lights, the boom of the alarm, and the sound of hurried orders being issued over the public com.

If Einarr’s weapons were on Alpha Three, they would be stored in the most secure area, which had to be where she was currently being held. As she ran along the corridor, she used the matrix of the building plans to identify exactly where she was.

“Einarr? This might sound weird, but can you connect with your weapons at all? I mean magically or telepathically
?”

From the stream of his thoughts, she could tell he was also on the move, his route downward through a series of emergency staircases and locked doors.

“
Aye, I can sense they are here.”

“Can you send that thought to me?”

For a moment, he went quiet, and she considered how to rephrase her request. She’d grown up surrounded by telepaths and never had to think about how she’d acquired her knowledge. Trying to explain things to a four-thousand-year-old Viking was proving to be a lot more complicated than she’d anticipated.

She almost gasped as the image of his axe and dagger appeared in her mind with such vivid clarity that she wanted to reach out and touch them.

“
Hold that thought, Einarr
.
Call them to us.”