Against Impassable Barriers Read online

  Even if he were completely sincere, Scout didn’t see any good coming from using him to get inside. She was still too angry that he had betrayed her, too angry that he had nearly killed her dogs by shooting them with a tranquilizer he had no idea how to properly calibrate to their respective sizes. Just thinking about Tucker was making her curl her hands into fists. What would happen if she actually saw him again?

  “This is it,” Emilie said, and Scout forced her hands to uncurl, her teeth to stop biting her lip, and her head to rise so she could look out the windscreen at the canyon opening. The walls here were a bland dusty yellow, but deeper in they would be like a dazzling rainbow created by trace minerals in the rock.

  Emilie set the ship gently down and turned off the engines.

  “Look,” Geeta said, leaning forward to point through the windscreen. A faint plume of dust was rising up from deeper within the hills. “Someone is coming?”

  “They would have seen us approaching,” Scout said and swallowed hard. “Maybe I should go out alone.”

  “Together,” Emilie said and unbuckled her harness.

  She had just climbed out of the seat, eyes on Scout as she prepared to argue with any objections Scout might have, but they both turned at Geeta’s startled gasp.

  Two ships set down on the ground between them and the canyon mouth. They were two of the lighter fliers, only room for one pilot each. The ships were close enough for them to see those pilots through their windscreens.

  They didn’t look happy.

  “We can fight them,” Geeta said.

  “No, we run,” Emilie said, jumping back into the pilot seat.

  “No, I agree with Geeta,” Scout said. “There are only two, and the rebels are on their way. This might be our only chance.”

  Before Emilie could answer, the ship under them began to shake. Then the ground started falling away beneath them. They were rising up into the air, and their engines weren’t even on yet.

  Scout had one glimpse of a pair of motorcycles emerging from the canyon, skidding to a halt to gape up at the sky. Scout was pretty sure it was Ken and Bente.

  Then metallic walls dropped down around the sides of the ship, or rather the ship rose up into them, and every glimpse of her home world was gone.

  9

  Scout tipped her head back to look up, hoping for a glimpse of whatever they were rising up into, but the lights above them were blindingly bright. The only detail she could see was the square of metal walls around them.

  A hull, she realized. They kept rising and rising, but the metal before them wasn’t made of separate sections welded together. It was solid, the space they were in neatly carved out of it. Whatever had carved it out had left patterns on the metal like overlapping fans. They were shaped like a fan you’d hold in your hand to keep the heat off on a sweltering day, but they were immense, wider than Scout could spread her arms.

  “Stars,” Geeta said, her voice barely more than an awed whisper. “The hull is so thick. What was this ship built for?”

  “How is it staying aloft?” Emilie wondered, peering up into the light above them. Her glasses darkened to compensate. “It must be incalculably heavy, and they brought it this far down a gravity well.”

  “It’s the big one, isn’t it?” Scout said.

  “The flagship? Makes sense,” Emilie said. “Is this common tech in galactic central? I can’t wait to get there.”

  “Well, I guess they’re planning on taking you over,” Scout said miserably. “So you’ll get to see it.”

  “Us,” Geeta said. “They said all three of us.” Scout didn’t know what to say, but apparently, Geeta saw it in her eyes anyway. Her gaze dropped to the panel under Scout’s feet, the panel that covered the small space where her sister lay in protective stasis. “Oh.”

  “You’re not getting left behind,” Emilie said. “I don’t care what they were thinking, how they grouped us into three. Four of us are going, or none of us are.”

  Scout nodded glumly. She didn’t see how they had any way of negotiating for anything.

  The brightness above became a brightness all around them, and Scout had to shade her eyes and turn away. A moment later she risked a peek and saw that the light was dimming once more as they rose up out of the end of the tunnel through the hull and hovered in the air for a moment as a hatch closed beneath them. Then whatever had picked them up set them gently down on top of the hatch.

  They were in a hangar, a scattering of ships all around them: mostly lightweight craft like those which had headed them off at the mouth of the canyon but a few larger shuttles and even another sleek, needle-shaped ship like the one they were in.

  Something underneath them clanged as it clamped onto them, and they were moving, off of the top of the hatch to a position among the other parked vehicles.

  There was still no sign of people out in that hangar, just ships.

  “How mad do you think they’re going to be?” Scout wondered.

  “The one in the chair I suspect is going to respect us for the attempt,” Geeta said as she got up from her seat and went to the back to fetch her belt and grappler. “The one behind the chair? She looks like she’d consider it an insult.”

  “She’ll be livid,” Emilie said, drawing out that last word.

  “I guess we find out how well her sister has her in check,” Geeta said, checking the indicator on her grappler before hooking it onto her belt.

  “You think they’ll let you keep that?” Scout asked.

  “We’ll see,” Geeta said.

  “Listen, with that counting of three,” Scout said. “If they mean the three of us and don’t know we have your sister, what then?”

  “What do you mean?” Geeta asked with a frown.

  “They might not know we caught her,” Scout said. “They might think she was lost when she tumbled out of the hangar bay.”

  “Oh,” Emilie said. “It might be better to keep her hidden. I agree.”

  “She’s safe in stasis where she is,” Scout said to the still-frowning Geeta. “But if they know she’s here, they might try to use her for leverage.”

  “Or worse,” Emilie said.

  Geeta stared at a spot on the floor for a long moment, then gave a sharp nod. She didn’t seem to trust herself to speak.

  Gert made a squeak, the little sound she made when she was widely yawning. And she yawned widely when she was feeling stressed and unsure. Scout bent to peel back the mesh of tape, noting briefly that it was far too battered to be much good if they did try to fly out of here again in the future, then reached in and picked up Shadow.

  He was trembling, but the moment she had him in her arms he squirmed against her to press his face tight against the side of her neck. Scout felt tears prick at her eyes but blinked them away. He would be okay; he just needed a little comfort. She stroked the hair on his back and murmured nonsense close to his ear.

  Emilie, tool bag already slung across her body, bent down on one knee and held out her hands to Gert, who emerged from the cabinet. Her entire back end was pivoting back and forth, propelling that white-tipped tail in an ecstatic wave as she rushed up to her second-favorite human.

  There was a sudden knock on the side of the ship, someone rapping on the part of the hull that would drop down to form a ramp. Geeta went to the windscreen to peer out but shook her head; no one was visible.

  “Let’s put her on a leash first,” Scout said, reaching for the cabinet where she had stowed the cord leashes she had made for both dogs when she had first taken them up into space. “Can you keep her close to you?”

  “Of course,” Emilie said, taking one of the cords from Scout’s hand and deftly tying it around Gert’s worn collar. Gert just pressed herself up against Emilie’s calf, clearly communicating her willingness to stay close at her side. Geeta helped Scout tie the other cord to Shadow’s collar, just in case. Then Emilie pushed the button to open the door and lower the ramp.

  Scout wasn’t sure what she had expecte
d to see waiting for them on the deck below. A phalanx of guards, guns drawn, perhaps? Certainly not the Months themselves, although that image suddenly seemed more plausible than the one that greeted them now.

  A solitary figure moved forward to stand at the bottom of the ramp, a man of advanced years with a frizz of sparse white hair floating around his wrinkled brown scalp. He smiled up at them, clasping his hands together as he saw the three of them looking back down at him. His eyes went from Geeta to Emilie and then to Scout, and for a flash, Scout felt like there was something familiar about those brown eyes. But then he looked back to Geeta, and Scout gave her head a little shake.

  She had never met this man before, she was sure of it. And yet he felt familiar.

  “Greetings,” he said, giving his clasped hands a little shake. “The Months are waiting to receive you. If you’ll follow me?”

  “Do we have to?” Emilie asked.

  He seemed surprised at the question. “No, you don’t have to. But dinner is about to be served, and they’d like to have a word with you first. If you prefer, food can be brought to you here. You are our guests.”

  Emilie scoffed.

  “We should just go,” Geeta said. “I’d rather see this through than keep hiding on this ship.” She wrinkled her nose, and Scout realized that while she and Emilie had been on board the station, Geeta had remained behind in the ship that never quite didn’t smell of dog urine.

  “Yes, let’s go,” Scout said, leading the way down the ramp. Shadow burrowed deeper against her neck and whimpered but didn’t attempt to jump away from her. Geeta followed behind her, Emilie and Gert bringing up the rear.

  “You work for the Months?” Emilie asked as they started walking across the hangar.

  The man turned to look back at her as he walked and summoned a little smile. “Indeed. I guess you could say I’m their majordomo, if that’s not too grand a title. I keep the ship and the Months’ court running smoothly so they can focus on other things.”

  “Do we address you as Majordomo? Or Sir Majordomo or something?” Geeta asked.

  “Oh stars, no. Caleb will be fine,” he said, looking genuinely appalled.

  “I’m guessing you already know who we are,” Emilie said.

  “Ensign Emilie Tonnelier,” Caleb said with a nod. “You would be Ensign Geeta Malini, correct?”

  If Geeta had heard the little pause before her name that Scout had, she gave no sign of it, just gave a curt nod.

  “And me?” Scout asked.

  “You would be Scout Shannon,” he said with a warm smile. “We’ve been watching you for quite some time.”

  “Watching me?” Scout said.

  “Oh yes. I might be speaking out of turn, but the Months find you quite fascinating,” he said. “Especially Jun. Although . . .” He looked around to be sure they were still alone as they crossed the hangar. There was no sign of anyone anywhere, no one prepping a ship to fly or performing maintenance or anything, as if they were in a graveyard for abandoned ships. Even so, he leaned closer to whisper, “You might not be able to tell. Jun is a tough read until you get to know her.”

  Scout didn’t know how to respond to any of that, but then she didn’t have to. Emilie was happy to continue grilling the majordomo herself. “You’ve known her long, then?”

  “Six years now,” he said.

  “I thought you were going to tell us you’ve known them since they were babies,” Emilie said. They had reached the edge of the hangar and Caleb led them down a long, narrow hallway. Like the passage the ship had risen through, everything looked like it had been carved into a single immense piece of metal. There were no joins, no panels or screws or fastenings save the occasional door. It was like being inside a cave.

  A neatly squared-off cave carved from metal. So not really much like a cave at all. Scout adjusted the dog in her arms and took a few rushing steps to catch up with the others.

  “Six years,” she said as she fell back into step beside Caleb. “When the barricade went up.”

  “Correct,” Caleb said.

  “So which side are you from originally?” Scout asked. “Galactic central or Space Farer?”

  Caleb smiled at her indulgently. “‘Space Farer’—I haven’t heard that term in ages. But that is what I am. A, as you ‘Planet Dwellers’ say, Space Farer.”

  “How did one of us end up serving as majordomo for a branch of the Tajaki trade dynasty?” Geeta asked.

  Caleb drew to a halt before a pair of tall, closed double doors and turned to face the three of them. “That is a very long tale, one which I’d be happy to share with you at any point in the future. Find me later, absolutely any time, and I’ll regale you with so many stories you’ll beg me to stop.” He smiled again. “But for now, the sisters await. And I don’t like to keep them waiting.”

  “I suppose not,” Emilie said, reaching down to give Gert’s head a reassuring pat.

  Caleb summoned one last smile, this one with a distinct undertone of nervousness to it that made Scout hug Shadow just a bit tighter.

  Then he turned to fling open the massive doors—surely too heavy for such a small, frail man; Scout suspected some sort of magical galactic central technology at work—and marched into the room beyond.

  The center of the room was a single long strip of carpet, scarlet like the cloaks the sisters wore. Caleb walked briskly along this carpet, nodding and waving to the crowds pressing in close on either side to watch the three of them enter the hall. Scout saw someone start to stumble, only to be caught and hauled back by his neighbors before he could accidentally put a foot down on that brilliant carpet.

  But the three of them would have to step on it in order to follow Caleb, who was even then turning to wave at them urgently, summoning them to follow.

  Because at the other end of the carpet was a little raised dais, and on that dais was a pair of throne-like chairs. And in those chairs were the Tajaki sisters, also known as the Months. And they were waiting.

  10

  Scout hugged Shadow close and stepped out onto that scarlet carpet. Her feet sunk into its lush depth. She could only imagine what it would feel like to walk barefoot across such softness. Even through the soles of her canvas shoes, it was like a delightful massage.

  Geeta followed close behind and to the left of Scout, her hands ready on the grappler no one had asked her to leave behind. Emilie had a little trouble convincing Gert to step out onto that strange floor, to walk between two masses of strangers, more people than Gert was used to since she was quite a young puppy living alone on the streets of one of the domed cities. But she trusted Emilie nearly as much as she trusted Scout and finally allowed herself to be led through the double doors.

  The crowd had been murmuring amongst themselves when Caleb had thrown the doors open, but they all fell into silence as the three of them crossed the room. A few leaned together to whisper behind cupped hands, but most just watched them walk by. Their chaotic mix of clothing and general attitude reminded Scout of the black market hidden in the depths of Amatheon Orbiter 1. In fact, a few looked downright familiar, and she wouldn’t be surprised to find they were the same people. If they all worked for the Months, that made sense.

  And now they had been summoned to court.

  Mai and Jun watched them approach without a word. Mai had a warm smile on her lips, but Jun was fidgeting in her chair, drumming her fingers on the arms and bouncing her knees. Finally, she gave up the attempt to sit still and jumped up to pace the dais behind the two chairs.

  Caleb paused for a moment at the bottom of the dais, then bowed and stepped to one side. Scout, not certain if she was meant to follow but very certain she was not about to bow to anybody, stopped with the toes of her blue-with-white-polka-dot sneakers at the very edge of the carpet. Geeta drew up beside her, then Emilie stepped up on Scout’s right side. Gert looked up at the two women towering over them and dropped into her lopsided sit, her pelvis rolling so she rested rather indelicately on one hip.
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br />   “Welcome,” Mai said, spreading her hands as if to encompass the room and everyone in it.

  “Okay,” Emilie said guardedly.

  “Since we picked you up, we’ve flown out of your planet’s atmosphere and are making our way to the barricade gate. Once the tribunal enforcers let us pass, we’ll be on our way to galactic central, but in the meantime, we do hope you’ll join us for a meal.”

  She indicated a room off to the right with a tilt of her head, but Scout needed no hint as to which direction the food was. The air was thick with smells: fresh-baked bread, sizzling meat, roasted vegetables, caramelized onions. Even Shadow in her arms finally perked up a bit, lifting his head to sniff at the air. Gert was smelling it too.

  “Strings attached?” Emilie said, not exactly a question.

  “No strings attached, my dear Emilie,” Mai said. Jun made a low growling sound in her throat and ceased her pacing to lean over the back of her sister’s chair but still said not a word. Mai gave her a little glance and then turned back to Emilie. “I’m sure warm, fresh food must be welcome to you. I can’t imagine what you were living on in that abandoned station.”

  Emilie didn’t answer, but Mai gave her another smile like that was exactly what she expected.

  Caleb might think that Jun was fascinated with Scout for whatever reason, but Scout suspected that paled in comparison to the regard Mai had for Emilie.

  “Well, shall we?” Mai asked, getting up from her chair with a completely superfluous swirl of her scarlet robe.

  “Just like that? No questions first?” Emilie asked.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” Mai asked over her shoulder as she stepped down from the dais and passed through the open doorway to the room beyond. Her sister jogged to catch up with her, her own scarlet robe billowing out behind her a bit less elegantly. Caleb emerged from the edge of the crowd to hurry after them, hands clasped together as always.