Page 7 of Saving the Space Pirate

“Another long story and none of your business.”

“Actually,” Ruby interrupted, “he was rescuing me.”

“From what?”

She lifted one shoulder. “It’s a long story.”

A low rumbling sound filled the cavern. For a second I had no idea what it was, then it came again. Ruby’s stomach.

“Sorry,” she muttered.

I turned to Joe. “I don’t suppose you have any food?”

“We might. How about you come back with us, we give you food, and you tell us one of those long stories. I want to know how you got off this godforsaken place. I want to know if you can be of any help to us. Then I might decide if I let you live.”

I pulled the laser pistol from its holster and aimed it at his chest. A murmur ran through the room, but no one moved. Finally, Ruby put her hand on the barrel of the pistol and pressed it down. “He’s not going to hurt you,” she said. “He’s your uncle. And there’s no point. Besides, I’m hungry.” She batted her lashes at me and gave that sweet smile. I was being played, but she was right. I didn’t believe Joe would kill me. He might give me up if he thought there was a reward though. Or Ruby. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her.

I slowly holstered the pistol, wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and pulled her close. “Lead the way,” I said to Joe.

He turned and strode out of the cavern. The others parted to let us through and then closed in behind us. I didn’t like it. Prickles ran up and down my spine, but I kept walking. I thought we were heading up to the surface, but before we arrived, Joe turned left along a man-made tunnel that hadn’t been there last time I was here.

At my side, Ruby was limping. Without thinking about it, I picked her up and carried her. Joe glanced back over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. There wasn’t much chivalry in the slave mines. The women tended to be as tough as the men.

“I’ve got sore feet,” Ruby said to him, wiggling her toes.

He shook his head and continued on.

“Are we going to be all right?” Ruby whispered. “He won’t really try and kill you, will he?”

“Probably not.”

“He’s your uncle. Didn’t you get on?”

“He was an asshole.”

She grinned. “Maybe it runs in the family.”

“Hey, I’m not an asshole.”

Her hair was drying in curls around her head. She looked like an angel out of the old Earth books I had seen. Her stomach rumbled again.

Finally, the tunnel widened and we entered a cave hewn out of the rock. There was no natural light here, but torches flickered in sconces around the room. It was big, maybe twenty feet by twenty feet and several platforms had been cut out of the rock wall, presumably for sitting and sleeping. I placed Ruby down on one of these and looked around. The place stank, reminding me of the old slave cells; too many people, who didn’t wash enough, too close together. A flicker of the old despair threatened to catch hold. I forced it down and sat next to Ruby. Just being near her kept the old feelings at bay.

The men had followed us in and started doing stuff—hopefully cooking some food. One lit a small fire and another went to a chest, pulled out a sack and a small cauldron. He added water from a leather satchel and grain from the sack, then set it over the fire. I leaned back against the warm rock wall—nothing on the asteroids was ever cold—and pulled Ruby close. Shutting my eyes, I relaxed for the first time in…probably since we had landed on Groth. I might hate my uncle, but I felt safe here, safe enough to let down my guard. I must have fallen asleep immediately, and I had no clue for how long, but Ruby awoke me with a tap on my real arm. I blinked. A man stood in front of us, holding out two bowls of steaming food.

I took one and Ruby the other. She dipped in her spoon and put some of the sludgy, gray gruel in her mouth. I had to bite back a smile as she tried her best not to grimace at the taste. I took a mouthful of my own. It wasn’t that it was bad. No, it was more that it was…nothing. Totally bland and without flavor. Mealie meal was the staple food of the slaves, but it provided energy and not much else. It was supplemented by a monthly injection of some sort of vitamin and mineral concoction that kept them healthy enough to work.

All the same, she cleaned her bowl and I did the same. We’d better get used to it as we could be here a while.

“Hmm, that was…tasty.”

“Liar,” I muttered.

She gave me a haughty look. “Don’t be rude.” Then she fluttered her lashes at the man stirring the cauldron. A dazed look washed over his face, and he came over, took Ruby’s bowl, refilled it, and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” she murmured. “You’re so kind.”

He made no move to bring me any more food. “Stop flirting.”

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