Page 4 of Into Orbit
‘Enjoy your drink, asshole,’ I said calmly, and I made myself turn and walk away, my feet heavy with the knowledge that a complete stranger thought toying with someone trying to find a missing loved one was an acceptable way to use their time.
I wished she hadn’t been quite so beautiful.
‘Wait!’
I ignored her.
‘Please wait!’
I stilled. There was something in the plea that caught at me, making my stomach twist. I spun around, only to find her directly behind me.
‘Do you know how fucked up you are?’ I hissed. ‘You have a serious fucking problem.’
Her brow crumpled, likeI’dhurtherfeelings. She stepped back, holding out her fancy screen. On it was an image. Not quite a photo – more like an infrared image mushed with a shot taken by someone with shaking fingers.
For all that, Tessa was still recognisable, with her hourglass curves and her mane of curls. She was hand-in-hand with a man – one with a crew-cut – and they were gesturing to some kind of equipment that looked like a machine at a gym. Another man was by her side, the one from Advena with the dark hair and devouring smile; I could tell by the waving shadow of curls around his face.
And his shoulders. It was pretty hard to forgetthose.
Tessa’s body language was relaxed. She wasn’t hunched, wasn’t tense. And even in the fuzzy image I could tell that she was wearing her favourite stiletto-heeled boots.
I looked up at Elswyth. ‘Where the fuckdid you get this?’
She blinked. ‘I told you. It’s a scanning still from a DarkStar six-three-zero-four luxury model a peacekeeping ship passed in outer orbit twenty-nine days ago.’
‘Are we speaking the same fucking language?’
She tilted her head; her silver hair rippled with the movement. My fingers itched with the sudden need to touch it, to lace through the soft-looking strands. I pushed the thought away. ‘I believe so. It is one of my gifts.’ She looked down modestly. ‘Elya, you see. As it is part of me, so too am I part of the universe.’
I pinched the bridge of my nose, just as I’d imagined Rian doing. ‘I don’t understand anything you’re saying. Except that’s Tessa, with those two men. This was taken a month ago?’ I stared at the screen. ‘So where is she now?’
‘Twobeings,’ Elswyth corrected. ‘Only humans have men and women. The third male – the cephalopod – was out of shot. The ship was headed on a trajectory straight for Natare. It’s where my ship is heading, too. There’s a Seventh-Quadrant Peace Summit to try to deal with the Roth issue.’
‘Your …ship. Seventh-something-summit?’ I paused. ‘Are you in a cult?’
She mouthed the word. ‘Cult? No, I’m Tirian.’
‘Tirian,’ I repeated. ‘Okay. Let’s brush past that. Are you telling me that you’re going where Tessa is?’
‘If this is the female you’re searching for, then I’m going where I thinkshemight be,’ Elswyth corrected.
I raised an eyebrow. ‘And how can you help me?’
She gave a half-shrug. ‘I’ll take you. If you’d like, of course. As a Category-3 planet, Earth isn’t a signatory of the universal pact, but because we’re headed to a cross-Sector Peace Summit, there’s a legal loophole. You could claim diplomatic immunity on behalf of a planet with a vested interest in the Summit’s outcomes, and my Captain couldn’t refuse you passage. I could take you there without breaking any laws, either intergalactic or Tirian.’
‘That seems like a lot more words I don’t understand, and a lot of trouble for a stranger to go to,’ I said.
She gave another slight smile; it quivered, and I had a mad urge to take her in my arms and make whatever she was feeling better. ‘The messages you wrote on your posts,’ she said. ‘They were so lovely. I don’t…’ She trailed off, her eyes flicking back down to the sticky club floorboards, then up to fix on mine. ‘I kept thinking how nice it would be to have someone who cared about me that way. Just forme, and so completely. I couldn’t get the words out of my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about who Tessa might be, who you were, and the relationship between you. So I came here.’
I was a fairly good judge of character; I’d want to be, after working behind a bar for ten years. I had to be able to tell when someone should be cut off; had to be able to tell which group would push throughrowdyintoviolent; had to be able to spot the creepers so the bouncers would keep an eye on them; had to be able to tell when someone needed a cab called, or saving from a dickhead who wouldn’t take no for an answer. For my own part, I had to be able to tell when I could take someone back to my apartment, when it was safe to go to theirs, and I had to know who wouldn’t get attached, because I wasn’t the sort to settle.
Elswyth was strange; most people wouldn’t need my instincts to recognisethat. But her eyes were clear and her gaze direct; she seemed entirely genuine.
I hadn’t written much about Tessa, really, just re-posted the official media releases with a message to Tessa beneath.Tessa, if you see this, come home. You are loved. You are missed.
Surely it wasn’t enough to warrant this woman’s concern; maybe my judgement was off.
Time to test her, then.
