Page 148 of Seven Oars
“The Striker put him on duty.”
“What duty?”
“What other duty is there? The piloting stuff. And you say I’m dumb.” Fawn shook her head at them.
“Is he… in the Command Center?”
Fawn was growing exasperated with Rosamma.“Yes! He’s taken Massar’s place.”
Phex was in the Command Center, exactly where the distress signal panel was located.
A new hope sprang up in the Cargo Hold.
This could be their chance!
Eze and Gro started talking and laughing.
Fawn lay down for a nap.
But Rosamma remained perturbed.
The Striker’s scarred, cruel face was clear in her mind.
He wouldn’t let Phex anywhere near the Command Center if he wasn’t certain that Phex was finally broken.
*****
When Anske came back to the Cargo Hold next, she brought Galan with her.
Gro hated it when aliens came to the Cargo Hold, even Phex, so she bristled and argued with Anske, but couldn’t make them leave.
“It’s rough out there,” Anske complained.“Phex fought with Esseh again. And Thilza’s still angry at the Striker for killing Massar. Thilza gets really mean when he’s angry. And the Striker is restless, prowling like a tiger. He sent everybody out of the Habitat.”
“So? It’s a big-ass station. Find another room,” Gro muttered.
“You find another room. I am hungry.”
Galan and Anske made themselves comfortable near the food shelf and talked in low voices. Rather, Anske talked and Galan listened. How well he understood the jumbled concepts of Anske’s religion, given her inability to express them clearly and her limited grasp of Universal, remained an open question.
But he had stopped smoking Thilza’s weed, cursing, and fornicating with Fawn. He even curbed his fighting to the extent it was possible with these men, so there was no denying the positive effects of Anske’s influence.
Rosamma, having watched the exchange from a corner, used it as a distraction and slipped out.
She crept to the Command Center, breathless from lingering fear of being accosted. Massar was dead, but it didn’t make her feel much safer.
And she was apprehensive about seeing Phex.She simply didn’t know his state of mind any longer.
She found him alone at the controls. Well, alone with Tutti, which could explain the Striker’s relaxed attitude toward this new development.
“Phex!” Rosamma called to him from the entrance.
When he saw her, he stood up and went to the door.
Tutti rolled after him.
He looked normal, with only a minor bruising alongside his jaw. He stared at her intently. His gaze couldn’t match Fincros’in pounds per square inch of pressure, but it was heavy enough.
“Anske said you were here.” Rosamma motioned to the controls behind him.“How?”
