Page 83 of Seven Oars
“Move,” Esseh barked.
“You can’t have her,” Phex repeated calmly.
“I said move.”
Phex did, but not in a way Esseh meant.
Displaying the graceful power so characteristic of him, Phex pivoted in a blur, raising his leg high in a sort of karate kick. It landed squarely in Esseh’s face.
It happened almost too fast to process. Both the speed and the force of Phex’s attack took Esseh completely off guard.
He staggered.
Two more kicks, and he was down.
Sassa stopped screaming, but she’d already drawn attention.
Boots pounded the mesh floor. Nud and Xorris were the first to pop into view. Others weren’t too far behind, crowding at the entrance to gape at fallen Esseh.
As one, the pirate crowd rippled with a dark sort of energy. The swell of rowdiness grew.Phex was going to get it something fierce, no two doubts about it.
He fought them, but it was one against many. Like malevolent vampire bees, they swarmed him and whisked him away from the Cargo Hold.
Only Massar lingered, sweeping his glinting eye-orbs over the women. The chill of his attention brushed against Rosamma before he, too, was gone.
The women were left standing over Esseh’s unconscious body.
“Who knows how to open the trash chute?” Eze’s garbled question brought everyone’s attention to her.
“You aren’t suggesting what I think you’re suggesting,” Gro murmured.
“Who says we can’t?”
“No,” Anske said firmly.
“He’s too big for us to carry,” Sassa said with disappointment.
“Bro, what if he comes around before we trash him? Just imagine,” Fawn shuddered.
Alyesha eyed the body critically.
Then Sassa ran for her corner and burrowed into her blanket.
Eze sighed and winced in pain.“I mean, it was just a suggestion.”
Tutti whirred into the Cargo Hold and took its place near the door, letting the opportunity pass.
Rosamma only half-listened to the exchange, her ears trained on the sounds coming from outside the Cargo Hold.
“What are they doing to him?” she asked aloud.
“I don’t know,” Fawn replied.“It’s so quiet. What he did for Sassa… I think it was very noble of him.”
Anske harrumphed.“Let’s ask Sassa if she thinks that alien’s noble.”
“He’s trying, Anske,” Rosamma said.“He can’t win, but he’s not giving up. And neither should we.”
“Who says we are?” Anske shot back.
