I was beginning to believe I was coming down with a kind of sudden onset insomnia. It wasn’t as if I wasn’t tired, God knew I hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep since leaving Voltaire. But every time I closed my eyes, I couldn’t help wondering what had ever happened to Tengu’s human captives, and I’d find myself instantly wide awake.
I’d just eaten a full, hot meal. Were they hungry? I knew what it was like to be hungry; we’d been rationed at the home after almost every pirate attack. I was warm and safe, lying on an amazingly comfortable bed where I knew people were looking out for my safety. The few times I’d worked up the nerve to run away from the home, I’d slept in an alley, barely dozing all night and half afraid of who might creep up on me in the darkness. How were the young pilot and his sister feeling right now? Not warm and safe, like me, almost certainly. All because Puck didn’t want to endanger my life by attempting a rescue.
Hell, if not for me, they probably wouldn’t have been kidnapped in the first place.
That thought did nothing to make sleep seem more attainable.
I mean…why me? Aside from the apparently extraordinary circumstances of my birth, there was nothing remarkable about me at all. I wasn’t stupid, but I wasn’t any kind of genius, either. I wasn’t some important politician who might one day bring about universal peace, or a scientist who might make some breakthrough discovery. I was just a skinny orphan kid with a minor interest in learning to fly. Puck had mentioned that my father was a pilot, and admittedly that gave me some small hope that the talent might run in the family or something, but it certainly didn’t make my life worth more than anybody else’s.
Actually, nothing made my life worth more than anybody else’s.
I threw off the blankets and swung my legs over the side of the bed. There was enough light from the tall window that I was able to find and don my clothes with a minimum of groping around. That was good; not only did I not want to wake anyone up, I was a little afraid that thinking my plan over in a fully lit room would make me decide it was even more harebrained than it seemed in the darkness. I’d seen where Kiasis had hung her ship’s touch-key when Puck gave it back to her earlier. It had gone on a small row of hooks, in a little lockbox on the wall behind the bar.
I was fairly certain she hadn’t locked it back. If she had, my plan was over.
When I got to the box and opened it right up, I was almost disappointed. I guess whoever our mysterious guardian spirit was, he was taking the night off. Either that, or his contract didn’t extend to protecting me from my own stupid ideas. Sticking the key in my pocket, I crept towards the door. I hadn’t noticed earlier how creaky the wooden floorboards were; it made for slow going, but eventually I had one of the tall double doors opened and had slipped out into the cool night air.
Did I say cool? I meant freezing. Goosebumps had erupted instantly along my arms, and I checked to see if I could see my breath in front of me. I was a little surprised that I couldn’t. How the hell was I going to rescue somebody if I couldn’t stop shivering long enough to even walk?
Holy shit. How the hell was I going to rescue anybody period?
I pushed that thought out of my head and started moving. Just because I was scared was no reason to turn tail and run back to the safety of my nice, warm bed and let two innocent people die. Nobody else was going to rescue them. God help them, I was pretty much their only hope.
Backtracking my way to the landing port was easy enough. I could see the grayish light of dawn on the horizon, and it was hard to tell if things were dying down on the streets from the night before, or gearing up for the next day’s business, but either way there wasn’t as much activity as there’d been when we arrived. The port itself was automated; all I had to do was present Kiasis’ key at the door, and it slid open easily.
Finding the shop in the darkness was a little more complicated. There were several crafts of a similar style and design. Finally, though, I spotted a familiar sight: that stupid dog in the weird little red airplane on the side of Puck’s ship. Having been towed in behind us, all I had to do was follow a straight line with my eyes and there, right before me, was Kiasis’ ship in all its sleek, black glory.
I was just about to touch the key to the door’s lockpad when I heard footsteps approaching.
I froze for a moment, then ducked around to the back of the ship. Surely it was just someone passing through on the way to their own vehicle. They’d be gone in a moment, and I could go on with my plan.
Not that it was much of a plan, mind you. I really hadn’t gotten any further than this point in my head. I sort of figured (or was at least hoping) I could work my way through it, but truth be told, outside of sim games and tech manuals, I’d never touched a ship’s flight controls.
The footsteps had disappeared, I realized, and I was wasting time. Stepping out of my hiding place, I fumbled to get the key back in my hand…
…and came nose to nose….or actually, nose to breast, as she was a good head taller than me….with Kiasis.
My look of shock was mirrored, for an instant, on her features as well before they settled into an annoyed frown. “What are you doing here?”
“What’re you doing here?” Oh, brilliant, Holly. Like it wasn’t her damn ship. “I…I mean, how did you get in?” I held up the key in my hand by way of explanation; she shouldn’t have been allowed into the port without it.
She calmly held up an identical key, dangling from her fingers. Figured she’d have a spare set.
I closed my eyes and braced myself for a scathingly sarcastic lecture on just how stupid I was. Instead, all I heard was “Get in.”
My eyes shot open, and I was sure I’d heard her wrong. “What…?”
Kiasis arched an eyebrow at my stupidity. “You do speak Standard English, do you not?”
I fumbled the door open and scrambled inside without any further question.
