Trapped: Chaos Core Book 1 (10 page)

“You’re both
slaves?” Aspen asked.

“We were both taken
from Starfall City, that’s how we met,” she replied.

“Do you want to be
free?”

The weeping one raised
her head and nodded.

“Of course, I don’t
know where to go, and we don’t have any money, but yes.”

“Then you’re free,”
Aspen said. “And I’ll give you each one million credits when
their family pays me.”

The weeping servant
stroked brown hair out of her eyes, wiped her tears away and got to
her feet. “Don’t shoot, I have something I’ve wanted to do for
a while.”

Spin shrugged and kept
the gun at her side as she watched the servant stride to the small
porthole looking into the escape pod and spat with vigour then made
several rude gestures. It almost looked like a dance, a fairly well
practiced one. She turned away from her former masters with a
satisfied smile. “Thank you, that felt really good.”

“Listen,” the other
one said, standing slowly. “I know you don’t trust us, you
shouldn’t, but it looks like you’ve had a really rough time. I’d
like to help.”

“I don’t know how
you could,” Aspen said, lowering her head.

“I’m Mirra, and
she’s Della,” the strawberry blonde one said. Set whatever
security is on this ship to watch us, keep us from transmitting out
or whatever, and we’ll get you cleaned up. I know I can find some
clothes in one of the guest quarters, so we’ll get you changed. Let
us take care of you. Maybe earn that fresh start you’re setting us
up with. I know you’ve run before, everyone does, so I believe
you’ll help us get away.”

Della smiled at her and
touched her arm gently. “Let us help you, okay?”

Spin didn’t turn the
gun’s safety on because she trusted them. It was weariness that led
her to accept their offer. “Okay, just give me a minute.” There
was a list of things to do building in her head, all the things she
needed to do before she attempted to rescue Sun and the rest of her
people. The first thing on it was to make the ship safe.

Mirra and Della
followed her up to the cockpit, where Della immediately stopped and
whispered; “I’m going to get a sheet, okay?”

Spin set the ship
security system to track her and Mirra’s movements then nodded.
Before she was finished scanning the rest of the ship for more
passengers, Della returned with a sheet and gently laid it on
Larken’s body. “I always liked him, such a nice man. He had a
little smile for me every time he caught me staring at him. Asked me
how I was once, and I think he listened when I answered.”

Spin swallowed her
grief and shook her head as the scan completed. There was one small
life form aboard in a stasis cube, it was checked in as a Pomeranian.
“Someone brought a dog.” She said.

“Oh, that’s Lady
Friss’ pup,” Della said.

“You could probably
ransom that too,” Mirra added. “I’m sure she’d pay five
million, maybe a lot more, that dog is like her only child.”

“I’ll give it a
try, it’ll keep for months in its stasis cube,” Aspen said, her
mouth was running on autopilot. They arrived at their new
destination, emerging from faster than light travel. “Time to send
coordinates out and your masters into space.” That, she said with
great pleasure, pointing at a switch with a safety cover on the right
hand side of the large cockpit. “Who wants the honours?”

“I’ll open the
cover, you flick the switch,” Mirra said, smiling at Della.

Della hopped and
giggled giddily. “Do it!”

Spin started setting up
their next jump, a much longer course that took them past several
systems before arriving at a quiet backwater the Cool Angel used to
take on supplies often. Mirra flipped the cover up, and Della flicked
the switch with an exaggerated gesture.

A thud echoed from
below, and the scanners confirmed that the pod was away with two live
passengers. Aspen turned the ship so their servants could see it
disappear into the distance through the transparent metal canopy.
With a few button presses the course was recorded so it could be sent
to their family if they paid the ransom.

“Wave bye-bye,”
Della said. “Thank you so much for this, Aspen. I can’t believe
we’ll never have to look after those rich assholes again.”

The navigational system
chirped, indicating that it was finished plotting. Aspen checked the
course and set it to make the next jump. The three of them were
silent as the ship turned and slipped into another wormhole. “Let’s
get you cleaned up.” Mirra said in a gentle tone.

They led her to the
nicest guest shower, a stall Aspen had seen before, but was never
allowed to use, and undressed her tenderly. “I’m going to go find
some clothes,” Della said. “What do you want?”

“If you find an under
suit, that’d be the best thing.”

“Like a spacer’s
containment suit?” Della asked, holding her hands wide around her
hips and torso, miming a large exploration suit.

“She means the ones
that conform so you can wear clothes over them, there should be one
near crew quarters by the engine room,” Mirra said.

“Oh, I like those,
the better ones, anyway.”

“Check medication,
too if you can,” Aspen said. “You’re looking for anything that
begins with Nacro or Cetri.”

“Those are mind
altering,” Mirra said, taking her dress off. “Powerful.”

“I need to clear my
head a little,” Aspen said, about to ask what she was doing when
Mirra gently put her in the warm spray of the shower and wet a
washcloth, following her in. “I can wash myself.”

“There’s nothing
more relaxing than letting someone take care of you. I’ve been
doing this for years, trust me,” she replied with a gentle smile.

Spin peeked at the spot
her computer display was tattooed on her arm, and it showed her –
and only her – an image of Della running towards empty crew
quarters. With her nod of permission, Mirra began washing the blood
off her, and she closed her eyes.

Her touch was firm but
soothing, what she thought a mother’s touch must be like.

“All finished,”
Mirra said as Aspen was just starting to relax to the point where she
thought she could slip into a snooze. “Out, before we get prune-y.”

“You look all clean
and new,” Della said as she dropped an armful of clothing and other
things onto the bed. “I found these,” she said, presenting her
with a slim bottle of pills.

Spin looked at the name
then the stamp on the top pill and nodded. “It’s strong enough,
but I won’t lose any memories permanently,” she said, popping one
in and crunching it. It was so bitter she flinched.

“You okay?” Della
asked.

“Just shouldn’t
have bitten that one,” Aspen said, already feeling the emotions
surrounding Larken’s death fading, her love for him was going with
it, and she was glad it wasn’t permanent.

“How does it work?”
Mirra asked, pulling a blue and white jumpsuit from the pile of
clothing and sizing it up.

Spin sighed, her head
clearing. “Agoes, or Cetrimemodel helps the mind locate traumatic
memory and then turns the volume down on them, so I can process them
slowly. It doesn’t mess with long term memory, so I won’t lose
anything. These last thirty standard days per pill, they’re the
expensive ones. Really expensive, I could get five thousand credits
apiece for them.”

“That I knew,”
Della said. “Tilly doesn’t take anything but these, and she takes
them a lot, like two every three days? That can’t be right…”

“No, you can abuse
‘em, they’ll start flipping switches in your brain, turning
depressing thoughts into the funniest thing, but it stops working on
fear and anxiety before long.”

“That really explains
a lot,” Della said. “This is what I could find after going
through about half the cabins.” She gestured to the bed where she’d
laid dozens of articles of clothing in a pile. “It’s all clean, I
don’t know what you want to look like though. I got a few things
for Mirra and me too, hope that’s okay. I don’t want to wear this
stupid maid outfit a moment longer than I have to.”

Aspen nodded. “They’re
a bit conspicuous. Go ahead and change.” She laughed at how quickly
the maids’ uniforms came off. Della stripped faster than her
counterpart, and with a celebratory flair. “You’re enjoying this
way too much.”

“Ripping these off
and getting into the closets of our masters? You betcha,” she
replied, holding up a thin, white containment suit that sealed up the
front. “This would look good on you, but it’s not an undersuit.
The tag says it’s a Class V Containment Suit, whatever that means,
but I don’t think it would fit under anything tight,” she said.
“I didn’t know if you’d want it.”

Spin took it and
admired the smooth, stretchy fabric. Her computer linked with it and
extended the range of its sensors, picking up multiple built in
devices. “I think you already know me, Della,” she said, opening
it and slipping it on with her help. A display on the thigh asked her
what colour she wanted it to be and she pondered.

“You always looked
good in purple,” Della said, and Mirra elbowed her.

“That’s her
master’s house colour.”

“Oh, then not purple,
sorry.”

“It’s okay,”
Aspen said. She was sure that if she wasn’t medicated she would
have been irritated, but that emotion seemed so far away. “I’ve
always liked blue skies, and water.” The suit changed to sky blue
then fitted to her shape comfortably. “I wore a consuit for over a
year, but not one this well made.”

“A containment suit
for the rich,” Mirra said.

“You’re right, it
was from Lady Supta’s cabin, not the crew quarters. What I found
there was pretty boring compared to this, and they said they were
Class E anyway. Class V is better?”

“Class V is better,”
Aspen said, nodding and flexing her fingers. The gloves conformed to
her digits perfectly. “Thank you.”

“Tell me you found
something for her to put on over it?” Mirra said, putting her
similar suit on. She finished shimmying her shoulders into her own
suit then activated it. “Unless you like showing off, drawing a
little attention.”

“Not on most days.”
Aspen had seen spacers wearing much tighter, more revealing suits,
but she admitted she’d rather have more. Besides, there was only a
small pocket on her hip for storage, not nearly enough.

“I knew that would be
a problem,” Della said. “I have this white jacket, a heavy black
one, and a black chromatic one with buckles down the front.”

“Do any of them have
armour built in?” Aspen asked, taking the chromatic jacket from
Della. The heavy cloth base felt like it was rubberized, and it was
jet black beneath the chromium treatment, which was a layer of colour
that shifted as it moved. The label said ray refracting coating had
been applied.

“Well, no, none of
the jackets I did had an armour rating tag. I only checked a few
places though.”

Spin held the jacket up
to the light. “That’s okay, I think this looks right for me, and
I’ve seen this treatment before,” she said. “Some mercenaries
add it to their armour so they’re pretty much stun-proof and energy
weapons aren’t as effective. She put it on and liked the
significant weight it put on her shoulders, the cloth was so heavy it
felt like she was being held. Another tag on the inside boasted that
there were more layers available for installation and she hoped she
could find a place that still had them.

“It looks good on
you,” Mirra said.

“Okay, now I laughed
when I saw these too, but give it a minute,” Della said, reaching
down beside the bed. She yanked up a pair of black thigh-high boots
with thin, black armour plates along the front. Aspen laughed at them
as soon as she saw them, shaking her head. “No way!”

Mirra laughed as well,
crossing the room and touching them, looking like an entirely
different person in her fitted, glossy green jumpsuit. “Oh, no, you
have to wear these,” she said. “You’re a kick-ass lady, and
these are a kick-ass lady’s boots.”

“How do you even put
those on? It looks like they stand on their own,” she laughed.

Mirra pushed her onto
the bed and said; “You lay down.”

Della handed the right
one to Aspen, who pulled it up over the leg of her containment suit.
As soon as her foot was planted all the way inside, the boot
conformed to her leg, shortening so the top ended in the middle of
her thigh and hugged the rest of her leg. Her foot felt snugly
planted, as though the boot was already broken in just right. Without
a word, she pulled the other one on and smiled as she got to her
feet. “They feel too nice.”

“There are extra
straps here for something,” Della said, tugging at the inside of
the top of her boot.

Spin looked at them and
realized what they were for. “You can strap a gun holster or tool
pocket to the outside of each boot.”

“You’ve gotta keep
them now,” Mirra said, pulling her in front of the mirror. “You
look way too badass.”

Della ran her hand down
the front of Aspen’s consuit until it was open down to the naval.
“Better.”

Spin blushed and closed
it back up until it was still open a little, but modestly. “There.”

“What are your plans
for the ship?” Mirra asked.

“I don’t know if
I’m keeping it,” Aspen said. She was thankful her head was clear.
Trusting them aboard was a risk she started taking when she was still
half out of her mind. Trusting them with more information than she
had to was another kind of trust entirely. “The Fleet Feather is so
conspicuous, I don’t think I could go anywhere in the sector
without being recognized. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve been a ship
hand before,” Mirra said. “And I did time in a galley on an old
cargo hauler. I mean, I can’t fix your reactor, but I know how to
turn a wrench, and I’ll be running for a while anyway. That, and I
was wondering if we’re dressing you for a tea party – in which
case we have to start over – or if you’re planning to do more,
ahem, business. I mean, you took to kidnapping like a fish to water.”