Learning to Blush (18 page)

It was actually amazing and beautiful. She wouldn’t have thought she would have ever gotten to see something like this in a million years.

Yet all she could think was that she’d lied to her brothers the day before. She could never accustom herself to the bitter taste of rejection. She knew she couldn’t bear feeling this way for long.

What she really needed was to have herself a drink and forget about everything for a while. Her reality was getting too depressing to bear.

* * *

Thorton turned off the welding iron because of the buzzing within his wrist communicator. He frowned and clicked it on. “Commander Hux.”

“I hate this planet,” Graham’s voice immediately grumbled through the device. “Just when I think it can’t get any worse, it does anyway. If this whole planet was taken out of orbit, the universe wouldn’t even
notice
. Damn
pirates
.”

Thorton gave a snort of amusement, then asked chipperly, “So how’s the fuel-shopping going?”

“I’m beginning to wish I sent
you
. I’m not particularly having a good time. I have to trade my comlink to make the deal.”

“What’s with this planet and comlinks? Didn’t this happen last time we stopped here? I think we held onto them for a whole five minutes! Is that their new currency or something? Radio parts?”

“You know how valuable they are outside of the Federation. It's the rare metals that they're made of. That’s not the worst part of this whole thing… We have an old friend who runs the oil tankards in this town.”

“Ah, crap. Is it a good friend or a
really
good friend?” Thorton asked with a cringe.

“Alamar Lee.”

Thorton suddenly felt a ghostly pain in his foot as he remembered the last time he had a run-in with Alamar Lee. Alamar was a loan-shark who he had owed money to for less than an hour before Alamar sent his goons to bring him in and hack off one of Thorton's toes! He still had a scar from it, even though he was able to re-attach it after he, with the help of Graham, quickly scrounged up the money Thorton owed. Thorton was only an eighteen-year-old kid at the time, enjoying a poker game on his first paycheck.

Thorton swore and then turned back to his comlink. Alamar was the type of filth that gave pieces of filth a bad name! “You can’t trust Alamar! He only cares about money.”

“I know that. Hopefully mine is good enough for him; he runs this town. He holds all the keys. Is it that surprising that he runs this monopoly?”

“Well, of all the shitty situations… I don’t like this. What if—”

“I can handle a million of Alamar Lee,” Graham’s voice assured with confidence.

“Really? Because I recall thinking just one of him was hard enough to handle last time,” Thorton replied. “In fact, I recall being the one who felt quite 'handled'…”

“At least I still have my blaster. Just keep everyone safe until I get back, alright? If something happens, I’ll get myself out of it.”

“That’s encouraging. What should I tell your wife?” Thorton groaned.

“Well, hopefully you won’t have to tell her anything. I should be back for dinner. No need to get her worked up. I’ll be fine. Just make sure the Jonases are okay.”

“Absolutely. I’ve got everything under control over here. They’re my busy little bees. We’re making excellent progress. We’ll be back home in no time. Just worry about the fuel, Boss.”

“Thank you. Masterson out.”

* * *

Graham sighed and walked back into Alamar’s palace-like business. Alamar was looking at him smugly. “So did you make your call?” Alamar asked him, stroking his hand over his pointy beard. “And how’s that cousin of yours? Hopefully his luck has improved. I remembered he was a little… lacking last time we met. Did his toe grow back?”

Oh, right. It was
Alamar
that had removed it when Thorton couldn’t pay his gaming debt. That seemed like ages ago now—they were ensigns with their first paychecks burning a hole in their pockets. Thorton’s burned faster than most. “No, but we were able to re-attach it,” Graham replied with a grim smile.

“Ah, good.” Alamar smiled again and put out his hand for the comlink.

Graham slid it over to him, as well as a billfold full of cash, before he raised his eyebrows. “Well, Lee? Where’s the goods?”

“Right through that door in the back. Take a look. My man will drive you to your ship with your supplies.”

Graham looked at Alamar wearily. Maybe it was the years that changed him, but Graham remembered Alamar being evil and sadistic. Now, Alamar nearly looked
bored
. Bored and tired.

“Alright, then,” Graham finally grunted and walked through the door. He saw large tankards of fuel piled high in the yard ahead. He slowly moved forward, but then looked around. He didn’t see any
man.

Graham turned, saying, “Hey, didn’t you say that—”

The last thing he saw was a taser going right into his eye, held by a very large, very tall man. The pain was so sharp it had him on his knees screaming before he was quickly zapped a second time in the shoulder, which paralyzed his body.

“Do you know how much money’s on your head right now, Masterson?” he heard someone say.

Graham couldn’t see. He couldn’t open his eyes, he didn’t even want to try.

“I could run this whole planet for a year after I hand you over to the Frian federation. I am but a humble business man…”

“We made a deal,” Graham growled.

“Well, I’m also a pirate, so… Harwald? Escort Captain Masterson to his new quarters. He’ll be staying with us for a little while until his
friends
pick him up…”

Graham still couldn't move, and all he could feel was blood pouring down his cheek from his blind eyes. All he could think of was how foolish he’d been, and how he hoped Thorton would take care of the others…

* * *

Thorton turned off his welding iron again because of a chirping sound he’d picked up on. When he did, he realized the chirping noises were the half-breeds bickering.

“I’m serious, Jerk! Stop sweating on me, it’s gross,” Ellie complained loudly from somewhere below his feet.

“I’m not doing it on purpose. It’s hot out here! It’s like a million trillion degrees!” either Tim or Tom was saying—their voices were even more similar than their looks to Thorton. “These can’t be safe working conditions. I’m getting dehydrated.”

“Stop being such a girl. It’s probably only ninety-five degrees, tops.”

“I’m not used to ninety-five degrees! It was sixty on the ship! I’m used to freezing my balls off! This is nuts. Is there, like, Gatorade in the fridge or something?” That sounded like something Tim would ask.

“No! For the last time, there's no fucking Gatorade! Just like there are no fruit loops, no hot pockets, and no Funyuns. Stop asking dumb-fuck questions.”

“Ellie!
Language
!” Thorton snapped, looking down off of his planking. He could see that she was working right underneath Tim, distinguished only by his lack of cowboy hat, as they were both working on fixing two sets of wiring in the same area.

“Yeah, Ellie.
Language
,” Tim added snidely.

“Screw off,” Ellie snapped.

“
You
screw off!” Tim replied; a paradigm of maturity.

Thorton sighed and pulled his goggles up to his head. He had suddenly remembered that those kids were a different species, after all, and their bodies did not adjust to hot and cold temperatures like his did. No, theirs were warm and stayed that way. When he had been imprisoned with Graham to work in a Frian mine for nearly six months, he had got to know humans well. He had learned their language there… And he had seen a lot of them fall like flies in the heat. Some would become changed by the heat into edgy, snappish monsters. That’s when fights would break out…

Like hell Graham would come home to find his new kin sun-sick from working in Thorton’s care! “Tim! Go ask Penny to bring everybody some water or something! Grab a hat, too. You’re getting burnt.”

Tim looked up and peeled off his own protective goggles. “I’ll go get the water. Penny’s not here.”

“Oka—” Thorton closed his mouth, horror shooting into his chest. “What do you
mean
Penny’s not here?”

“I mean she’s not here,” Tim assured, shrugging. “She asked to borrow some money from Ellie about two hours ago. Said she was going on a walk to look around, maybe get a beer. She’s done with her work already. She said Mike told her it'd be cool.”

“Which direction did she go?” Thorton immediately demanded.

“I dunno. She turned that corner and was out of sight.” Tim pointed to the edge of the ship three feet away from him.

Thorton was going to
kill
Mike! He put his welding iron down and scrambled up the ship’s planking until he came across Mike, who was dirty from welding but now working on the radio toward on the top of the ship. “What the hell is the matter with you?” Thorton demanded.

Mike looked up and at him. Even with goggles on, he emanated confusion. “What?”

“You told Penny that she could just go
frolic
?”

“Whoa, whoa! I haven’t talked to Penny since breakfast! She’s out
frolicking
?” Mike frowned. “She’s in the ship, though, right?”

“No! She’s out
there
! What direction did she go?” Thorton demanded.

“How the hell should I know? She shouldn’t be anywhere but here! She knows this isn’t the damn Mall of America. She shouldn’t be window-shopping around.”

“She said you gave her permission,” Thorton said, annoyed. He wasn’t sure who he was annoyed at yet, but he was already breathing hard with anger.

Mike didn’t seem surprised, but he did seem irritated. “Yeah? She lied. She does that—she’s still a teenager. Why’d YOU let her go?”

“I didn’t! I was working!”

“So was I!” He looked over the side of the ship towards Tom. “Did you see Penny leave?”

“Penny’s gone?” was Tom’s response. “Are you
serious
? What does she think this is? Disneyland? I just saw this dude walk by wielding an AXE an hour ago! Like, a
war axe
! What was that fucking for, is what I wanna know! What sorta planet did you take us to?!”

He might look exactly the same as Tim, but Tom was a whole hell of a lot smarter. Yet, just as useless.

Thorton brushed his fingers through his hair as he looked back and forth, looking around the town in the distance for a speck of red hair. He didn’t see her. “Damn it! I’m gonna go look for her. She won’t like it when I find her, either.”

“I’ll go with you,” Mike said, putting down his pliers.

“No, I want you to get that radio working and keep your monkeys
here
. If something happens to me and I don’t come back, and Graham doesn’t return, I want you to put Kitten to get on the wire for help. If someone weird comes up to you, I want you to get everybody and go into the ship and lock the doors, clear?
You
are responsible for their safety.”

Mike swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

Thorton muttered as he climbed down off the ship, off the planks, and went inside just to grab his gun and put on a long shirt and gloves, for when he found Penny…
If
he found Penny. Why in God’s name would she just walk off? What part of ‘pirate haven’ didn’t Penny understand? And
two hours ago
? She could be getting raped by now! That thought made him sick to his stomach.

And then he realized that she could be having sex right now of her own accord. His hands clenched into fists; he was so angry it was unbearable. He had been working since dawn and he still felt like he had the energy to tear the whole town apart searching for her. Hopefully he wasn’t too late.
Please, God… Don’t let me be too late.
But then he realized… He didn’t even know where to start looking… And this was one big, horrible town.

Chapter Eight

Thorton was going to make sure Penny never sat down again. That’s all that Thorton kept thinking to himself, like a mantra, as he watched the blue-faced, black-eyed Dunshachey curl his purple lips into a grin as Thorton passed his comlink—and all the expensive rare-earth metals inside of it—over to him. The Dunshachey, Vua Laa, definitely thought he was getting the better end of the deal.

Still, the Dunshachey race was the most trusted in the galaxy. Not because they were better than anyone else—they were rude, crude, noisy and nearly evil, but they couldn’t lie. Well, they
could
, but their quickly reddening skin afterwards would give them away.

So when Thorton showed a picture of Penny taken on his tablet computer, and the Dunshachey assured him that he knew where she was as long as a comlink was involved in the bargain, Thorton grudgingly took the deal. “Tell me what I need to know, or I will strangle you.” Thorton was tired from searching the entire city and finding neither a freckled hide nor a red strand of hair, so he wasn’t making any clever threats, only true ones. “
Now
, Vua.”

“I am hiding no secrets, Swarii man. I was here when she met Yule Veet.”

Thorton pursed his lips together. “Who’s Yule and is she with him
now
?”

“Yes, yes. She is with Yule. He is a Madthe merchantman. He own big, big tavern ten miles south of here. She seemed eager enough to go with him.” Vua shrugged apologetically. “I get you map now, eh? You go get your fireflower then, no?”

Ten miles. “Could I ask for a lift?” Thorton asked, trying his best to sound nice.

“Ha!” was his answer. “No, no ride. No one will give ride. All fuel comes from bad man, Alamar, here. Too precious, no wasting. Sorry, Swarii Man.”

Ten miles there, ten miles back? It was going to take forever to walk that distance. The kids back at the ship were going to get worried if he didn’t get back soon. He’d already been looking all day and night! Still, they were on the whole other side of the city at this point! “Look, can I call someone with my comlink?”