The Betwixt Book One (14 page)

‘
Okay, The People . . . .
So . . . so when do we leave?’

‘
In an hour. Crag'tal has kindly found us transport on a Crag
freighter. Though the accommodation may not be ideal, it is
traveling a very direct route.’

‘
And you're coming too?’ I turned to Crag'tal, trying to keep
the desperation from my face. I really didn't want to take a Crag
freighter to the Crag home world without a Crag with us to prevent
general Crag-induced bloodshed.

Crag'tal nodded, his big arms still crossed, looking about as
menacing as skin and muscle wrapped around bone ever could.
‘Crag'tal see this through till end. Either Twixt end, galaxy end,
or our end.’

I felt comforted, barely. Adding the bit about seeing it
through until we died, was a little unnecessary. But I couldn't
deny that my heart lifted at the prospect of Crag'tal joining our
ranks. There was no other being I would have preferred looking out
for me, than the big guy. Well, now that the Commander had declared
me public enemy number one, anyway.

And that was it. I packed the items I couldn't take with me
away in station storage, tried to find someone to take good care of
my plants (which the station's botanist was more than happy to do
considering their rarity), and said goodbye to the view out my
window. Od had told me to pack light – the galaxy was never kind to
those with lots of luggage, he'd said rather cryptically. And I had
agreed with him. But there was one thing I had insisted on
bringing. I couldn't leave Hipop alone on this station, nor could I
face the prospect of giving him away.

To my surprise, neither Od nor Crag'tal had objected at all.
Od had, in fact, nodded, and said, ‘splendid idea, it is a
marvelous creature'. Crag'tal hadn't grumbled a 'no' or told me
that 'the monkey cat will get us killed on Crag', or anything as
ominous and horrible. So it was decided that Hipop could
come.

Plus, he could be useful, I thought to myself as I clipped his
collar in place. He had a nose for danger and was capable of
picking up noises way below the usual range. That, and he was
supper cuddly, and I had a feeling I was going to be short on
cuddles on the Crag freighter.

Leaving the station was hard, but it became a whole lot easier
when I spied a certain Commander half way along the promenade. I
had told Crag'tal and Od that I just wanted one more walk around on
my own – just to say good-bye to everything. I had been walking
along, saying a wistful 'goodbye' to my favorite seat, my favorite
store, even my favorite place to lean against and watch the aliens
languish on by. And I had been doing precisely this when I looked
up to see the Commander marching my way.

I looked around quickly, like a frightened rabbit with my ears
so primed to pick up the growl of the wolf, looking for a route of
escape.

But he was too quick. I regretted in an instant leaving
Crag'tal behind – I had a feeling he was becoming my de facto
bodyguard – there to make sure I saved my strength for the Twixts.
And by the looks of it, I needed a bodyguard right about
now.

The Commander wasn't smiling, in fact, he had the expression
most people had before they might squash a fly. ‘Mini,’ my name was
like a blast from a pulse cannon, ‘I was wondering if you could
help me with my inquiries.’

I was so startled I couldn't make a sound.

That didn't bother him, he obviously wasn't intending this to
be a two-way conversation anyway. ‘I need to see those guns of
yours – the ones you claim you are keeping for someone else. And I
want to see your license too.’

You could have shot me then and there – that would have made
things damn easier for me. Death I could take, the Commander on the
warpath was torturous.

I tried to move my mouth, but it was like someone had poured
hot tar in it – my lips opened, but the only noise that came out
was this unpleasant gulping.

‘
Did you hear me?’

‘
Yes,’ my voice had ten times the pitch of Od, and that was
saying something.

‘
Then where are they?’ The Commander's eyes were blazing like
the center of the hottest, most ferocious star. I could feel my
skin flush and prickle with dramatic heat as he bore down on
me.

‘
I . . . I don't have them with me right now,’ I
said. Which was kind of obvious, as I was standing about it in a
fairly standard set of pants and top without a pair of massive
rifles strapped to my back.

‘
Then take me to them.’ A strange thing was happening with the
Commander as he spoke. Though I could feel the anger lapping off
him like a wild storm at the levy, it felt . . . it
didn't feel completely genuine. Or rather, perhaps it wasn't all
directed at me. Sure, he may be shouting at me, but I got the
impression I wasn't the only person he wanted to be quarreling with
right now.

‘
I,’ I took as big a breath as I could manage, ‘is this an
official inquiry?’ I couldn't believe I'd actually said that, to
the Commander. But there it was. I had just stood up for myself.
Perhaps fighting off the most deadly creature in all the galaxy was
a confidence boost for a girl.

Now I could tell he was angry only at me. He ticked his head
to the side quickly. ‘No,’ he said eventually, ‘this is not an
official inquiry.’

I needed sun goggles for the look he was giving me – and a
three meter blast wall. But I soldiered on.
‘Then . . . I . . . I'm not under
arrest?’

Another quick tick of his head. ‘No, you are not under arrest.
But it would be very . . . ‘ the Commander paused
for a long moment, ‘good if you could help me with my
inquiries.’

It would be good? For him maybe. It would see me in prison
faster than you can say 'yes it was I that shutdown your security
system and boarded your ship'.

I took another steadying breath. I knew that the Commander
could see how distressed and frightened I was by the whole thing,
and I hoped to god he realized it was a genuine reaction. But I had
to stick to my guns on this one, literally. ‘I'm afraid I don't
have the time. I'm leaving today.’

‘
Then when you return—’

‘
I'm not coming back.’

I fancied I saw a flicker of something other than rage in the
Commander's eyes at my admission – but whether it was
disappointment at the fact I wouldn't be able to 'help him with his
inquiries' or something else, I couldn't tell.

‘
Where are you going?’ Was his voice softer, or was he just
ramping it down so he could ramp it back up again later?

‘
I don't really know . . . .’

‘
You're a floater without any family – you're not running off
to join the circus, are you?’

Was that . . . a joke? I chose not to laugh,
just in case.

But something was happening with the Commander – and I could
see it play out on his face like a hologame on screen. He was
confused, frustrated, and didn't know who to blame for his
problems. Perhaps he wasn't angry at me after
all . . . .

‘
Strange times,’ he said quietly to himself, ‘but look.’ And he
did look, he looked straight at me, and I felt something right at
the pit of my stomach that made me want smile and hide all at the
same time. ‘If you are in trouble, you don't have to
run.’

I put a reflexive hand up to my mouth, two fingers touching my
lips. ‘Trouble?’

I repeated the word in my head – he'd said trouble like he
didn't want to throw me in prison, if that made any sense. He'd
said it like.. he wanted to help.

‘
Look,’ he crossed his arms and sighed, the rest of his
immediate anger sinking back to the deep grooves in his brow where
it seemed to reside, ‘girls . . . women, don't just
get attacked by Kroplins, and buy some of the galaxy's most
sophisticated and expensive guns every other day. And don't get me
wrong – but I don't think you can afford Tech Industry fire-power
on your waitress salary,’ he paused to shift his eyes to the side,
obviously thinking. ‘I've read your file. You're a floater – no
family, no one to check if you go missing. You hold down an
ordinary job, and you look about as innocent as they
come—’

I listened to him, trying to pay attention. But I just
couldn't believe that he wasn't livid with me anymore, that he
actually appeared to care. I wanted to throw my arms around him and
never let go. For more reasons than one, I was starting to
realize.

‘
Mini,’ he locked his eyes on me again, and each time he did it
my stomach was starting to buck harder than a cruiser breaking-full
at light speed. ‘You're the prime target for
gunrunners.’

 
. . . what? Had he just said
gunrunners? 'I—’

‘
Look you don't have to say anything, I know how these types
work. But if you need help,’ there was that look again, ‘all you
have to do is ask.’

Silence was settling between us, and it was the most laden,
pregnant quiet I had ever heard. He was waiting for me to ask. And
me . . . I was trying to hold back from asking.
Because he sure as hell was going to change his tune if I told him
that it wasn't gunrunners, but Twixts.

‘
Mini—’

A shadow loomed up behind me, casting a dark across Jason's
face. A hand reached down and rested heavy on my shoulder, and the
unexpectedness of it startled a quiet yelp from my lips.

But it was only Crag'tal.

‘
Human bothering you?’ Crag'tal asked me.

It took me a moment to realize he was talking about the
Commander. But by that time, the damage had been done. I glanced
over to see the Commander's eyes narrowed as he stared up at
Crag'tal. I tried to see it from Jason's point of view, and it did
not look good. He suspected I was the victim of gunrunners, and
then a whopping great Crag, known for their lack of interest in
keeping the peace, walks up and ostensibly cuts our conversation
short. To the Commander that would look like Crag'tal was trying to
stop me from spilling the beans.

Oh brother.

The Commander straightened up, and to his credit, looked at
Crag'tal like he could take him.

‘
No!’ I said a little too loudly. ‘No Crag'tal, everything is
fine.’

‘
Mini,’ the Commander was looking deep into my eyes, obviously
pleading with me to say the magic words of 'help, I'm being
abducted by gunrunners!’.

But I couldn't. ‘I'm sorry Commander, but I have to go.’ I
didn't look into his eyes, just turned quickly.

I walked away with Crag'tal, without once turning
back.

Chapter 8

He didn't come after me. I didn't want him too, obviously. But
I felt the fact that he hadn't rushed up to me and stopped me from
going, like you might feel the chill of the coldest winter's
night.

By the time we had loaded everything aboard the Crag
freighter, I felt sick to my stomach. It was all so real now. One
look at the sparse, mechanical, rusted ship was enough to hammer
home how lost I was going to be after this point. There wasn't
going to be any familiar space station out there; no nice warm bed
to crawl back to, no bunny-printed covers to pull over my
head.

This was space travel now, space travel with a couple of
spoonfuls of Twixts stirred into the mix. Because, as Od had warned
me, they could be anywhere now. On any ship we went on, any planet
we visited, any fueling station we pulled into – the Twixts could
be waiting for us. And they wouldn't wait passively, he assured me,
they would pro-actively destroy what they encountered, as it was
their way.

I was a near total nervous wreck by the time the Crag
freighter had pulled out of dock. This was it. My journey had
begun. I still didn't have any proper weapons or any real clues to
follow – so the game was practically up before it had
begun.

If it wasn't for Od sitting by my side in what could not be
properly referred to as our quarters (it was, in fact, a service
closet off the main cargo bay – freighters weren't usually kind to
passengers that weren't packed in cargo canisters), I would have
probably blacked out from the fear. The little guy was keeping me
sane, just, with his insanely annoying conversation
style.

‘
I imagine we will have things to find on this moon,’ he said,
sitting very neatly beside me, hands in his lap, ‘things that could
be of importance to us.’

Captain Obvious Od was striking again. Over ninety percent of
what he said was simply rephrasing earlier statements. It drove me
bonkers – and bonkers was good right now, it would stop me from
chewing my fingernails off and shaking like a lost leaf in an air
tunnel.

‘
How long will it take to get there?’ I had asked this question
before, but so far hadn't managed to get an actual answer from Od.
He'd just spin off onto tangents in his truly random
way.

‘
I believe this freighter is not scheduled to have any stop
offs either in this system or the next. And without any unforeseen
trouble, I would suggest an estimated time of arrival at
approximately seven days, three hours, and fifteen minutes. Give or
take a minute, here or there, for congestion in Crag
space.’