The Betwixt Book One (28 page)

‘
It is?’ I asked, still very confused, but all the more aware
that Jason just wanted to get the hell out of here. Perhaps we
didn't have much time here. Perhaps Jason had already stuck his
head too far out in diverting his ship here in the first place. He
just looked so eager to get going . . . but I still
didn't understand. And I wanted to understand everything before I
met with the Rain Man. He was the only being in the galaxy who
could tell me about my mother . . . about who I
really was.. and I didn't want to be at a disadvantage when I spoke
to him.

‘
When their race is excited,’ Jason pushed himself up from his
chair and stood for one short moment, looking directly at me, then
he moved towards the door, stride quick and strong. ‘They talk. The
usual trouble is finding something that can make a being that has
seen and read everything excited. But we're in luck today.’ The
Commander opened the door. ‘I'm going to have to ask the rest of
you to return to your quarters. Mini, it's time to go.’ Once again
the Commander was still speaking as he walked, his back turned to
me, the door almost closing behind him.

I leaped to my feet, awkwardly hitting into the chair behind
me. ‘Hold on, but—’

‘
No buts,’ he called back, ‘just goes.’

I cast my glance back to Doctor Cole, who still had her arms
crossed, but had the shade of an amused smile playing across her
lips.

‘
Go on,’ she nodded at me, ‘he needs you on this
one.’

That was an odd thing to say. ‘But you're all so excited to
meet him,’ I turned my head to the door, just to check that the
Commander hadn't marched back in to drag me off, ‘I don't want to
go without you. I don't even know what questions to ask, I don't
even know what I'm looking for . . . ‘

‘
Ask all the questions you can,’ Od had a glimmer of excitement
left in his eyes, ‘every single one you can think of. It is your
best chance to find answers, though they may not yet make sense –
you will be able to travel with them until they do.’

I blinked again, trying to sort through Od's rather mystical
response. ‘But what about the weapons? Will he know where they
are—’

‘
You aren't going to be asking him for weapons,’ The Commander
was back in the doorway, face stony.

I sunk my teeth into my lip. I hadn't even heard him
approach.

‘
I will be asking the questions – you just have to stand there.
Now let's move out.’ This time the Commander stood next to the
doorway, waiting for me exit.

I looked quickly at the others in the room, the beings I was
beginning to realize were my friends. I didn't want to leave them
behind on this one – they all had talents I couldn't hope to match.
Crag'tal could intimidate the socks off a Tarian Merc; Od's
exuberance and mentor-like charms could turn even the ditsiest
waitress into a warrior; and Doctor Cole probably knew more about
the People, and annoying the Commander, than most in the
Galaxy.

What skills did I have? What methods could I hope to use to
ensure the Rain Man told me everything I needed to
know . . . .?

But perhaps it didn't matter. Perhaps, as the Commander had
said, he really would be the one asking all the questions. But
could I even hope that he would ask the right ones? Or would I be
barely a meter from the greatest source of knowledge in the galaxy,
listening to the Commander huff and puff about a diner waitresses
buying fancy guns and kicking fleshy freaks?

 
. . . . Well, I was about to
find out.

It wasn't long until the Commander and I were standing in a
decontamination unit in the planet-dock. He was out of his crisp
black uniform, and into his chunky armor instead. I was still in
the clothes that Doctor Cole had lent me – plain black pants, a
plain white shirt, and a plain brown vest. I looked, ah, plain, to
the Commander's menacing cool. I'd plaited my ice-white hair,
though, in an effort to make the stuff less visible – even
slightly. I also didn't want to give the Commander the impression
that I was going to be a burden on this mission, he was already
taking a massive risk bringing me along, after all.

So I stood up very straight, with my hands clasped in front of
me, as the decontamination bots buzzed over us. It was standard
procedure to go through them when you left a planet-dock. We didn't
have them on the station, but that was because the entire thing was
ducted and filtered through life support. Nasty space bugs, Clouds,
unknown alien entities – space ships and space stations had
on-board sensors and filtration systems to weed them out. Planets
were different. All it would take is one unsuspecting Crag to bring
in Tarian Flu, to decimate a planet-bound population. So
decontamination was taken very seriously, and there were pretty
strict penalties for people that tried to avoid it. Not that Jason
and I were about to avoid it – he was the Commander, after all. But
it was just taking so long!

Five minutes of awkward silence eventually gave way to ten.
And it wasn't until we'd completed the full fifteen-minute cleanse,
that the door in front of us finally pinged open, revealing the
outside of the planet-dock beyond.

And it was a sight. The Decontam Units led right out onto the
huge metal ramps that wound down to the Customs Deck below. There
were trails of aliens there – jostling in twisting lines as they
were processed through the Custom's Scanners. The scanners were
huge metal rings that concurrently scanned and assessed anyone
traveling through them – accessing their identity files, processing
their visas, checking and rechecking with the GAM HQ to ascertain
they weren't a security threat.

I was surprised to see such technical security, but then
again, I hadn't been off the station for a while. Things were
moving on in the Galaxy, and as Jason had said – these were strange
times.

‘
Haven't been planet-side for awhile, huh?’ Jason was looking
at me side-on as we marched quickly down a ramp.

‘
Ah, no,’ I smiled awkwardly as I spoke. I wasn't one to be
dishonest, but I didn't want the Commander to know just how much of
a station homebody I really was. Working in a space diner was one
thing, but you got used to the kinds of aliens that came through
there. Planet-side was completely different. There were aliens I
had never seen before, technology and clothes that just didn't make
it out to my small, isolated nook of the galaxy. Coming here was
like being stuck inside a Central TV show – like I was smack bang
on Central Earth in the hustle and bustle of the future.

‘
I don't blame you – a lot of noise, a lot of tech, and a lot
of crime. I'd take the quiets of space, with a couple of pirate
raiders thrown in, any day.’

I smiled, less awkwardly, and took another long look at the
cue below us. ‘That's going to take ages to get
through.’

‘
We're not going through customs.’

I snapped my head around to look at him in full. Because that
was possibly the most uncharacteristic thing the Commander could
have said. He might as well have cackled that we were on this
planet to kick puppies and upend babies' lollipops into the sand –
because skipping Customs wasn't something a straight and true GAM
officer would do.

‘
Relax – we aren't doing anything illegal,’ he had a secret,
amused smile on his lips, ‘it's just quicker this way.’

I frowned at him. ‘But everybody has to go through Customs. I
may not travel planet-side often, but even I know that. It doesn't
matter if you are a GAM, some alien princess, or even the Central
President himself – going through Customs is the law.’

‘
Thanks for the lesson,’ he said sarcastically – though not
bitingly. ‘I'll have to remember that. But for now, we're going to
go around customs, to one of the other docking bays. The Rain Man's
ship is in dock A45 – on the other side of the
terminal.’

‘
Oh . . . so we aren't really going planet-side
then,’ I said, face hot.

‘
Nope. Rain Men don't ever leave their ships alone – not for
love, money, or GAM inquiries. They're bound to their books like
the spines to the pages. Plus, how are we meant to go through
customs, without you having a visa?’

Yeah . . . so obviously, I hadn't thought that
through. I avoided the Commander's eyes, and pretended to be very
interested in watching the sharp blue light of the Custom's
Scanners play against the scaly skin of some Crag.

‘
We're going to the other end of the terminal,’ the Commander
clarified, slowly. Obviously realizing I had no real idea what was
going on, and was about as likely to deduce it as Od was of head
butting Crag'tal. ‘We had to go through Decontam, because it was
standard procedure – but we can skip customs. We're going to take
the elevator up to the A level docking bays, then walk the corridor
to A45,’ the Commander's voice was slow and patient, as if he were
giving orders to the dumbest newbie recruit. ‘When we get on the
Rain Man's ship, let me do the talking. They're an odd race, and I
don't want there to be any misunderstandings.’

I pressed my lips together, and just let the Commanders speak.
I didn't appreciate him talking to me as if I was a child, but at
least he was telling me what would happen next.

‘
We don't have long, so this will have to be quick. The only
reason I managed to organize this meeting was that our ship was
diverted here anyway. She's being refueled and restocked right now,
but I have to get back to Operational Command before my official
mission begins. We've got two hours, tops. I know it's not much –
not with a Rain Man anyway, but it's all we've got.’ The Commander
seemed to answer my questions well before I'd even thought to ask
them.

I nodded, trying to keep up with him as he forged through the
crowds on the Customs Deck, apparently leading us over to a bank of
great tech-glass elevators at the other end of the room. I tried to
dodge behind people as best as I could – ducking under a Crag's arm
as he gesticulated to some human, twisting around a Hantari as he
glared at the Crag's back, and apologizing my way between a human
couple who looked more jet lagged than someone woken up from stasis
after a fifty year flight.

‘
Oh, ah, sorry – um, excuse me—’ I let out a constant trail of
polite utterances as the crowd just seemed to thicken in front of
me.

‘
Come on,’ the Commander waved me forward, ‘like I said, we
don't have much time.’

‘
Okay,’ I spoke up, trying to make my voice carry as another
surge of aliens pressed into me.

I'd lost sight of the Commander all together by the time two
massive bear-like aliens pushed past me, their long and flexible
tails whipping behind them and just catching my ankle as they
went.

I stumbled forward, losing my balance, and far too polite to
jostle into an alien for support. But the Commander was suddenly in
front of me, looping an arm up around my own, as I fell roughly
against his chest. The hard armor wasn't inviting, but his eyes
looked down at me with a tenderness that made
me . . . 

‘
You okay?’ he asked only loud enough to cut through the
rabble.

I nodded, just. I was a little more than okay. Being this
close to Jason was like facing up to a mega star – my skin felt as
warm as a fresh brew of Tika tea. The rest of the crowd around us,
the press of aliens, the incessant ring and blare of the overhead
com unit – it all just burnt away.

‘
We have to keep moving,’ he might have said, ‘stick with me,
this crowd is thicker than I thought it would be.’

‘
O-oh,’ I stammered, as he set me straight on my feet. ‘Of
course.’

Instead of ploughing through the crowd, letting me fend for
myself against every shape and size of alien life that were all
surging towards the Custom's Scanners, this time the Commander
stuck by my side. With more than a quick glance my way, he led me
through till we reached the tech-glass elevators on the other side
of the room.

I felt . . . comfortable and uncomfortable all
at once. Suddenly I was hyper aware of my body – where it was in
space, what my hands were doing, where my clothes were sitting, how
my hair was playing across my shoulder, how my eyes must look too
wide and rounded, how my mouth just wouldn't sit
straight . . . . But at the same time, I felt
an excited warm – the kind of pleasant tingle you get after you
plunge your feet into a hot basin of gel-water, after a long day at
work.

When we finally made it into the elevators, I had almost
resorted to pinning my lips straight with my hands – they just
weren't behaving, wobbling this way and that. I just wanted to look
normal.

For one electric moment, I thought the Commander and I would
be alone in the elevator, well, until the two Hantari walked in an
almost plastered me against a wall.

In a way, I was glad of the distraction, I was becoming
unstuck far too fast. I was like a girl who had just chanced upon
her first crush – all light headed and flushed. Which was really
the wrong way to be right now. Because I wasn't a girl crushing on
a hot GAM – I was a half-breed alien who’s rapidly unwinding
destiny was bringing me at heads with the Galaxy's greatest enemy.
I didn't have time for this, and neither did the Commander –
whatever this was, of course.