Anna Ch. 09

Varan shook his head. "A woman like you couldn't understand."

"Perhaps I could. I did hire her, after all. I knew some people would be intrigued by a certain amount of innocence, but she's the most unworldly person I've ever employed. You are not an unworldly man."

"She's not some cute little doll designed to make patrons feel superior," Varan snapped. "You have plenty of those. Elsiane is real. She's lived a real life, a hard life, and it permeates everything she does. She's smarter than you give her credit for. Not being predatory doesn't equal being prey, Madame. She's got genuine skills, she's got interests that go beyond herself, and she's honest. Those are qualities I prize over genius, manufactured beauty, and feminine wiles. That's why she'd never stay with you, not if you paid her a million credits. She wants to live her own life."

"And you want to live it with her," Madame Ko said softly.

"I want to see her succeed. She'd do it without my help, but I want to be there to see it, if I can." A little shocked at his own loquacity, Varan turned his face resolutely back to the console. His companion didn't question him any further.

They sat in silence for a little while longer before she said, "Reduce the speed. We should almost be on them."

"Put the coordinates into the computer."

She complied, and as the ship slowed, the navigational computer guided them to the spot where the pirate's ship should be. Time seemed to slow down as they dropped out of hyperspeed, and then they were still, looking out at unmoving stars and the vast emptiness of space.

"Well?" Varan demanded.

"They should be here," Madame Ko replied. "According to the tag, that is. They must have jettisoned it."

Varan's heart clenched in his chest. "And her?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Do you have a mass scanner on this ship?" Mass scanners were common on mining vessels, one of a system of fail-safes designed to warn the pilot about incoming debris that could damage the ship.

He shook his head. "Not this one. This one is for personal use only, nothing related to business."

"Hmm." She adjusted a few variables on her tracking monitor. "Well, according to this, we should be practically on top of the tag. The signal is extremely strong, completely unshielded, and since we can't see anything, I think it safe to assume that they merely jettisoned the tag."

"Meaning they cut it out of her."

"Quite probably."

"Where did you stick it?" Varan was unable to keep from growling. Too many disturbing images were flying through his head for him to try to be cordial.

"Her lower calf, fairly close to the surface. I doubt they injured her terribly removing it." Still cool, still implacable. "This isn't a setback. Odds are she's still alive. They have reasons for keeping her alive. As for tracking, now it becomes even easier, in a way. Your computer can detect and follow a recent engine trail?"

"Yes." It was a common safety feature, in case the autopilot failed and there was no visual contact to fly by.

"It should work now. I doubt they're far ahead of us. Use your temperature sensors as well, in case they try hiding behind something."

Varan fed the variables into the computer. The pirates' engine trail lit up like a long, glowing worm on the viewport, automatically projected there even as the autopilot moved to follow. They fell back into silence, anxious on one side and unknowable on the other, as they moved with stealthy speed towards their goal.

***

Anna considered herself lucky that she had blacked out after the knife cut through the first inch of her skin. She didn't have to feel the captain fillet her, sliding filthy fingers through convulsing muscle until he found the tag. Blissful darkness overwhelmed her, and it wasn't until things were finished and a strip of her tattered jumpsuit had already been bound around her newest wound that she began to come out of it. She kept her eyes closed, trying not to move. She heard them drag Stefen out of the room, still moaning and crying. She felt hands in her hair, shaking her briefly, then dropping her back onto the floor. It took all of her willpower to stay still, but it worked.

"Get rid of that tag, Clay. We'll leave her to wake up on her own," she heard the captain say. "After we get our measure out of her, we sell her along with the boy to whoever'll have her. Someone's bound to find a use for a cheap whore." There was the sound of snickering, and then the door closed, footsteps receded, and she was alone again.

Anna opened her eyes and looked around the room. Only she and a few new bloodstains remained. She had no idea how much of it was hers and how much was Stefen's. Stefen...stupid fucking Stefen.

Stupid Stefen with the broken tooth. She remembered watching him spit out a chunk of tooth onto the floor. Oh please, please let them have left it. Anna cast about with her eyes, looking frantically for the piece of tooth. There it was, a pitiful tiny lump in the corner. It was almost impossible to slide across the floor without making noise or blacking out from the pain in her arm and leg, but after several minutes of maneuvering, she managed to clasp the fragment in her fingers. She felt its contours and sighed silently with relief. It was most of a front tooth, nice and jagged.

Children's teeth were treated from an early age to be resistant to decay, wear and breaking. She must have really kicked him hard. Thanks to the treatments, mandated for most children on civilized worlds and paid for by the local governments, their teeth remained like new all through their lives. Stefen had had the treatments, and the piece of tooth was wonderfully sharp. She had just enough leeway to cut the edge of it into the cloth that bound her wrists together. Cloth, rope, whatever it was, she hoped her secret weapon would be enough to free her.

Progress was so slow, so terribly slow...was it giving? It was hard to tell. Her mind was swimming and her jaw and leg were both aching. Her broken arm was nearly numb by now from being tied behind her back for so long. It was a small blessing there was nothing reflective around, because while she'd never been very vain, Anna had no desire to see how black and blue she must be now. So focused on her work, trying desperately not to let her breathing give her away and hoping that no one would come back and check on her yet, it was almost a surprise when the rope suddenly gave and she found her hands free. Pulling them around in front of her, she had to wait a minute for the fiery pain in her shoulders to dissipate before being able to use her arms for anything. Her wrists were raw but functional. She looked down at the little piece of tooth and felt a lopsided, painful smile twist her face. "Thanks, Stefen," she muttered derisively.

She had to escape. If she couldn't find a way to get off this ship, it wouldn't matter that she'd worked herself free now. She'd be found, rebound and raped. Maybe it would stop there, maybe it wouldn't. Either way, she didn't want to wait to find out.

Someone was looking for her. Probably Madame Ko, Anna could easily believe that she would find a way to stick subdural tags into her employees to cover eventualities like this. This ship was a clunker and they weren't going fast, she could sense that much. If she could get a suit, if she could get out, then maybe someone would find her.

Anna moved on bare feet to the door. She inched it open and peeked out into the hall. Empty for now. She could hear them down the hall, eating and laughing. Keep laughing, bastards. They'd laugh, and she'd escape. They probably wouldn't laugh for long once they discovered she was missing.

That thought spurred her body into action. The best laid plan could always find some way to fail, and her plan was practically nonexistent. Where were the suits?

The back end of the hallway was made up of the loading bay, a smaller entry and exit port used for single-person operations, and a few storerooms. She'd been in one of them. Anna stepped into the hall, shut the door softly behind her and limped over to the next closest door, cautiously opening it. Bathroom. Not what she needed. She tried the next. Tool room, filled with everything from old-style wrenches to gas-powered laser cutters. Oh, it was so tempting...she could march down the hall and fry holes in their fucking heads before they knew what hit them.

Her good hand was already inching towards the cutters when she caught herself. This was no time to fantasize about killing her captors. They might be armed as well, she wasn't nearly up to her normal level of ability, and if she wasn't careful, she'd cut a whole in the hull and breach the ship. Then they could all die together.

No, no weapons. Ruefully, she shut the door and limped over to the next in line. It was the closest to the loading bay, and as easy to open as all the others had been. Sloppy, sloppy, thank god. And yes, oh yes, it contained suits. Old, outdated, vastly imperfect suits, but there they were. And there was Stefen, lying on the floor, gagged and bound and staring up at her with incredulous eyes. Anna made her way to the suits, pulled the best-looking one off its rack and almost screamed at the heavy, frustrating weight of it. Having only one good arm to pull herself into it with wasn't helping. She had gotten spoiled, using Matilda's new suits. This was like what she'd worn before as a miner: thick, clunky and restrictive. She managed to get into it after a few fumbled attempts, fastening herself in and closing up everything but the faceplate. She'd have to move carefully now, the thick boots were noisy on the grated floors. Her best bet would probably be the single-person access port.

A muffled whimper stopped her cautious walk towards the door. Stefen was looking up at her, tears in his eyes, face begging for help. Take me with you, she could almost hear him saying. Free me too. Help me. Anna stared down at him and saw hope blossom in his face. He knew she would help him. Anna stepped in close and, as quietly as she could, kicked him in the head with one heavy boot.

Stefen's eyes rolled back and he slumped limply, unconscious. The last thing she needed was him whimpering and whining and bringing one of the pirates to check on his worthless ass and giving her away. She tore her eyes away from his form, trying to ignore the tears that brimmed in the corners of them, and crept out into the hall. She'd have to close the doors to the loading bay before she could use the smaller port. That would set off alarms, and they'd come running back here to check on things. She needed something to break the locks so the doors would jam once she was in. Maybe those laser cutters would be useful after all.

It was hard to be quiet in a suit that added fifty pounds to her weakened body, but somehow Anna managed to get back into the tool room and out again with a broad-beam laser cutter. She slid back into the hall and down towards the loading dock. Almost there...she could see the lock-box she'd have to disable to keep the doors shut. She was close, so close...

The small part of Anna's mind that believed in bad luck shrugged fatalistically when at that moment the captain's second, the man called Clay, walked down the hall to check on her. As soon as he saw her by the loading dock he yelled and sprinted down the hall towards her. She lunged inside the bay and pushed the button to shut the doors. The man dove in after her before they could shut and immediately attacked, barreling her to the ground.

In a way, it was a good thing that he was so focused on her. It gave Anna the moment she needed to activate the cutter and fry the circuitry in the wall, sealing the doors shut and keeping the rest of the crew from coming to their friend's assistance. It was also a bad thing, because it meant that Anna was getting pummeled by an infuriated man who was larger, stronger and faster than she was. He had to have strength modifications, the way he jerked her up off the ground with one arm, suit and all. Clay turned to the doors and suddenly realized what she had done.

"What the fuck?"

Anna took advantage of his momentary confusion to bring the cutter to bear on him. The power was set low and the beam spread wide, and when she swung it up it brushed his face, only for a moment. A moment was long enough. He let go of her, screamed and fell back against the wall, clawing at his eyes.

This was her only chance to get out. Anna felt sick with adrenaline and the hideous smell of scorched flesh. The rest of the startled crew were starting to use their brains and bringing the other cutters to bear on the doors. She had to get out before they could get in. Shutting her faceplate, Anna turned the cutter's power to high and aimed it straight at the small entry port, slowly burning through metal and polymers. Doors were the weak point of any hull. Metal hissed and screamed, drowning out the dying pirate, and then suddenly she was through. The other cutters stopped firing immediately, the captain realizing that his dock was breached. Clay gave a final, agonized howl as the searing vacuum of space briefly touched him, and then he was dead. Anna didn't look at him. She couldn't. She floated over to the ladder, pulled herself up it, and...

She hesitated. There was nothing around her, only stars and stillness. What had always been soothing to her before was now slightly menacing, the promise of near-certain death. If she let go, if she pushed off into space, her chances of living were next to nothing. Even assuming that she was being pursued, she didn't have the tag any more. How would someone find her in the middle of nowhere?

She glanced back down. The pirates were gone from the door. They had more entries than the one she'd taken, they had to. Back doors. Someone would be getting into a suit right now, getting to a back door, coming for her. And if they caught her now, she'd be lucky to be killed outright. The frozen body of Clay drifted into her field of vision, and nausea took hold of her gut. She had killed someone. She was a killer, just like they were.

Before she could let herself think about it any longer, Anna pushed herself out of the open port and into space. A spasm of fear racked her frame as her feet left the surface. This suit had no thrusters, it was ancient. There was no way she'd be coming back now. She turned and watched as she drifted away from the ship. It seemed so small, so fast. So inconsequential. It was a place filled with anger and hatred and pain, but Anna was a long ways away from that now. They'd never touch her again. No one would ever touch her again. She had made her last choice, and it was freedom.

Anna checked her suit's stats. Enough oxygen for a few hours if she breathed lowly. Heat...that was another issue. The suit had terrible thermal conductivity and not enough power to keep her warm for long; it was meant to be used with a power tether, not solo. Well...hopefully she'd lose consciousness before she froze to death. She still had the laser cutter, but there was no way she could jury-rig it to power her suit's life support systems, not without any tools. She turned the cutter on, watching the glow spread from the tip. It was beautiful, really. If she wanted to end it now, painlessly, she could. Just turn the power to high and aim for her head. Anna knew she'd never do it, though. The same small piece of her mind that believed in bad luck also believed in good, and wouldn't let her forget that somewhere, someone was looking for her. Someone wanted to find her.

That same hopeful piece of herself made her turn the cutter's power all the way down, until it functioned merely as a flashlight, and awkwardly hung it at her waist. It would display a tiny power signature that someone would see if they looked hard enough for it. Having done all that she could, she simply floated, drifting further and further away from the ship until it was little more than a speck of reflection, a tiny spark of light in the endless midnight sea.

It hurt to think. It hurt to remember what she was losing. She had no choice, though. Already the suit was beginning to shut down, starting with the extremities. Her hands and feet were growing numb. If she wanted to die with any semblance of peace, she needed to remember. Anna brought up memories of her parents, loving to her and each other, hardened to the world. She whispered their names and said goodbye to them, then moved on, to the strange new world she had been thrust into not so long ago and how it had changed everything for her. She remembered her friends, Cris and Nadia and Gio. She remembered Madame Ko and Harriman and the others who had helped prepare her for her work as a Star. Being desired, being wanted...she flushed momentarily as she thought of her liaisons, remembering her satisfaction and pleasure. Pleasure immediately made her think of Varan, and now the tears that wouldn't flow earlier forced their way out from beneath her shock. Oh, Varan.

Anna would never know what he'd wanted now. She'd never know what could have happened. She had fallen in love with him, she had dreamed of him, she had been denied his attention until the very end, and then in her greatest moment of hope she'd been taken away. Kidnapped. Now she'd never truly know him. She mourned her loss, crying silently as the chill crept up her arms and legs, stopping just before reaching her core. Her suit was performing triage on her, saving her center for as long as it could, saving her mind and her heart. Exhaustion swallowed Anna whole as her last reserves of energy faded away, along with her wakefulness. Sleep pulled heavily at her, and with a final wistful glance at the stars, she let it carry her off.

***

"There they are," Madame Ko said with satisfaction. "Excellent." Varan said nothing, just piloted the ship to within a clear visual distance, set the autopilot to hold it there and activated his shields. They might hold off one or two blasts, but if these people had decent weaponry, their speed wouldn't be enough to get them away in time. They were in a dangerous position.

He scrutinized the ship, magnifying it on his viewport. It wasn't very impressive. Shoddy, patched construction and a hull that looked like it had been through a sandstorm or twelve. His heart beat a little faster as he looked on it, though. Elsiane was there somewhere.

"Hail them," Madame Ko said. "Let's see if we can get them to bargain for her."

Varan sent out a querying ping. Their computer would pick it up and provide them with his ship's comm information, allowing them to make the first verbal foray. That is, if they wanted to bother. He waited a few minutes, then pinged them again. Then again. Again. Finally he set up his system to ping them nonstop and waited. If their computer was working, it was going crazy right now.

"That must be very obnoxious," Madame Ko commented.

"I find myself liking that aspect of it," Varan replied. They waited a few more minutes in silence before they finally received a response.

"Who the fuck are you?" a voice snarled over the comm.

"We're seeking information," Madame Ko said calmly as she pressed the comm. button, taking control of the conversation. "We think you can help us with that."

"Get away from my ship before I blow you out of the fucking sky."

Varan glanced over at the madame, but she took the threat very calmly. "That would be unwise. We know you have a girl aboard named Anna Ferragen. We're prepared to deal with you to secure her release."

Varan started as he heard her real name. Anna. Elsiane was Anna. He rolled her new name around in his mind as Madame Ko kept speaking. "Of course, before we deal, we need some proof that she's alive and unharmed."

There was a long silence. "How much will you pay for her?"