The Passenger Ch. 03

She nodded.

"If we had been caught with those on board..." she mused.

I nodded and took a sip from my drink.

"Yeah. No way we'd have talked ourselves out of that one. No matter how innocent we are, nobody would have believed that we didn't know what cargo we were hauling. A penal colony would have been the best we could have hoped for."

She shivered.

"So how the hell did that happen?" she asked.

"Obvious in hindsight," I said. "We were set up. Your employer, their branch here on Ursa, my cargo broker and the universe knows who else; they were all in on it. Having a good laugh at us too, I'm sure."

She sighed, then took a large sip from her drink. She looked like she needed it. I briefly wondered how her body would process the alcohol. It would probably help to fuel her power plant. Then, mentally, I shrugged. What difference did it make? It was not something I wanted to think about right now.

"So," I continued, "Pete said that whatever he did should prevent you from passing out like that again. Then you woke up, and you know the rest."

"The rest..." she said softly. "Harvey, what do we do now?"

"Well," I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. "We stay calm, we keep our heads down, we hole up somewhere and meanwhile we work on a plan to get the Slowboat out of hock. I doubt Vergence has kept her on their own premises. Most likely they have transferred her to some regular holding area. That would be the least conspicuous way for them to deal with it. Which means her location will be registered somewhere, and we should be able to find out where she is. So, we'll start there and then see what we can do."

"I feel like we've been mugged," she said.

I nodded.

"In a way we have been, I suppose. But we'll deal with it. We've got to."

I glanced out of the window again. Nothing was happening at our hotel, which was encouraging.

"Why do you keep looking out the window like that?" Anne asked.

"Watching for trouble," I said. "Brax made it very clear that Vergence has a lot of clout on Ursa, and they're quite happy to go around the law whenever they want, and straight through it when they can't. I wouldn't put it beyond him at all to tap into the credit transfer network. That's why I used that shady currency shark to launder Pete's credit chip. The second I'd slotted his chip to make a payment, Brax might very well have a red flag pop up on his map. That's what I would have done if I were him, if I could. And I think he can."

I sighed and took her hand.

"Taking you into that part of town was the last thing I wanted. But I didn't know what else to do, and at least it seems to have paid off. If the chip that currency shark gave us had also been hot, either Vergence or the cops would have shown up at our hotel by now. That's why I paid for the room with that chip and then took us here."

"Good thinking. I'm starving."

I smiled.

"So let's have something to eat. We might as well. I want to give it at least another hour or so before we go back to the hotel."

We ordered, and the food was pretty good. No matter how top-of-the-line an autokitchen may be, there's something about freshly prepared food that it can never quite replicate. The funny thing is, you don't notice it until you land and then have some of the real thing.

So we sat, we ate, we talked, and gradually we relaxed. We could not afford to be complacent and we'd have to remain careful and vigilant, but it looked like we were alright at least for the moment.

* * *

The hotel was a typical space port hotel; the type catering mainly to spacers who were between flights, and it showed. The room was designed much along the same lines as a ship's cabin, including the almost aggressive efficiency with which all available space had been utilized to its absolute maximum. But there were differences as well: large, comfortable beds instead of bunks, a proper bathroom with a good-sized shower stall and, of course, that pinnacle of sybaritic luxury: a large bath tub. The tub was a glaring exception to the otherwise frugal use of space: it was easily large enough for three people; maybe even four or five if they knew each other well enough. Both the shower and the tub offered a variety of water massaging and spraying options, and instead of just the usual warm-air drying unit, the hotel operator had also thoughtfully supplied a set of old-fashioned, large, fluffy bath towels and a pair of robes. A laundry chute with a sign that promised one-hour service was set into the wall.

"Civilization. At last," Anne said with a dreamy look on her face as she inspected the bathroom.

"Come on, the Slowboat isn't all that bad," I said.

She smiled.

"No. It isn't. But still, a bath... Yes."

She turned around and came into my arms. Her lips were soft against mine.

"I think I need a shower," I said, somewhat later. "I can almost smell myself."

She gently kissed my forehead with a soft, loving touch of her lips. Her hand caressed my hair.

"Well, I can't smell you yet," she said with a smile. "But if you'll jump into the shower now, I'm going to try that bath as soon as you're done."

"It's all yours. After all these years I'm used to just having a shower."

"That's fine if you're a guy. Most of us girls prefer a bath."

"Getting a tub installed on the Slowboat should be interesting," I said.

A tub on a space ship? Of course that was never going to be an option. Even on luxury cruise liners you won't find bath tubs; the massive load on the recyclers alone makes that impossible. And think of the risks involved: what if the artificial gravity fails and you've suddenly got twenty-plus gallons of unrestrained water floating around weightlessly inside the ship?

But that wasn't why I had said what I did. What I really needed to know right now was whether or not Anne remembered our plans for a future together on the Slowboat. But I needn't have worried.

"That's alright," she said, smiling. "I can live with showers. Baths can be a special treat between trips, every now and then."

Suddenly we were holding each other again, very closely, her body melting against mine.

"Maybe for... special occasions," she whispered.

"A good captain can always organize something," I said.

"And a good crew can always deal with anything."

She bit her lip for a second, hesitating.

"Although there's one thing..." she continued slowly.

"What's that?"

"Well, you might want to install a few more sprayers into the shower on the Slowboat. Side sprayers. You know? Low? Spraying upward? Adjustable?"

She managed to look shy and a little awkward all of a sudden.

"Something that gets you cleaner?" I asked.

"Something like that. We gals have... different needs," she said. "You know..."

I nodded.

"I understand. No need to be embarrassed. Us guys, we're easy. Low maintenance. Everything is on the outside. Easily accessible and all that."

"Uh huh."

She looked at me, blushing.

"I'm glad you understand."

Then she smiled, her face still red.

"Meanwhile I can hear a bath tub calling me. If you want to shower, you'd better do it now, because I'm about to hijack that bathroom."

"Good idea. I'll start running a bath for you. Then you can jump in as soon as I'm out of there."

I did that, and before long I was feeling clean and a lot better. My flight suit was in the laundry chute, Anne was in the bathroom, and I was sitting in front of the network access console that was part of pretty much every decent hotel room in the universe.

This was going to be a little tricky. I couldn't simply put in a request for the current location of Private Vessel Slowboat, because that might very well raise flags and attract the sort of attention we could do without. Instead I accessed the space port's general traffic information service, like any traveler might do, and entered a search that would give me the name, berth, arrival and departure times, origin, destination and current location of each and every vessel currently on the ground.

The disadvantage of this, of course, was that I'd have to plow through a list of hundreds or even thousands of vessels, but there was no help for it. I had to know where the Slowboat had been stashed without appearing to look for it. It might still be at the Vergence facility, of course, but that was not very likely.

Fortunately, the console offered different options to sort and organize the data once it had been received. The initial list was ordered by departure time. I added a filter to sort the entries by arrival, and soon page after page scrolled across the display. It took the better part of an hour, but at least wasn't likely to raise any eyebrows that I wanted to remain unraised. I'm a firm believer in erring on the side of caution.

It took a while as I paged my way down the list line. Nothing... Nothing... Nothing... There! Yes, there she was: Private Vessel Slowboat, landed earlier today, registration so and so, currently parked at long term storage facility Delta Seven, located at Section Three East. A vast feeling of relief surged through me.

Then another entry caught my eye. Private Vessel Starman's Pride. For a moment I was afraid to believe what I saw. Surely it couldn't be... But it all checked: registration, classification... Yes! It really was the 'Pride!

I simply couldn't believe my luck.

The Starman's Pride was an old freighter that had never justified its grandiose name even when she was new, but she was owned and piloted by none other than Raz'Rwwrr Grllrrlrr. I wasn't sure what incredible coincidence had brought Raz here, but I did know that while this did look to good to be true, in this case it wasn't. I would trust him with my life. In fact, I had done that more than once already.

Raz and I had known each other for a long time. We'd run into each other on occasion, had a few drinks together, and we'd tossed some business each other's way every now and then. Until, one evening, Raz had got caught up in a nasty bar fight on Devlon Prime, and I'd kicked a guy in the nuts just before he could stick a knife into Raz' furry hide. We'd stood back to back as we fought our way to the door, me with my fists and he with his claws, both of us collecting assorted cuts and bruises as we went. We'd been close friends ever since, and we'd helped each other out of tight spots several times. He was like the brother I'd never had, and he'd never liked Deke Ryder, much less trusted him.

The sound of the bathroom door latch told me that Anne had finally gotten out of the tub. And a good thing, too: she'd had been in there long enough to turn into a prune. The door opened and Anne stepped out, looking lovely in a white, fluffy bath robe. The golden curls of her hair spilled across her shoulders, and she had that rosy, freshly scrubbed glow about her. She looked happy.

Also, she looked damn sexy. Even in an over-sized bath robe.

I got up from where I had been sitting at the hotel room's service console to give her the good news.

"I've got something..." I started to say.

But she walked over to me and put her finger across my lips.

"Sshhh..." she said. "First I need to say something."

Her voice was soft, and when she touched my face the touch of her fingertips was light as a feather; a gesture so tender that it was as if she touched my soul.

"Harvey," she began, "We're in this together, right? I mean, you, me, the Slowboat, captain, crew... We want to make that work. Right?"

I nodded.

"Yes," I said. "I do, and I think you do, too. And I think you know I do."

"You bet your sexy ass, captain."

She smiled, then bit her lip, suddenly looking nervous.

"But if we want that to work... Really work, I mean, you and me, together... I want us to really... be together. All the way."

I looked at her, smiled, said nothing, waited for her to gather her thoughts. Mine were racing. I had no idea what changes Pete had made to Anne's memories, so I didn't know what script to follow. If there was one.

"Damn. I'm messing this all up," she said. "What I mean is, I've never... I've never been... intimate... with anyone. And I want to. With you."

She put her arm around me, and I held her against me, her face against my chest.

"I know you love me, and I know that I love you. And you've been a perfect gentleman. You've given me all the time I needed, all those weeks we've been on board together. But now I want you to make love to me, Harvey," she whispered. "And I know you want me, too. So take me. Make me yours."

I caressed her hair as I digested this unexpected turn of events. Anne had obviously lost a big chunk of her memories, including the ones of all the amazing sex we'd had together, as well as the implanted ones she'd had from before we met. In fact, she didn't remember ever having had any sex at all; in her mind she was still a virgin!

"Anne..." I began.

"Yes, I guess I know what you're thinking," she said. "How did that happen? Or rather, how did that not happen? At my age..."

She shrugged, her smile a little sad.

"I was born on a research station and I grew up on Iota," she said. "I told you about that."

I nodded.

"You know what Iota is like," she continued. "You know why I left there as soon as I could. Women are considered subhuman there. Try finding a nice guy in a place like that. To the average Iotan male, rape and sex only differ in the degree of abuse he inflicts on a woman. I managed to avoid it, but if I hadn't left, it would have been only a matter of time. And when I finally did leave, I spent all my time scrubbing engine manifolds on the Excalibur to pay for my passage, and on Radix I was working my ass off ever day just to keep my head above water. There just wasn't... Well, it just never happened."

I moved my hands slowly down across her back.

"Don't worry," I said. "You haven't worked your ass off. It's still there. And a good thing, too, because it's the most beautiful one I've ever seen. Everything about you is beautiful."

She gave me a shy smile.

"Do you really think so?"

I held her close. At least I knew what she needed me to say in response to that.

"Anne, you have no idea how beautiful you are, how sexy you are. And you have no idea how much I want you right now."

Her smile was a strange mixture: half little girl, half grown woman, half happiness and half apprehension.

"You mean that?"

I looked into her eyes and nodded wordlessly.

"Then take me, Harvey. I want this. I want you to be the one."

I was happy to oblige, but... Was she really herself right now? Should I do this? Even if she wanted it, which I honestly believed she did, I still felt like I was taking advantage of her, deceiving her. But short of telling her things I didn't think she could deal with right now, I didn't know what else to do.

Which only left one thing: make her happy. I could do that, right now. We'd just have to worry about the rest later.

"Anne... Are you sure?"

She nodded, still smiling, looking a little more confident now.

"Yes. I've waited long enough. It's time. I want this. And I want it with you."

I kissed her gently. Then I picked her up, one arm beneath her back, one under her knees, and carried her to the bed. I put her down carefully, knelt on the bed next to her, then I bent down to kiss her. I gently caressed her silky-smooth, golden hair, and the heathery fragrance of it filled my nostrils and my mind. She opened her mouth as my lips touched hers and the tip of her tongue found mine. She tasted sweet, and her lips were soft. She put her hand behind my head and held me there, our kiss becoming more and more passionate with every passing second.

I decided to let her take the initiative. I fully realized what a big thing this had to be for her. What she was giving me was precious beyond measure. To her, this was something she had never done. She was going further than she ever had before; exploring levels of intimacy and trust that were entirely new to her. So the best I could do right now was to let her set her own pace and give her every opportunity to back out, if it came to that.

She moved her hands, fumbling with my bathrobe. I pushed myself up to give her some room and she opened the front, slid her hands inside it. Under the soft fabric her fingertips caressed my skin. Her hands moved across my shoulders, then explored my chest. She moved the front of the robe apart and I shrugged my shoulders out of it, then pulled my arms out of the sleeves.

Her hands continued to caress my chest, hesitatingly at first, and the feeling of her fingers on my skin was electric. Then she pulled the robe away from where it had pooled around my hips and moved it aside. I took the garment from her and tossed it onto the floor. Her hands found their way across my hips, brushed the sides of my buttocks, then came to rest on the outside of my thighs.

"Lie down," she whispered.

I did, and soon our positions were reversed: me on my back, Anne straddling my upper legs, the folds of her bathrobe pooling around her legs and mine. Her fingernails softly scratched my chest.

"You're not a bad looking guy, you know," she said.

I smiled.

"You're pretty awesome yourself. At least what I've seen so far."

Which was true enough, of course. I'd seen all of her, and all of her was smoking hot, even if she didn't remember it. So I wasn't really lying. At least, that's what I told myself. Myself wasn't fooled for a second, of course.

"Do you really think I'm beautiful?" she said.

"I don't just think so; I know so. Seriously, Anne, I don't believe you realize how amazing you are."

She smiled, lazily and happily. She sat up, put her hands behind her head and moved them slowly down her neck until they touched the fabric of her robe. Somehow she managed to look seductive and a little shy at the same time.

"So... Would you like to see more?"

This time it was my turn to smile.

"What do you think?"

She lowered her hands, put them to the front of her robe and very slowly she opened it until the edge of it slid down to expose the upper curve of her breasts, stopping just short of her nipples. She looked at me, her upper body swaying slowly, seductively, as she straddled my hips. She moved the front of her robe a little further down, and her nipples came peeping around the edge of the garment. She smiled, and down and down the fabric slid, ever so slowly, until her glorious breasts were fully exposed before me, framed by the edge of her robe.

She bit her lip, looking shy and a little nervous, but also excited. The look in her eyes was that of a little girl trying something for the first time, both thrilled and a little frightened at the same time, yet enjoying herself tremendously. While she didn't remember having done this before, what with Pete having done a complete fandango on her memory, she still wanted it as much as before. It was a heady combination.

Then she let the robe fall down all the way, and her slender waist, her flat stomach and eventually the lovely outline of her hips appeared before me. Her divine beauty once again took my breath away. Her creamy skin seemed to glow, and her figure was something out of an adolescent dream. Her beautiful breasts, large but not heavy and somehow ignoring the law of gravity, rode high on her chest, crowned with those lovely pink nipples. Below them, her slender waist curved inward, then outward, merging into the smooth swell of her hips and her lovely curved thighs.

After a while I remembered to breathe.

And suddenly it all ceased to matter: my worries, her background, the trouble that we found ourselves in. Here I was, in bed with the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. I loved her, she loved me, and she was about to make love with me for the very first time. For her, at least, but somehow it was the first time for me as well, again, with this new Anne, this subtly changed Anne who somehow was still the same. One of the exciting parts of any new relationship is getting to know each other, and now we'd have a chance to do some of that all over again.