7 Workout
Hank stalked off the bridge, still agitated by his conversation with Ethan. Something had the Mecha flustered, and it wasn’t like him to be so uptight and secretive about it. They had been friends for over twenty years now and the Mecha had never kept something from him before. Hank knew Ethan had trouble with certain emotions. Previously, Ethan would typically seek advice from him on how to proceed or deal with an unexpected situation. This time, Ethan was brooding and being tight-lipped, and that was starting to concern him.
As Hank walked down the corridor towards the ship’s small workout room, he figured he should just back off and let Ethan deal with his issues alone if he wanted to. Part of him, however, was worried that perhaps Orynn was doing something to his friend. They had all seen how she was able to manipulate that stabilization module, and she must have done something to the central computer on Last Star to change the docking logs. If she could manipulate computers and equipment like that, what was keeping her from doing the same thing to Ethan?
Ethan had told them all not to worry because he was a Mecha and would know if Orynn tried to infiltrate their ship, but she had turned out to be way more complicated than any of them had expected or that Jehdra had seen fit to tell them. Maybe Ethan wouldn’t know or be able to stop her if she was trying to comprise his system. Despite these worries, in the back of his mind was a growing feeling of trust for the Vesparian. That too could be part of her plan or an emotional manipulation she was using. Everything around him just felt so uncertain and all the apprehension was making it hard to focus.
With a frustrated sigh, he walked into the workout room then froze in place. Near the side wall, Tara’s body was moving in a steady pace as she ran with the speed of the treadmill beneath her. Her brunette ponytail bobbed from side to side as her support bra struggled to contain the jostling of her breasts under her black tank top. As her feet hit against the treadmill’s rotating belt, the muscles of her thighs and backside flexed beneath the tight confines of her black workout pants.
Hank drew in a stuttering breath and debated on turning around to leave. She was his best friend, and looking at her like this was something he had been avoiding because of the undeniable attraction that he felt for her. It was much easier to do when she was wearing her baggy cargo pants and her father’s bomber jacket. Seeing her in her current skin tight clothing was aggravatingly arousing. He closed his eyes and tried to force his mind to picture her in pigtails and overalls, but that didn’t help like it normally would. Lately, even thinking about her as her younger self hadn’t been enough to keep his feelings for her under control.
Opening his brown eyes, he continued to watch her in silence and knew he couldn’t lie to himself anymore. These feelings had been around a long time, and they didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Avoiding them, and her, had only caused the attraction and his feelings to dig into his heart with more conviction.
He had always cared very deeply for her, and the strength of his desire to protect her from the universe knew no equal. When he first realized these feelings, he had been barely ten years old, and he had naively figured it was more of a brother-sister type of care. As he entered his teenage years, he knew he didn’t like Tara as a sister.
At twelve, he had wanted to hold her hand. At fourteen, he had wanted to kiss her. At sixteen, he wanted to hold her body and had his first dream about her. It had caused him to avoid her for two weeks, and the undeserved avoidance had only pissed her off and hurt her feelings. As his hormones had raged to dangerous levels, he had realized that he had to make a decision. It was either take a chance and ask her out or agree to never let it interfere with their friendship again.
That decision had led to twelve years of frustration and guarded interactions. Over the years, as his feelings for her compounded and grew, so did the protective separation he put between them. He still wasn’t sure he had made the right choice, and sometimes he wished they could go back and try the other path. No matter how much he wanted to, the idea of acting on his feelings scared him to death. There was just so much he could lose if it went wrong. More than anything, he missed casually talking to his best friend, and he wondered if she missed it too.
“Planning to run all the way back to Corwint?”
Tara missed a step and stumbled as the sound of Hank’s voice cut into the music playing through her earplugs. Her hand gripped the handlebar of the treadmill until she picked the rhythm back up. Clicking the control panel, she set the mode to cool-down and glanced over her shoulder as the pace of the belt began to slow. Taking the headphones out of her ears, she gave him a small smile. “Hey, Hankarron. Just trying to work out some insomnia. What’s up?”
Hank smiled as she used his full name. For some unknown reason, he had always hated that name, except when she said it. “Same.”
She took in a few heavy breaths to slow down her heart rate as she slid down the belt of the treadmill and landed her feet on the floor. Grabbing her towel off the handlebar, she wiped the sweat from her neck and face. “Something still bugging you?”
“Ethan’s just acting weird.”
She set her media player down on the weight bench and picked up her bottle of water. “Because of what happened with Orynn in the hangar?”
Hank shrugged and straddled the bench. “I guess. I dunno really, and he’s not talking about it.”
“Maybe it’s just Ethan being Ethan.” She paused and took a sip from her bottle. “You know how he can get sometimes when something unexpected happens, and I think Orynn definitely qualifies as something unexpected.”
“Yeah.” Hank scowled. “Do you think she could be doing something to him? Like how she messed with that stabilizer or changed those logs at Last Star?”
Tara straddled the bench and sat down across from him. The look of concern was deeply etched on his face. His very handsome face.
She took another sip from her bottle to cool herself down and silently chided herself for losing focus. Her best friend needed someone to talk to, and she was staring at his jawline and the gentle sloping of his lips. Lips she wanted to kiss. “Is that what you’re worried about?”
“Aren’t you?” Hank looked back up at her and met her bright green eyes then looked off to the side as his breath left him.
“Maybe a little, but only because we know so little about her.” Tara shrugged. “I also don’t think we know enough about her to start accusing her, either. So far, I haven’t seen her do anything but help an old pod captain repair his ship and then save us from having to blast our way out of Last Star. Honestly, Hank, I think Ethan is just acting this way because he’s attracted to her.”
“What?” Hank’s eyes raised back up to her face as he leaned back in surprise at her comment. “What in the universe gave you that idea?”
“You seriously couldn’t see it?” She laughed. “You’re still totally oblivious about that kind of stuff, aren’t you. He was practically drooling at her while she worked on the stabilization module. Didn’t you see his expression as she was examining him?”
Hank raised an eyebrow. “I just thought he was annoyed.”
Tara huffed. “Geeze. Men.”
“Men?” He smirked and poked her ribcage. “Hey now, I don’t think it was that obvious.”
Tara gave a laughing snort as his fingers tickled her ribs then glared at him as he laughed at her snorting. She hated her stupid laugh. “It was! Ethan is just as stubbornly oblivious as you, so he probably doesn’t realize it either. But he was totally into her, which was surprising given his track record with women.”
Hank attempted to tickle her just so he could hear that snorting laugh again. He loved it. “You mean his studies?”
She jerked away and grabbed his hand. “Stop it! And yes, I mean the plethora of one night stands. You really need to stop encouraging him.”
“I do no such thing!” He grinned and fought against her struggling as his other hand reached for her unprotected side.
/> “Oh really?” She deflected his other hand and their fingers intertwined as she pushed back against his strength. “How is keeping a score card of blondes versus brunettes not encouraging him?”
“Shit, Brom told you about that?” His arms flexed as his fingers tightened their grip on her hands.
“No. I caught him looking at it in the kitchen. At first glance, I thought it was referring to you.” Her tone remained playful, but under the forced smile was a bitterness at Hank’s own habit for taking home girls from bars. “The count seemed close enough, but then I realized the comparison was about hair color instead of bra size.”
Hank lost the strength in his arms momentarily as his heart kicked him in the gut. Tara teetered forward before he caught himself and pushed back again. “That’s not fair, Tara.”
“Oh, sorry. I’d base it off IQ, but I think they’d all be pretty much equal on that score.”
He couldn’t deny that point, but he hated to think she had the wrong idea about it. It’s not like he enjoyed being around those dumb twats. “You know it’s just for intel or to throw off someone who’s tailing me, right?”
“Yeah.” Like that should make it any better? She huffed and relaxed her struggling. The sudden stop in force caused Hank to fall forward and he ended up pinning her back against the workout-bench. Every muscle in her body tensed as he fell onto her and his cheek pressed against hers. She felt his grip on her hands tighten as his groin pressed between her thighs. The beating of her heart raced in her chest as she felt the temptation to kiss his cheek and wrap her legs around his waist.
Her mind yelled at her as a strange silent moment passed between them. Stupid, say something! He’s you’re best friend. It’s not his fault he’s attracted to big breasted bimbos instead of you.
“Oy, Hankarron, you need to stop gorging yourself on those Tharsan vedaberry-tarts in the pantry. You’re getting heavy.”
He forced an overly loud chuckle past the knot in his throat and moved away from her. Standing away from the bench, he turned to the door to hide the deeply red blush that had heated his cheeks and the hard bulge that had appeared in his pants. God damn. “Now that you mention it, that sounds good. Want me to grab you one too?”
Tara let out a small laugh. “No thanks. I’m going to go try and get some sleep. I’m serious, though. Go easy on the tarts. I don’t want to go to Seri’s bar one night and hear a group of girls laughing about your love handles.”
“Alright.” Hank took in a slow breath to cool the flush of his face and ran a hand through his hair before turning to her with a grin. “Night, Tara.”
“Night, Hank.” Tara smirked at the grin and watched him leave. The smirk melted from her face as she fell back against the workout-bench with an exasperated sigh. Yeah, I’m not getting any sleep tonight, am I?
Hank’s fist hit hard against the wall across from the door after it closed behind him. Pulling back and shaking his hand with a curse of pain, he leaned his forehead against the wall in defeat. Fuck. She does have the wrong idea.
His heart tried its best to turn his feet around to walk back into the room and set the record straight, but his fear about the uncertain repercussions continued to hold him captive. Sure, it looked like he was just as bad as Ethan, but his true count was much lower. Much, much lower. Lower than one. Zero. As in, I can’t sleep with those dumb twats because they aren’t you, Tara.
Why does she think I always left with the drunkest chick?
“Oh, fuck.” He realized that she must think he liked easy drunk girls. Standing away from the wall, he ran both hands through his hair and let out a groan as his eyes looked to the ceiling.
Well, that’s just fucking great! My best friend thinks I’m a sleaze-loving man-whore. Maybe I should ask her out on a date now. I’m sure man-whores are totally her type.
The laugh that erupted from his throat was full of self-loathing. With heavy steps, he headed into the kitchen to drown his sorrows in vedaberry-tarts and chocolate milk.
8 Ghost in the Machine
“Let me make sure I understand you correctly.” The tall dark haired Xen’dari Commander paced the length of the small room as he spoke to the port officer seated on the opposite side of the table between them. “You had a ship called the Zera docked in your station port, but somehow that same ship left port as the Kera?”
Daggs swallowed hard against the tight collar of his uniform. He could feel the beads of sweat rolling across his forehead as he tried to keep the nervous tapping of his foot under control. “No, sir. The entry of the ship as the Zera in the landing registry was a mistake made by the docking attendant at the time. He’s new to the position, sir, but we will certainly be taking the necessary steps to retrain him.”
“Is that so?” The Commander stopped his pacing and glared his steel blue eyes at the man. “Do you know what the penalty is for lying to a Commander of the Xen’dari Empire?”
“Yes, sir!” Daggs swallowed again. His mind reconsidered his story, but he decided he was in far too deep to start changing it now. He owed Hank a favor or two, and he had no love for the Xen’dari. They had been a pain in his ass ever since they ramped up their port authority control a few years back. Last Star was supposed to be a free port, but he knew the Xen’dari had a very strange concept of the word free. Still, the last thing he had expected was for them to send an investigation team, especially one headed by a Commander.
“If you would like me to pull up the registry papers we have on file for the ship, I will get on that for you right away!”
“No need. We already did.” The Commander continued his pacing. Pulling the registry documents had been done as soon as they landed. The registry papers said the Kera, but he was sure they had been tampered with. The files had shown no signs of being edited, but he knew that wouldn’t mean they hadn’t been. The creature he was after was perfectly capable of such an easy deception.
The Commander stopped his pacing again. “One thing still bothers me, however, and I would hope that you could help me with my confusion.” He turned back to Daggs and waited for the man to give a nervous nod of his fat heat. He held back a sneer in disgust as the port office’s jowls folded against his tight collar. Disgusting.
“You see, the Kera is a well-known vessel, as you can imagine.”
“Oh, yes, sir!”
The Commander narrowed his eyes at the interruption. He hated incompetence and this man in front of him stunk of it. “Well, as it turns out, the Kera is currently docked at Barata Narsk, and it has been docked there for five days while its stabilizer manifold is being repaired.”
“Are... are you certain, sir?” Daggs eyes went wide and his foot’s tapping could no longer be contained.
“Quite.” The Commander nodded. “You see, the real Kera Ruistra has been raising fire at the embassy over the incompetence of those port mechanics causing her to miss the Jarta’losk combat finals on Ruisk. I’ve had to talk her father out of a request to skin the Barata Narsk port Captain alive.”
“B..b..but we all saw her, sir!” Daggs still wasn’t sure how Hank had pulled off what he did, but he and everyone in his operations center had seen the Ruisk woman exiting the Zera from the hangar observation cameras. “Even the Xen’dari soldiers that were here searching for utarium! They saw her, and they cleared her for departure. Perhaps they made a mistake?”
“Do not presume to lecture me on my own soldiers!” The Commander’s voice hissed. A small twitch caused his right eye to blink. He took in a long deep breath to calm his aggravation. Perhaps this man really was as innocently stupid as he sounded. “Let me ask you another question, if I may?”
“Of course, sir!”
The Commander took in another deep breath and turned away from the unpleasing sight of the sweating overweight port officer. “Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘the ghost in the machine’?”
“Well sure, sir.” Daggs raised an eyebrow, wondering where he was going with this. “Those are the glitches that
cause A.I.s to act unpredictably.” He gave a nervous laugh. “Loenard, one of our technicians, swears the coffee machine has one that causes it to get his order wrong every time.”
The Commander didn’t laugh. His eyes were staring at nothing as his voice took on a strangely reminiscent tone. “The ghost I have been searching for, for a very long time, isn’t some glitched bit of code or a coffee machine with a vendetta against an overpaid technician. She is quite real, I assure you.”
“She?”
“Oh yes, she.” The corners of his mouth raised slightly into a faint smile. “This ghost is the best at her trade. Not only can she affect those who actually see her, she can slip her way into the technical devices in our ports, our ships and our worlds that see her too.”
Daggs was beyond confused. “So she is like a... a hacker? The Ruisk was a hacker?”
The Commander sighed heavily. Such incompetence. Must I explain everything? He turned back to the table and touched a control pad on its smooth glossy top. The top illuminated and switched to its console mode. He pulled up several images that were slightly pixelated enlarged stills from different cameras in the hangar.
Daggs leaned over the table and looked at what the Commander was pulling up. The images all showed the loading ramp of Hank’s ship with a figure standing at the bottom. They were taken from different angles and the figure in all of them was clearly a tall female Ruisk. Except in the last one. Daggs took in a sharp breath of surprise.
The Commander looked down at the last image and slid his fingers across it longingly. She had been here. In the last image, the Ruisk was replaced by the lithe figure of a white haired girl, whose silver eyes were staring up intently at the camera. She had been here, and she had been mocking me.
“You see, I knew she was on her way here, but once again, I seem to be one step behind her. Vesparians are quite the slippery creatures.”
“V...v...” Daggs couldn’t spit out the word. They don’t exist. This Commander has lost his mind!