Most importantly, how closely had Hardin listened? Had he made the connection between the seraphim and the nefrim? Was he even acting as an agent for the "angels" or was that something that only Ethan Bailey cared about? Mikhail felt that the latter was probably the truth. Oust had reported that Hardin was mistreating his daughter Evangeline because she was a Blue; it was doubtful that Hardin would see Ethan Bailey as any more significant.
Ethan Bailey had started the whole chain of events. He had been listening closely to the seraphim. Whatever he heard, made him start into the engine modifications, so it stood to reason that the seraphim wanted to return to normal space.
Mikhail wondered how they had communicated this to Ethan. He couldn't imagine a language developed from anything they forced him through, unless it was a message full of grief and loss.
Mikhail paused. Grief and loss. Every single memory the seraphim had put Mikhail through had revolved around having lost something precious to him. The Hak had indicated that a single event had divided the nefrim and started the process of regression. Could the event have been simply losing something in the Sargasso?
Mikhail couldn't imagine one item that could have such a profound affect on a race. But then, before coming to the Sargasso, he wouldn't have been able to guess that he'd meet aliens like the Hak and the seraphim. He reminded himself to keep an open mind.
Ethan planned to have the Rosetta and the Lilianna salvage a nefrim ship off of minotaur waters. Was the seraphim's lost item, the salvation of their race, still there? Was that why the seraphim were hounding Mikhail?
He had too many questions and not enough answers. Before he waded into battle with Hardin, he would need to be sure that he was doing the right thing.
* * *
Mikhail explained the problem to Captain Bailey. She had knowledge of the world that he lacked. "Taking the Svoboda to Mary's Landing would be true suicide and perhaps totally pointless. Hardin might have taken your brother and everything involving the engines and left."
They were sitting on a shaded part of the Rosetta's deck. Or to be more specific, he was sitting, while Captain Bailey was laying on her back, eyes close, concentrating on what he was saying. Between them, a picture of lemonade sweated in the heat, almost forgotten. The rest of her crew were apparently out enjoying their last day in Ya-ya.
"Hmmm," Bailey said after long silence. "The minotaurs have a load of engine parts they're delivering to Mary's Landing. It's possible that Mary's Landing has taken over the project. Hardin might not be able to pry it out of their hands."
"Can you guess?"
"I get a strong feeling that Ethan went to Mary's Landing from Fenrir's Rock as an attempt to escape Hardin."
"I see." Mikhail hadn't considered that. It made sense though if Ethan was rebelling against Hardin's control even in Ya-ya.
"Ethan is as good as I am at weighing options. Mary's Landing is fairly unknown to me, but through his dealings with Hardin, he could have learned a great deal more. So it's possible that his assumptions are correct. Mary Landing can protect him from Hardin. But the deciding factor might be Eraphie."
"Eraphie?"
"You said that Hardin worked hard to lure her to him. I think he planned to use her as leverage for Ethan, knowing that he couldn't pry Ethan out of Mary's Landing without Ethan cooperating."
That too made a great deal of sense. "Would it work? Would Ethan go back to Hardin to keep Eraphie safe?"
The ice shifted in the pitcher, reminding Bailey of its presence. She sat up and poured them both a glass.
"I would like to think he would," Bailey said after sipping her lemonade. "The brother I think I know is a self-centered prick, but he wouldn't allow any allow anyone to hurt his younger cousin anymore than he'd let someone hurt Hillary. It depends on how deep of waters he sunk himself as to whether he can swim clear of Mary's Landing. And Hardin wouldn't have taken Eraphie unless he knew that he couldn't bully Mary's Landing into just handing over Ethan."
They hadn't been able to maintain visuals on the distant settlement, so there was no way of telling if the three-way power struggle had disintegrated into gunfire. Perhaps Hardin was trying to lure Mikhail to Mary's Landing to distract them from Ethan. As it stood, though, it was impossible to tell who was victorious.
He'd already guessed that their only option would be to send a spy into Mary's Landing. He'd hoped that she would prove him wrong; Turk was the person best suited to act as a spy. He didn't want to lose Turk again.
"Are there passenger ships that can take Turk to Mary's Landing in a timely fashion?" Mikhail asked.
'Turk?" She gave him a hurt look. When he nodded, she swallowed down the hurt and considered his question. "I don't think that will work. We don't have ships just for passengers—the Queen Mary IV had been. We might be able to find some Ya-ya cargo ships with cabins for passengers; but most have crews that don't speak any Standard. If anything went wrong, he wouldn't be able to communicate with the crew, and he couldn't arrange for passage back to Ya-ya. Besides, Mary's Landing requires adapted to be registered when a ship sails in their harbor. That includes proof of ownership; which is insane since most people are born free."
"What about a ship from one of the New Washingtonian landings?"
Captain Bailey shook her head. "Anything here in Ya-ya will be heading home when they leave. Only Mary's Landing and Ya-ya ships will be going back and forth between the two—and you don't want him on a Mary's Landing ship. You don't."
Mikhail looked past Captain Bailey at the minotaur ship. "Hoto is heading to Mary's Landing?"
"You can't Turk alone on the minotaur ship."
"Not alone. Any human ship we use, we run the risk of being betrayed by the crew. The minotaurs owe us."
"That's a dangerously human way of thinking."
"All right. That's true. But they have no reason to betray us either."
Captain Bailey considered for several minutes and then nodded slowly. "You're asking a lot of us, Grandpa."
Mikhail had thought he couldn't feel worse. He was wrong. "I know. I'm sorry."
* * *
Mikhail hated the plan. Loathed it to his core, but there wasn't a better one, short of turning their backs on all of humanity and settling down to learn how to fish.
The Rosetta was the first to leave, taking advantage of clear weather. Orin was acting captain, as Paige was going to Mary's Landing with Turk. The Rosetta was heading for minotaur waters to do the salvage on the seraphim ship. Mikhail equipped them with tracking devices and extra radios so they couldn't fall out of contact.
The minotaurs were delayed by the wounded little female, Zo. They lingered in port for a week, waiting for her leg to heal enough to take the ocean seas. Finally they announced that they were heading out. The time had come to say goodbye.
Turk surprised Mikhail by suddenly hugging him. "Don't you implode while my back is turned."
Mikhail laughed into Turk's shoulder. "I'll be fine."
"Promise me."
Mikhail realized then that Turk really meant 'if I don't come back' and sobered. "I'll be fine."
"Promise." Turk tightened his hold on him to nearly painful, as if he was afraid Mikhail would self-destruct right there. "You could make a good life here, Mikhail, if you had to. Marry a Blue, settle down, have a passel of kids. Viktor made it work."
Obviously Turk hadn't heard the end of Viktor's story.
"Oh, no, I don't want you thinking you can go getting yourself killed." Mikhail hugged him hard and then pushed him away. "Just come back and everything will be fine."
22: Mary's Landing
Paige had insisted that the weather was mild as they sailed to Mary's Landing. If the gray heaving waves and dark overcast skies were "mild" Turk decided he truly loathed the ocean. They were apparently sailing through a trailing edge of a storm. In the direction of the spin, they could still see the black skies and flickers of lightening from the front. Clouds and waves, though, obscured Mary's Landing.
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They were nearly at the settlement before Turk laid eyes on the infamous wrecked cruise ship. Surprisingly, they sailed out of the storm and into crystalline waters. From the bow of the minotaur ship, Turk studied the landing in awe. He'd seen pictures of the Queen Mary IV taken of when it was in space. It took the cruise liner being in the ocean and sailing toward it like a water bug to grasp the full size of it.
The massive female figurehead towered above the water, seeming undamaged by the crash. Even her great feathered wings were intact. A blend of the British queen and Nike, the goddess of victory, the figurehead serenely gazed out over the water as if confident that humans could conquer this place under her guidance. She stood in the shallow water, waves covering her feet. The mile long, thirty story high hull of the Queen Mary flowed out behind her as the train of her dress. The ceramic alloy gleamed pale white with the surf rippling bright reflections over the wings and dress.
Turk wondered what the aliens of the Sargasso made of this giant human goddess stranded in water?
She was a heavily armed goddess too. Her people had created a wide harbor and then a ring of man-made islands with gun batteries, a reef-filled moat, and then a series of breakwaters to defend their ship from storms and attackers.
Hoto stomped up, bellowing and gave Paige a rough shove toward the hatch down into the living area. Paige rolled off the shove and blushed furiously at whatever Hoto was saying.
"What is it?" Turk slid between Hoto and Paige. He knew exchanging blows was the only way that bulls socialized. They only hit each other after they built up some sort of rapport. And having watched Hoto muscle around heavy equipment, it was obvious that the male was not truly hitting Paige as hard as he could. But Turk hated the way the bull so causally smacked Paige around; when Turk could do it without interfering, he made it a point to block Hoto.
"He says the pilot boats are coming." Paige's blush went deeper, but she smiled and she quickened her step. "It's time for us to hide."
Hoto was chasing the calves down below too.
"And what else?" Turk asked.
She was grinning fully now. "That I should take my protective bride downstairs and service her until she's a good, docile female. He says based on what he's seen, I'm obviously letting you on top too much."
Behind them Hoto was braying out a minotaur laugh.
Turk discovered he could blush as deep a red as Paige.
The minotaur had only one living area. It was dominated by one large sleeping platform with a great multitude of large pillows—which the minotaurs had expected Paige and Turk to share with them. Apparently it was a show of trust for Hoto to allow another "bull" to share his space. During the long trip to Mary's, without any barriers to hide behind, Turk had to adapt to the lack of privacy. He now knew more about minotaur sexual habits that he ever wanted to. Likewise, he'd learned to ignore the minotaur's presence while being intimate with Paige. They had been careful, though, to stay under sheets to maintain the fiction that Paige was the male.
"I'm staying on top." Turk growled pulling her close. "I'm not about to become docile now."
Turk had spent the entire trip dreading what came next. All they could do now was hide and wait. He wasn't sure why he dread it so much; it was like the sitting in the Red pit before a jump, waiting to be dropped into a combat zone. He supposed it as because dying was easy compared to losing everything that you had.
He shouldn't let Paige get involved. He shouldn't have let her get dragged into his life of killing and death. He should have kept her safe on that stupid ugly boat of hers. She shouldn't be here, where people would kill her or enslave her without qualm, and the only thing keeping her safe is the promise of aliens that they'd not betray them.
And he didn't want to take her off the relative safety of Hoto's ship. But she'd probably hit him if he'd told her to stay.
"Yes, I will," she whispered.
"Will what?"
"Hit you if you tell me stay here, silly man."
"You're scary when you do that."
"Yes, I know."
The plan was simple enough. He and Paige stay hidden until the minotaurs were inside the harbor. They needed to then ascertain if the Red Gold was in harbor and if Ethan Bailey was still at Mary's Landing. If Hardin had already gone, taking Ethan with him, they would simply leave with the minotaurs to be picked up by the Tigertail once they were out of Mary's Landing range of fire. They had contingency plans, but the first step was getting into the harbor.
Outside an engine drew close and shouting started. Even muffled by the deck overhead, Hoto's bellows were clear enough. A human voice answered back and Paige hissed a curse.
"What is it?"
"The mouth is a woman. It's not Ethan. We're going to have to go looking for him."
* * *
Paige tried not to be disappointed as the Mary's Landing female 'mouth' and her armed escort of four men came onboard. Since the engines were for Ethan's work, she'd hoped that he would be the one that accepted their delivery. His absence might mean that Hardin had recovered Ethan from the Mary's Landing people and already left. Mary's Landing, though, had a nearly unlimited supply of second generation Blues, most of who had some ability at translating. Some. Apparently not a lot.
They'd left a remote camera on deck. She, Turk and the minotaur children crowded around the monitor, watching in mystification. The poor woman seemed totally out of her element. She had the verbal language down pat. She was missing, however, all the body language. She didn't try to expand herself to match the minotaur's size. She didn't stomp, shout, or make large gestures. She didn't have anything to stand in for horns, nor had she tried to disguise the fact she had long hair.
"I think this is the first time she's tried this," Paige whispered. "She's doing horrible. She's too quiet, too small . . ."
"Too docile." Turk murmured.
She gasped. "Oh gods, you're right, she's being female!"
Didn't the woman know anything about minotaur culture? Visiting bulls would speak only to other bulls; anything else was disrespectful of the host bull. Rude bulls became dead bulls.
Paige suddenly realized that as a Blue, the woman knew only one way to relate to males. And Hoto was nine feet of obvious maleness. The Blue was flirting with Hoto but it was only confusing him. The bull wasn't grasping that this mouth was female.
"Oh, this is not going to go well," Paige whispered.
Paige gasped in horror as the Blue moved unnerving close to the bull, reached out, and deftly slide her hand into his sarong. Hoto went wide-eyed and still with surprise as the woman grasped his penis, pulled it out and attempted to pleasure him.
The calves gasped and made sound of disgust.
"What is that bull doing to Hoto?" Toeno asked.
"Um," Paige started make up an answer but nothing came to mind.
"Oh please tell me that she isn't going to . . .." Turk murmured.
The Blue was. She bent slightly, opening her mouth, and tried to use her tongue and lips on the bull.
Hoto yelped in surprise and dismay and smacked the Blue away. He hit her hard, catching her in the head with his blow. The woman went flying across the deck and hit the railing in a crumpled heap.
"Shit, shit, shit." Paige leap to her feet and pointed at Turk. "Stay!"
She stumbled up the stairs built for minotaurs to get to the deck, praying that Turk would obey her. She couldn't sit back and let the events unfold any farther. There was a chance that Hoto would kill the woman. If he did, God knows what the Mary's Landing people would do.
At least one of the armed guards tried something. Hoto was busily disarming a man, carefully, as the bull thought the man was a female mate of the "bull" he'd just knocked unconscious. The minotaur's sexist culture was working in the human's favor.
A second guard was lifting up his weapon.
"No! Don't shoot!" Paige shouted. Oh please, please, please let Turk have stayed below. She didn't need to add him into the mess.
The guard turned at her voice and took aim at her.
She held up her hands to show she wasn't armed. "What the hell are you trying to do? Start a war with the minotaurs?"
"Who the hell are you?"
"Paige . . .Jones." Bailey was a dangerous name to use. Georgetown was a dangerous landing to come from. "Me name is Paige Jones. I'm out of Fenrir's Rock." Fenrir people had a more a drawl than Georgies, she laid it on thick. "You be?"
"Barry Lewis. What the hell are you doing here?"
Good question. The only positive note was that Mary's mouth was in no shape to contradict anything Paige said.