| Phase 35 I opened my eyes and lifted my head. � What�s the matter with you? I�m making a vain attempt to take a nap.� Sig, looking ready to cry, climbed up on the bed and squashed me in a hug. I sat there in stunned surprise as he began to sob. � Sig?� I brought my arms up to gently push him away so I could look him in the eye, but a prickling sting in my wrist made me look at my right arm. I saw the little half cut that had probably occurred when I fell asleep while still playing with my knives and realized what he�d been thinking. � Oh Sig . . .� I pet him and cooed, managing to calm him a bit. Bart appeared just then and watched the scene in complete amazement. � . . . What happened?� � I�d been playing with my knives and I accidentally fell asleep. One of them gave me a tiny cut.� I showed him my wrist. � Sig thought I�d committed suicide.� I could see that Bart wanted to laugh. The absurdity of me trying suicide was too much for him. But I shot him a warning look and he swallowed his laughter right there. He knew that Sig was always worried about my manic depressions that seemed to appear from nowhere. � It�s all right, Sig,� I soothed. � It was just an accident. I wasn�t trying to kill myself.� He finally got a hold of himself and sat up, wiping at his eyes. � You scared me. I thought . . .� � I know. I�m sorry.� I looked over the edge of the bed at the blood that was sokaing into the carpet. � Oh man.� I turned back to Sig and put two fingers against his temple. I erased as much of the scene as I safely could. � There.� � What did you do?� � I erased some of the memory. You shouldn�t be able to recall it unless you focus on it really hard.� � Thank you.� I hugged him reassuringly. � It�s nothing.� Bart suddenly pulled my right arm toward him, making a small pain shoot up my arm. � Hey! Be careful!� He wrapped my wrist and part of my hand, then fixed it all together. � You be quiet. You�re just trying to make it so that you can�t pilot Axyl anymore, aren�t you?� he questioned annoyedly. Ugh. Every time I got hurt and Sig wasn�t around or wasn�t with it enough to scold me, Bart did it instead. It drives me crazy. I looked over the edge of the bed again. � I better clean that up. Bart, let me go. I don�t want a stain.� � I think it�s a little late for that.� � Then the less of a stain the better!� I shouted. � Let me go!� He did so and I went to my closet and retrieved the necessary cleaning items. I cleaned up the mess, leaving nothing in the carpet. I looked up at Bart with a satisfied smirk. � You were saying . . .?� He snorted. � Look at me, Kris. Do I look like one of those people who cleans so much that they know exactly what they�re saying when they tell you that it�s too late to clean?� He had a point. Bart could never be considered a clean freak. I mean, sometimes he went on a cleaning spree (I use the term loosely), which consisted only of rearranging his furniture and picking up anything on the floor. He waved his hand dismissively (just like a king would . . .). � Well, see you all later.� He headed back in the direction of his room. I put the stuff in the closet and put my knife away, then went to look for the other one. I laid on the floor and crawled partially under the bed, reaching through the solid darkness for the missing knife (however it got so far under my bed). There was a burble and then purple eyes blinked at me. � Matik, be a dear and bring that knife out, could you?� There was a shuffle and Matik crawled past, the knife handle in his mouth. I squeezed back out and took the knife from him, putting it away with the other one. I scratched the dragon�s chin as a reward, then turned my attention to Sig, who was lying on my bed and had his eyes closed, but was obviously not asleep. I caught wisps of his thoughts. � Why don�t you go visit her?� He opened his eyes. � She hates me.� � No. She hates me. Go talk to her.� � I can�t.� � Why?� �. . .� � Oh, come on. I won�t tell anybody.� � . . . I�m afraid of her.� I blinked. � That�s it? That�s why you won�t talk to her? Sig, that�s so . . . juvenile.� � You�d be afraid of her too if you knew what she was like!� � I have no reason to be afraid of someone who can�t hurt me.� I grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. � Come on.� So he followed me down to the prison hall and into the woman�s room. She never even saw me, I don�t think. Her total focus was Sig. She rushed over to him and gave him a hug. � I thought I was going to go crazy!� she wailed. � Why did you leave me down here for so long with those little monsters?!� Sig looked very upset. He returned her hug. � I�m sorry. I thought isolation would make you talk.� � I�ll tell you anything you want to know,� she said, completely serious. He pulled back, confused. � Why?� � They contacted me a few days ago. It doesn�t matter what I do now, whether I kill her or not. If I go back there, they�ll kill me.� He hugged her again. � You can stay here. On the ship.� � Really? You�d let me?� He paused. � Well . . . we�d have to okay it with Bartholomew . . .� � Fat chance,� I told him. � Remember? Bart wants to kill her.� � Oh yeah . . .� I held up a hand. � Wait. I have an idea. Just forget the grounding. We�ll see then. How about that?� � Sounds like a plan. You can go get him if you want.� So I went to Bart�s room. � Aren�t you not supposed to be in here?� � Sig�s lifted the grounding.� Bart gave me a suspicious look. � . . . What does he want?� � He wants you to let the Solarian woman stay on the ship in her own room.� He snorted derisively. � I�ll just stay grounded, thank you.� I went over to the bed. � Please, Bart. She has nowhere else to go now. The people who sent her said that whether she kills me or not doesn�t matter. If she goes back to Solaris, they�ll kill her.� � That�s a pretty good lie.� � It wasn�t a lie. I checked.� He frowned. � . . . Fine. But the first wrong move she makes and she�s on her own. No buts.� I kissed him in thanks and ran back down to the prison hall to share the news. Sig promptly began to give the woman a general tour of the ship. I went to the bridge just in case there was an emergency. *>*<* � Sigurd,� she began once they were in a far corner of the Gear bay, � that girl I was supposed to kill . . . You seem so attached to her.� Sigurd frowned. � Why are you surprised? Don�t you recognize her?� She shook her head. � She looks familiar, but I can�t put a name with the face. Who is she?� � Kris.� � From Jugend?! The little four-year-old I always picked on?!� � You picked on her?� � . . . Yes. Why do you sound so disbelieving?� � It�s a wonder you�re still alive!� � Was she violent or something?� � Was she?! She was the most violent child I�ve ever seen! All you�d have to do is push one wrong button and she�d tear your head off!� � Then I must have been pushing the buttons around the wrong ones.� � Be thankful!� She thought. � No wonder I didn�t recognize her. She was so quiet and withdrawn . . .� Sigurd shook his head. � She�d been abused for a while. Ever since they sent her down here. It was just a year before we found her, but it was enough to do damage to her psyche. Now she�s even more quiet and secretive.� � Is that what those scars on her left arm are?� � ? You saw them?� � I happened to notice, yes.� � Usually nobody sees them.� � They�re very light. I almost passed them off as shadows until I realized that there was nothing around her that would give her such a look.� � Well no, they�re actually from an incident at the castle a few years ago.� � Are you saying she has no scars from then?� � No. It�s just that you can�t see them because she hides them.� � How do you know?� � She told a young Etone we�ve been helping and Bartholomew happened to overhear the story.� � Then what�s the difference between them? Why doesn�t she hide the ones on her arm? And why is she wearing the old-style environmental suit?� � She�s wearing the suit because she was injured and it ruined the shirt she was wearing then. Before that, it was because all her normal clothes got wet. She just hasn�t thought about going back to her normal clothes. And as for the difference . . . There is none. She prefers to hide them all so she doesn�t look weak.� � I don�t think she looks weak.� � But she does. And she thinks that everyone else does as well. She usually has another shirt that she puts on over the suit . . . Odd. Maybe she�s seeing that not everyone is out to get her.� � How did she get those scars anyway? On her arm?� He shrugged. � Just an incident at the castle.� � Yes, you said that. What�s the story?� � . . . She and Bartholomew�s cousin snuck in to steal the plans for a device that would be able to destroy an entire mountain. When they realized they were going to be caught, Kris burned the plans. Shakhan trapped them and had them lined up to be beaten to death. Bartholomew jumped in at the last second and shielded them. He has whip marks all over his back and Kris has them all up and down her left side.� � What about the cousin?� � . . . Marguerite has nothing to show for it except through her memory. She was on Kris� right and didn�t get struck once.� � But how did they make it out alive?� � Shakhan decided to have them shot. They managed to break away and get out of there.� � Even injured?� � Both Kris and Bartholomew have a high tolerance for pain.� � But surely they aren�t that highly tolerant!� � You�d be surprised. They could walk around with bone sticking through their skin and still assure you that they�re all right and that �it doesn�t hurt that much and that it�s not worth paying attention to�.� She laughed. � You sound like the voice of experience.� He humphed. � You have no idea.� *>*<* . . . Stein? Did he say �Stein�? No . . . � I haven�t been called that in a long time.� He looked over at me and smiled harmlessly. � Ah, Krista-Lyn. A pleasure to see you again.� I drew away and stepped back until I bumped into Jesiah. He shoved me behind him and trained his gun on Stein. � You�re not going to take her to Krelian. I won�t let you.� � How are you going to stop me? You said the same thing last time and I still took her.� � I have no reservations anymore. I have nothing to lose by killing you.� Stein looked to me. � Come along, Krista-Lyn. Krelian is waiting.� I felt a painful tug at my mind. I backed away and the pain heightened. � Now now now, Krista-Lyn. Don�t do that. You�re only going to hurt yourself if you fight.� I went even farther away, despite the drastic increase in pain. If he was using pain to try to make me go with him, then I most certainly didn�t want to go. I kept backing up until I hit the wall. <--Phase 34 Phase 36--> |