The Hostage in Hiding, page 30
I looked at my bodyguard. “Conley, are you… smiling?”
The smile vanished, replaced by Conley’s usual stoic expression. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Miss Connaught.”
Moments later, he and Sofia delivered me into the hands of the ship’s doctor. By the time I escaped his scrutiny, my entire family was on hand to greet me.
Mom and Dad ran to wrap their arms around me. Then everyone else swarmed me with hugs and kisses and all the love and warmth you expect from your family. Your normal, loving family, anyway. Totally unlike the horrid parody of a family that Rivera sprang from. After a moment, I noticed Granddaddy—Mom’s father, the one who trained me—standing off from the group hug. I pushed the late and unlamented Rivera family from my mind, worked my way over to him, and wrapped my arms around him.
“Thanks, Granddaddy.”
“For what?” he asked, his tone one of gruff surprise.
“For teaching me to fight and shoot,” I said. “For making me memorize the Pegasus’s maintenance tunnel system. For telling me to wear an atmosphere harness under my clothes. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“I just made sure you had the tools. You did all the work.” Granddaddy’s arms tightened around me. “I’m so proud of you I could just burst.”
Suddenly, I found myself crying so hard I couldn’t stop. Tears of relief and release, not sorrow, but they kept pouring from my eyes.
Granddaddy awkwardly patted me on the back. Then Mom was there, and he passed me into her arms with obvious relief. After a moment, Mom pulled a now crying Sofia into our hug. We swayed and cried and purged days of pent-up emotions. I won’t say we cried out everything that happened to us since my empathic ability suddenly kicked in, but we got a good start on it.
Finally, Sofia and I dried our eyes, and I dragged everyone off to check on Shawn. He was awake and—after years of having the pirates tell him to ‘tough it out’—was overwhelmed by the way my family fussed over him and the serious wound he received saving my life.
Sofia and I kissed Shawn on the cheek, which made him grin. Then my family thanked him profusely.
Granddaddy even said, “You have a good head on your shoulders, boy. Have you ever considered a career in security?”
Hey, that’s super high praise coming from Granddaddy!
While we were doing all that family stuff, Aunt Nancy was busy defeating the rest of the pirates. She did it all without firing a single shot. Not that she really planned it that way. I mean, the pirates on the ship just commed the Defender and surrendered. But only if Aunt Nancy promised she wouldn’t use her mind-stealing weapon on them. She kept a straight face and accepted their terms. She laughed for five minutes after they cut their transmission, then sent a boarding party to the other ship to round up the pirates.
But that still left the pirate base. The base was enormous—it had close to fifty buildings—and not even Shawn and the hopefuls knew the whole layout. The marine commander was all in favor of staging an assault on the base, but Aunt Nancy took a different approach. She hailed the base and broadcast live vids of Rivera and the other mindless pirates. No one would let me see my victims, but from the whispering Sofia and I heard, those slack-jawed, empty eyed, drooling shells of people looked… disturbing. Aunt Nancy let the pirates get a long look at their former gang mates, then she threatened to turn her ‘weapon’ on the base if the remaining pirates didn’t surrender. Like the pirates on the ship, the ones at the base couldn’t surrender fast enough.
The thing is, I don’t know how I should feel about that. Everyone on the Pegasus and in the Ark’s Landing navy ships knows I’m the weapon Aunt Nancy threatened to turn on the pirates. And it’s great that none of the Ark’s Landing marines had to risk their lives in a firefight. But I don’t want a terrifying reputation, you know?
The whole idea kept me tossing and turning when I should have been sleeping. In the middle of the ship’s night, my parents knocked on my door.
“Nora?” Mom called. “Can your father and I come in and talk?”
I let them in. They settled at the foot of my bed and radiated parental love and concern.
Mom said, “Talk when you’re ready, honey.”
“What makes you think something’s bothering me?” I asked.
“You do remember you’re not the only psychic in the family, right?” Dad asked.
I nodded, leaned against the headboard, hugged my legs to my chest, and tried to figure out what to say. Finally, I blurted, “Am I a monster?”
“Absolutely not,” Dad said, his voice filled with conviction.
“What gave you that idea?” Mom asked. From the look in her eyes, she already knew the answer, but was giving me an opening to voice my fears.
“I don’t blame Aunt Nancy for using me as a threat to get the pirates to surrender, but…” I blinked rapidly and tears rolled down my cheeks. “Dad, I… destroyed something like twenty minds. Personalities, gone. Memories, crushed. Humanity, destroyed. How can I not be a monster?”
Dad scooted down the bed, kissed my forehead, and said, “You did what you had to do to save everyone on the Pegasus.”
“And,” Mom added, “the rest of those pirates. They’d have died, too, if you hadn’t stopped Rivera.”
“My brain understands that,” I said. “But my heart doesn’t.”
Dad gently turned my head so he could look into my eyes. “I know, honey. Your heart says there had to be a better way, right?”
I nodded.
“But does your heart have anything to say about what would have happened if you hadn’t destroyed those minds?”
I thought about that, then said, “Something… even more terrible?”
“Right,” Dad said. “Five thousand people would have died if the pirate ship rammed the Pegasus. You stopped that. You, honey. You made one of the hardest decisions you’ll ever make in your life, and that decision saved thousands.”
“Are you saying my heart already knows I’m not a monster?”
“Yes. It’s your brain that’s confused, and it’s trying to pass off the blame on your heart.”
I considered his words for a minute, then said, “Thank you. But don’t be surprised if my brain gets confused again and I need to talk some more.”
“We’re always here for you, honey,” Mom said. “It’s not like this is the first time we’ve dealt with something like this. Your father’s brain still gets confused about shooting Paco Rivera. And I’ll bet it’s going to get worse after this latest Rivera confrontation sinks in.”
I won’t say I slept like a baby after they left, but at least I slept.
It took two days to secure the pirate base, but the marines found a real treasure trove down there. The older Rivera kept meticulous records. Ones Aunt Nancy says can be used to track down the crew and passengers of the Perseus and others the pirates sold.
A Federation Navy squadron showed up just as our Ark’s Landing forces wrapped things up. Aunt Nancy didn’t need their military help, but she gratefully accepted their offer of medical and psychological support.
Sofia and I spent most of that time in the suite originally assigned to me by Captain Riggs. We did incredibly decadent things like taking hot baths, wearing clean clothes, and eating good food. But when Captain Riggs invited us to dine at his table, Mom made us accept.
She and Dad insisted on escorting us to the dining hall. It still felt odd using the ship’s corridors instead of the tunnels, and maybe that’s why Sofia and I didn’t notice we four walked through them alone. As we approached the dining hall entry, the doors opened wide and revealed a saluting Captain Riggs. Assuming this was for my parents—they own the Pegasus, after all—Sofia and I slowed.
Mom gave us gentle shoves in the back and said, “He’s here for you, not us.”
Captain Riggs linked arms with Sofia and me and escorted us inside. The lights came up, revealing a dining hall filled with what looked like every passenger and off-duty crewman on the Pegasus. At the sight of us, everyone surged to their feet and applauded.
My cheeks grew hot as I blushed. Sofia blushed, too, and we both stared about us in astonishment. Captain Riggs led us to his table and said, “I thank almighty God for bringing you young ladies onto my ship.”
He raised his hands for silence, and proclaimed, “Passengers and crew of the Pegasus, I give you our saviors, the Badass Babes of the Cosmos!”
As the applause started again, I leaned towards Sofia and said, “Adventures are strange. First, they’re terrifying. Then they’re embarrassing!”
“I know,” Sofia said. “Let’s never have another one.”
“You got that right, Sofia,” I said. “One adventure is more than enough!”
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY…
If you enjoyed The Hostage in Hiding, you might enjoy The Fugitive Heir, a space opera featuring the adventures of Nora’s parents, Matt and Michelle Connaught. Available now for only 99¢!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Growing up, Henry worked at the usual range of menial jobs before ending up in software development. In between the menial jobs and the IT jobs, he achieved some small fame as the writer and co-creator of the small press comic book titles Southern Knights and X-Thieves. In 2006, Henry took up the professional storytelling and has performed all across the state of North Carolina.
Henry has been a fan of science fiction for as long as he can remember. He has loved space opera and planetary romance since the beginning, that is why his science fiction novels end up in those subgenres.
Henry currently lives in Raleigh, NC, with his wife, a cat, and a host of imaginary friends clamoring to tell him of their adventures.
www.henryvogelwrites.com
ALSO BY HENRY VOGEL
Science Fiction Novels
The Lost Planet
Fortune’s Fool
The Scales of Sin & Sorrow
Scout’s Honor
Scout’s Oath
Scout’s Duty
Scout’s Law
Scout’s Training
Scout’s First Mission
Hart for Adventure
The Fugitive Heir
The Fugitive Pair
The Fugitive Snare
The Hostage in Hiding
The Counterfeit Captain
The Undercover Captain
The Recognition Run
The Recognition Rejection
The Recognition Revelation
Illustrated Children’s Book
I’m in Charge! and Other Stories
Rampant Loon Press, The Hostage in Hiding
