Page 10 of Doom Averted

It was quiet for a while, except for a clinking noise, much like a tool being put down. Then Da’vi sighed, “Not my actual brothers. My gladiator brothers. We escaped together and live on the Vagabond.” Gladiators? I struggled to understand what he meant, while chariots pulled by white horses flashed through my mind.

“You mean you fought for sport?” I asked tentatively, and he called other gladiators his brothers? I guess that made sense, that kind of thing had to breed close ties, just like being in the military did. I guess I just didn’t much like the idea of such a violent profession, it seemed so barbaric to fight for entertainment. I mean, that’s why I always walked out of the room when my father watched his boxing matches too.

I was a total pacifist, except for that one time that I’d punched the kid bullying my younger brother, I had never done violence in my life. I still very clearly remembered how mad my brother had been about that too, it hadn’t even been worth it; I’d learned my lesson.

“Yes, for entertainment,” he said, “And against or will. Gladiators are either criminals who chose it over serving time or slaves. We are all former slaves.” His words shot a chill down my spine, no wonder he was such a growly grump. This man had seen shit, been forced to do things he didn’t want, I wished I could reach through the connection and give him a big hug. He sounded tough, but that had to be horrible.

When I offered any kind of sympathy, it wasn’t a surprise when he just responded with a growl, not willing to say anything else on the subject. I was struggling to come up with a suitable subject to talk about next when I heard a new voice, low but cultured. “I know you’re really busy but… Do you think we could try to hook up the stasis pod in here? Akri says he’ll have better access to it from some kind of panel here?”

I had no idea what this newcomer was talking about, and I was surprised I could even hear what he said. That hadn’t been the case with voices I’d heard in the background previously. Holding my breath, I listened intently, was Da’vi going to mention that he had me on the line? Would he make introductions?

“Hmm,” Da’vi grunted, sounding even less friendly than he did to me sometimes. “You want the beryllium cables to hook up Akri? Think you could get somewhere?” He asked and to my shock, yet another low voice responded affirmatively; though this one sounded electronic, like it was computer generated. Somehow it was a surprise to discover that Da’vi really did have company on his spaceship, even though he’d just been talking about them.

“Leave it in the corner Doc, I’ll hook it up when I have a moment,” my gruff mechanic grunted at his ‘brother’. I wondered if that cultured voice belonged to a former gladiator too, and that mechanical voice? My brain was conjuring up a Darth Vader-like guy in a suit, injured from fights so he had to speak through some kind of device.

“Thanks, Da’vi, I’m at my wits end on how to get that pod working again. There’s been a sharp decline in brain activity on my scans, it’s not a good sign,” the Doc said. His voice was warm and filled with concern, the polar opposite of what Da’vi sounded like even when he made an attempt to sound nice.

There were no replies, no other sounds for quite some time, I wondered if that meant the Doc had left again. What about the computer-voiced person? Da’vi hadn’t said anything about me, was I supposed to stay quiet?

When Da’vi interrupted the silence I almost jumped out of my skin. “You okay there Arianna? You’re awfully quiet.” I sighed in relief, warmth filling me. He sounded like he actually liked it when I talked to him. Or was that a complaint that I talked too much? I shook my head to shake the thought, no, that gruff voice sounded a little concerned.

“I’m okay, just wasn’t sure if your friends left or not… If I was supposed to speak with them present.” I held my breath again thinking about his answer. Was he keeping me hidden? He had assured me he was coming to rescue me but I hadn’t heard or spoken to any of his shipmates. I had some experience with boyfriends or family being ashamed of me, preferring to keep me hidden. I wasn’t sure what to think if Da’vi felt like that about me too.

The silence that followed, common when talking with him, felt much longer than it really was. “No, they can know about you, they do know about you, we voted for your rescue remember?” he said, and then I heard a snorting noise, “I figured you noticed by now that I suck at social interactions.”

That admission was like popping a balloon for me, I felt like I just deflated on the spot. That self-deprecating tone, that little hint of amusement at himself. It wasn’t me, it was him was what he was saying. It just made me melt inside, it just made me want to reach out and help him, to ease that social strain he felt. I was so glad that he was willing to admit that to me, that he didn’t even sound all that embarrassed about it, just stating a fact.

“That’s okay Da’vi, I like your company,” I said, smiling at the screen, trying to ignore the tangled mess I’d made of my last few ‘crochet’ stitches. Trying to do that kind of craft without an actual hook wasn’t easy when I had alien yarn to work with.

He made another snorting noise, followed by a low chuckle that sent tingles up my spine. “That’s because I’m your only company.” I couldn’t help but laugh at what was clearly a joke. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy hanging out with that cultured, posh-sounding Doc nearly as much as I enjoyed Da’vi’s company. The Doc was educated, fancy, that was not my kind of person. Da’vi was exactly the type of person I enjoyed being with.

If he’d let me call him every day while he made his way here? I’d be a happy girl, I knew it was weird to enjoy the company of a guy who often didn’t say much at all… But as long as he didn’t mind me chattering at him, it was a little like being back in the repair shop on Earth. Where I’d talked the ear of my old, grumpy boss, who’d prompt me if I fell silent for too long.

Maybe Da’vi would talk more if I asked him about technical stuff, maybe he could teach me how to understand the consoles on the bridge of this ship. I was immediately excited by the thought, of maybe learning something, a skill, with which I could help myself out here. And heck, maybe if I learned a thing or two from Da’vi, I wouldn’t be completely helpless after this rescue either.

Chapter 8

Arianna

Jogging down the hallway I pulled on the bottom of my alien wool sweater, fluffing my hair out of the back. I’d rolled out of belled only minutes ago to the sound of an alarm blaring over the ship’s intercom. It wasn’t the sound of the proximity alarm, the kind for meteors or debris about to hit this wreck. I’d gotten used to that one and the rattling, shaking the ship did when it shot down whatever object was about to hit it.

Skidding onto the bridge in my bare feet, I frantically scanned the many blinking lights that lit up the consoles. Despite Da’vi’s efforts, we had not managed to turn any of the screens to English, which apparently his ship could do. So I still couldn’t read a thing, but I was more adept at knowing some of what it said, plenty of practice over the past few weeks.

On the weapons console, I saw lights blinking on the grid display. I knew that the one at the bottom, the biggest of the dozens upon dozens of blips, was the portion of ship I was on. All the way at the top of the screen, a red blip had appeared, and it was sliding down across the screen, approaching. Was that a ship?

My heart leaped into my throat, was it the Vagabond? Was that Da’vi? When we’d hung up last night, he hadn’t said anything about arriving tomorrow. He did occasionally give me updates on their progress, but quickly counting down the days in my head, I was worried that this wasn’t him.

Darting to the com station, my fingers flew over the symbols confidently; I’d done this many times by now. “Da’vi, pick up please, are you there?” I asked when the beeping tone ended a few seconds after I initiated the call. I had a bad feeling about this, Da’vi would have let me know if they were almost here, this was someone else.

“Arianna, you’re early,” he answered, his deep voice vibrating down my spine, instantly calming me down. I took a deep breath, my eyes snagging on the viewscreen at the front of the bridge. Da’vi had explained that it wasn’t an actual window, just screens that displayed what was at the front of the ship. On it, I could see the pieces of wreckage that floated around me, but also in the distance a dark shape with red blinking lights. I’d never seen that before, it had to be the approaching blip.

“I’m seeing something approach, that’s not you yet is it?” I asked, “Can you access the ship’s sensor readings?” When he responded with a loud round of cursing that wasn’t translated, sounding alien and strange to my ears, I knew. This was bad news, this definitely wasn’t Da’vi approaching.

“Got it, fuck!” he growled, “It’ll be there in a couple minutes, can you hide? You need to hide Arianna. Now!” I had never heard him sound that worried, that urgent. It had adrenaline spike through my system, my hands shaking at my sides. Hiding places? Where would I go? I’d explored this place from top to bottom over the past three weeks. My food was down to the last two bars but I hadn’t told Da’vi about that yet.

“Who is it?” I asked, “And how long until you’re supposed to get here?” Wetting my dry lips I looked around the bridge, there was an office and a meeting room leading off it, but both were in bad shape. The interior was trashed so there were next to no hiding places inside it. The cargo bay I could access was a barren place except for the crates and the stasis pods. I could crawl into the old pod and pretend I was still asleep… But the thought of doing that made me physically ill.

“I suspect that’s a very bad man, Drameil. You can’t let him find you,” Da’vi said. “Stay away from the cargo bay, he’s probably there for the pods.” Everything about his voice said worry, fear, and the fact that Da’vi was scared of this ship approaching spurred me into action. I rushed from the bridge, running as fast as I could to the small crew quarters I’d been using. In record time I tidied that space so it didn’t look like someone had lived there, hiding all the discarded food and drink packaging.