Captain Cosette (17 page)

The fighters, five of them, were lined up in front of the hangar.  They bore Alliance insignia, but there was little difference between their design and their Union counterparts.  As the part numbers bubbled up from her learned memories, she was impressed by how much they matched.

The
Union
and
the
Alliance
buy
from
a
common
source
,
or
else
they
steal
from
each
other
.

She crouched under the first fighter, and saw something skitter away to the next one.

Worm
?

No, the glimpse was of something metallic.  Then she saw two lenses peer around the landing gear.

“Spinner?”

The round flat robot came out from behind the gear and ran up to her. 
“Cadet Nicholas!  I did not know where you went.  I do not know this place.  I was lost.”  His lenses scanned the area.  “I am still lost, but now I have found you.”

“
You were hiding on our cruiser!  You helped me put in the hydrogen canister!”

“
Yes.  That cruiser can not be fixed, I think.”

“
Thank you for helping me.  You saved our lives.”

“
You are welcome.  Is Major Dyson here?”

“
He’s here.  I’ll take you to him.”

“
Does Lieutenant Garale still have a gun?  I do not like Lieutenant Garale.”

Cosette shook her head. 
“He’s under guard.  Don’t worry about him.  Why did you stow away?”

“
I like Major Dyson.”

“
Ah, the EM chip again.”

Spinner’s lenses swiveled. 
“Two men are coming.”

Cosette stepped out from under the fighter to find Major Dyson and Sergeant Cogshank walking towards them.

“Major Dyson!” said Spinner, clattering across the concrete towards the Major.

Dyson squatted down and grinned at the robot. 
“I can’t believe it!  Forty eight triple oh seventeen!  Where have you been, old buddy?”

“
Hello, Major Dyson.  I was assigned to maintenance on the space station where you were put in prison.  When you went on board the cruiser I went on board also.  When we landed here I got lost.”

Cogshank joined them, and put his hands on his knees. 
“Well, I’ll be. It’s a spinner!  Where’d you come up with that?”

Dyson brushed weed seeds off of Spinner’s body. 
“This spinner bonded with me a while back.  He was with me when I was captured.”  He looked at Cosette.  “You know this robot?”

Cosette nodded. 
“We worked together on the station.  He told me about you.”

Dyson
looked at Spinner.  “You talked about me with this soldier?”

Spinner dipped his lenses. 
“I like Cadet Nicholas.”

“
I’m going to go pack my stuff,” said Cogshank, and left.

“
I forgot to tell you,” said Cosette to Dyson, “when you were hanging onto me in the engine room, when I was trying to restart the core, Spinner was on the other side and he helped me.”

“
I couldn’t see anything because of the wind,” said Dyson.  “I had hair blowing in my eyes.”  He laughed quietly.  “This is good news, having Spinner.  I don’t know what our plans are, yet, but he’s very handy.”

“
I like him having the EM….” She paused, and looked around.

“
You know about his EM chip?” asked Dyson.

“
I promised him I wouldn’t tell.”

Spinner dipped his lenses. 
“You can tell Major Dyson.  He knows already.”

Dyson sat back and smiled. 
“Spinner doesn’t make friends with just anybody.  It’s kind of like, you know, when a man’s dog likes you, then you must be a good person.”

Cosette smiled back, pleased at the compliment. 
“What’s a dog?”

“
You didn’t have a dog?  What planet did you grow up on?”

“
Sorine.”  As if that explained everything.

“
Someday, I’ll have to get you a dog.”

“
What I need,” she said, “is a good set of tools.  There are five damaged fighters here.  If I’m lucky, I can combine them into one that works.  If not, I might have to learn how to clean fish!”

Chapter Eleven

Cosette
banged her wrench on the floor of the fighter in frustration.  She could scavenge enough parts to make a workable fighter, except for one piece.  Every one of the five fighters had a burned out guidance unit.

“
Problem?” asked Private Riling as he leaned into the hatch, his dark wrinkled face looking concerned.  He was on guard duty, keeping watch over Cosette.

“
Burned out guidance units,” said Cosette.  “Every single one.  That LK-C probe probably did it.”

“
LK-C?  Oh, the look-see probe from the Union battleship.  How could it do that?”

Cosette
rubbed her eyes and paged through the piles of information in her mind.  “They have an EMF gun wrapped around their little nose cannon so they can burn out electronic gear when they’re snooping, among other things.  It doesn’t blow anything up, but it fries the circuits.”  She sighed, climbed out of the fighter and sat on the wing, her hands on her knees.  She glanced at the sun, shining hazy through the high clouds.  “It doesn’t do any good to repair one of these if it can’t fly or go into folded space.”

“
Did you check the spare parts in the hangar?”

“
No, actually.”  She brightened up.  “Spinner, can you check the hangar for any spare guidance units?  You know the model number?”

Spinner dipped his lenses. 
“I know the number.  I will look.”  He clattered off and disappeared into the hangar.

“
You and the Major should go to the village with us,” said Riling.  “Put on some native threads, fish a little, brown a little so you’ll be ignored by any Union visitors.  Especially if we sail off to some other continent.  There are some great islands up north, if you don’t mind a long voyage.”

Off
on
an
island
,
maybe
with
Rasora
,
maybe
with
Dyson
,
living
in
a
grass
shack
. 
Cleaning
fish
and
raising
children
,
no
worries
,
no
soldiers
. 
That
would
be
the
life
.

“
No,” she said with a sad smile.  “That would be a last resort.  I need to see what I can do to get Major Dyson off this planet.”

“
You got your sights set on him?”

“
Oh, heavens, no!”  She fluttered her hand.  “It’s just, I feel like I’m on
his
side, now.  That Union battleship sent their missiles at both of us.  If I can only get one of these ships to….” 

She was interrupted by a sound behind her, a high wail that sounded like a huge brass horn played by a man with endless lungs.  She twisted around and gasped.  Something impossibly tall stood on four spindly legs in the middle of the landing strip.

A
stilt
!

One of its four legs lifted slowly, swung forward several meters, and then descended to the ground.  The body, as high as a tree, moved forward as another leg began to
bend and lift.  Each leg was as thick as Cosette’s body and jointed in two places.  The body did look like a bird’s nest upside-down, just as it had been described, with many branches hanging down.  The wail came from it, haunting and lonely.

Amazing
,
amazing
,
so
huge
and
yet
so
quiet
until
it
cried
. 
Is
it
lonely
and
looking
for
a
mate
?

From behind the compound came a reply, a distant wail that echoed through the trees.

“Is that its mate?” she whispered, afraid to draw the tall creature’s attention.

“
Nah,” said Riling.  “They ain’t different sexes.  Those things hanging down there, around the fringe?  They’re little stilts, getting ready to drop off.  Sometimes two stilts will bump against each other, and the little stilts will trade off, but no, they don’t mate.  I guess.”

“
It’s magnificent.  I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The stilt’s body passed between Cosette and the sun, and she felt the coolness of the shadow pass over her. 

Spinner clattered out of the garage.  “I could not find any…”  Spinner’s lenses turned towards the stilt.  “That is a strange life-form.  Should I run away?”

“
No, it doesn’t seem to notice us,” said Cosette.  The stilt moved beyond the landing strip, one slow leg at a time.  “I’m glad it wasn’t standing there when we landed.  It would have been terrible to crash into one of those things and break its legs.”

“
Yes,” said Riling, “that would have been sad.  Look at the trees there where it’s headed.  See how level they are on top?  The whole continent looks tended, in a way.  Some of the trees even have seeds that cling to the legs of…hey, where are you going?”

Cosette landed on the ground. 
“I’ll be right back.  I just realized where there might be a guidance unit!”  She ran across the landing strip and through the broken shrubs with their strange smell.  The ruined cruiser lay amid the shrubs, the hatch still open.  She stepped into the ship and went to the forward bulkhead where the guidance systems were installed.

Maybe
this
unit
survived
the
landing
intact
. 
It’s
in
a
protected
spot
inside
the
ship
.

She
located the assembly, twisted the tabs that held it in place, and slid it out.  The thickness of a slice of bread and the length of her forearm, the guidance unit looked exactly like the blueprint in her mind.  Exactly the same, except…

Near the back where the contacts would slide into their receptacles, a silver rectangle of metal was attached, something her memory did not know about.  She tapped it, puzzled.

Still, the part number was the same as the guidance unit needed by the flyer and it should do the job.  It was probably some attempt by the Union at an upgrade.  She would have to be careful and run every diagnostic she could before lifting off.

With an old rag she started wiping it clean, inspecting the terminals. 

A hiss from behind startled her, and she turned.

She screamed.

An enormous worm filled the hatchway, its blood-red eyes glaring at her and its black teeth clicking eagerly.  Its body squirmed as it tried to push further into the cabin.

It’s
a
worm
! 
A
stilt
worm
! 
One
of
those
things
that
Riling
said
could
kill
a
man
!

She had no weapons, nothing with which to fight it off.  She was helpless but she was on her feet, and the corner of her eye caught the sun coming in from the rent in the side of the ship, the opening created by the exploding missile. 

Should
I go
back
into
the
pilot’s
cabin
and
hope
the
worm
can’t
reach
me
? 
But
the
worm
keeps
pushing
its
way
in
,
bit
by
bit
.

She made a quick decision and leaped towards the rent, dodging a snap from the black teeth.  Picking the largest part of the opening, she dove into it.

The rip in the ship’s side wasn’t quite large enough to accommodate her, and a ragged edge dug into her back.  She heard the worm’s teeth clicking behind her, and she kicked desperately to force her way through even though the torn metal sliced into her back and made her cry out.

With a painful lunge, she tumbled free from the cruiser and staggered over the broken brush back towards the compound.  Beside her, the worm’s body began writhing backwards, pulling its head out of the hatch.

“Help me,” she shouted.  “Help!” 

Why
didn’t
I
wait
for
Riling
to
come
with
me
?

She had no idea how fast a stilt worm could travel, but she could picture it swinging around and sinking its teeth into her waist.  A creature big enough to take down a stilt would bite her in half.

She stumbled over a bush, pushed herself up, and ran out onto the landing strip.

Coming towards her was Riling, carrying his rifle. 
“Get down, get down!” he shouted, waving with his free hand. 

She glanced behind her.  The worm was coming towards her over the brush, as rapidly as she feared.

Do
I
drop
down
or
do
I
run
for
it
?

Riling
lives
on
this
planet
. 
I
need
to
trust
him
. 
But
the
worm!!

With a sob of fear, she stopped running and threw herself flat on the ground. 

Riling’s rifle chattered and bullets whipped over her head.  The worm hissed, and Cosette looked back to see its head jerking back and forth.  Riling fired off another burst, and the worm pulled away, gore seeping from several perforations. 

Riling skidded up to her. 
“Don’t move,” he shouted.  “You’re hurt!”

Cosette pushed herself up.  She could see Rasora running across the strip towards her, followed by Cogshank and Tiebout. 
“I’m okay.  I just scratched my back.”

“
I said, don’t move!”  He knelt down beside her.  “There’s blood all over your back.  You got bit pretty bad.”

“
It didn’t bite me.  It started to come through the hatch and I crawled out the side.”

He pushed her down. 
“Good, maybe you won’t get infected, but you’re bleeding bad enough to scare me.  Now stay down!” 

He pressed on her back, and she said
“Ouch!”

“
Stop whining, soldier.  You’re losing blood and that’s government property.  Union government property, anyway.”

She heard more people arrive, and Private Tiebout shouting,
“You didn’t have to shoot her just because she was running away!  Haven’t you got any sense?”

“
I didn’t shoot her!” shouted Riling back just as loud.

“
I heard you shooting!”

“
I was shooting at a stilt worm!”

Rasora knelt beside her, his hands expertly checking her wound, his voice gentle. 
“Did you get bitten by a worm, Cosette?”

“
No.  It came in the hatch and I crawled out the side.  I cut my back a little.”

“
Ruined a uniform, is what you did,” said Tiebout, kneeling on the other side of her.  “It’s all torn up here, and I can’t tell what’s cloth and what’s skin.”

Cosette felt embarrassed by all the attention. 
“I just need some bandages.”

“
You need stitches,” said Tiebout.  “Riling, little man, you go get a stretcher.”

“
That’s right, accuse the little man and then send him back for a stretcher.”  He ran off towards the compound, still grumbling.

“
I can walk,” protested Cosette. 

“
Not while we’re holding you together, young lady,” said Tiebout.  She pointed to Rasora.  “How about you and Cogshank carry the stretcher and I’ll walk alongside and keep pressure on this wound.  Don’t let that dwarf Riling carry one end or Cosette will slide off.”

“
Will do,” said Sergeant Cogshank.  Private Tiebout had assumed authority over the injury, and no one was going to argue about who was in charge.