Starbound: A Starstruck Novel (15 page)

“Resistance is futile,” I muttered under my breath. Only Rigel seemed to hear, his silent chuckle just for me.
 

“I wonder if we’ll be smart enough to keep that from happening here on Earth, or if we’ll all be assimilated?” he said aloud.
 

Panic lanced through me at an unbidden image of the Grentl coming back to do more experiments. I suppressed it, but not before Rigel caught enough to glance at me in alarm.
What?

Nothing. Not now.

Molly, meanwhile, was grinning at him. “Bluetooth headsets do kind of look like cybernetic implants.” She’d caught the Star Trek reference after all. I kept forgetting people on Mars had access to our old TV shows.

“Do you want to wander through and meet some of the
teachneaglis
?” Sean nodded toward the two side streets and their twenty or so houses. “It’s almost a village within a village. They even have a blacksmith.”

“They’re not anti-Sovereign, are they?” I was remembering last night.

“They mostly keep to themselves but as far as I know, they’re not political at all—in any direction.”

We spent the next half hour exploring what felt like a two-hundred-year-old Irish village, though the
teachneaglis
didn’t dress or speak any differently than the other Bailerealtans. They seemed pleased to see me, eagerly explaining their reasons for shunning most technology.
 

“Not that the Sovereign has that luxury, of course,” Kevin, our self-appointed guide, added at the end of a litany on the virtues of manual labor.

“Unfortunately, no.”
Luxury?
Rigel’s mental laughter had me struggling mightily to keep my lips from twitching. “You’ve been very kind, Kevin. Thank you.”

I waited until we were at least a quarter mile away to say, “They seem happy enough but, sorry, you couldn’t pay me to live like that.”

“Luckily, they usually aren’t into proselytizing.” Sean shrugged. “You were great, by the way. If any of them had doubts about you before, they won’t now.”

I glanced up at him, startled, to find him regarding me with that warm expression that made me quickly look away. “I, uh, hope you’re right. I didn’t do anything special.”

“Except make
them
feel special, every one of them. That’s a lot.”

He’s right,
Rigel thought before I could argue.
I’ve noticed it before and it’s a real gift you have.
 

Gift? What, paying attention when people talk to me?

It’s more than that. But if I try to explain you’ll over-think it, so I won’t. All you need to know is that you’re doing fine, just being yourself.

“Something wrong, M?” Sean suddenly asked. “It’s like you…go away sometimes. You’re not worrying about Mars again, are you?”

“Oh, um, maybe a little. But I’m trying not to…yet.” Which was definitely true.

He looked sympathetic. “I know it’s hard, but what’s that saying? No point in borrowing trouble?”

Which was also true. “You’re right. What’s left to see in Bailerealta?”

“Not much.” Then Sean grinned. “But Mum said we can take the car to see other stuff. The Cliffs of Moher and O’Brien’s Tower are closest, but Dunguaire Castle is a lot older. Which are you most interested in?”

“Can’t we see them all?”

“Sure, but they’re in opposite directions. Tell you what, let’s hit the Cliffs and the tower, grab lunch, then go north to the castle after.”

“Sounds good to me. Molly? Rigel?”
 

I needed to talk to Rigel out loud occasionally or it would look odd to everyone who knew we were really still a couple. Which here meant just the O’Garas—who seemed to be pretending we weren’t. Maybe they hoped we’d forget we were bonded if they ignored it hard enough.
Not a chance.
 

“That plan’s okay with me, too,” Rigel said.
The cliffs and castle thing, not the other,
he quickly clarified.
That’ll never happen
.

“Wow! Guess a lot of people come here in summer, huh?” I looked around at the enormous, mostly-empty lot across the street from the Cliffs of Moher as we climbed out of the car half an hour later.

“Yeah, it’s a big tourist draw. Has been forever, I guess. O’Brien’s Tower was built for tourists, not defense, way back in the early eighteen hundreds. You’ll see why in a minute.” Sean locked up and came around to my side. “Come on.”
 

He reached for my hand again, but I stuck it in my jacket pocket. “There’s no one around we need to convince now.”

Sean’s jaw jutted out stubbornly, though there was something vulnerable in his expression. “I didn’t think you minded that much.”

“I don’t—as long as it’s only for show. Let’s go see the Cliffs.” I turned away before the hurt in his eyes could make me feel guilty.

I was tempted to take Rigel’s hand as we walked, but didn’t quite dare. I couldn’t absolutely
know
there were no
Echtrans
around and I didn’t want to risk getting Rigel into trouble—though he’d changed into civvies before we left Bailerealta.

Hey, I’m supposed to worry about you, not the other way around.
He brushed my hand with his, making it look accidental. An electric thrill went through me at the contact, our very first of the day. I’d missed this—needed this!—so much. It was all I could do not to shudder with relief and pleasure.
 

A moment later I was marveling at the way the green velvet top of the Cliffs abruptly gave way to sheer gray rock plunging hundreds of yards straight down. Looking along the long, curving edge of the cliffs, I watched the sea crashing magnificently against the rugged vertical rock faces and a free-standing spire thrusting up from the waves that showed where the cliff face must have been, once upon a time.

“Wow,” I breathed. Land-bound as I’d been all my life, I felt overwhelmed by the raw power of the ocean. I could feel Rigel echoing my awe from a few inches away.

“It’s something, isn’t it?” Sean murmured from my other side. “I was hoping to be the one to show it to you. Your first real view of the sea.”

I glanced up at him, startled he’d picked up on my feelings so accurately. But of course I’d mentioned more than once to him and Molly that this would be my first time seeing the ocean, so it really wasn’t so strange after all.

Molly broke the awkward moment. “Let’s go see it from the tower.”
 

We climbed the path, then the tower’s steep, winding stairs and admired the view from the top for a few minutes. Then both boys simultaneously declared they were starving.

“Sheesh, when aren’t you?” Molly rolled her eyes. “But we’ve pretty much seen it. Ready to go, M?”

“We can’t have these guys fainting on us. Let’s go have lunch, then visit that castle.” I was loving Ireland more than ever.

By the time we reached the parking lot, there was a hungry-irritable edge to Rigel’s feelings and I could actually hear Sean’s stomach growling. Boys really were bottomless pits.

“Maybe we should have brought a picnic, like those people.” I slowed down to point while the others continued toward the car. “Then we could—”

I broke off with a gasp as somebody grabbed my jacket collar, yanking me backwards. “Hey! What the—?” I twisted around to see two strange men behind me, one still gripping my jacket.

“Yeah, that’s her.” The other man reached out to seize my arm. “And this must be—” He glanced toward Rigel just as Rigel’s fist slammed into his jaw.
 

The first guy let go of me and reached inside his coat, but Rigel was a lot faster. Before the man knew what hit him, he’d joined his cohort on the ground, both of them rubbing their jaws and looking confused.

Now Sean waded in, looming over the men. “What the hell were you—?”
 

But Rigel cut him off, hissing, “Don’t. Not here.” Then, to the men, “Who are you? Who sent you?”

The men must have decided they didn’t like the odds. They scooted away backwards without answering, then scrambled to their feet and ran. Sean immediately leaped in pursuit, but again Rigel stopped him, snagging him by the arm.
 

“We can’t. Let them go.”

“What? Are you crazy?” Sean tried to pull out of Rigel’s grip and was clearly startled when he couldn’t.
 

Rigel wasn’t even paying attention to him. He was staring intently after the two men as they flung themselves into a black van and roared out of the parking lot. “At least they didn’t think to remove the plates.”
 

He must have loosened his grip, because Sean finally wrenched his arm away. “
Now
can you tell me why the hell you let them go? We could have taken them. They had no right—”

“No, they didn’t.” Rigel looked—and felt—just as furious, even though he acted calmer. “But we didn’t dare take them out or cause a scene. Not here. Besides, didn’t you notice? They weren’t
Echtrans
.”

Costanta
(ko-STAHN-tuh)
: Bodyguard assigned to protect the Sovereign or other members of the Royal family

All three of us gaped at Rigel. Then, slowly, we all nodded. Because he was right. I hadn’t felt the faintest bit of
brath
from either of those men, not even when one grabbed me. Clearly the others hadn’t, either.

“Do you think they had that masking thing, like Mr. Smith used last fall at school?” I asked.

Rigel lifted a shoulder. “I don’t think so. They didn’t exactly…look
Echtran
, either.”

Again, he was right. Prejudiced as it might sound, those men hadn’t been at all attractive. In fact, the shorter one had been positively homely, his face pock-marked. I’d never yet met an
Echtran
who wasn’t good looking. Most were ridiculously so, to the point of being conspicuous.

“So what does that mean?” Sean was still scowling. “Why did we have to let them go? They grabbed M, were probably trying to kidnap her. That’s illegal no matter who they are.”

Rigel’s frown was thoughtful. “I’m guessing they were hired by somebody and don’t know anything about…well, anything. If we’d held them, then what? Call the police? Do you really think the Council wants that kind of publicity? It’s not like we could take them back to Bailerealta with us. My orders—as Bodyguard, I mean—are clear. My number one priority is to protect M. But the second is to keep a low profile, especially around
Duchas
.”

Grudgingly, Sean nodded. “I guess. Wish we’d hit ’em harder, at least.”

“We?
You
didn’t—”
 

I quickly interrupted. “So how do we find out who hired them?”
 

“Yeah, how?” Sean demanded of Rigel. “Think maybe we should’ve got that out of them before letting them go?”

Rigel was getting pissed again, so I stepped between them. “How about let’s go back to Bailerealta and get some lunch into you two and report what happened and see what they say? Maybe they can run the license plate or something.” I used a little “push” and was relieved when they both agreed, though that might have been because they were hungry.

Sean drove us back, grumbling all the way, darting occasional concerned glances at me and irritated ones over his shoulder at Rigel, though he did—belatedly—say he was glad I was okay. The moment we got back, he slammed into the B&B and started yelling for his parents.

His father came running, Mrs. O just behind. “What? What happened?” Mr. O looked me over quickly as though to reassure himself I was unhurt.

“You weren’t in an accident, were you?” Mrs. O asked anxiously.

“Not exactly,” Sean said. “But two men, two
Duchas,
tried to kidnap M, right by the Cliffs.
Rigel
decided to let them go, but at least we got the license number off their van.”

“Earthers? Are you sure?” Mr. O’Gara exchanged an alarmed look with his wife.
 

All four of us nodded.
 

“He still didn’t have to let them get away,” Sean grumped. “I told him we should have—”

“No, Sean.” Mrs. O cut him off. “That was the only thing he could do. We can’t risk
any
kind of attention from the local populace with the launch only days away. Rigel’s been instructed to never engage with
Duchas
unless there is no other possible way to keep the Princess safe.”

Sean’s sense of betrayal was so strong, I could almost feel it. He started to protest again but I spoke first.

“I was totally safe, I swear. Rigel had both guys on the ground before I even realized what they were trying to do. The second they got a good look at Sean and Rigel, they cut and ran.”

“On the ground?” Mr. O looked alarmed again. “You didn’t use your weapon did you?”

Rigel shook his head. “Just my fists. Like M said, that’s all it took to make them back off. Maybe they weren’t paid enough to risk their skins.”

“I need to take this matter to the Council,” Mrs. O said. “I’ll call an emergency conference—most of them should be awake by now. What was that license number?”

Rigel rattled it off and she nodded, not bothering to write it down before turning away.
 

“Can we get something to eat?” I could feel Rigel positively starving by now, and I knew Sean was, too. I was getting pretty hungry myself, come to think of it.

She glanced back distractedly. “Oh. Of course. Mrs. Cleary left sandwich and salad things in the kitchen, and there’s a recombinator. Go help yourselves.” She hurried off.

By the time we finished lunch, the Council had met via hologram and decreed that I was done sightseeing outside of Bailerealta. They were also moving the launch up to get me off-planet before whoever had instigated the attack could try again.

“But I haven’t toured a single castle yet! Can’t we go see that close one Sean mentioned, the one from the fifteen hundreds, before we leave?”

“I’m sorry, dear.” Mrs. O was firm. “Perhaps when you return from Mars. I’ve no doubt by then we’ll have traced whoever hired your would-be abductors and…dealt with the problem.”

“Who do they suspect?” Rigel asked. “Those guys who created a disturbance last night, during her speech?”