Second Contact (Okal Rel Saga #1)

Chapter 11.1 - Rire's Decision

Ann fed the banked fire of her identity on scraps, clustered about her like fallen leaves: the beaches of her childhood; her parents' anxieties; N'Goni as a dashing young man; and N'Goni trip-worn and irrational. Her thoughts nudged about grains of guilt, rendered as inert and smooth as pearls. She marveled now over striking out at Lurol. It had been herself she hated, for feeling relieved to be free, and not knowing what to do with the grief that was just as real.

Slowly driving out the older memories were exciting new ones of a vivid young man with too many names — and a demon ship that attacked with consuming self-righteousness. She began to shiver, remembering, and realized that she was adrift in space, but still whole and self-aware.

A quick check revealed that her flight persona was wiped out, again, but there was no structural damage.

The near miss behind her, she boosted to skim again, focused on her goal of reaching Second Contact Station.

"Is that Ann?" a controller acknowledged her hail. "Back again so soon with the mail run?"

"I'm not here for the mail run," Ann said, resisting the fear that she had missed Von's departure. "Josh is making that connection. He should have been here ahead of me." She paused. "He's not here?"

"No."

There was an uncomfortable silence in which Ann wondered what could have happened to Josh.

"You have to initiate the info synch," the controller reminded her. "Looks like you've blanked your flight persona."

"I had help!" Ann assured him. "I got wake-rocked by a Gelack on the way here."

"A Gelack?" the controller sounded dubious. "You're sure it wasn't just Josh getting silly?"

"Pretty sure," Ann said, simply. She wasn't going to mention the tidal wave of self-righteous contempt she had experienced. No one had been real receptive to her story about feeling Von's presence in the jump they had made together. "How's Von?" she asked.

"I'm not an info persona," the controller told her. "Synch, and you can spawn one."

"Just tell me, okay?" said Ann. "He's my lover."

"That's right," the controller said coolly. "You declared a relationship based on your appreciation for his courtesan training. Sorry, but he's not much fun anymore."

"I didn't come back for fun," she snapped, stung.

"I'm waiting for your signal to upload," he prompted her. "Or should I send out the tugs and prep the ambulance bay?"

"Oh, all right!" she said, deciding there was no point debating her commitment to Von with some wannabe pilot who would never get closer than talking one into dock. "Give me a second," she said. "It's these damn algorithmics. I have to look up every command."

"Ann?" a voice cut in. "This is Lurol. Have you got the verdict from Rire?"

"Sorry," Ann said. "I'm not the mail run."

"I know that!" Lurol was impatient. "I thought you might have caught the news before you went to skim. So? What did Rire decide? Treat him here, or ship him home?"

Lurol's treatment, Ann recalled, would not take very long. It might be over and done before Josh even showed up. If Josh was going to show up.

Ann suffered a fierce spike of temptation.

"Just a second," she said, sounding guilty to her own ears as she casually wiped out her copy of Rire's decision along with all the other data which had survived in her entertainment buffer. "Sorry," she said. "It's these pesky algorithmics."