Hadrian's Colony: Chapter Twenty-Four, Part Two

Notes: A few more chapters and we'll be done. Omigosh, friends...what am I going to DO!? I mean, no, I sort of know what I'm going to do, but I pine! I PINE, people!

Title: Hadrian's Colony: Chapter Twenty-Four, Part Two

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Chapter Twenty-Four, Part Two

 

 Photo by Karsten Weingeart

 

It felt a little unreal to be off of Hadrian’s Colony at last. Not in a “waking up from a nightmare” sort of way—Kieron was very aware of the time they’d spent down there and how crucially it had all gone wrong. It felt more like some part of himself was standing outside his body and observing, cataloguing all the things going on around him and the interactions he wasn’t having. He ought to be happy to be off the planet, and something in him was, but it also felt very distant.

Being with the girls helped. They bantered back and forth, equal parts joyful and irritated to be back together and more than willing to hold off on heavy conversations for now. Lizzie’s intensely accurate firebombing? Ignored. Catie’s near-death experience? Avoided. Both girls having to take far more responsibility for their parents than either Elanus or Kieron wanted? Not even mentioned. Instead they chattered back and forth, verbally and numerically, one-upping each other with stories and using Bobby as a sort of referee.

Bobby loved it. He’d reached a new stage in his mental development down there, going from what Catie had looked at as a bumbling pet to a genuine little brother. Lizzie was delighted to talk to him without all the static and interference caused by the planet, and the three of them got sidetracked into entire conversations in Morse that had the girls giggling and Bobby quivering with laughter. It was sweet to experience them together, to hear them learning each other’s personalities and how to get along and the best ways to poke at each other without causing real harm. They were already like family.

It wasn’t until five standard days into their escape from Hadrian’s Colony that Kieron found an emotional exit from the way he’d isolated himself, and it came in the form of a physical exit by Carlisle. Elanus had told Kieron the plan, Kieron knew he had, but nothing seemed to stick in his head lately. He forgot what was being said just a few minutes after he was told, and he knew it bothered everyone but he genuinely couldn’t do shit for it. Arriving at Pinnace changed that.

Pinnace was a Drifter ship that had worked the same stretch of space, back and forth, for centuries now. They were the closest thing to homesteaders that Drifters could be, a colony of over five thousand people on a ship that looked like a patchwork horror but packed a mean punch when threatened. The families on Pinnace had learned a long time ago that their ship wasn’t going to outrun a pirate crew, so they’d bartered early and often for weapons systems and defenses that could probably fight off an Alliance destroyer if they needed to.

Pinnace was the only waystation along this particular gravitational highway, a sure stop for miners and explorers, and its inhabitants were wily as hell. Listening to Elanus barter with them for access to their medical supplies was like listening in on a peace-treaty negotiation.

“No, we don’t need a Regen tank, we need the baseline ingredients for manufacture, that’s all.”

“You think those are any easier to come by than full-on Regen this far out? You’re outta your mind. Those are reserved for family and emergencies only.”

“Well this qualifies as an emergency.”

“The hell it does. We’ve been tracking you for the last fifteen hours, you’re not broadcasting any distress signals.”

“So fucking sue me if I don’t want to advertise to the universe that we’re in a tough spot. We just escaped from Hadrian’s Colony, you think that was a good time?”

There was a long pause, then… “That’s shipshit.”

“We did.”

“No one gets on or off that hellhole during storm season.”

“I’m not saying it was easy or smart, I’m just saying we did it. And now we need to shore ourselves, and our ships, up before we head on to clearer waters.”

“You’re blasting Ganian idents. That’s Central System crap, we have no use for that currency, so what can you offer us?”

“I can offer you an upgrade of any system on Pinnace with a guarantee of an increase of at least five percent in efficiency.”

Elanus got nothing but laughter back. It took a demonstration by one of the girls on a disconnected platform for the Drifter to take them seriously, but even they had to admit it was a good deal. Efficiency was the lifeblood of a Drifter ship; everything that could be spared, recycled, or upcycled was pursued with relentless focus. Elanus knew how to do that. He even managed to bargain for a ship for Carlisle, which Kieron hadn’t seen coming but wasn’t surprised by. Of course she wanted to get away from them as soon as possible. Of course she wasn’t going to stay.

Coming in to dock was a surreal experience. It should have felt normal; Kieron used to oversee this sort of thing every day back on Cloverleaf Station, he’d watched this thousands of times. Maybe it was the effect of their last landing being Hadrian’s Colony, or maybe it was that they were so close to being around people again—people he liked, their two shiploads combining into one, and people he had no reason to trust—but Kieron’s breathing sped up and his eyes got wet as they neared the space dock.

Elanus noticed but didn’t say anything, playing it safe in a way he had very little experience with. He was afraid of pushing Kieron right now and Kieron got that, he appreciated it. But without a push, he thought he might just hyperventilate before they got hooked up to Pinnace.

When the push came, it came from Carlisle. Kieron heard a stutter, then a gasp turned into tiny, panting breaths, and it took too long for him to realize that she was the one having the panic attack. Before he could think twice about it, he unbuckled from his chair and turned back to the wall where she was strapped in, face pressed into her hands but fingers slitted enough that she could see through them. She  was staring at the viewscreen and shaking so hard he could hear her teeth chatter.

Kieron got up and went over to her, kneeling down in front of her to block her sight of the incoming port. He took one of her hands and placed it on his own chest, using the touch to ground the both of them. “Deep breath,” he said firmly. “Come on now, in. Out.” This was how they’d calmed children back on the Colony; adults who broke down got much rougher treatment, but Kieron didn’t think she’d respond well to being shouted at right now. “In. Out.” Carlisle followed orders, ever the good soldier, and by the time the red docking light turned solid white, she’d managed to catch her breath.

“Thank you,” she whispered, not quite looking him in the eyes.

He’d take it. “You’re welcome.”