“Why are you giving me this?” she demanded, staring suspiciously down at the sleek, silver weapon in her hands.
“You can hold it on me,” Need told her. “All the way back to the ship. Think of it as an insurance policy—if I try anything, you can shoot me.”
Her gold-flecked eyes widened.
“You’d trust me to do that?”
Need shrugged wearily.
“If you’ll trust me to take you back to The Dark Heart without hurting you.”
He could see her weighing the possibilities and it occurred to him that he might have made a bad situation exponentially worse. After all, he might have been able to lunge forward and catch her before she could slit her throat open with the razor blade. But if she put the muzzle of the blaster to her temple and pulled the trigger, there was no way he was fast enough to get to her before her pretty head evaporated in a rain of fine red mist.
His breath caught in his throat and he prayed silently, Please, Goddess…PLEASE!
But at last, to his infinite relief, Lan’ara nodded.
“All right,” she said coldly. “You can bring me up to The Dark Heart but I won’t be staying in your rooms anymore. In fact, I don’t want to have anything to do with you, ever again. Is that clear?”
“It’s clear.” Need’s heart felt like it was made of lead but he knew this was no more than he deserved. In the end, it seemed that Drung had had the last laugh—or his left head had, anyway.
As they walked from the cabin back to his shuttle, Lan’ara firmly pointing the blaster at his back, he remembered the head’s last words.
“Not mine, Kindred,” it had said, laughing at him. “She’s not mine but she’ll not be yours again, either. Never again.”
Fifty-Eight
“My dear, you have been sorely missed!” New green leaves suddenly sprouted all over Captain Glo’ll’s shoulders and a crop of lovely pink and white daisies burst into bloom on his forehead the moment he saw her.
“Thank you.” Lan’ara smiled at him. “I missed you too—and all the crew. Well, most of them,” she added, throwing a glance at Need, who was standing at the far end of the common living area where everyone was gathered.
“We are so glad to have you back among us,” the Captain declared. “Are you here to stay, I hope?”
“If you’ll have me,” Lan’ara said cautiously. “But this time I was hoping to take a position on my own, as a member of your crew—not just a piece of baggage.”
She saw the big Kindred wince at her words but she didn’t care.
“Of course!” Captain Glo’ll exclaimed. “I will offer you the position of Head Chef in charge of meals at once.”
“And I’m going to train her to be a med tech too,” Laxah said firmly, stepping forward. “I’ll be wanting to retire soon and you’ll need someone to take my place, Captain.”
“Excellent! I had dreaded losing you, Laxah.” Captain Glo’ll sighed. “You meat-based people live such dreadfully short lives! Have you even tried putting down some roots and living a few hundred cycles longer?”
Lan’ara felt a smile hovering around the corners of her mouth.
“I’m afraid we can’t take root as you can,” she said to the Captain. “But we can blossom, in a way, when we’re among friends.”
“Well, you most definitely are now, my dear.” He smiled at her affectionately and then sprouted some lovely roses, which he plucked and presented ceremoniously to her. “Welcome aboard, Lan’ara—I’m pleased to count you as a member of my crew.”
“Thank you. There’s one thing though…” Lan’ara cleared her throat. “I’ll be needing my own cabin,” she told him, carefully not looking at Need. “I’ll want my own space if I’m to be a real member of the crew.”
“Oh, well…of course.” Captain Glo’ll shot a look at Need, who was still looking down at his hands—which were bloody from the garrotte, Lan’ara saw with a sudden pang.
But she told herself to ignore the big Kindred’s pain, just as he had ignored hers when she begged him not to sell her. She looked back at Captain Glo’ll, who appeared to be thinking—if the tiny pink and yellow flowers sprouting all over his skull were any indication.
“There’s a free cabin beside Laxah’s that you can have,” he said meditatively. “It’s quite small, I’m afraid. Or you can have Drung’s old room once we have it cleaned out.” He looked at Need. “I take it he won’t ever be needing it again?”
“No,” Need said shortly. “Because he’s fucking dead. I killed him.”
At this revelation, the rest of the crew murmured among themselves but it was clear none of them mourned the loss of the big, dirty Trollox.
“Good riddance!” Krax and Kreeva said at the same time and Psoas and Laxah nodded agreement.
“I’ll take the cabin beside Laxah’s, please,” Lan’ara said. She shivered. “I don’t…don’t want anything to do with Drung, ever again. Not even his room, now that he’s gone.”