The hands that guided Phineas now were far different than those who guided him to Tartarus. No guns, no taunts and threats. His salvation had come in the form of his associate, the stranger he freed from cryostasis on the lost Hope. The relief on her face mirrored his own but their reunion was a mixed bag of good news and bad news. The sawbones she brought with her had determined he was in decent shape, well enough to walk out of here. But he was tired. Fear of failure and lack of sleep had been his only companions and even as he brainstormed the next phase of his plan he fought off the urge to drop where he was and sleep. He was moving slower, and his associate put an arm around his shoulders. Phineas shrugged her off the first time but this time he allowed it. Eventually the vicar joined her. More than once Phineas could feel the younger man look over his head at his associate in concern. They were met by a dark skinned woman and a gangly youth, both with weapons at the ready. "Well bless my atoms,"said the hunter her eyes widened in recognition. "you made it back." "Yeah. It was quite a fight you missed." The associate said, "I'll have to tell you all about it later. Right now we should all rest. Nyoka, will you help me?" "Just take me back to the lab as soon as possible." Phineas said tiredly but he managed a smile and a squint of recognition at Nyoka. For all her association with Hiram Blythe this was the first time they'd met in person. Pity it wasn't under more pleasant circumstances. "You should rest a bit." His associate insisted looking at the sawbones, who shrugged. There was a brief argument over where Phineas should rest. The engineer offered her bunk but no, too many stairs, that's sweet of you, Parvati. The associate offered hers, that was still lots of stairs. Ellie, you only care about the stairs you have to climb. His associate tried to put it delicately that Phineas was too old to climb stairs which irritated him. She was treating him like he was in his dotage. Then the matter of the sole bathroom. Well fine, captain's quarters. No, he could rest in the vicar's room. It's closer. No- "I can manage, thank you." Phineas grumbled "Throw down a blanket in the cargo hold, I don't care. I just need some shut eye." "I'll take the hold, Dr. Welles." The engineer spoke up. "Captain's right. You should be near where Dr. Fenhill can reach you in a jiff." "You just stormed Tartarus without any thought to what to do after, didn't you." And just like that nobody was listening to him. Again.
The cleaning mechanical was to stay away from Phineas, which wasn't a problem with Parvati taking up space in the hold where it could linger since it seemed to like her best. If anyone bothered Phineas his associate vowed to wail the living daylights out of them. They obeyed. Finally Phineas cast himself on the bunk, standard Spacer's Choice sleeping unit. It felt almost like home. He was too tired to sleep, anxious too maybe. If he concentrated he could hear the others converse. Every now and then the engineer -Parvati he'd heard her called- slipped in to retrieve something, whispering an apology. "She's upset, that's why she's talking this way." The vicar was saying quietly. "Well no shit, Max. Her friend just got captured by the Board. Who knows what they did to him." replied the sawbones. "Now move so I can go check on her." She paused " How's your leg?" "Better. I'm going to lie down." "Yeah, do that. I'll see you later." Phineas drifted in and out of sleep. Sometimes he forgot where he was, then he heard voices and remembered. He heard Parvati knock over something. "Sorry!" She hissed. "It's fine. Say, could you grab me some water?" "Water, sure thing!" "Ms. Holcomb," came the vicar's disapproving tone "Dr. Welles is not to be disturbed, captain's orders." Parvati drew herself up. "He needs a drink, I can manage." "I'm going to the captain." Phineas sighed deeply "Nobody likes a tattle tell, preacher." "Yeah Max, nobody likes a tattle tell!" Parvati echoed and rising from the floor said "I'll be right back." and slipped out of the room. "Now we have a criminal on our ship. I can't say I relish the fact." Muttered the vicar. He said something else under his breath and there was a whisper of a book page being turned. "I'm merely concerned for the safety of the crew."
"Stones, glass houses, preacher." Phineas said airily. "You are disturbing me. Shall I inform your captain?" "Oh please don't!" He sounded genuinely panicked. Phineas laughed to himself. If his associate could frighten this starchy church man and storm Tartarus, he chose the right one to defrost. Just then Parvati returned with his water. Phineas sat up and accepted it from her, drinking gratefully. "So you saved the captain from the Hope, right?" She asked. "Yes." "That must have been somethin'." She ventured, trying to make conversation. Phineas didn't have the heart to kick her out of her own room. But he wasn't feeling chatty. "A marvel of science. Our friend beat out the odds." She must have sensed his unwillingness to talk."Well I have to go check with ADA but I wanted to say, I'm real glad you helped her." Phineas smiled at her. "So am I." The next afternoon Phineas found himself with an audience as he ate like a ravenous cystypig. They were silent, still under command to not disturb him and he was to make himself at home. "Did the captain cut out your tongues?" He asked and he might very well have caused five coronaries. "We're staying quiet as we don't know what constitutes disturbing you. It's a broad term." Said Nyoka circling the table to get a better look at him."So you're the infamous Dr. Welles. Don't look so dangerous to me." "That depends on your notions of free thinking, Nyoka. You know what the Board does to those who have run to the end of their usefulness." He gave her look for look. Just as she drew breath to speak the Captain entered. Bless her atoms. She looked beyond tired and her hair was untidy but that face was alert. Alert and alive, not frozen in death like slumber, not a face that would be burned into Phineas' memory added to
his multitude of failures. "Nyoka." She said with an undercurrent of warning. The red haired hunter threw up her hands in surrender. She and the others scattered like sprats when the lights came on. Then it was just the two of them. Neither of them spoke for a while. "Captain," ADA announced "we're on final approach to the orbital lab." "Thanks, ADA. What a long strange trip it's been." She said at last sitting down beside him. "That's putting it mildly." There was a long pause. "I can't possibly thank you enough for saving me." Phineas said. "Hey now, you saved me. It was high time I returned the favor." Her forefinger and middle finger were splinted together and a patch of gauze was taped to her cheek. Architect knew what other injuries she was bearing. She looked thinner too- once she'd been probably the healthiest person in Halcyon now reduced to this. And it was his fault. He had put her through hell- no, he'd asked her to walk into hell and she did it willingly. She was alive, and he was alive and maybe Halcyon stood a chance. "It's funny," she went on, one hand cupping her cheek, elbow on the table. "I never thought my life would be so blown off course. I guess I believed in some plan like the good vicar." Phineas listened a moment surprised he wasn't hearing the pattering and voices of the crew. "Not to discount the vicar but our survival was never in fate's hands." His hand was on the table and she placed hers on it. "I was glad to help. But I have to ask. Why me? I figured you'd want a scientist or a gunfighter or something like that." Why did she have to ask him that? Phineas took a breath. "You were uncorrupted by the Board, for one, as I said. A scientist or a gunfighter might want to do things his or her own way. They might have turned me in." She tilted her head and there was a faint smile on her face. "So you picked a random person of no importance." Phineas twiddled his thumbs."It sounds cruel when you put it like that but yes. Are you offended?" She shook her head.
"You're not expendable." he reassured her. "I figured someone of the working class would stand up to oppression and hopefully not be persuaded by the Board's promises." She digested his words in silence. "Well with Akande gone and Rockwell on my side maybe between the three of us we can do something. I'll drop in on Rockwell and talk to him." "I'm still surprised you got him to stand down." "I think he's scared of me." She grinned "But what about you? I can still visit, right?" Phineas considered it a moment "I'd like that. If I have time I'd like to explore your tactical time dilation in depth." His associate grinned "Okay! It's a date."