AN: Sorry this took me so long to post out. My poor beta-reader is being overwhelmed with me, chores and school. But then so I am! Argg, school has started and thus everything is slow. Promise to get chapter seven up as soon as I can. Thanks you all loyal readers who are putting up with me and my lateness.
TO: ElvenRanger- e-mail me, buddy,
when you're ready to beta again. I won't send anything to you until you're
read. Cross my heart and hope to die… well not die…
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Chapter
Six- Everyone Lies, Everyone Hurts
Alyson moved her
hands in the darkness of the brig. She was looking for something sharp to free
her hands and had so far been unsuccessful.
Alyson pressed her feet
against the ground, ignored the pain that shot through her as the rope dug deep
into her ankles, and pushed herself against the wall.
She moved her hands, trying to feel for something sharp. If she could just find
something to break the ropes bonding her arms!
Alyson cursed as she came up
empty. She'd been at it for at least two days now and there had been nothing,
nothing sharp enough to free her. Even though she didn't know what she'd do
once she was free, but first thing was first.
Alyson sighed and closed her
eyes, fighting back tears of frustration. Her stomach growled
for food. She hadn't had anything to eat since her first night on the Destroyer
and it wasn't likely she'd get anything soon, either.
She pushed herself back so she could lean her head against a wall. Her hands
were covered in her own blood from when the ropes had dug deep into skin and
the same went for her boots. Alyson groaned and shifted her weight against the
wall ever so slightly…
And instantly lunged forward
with a howl of pain. Something sharp had dug into her back! Carefully, Alyson
leaned backwards and used the hands tied behind her back to feel for whatever
had poked her.
Triumph soared through her
veins when her hands encircled a sharp, metal piece of an object sticking out
of the wood of the wall. She could tell from the feel it would definitely be
sharp enough to free her hands.
Twisting her back, Alyson
looped the rope around the wonder, amazing metal thing so it was in between her
two hands and touching the rope. Slowly, Alyson began to move her hands and
wrists.
Alyson bit back a curse as the
metal object cut into her skin as well as the rope. She told herself she could
endure the pain if it meant escaping. She forced herself to stare at the
moonlight and ignore the pain as she worked herself free.
Suddenly, the ropes around her
wrists gave away with a snap. Alyson gasps as blood rushed into her hands.
After having her circulation cut off for two days, the sensation was odd, but
it made her feel better.
Alyson reached down to tear
free the bonds on her feet. Even though her hands were no longer bonded, every
movement she made was agonizing on her wrists, which still toted the wounds
given to them from the ropes. After she threw the ropes binding her legs away,
she rubbed them and wondered if she could walk on them.
"It's
better then staying here." Alyson muttered and gathered her courage. Then
she forced herself to her feet.
Pain surged through her legs
and she collapsed onto the ground. She could walk, but it would be extremely painful.
She sighed and rubbed her legs once more. If enduring the pain meant escaping
then so be it, but how would she escape?
Alyson looked up at the barred
sun-window. Maybe if she could found someway to climb to the top of the brig,
she could push open the window and slid out.
But there seemed to be no way
to climb up. Alyson's eyes scanned the small notches in the wall with unease.
If she climbed up the wall then she wouldn't reach the barred window for it was
in the middle of the ceiling. Alyson groaned when she realized she'd have to
jump for it.
Alyson stood and limped over
to the side of the wall. Giving a small cry of pain, Alyson placed her foot in
a tiny notch and gripped the one above it with her aching wrists. Slowly, she
began to climb.
When she ran out of notches
she found that she was only a few inches away from the barred window. Gripping
the wall-notch with one hand, Alyson leaned outward and stretched her bloody
hand. She gave a colourful curse when she fell short just an inch.
Alyson placed her hand back on the notch in the wall and pressed her head
against the wood of the wall. What am I going to do now? she
wondered. It was obvious she'd have to jump for the window, but how was she
going to open it when she was clinging to it?
She chewed on her lips and a plan began to form in her mind. It was very
dangerous, if she fell she'd die, if someone heard her jump she'd die… so many
things could go wrong. But truly what choice did she have? It was likely she'd
be killed anyway, so it was better to die trying to escape then meekly waiting
for it.
With that in mind, Alyson
twisted her body so she was looking at the barred window. Loathing herself,
Alyson pushed herself from the wall. She thrust her hands out towards the bars
and prayed she would reach it.
Hope and pain mixed as her
fingers wrapped around the metal of the bar. Her body swung like a leaf in the
wind as she gritted her teeth. Pain was searing through her fingers as the
metal dug into her skin. She bit back a howl as she tried to make herself more
comfortable hanging from the bars. It was futile.
Time to
begin phase two, Alyson thought. She began to swing her legs back and
forth. At first, it was hard to make herself move
because every movement made the metal dig harder into her skin. She ignored the
pain and began to increase her tempo.
She felt the barred window begin to slide across the upper deck. As she
listened to metal scrape against wood, she prayed that none of Nathaniel's
lackeys heard that ripping noise. If they did, she was as good as dead.
Finally, after what seemed
like hours of playing swing, Alyson felt the gap was wide enough for her to fit
through. She worked her aching fingers over to the edge of the barred window.
Then she removed one hand, gripped the bars tightly with the other, and thrust
it through the gap. Her now-free hand moved around the deck for something to
grab hold of. When her fingers were tightly gripping a crack in the ship,
Alyson allowed her other hand to move through the gap as well.
Then she began to heave
herself up. She pressed her stomach against the deck as she tried to pull
herself out. She hooked a leg onto the deck and managed to pull her entire body
up. She lay on the deck on her back, her chest heaving and her body absorbing
pain from her escape to freedom.
Even though her whole body was
aching, Alyson felt herself smile. She had escaped! Now all she had to do was
find a way off the ship and she'd be home free.
At exactly that moment, Alyson heard the heavy thud of boots against wood. Her
body shot up and recoiled in pain. She strained to hear the noise again as soon
as the blood had stopped pounding in her ears.
Yes, she hadn't been imagining
things. There was someone coming! Panic danced in her stomach as she hastily
looked around for somewhere to hide.
As the thuds got closer to her, Alyson dived behind the artificial-gravity
generator and pressed her back against the metal of it. She pressed a hand to
her beating chest and tried to make her breathing soundless as the thuds
finally seemed to be right besides her.
Damnit! The thought ran through Alyson's mind. She'd forget to move the barred
window back into place! What if whoever was moving towards noticed it? They'd
surely figure out she had escaped. Maybe if she ran for it, she could push the
window back into place before whoever was walking towards her came.
Alyson craned her neck around
so she could see who coming towards her. Rough-neck the pirate swaggered
towards the spot where Alyson hid, looking as if he'd had a little too much
ale. Alyson could feel herself relax just a bit; if Rough-neck was drunk then
maybe he wouldn't notice the gap where she had escaped.
"Why we keep the woman,
anyways?" Rough-neck muttered to himself and Alyson felt herself pale when
she realized her was talking about her, "Get rid of her, I say. Last thing
we want is an angry Jim Hawkins on our trail."
She bit on her lip, so they
were thinking about killing her. She had suspected as much when they had
stopped feeding her. Maybe they hoped she'd starve to death. A grim smile
worked its way to Alyson's lips: won't they be surprised to find her gone in
the morning?
Rough-neck walked away,
muttering and swaying as he did so. Alyson listened for what seemed like hours
until his sound had disappeared entirely. Then she shot to her feet and looked
around her. The cost was clear.
Alyson began to run. She knew
from when she had first been kidnapped that there was a stairway in the middle
of the two masses of the ship. She prayed that that lead to the smaller boats
and not the galley… if the stairway did lead to the galley, well then she would
probably be killed.
She glanced around her once
more before ducking down the stairs. The room she entered was dark and, to
Alyson's relief, it had two boats connected to the floor.
She moved to the boat on the left side of the room and bent down to untie the
rope that kept the boat secured to the floor of the ship. She cursed as her
numb fingers fumbled on the rope. Finally the rope slid from the hook in the
ground and Alyson threw it into the boat. Then she scurried over to the back of
the room, where she knew the control panel for the floor of the room was.
There had to be at least a
hundred buttons, Alyson thought in disbelief. And there were no names on them!
How was she going to tell which one opened the floor and lowered the boat free?
So she guessed there was only
one way to go about this. Alyson closed her eyes, moved her hand around in a
circle, and then pressed the button her finger landed on. She gave a genuine smile
when she heard the gears turn and felt the rush of cool air entering a hot
room. She decided to try her luck even more and pressed the button next to the
one she had just pressed. Alyson turned and watched as her boat began to lower.
Just as Alyson moved for the
boat, there was a strangled cry from the stairway and Alyson knew she had been
discovered. Panic replaced her hope as she ran for the boat. Heavy boots
pounded against the wooden stairs as she got closer the boot. She was almost
sure she was home free when her hand gripped the side of the small boat and she
began to pull herself into it.
But then suddenly rough hands
gripped her shoulders and she was being pulled away from her freedom. Alyson
howled and fought. She scratched the hands the held her captive and watched
with a sickening thud as her boat to freedom floated into space without her.
Tears flew from Alyson eyes as she fought even harder.
But finally her only escape
disappeared from view and her body collapsed. She slumped against her capture
and began to sob.
"I told you the girl was nothin' but trouble!" Came
Rough-neck's voice from right behind her ear.
"Oy,
wonder what the boss'll do now? If she keep escapin' we can't keep her
around." Came a voice behind Alyson and
Rough-neck.
"I'll take her to see the
boss now." Rough-neck called and then forced Alyson to turn around. He
flashed her a grin of yellow teeth before saying,
"You in trouble now, missy. The boss'll get ya
good."
Alyson shouted every cursed
she knew at him and brought her foot back. Then she kneed him, hard, in the
groin. Colourful cusses that burned Alyson's ears came from the foul-mouthed
pirate. As the curses became even more vicious, Alyson felt herself flush.
"Oh, you'll pay for
that." Rough-neck hissed, pulling Alyson towards the stairs, "If that
is, Captain Nathaniel doesn't kill ya first."
Alyson thrust her chin out and
pretended not to be moved by Rough-neck's words. In her mind, she decided she'd
rather be forced to answer to Captain Randolph Nathaniel then to be left alone
with Rough-neck.
Nathaniel's chambers were
located on the top floor of the Destroyer. Alyson's back stiffened as the door
to his chambers burst open and out strode a sleep-rumbled Nathaniel, followed
by the pirate that had helped capture Alyson again.
Nathaniel gave Alyson a cool
look before turning his gaze to Rough-neck, "She escape on your
watch?" he asked, almost in an innocent drawl. That innocence had the skin
on the back of her neck crawling. The pirate Randolph Nathaniel was not an
innocent man. He was evil, wicked.
Besides her Rough-neck
stiffened as well, "Um… yeah… I mean… yes, sir, but I didn't…"
"There shall be no dinner
rations for you for three days, Rough-neck. Now get back down and patrol the
deck. And keep an eye open this time." Nathaniel said, his voice losing
its innocent edge.
"But, sir-"
Rough-neck started instantly.
Nathaniel held up at hand,
"Want to make it three days with no food at all, Rough-neck? No? Good.
Bring the girl in and get going."
Rough-neck growled and threw
Alyson bodily into the room. She crashed into the floor and gritted her teeth
in pain. As she pulled herself onto her feet, Rough-neck stormed out.
Glancing around her, Alyson
saw that Nathaniel's chambers were really no different from Jim's on the Fate.
A bed pushed off into the side of the room, a desk and chair in the middle of
the room, a wardrobe besides the bed, and big bay windows in the back of the
room. All-in-all it didn't practically scream 'pirate'.
"Well, Mrs.
Hawkins," Nathaniel said in his innocent drawl, "looks like you're
worthy of being James Hawkins's wife after all. At first, when you didn't
immediately try to escape, I thought maybe James had made a mistake with you,
but I don't think so now. If you hadn't made so much noise lowering the boat
you would've escape. Luckily for me, Rough-neck may be dumb but he's
quick."
Alyson shot him a glare. He's
handsome, she realized. She hadn't seen it before, but she saw it now. And it
made her sick to now had she not known that he was a pirate and that he must
likely planned to kill her, she would've been charmed by him.
"You won't get away with
this. Jim will hunt you down and kill you." Alyson bared her teeth at him,
"If I don't kill you first, that is."
Nathaniel chuckled, "I'm
not so worried about you or James. You'll be tied up again soon and I'm a lot
bigger then you. And as for James," A smile played across Nathaniel's
lips, "he's busy with those murders on Zione."
"You know about
them?" Alyson whispered. Her face paled. Had Nathaniel been watching her
and Jim? Had he been studying their every move? Waiting for the right time to
attack? The very thought of someone watching over her made her sick to her
stomach. But she refused to throw up in front of them.
Now Nathaniel laughed, loud
and boomed, "My dear, I killed them. Of course I knew about them."
Alyson was going to be sick in
any moment; she knew it, "How could you? They… they hadn't done anything
to you…"
The pirate captain shrugged
casually, "It was simple enough to do it. You see, dear, I knew I had to
get Jim away from you so I could take you. So of course I needed some big crime
Jim would have to investigate. That had me stumped for months. There seemed to
be no way to drag Jim away from you, but then low-and-behold I received word
that five important members of Project Space-Twister where visiting Zione to
try out their new machine. I saw the perfect opportunity. Killing those
professors would be a blow to the Academy and they would ask their finest to
investigate the murders. Thus Jim would be called. It was even better when I
found out you were going to Venkar. It was to easy to
kidnap you and finally abstract my revenge."
"What did Jim ever do to
you?" Alyson whispered in horror, "You knew you'd have him chasing you
if you went into crime. Why do you hate Jim so much and not anyone else that's
ever chased you?"
Something twisted inside her
as Nathaniel's eyes darkened. He grabbed her roughly and pulled her against
him. Alyson screamed and struggled against him, trying to pry herself away.
"What
he did to me!?" Nathaniel growled in her ear, "I'll tell you
what he did."
Nathaniel dragged Alyson over to the chair behind his desk. He forced her into
it and she gripped the sides of the chair so hard her knuckles turned white.
"You think your James's
is some kind of wonderful hero? Think you married a man of honor? Well, I'm
about to burst your pretty little bubble." Nathaniel paced the room and
Alyson looked around the room. She realized in horror that there was nothing in
the room she could use as a weapon if the pirate decided to hurt her.
"Now," Nathaniel
began, "even when I was young I wasn't good. My father was a pirate and so
was his father before him. A whole family of pirates.
It was only natural that I would as well."
So by the time young Spacer
James Hawkins showed up to track down the bad of the bad, I already had a
reputation. At first, I was amused by Jim. He was the only Spacer to ever come
close to catching me and he kept on going at it. I was enjoying myself."
About seven years ago, I was laying low from Jim on the planet Diedo. I was hanging out at the local pub when I saw her.
Her name was Gina Rodriguez and she was a waitress for the bar. I knew I would
have to have her. So I used all my charm to bring her around. At first Gina
didn't want anything to do with me, knowing I was a no good pirate, but she
eventually came around and I married her."
I still pirated with my crew,
but because I was now married I always took Gina with me. She wasn't pleased by
my bootlegging, mind you, but she didn't say anything. I was so smitten with
her that I would've stopped pirating had she only asked. But she didn't. So I
kept on doing what I did."
And then, after two years of
our marriage, she gave birth to a son who we named Jonathon. At that point, I
wanted to stop my crime spree but I was in to-deep and I had no other way to
put food on our table. And since Gina didn't say anything about my job, I
didn't stop. I just wanted to make my wife and son happy."
And then five years after the
birth of Jonathon, James Hawkins tracked me down again. At this point I was far
to consumed with wife and child to bothering playing around with some Spacer.
So I decided I'd rid myself once on for all of Hawkins. I had him chase me to the
forest planet in the Raeford Galaxy, where I planned to kill him."
So I sent my wife and son back to our hideout, since I did not want them to see
this. But somehow Jim figured out about Gina and Jonathon's ship and planted a
bomb in it that would explode as soon as it left the atmosphere. Knowing it
would hurt me, James planted the bomb. He knew two innocents would die just so
he could get his man."
I close my eyes and I still
see the fire and wreckage that had once held my son and wife. I can still smell
their burning flesh and hear their screams of pain. I knew, once I had escaped
from James, that I would avenge their deaths. They would not die in vain. I
would make Jim pay."
Then only two months after
that, I heard Jim had gotten married to you. I knew my chance had finally come.
All I had to do was take you away from James and he would suffer as I had
suffered. Weep as I had wept. All I had to do was get away from James… and you
know the rest of the story…"
Alyson's face was as white as
a sheet. With shaky breath she whispered, "You're lying! Jim… Jim wouldn't
do… he wouldn't… do that! He… he isn't like you!"
Nathaniel laughed harshly,
"Have you been living in a fairy-tale all your life?" he asked her,
"Well, Mrs. Hawkins, I'm going to teach you a lesson in life. Everyone
lies, everyone hurts. No one in this galaxy is innocent. There is only the
good, the bad and the people who are used. You are in category C."
"No." Alyson
whispered helplessly.
"Are you telling me you
haven't hurt anyone?" Nathaniel asked, "Lied to anyone?"
Alyson closed her eyes and
thought of Sir Rubin of Maryland, who had once ruled the tribe of Maryland on
Earth. She had killed him to save Jim, but then Sir Rubin had only been trying
to save his tribe. He had died believing what he had been doing was right.
Nathaniel was right, she had hurt someone.
A laugh told her Nathaniel
knew, too, "I can see by your face that you have. See, Mrs. Hawkins? No
one is innocent."
Nathaniel strode over to his
door and yanked it open. A fellow pirate stood outside the door and saluted
Nathaniel.
"Take Mrs. Hawkins to the
room next to mine and make sure she can't get out. Feed her all three meals
from now on." Nathaniel turned and grinned at Alyson, "It will be
better to kill her on our hideout planet and send her body parts to James in a
box."
"Aye,
aye, Captain." The pirate drone said and moved to take Alyson from
the room.
Alyson was in so much shock
she didn't even bother to fight back. She allowed herself to be dragged away
and then placed in a room right besides Nathaniel's room. The room was exactly
like Nathaniel's except there was only a bed and a wardrobe and there were no
windows, only walls and a door.
Once the pirate had left the
room, Alyson slumped to the carpet and her shoulders shook with sobs.
Jim didn't do that, Alyson
told herself, it must've been a mistake. He wouldn't do it on purpose. Jim is a
good person. She was almost entirely convinced Jim was innocent of purposely
killing Nathaniel's son and wife. But Nathaniel's words still lingered in her
mind.
Everyone lies, everyone hurts.
So she thought of the woman
who had married Nathaniel and had his son. Why would she do that? Why would she
endanger the life of an innocent child for a man as evil as the devil himself?
She couldn't see how this Gina-person was mature. If she had agreed to run of
with such a dangerous man how mature could she be. And when she had given birth
hadn't the thought of her child's safety make her want to break free from
Nathaniel? It would've been like that for Alyson had she been stupid enough to
end up in that position in the first place.
She pressed a trembling hand
to her forehead. What was she going to do now? There was no possible way to
escape now. She was trapped in this room until someone let her go… and that
would probably only happen when someone came to feed her… and since she didn't
have any kind of weapon she couldn't attack her feeder and free herself… or to
take her to the hideout planet Nathaniel had been.
At the thought of the planet
hideout Nathaniel had been talk about, Alyson shivered. He had said he was
going to kill her on the planet. And from the way he had talk, her death didn't
sound painless. In fact, it sounded as if it would be like torture. And what
little pieces were left of her mangled body would be sent to Jim.
"Don't think about."
Alyson commanded herself, "Jim would come for me long before that happened
and Nathaniel will be put in jail."
But Jim was busy on Zione. How
would he know to look for her if he didn't know she was even kidnapped? If
Seymour had died… at that thought Alyson shuddered… then no one would know
something had happened to her until their week on Venkar had ended. And by then
Alyson would probably be long dead.
She collapsed onto the floor,
sobbing. She felt so helpless and she hated it. She wanted to rant and scream,
but she was exhausted all she could do was cry.
Please, Jim, she thought as
she slipped into unconsciousness, come and get me. I want to see you again. I
want to kiss you.
I love you, Jim, she though
before she collapsed into the blackness of dead sleep.
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That's it! All done. So whatdoya think? Stay tuned for Chapter Seven: Depression where Jim shows the aduiance why he has a repution as a mean Spacer! Until then R&R!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!
"If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank."- Woody Allen
-Lizzy Rebel
