CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Freedom
PART THREE...Relief ...
Vanessa, still held by the men in her room, stared with a small smile at the greenery outside. "I would say, 'I can die now,' but something tells me you aren't going to kill me." She blinked through her eyeglass lenses, never attempting to get loose from the grips of the four large men. "A life of experimentation? Will you use me for something? Go ahead, tell me, I'll figure it out soon."
"We hate to see you suicidal, Vanessa," the calm, standing man commented softly. "Don't you value your life at all?"
She snickered. "The life of a thing that was never meant to exist. I value it. But is there a life to have?"
Suddenly all arms left her and Vanessa felt the rush of cool air surround her. There she knelt, with the glasses upon her nose. Slowly, she turned to glare into the face of the calm man.
He had his arms crossed and looked down upon her with a touch of impatience. "You're not going to kill yourself, are you. Not now. We have a job for you on this planet, one that you'll not only enjoy, you'll find purpose in. If you turn down the position, you may well be free to go." He handed her a stack of papers, odd in this setting, and stood back. "Read it over and make your decision. Given your special situation, we will allow you to exit the ship, should you decline." He walked after the other men, exiting the room. "I doubt you will," he muttered, before the door shuttered closed between himself and the plant woman.
The calm man let an audible sigh of relief and paced away.
OXO
Upon a stiff couch in a dim waiting room, Vash twiddled his thumbs. He had no clue how long he'd been there, maybe hours.
In fact, the time span was a mere ten minutes, but to a man assuming his freedom was about to end, reality was warped considerably. Vash was remarkably calm, however, and was nearly accepting of this loss. The humans were safe on a more hospitable planet now. Knives was safe, the humans were safe - the task was completed as efficiently as he could imagine. That Vanessa was swept into the storm of the drama was regrettable, but he assumed she was in a happier way now.
After that pause, Vash scrambled to find a pad of paper in a nearby desk and a pen. He wrote all he could. In tiny print, he wrote a gorgeous goodbye to his friends and to Tessla.
He was quick with his vast words, and managed to write several pages for each person he wanted to. But he had so many friends, so many happy faces he wanted to say goodbye to. Holding the cube of paper in his hand, he frowned to note that there weren't enough pages in it for all the things he wanted to say.
He would have cried, but that would have made it harder to write.
The door shuttered open and a short man, head hung low, stepped out. He seated himself on an opposite couch. Why he was there, Vash couldn't understand. He just shoved the note papers in his pocket, ready to make his request, that they be delivered to their intended recipients.
"Mr. Saverem, come into my office."
Obedient and somber, he shuffled toward the woman's deep voice. He sat gingerly, folding his hands upon his lap in a humble manner. Slowly, deliberately, he forced himself to meet her eyes.
She was glaring at him with a rage well hidden from her voice. "Do you know why you've been pulled aside, sir?"
Vash nodded slightly, face as innocent as ever.
"Good. Then you understand what we'll have to do."
A man stomped toward him. He gripped Vash's arm and instructed him not to move an inch, and to place his other hand with palm flat upon the desk before him.
Gulping the fear further down his throat, Vash obeyed this as well. He didn't even swivel his head to the left, to see the man cut away his shirt sleeve and bend down to stare.
"You have no idea how it offends me, as the head of security on this ship, that a rebel like you would go this long hiding it." The woman brushed her short hair behind her ears before continuing on her low, calmed tirade. "Normally this would get you jailed, sir. However, against my better judgment, I am not able to press charges. Laws are fuzzy between space and the surface, still. But you will be fined twenty thousand credits immediately, without trial, and your contraband will be confiscated and disposed of properly."
A loud metal click marked the moment, and the great weight disappeared from his left shoulder.
"Granted, this is an amazing device you have here, that you've gone this long without us suspecting anything," she continued. "But to carry a fully loaded, semi automatic weapon with primitive and completely destructive gunpowder ammunition...I am horrified to think of what may have transpired. You are a lucky man, Mr. Saverem."
Vash stood, minus an arm, hiding the biggest grin of his life. "Yes I am, miss."
She scowled again, narrowed her eyes, and dismissed him.
One-armed and beaming, Vash bounded down the halls and into the sun.
OXO
Vash knelt in plush grass, being hugged by a little girl, a little woman, and a big woman all at once. The group just held each other tight for that glorious moment, staring at flowers and trees while grasping onto each other for gravity. They'd made it. This was no hologram or geo-plant or bio-dome. This was Earth.
OXO
Had Vanessa exited the ship that day, she would have stumbled upon Vash & company quite awkwardly. But things didn't happen that way, and Vanessa became truly separate from her 'family' for the first time since Knives had 'kidnapped' her. This time was no kidnapping.