Never Hurts To Help

Chapter Eight: The Competitor

Sylvia and Wander are planning to spend the evening before they get to their destination. Let's see how they handle making dinner together.

I have a lovely long chapter for you! Enjoy!

The small planetoid looked reasonably habitable, green and brown with dense foliage and several winding rivers. It was only about the size of the town they'd snuck through on the last planet, and there didn't seem to be any indigenous inhabitants aside from a few birds and some little animals hopping around.

Sylvia parked her stolen ship behind a grove of trees. She was pretty sure they hadn't been followed, but she liked to stay unobtrusive.

Wander bounced out of the ship as soon as it stopped. He scurried all around the surrounding area, admiring flowers, greeting some birds who were nesting in a nearby tree and making appreciative noises about the planet. Sylvia would have been worried about him escaping, but she knew better by now. He wasn't going anywhere.

That still bothered her, but she did her best to ignore it as she inspected the innards of the spaceship, just to make sure her hurried hotwiring hadn't caused some problem. Everything looked alright, if pretty messy, and she took some time to neaten out the wires and make sure the panel was properly attached. She also found some battered cooking implements in the back of the ship, along with a small tent and some other supplies.

She heard banjo music and looked up to find that Wander had gotten a fire going while she'd been busy. He was sitting cross-legged on a rock next to the crackling flames, eyes closed as he played. As she watched, two birds and a small lizard edged closer, as though they were listening.

Sylvia rolled her eyes, stomping over so the animals scattered. Wander's fingers paused and he cracked his eyes open, smiling up at her in that familiar way he had. Sylvia pretended she didn't notice the smile. She dropped the cooking utensils next to him with a clatter.

"Well, this'll be better than finding a flat rock or something to cook on," she observed. She eyed the fire for a moment, then the gap between the trees where she could see the glistening of sunlight on one of the rivers. Finally, her gaze moved to Wander, who was now bending over and inspecting her finds. He poked one orange finger into the rust-hole that seemed to go all the way through one of the pans. Forcing herself into action, Sylvia picked up the biggest pot, which was slightly rusty but didn't seem to have any actual holes. She thrust it at Wander so that he dropped the pan he'd been poking at and took it in both hands. "If you want to help, go fill this with water," she instructed gruffly. "I'm going to see what I can dig up."

"Okey-doke!" Wander's grin widened until he was beaming up at her. He wrapped his arms around the pot, holding it steady, and headed off toward the river, turning slightly to give her a wave as he entered the trees.

Sylvia watched him disappear, fighting not to go after him. As soon as he was out of sight, she sat down abruptly on the same rock he'd been playing on earlier. She wasn't sure why she'd done that, only that she needed a moment to herself so that she could think without those eyes and that smile focused on her. Her instincts were screaming at her that she was making a mistake, being an idiot letting him go off like that. He could be escaping right now, and she'd be saying goodbye to enough money to set her for life. She should go and bring him back right now, make sure he was secure and then wait for morning. She only had one more day until the handoff, and then she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore.

She tore her eyes away from the tree line, settling them on the orange and yellow of the campfire. The flickering flames seemed to lap at the wood, much as her worries were doing to her insides. She felt raw and strange, but suddenly, inexplicably, she felt tired. She felt that same tired feeling she'd experienced in the spaceship creeping over her for the second time, but stronger now. Wander was out there filling the pot, probably whistling and smiling to himself. Soon he'd be back, completely unconcerned about his plight.

She almost wished he would escape. That would at least make everything simple for her again.

She'd been living this life for what seemed like forever, basically since she'd left home unprepared and too young to know it, lost everything to some glorping thugs on the first planet she stopped on, and had to pick herself up out of the gutter they'd left her in.

She had picked herself up, and she'd taken the lesson for what it was. She'd been determined not to go home, hadn't even been sure she could, so she'd had to learn to make it out here. It had been a rough road with many pitfalls and she'd fallen in them over and over, and had to dig her way out of them every time. And she had.

She'd learned to count on herself and not to trust anybody else. She'd learned to take advantage of others before they took advantage of her. She'd learned to turn a profit any way she could and even to enjoy the chases and struggles, the deadly games inherent to her line of work. She knew she could handle herself and that had been exhilarating.

She didn't feel exhilarated right now. She felt tired and numb and almost sick.

One more day.

Then what? Hand him over like she'd said she was going to?

It wasn't her problem, right? Wander was the one who'd gotten a galactic villain angry enough to post a massive, almost unheard-of bounty on his head. That was his fault, his hard luck. You made enemies and you beat those enemies or you suffered the consequences. Lady Infinite was the enemy he'd made, she was the one who was hunting him. Whatever she was planning to do when she got him, well, that was none of Sylvia's business.

Sylvia hadn't caused the situation, she was just the go-between.

Why didn't that make her feel any better?

She supposed she could let him go, but that was stupid. And useless. She'd be giving up on the money; the money that would let her pay off her debts and then some, the money that would finally get her out of living in slums and scuzzy hotels, scraping to get by.

Besides, he was bound to get caught again. His bounty was so high he was always going to have people after him, and he was too nice and friendly and helpful to manage in the galaxy on his own. She'd be giving up her chance to retire rich and some other bounty hunter was going to catch Wander and turn him in anyway.

There was no point.

She heard a rustle from the direction Wander had gone, then a thump, followed by more rustling and what sounded like a murmur. Voices? And then, suddenly a sound that had her starting up from her seat, crest standing sharply up on her head.

"Silviaaa!?"

Sylvia was already running before Wander's yell had fully registered. He sounded frightened. She hadn't heard Wander frightened before, not when Killbot Eighty-five had grabbed him and not when the guy whose ship they'd stolen had been shooting at them. Sylvia tore into the trees and through them to the edge of the river. There she halted, looking wildly up and down the river, and across it where the forest continued.

No one was in sight, but when she looked down, she could see the pot Wander had been carrying, sunk to the bottom and showing clearly in the shallow water.

Sylvia held herself still, listening. She couldn't hear Wander calling for her anymore, which was worrying. She didn't think he'd encountered a wild animal. Whoever had come across him had been trying to be quiet, and had probably silenced Wander's yelling. That indicated a bounty hunter and she wanted to slap herself.

Someone had been following them, must have seen them land and had taken the opportunity to grab Wander when she, like an idiot, had let him go off by himself.

Where would they have gone?

Sylvia crouched on the riverbank, trying to think, her eyes still roving up and down, examining the trees on either side of the river. She'd been noisy in her approach, but very fast. They wouldn't have had time to go far, so they were probably hiding close by, waiting for her to go off in the wrong direction before they moved, especially since they had a captive with them.

She had no intention of doing that.

They must have a ship. Where would they have landed it? This was a small planet. It must be on the other side where she wouldn't have heard or seen it come down. With that in mind, Sylvia kept an eye on the other side of the river. The foliage was denser over there, providing plenty of cover. Abruptly, she stood, turning as though heading to the left down the bank, then she spun on her heal and leaped the stream, landing squarely on the other side with a whump. She heard a startled exclamation and plunged into the trees before whoever it was could move out of the way.

She found herself facing off against a tandra, hairy and wiry, lean and muscled under her course, blond fur. Sharp tusks stuck out on either side of her mouth, framing her small eyes and large, flat nose. She was several inches taller than Sylvia, including her four rabbit-like ears, but crouching now, and not looking too happy at being found. She was carrying Wander under one arm. He had ropes wrapped around his arms and torso, a cloth stuffed into his mouth to keep him quiet, but he somehow managed to look happy when he saw her. The tandra's other hand held a sleek blaster of a kind Sylvia didn't recognize, and despite the surprise of her entrance, it was already pointed straight at her.

Unfortunately, she wasn't a complete stranger. Sylvia had encountered her before, though rarely, and they'd never exactly faced off on those occasions. Her name was Merge, if Sylvia was remembering correctly, not that she particularly cared at the moment, and she had a bit of a reputation of her own on a lot of the more populated, but less civilized worlds, the kind of places that liked to make their own rules.

"Well, well, Sylvia the zbornak." Merge's voice was slightly grating. "Not like you to let a bounty get away from you like that, but finder's keepers in any case." She grinned, but Sylvia could tell she wasn't as at ease as she was pretending.

"Not like you to get yourself into a fight you can't win," Sylvia retorted. She glanced at Wander again, trying to assess his condition. He didn't look hurt, at least, and now that she was here, he didn't even look very frightened any more. He gave a little wriggle as though trying to get an arm out to wave, and Merge tightened her grip on him.

"Don't know about that," she mused, still in that forced casual voice. "It's only a fight if you can get to me, past this beauty." She gestured slightly with her blaster. "But we don't need to make things ugly," she continued. "Why don't you just take off, head back to your ship and leave the little guy to me? You wouldn't know what to do with the money you'd get for him anyway."

Sylvia wasn't really listening. She knew enough about Merge to know that being on the wrong end of her blaster was a bad idea. Sylvia was a brawler and she'd met only a few people who could go toe to toe with her in a head-on fight. The tandra wasn't one of them, but she was a dead shot. Sylvia had to close the distance quickly, get inside Merge's guard so she wouldn't be able to adjust her aim in time.

That in mind, Sylvia shifted her weight slightly, noting the way Merge adjusted the blaster to follow her.

"You know," Sylvia started. "I heard you do most of your hunting in big cities. It took a lot of money to lure you out into the wilderness."

"What about it?" Merge snapped. She sounded less calm now, as though she knew Sylvia was about to make a move, not that it would do her much good.

"I'd wager you're not that comfortable with the terrain." Sylvia ducked sideways sharply on the last word, hearing the blaster discharge and the sizzle as the laser ate into the tree she'd slipped behind. She backed deeper into the dense foliage, moving at an angle, hearing Merge swearing, her blaster firing in what sounded like several different directions.

Sylvia bent low to avoid the wide shots, braced herself on another handy tree trunk, and launched herself back towards her opponent, but from the other side this time. She hit Merge in the back, sending the tandra forward into the bushes, blaster spinning out of her hand across the ground. She lost her grip on Wander and Sylvia took another step so she was firmly in front of him, confidence returning along with a smirk. Merge scrabbled for her lost blaster, but Sylvia closed with her before she could get her hands on it. She landed several good hits with each of her ladies, avoiding the clumsy swings from the panicking tandra. One final blow to the side of her head and the bounty hunter collapsed, unconscious.

Sylvia paused, taking several deep breaths. She reached into the bushes to retrieve the fallen blaster, taking out the power cell before breaking the weapon under her foot.

Then she turned to Wander.

The little alien was lying on his side, the ropes binding him preventing him from rising. Sylvia pulled the gag out, snapping the ropes with two sharp yanks. Wander waved happily to her as soon as he was free, climbing to his feet and stretching his limbs.

"Hi Sylvia!" he said brightly. "Thanks fer savin' me! D'ya know her?"

"Not really." Sylvia was using the remains of Wander's ropes to tie the tandra's wrists and ankles. She wasn't averse to killing, but she didn't plan to dispatch of someone who was already unconscious. Besides, she'd thought of a way to throw off any other bounty hunters who might be following their trail. She hefted Merge's body, throwing it over her shoulder. "Come on," she instructed, already heading into the trees again. "Let's see if we can find her ship."

It took only about five minutes of walking before they emerged into a small clearing, a needle-nosed, purple and yellow spaceship sitting in the middle of it on the rough brown rock.

The ship looked well cared for, and Sylvia was tempted to trade it for the one they'd rode in on, but she found herself thinking about Wander again; how sad he'd been when she'd decided to steal the ship, and when she told him she wasn't going to return it.

Grudgingly, she dug the keys out of Merge's pocket, unlocking the door and dumping the bound body on the floor. Then she climbed inside as well, examining the controls.

"What're you doing?" Wander asked curiously from outside.

Sylvia had her head under the control panel by now, messing with the autopilot. She spoke without looking at him.

"I'm sending her on a little trip. That'll get her out of our business and hopefully anyone else who's been tracking us will follow this astral trail instead of ours."

"Oooooh."

Sylvia went back to work, pausing when she felt movement behind her. She pulled her head out to see that Wander was dragging his former captor into the pilot's seat, struggling to fasten the safety harness.

"What are you doing?"

"Just makin' sure she's comfy." Wander finished his work, sitting back on his heals. Sylvia rolled her eyes, sticking her head back under the control panel to finish her work. When she emerged again, Wander was sitting in the passenger seat, swinging his legs as he watched her. "Where're ya sendin' her?"

"Into the next solar system somewhere."

Wander bit his lip, casting an uneasy glance towards Merge's slumped form.

"Isn't that kinda dangerous? What if she ends up somewhere desolate an' can't get untied. She could get hurt."

"That's not our problem." Wander's eyes got big and watery and Sylvia sighed. "She'll be able to wriggle out of this once she wakes up, and she shouldn't have much trouble undoing the settings I've changed. She's a skilled bounty hunter, just not as skilled as me."

"Well, that's good!" Wander smiled again. "Maybe we'll even run into her again sometime. She wasn't the nicest person who's captured me, but I think we could be friends eventually if we got to know each other a little more." Sylvia snorted, feeling unaccountably annoyed all of a sudden. She stepped out of the small craft, pulling Wander with her by the arm, pushed the button to activate the autopilot and slammed the door shut. The ship took off with a roar, but Sylvia didn't bother to watch it go. She was watching Wander, the things he'd said bouncing around unpleasantly inside her head.

"Does this happen to you everywhere you go?" She demanded, looking pointedly down at the little alien. "Getting captured by people; I mean."

"Well, sure! But don't worry. It usually works out."

"How exactly was this 'working out'? You were completely helpless!"

"Well, because ya came ta save me! An' I sure am glad you did. Not sure that miss had the best intentions."

Sylvia opened her mouth to retort, then closed it again. She wanted to say she hadn't done it to help him, that she just didn't want another bounty hunter stealing her prisoner, that she didn't want to lose the money, but that would be a lie. She hadn't thought about the money once since she'd heard him scream. She hadn't fought the bounty hunter off to protect her asset or get her captive back. She'd been worried about Wander, not just about losing him, but about him being hurt, about him being gone.

Like a flarping idiot.

Like so many pathetic saps she'd looked down on.

She turned away, stomach twisting.

"Let's just get back to camp," she growled.

"Sounds good, Sylvia!"

Wander stuck close to her side on the way back. She tried to ignore the way he smiled and skipped and leant close to her whenever they paused.

They stopped at the stream to retrieve the pot from the riverbed, filling it with water before heading back to the campfire.

She still had to make dinner.

Sylvia sat by the fire relaxing, her belly pleasantly full for the first time since yesterday. Wander sat across from her, placidly smiling. He was playing his banjo again, but softly, fingers gently plucking at the strings.

By the time they'd gotten back to the campsite, Sylvia's thoughts had settled a bit. She pushed them to the back of her mind to deal with later. First, she was going to get something to eat. She'd decide what to do later.

Wander had enjoyed watching her cook, and enjoyed helping with it even more of course, building up the fire, handing her utensils and stirring the pot while she went to forage for more ingredients. There hadn't been any food on the ship except travel rations, even poorer quality than the ones Sylvia was carrying, so she'd rounded up some wild vegetables and mushrooms and even dug some roots to make a kind of soup in the rusty pot. Wander had made some ingredient suggestions also, and she'd found herself actually listening to him this time.

Once the soup was cooking, Wander had pulled some herb bottles from the depths of his hat and suggested using them. Sylvia had been dubious but, remembering how good his pancakes had smelled this morning, she'd given them a sniff and ended up adding a pinch or so of each, which had absolutely delighted him.

Not that delighting Wander was particularly difficult to do, as she'd noticed.

He had chatted to her companionably all while they were cooking, coming dangerously close to her chopping knife on occasion when his gesturing got more elaborate. Her responses were monosyllabic at best, but that didn't seem to bother him, and she found herself actually listening to him this time rather than trying to tune him out. Among other things, she heard a fare few stories about adventures he claimed to have had on other planets, and learned that he didn't eat meat. She supposed it was good she hadn't felt up to setting traps for any of the animals around here.

They ate the soup out of bowls from Wander's hat, since the only bowl Sylvia had found in the ship looked like its owner had never washed it. It had been pretty good for a meal made with only vegetables and they'd cleaned the pot between the two of them.

Sylvia shot Wander a glance across the fire.

This was her last night with him, assuming she was still planning to turn him over tomorrow. The fact that she wasn't sure anymore rankled at her, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

Feeling her gaze, Wander's eyes rose to meet hers, though his fingers continued playing.

"Thanks again for supper, Sylvia. Those roots sure are delicious, an' real fillin' too."

"Sure," Sylvia said blandly. "Just don't get used to it."

"Well, actually…" Wander's eyes lowered to focus on his playing for a moment before looking at her again. "I was hopin' you'd let me repay the favour tomorrow morning. I could make breakfast, since ya didn't get to eat it las' time."

'Didn't get to' wasn't exactly accurate. Sylvia had refused Wander's breakfast because she hadn't trusted him. Well, she supposed she trusted him now, even if he really shouldn't be trusting her.

"Fine." It was said quietly, and Sylvia felt a weight settle on her shoulders when the word left her lips, when Wander squealed with joy and hugged his banjo to himself.

It was late, and they would have an early morning tomorrow, so Sylvia lay down, curling her tail around herself, facing away from the confusing little alien she'd saddled herself with. Wander's playing continued for a minute, before it stopped and she heard the rustles of him snuggling into his hat.

"Goodnight, Sylvia," Wander whispered after a moment. There was a long silence only broken by the crackling of the campfire.

"…Goodnight, Wander."

Silence settled over the camp, accompanied after a few minutes with Wander's quiet snores. But despite the fact that Sylvia was no longer worried about him escaping during the night, she knew it would be a long time before she was able to sleep.

Everything Sylvia's been bothered about has been catching up to her this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed Merge and her fight with Sylvia. I felt like it was time we saw another bounty hunter.

Learning To Swim will probably be updated next. I'm really excited for where that one is going right now.

Let me know how I'm doing if you like! I love hearing what you think of my story.

See you next time!