Yolanda Sfetsos: Alex Wales: Promise

“Who are you?” The petite brunette asked, tears dripping from her eyes. Her makeup ran in matching black lines down her cheeks. She was dressed in some sort of cheesy school uniform-a white shirt and a tiny blue skirt.

“If you weren’t so high, you’d remember me. Now, come on. I’m taking you home.” She stood there for a moment, eyeing the cyborg as his body trembled.

“I. Will. Get. You.” His voice sounded mechanical, artificial, but he appeared to be repairing himself.

They had to get out, now.

“Come on.” As Alex led the girl out of the bar, the patrons they passed gave her plenty of space. No one would interfere in other people’s problems. It wasn’t as if a shoot-out or two didn’t happen in here every now and then. This bunch was used to trouble and knew when to leave it alone. Besides, she hadn’t actually killed anybody.

She spotted Sackor staring at her from across the room and looked away.

After stepping into the elevator with the stunned teenager, she hit the button to reach the top levels. Well, she would be able to reach neutral level before having to use her access card to get any higher. The loading dock would have to wait for now.

“Damn,” she whispered when she caught sight of the droplets of blood still seeping from her skin. Sackor had cut her good. Her hand stung like crazy, and the bleeding refused to stop.

“What are you going to do to me?” Michaela asked, sobbing.

“I’m not going to do anything to you,” she replied. “Your father will probably have a thing or two in mind, though.”

Alex tucked her injured hand into her pocket and tightened her other around the girl’s wrist. She couldn’t wait to get on her ship. Then, she could take care of her injury.

I really have to get out of here, before someone else decides to screw around with me today.

The troubled teenager was now safely home with a very relieved and grateful father. He’d insisted on compensating Alex for saving his daughter’s life and returning her where she belonged. This time, Alex had gladly accepted the credits. Though she doubted Michaela agreed that home was where her father was. She had no doubt the teenager would run away again the first chance she got.

Alex understood what it was like to live in a place where you didn’t belong. After all, she also ran away at a young age, but not to a pimp. Not to someone who would keep her drugged, and then sell her to the highest bidder when he tired of her. If Michaela wanted to be on her own and take charge of her own life, she had to do it right, not by falling into a life of drugs and prostitution.

I hope she learns something from what almost happened to her. Who knows why a cyborg had wanted to buy her.

Thinking about what Robbo had promised he’d do to Alex should have worried her, but it didn’t. Not half as much as Ulric’s proposition. She just couldn’t shake the fact that he actually wanted her to give up everything so she could stay with him. Somehow, she couldn’t accept that’s what he really wanted.

I wonder what he’s doing, now. She’d almost gone back to his quarters to see him, after returning Michaela, but decided if she did, she probably wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. She couldn’t let his admission affect her own feelings. Besides, she had a shipment to deliver.

She glanced at her disinfected and now bandaged left hand. By the time she’d reached Promise , a rash had spread from the cut. So, she cleaned it up as well as she could, injected a little healing serum, and could only hope for the best. Though judging by the constant burn, she doubted it would heal quickly.

Alex sighed, set the co-ordinates, and sat back in her pilot chair.

This time, she’d decided to take a different route. One she hadn’t taken before but would cut a lot of travel time, so she could reach her destination with plenty of time to spare.

There were easier ways to get to planets and space stations, but it required a hyperspace function. Something Promise didn’t have. She couldn’t space-jump from one side of the galaxy to the other, and instead had to settle for getting there the old-fashioned way.

Alex turned her attention to the circular window in front of her.

Maybe some of Sackor’s accusations about Ulric were accurate. He indeed sat in his vertical, metal shell like it was his castle. On the other hand, why shouldn’t he?

Alex wondered what she would’ve done if she had as many credits as Ulric in her account, as well as the power to rule over others. The fact that such an opportunity was practically handed to her by her mother once upon a time didn’t escape her. Though, there’d been too many strings attached-a marriage of convenience and a life with nothing but strict rules at every turn. Not to mention being stranded on her mother’s planet. No thanks.

What price did Ulric have to pay for the easy life he led? Were there secrets he kept from others? Things he’d rather no one else knew about? It didn’t matter, because it didn’t change anything. Alex couldn’t accept his proposal, no matter what. She belonged in the darkness of space, free to roam and explore.

Alone.

Anteris was now nothing more than a gray dot in the rearview monitor to her left. No bigger than the multitude of shiny stars surrounding her in the dark edge of space.

As she absently reached for the bronze key dangling from her leather choker, she cursed herself. Damn! It wasn’t where it was supposed to be. She’d probably forgotten the choker in Ulric’s bedroom. Her good luck charm was sitting in someone else’s home. No wonder everything had been going wrong since she left Ulric’s side.

She took a deep breath. Calm down, there’s no need to worry. I’m sure Ulric has already found it and is keeping it safe for me. Besides, she would return to Anteris soon enough.

The emergency lights suddenly flashed on the dashboard in front of her. Out of nowhere, everything seemed to be flashing red and green-mingling together. To have so many lights from several components blink rapidly was bad news. Alex had overhauled her ship only weeks ago, even splurged on paying a professional cleaner to make the exterior gleam. Now, everything seemed to be failing.

That wasn’t technically possible.

The ship was old, but mostly reliable.

Alex secured the seatbelt over her shoulders and around her hips. She swiveled in her seat, rolling it forward to take manual control of Promise . Most of the time, cruising on automatic did the job after she programmed the destination codes, but not with everything blinking. It had been a while since she’d completely taken over the wheel.

“Damn this!” she cursed as the colors burned into her nerves more than her eyes. What the hell was wrong? She couldn’t even get a reading on her location or what the problem with the ship was. According to the controls, everything was failing.

She switched from auto to manual control, and wrapped her right hand tightly around the lever.

Anteris was too far to try and make it back, now. There weren’t any planets nearby, but Alex decided to press the communication button, anyway. “Hello, can anybody hear me?”

The response was nothing but static.

“Hello, I need help. This is Promise calling for help.” She hoped someone would at least hear her call. Her system might be too fried to receive any signals, but if someone heard and took note of her location, there was the slight chance they would come out and search for her.

Yet, with no planets or moons nearby, she could be left circling in space for a long time. That’s if anyone bothered to come out to search for her at all. She was just a courier. There were plenty more around. No one would care enough to save her.