Sanctuary (Jezebel's Ladder Book 3) (28 page)

“Oh, no. I thought he just didn’t
like me.”

“What did Red, your sister, and
even Yuki tell you about Zeiss?” He crunched another huge bite of fruit.

Mercy swallowed. “If he asks you to
do something, do it, no questions.”

Lou held out his hands. “In your
language, babe, QED.”

“Oh God. Did I endanger anyone’s
lives?”

“That depends.” He smacked his
lips, sucking up the excess juice. “What did you talk to Yuki about last?”

“Um . . . how to drive you wild
with desire.” She grabbed his hand and took a bite from his mango. “You got a
problem with that?”

“I’m afraid in the interests of
planetary security, I’m going to have to ask you to prove that.”

“I’m not talking, copper,” she
teased.

“Oh, you’re going to sing,
beautiful,” he said in a horrible Bogart impression.

She giggled as he grabbed her. It
was the first time since the age of four that she didn’t have some
responsibilities. The freedom was intoxicating.

Days blurred together.

Friday morning she reached the
proper stage of relaxation, and several things occurred to her: the simple
touch of Kai’s hand made her giddy, she could enchant him by telling him a
story, she deduced what happened to Sojiro’s ink, and the implications made her
stomach churn.

The happiest moment in her life,
however, was when Kai started sweating and knelt on the ground in sympathy
nausea. All was right with the world.

“Kai, dear?”

“Yes, beautiful?”

“Can you contact Z?”

“Yes, in an emergency. This is
probably just bad shellfish. Sometimes I eat them even if they haven’t opened.”

“Are you seeing swirls of color?”

“Um . . . yeah. How the blazes did
you know?”

“Lie down and call Z immediately. You’ll
need an evac to Garden Hollow—Auckland’s ears only. I’ll need to come, too.”

“What’s wrong with me? Kidney? Can
you use your paramedic training?”

“No, dear, but I’m afraid this is
my doing.”

“Poison?” His reaction wasn’t as
severe as one would expect. Perhaps he either felt he deserved the action or
that the ride had been worth the consequence. He hunched over, hugging his
knees.

“Your life’s not over; you just
decided to grow up.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re pair-bonding, love,” she
said, stroking his splendid hair. “With any luck, you’re about to get some form
of my Active-sensing and gravity talent.”

“Huh?”

With her arm around him, she
explained, “It’s why I came here, what I hoped for. After a few days of high-K-brainwave
fever and disorientation, you should have my special abilities and be able to
see—at least well enough to pilot the ship again. I told you I came to make you
whole.”

“You . . . you sacrificed yourself
for me?”

She curled into his chest. “I did
that for us.”

“Then it’s expected for me to want
to throw up?”

“No, but it’s understandable. My
period is four days late. I’ll probably be the first mother in Sanctuary.”

“That’s fantastic,” he said with a
wild grin.

“Tsk. What you should be asking is
why the secrecy?” When he didn’t jump on the cue, she added, “Because I’ve
figured out enough of Z’s problem that Red won’t need to risk a decontamination
pod.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. In a few
minutes, you’re going to be delirious. We don’t want you babbling secrets to
everyone. Z already wants to revoke my clearance. Here, give me your headset.”

Lou did so, shortly before crawling
to the lake’s edge to splash his face with cool water.

She kept the message short and
sweet, requesting only Zeiss and Auckland be involved. It still stung that Red
had excluded her. Then, Mercy wiggled her fingers over her head and recited the
incantation to hide them from Olympus until they were safely back at camp.

“What are you smiling about?” Mercy
asked.

“What’s not to smile about? I had lost
everything. You come in, wave your wand, and I’m the happiest man in this solar
system. This is how Odysseus must’ve felt on the island with that nymph.”

“You read
The Odyssey
. I
like.”

His smile changed qualities into a
leer. Even queasy, his sex drive was monumental. “You think we have time to go
one more time before the boat gets here? I want to see if it feels any
different making love as a dad.”

“Since you asked like that,” Mercy
said, moving into his arms. That was all the guidance this blind man needed on
his own island.

Herk poled to the island in the new raft. He aimed for where
the pilot was waving like a lunatic. Before Herk was even tied off, Lou blurted,
“I’m going to be a father.” The ex-pilot held up a fist, and Herk gave him the
obligatory congratulations bump.

“That why Red wanted you to steer
clear. Those Smiths are as fertile as turtles. PJ’s wife popped those kids out
like clockwork. Where’s Mercy? We have to make this fast. Everyone thinks I
went to harvest some more hops for the home brew.”

Lou pointed to a spot on the island
where the old raft was propped as shelter. This feat didn’t impress Herk until
the pilot’s arm moved like the second hand of a clock, and Mercy emerged in the
clearing.

Mercy said, “I wanted to share my
crab linguini. Everyone’s going to love it.”

Waggling his hand to indicate the
dish was just so-so, Lou made Herk laugh. “Man, she can see you do that.”

“It’s okay,” she admitted. “He didn’t
seduce me for my cooking—a girl has to have some flaws. The spaghetti squash is
a little watery, but I brought seeds for the greenhouse. Johnny will be able to
fix the problems.” As Mercy approached the raft, Lou held out a hand to help
her balance.

“This is great. Lou, you can see?”

“I know where my angel is from her
shine.”

“Can you see me?” asked Herk.

“Nobody else, just her. She’s my
true north. I’d be able to find her anywhere.”

“Wow,” Herk said, untying the raft.
“Like a homing pigeon.”

Embarrassed, Mercy tried to change
the subject. “Looks like Risa improved the design on my raft: runners on the
bottom and sideboards.”

“She improved the rudder, too. We
use it for rice harvesting, mainly. He’s right, though, your face is glowing.”

Sitting beside her on the deck, Lou
lapsed rhapsodic. “She is a rosebush with blue and white flowers that open to
the cosmos in secret. Love oozes from her every word and silence. Her ass plays
a symphony of sighs.”

Herk almost fell over laughing.
“You’ve got to record this poetry. I’ll be able to rib him about it for years.”

“I recited a lot of Byron for him
this week,” Mercy confessed.

“She’s
really
hot doing this
monologue from James Joyce. You should . . . wait, no. She’s not doing that bit
for anyone but me. Oh-ho-ho.”

Herk grinned. “Relax. It’s like a
year of goofy courtship in a few days. He’ll get back to normal. Well,
normaler. Normalish? I didn’t change much. I think Lou’s acting goofy because
of Ideal Planets.”

“Why should that matter?” she
asked.

“Because those guys act drunk
whenever they get a new infusion. If someone started with Collective
Unconscious, like Park, they might pass out every time and try to integrate the
talent with others.”

“But since I was born with a
talent, I seem unaffected?”

“Yes.”

She tilted her head. “I think you
may have just solved the mystery of our reactions to dipping under the sheet.”

Lou chuckled throatily.

Mercy rolled her eyes. “Einstein’s
rubber sheet, you insatiable monster.”

Lou said, “Oh, she even makes
physics sound dirty.”

“He’ll snap out of this soon
enough,” Herk promised. “A month tops.”

“Oh, when the morning sickness
starts, he’ll leave me alone.”

Herk’s mouth opened wide. “Oh. He’s
got it
bad
. You’re saying Lou is going to feel everything you do the
whole nine months?”

Lou answered the question by
confiding. “Women can have more than one orgasm. They’re great! Much better
than mine.”

Mercy bit her lip and concentrated
on the clear water. “Oh look, turtles.”

Herk didn’t give up. “He’s going to
have sympathy through the whole pregnancy? Every woman in camp is going to love
this. Hell, we could tape his experience and sell it when we get back to Earth.
Or rent a stadium and show it to all the women he’s ever given the walk of
shame.”

“Hey, there haven’t been that
many!” Lou objected.

****

Red and Zeiss met them at the dock
after the evening shade had been drawn. Lou was snoring on the deck, and Mercy
was mortified as she slipped into more suitable clothing. “I thought this was
supposed to be super-high security?”

Zeiss said, “I’ve told Herk you
volunteered to be the person who helps Red through decontamination. Everyone
knows you’re the best at that, and we need all the medical hands we can get if
something goes wrong.”

Red asked, “What’s wrong with Lou?”

“He fell asleep counting skanks,” Herk
said.

“What?” Red asked.

“Mercy and he have bonded. Lou’s a
little buzzed. Of course, any guy would be with his news.”

Slugging the big ox in the
shoulder, Mercy was disappointed when he didn’t even feel it. “Now who’s a blabbermouth?”

Running up to her, Red wrapped her
in a warm hug and squealed with delight. “You’re going to be a mommy! I’m so
happy for you. You’re lit up like the star on a Christmas tree.”

Trying to remain aloof, Mercy said,
“I haven’t forgiven you yet, Red, for not trusting me.”

“Z made me. I’m sorry.”

When Herk looked puzzled, Red
added, “Girl stuff.”

At that phrase, Lou sat up, staring
at the hidden gravity generators around the sphere. “Big, round teats
everywhere.” Turning to Mercy, he said, “But none of them as perfect as yours.”

“We need to get him to Auckland’s office where he can sleep this off,” Mercy insisted.

“But her face is even perfect-er
than her chest.” En route, this comment inspired Lou to perform the tenor part
of a bawdy song from Monty Python involving the word face. The women both
blushed. Herk sang bass and encouraged Zeiss to do the harmony. The commander
had sense enough to keep his mouth shut, but he couldn’t keep from laughing
during the second verse.

At the office, Lou insisted that
Zeiss perform a civil ceremony before Mercy left his side again. “I’m not
letting her get away. If you don’t act soon enough, the good ones blow up.”

“We don’t have rings,” Mercy
objected.

Red patted her on the shoulder.
“Give the man his ceremony. You might not get another chance like this.”

“I have my flight-school ring,” Lou
said, removing the silver-plated ring with the blue stone from his right hand.
“If you turn the stone inward, it’s good for smacking plebes in the head.”

Fishing in her fanny pack, Mercy
pulled out the chain with the coin her father gave her. “This is all the
jewelry I have.”

After a brief but solemn ceremony,
they made the exchange, and the groom concluded with the song, “I’ve Got a
Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.”

This, Herk did manage to tape.

Instead of throwing rice, Mercy
popped the white, plastic top off of a hypodermic herself and pushed the
plunger into Lou’s butt.

“Aw,” Herk complained. “I had a
couple of requests. He does a mean rendition of ‘Paradise by the Dashboard
Lights.’”

Mercy shook the needle in his
direction. “Go. Red and I need to talk.”

“Do you think he might regret a
hasty marriage?” asked Auckland.

Red smiled. “If he even hints at
that, mention that Mercy’s share of the estate is around 300 million.”

Surprise made the doctor inhale
sharply, which led to a coughing fit. Mercy stroked his back. “It’s not like I
have a private jet or furs. I certainly didn’t have that much when I left. Seeing
the poverty in Rio really affected me. While I’m in space, all my finances go
into a trust called STEM. We provide food, shelter, and scholarships to poor
Brazilian girls who show aptitude for the sciences.”

Zeiss seemed impressed. “You organized
all that in a couple months?”

“I partnered with the Oprah charity
network. Sometimes being famous isn’t such a pain. Although, she might
reconsider her offer of matching funds now that my parents’ money is added to
the pot. Until Mary reveals her true identity, she’ll probably park all the inheritance
in my foundation instead of splitting it.”

The commander shook his head. “Wow,
when Sojiro hears you met Oprah, he’s going to demand to hear every detail.”

“We mostly talked about books.”

Sworn to secrecy, Herk and Auckland left. When the others were out of hearing, Zeiss prompted, “Why did you light up
the Bat signal?”

“I can tell you what happened to
Sojiro’s ink. It was the key to everything for me, but I won’t tell you until I’m
back in Olympus.”

“You know that’s impossible.”

“If you want the truth, I’m going
to force you to trust me. I have to have time in the showers alone.”

“If you want a hot bath, we can
arrange one here,” Zeiss offered. “Lou would string me up if I put you in
danger.”

“A bath would be divine, but I’ll
still need access to Olympus as soon as possible.”

Zeiss started to object, but Red
intervened. “Fine. When I get ready to make the trip to decontamination
tomorrow, I can meet you in the dressing room. No one will suspect.”

“How do we sneak her past Toby?”
asked Zeiss.

“Have Oleander ask to be examined
for athlete’s foot in private. She should be vague about the symptoms and may
need to shave her legs for the occasion,” Mercy suggested.

“Ew,” said Red.

You don’t know the half of it.

“Until then,” Red said, “you hide
in our cave and tell me everything. Are you worried about the baby? My mom was
a multiple talent, and she never could carry to term.”

“We’ll know more tomorrow after I
run a simple experiment with the equipment available in Olympus,” Mercy
replied.
Rather like Schrödinger’s cat.

“Will it be dangerous?” asked Zeiss.

Mercy assured them, “More gross
than anything.”

Although the couple offered to let
her sleep in their room, Mercy went to the clinic to be beside her husband, Kai
Llewellyn. A woman ought to be with her husband on their wedding night. Threading
her ring onto a cord around her neck, the truth sank in—she was Mrs. Llewellyn.
The prenatal vitamins Auckland prescribed for her made her burp up awful
flavors and reminded her that she would have a family of her own to replace
those lost. Oddly, with Lou unconscious, this was the most restful night she
was likely to have in this marriage.
I’m going to need all the rest I can
get.

****

Everyone felt it best to leave Lou
sedated for the morning; although leaving his side reminded Mercy of the time as
a child that she had snagged a sweater thread on a piece of sheet metal and
unraveled half a sleeve. She was leaving a piece of herself behind and could
sense his tug.

Wrapped in her familiar lab coat, Mercy
hid in a crate, which the Zeisses wheeled to Zeppelin Point on a dolly. Herk
literally carried her up to Olympus and delivered her to the showers. Once Red
was alone in the sanitation room, she pried Mercy’s cubical coffin open. “What’s
the big secret?” Red whispered.

Dipping the corner of a rag into a
small, metal canister the size of a roll of quarters, Mercy wiped a clean
streak across the stasis indicator. It was silver underneath Sojiro’s ink.

Red said, “Oh my God. There’s
someone still in there!” She tried to tap the room open, but alarms sounded
around the control pod.

“Snowflake, override and show us
who is in the suspended-animation chamber, without turning the field off,”
Mercy ordered.

The cover slid aside to reveal a bruised
and battered-looking Yvette, strapped naked to the chamber wall.

“Is she still alive?” asked Red.
“Let’s unfreeze her and find out now.”

“Wait. Depending on the injuries,
she could die before we could save her. Dr. Auckland needs to examine her
before we do anything. Until then, we don’t let anyone else—”

“Witch!” shrieked Toby as he soared
into the room. “Get away, she’s mine.”

As she charged the man, Mercy
shouted, “Rapist!”

When Toby drew his knife, Red pled,
“Don’t! She’s pregnant.”

This made the crazed biologist
pause long enough for Mercy to break his nose, using the metal canister like a
roll of dimes in her fist. Unfortunately, he ducked the second blow, and she bruised
her hand against his brow.

Eyes watering, Toby clamped his
hands to his face. Blood oozed between his fingers. “Just for that, you’re
going in the fun room next.”

In the low gravity, Red launched
herself from across the room and transferred her momentum into his weapon arm.
He screamed obscenities as his arm cracked and the hand went limp. Red wound up
to snap his wrist, too.

“Stop, he needs that for surgery,”
Mercy said with reluctance.

“He’s never going to touch another
member of my crew again,” Red swore.

Holding out her hands, Mercy tried
to ease her friend into putting the rapist down. “We may need him, and killing
him would prevent us all from leaving this system.”

Everyone else floated in the zero-g
control center at the lip of the chamber, watching the drama unfold. When Mercy
noticed the crowd, she took off her lab coat and draped it over the opening to
the suspended-animation chamber. The brief contact with the stasis field made
her fingers numb, but enough people had seen her friend naked. Yvette deserved
some dignity.

“I’ll finish him and take the blame,”
Yuki said. “He did all this, and cut off my arm, so he could get
laid
?”

Mercy replied, “Yes, he’s reprehensible,
but it’s not entirely his fault.”

“It’s fair. Yvette made a deal: my
fun for Lou’s life. I let him live, so I get—ouch,” said Toby as Red twisted
the arm behind him and slammed him into the wall.

“Shut. Up. If you say anything, we’ll
assume you’re trying to control Snowflake again. You could’ve killed us
all
and ruined any chance of rescuing the Earth.”