Hadrian's Colony: Chapter Twenty-Four, Part Two
Notes: A few more chapters and we'll be done. Omigosh, friends...what am I going to DO!? I mean, no, I sort of know what I'm going to do, but I pine! I PINE, people!
Title: Hadrian's Colony: Chapter Twenty-Four, Part Two
***
Chapter Twenty-Four, Part Two
Photo by Karsten Weingeart
It felt a little unreal to be off of Hadrian’s Colony atlast. Not in a “waking up from a nightmare” sort of way—Kieron was very awareof the time they’d spent down there and how crucially it had all gone wrong. Itfelt more like some part of himself was standing outside his body andobserving, cataloguing all the things going on around him and the interactionshe wasn’t having. He ought to be happy to be off the planet, and something inhim was, but it also felt very distant.
Being with the girls helped. They bantered back and forth,equal parts joyful and irritated to be back together and more than willing tohold off on heavy conversations for now. Lizzie’s intensely accuratefirebombing? Ignored. Catie’s near-death experience? Avoided. Both girls havingto take far more responsibility for their parents than either Elanus or Kieronwanted? Not even mentioned. Instead they chattered back and forth, verbally andnumerically, one-upping each other with stories and using Bobby as a sort of referee.
Bobby loved it. He’d reached a new stage in his mentaldevelopment down there, going from what Catie had looked at as a bumbling petto a genuine little brother. Lizzie was delighted to talk to him without allthe static and interference caused by the planet, and the three of them gotsidetracked into entire conversations in Morse that had the girls giggling andBobby quivering with laughter. It was sweet to experience them together, tohear them learning each other’s personalities and how to get along and the bestways to poke at each other without causing real harm. They were already likefamily.
It wasn’t until five standard days into their escape fromHadrian’s Colony that Kieron found an emotional exit from the way he’d isolatedhimself, and it came in the form of a physical exit by Carlisle. Elanus hadtold Kieron the plan, Kieron knew he had, but nothing seemed to stick in hishead lately. He forgot what was being said just a few minutes after he wastold, and he knew it bothered everyone but he genuinely couldn’t do shit forit. Arriving at Pinnace changed that.
Pinnace was a Drifter ship that had worked the samestretch of space, back and forth, for centuries now. They were the closestthing to homesteaders that Drifters could be, a colony of over five thousandpeople on a ship that looked like a patchwork horror but packed a mean punchwhen threatened. The families on Pinnace had learned a long time agothat their ship wasn’t going to outrun a pirate crew, so they’d bartered earlyand often for weapons systems and defenses that could probably fight off anAlliance destroyer if they needed to.
Pinnace was the only waystation along this particulargravitational highway, a sure stop for miners and explorers, and itsinhabitants were wily as hell. Listening to Elanus barter with them for accessto their medical supplies was like listening in on a peace-treaty negotiation.
“No, we don’t need a Regen tank, we need the baselineingredients for manufacture, that’s all.”
“You think those are any easier to come by than full-onRegen this far out? You’re outta your mind. Those are reserved for family andemergencies only.”
“Well this qualifies as an emergency.”
“The hell it does. We’ve been tracking you for the lastfifteen hours, you’re not broadcasting any distress signals.”
“So fucking sue me if I don’t want to advertise to theuniverse that we’re in a tough spot. We just escaped from Hadrian’s Colony, youthink that was a good time?”
There was a long pause, then… “That’s shipshit.”
“We did.”
“No one gets on or off that hellhole during storm season.”
“I’m not saying it was easy or smart, I’m just saying we didit. And now we need to shore ourselves, and our ships, up before we head on to clearerwaters.”
“You’re blasting Ganian idents. That’s Central System crap,we have no use for that currency, so what can you offer us?”
“I can offer you an upgrade of any system on Pinnacewith a guarantee of an increase of at least five percent in efficiency.”
Elanus got nothing but laughter back. It took ademonstration by one of the girls on a disconnected platform for the Drifter totake them seriously, but even they had to admit it was a good deal. Efficiencywas the lifeblood of a Drifter ship; everything that could be spared, recycled,or upcycled was pursued with relentless focus. Elanus knew how to do that. Heeven managed to bargain for a ship for Carlisle, which Kieron hadn’t seencoming but wasn’t surprised by. Of course she wanted to get away from them assoon as possible. Of course she wasn’t going to stay.
Coming in to dock was a surreal experience. It should havefelt normal; Kieron used to oversee this sort of thing every day back onCloverleaf Station, he’d watched this thousands of times. Maybe it was theeffect of their last landing being Hadrian’s Colony, or maybe it was that theywere so close to being around people again—people he liked, their two shiploadscombining into one, and people he had no reason to trust—but Kieron’s breathingsped up and his eyes got wet as they neared the space dock.
Elanus noticed but didn’t say anything, playing it safe in away he had very little experience with. He was afraid of pushing Kieron rightnow and Kieron got that, he appreciated it. But without a push, he thought hemight just hyperventilate before they got hooked up to Pinnace.
When the push came, it came from Carlisle. Kieron heard a stutter,then a gasp turned into tiny, panting breaths, and it took too long for him torealize that she was the one having the panic attack. Before he couldthink twice about it, he unbuckled from his chair and turned back to the wallwhere she was strapped in, face pressed into her hands but fingers slittedenough that she could see through them. She was staring at the viewscreen and shaking so hard he could hear herteeth chatter.
Kieron got up and went over to her, kneeling down in frontof her to block her sight of the incoming port. He took one of her hands andplaced it on his own chest, using the touch to ground the both of them. “Deepbreath,” he said firmly. “Come on now, in. Out.” This was how they’d calmedchildren back on the Colony; adults who broke down got much rougher treatment,but Kieron didn’t think she’d respond well to being shouted at right now. “In.Out.” Carlisle followed orders, ever the good soldier, and by the time the reddocking light turned solid white, she’d managed to catch her breath.
“Thank you,” she whispered, not quite looking him in the eyes.
He’d take it. “You’re welcome.”
