Ella’s Story follows people who live ordinary lives as citizens of a vast interstellar empire. Indeed, a galactic empire. Each chapter will be posted individually here at the Plain & Simple Press blog, and then collected at a single page devoted to the book. Come on over to the Ella’s Story page to find all the chapters published so far, as well as the cast of characters and a list of place names.
Ella’s Story
28
It took her two days to decide to do it.
She knew she was going to do it. Sooner or later. But deciding to do it was different from knowing she would do it.
So beautiful, he was. She thought she loved him. No: she knew she loved him. But…did he love her?
Did he love her? If he loved her, would he put her at the kind of risk they both ran? One slip, just one slip and they both would be walking dead. Or maybe only she would be. If she alone were caught massaging the books, would she give him away?
He was a brother in the bond of the Syndicate. She was bound to him, and he to her, by the oath. But…
Was she?
Where was he going when he journeyed down the tunnel to Takrat every few days? Far as she could see, there wasn’t any business that should call him to the mine offices every time he turned around. Except, perhaps, Haidar? That glance the woman had shot him when he introduced them…the memory didn’t want to leave her mind. It nagged when someone would ask him about Haidar and he would change the subject, direct the conversation elsewhere.
Who else could be helping him to disappear offloaded cargo?
Anyone, she supposed. Any number of people. Was Haidar one of them? The one?
What if Lohkeh was taking advantage of her? What if Lohkeh and Haidar were taking advantage of her?
The thought had crossed her mind more than once.
What if? Would the oath still apply?
Would it apply to her and not to him? Why?
Sequestered inside the den-like cubbyhole of her enclosed bunk, the drapes pulled shut and snapped closed, she studied the printed data by the night-lights’ glow. If there was a pattern to it, the pattern was vague, at best. She couldn’t see any predictable variation. Probably, she thought, that was deliberate. Where was the stuff going? She had no idea. To the planet’s surface? If so, why offload it on Zaitaf? They must be transferring it to some outbound freighter. Or freighters. Going where?
What would Bhodil think if he saw this stuff? He had spent month after month teaching her to read and write Varn and helping her convert the kind of math Samdis used for bookkeeping into the variety used in Ethra Port. He lifted her out of the laundry room so she could do…this?
He would, she guessed, be furious. The prospect made her wince.
Maybe she should keep quiet about it. Just let Lohkeh go on exploiting her. Maybe they would never be discovered.
“Never” was forever. How likely was it that they could keep the con going forever?
Not very, she thought.
Could she ask to be transferred? Maybe…the low gravity gave her headaches. Sure.
Not a chance.
She heard the door on the corridor’s south end slide open: Vighdi, making her last round of the day. Quick, she shoved the the papers under a pillow and stretched out on the bed.
Slender gray-brown fingers undid a couple of the curtain snaps, and yes: Vighdi peeked in.
“Lights out, sister,” she said. Her tone was friendly but firm.
“Yes’m.” Ella reached for a switch, then paused.
“Boss?”
Vighdi, already moving on:. “Yes?”
“Could we talk tomorrow? Just us?”
“I expect.” Vighdi lowered her voice. “When?”
“Early?”
“After breakfast?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll see you then.” She smiled. “Sleep tight.”
Sure.
In the dark, Ella slipped the papers from beneath the pillow and shoved them between the mattress and the smooth metal wall, then lay back, pulled the blanket up, and sighed.
Oh, gods!
