The Price of Pleasure (Saurellian Federation 1)

He had been watching the Pilgrims for hours, ever since he and Bragan had parted ways. Bragan had packed enough food and water to last Seth a week, more than enough time to make his way to a friendly station, assuming he made it off the asteroid at all.

Making his way carefully, Seth moved quickly. The darkness would only last a few hours, as the asteroid’s cycle of day and night was extremely short. Fortunately, the Pilgrims had been working long enough to warrant taking a break. Most of them were probably asleep.

Seth skirted the landing field until his target ship was directly before him. No one seemed to be around.

The Pilgrims had set guards in front of the two larger ships, but apparently this one wasn’t considered important enough. Using a small tool from his suit’s all-purpose set, Seth quickly removed the service access panel by the ship’s door. Positioning himself so his body was between the panel and the other ships, Seth shined a tiny light on the controls. The ship was locked, of course, but he could override a simple palm-activated locking device like this one easily enough. As long as no one caught him in the act, that was; anyone seeing his light would know something was up.

Fortunately, none of the Pilgrims seemed to be paying attention to the smallest of their ships. Connecting two of the circuits manually, Seth shorted out the locking system and the hatch slid open. He was relatively certain the ship was empty–no one had entered it the entire time he’d been watching. Moving quickly, he climbed though the opening and closed it behind him. The ship was so small there was only the cockpit and one small hold for cargo. Seth checked the hold, confirming he was alone, then settled himself in the pilot’s seat.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized the controls were standard; he’d piloted a thousand other shuttles just like this one. He saw that whoever had piloted the ship had left it on standby. At least he would not have to wait for the engines to come online from a cold start. He wouldn’t have time for a pre-flight check, either, so hopefully everything was still operational. Whoever owned the ship should be shot, he thought wryly, because it clearly hadn’t been properly serviced in years. Whispering a prayer to the Goddess, he strapped himself in and toggled the starter.

The ship came to life with a whine and he slammed the control rudder forward. He was airborne before he could even check to see how much fuel she had. The roar of the engine would alert the Pilgrims; they would be after him within minutes. Not pausing to pull up a navigation chart, Seth pushed the tiny ship to its maximum speed. Dodging debris, he zigzagged sharply through the cloud of asteroids surrounding Bethesda.

It took every bit of his skill as a pilot to control the tiny ship as it careened through the field of debris.

Seth dodged rocks ranging in size from pebbles to small moons as he sped away from the Pilgrim base, barely breathing for the first ten minutes of his flight. He was positive they must be after him by now, but the little ship’s sensors weren’t sophisticated enough to check for pursuit at full speed. Instead, Seth focused on putting as much distance between himself and the Pilgrims as he could. Once he was safely away, he’d send for help.

Five hours later he was still racing, although his hands trembled from the strain of piloting the ship. He needed to find a place to land, a place where he could hide and rest up. There was no way they would be able to find him now, he reasoned. Not unless he did something truly stupid to attract their attention.

Slowing his speed, Seth guided his small ship toward a large asteroid. It seemed to have some good-sized overhanging rock formations; perfect for hiding a ship of like this from both sight and sensors.

After several minutes of careful navigation, Seth managed to land the ship just under the lip of a massive crater. Forcing himself to release his grip on the controls, he sat back in his chair and massaged his hands. He was exhausted; it was time to get some sleep. He also needed to eat.

Grabbing the carryall, he dug out a food pack. Ripping off the end, he sucked the ration tube’s contents down without bothering to identify the contents. Then he reached for a fluid bulb. As he pulled the bulb out of the bag, a small piece of paper came with it. He read it quickly, his blood running cold as he realized what Bragan had intended to do from the moment the Pilgrims had landed...

Seth–I am including this note because I want you to understand why I’ve chosen to do what I’m going to do. I am not going to wait for you to return. There is too much danger that the Pilgrims will find me.

It’s better to kill them now and destroy the Jansenite while I still can. I will wait until you’ve had enough time to get away, but then I plan to detonate it and destroy this place. If I have not waited long enough, then I am sorry. You have become a friend to me and I wish you no harm. I consider myself fortunate to die on my own terms, for something I believe in. It is enough.

Bragan

When would it happen? Seth wondered desperately. Why was Bragan doing this? Realizing there was nothing he could do for the man, Seth checked his instruments and ran a few quick mental calculations.

He should be all right in his hiding place, he realized, but he wasn’t as far as he’d like to be. When that Jansenite blew, it would destroy everything within a thousand square miles.

Seth started powering up the ship again; he needed to get further away. But before he could do more than initiate the procedure, and alarm trilled a sharp warning. Something big had happened, there had been a sharp wave of radiation. Slapping his hand against the control panel, he activated an emergency beacon. He didn’t have time to do anything else before a shock wave blasted the asteroid. His last thought before he lost consciousness was to wonder whether the ship’s landing tethers would hold. Then blackness swept over him as his was slammed by the explosion’s impact. Seth sank into the darkness.

* * * * *

“I think he’s waking up,” a voice said. Where was he? Seth wondered. What the hell had happened?

“Seth, can you hear me?” It was Jax’s voice. Memory rushed back to Seth–he had been in a ship, trying to escape from the Pilgrims… and then Bragan had blown up the Jansenite. It was a miracle he was still alive, Seth realized. Barely alive, though. His entire body ached, a thousand small pains making themselves known.

“Jax?” he whispered, trying to open his eyes. He couldn’t see anything. “Jax, is that you? How did you get here? Why can’t I see anything?”

“Don’t worry, you’ve got bandages over your eyes,” Jax said, excited relief in his voice. “Don’t worry, your eyes are fine. You got radiation burns, though, and they had to do surgery. You’ll need to keep your eyes covered for a few weeks, give them time to heal. Someone blew up half the quadrant using Jansenite. Who the hell would do such a thing?”