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“You want to sit?” I asked, sliding my tray back. I was acting far too nice, but it was we were trained to deescalate. From behind, I could see Juliana focus in on us.
“Prisoner 31. Give me a reason to toss your ass back inside the hole.”
His grin was awful. His teeth were black, and his eyes were always shot. He was no saint. Rape. Killings. There were plenty of terrifying incidents on this ship.
“Just want to converse. I’ve been lonely, doctor. Been a few days since I got out, and I don’t feel so good. I might need a check-up.” Cade’s gaze pierced right through me, and I suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here.
I motioned toward the open space of table. “Go ahead. Sit,” I said, hoping my face didn’t betray my false confidence. “Just remember, it wasn’t us who threw you in. You chose to make the shiv.”
“You’ve always been one of the good ones, Doctor Thompson.” He smiled, eyes searching up and down my body. I sat up and thought of all the ways I could break his bones if he came at me.
“Just doing my job. Like you. Like everyone,” I said, diving back into my food.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about something,” he said. “Your job here… you’re just like Johnny Appleseed.”
I darted my eyes toward his hands to make sure he hadn’t tampered with his wrists like the last time. The government surgically fitted magnetics into each of the prisoners. In case someone tried to escape, we could lock them down with the touch of a button.
However, Cade had tampered with his magnets before.
“Johnny Appleseed. Is this some kind of joke?” I asked.
He put two fingers in front of his mouth and licked. “Come, honey pie,” he said.
Juliana sat down and squeezed my hand under the table as a friend might. I felt relief wash over me. Thank God for Juliana. She was more than our captain. She was someone who understood me. She was a real friend.
“Keep your ears closed to the devil.” Juliana stared at Cade before baring her teeth like a wild animal might before his prey.
Like me, Juliana came from nothing. Used to fly her dad’s plane down in Iowa, so she thought it might be fun to fly a ship into space. She signed up for the program, learned the protocol, and had served honorably ever since.
I took a breath and nodded. She knew how easily people’s words could sink into my skin. Up here, we had all been dealing with each other for a very long time. I had learned to keep my mouth shut, but it was hard not to get emotional sometimes.
Cade leaned his head down near the table, wrists locked in place. He stretched out his teeth like a horse and took a bite of his apple, chewing so the juices seeped against his lips, taunting me like the devil himself.
“Your purpose is to spread come, far and wide. Your purpose is to make sure rapists and animals like me get the chance to populate the stars. It’s strange, but we are going to be the only humans in the universe to have heirs in the modern world,” he said.
I would have to collect his and every other male’s samples in an hour, a portion of my day that I hated. I’d hook him up to the pump and turn it on double speed for extra chafing.
Ignoring him didn’t work. When I remained fixed on eating, he taunted me more. “What’s your obsession with spunk, anyway?” he asked.
My cheeks heated, and I shuffled against the plastic seat. “Don’t embarrass yourself. Life is worth saving. Everyone knows that.”
Cade turned silent. Slowly, he opened his mouth, allowing for more mashed bits of food to roll onto his shirt before dropping against the table. “What about my life, doll? Is mine worth saving?”
Not all the criminals were bad. I got the sense some merely wanted a second chance. Most kept to themselves, of course. Others were wrongfully accused. There were, certainly, the mentally ill, but in the space station we connected to, all of us could be diagnosed with something.
Cade was, at his best, a sociopath. He was a power hungry man, searching the sky for a pure feeling of dominance that could not be sustained. He was not one of the good guys.
He was a brutal rapist. Killed one woman and found a thirst for power. Killed a second. The number went up to fourteen bodies found.
I had heard the story too many times from his own mouth. The details were too precise to be faked. He shouldn’t have been allowed to fly, but he got through their system. The program was desperate and, as the climate reports were released to the public, society began to break down.
When you and your crew are this deep into space, there is no turning back. We all knew altercations could happen when we signed up, but it was hard to decipher if we were on the right path toward Nyela. That fact alone kept us all on the edge.
The computer and tracking systems were antiquated. The screens above the cockpit were not only outdated but also displayed maps filled with inaccuracies.
We only had weeks to go until we reached Nyela. We just had to stick it out for a little longer. We were finally near, but Murphy’s Law was in full effect.
Cade calmly ate his mush and stirred his finger inside of the disgusting nutritional paste. His eyes were relentlessly locked on me. I looked down at the table, hoping he would quit.
