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She gave up after a few futile attempts against my strength. "Please... just... I want to... go..."
"Go where?" I said softly into her ear. "There's nowhere to go."
She wasn't satisfied with this. I knew she wouldn't be. And shehadto be satisfied with the explanation, if she was going to go along with it.
I knew what kind of girl Alena was the moment I saw her. Standing on her flight deck, holding a gun that obviously some limp-dick ATDC guy had barely taught her how to use. But she had been so determined, the only one on the whole ship todoanything about their predicament. She had spirit.
And she was beautiful.
I hadn't been able to really think about anything else.
I went for broke and told her the truth.
"Alena, we're not headed to the Solymus system. You know that. You figured it out, okay?" I didn't know how, but she obviously had. "We're 37 units fromanything. So stop. There's nowhere to go."
She went limp in my arms.
"There's nowhere to go," I repeated, into her hair. I was a little winded; she was stronger than she looked, and more furious than I had expected. But she gave up, then, I could feel the fight drain from her body.
"I have a plan," I continued, lowering my voice to a whisper. A knife of fear, like nothing I had ever felt, cut through my chest, cold and aching. "I have a plan. To keep you here. To keep you here with me. Okay? Do you understand? But we have to get back into your room, first. And you have to help me. You have to do what I say."
She was quiet, but I could tell that she was thinking it over. I whispered into her hair. "You have to trust me."
"How do I know I can trust you?" she asked, at last.
In the darkness, I moved her body so that I could kiss her. On the lips, my hands in her hair. The familiar swell of lust engulfed me, but on its heels came the desire to possess her in some other way. Could I send that message to her without telling her everything?
I had to try.
She went quiet and gave in to my kiss, and then moved her mouth with mine, crawling closer to me, hanging on to my body.
"I can fix this," I said, looking into her face, only the outline of her cheek, wet with tears, visible in the dim light. "I can fix it, okay? And I'll explain everything to you. I promise. But you have to come back with me, you have to let me take you back. Okay?"
"What is all of this?" she whispered, her voice terrified.
I gripped her hair and pulled her close to my chest, a sudden surge of exasperation gripping me. The need to control her so that I could protect her was taking over my muscles, taking over my hands. I fought to keep it under control, but she whimpered a little at how hard I gripped her hair. "I promise," I said, through gritted teeth, "that I will tell you everything -"
"Tell me now!"
I clapped a hand over her mouth to quiet her, but she went silent of her own accord. Good. This was good: it meant she had some inkling of the kind of problem she was creating by traipsing around the ship.
"Fine," I said, almost angrily. "These are the pods of this ship's crew. They're in stasis."
I knew she'd probably figured that much out already anyway. She shuddered anyway.
"But -"
"You have to make a decision right now," I hissed, violently. "Do you want to go back into stasis and wake up in the Tyrusa Authority detention center? Or do you want to try my plan?"
Alena went limp again with a sniffle. "I don't... know."
"You have to decide now. This is it, darlin'. These are the only choices."
She slid her arms up, around my neck, crawling into my lap. She rested her head against my shoulder. A series of motions that had been repeated so often now that it happened like a dance.
I rose to my feet with her cradled in my arms. An instinctive, feral force poured into my veins, leaving me with no question about what I was doing.
"I swear that I will tell you everything," I said, into her ear. "And I will fix this. Okay?"
