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There was only one thing to do. Jayna took two steps forward as if she was going to read the text he was trying to share, hauled off and slugged him in the jaw, not holding anything back. Theo went to the deck as if she’d stunned him, which she did in fact proceed to do a second later. She retrieved the notebook from where it had fallen when he collapsed and hid it in one of her utility pants pockets. Then she sat cross legged beside him on the deck and waited for him to regain consciousness, praying to the Lords of Space he’d be in his right mind when he did.
A few minutes later Theo startled and stretched, coming awake instantly. “What in the seven hells did you do that for? If that’s your idea of foreplay?—”
She punched him lightly in the shoulder, relieved to see his normal expression and the eerie gleam in his eyes gone. “You needed it, my friend. I need you to concentrate on our situation.”
Rubbing his jaw gingerly Theo sat up but to her relief didn’t mention the notebook. “Yeah, I did, no argument from me, although maybe you could be a bit less drastic next time.” As she helped him regain his feet since he was still shaking off the stun charge, he added, “That’s what I get for having an ex-Special Forces operator as a girlfriend.” His smile was a bit lopsided but genuine.
Unable to resist, feeling a little guilty now for having hit him, Jayna kissed his cheek softly. “No hard feelings?”
He sank into the chair. “None at all. My mind was going in circles, like a small furry creature on a wheel. I couldn’t break out of the thoughts. I was obsessed and part of me understood I was in trouble but didn’t care.”
“Don’t think too hard about it or you might get sucked back into the loop,” she advised. “Here, we got this partial message from Maeve a few hours ago. Paxter said he couldn’t find either of us. The guy has gone space happy, in case you don’t remember.”
Frowning, Theo accepted the printout and read it, eyebrows rising in disbelief. He read it again. “Maeve says she’s searched the oldest databases now, including a selection of colonial histories—damn, she’s thorough?—”
“She has the brain capacity and the time to do it,” Jayna said. “Keep reading.”
“And she found the Mebsuta C mentioned seventeen times.” Theo raised his head to stare at her. “And all seventeen times the crew sent out to salvage her failed to report or to arrive at the port they were sailing to.”
“There’s more.” Jayna tapped the top of the flimsy. “Maeve got into the Archaeology Service’s database and there are legends and tales going all the way back to Old Terra about phantom ships which promise great riches but are really traps to ensnare the unwary, who are never seen again. How long do you suppose this ‘alien archaeologist’ has been plying the spacelanes, luring people aboard whatever ship she’s on and then killing them?”
“Hold on now, we don’t know that part for a fact.”
“Yes, we do. I nearly got trapped in the hold and I—I saw what happened to Soames. We’ve got to get off this ship and we need to go now, before any of us get any worse or suffer the same grisly end as Soames.”
“You can’t leave,” Angelee said from behind them. “She won’t let you. My parents and their crew tried. There’s no escape.”
Jayna and Theo turned as one to see the form of the child standing in the doorway to her part of the cabin. She was holding a doll tightly cradled in her arms.
“There’s the lifeboat.” Jayna was ready to board the small craft right now.
Angelee shook her head side to side slowly, her eyes full of tears. “We tried. She’s made the ship her own now. You only think you’re controlling it until she decides it’s time.”
Jayna walked toward the ghost as if she was approaching a skittish fawn. “Honey, why are you the only one still here?”
The temperature in the cabin plunged by tens of degrees and a harsh breeze blew through the space. Angelee retreated to her bedroom, going through the closed door as if it posed no barrier whatsoever. Jayna and Theo exchanged startled glances.
“Because one does not devour the young of a prey species,” said an echoing voice. “Not if one is civilized.”
Jayna shot three blasts from her pulse rifle which went right through the new apparition facing her and Theo. He held out a hand to her. “Cease fire. I don’t think our hostess is vulnerable to blaster fire. What do you want from us?”
“Your puny toys don’t work on me,” she said with hauteur, drawing herself up to her full height, which was about eight feet. The new arrival was vaguely humanoid, female, with alabaster skin and elongated arms, clad in flowing white robes. Her face shifted constantly between a beautiful if cold visage and a horrific one with red holes in place of eyes and bared fangs with the black-and-red maw behind. “What do I want? Sustenance and amusement, both of which your small group is providing quite satisfactorily so far. You have no escape from me—you’re caught in my grasp the way an insect might be caught in the sticky cup of a flesh-eating plant.” She made a plucking motion. “And one by one you shall meet your fate, as I determine the time has come. Until then please continue your insignificant lives and attempts to escape, all of which entertain me. I go now to ponder which of you I should embrace next.”
And she was gone, leaving the deadly chill behind. Theo grabbed Jayna’s hand and pulled her out of the room into the corridor. “Lifeboat, now! I’ll get Turner and Abrall, you collect Paxter and meet us at the LB docking port in five minutes.” He caught her to him for a quick kiss and then took off.
Chapter Six
Jayna felt numb, from the cold and from the effect of the visitation from their captor, but she shook it off and headed to the bridge, only to stop immediately as Angelee materialized in front of her.
“You won’t be able to escape,” she said, stroking one hand over the doll’s tangled blond curls. “She won’t let you.”
Jayna knelt on one knee, barely restraining herself from trying to grab the child’s arm. “But you’ve survived all this time—how did you manage?”
The ghost’s face crumpled and a tear slowly escaped her eye, trickling down her cheek. “My mother hid me in a stasis pod because she hoped Nishagwaq couldn’t get to me there.”
“A stasis pod? Where?”
“It was in the medbay but Nishagwaq moved me into the cargo hold where she stays. Mostly. I told you before, she says I amuse her and she lets me out to play sometimes.”
