Queen of Denial

Selina Rosen

Chapter 1

Zarco looked out into black, endless space and sighed. "It's like a dream, I don't dare believe and yet I must. Finally, after all this time . . . I had given up hope. I had begun to believe what everyone had been saying for years—that she was dead, and I would never see her again. Ironic that as I gave up praying for her safe return we should find her, and now all my previously unheard prayers are finally being answered. At last I shall be reunited with my great love. My Taralin will once again embrace me . . ."

"Sire, please remember. Taralin has been at the mercy of our enemies for the last five years." Fitz's voice lacked the younger man's idealistic enthusiasm. "Who knows what horrors she's been forced to endure. It may be a while before she's her old self."

"She is alive, Fitz. I had given her up for dead, and she's alive. So leave your pessimism behind. Whatever has happened is in the past now. Whatever damage has been done, we will fix. Our love will put things right. I have tried hard not to think of what she may have been going through. But on those endless, tortured nights when I could not sleep I thought of every possibility, every perverted thing they might have done to her, and I don't care, Fitz. If they've used her body, I want her back. If they've broken and twisted her body, I want her back. If they have marred her beauty beyond repair, I still want her back. This is my wife we're talking about, and I shouldn't have to remind you . . ." Zarco hissed through clenched teeth, ". . . your Queen."

"My King, I was in no way suggesting that we should discard the Queen." He smiled apologetically and added with a chuckle, "Let's not forget that I have known her since she was an infant. I just don't want to see you . . . well . . . expecting too much. I don't want to see you disappointed. The transmission we received from Facto said that the Lockhedes had run some of their filthy experiments on her . . ."

"Enough!" Zarco held his hands over his ears. "I will hear no more of your negativity, Fitz! We will go and pick Taralin up, and everything will be fine." He looked back out the porthole. "It has to be."

"Get your feet off the console!" Erik screamed.

She didn't budge, so he shoved her feet. "I said get your feet off the console!"

"It's my fucking ship," the woman said, putting her feet back exactly where they had been and giving the pudgy, balding human a look that said she dared him to do it again.

"It's my operation, Qwah."

"Yeah, this week," she said with a shrug.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Erik asked.

The woman grinned impishly back, "Told ya, Erik. Someday I'm gonna take it away from you."

Erik just laughed, then stopped abruptly. "Well, until you do, get your fucking feet off the console."

"So who shit in your cereal?" She took her feet down, but only so she could walk to the cooler and pull a beer out of it. "Want one?" she asked, holding up the bottle.

Erik's face turned red and she could see the little veins sticking out in his neck.

"I guess that means no." She flopped back into the command chair and opened the bottle of beer on the corner of the console, letting the cap land where it may. Then, just to make Erik's day complete, she plopped her feet up on the console again.

"Do you have any idea how unprofessional your entire attitude is?" Erik hissed, tucking his shirt back over his belly.

Pot calling the kettle black, she thought, but just said, "Junk don' care . . ."

"Yeah, but passengers do. Did you at least clean out the personal quarters, like I asked you to?"

"Yes siree, Bob! Hosed it out myself." She hooked a thumb in the strap of her gray overalls.

"Damn it, Drew. This woman's real important. Some King's lost wife . . ."

Drew twirled her index finger around in the air. "Whoop de shit."

Erik blew his oversized belly up, then exhaled slowly, trying very hard to keep his cool. He decided to talk in the only language Drewcila Qwah respected.

"We're talking big bucks here, Drew."

"Well, why didn't you say that in the first place?" Drew smiled. "How much?"

"A lot."

"How much is a lot, Fuck-head?"

"I'm your boss," Erik protested.

"I work for your operation because it's the most profitable one around—today. You are not now, nor have you ever been, nor will you ever be my boss."

"I helped you get your own ship . . ."

"Because I'm the best Salvager in space, and you damn well know it."

"Why you egotistical little shit-head! I most certainly know nothing of the kind. I have lots of men who bring in . . ."

"Half of what I do," she grinned unashamed. "Everyone knows I'm the best. Now give me some incentive. How much is a lot?"

"Your part is twenty thousand Inter-Galactic Dollars . . ."

Drew jumped to her feet, spilling her beer. "What a dick on a baby! Say that again."

"Twenty thousand IGD's."

"She's got plague?" Drew asked suspiciously.

"No."

"We've got to go pick her up out of a radiation field?"

"No, they're going to bring her to the ship. All you have to do is move her through space . . ."

"I don't fucking get it. That's more than I make on six hauls. Why are they paying so much?"

"I told you. She's a very important lady, and I'm a very shrewd businessman. You should be thanking me about now."

Drew looked at her feet and squinted her eyes. "All I gottah do is haul em?"

"That's right." He looked at her expectantly, waiting in vain for her words of thanks.

"How much you gettin'?" she asked with a raised eye-brow.

Erik grinned from ear to ear. "Enough that it's worth it to put up with your shit."

Drew sat back down and watched as Erik left the bridge. She shook her head. "Anything that looks too good to be true, usually is." She mumbled to herself.

"Twenty thousand iggys!" An excited voice screamed out.

Drew spilled beer all down the front of herself and almost fell out of her chair.

"You fucking asshole! You damn near gave me a cardiac!" She held her chest as if her hand were the only thing keeping her heart from jumping out onto the floor. "And you made me spill beer!"

"Did I hear right?" The fur-covered humanoid sat down on the console in front of Drew.

Drew nodded affirmatively. "Damnedest thing I ever heard. Twenty thousand iggys to haul some princess' lily-white ass a few light years. God, how I love the free enterprise system."

She tossed her half empty beer to him and he caught it easily. She dug in the cooler till she found another one, and opened it the way she had the first one. She took a long swallow then looked up at her big friend.

"Erik's feeding us some cock and bull story, though."

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, come on, Van. You really think anyone in their right mind is going to pay that kind of money to transport some royal bitch? There's got to be more to it, that's all. Not that I don't think we're up for the challenge."

She stood up and finished the beer. "Come on, let's go celebrate."

"You really think that's a good idea?"

"Probably not. Which is all the more reason to do it."

Erik moved through the room towards the back where they had planned to meet. He slid into the booth.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to fight a price war with Drewcila. She seems to think that with all the risks she'll be taking it's worth more money . . ."

"I think that twenty million Inter-Galactic Dollars is more than a fair price . . ."

"That's exactly what I told Drew. Don't worry, I can handle her. Just do yourself a favor and don't talk about the hazards. Any reminder of the danger she's putting herself and her ship in and she'll be trying to up the ante again. That's just Drew."

"Is it safe? I mean, can she be trusted?" The man asked.

"Drewcila?" Erik laughed. "She's a little unruly and she can be ruthless, but I've never known her to welch on a deal, and I've never known her to leave a job half done. You and your lovely companion will arrive at your destination safely. I can promise you that," Erik said with assurance.

"Now let us dispense with business. Please introduce me to this charming creature."

The man seemed only too happy to change the subject.

"It is my pleasure to introduce our most noble and beloved queen, Taralin Zarco. My Queen, Erik Rider."

Erik stood for the introduction, taking her offered hand and kissing the air just above it, as was proper. As he sat back down, he really looked at the woman for the first time.

She was lovely, with aristocratic features and long thin fingers. Like the man with her, there was no doubting her planet of origin. Their hair was jet black, as were their eyes. The eyes were the real give away. In Barions it was almost impossible to distinguish the pupil from the iris, making their fair skin look even paler. These two were hauntingly beautiful beings, as were most Barions, made more exotic by the fact that one scarcely saw them off their home planet.

Barions didn't trade much with other worlds, though they had the technology for interstellar travel, and spoke intergalactic. They seemed more than happy to stay at home and fight amongst themselves. On Barious, one nation was constantly fighting with another. In fact, the joke around the space ports was that war was the Barions' only real sport. Other than that, no one really knew much about them.

Of course, Erik knew more than most. After all, he'd been working with Drewcila Qwah for years, and Drew was every bit as Barion as the woman he sat across from now.

"It's . . . it's a pleasure to meet you," Erik stammered when he realized he had been staring far too long. "I was sorry to hear of your abduction," he added quietly, back in control.

"It was . . ." she shuddered delicately. "Well, at least it is over at last, and I can go home to my people and my husband."

"Please accept my sincere hope that your home coming will be . . . Son of a bitch!"

"Excuse me?" The man was too surprised to be angry at Erik's outburst.

"A thousand pardons, your Excellency. Please excuse a barbarian who has spent too much time with Salvagers. I stubbed my toe on the leg of the table."

Erik glared across the room at the couple who had just walked in, the tall slender Barion woman dressed down in her very grubbiest coveralls. And the huge, fur-covered male Chitzky, Van Gar, wearing the match for what Drew was wearing—right down to the grease and the "Garbage Scow" insignia over the upper right-hand pocket.

For some reason it always galled Erik to see her with that thing. Probably because he wasn't so sure that they weren't really a couple in the truest sense of the word. Of course, tonight their presence here was burning his britches for another reason.

"If you could excuse me a moment, I think I'll just go to the rest room and check on my toe." He rose, bowed low and made his way through the crowd once more.

"I don't trust him, Facto," Taralin said.

"Don't worry. All he cares about is money, and he's getting enough of that to keep him honest. He gets nothing until we reach Jabar. Then the transfer to his account will be made, and he'll get the second half of his money."

"He's stopped to talk to someone at the bar."

"Can you see who?"

Taralin squinted her eyes and shrugged. "Not through the smoke."

Facto laughed, and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, we will not miss our meeting with Zarco."

"I hope not," she looked troubled. They had gone too far, and been through too much to fail now.

They saw him before he was halfway across the room, and waved broadly at him as if he were supposed to meet them there.

"Erik! Darling! What a pleasure bumping into you here," Drew drawled out. "Join us for drinks, won't you . . ."

"What are you playing at," Erik whispered angrily. "You've got an important shipment to deliver tomorrow . . ."

"We gottah eat," Drew said.

"Not here you don't," Erik said hotly.

"Why not?" Drew's curiosity was aroused. "Ya got a girl here daddy?" She yelled. "Mama's been waiten' home all night!"

"Shut up, you gaping renal pore," Erik hissed. "The clients are here, and I would rather they didn't see what morons they have entrusted their lives to. So pick your rude fucking asses up, and haul them outtah here before you get drunk and play a game of 'let's see how far we can pitch the bartender'."

The bartender's eyes got big, and he smiled his warmest smile at the two Salvagers.

"We only did that one time," Drewcila assured him sweetly.

"He was being a jerk," Van Gar added solemnly.

"What can I get you?" the bartender asked, smiling his most helpful smile.

"They're not staying," Erik assured him.

"I'll get you something in a carry out."

The bartender started mixing a drink in a take-out glass.

"On the house," he added.

"Now get up and go," Erik said.

Drewcila smiled and held out her hand. "What's it worth to ya?"

"Fucking bitch," Erik grumbled, digging into his pocket. He took out a handful of oval-shaped coins and handed them to her.

She took them, and stuffed them quickly into her own pocket.

"Now go."

"We have to wait for our drinks," Drew said sweetly.

"Here you are," the bartender put two drinks on the bar in front of the Salvagers.

"Thanks."

"It was a pleasure to serve you. Come back any time."

"Don't get drunk," Erik warned.

"That'll cost ya extra," Drew smiled back.

"You listen to me, Drew. You and this fur-ball had better be ready for takeoff in the morning, or . . ."

"Don't get yer panties in a wad, Erik. I'll be ready for takeoff. Just like I always am."

She patted Erik on the head, then linked her arm through Van Gar's. "Come, Van, I grow weary of this place."

Arm-in-arm, they sauntered out the front door.

Erik gritted his teeth together and headed back for his table. No one was there. Erik sighed. They probably got antsy and left.

"She'll be the death of me yet."

Drewcila and Van Gar walked down the crowded spaceport street, oblivious to the colorful night time crowd. They were busy counting the money Erik had just given them. Drew held it in her hand while the Chitzky counted it, neither of them being willing to trust the other with their free drink.

"Wow! Damn!" Van whistled.

"How much?" Drew asked.

"Twenty fucking iggys." Van breathed. Drew stuffed the money in her pocket quickly. But not before a hooker saw it.

"I'd do you for that, tall, dark and furry." The hooker called, following them down the street.

"Not interested," Van said.

The hooker ran around in front of them, so that they had to stop or run over her.

"I'd do you for that, hot babe."

"Bite me."

Drew elbowed around her and they started walking again.

"Would if you wanted me to," the hooker said, continuing in hot pursuit. "Do you both for twenty. That's a real bargain. Come on, what do you say? Two for the price of one. That's my final offer."

Drew stopped and Van Gar followed suit. Together they turned to face the determined whore. They looked at each other, then back at the whore.

"Nah," they said in unison, then turned and started walking again.

"Ah, come on! It's been a lousy night. Give a girl a break," she whined as she continued to follow them.

"We said we're not interested," Van said hotly.

"You don't have to be so mean," the whore shouted back.

Drew turned around. "Tell you what, honey. Go and boil your pussy for ten minutes, and then maybe we'll talk."

Drew gave her a little shove. "Now beat it."

"You'll be sorry!" The whore screamed over her shoulder as she took off running in the other direction.

"Not as sorry as we could have been!" Van shouted after her.

The Salvagers laughed and started on their way again. Their drinks were almost empty, and they were trying to pick a good dive in which to buy a refill, when two big human males crawled out of an alley in front of them.

"Suppose this is the sorry that slut was talking about?" Van whispered to Drew.

She smiled up at him. "Either that, or a welcoming committee for crabs."

"Hey, fur ball, where ya get off puttin' down our whore?" The bigger one gritted out through yellow teeth.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will only piss me off," Van Gar sneered back.

"So, ya wanna get smart, do ya?" The smaller one cracked his knuckles.

"Why? Are you guys teachers?" Drew asked facetiously.

"Give us the money, and maybe we'll let ya live," the big one snarled.

"Get the fuck outtah my face, and maybe I'll let you live," Van Gar answered with a smile.

At six-six, and carrying two hundred and twenty pounds of muscle-bound flesh, wrapped in a protective coating of fur, there weren't many things in the universe that intimidated the Chitzky.

"Now, now," Drew chided, clicking her tongue. "Can't we find a peaceful solution? After all, the universe would be a much nicer place if people would just talk things out instead of always resorting to violence . . ."

"You've gottah be kidding, lady," the bigger one said.

"You interrupted me when I was talking!" Drew screamed as she took a step closer to him. "I hate it when people do that!" She kicked him in the balls as hard as she could, and he collapsed, screaming in agony. Then she kicked him in the head for good measure.

Without waiting for the other man's reaction, Van Gar landed a power punch to his face, and he hit the sidewalk next to his friend, out cold.

Meanwhile, Drew was finishing her lesson, punctuating her speech with solid kicks to her victim's ribs.

"What I was going to say before you so rudely interrupted me, was that people should learn to dwell in peace with one another. That we should nurture each other instead of always destroying each other."

Her speech finished, she quit kicking him, and she and Van Gar started back down the street without a backwards glance.

"Well, the whore was right," Drew said.

"Huh?"

"I am sorry. Sorry that I didn't hit that diseased bitch first."

"Amen, Sister." Van Gar laughed.

Drew took his hand. She liked the way it felt—all warm and hairy. He squeezed her hand till it was almost uncomfortable, and she warmed with the familiar feel of it.

"Hey, Chitzky. Why don't you find your own kind!" Someone screamed from the safety of a crowded bar. Van started to drop Drew's hand, but she held his tighter.

"Fuck em," she said.

"Fucking jerk," Van mumbled. "Hell, it might have been Erik. He makes no bones about the way he feels about me."

"Erik's human, Van. You know how they are. They hate everybody."

"It's not just the humans, Drew. Not with the Chitskys. We no longer have a home world, and because of that all races look down on us."

"Aw! Come on, Van. We're supposed ta be havin' a good time. You're not going ta start that poor-down-trodden-Chitzky crap again, are you? So you don't have a planet. Whoopy shit. Some people will find any reason to whine. Now snap out of it. We're celebrating, remember? Fuck Erik. The only reason Erik doesn't like you is because you have hair everywhere, and he doesn't even have it on his head."

Van Gar laughed and followed her into the first of a series of ten bars.

Chapter 2

Drew held her head between her hands and tried to make the screens in front of her come into focus. Through the fog of pain, she was about to decide that there really was such a thing as having too good a time.

Van set a steaming cup of liquid in front of her.

"I told you not to drink that Get Outtah the Truck Bitch. You get sick every time you drink them.

"I am aware of that, Van Gar." Drew spoke carefully, so she wouldn't wake up the sharp pains in her head again. "After all, you only said 'I told you so' seven hundred times last night while I was throwing up my liver and spleen."

"Well, that's seven hundred and one, then." He worked at keeping the smile off his face. "I've just about got the mess cleaned up now."

"I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Drown in vomit?" Van suggested.

"What a pleasant thought," Drew said with a snarl.

She let her head flop on the console in front of her, and then fought the wave of nausea that washed over her.

"Oh! Please! There couldn't possibly be anything left in my stomach. Oh, never again, Van. Tell me. Did I make an ass of myself?"

"No more than usual."

"Did I dance naked anywhere?"

"Just topless. No one seemed to notice."

"That's always comforting. Did we have sex?"

"No," Van said with a laugh. "Not unless you consider holding your head outtah the toilet to be fore-play."

"You will tell me if we ever have sex, won't you? I mean, I'd hate not knowing." She groaned loudly. "Oh, God, Van! I wish I would just die and get it over with."

"No such luck, babe. Drink your medicine, you'll feel better. I'm going to go finish cleaning up the mess."

"Oh, that's right. We couldn't have the ship messy when the royal bitch gets here. Go ahead—abandon me in my hour of need . . ."

"Your hour of need was about three o'clock this morning. Why have you already decided to hate this woman?" Van Gar pushed the cup closer to Drew, and she picked up her head and made a face at the smell.

"There's just something that galls me about the thought of royalty. The idea that someone is better than me simply by right of their birth. Like being born is something you have any say in. I mean, what happens? Does a sperm scream out, 'No! no. Don't put me in that wretched pussy, I want to go in that Royal cunt!' I don't fucking think so."

Van Gar laughed. "You're a twisted bitch, Drew." Still laughing, he left to go finish cleaning up the ship.

Drew waited till he was out of sight, then she stumbled over to the disposal chute and tossed the Chitsky's hang-over remedy away. Then she went back and sat down.

"I feel better already," she mumbled, looking at the empty cup.

She decided that no matter how hard it might be, she was not going to let Erik know she was hung-over.

"So! You must be Drewcila Qwah," declared a booming male voice.

"Why? Doesn't anyone else want to do it?" Drewcila answered, as she spun around in her chair to face her boarders. "And besides that's Qwah as in my way!"

"Excuse me?" Facto asked.

"Drew's attempt at humor, I'm afraid," Erik said.

"Stop screaming," Drew said holding her head. "I've got a headache."

"And I'll just bet I know why . . ." Erik started.

"Are you sick?" Taralin asked with real concern.

"Get Outtah The Truck Bitch," Drew answered

Taralin looked taken aback, and Erik laughed nervously. "It's the name of a drink," he explained.

"Are you trying to say that she's hung-over?" Facto asked in disbelief.

"Hey! Erik! I thought you said this guy was dumb," Drew said.

"I never said that," Erik assured Facto.

"I am Taralin Zarco, and this is my chamberlain Facto." Taralin tried to change the drift of the conversation.

"How come you get two names and he only gets one?" Drew asked suspiciously.

"Drew! For God's sake!"

Erik threw up his hands in defeat.

"I took on the name of my husband when we married . . ."

"Cause ah him being King and all, I suppose?" Drew was tired of making idle chatter. She turned back to the console and gave them directions over her shoulder.

"You'll find your quarters down the corridor and to your left. You can't miss it. There's a big sign made outtah cardboard that says 'VIP Quarters'. I made the sign myself."

There was no doubt in any of their minds that they were being dismissed. Facto grabbed the two small bags and headed down the hallway, and the Queen followed him.

"Pleasure to meet you," Taralin said, turning at the doorway.

"Uh huh," Drew grunted out.

"What the hell are you playing at, Qwah!" Erik screamed when he was sure they were out of hearing range.

"Hey! I made 'em a sign, didn't I?"

"You're a God damned smart-assed little bitch," he screamed, his face turning red.

"And you're a hairless, pencil-dicked old fuck," Drew said calmly. "But I love you anyway."

Erik took a deep breath and counted to ten. "What's that awful smell?" He asked after a second.

"Did you ever smell a Get Outtah The Truck Bitch?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's what it smells like when it's been recycled."

Zarco had never been to Vares 7 before, and he decided he hadn't missed much. It was the least inhabited of Vares's eighty moons. Really nothing more than a spaceport, consisting mostly of hotels which had rooms which weren't much better than the accommodations on most ships. There were restaurants which looked like they might get shoveled out once a year, and there were trading posts. The trading posts seemed to have a little bit of everything. People traded what they didn't need for what they did. Or more than likely sold it, so that they would have enough money to get drunk, laid, or both at the most prominent business on Vares 7; one of the fifty clubs which littered the main street.

The only people who ever came here were riff-raff and Salvagers, if there was really any distinction between the two. Zarco didn't think there was.

Vares was a pit, a cesspool of a place on the edge of the cosmos, where the dregs of space congregated to share their diseases. But that was a large part of the reason they had decided to pick Taralin up here. He, Zarco, was dressed in normal spaceport clothes, and they were using the least impressive of his twenty private ships. He had given orders that no one was to know that he had left the palace, much less the planet. But he knew that was no guarantee his enemies wouldn't find out that he was gone. Things had a way of leaking out, even when you took every precaution. A servant told a friend. The friend told his wife. Before you knew it, everyone knew. But no one would even consider that he would be coming to a place like Vares 7. No one would believe he would come to such an awful place.

He still wished their reunion didn't have to be in such a horrible place, but he wasn't willing to take any chance that his enemies might stop his reunion with his wife. He wasn't deluded enough to believe that he no longer had any enemies. Winning a war didn't decrease your enemies, it increased them. If anything, they became more vengeful. There were always going to be those who would not admit to defeat. Those who had lost loved ones and were hell-bent on "justice". If you lost someone in a war that you won, their death seemed somehow justified. But if you lost the war . . . well, it just seemed like a waste.

Still, as he looked around him, he couldn't help but feel that meeting her in this place seemed a high price to pay for safety.

"Sire, I believe this is our hotel," Fitz informed him.

Zarco looked up at the three-storied building and frowned.

"Are you all right, sire?"

Zarco nodded yes.

"We married on the sands of Dradious, with the crystal clear waters of Uratis behind us. I just wish our reunion could take place someplace . . ."

He kicked a piece of something that might have once been fruit out of his way.

"Someplace cleaner. Less detestable." He forced a smile. "I'm fine, Fitz. I can't wait to see her again. To embrace her."

Taralin walked onto the bridge. She was fascinated by all the flashing lights, the buttons and screens. She knew nothing about how these things worked, but she imagined that it must take a certain amount of intelligence to operate something like this ship. She hadn't had much chance to travel, and this was the only time that she had felt like she had full run of a ship. Take off had been a little rough, and she had stayed strapped in her EV chair longer than she really needed to. But as soon as she'd gotten her space legs, she had started touring the ship and had finally wound up here.

Drewcila sat at the command console and pretended like she didn't see the other woman.

"How long will it take us?" Taralin asked.

"Sixteen to eighteen hours."

Drew stared at the screen harder.

"This is the biggest ship I've ever been on," Taralin said.

Drew raised her eyebrows. Now that didn't sound right. She'd seen presidential ships, and they were huge, flamboyant things. Surely a king would have as good—if not better. She shrugged—who could figure royalty?

"It's freighter class. I have some pretty big shipments. Junk takes up a shit load ah space. Bulky and heavy. The Garbage Scow is seventy-five percent hold, fifteen percent engine and ten percent living quarters."

"Where do you live, when you're not on the ship?" Taralin asked.

Drewcila looked at her like she was a complete imbecile.

"I'm a Salvager."

It was obvious that Taralin didn't understand the significance.

"Yes, so?"

"What do you live in—a bubble? I'm a Salvager. I live on the ship. I spend all my time in space, running junk from one planet to another. It would be kind of stupid for me to own a house somewhere. Not to mention boring. How the hell do you people exist in one place? It's no wonder you're always fighting amongst yourselves. You're fucking bored outtah yer skull."

"But don't you ever wish you had someplace to call home? Don't you ever long for our home planet?"

Drew thought about it for only a second and then shrugged."No. The Garbage Scow is my home, and all of the universe is my back yard. I can't imagine living any other way."

Drewcila punched half a dozen buttons on her panel, and watched the screen for the effect. She nodded in a satisfied way. She punched a button all the way to the right of her panel.

"That's got it, Van."

"Good. It's hotter than the hubs of hell down here," a voice spoke back out of the console.

"What was the problem?"

"A fucking rat chewed through a couple of the wires."

"Which ones?"

"The blue one and the green one."

"What's the green one do?" Drew asked shortly.

"How the fuck do I know? The coating was off it. I taped it, I killed the fucking rat, and I'm coming up," Van screamed back.

"Touchy! Touchy!" Drew laughed.

"Was that why take off was so rough?" Taralin asked.

Drew shrugged and smiled.

"Who knows? Guess we'll find out next time we take off."

"I hate fucking rats," Van Gar said.

His voice startled Taralin, and she swung around to face him. She took one look at the alien that had walked onto the bridge, let out a screech and jumped back. Almost at the same time she became aware that he was wearing the same uniform that Drewcila Qwah was. She felt like an idiot.

"I'm sorry," Taralin and Van Gar said in unison.

Van Gar laughed and walked over to her, holding out his hand.

"A pleasure to meet you. My name is Van Gar and I have the misfortune of being Drewcila's first mate."

"Some men will believe any story ya tell em," Drew mumbled.

"Ah," Taralin reluctantly took his hand. "I am Taralin Zarco. It's . . . ah.. nice to meet you. I'm afraid you startled me a little."

"I would imagine that my appearance would be a little startling to anyone who hadn't had the opportunity to meet a Chitzky before."

"Brown noser," Drew said, punching buttons for no better reason than she was bored. "Don' buy his line ah shit. He's as big an asshole as I am."

"Believe me," Van Gar hissed, "no one can compete with you when it comes to being an asshole."

Van Gar glared at Drew, and she grinned back and stuck out her tongue. Van ignored her.

"So, I would imagine that you're excited about seeing your husband again."

"I don't know if you'd call it excited . . ."

"Lousy lay, huh?" Drew guessed.

"And so she proves my point," Van Gar said shaking his head.

Drew shrugged, got up and walked to the cooler. She dug through the ice, pulled out a can, threw it to Van, and he caught it instinctively."You, Queenie?" Drew asked.

Taralin shook her head no.

Drew grabbed one for herself, then launched herself into her seat, opening her beer at the same time without spilling a drop. Drew looked at Van to see if he had witnessed the elegant execution of this act. He held his thumb up and grinned.

"So, is he?" Drew asked after a long pull on the can.

"Drew! You're such a shit head!" Van Gar cursed.

"Is who what?" Taralin asked a bit confused.

"The King. Is the king a lousy lay? You know, is he bad at the bad thing? Does his willy not tickle your twat?"

Taralin looked at Van, who seemed to be much easier to talk to than his employer.

"She wants to know if the King is good in bed," Van interpreted.

Taralin blushed scarlet. Then stammered out. "Ah . . . that's just the problem. I don't remember."

"Well, I'd say that speaks volumes!" Drew laughed.

"You're . . . Fuck you, Drew!" Van Gar stomped of the bridge.

"Wonder who tied his shorts in a knot?" Drew asked with a shrug.

"You don't understand," Taralin said. "I don't remember Zarco at all. I didn't even know who I really was 'til two days ago. They told me that the Lockhedes removed part of my brain. That I can't ever remember. Those memories are gone totally. I don't remember being Queen. I don't remember my parents, or my sister. And I don't remember him. Not at all. I don't even remember what I was like before they did this to me. I've been waiting tables on Jors for the last five years. That's all I remember. Now I'm supposed to go be Queen, and I have no idea how to be a wife much less a queen! I'm afraid Zarco is going to be terribly disappointed."

"Ah, Fuck 'em!"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean . . . Look, if you meant so much to him he should ah come after you before this. If someone took Van Gar, I'd go after him. And I wouldn't stop till I found him—and killed them in a really horrible sort of blood-gushing way. I mean, he can be a moody pain in the ass sometimes, but he's my moody pain in the ass! And it wouldn't take me no five years to get him back!"

"But they explained that to me. He didn't have a choice. The country was at war, and . . ."

"Ah, that's a fucking cop-out if ever I've heard one. He probably found someone else to fuck, and then he just wasn' in any hurry. I know men, honey. Take my word for it. They're all the same. I don't care if they're royal or not. No man goes for five years without getting his willy wet."

Taralin was blushing again. "I don't think he's that kind of man. They say he loves me. That he has mourned for me . . ."

"I guess that's the difference between a King an a normal guy. A normal guy has to make up his own bullshit stories. Listen to me, an you'll be OK. Ride this Royal shit for all it's worth. You've fucking been through hell, an he owes you. I'll tell you what I'd do if I were you. I'd put me an industrial sized ice cooler under the Royal throne, and I'd hire me about half a dozen naked dancing boys with pecs of death and dicks that hang to their knees. And when I got bored with that, I'd get me a bunch ah money outtah the Royal safe and I'd buy me half a dozen of the fanciest freighters you've ever seen. I'd become Queen of the Salvagers, that's what I would do."

She took a long slug of beer and checked the instrument panel.

"But . . . That would be wrong. Shouldn't I do the best job I can to be a good wife, and to serve my people?"

"Honey, all you know how to serve them is a hot cup of Java. As for wrong. Well, wrong is kind of a relative thing, isn't it? I mean, who's to say it's any more wrong than a man leaving his wife to rot in a hole like Jors for five years while he screws everything that moves."

"He didn't do that!" Taralin said.

"Does he have a dick?" Drew asked.

"Of course he does!"

"Then take my word for it. He's been balling every bimbo who ever wanted a piece of Royal meat."

Taralin didn't want to follow this line of conversation any more. Besides, there was something else she was curious about.

"Are you and Van Gar, well, are you a couple?"

Drew was a little shocked by the question.

"Van and I?" She laughed nervously.

"Well, you did say you'd go after him."

"That's what I git for bein' nice," Drew mumbled. "Van and I have never made the beast with two backs. Not that I remember, anyway. We will have to one day though," she said matter-of-factly.

Taralin was confused by the resolve in the other woman's voice.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because that's what always happens when men and women are friends. They get really close, but they always avoid sex because they know it will ruin their friendship. But all along they both secretly know it will happen. They keep waiting for the right moment. That moment when they think they may be able to pull off having sex and not have it ruin their friendship. In the end, they give up and wind up having sex when they most need the closeness. Then he never forgives her because she must not have thought he was any good in bed, or she wouldn't have been able to stay out of it. And she never forgives him because he didn't fall in love with her.

"And that's what's going to happen to you and Van Gar?"

Drew smiled broadly, and stood up. "No. Because I already know that Van loves me. And I always go back for seconds."

She strolled off the bridge, beer in hand.

Taralin watched her go with a feeling of dread. This reunion was not going to go at all as she had planned.

Zarco leaned back in the cheap hotel chair, and hoped that it would hold him.

"Are you sure you were not followed?" He asked the man who had joined them only moments ago.

"I am," the man assured him.

He looked nervous, and for the first time since Zarco had been told that Taralin had been found alive he felt true dread at what his enemies might have done to his wife.

"You saw Taralin?"

"Yes. She didn't remember me."

"What? That doesn't make any sense, Holm! I mean . . ."

"The Lockhedes did a very cruel thing to Your Queen and to You, my King," Holm said solemnly.

"Is she mad, Holm?" Zarco asked quietly.

"No, sire. She is as sharp as ever she was."

"Disfigured, then?"

"I have never seen her look more lovely."

"Is she . . . Is she barren, Holm?"

"Sire, there is nothing physically wrong with Your Queen."

"Then she is mad."

"Sire, please allow me to finish. What I should have said is that the damage is not obvious. The Lockhedes operated on her brain. They removed her memory. She has absolutely no memory of her life before her abduction . . ."

Zarco sighed with relief.

"I thought it was something serious," he laughed. "The moment she sees me her memory will come back to her . . ."

"Sire! Please listen. They removed that part of her brain. She can never remember, not ever. It's simply not there anymore."

"But she will remember, Holm," Zarco smiled. "You are younger than I, and have not yet felt the kind of love that lasts more than a night. She will see me, and she will remember."

Zarco looked at Fitz. "She must remember."

Drewcila and Van Gar sat on the bridge.

"So, do you believe that shit about losing half her brain?" Drewcila asked

"It could happen," Van Gar shrugged.

"Maybe she's jus puttin' it on so that she doesn't have to fuck 'im. You know, kindah like 'Not tonight, dear, half my brain is gone.'"

"You are such a sick, skeptical bitch. I can't believe that you, of all people, wouldn't believe her story . . ."

"Ah, come on, Van. A girl shakes her hips the right way and you believe she's virginal. If I was her, I'd be looking to take this fucker down. And what better way than to say 'I don't remember where the Royal safe is, I don't remember the combination', and then when they believe you, Wham! Bam! Thank you ma'am! You take every fucking dime from the kingdom, and head off for parts unknown with Joe-Joe the horse-hung boy."

"See, that's what I'm talking about. This guy could have had a perfectly good reason for not coming after his wife before now."

"Yeah. Like he's boffin' the serving girl, and the upstairs and down stairs maids." Drew laughed. "Meanwhile, she's waiting tables on Jors for five years with half a brain."

"She didn't say she only has half a brain. She certainly does not seem like a half wit."

"My point exactly. It's all an act."

"Just because you are a vindictive bitch doesn't mean that everyone else is." Van Gar shook his head.

"I am not a vindictive bitch. Well, I may be a bitch, but I am not vindictive. I simply have a very strong sense of justice . . ."

"You've already tried this guy and found him guilty. I think this guy really does love his wife, and that he just couldn't find her. If he didn't love her, would he be paying twenty thousand iggys to us, and God only knows how much to Erik?"

"You've got a point there," Drew said, thinking for a moment. That was an awful lot of money. "Ah, but how do we know that isn't just a spit in the bucket for him?"

"I swear Drew, you would find bacteria in the milk of humanoid kindness," Van said. "Do you always have to be such a pessimist?"

"What's with all the labels, Van? Are you really mad at me, or are you just trying to increase your negative vocabulary?"

Van Gar laughed. "You're impossible."

"If I was, I wouldn't be here."

The ship rocked violently. Drew looked at Van Gar.

"The green wire goes to the detection system," they said in unison.

They jumped to their feet, spilling beer everywhere and ran for the gun cabinet, where they grabbed the two biggest, ugliest rifles they had and started at a dead run for the cargo bay.

Facto stepped out of his cabin.

"What's going on?" he asked, stepping into their way when he realized they weren't going to stop. "What is it?"

The ship lurched again, and they were all thrown into the wall."We're being boarded," Van Gar told him, regaining his footing.

"By whom?"

"By fucking Boy Scouts! Who the fuck do you think?"

Drew shoved past him.

Taralin stepped out of her cabin, and Drew saw iggys falling into a bottomless pit.

"Get her and go lock yourselves on the bridge. Don't open the door for anyone. The ship is on a set course, and with any luck you'll reach Vares 7 before they can break down the door."

"What is all this?" Taralin demanded.

"Pirates. We're being boarded," Van Gar told her. Then chased after Drew, who had already started back down the hall.

"No! Wait!" Facto started to go after them, and Taralin grabbed his arm.

"There's nothing we can do, Facto. I have faith in her ability to deal with this."

"But, my Lady . . ."

"Let's do as we were told."

Van Gar and Drew stood on either side of the door to the cargo bay.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Let's party. I'll take point."

Drew punched a button and the doors opened. Van Gar jumped through the door and opened fire. Drew came in after him, and the door clanged shut behind them as someone returned their fire. They ran for cover behind a pile of transformers.

"Fuck." Van Gar took a deep breath. "I count five."

"Seven," Drew corrected.

She jumped out from behind the pile, opened fire, and then jumped back.

"Now there's five of em." She grinned. "Man, I hope you dumb fucks don't bleed all over my scrap!"

"Fuck you!" someone yelled back.

"Hey! You can't talk that way ta me! I'm a lady!"

She looked at Van."Shall we?"

"You take the left; I'll take the right."

"On three."

"One, two, three."

Drew ran around the left side of the junk, and Van Gar ran out the right. He dodged behind an old truck, and she dove behind a bin of copper wire as a blast went past her. She lay on the floor, still for a moment.

"Fucking up my junk," she mumbled as she started crawling on her knees and elbows. She grinned when she poked her head around the corner of the bin and saw the two guys perched on the top of an old nuclear regulator.

"Kiss me, fuckers!" She fired a hail of bolts on them, and they fell together from their perch. She heard gunfire from the other side of the cargo bay.

Van Gar saw the two men fall and made a dash for the airlock doors. The doors were open, and coming through the tube which the pirates had connected to the hull of the Garbage Scow, Van Gar could see reinforcements from the pirate ship. He couldn't risk firing at the pirates while they were in the tube. If he ruptured the sides of the plastic tube, both cargo bays on both ships would be instantly and explosively depressurized. He stepped to the side of the door as the men inside the tube fired on him, and quickly loaded a nasty looking projectile into his weapon. He counted to three, jumped into the doorway, and fired over the heads of the boarding party, into their ship. Then he ran for the airlock control button.

The men in the tube knew what he was up to, and they ran faster in an attempt to get into the ship before the doors closed.

Van Gar punched the button. It made a grating sound.

"Fuck fuck," he looked around the opening, and someone fired at him out of the tube. "Damn, damn," he slammed his closed fist into the button. It started to close, but much slower than it should have.

"Open it, fur ball."

Van Gar felt something very hard and very cold against the back of his head.

"Buddy, I just launched a nerve gas canister into your ship. If I don't close this door, we're all going to die."

"Fucking liar."

Van Gar heard the man's finger moving towards the trigger. Then there was a gurgling sound, and the gun fell away from his head. He turned and the guy was just staring at him. Then he staggered a little, and fell to the ground, sliding off the bayonet of Drew's rifle as he did so.

Van Gar smiled at Drew. "What took you so long?"

"I broke a nail. Cover me."

Van Gar nodded.

She put her weapon down, pulled a tool from her pocket, and pried the cover off the control panel.

"You better fucking hurry. If they make it to the airlock . . ."

"You worry so much."

She snipped a couple of wires and twisted them together, apparently oblivious to the shower of sparks which erupted at her finger tips.

Van Gar heard feet hit the airlock floor, and then the doors hit high speed and slammed shut, leaving a hand flopping around on the floor.

Drew made a face. "Ugh! I hate it when that happens."

She played around with the wires, trying to override whatever the pirates had done, so that she could first close the exterior doors just enough to break the pirates' tube seal and suck them all into the vacuum of space, and then close the door completely. She could hear them banging on the airlock door. Either they thought one of their buddies would open the doors, or they were just plain desperate.

Drew was working as fast as she could when Van tapped her shoulder.

"You can slow down. I wasn't lying about the gas canister. They got maybe five minutes before the gas reaches them."

"You send a control beacon at the same time?"

"Well, of course," Van Gar said indignantly. "What do you think I am, a rank amateur?"

He saw the man on top of the stack of rubber tires.

"Fuck! Drew!"

He shoved her to the ground and opened fire on the man as blasts rained down all around them. The man flew back through the air, screaming all the way to the floor.

"You OK, Drew?" Van Gar asked, looking around carefully for any other attacker.

"Yeah," she groaned. She stood up and went back to work on the controls. "Keep an eye out. There should be one more."

"Hey! You little fucker! We know yer in here! Ya might as well come on out an make it easy on yerself," Van screamed.

Behind him he could hear the sound of the exterior doors closing, and Drew picking up her weapon. To the lone pirate, that sound must have been like hearing his own death screams. This guy had nothing to lose.

"I'll check this way," Drew said.

They split up. Ten minutes later, they met at the cargo bay doors.

"I counted seven bodies."

"Me, too," Van said, sounding disappointed. "We must have hit the last one with random fire."

"Too easy?" Drew asked.

"Yeah. I hate it when they finish before I do."

"I hate this." Facto hissed through clenched teeth.

He looked around the bridge and wished that he had any idea what any of the flashing lights or sirens were indicative of. He kept walking around, looking at various screens and trying to get any meaning out of the jumbled letters and symbols that looked back at him. Wishing that any of the data was in a familiar language, instead of code.

"We have no way of knowing what's going on. I should have gone with them. I should have."

"That's not going to change things one way or the other, Facto. Try to relax."

"Relax. This woman is a lunatic!" The words had barely cleared his lips when the doors opened and Drewcila Qwah strode onto the bridge.

"Now, now, Fatso." She knew that wasn't his name, but it wasn't much more stupid sounding. "Is that any way to talk to the people who just saved the Royal piece ah ass?"

She flopped into the control chair and leaned her weapon against the console beside her. Van Gar was not far behind her. He rushed in and sat in the navigator's chair directly across from Drewcila, and their fingers busily flew over their respective keyboards.

"Our coordinates have been re-established, and we are prepared to continue our course," Van Gar reported.

Drewcila just nodded, her fingers caressing the keyboard as if it were a lover she knew well. Finally she smiled.

"The beacon has been activated, and we now have full control of the Purple Cat."

"A purple cat?" Taralin asked.

"The pirate ship," Van Gar answered. Then he turned to Drew. "With the gas on board we don't have to worry about anyone stealing it."

"Stealing it? But it's . . . Isn't . . . Doesn't the Space Patrol have to make a report? Isn't that ship evidence?" Facto said.

"Hello! Hello!" Drew screamed. "Are we living in the same universe? According to Article twenty-six of the Salvagers' Code . . ." she cleared her throat and intoned: "'If you find it, it's yours.' And Article number Six of the Space Patrol Code states:" she cleared her throat again and quoted: "'Any derelict ship containing a Salvager's beacon shall be considered the property of said Salvager under Article Twenty-six of the Salvager's Code.'"

"So what just happened?" Facto demanded. "How were they able to board us in the first place?"

"A rat chewed through a circuit wire and fouled up our detection system. But how they board—now that is really quite ingenious. What they do is match your ship's speed exactly, then they shoot out this tendril and it grabs onto your ship like a huge suction cup, and . . ."

"I'm sure they can wait for the book, Van Gar," Drewcila said shaking her head. "Look at this shit." She transferred the data on her screen over to his.

He was going to take a glance at the screen and say "so what", no matter what she had transferred, just because she had pissed him off. But when he saw the read-out, he couldn't control his excitement.

"What is this? Most pirate ships are held together with baling wire and used gum," he said in disbelief.

"Yeah, well, not this one," Drew said. "Look at their weapons system. We're damn lucky they didn't fire on us."

"Look at the fucking third level. There's a fucking whirlpool on it . . ."

"If I might be so bold . . ." Facto started.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Drew hissed back. She was checking out her new acquisition, and she didn't want to be bothered. Facto made a rude sound and stomped off the bridge, making as much noise as possible.

Taralin followed quietly behind him.

"I thought they'd never leave."

Drew went to the cooler, finding that it had slid all the way across the control room. She dragged it over to her chair, sat down, and started rifling through the contents. Soon she pulled out two beers and two cigars. Handing one of each to Van Gar, she leaned back in her chair, sniffed her cigar, and smiled.

"It's a whirlpool."

Van wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.

"I'm so proud."

Chapter 3

"No, no, and no!" Drewcila shook her head furiously. "I got paid to bring you here. You're here, and my job is finished. I'm gonna dump my shipment and I'm outtah here."

"I was told by your boss . . ."

"I ain't got no boss." Drewcila grinned impishly. "No one ain't ever had that kindah money."

"The man you work for, then."

"Don't work for no man." Drewcila grinned back.

"Erik Rider said . . ."

"Why didn't you just say that bloated pile of shit."

"Qwah!" Facto took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Erik Rider assured me that you and your friend would be giving us escort to the hotel. From there the King's guard will take over."

"Why ain't the guards here to meet her? I'm very busy here."

She watched as the crew of dock workers unloaded her scrap. One of the forklift drivers had just pulled out of the ship with a pallet load of generators. Sprawled across the top was the battered remains of a pirate. The driver was saying unhappy things about Salvagers who didn't dump their trash in space.

"Hey! Hey!" Drew screamed at the man till she got his attention.

"You're going to have to pay a disposal fee on these corpses, Qwah."

"Don't be looken for reasons to dock me on my scrap, bugger head. I know how much I had. And if you try and short me, you and him will be makin' butt-head book ends."

Facto breathed deeply again and tried to put himself into a kind of meditative state, but this wasn't such an easy task around the likes of Drewcila Qwah.

"So, Fuckto. What were ya saying?"

"Erik Rider assured me of an escort. It's part of what I paid for."

"Yeah, well he didn't tell me any such thing. I sure as hell didn't get paid to escort anyone anywhere, an I ain't stretching my neck out for nothin'."

Drew watched as some of the dock workers pulled the bodies off the top of the scrap. They knocked one of the generators off the pallet and it landed with a crash.

"Hey! Hey! I saw that shit! I'm gonna charge you if my scrap is damaged."

She saw that Facto was still standing there.

"You still here?"

"I'm not going without an escort."

"Then call up your lily-livered monarch and have him send you one. I can't leave these morons to unload my scrap. Surely you can see that. I'd lose a small fortune here."

"It's not that easy. We are trying to keep a low profile. The King didn't bring that many guards, and most of those are on the ship."

"Then go to the ship. Hell, I'll escort you there."

"But the King is in town!"

"So? He can come back to the ship. I don't get the big problem here." Drew motioned for Van Gar, and he nodded and started towards her.

"Our king has many enemies. He risked great danger in coming here in person. I shouldn't have to tell you how dangerous a spaceport is. Here there is no real law."

"The Galactic Police . . ."

"My point exactly. We wish for their reunion to go as smoothly as possible."

He looked to where Taralin stood, looking scared and lost. "She's been through so much already. Please just help us get her to the King safely. I'm not expecting any trouble, but you know what these spaceport towns can be like."

He saw Drew's outstretched hand. He looked at it and then at her face. She was grinning.

"Don't try to appeal to my better nature. I don't have one. Money talks; bullshit walks."

"But I've already paid."

"Erik. You paid Erik. I don't see him puttin' his ass on the line here, do you? You want me," Van Gar reached her then, and she put an arm around his waist, "and Van to escort you, then you need to pay us."

Drew looked up at Van Gar. "How's it going?"

"They say we're short on our load," he said.

"What!"

Drew threw a black look at the dock workers.

"Fucking space leeches! Dogs of the space ways!"

"You're supposed to have fifty converters!" a portly dock worker screamed back.

"Well, excuse me all the hell!" Drew screamed back. "The converters turned out to be shit, and he wanted twice what they were worth."

"Whatever the song and dance, Qwah, your load is still short and that means you lose ten percent."

"Screws! Roaches of the air-ways! Sphincter of the universe!"

Drew turned to Van Gar. "So, how much ahead did we come out?"

"Well, we paid a quarter of what we declared. So, with the ten percent docking, fuel, penalties, etc . . ." he punched the buttons on his wrist computer, then grinned ". . . we're 2,000 iggys up."

"Oh, how I do adore the free enterprise system, Van."

She glared at the dock worker taking inventory.

"Double-dealing, penny pinching . . ."

"You're crooked!" Facto hissed.

"I'm a good business woman."

Drew held out her hand again without looking at him. Facto dug deep into his pocket and dumped what was left of its contents into the Salvager's open hand. Drew looked at it, and seemed less than happy.

"That's all I have left," Facto said.

Drew turned up her nose.

"It ain't much."

"Maybe you can get the rest from your boss," Facto said shortly.

"Erik Rider is a lot of things, but he ain't my boss, Factoad."

Facto didn't want to have this conversation again."That's all the money I have left. If you don't want it . . ."

"OK, OK. But you'll have to wait till they finish unloading my scrap . . ."

"My King and Queen have waited to be reunited for five long years."

Drew smiled. "Then thirty minutes isn't going to make that much difference, is it?"

"You are . . ." Facto bit his tongue.

"Yes, and so much more." Drew grinned widely. "As soon as I'm unloaded, and I have my money, we'll go. Until then I suggest you go back in the ship and make yourselves comfortable."

"I want more money," Drew said in a whisper.

"Why? We're almost there and nothing has happened," Facto pointed out.

"My point exactly. I'm bored. I hate being bored."

Drew looked at Van Gar, who nodded in agreement.

"While we were escorting the Earl of Pedonia we got bored, and he paid us an extra seventy-five iggys."

"What kind of scam are you trying to run now, Qwah? You never got paid seventy-five IGD's for being bored, and I doubt very seriously you ever escorted any Pedonian Earl. How stupid do you think I am?"

Facto had come to the end of his rope. Drewcila Qwah held not a single redeeming characteristic that he could find.

"I think you'd get really pissed off if I answered that." Drewcila grinned.

Facto doubled his pace and was soon a good five feet in front of the others.

Drew looked at Taralin.

"Now how the hell am I supposed to protect him if he's way up there?"

"You're supposed to protect her. I can take care of myself," Facto assured her.

"In that case you're not as stupid as I thought you were, Fuckto."

"Facto, my name is Facto."

He stopped and turned to face her.

"You are the most irritating . . ."

"Facto!" Taralin put a hand on his shoulder. "We're almost there now. Just ignore her a few more minutes."

Facto nodded, turned and started to walk again.

"How can he ignore me when it's so obvious that he wants me? He yearns for me. My warm sensuous body pressed close to his—my squirming hips playing against his."

"Enough!" Facto screamed; his face burning bright red.

"Chill, baby."

Drew strode forward, kissed him on the lips, and then walked towards the door of the hotel they had stopped in front of.

"Look! We're here. And tomorrow I'll just be a warm, wet memory."

Facto walked up beside Taralin and they started into the hotel.

"I am not attracted to her," he assured Taralin.

"It's OK, Fuckto."

Drew opened the door and the other three walked in.

"It's not easy to be an object of desire. I live with it . . . Bar!" As if she were steel, and the bar a magnet, she let herself be pulled in the direction of the hotel bar.

"Come back here!" Facto ordered.

"You said to the hotel. We're in the hotel, and you're out of money. You're on your own."

Facto looked appealingly at the Chitzky, and he shrugged.

"Bar," he answered. As if that explained it all.

He took Taralin's hand and kissed the back of it.

"It was a pleasure to serve you."

"Thank you," Taralin said. "For everything."

"Facto," the Chitzky held out his hand, and Facto took it reluctantly. "Learn to loosen up, dude," he winked at the man and then ran to catch up with Drew in the bar.

Drew sat at the bar.

"Blow Me Hard And Often—with a twist," she ordered.

The bartender nodded and went to work.

Van Gar came in and sat beside her.

"Brown noser," she accused.

"I was just being nice," Van Gar defended. "I know that's hard for you to recognize."

"I'm nice," Drew protested.

Van Gar just laughed.

"I am!"

The bartender put her drink in front of her.

"Thanks," she said. Then turned to Van Gar.

"See?"

Behind them, a man's voice boomed through the crowd.

"Taralin! My love! My life!"

Drew turned to see the long-awaited reunion, and a strange man threw his arms around her, spilling her drink.

"Fucking idiot!" Drew swore, pushing the man harshly away, and wiping the drink off her jump suit. The man looked deep into her eyes. At least he tried to; she didn't cooperate.

"Oh, Taralin! At long last!" He pulled a very surprised Drew into his arms, and kissed her on the lips. Drew pushed him out to arms length and held him there.

"Listen, jerk. I know it's been a long time, so I'm going to let you live." She pointed to where Taralin stood across the room looking hurt. "That's yer old lady over there."

Zarco looked from the woman in front of him to the trio which stood in the door. His face fell.

"You . . . you really don't remember, then? Not me? Not any of them?"

"No. She don't remember you. But I don't guess that matters too much, since you don't remember her either. I am Drewcila Qwah. I'm the Salvager that Fuckto hired to haul your wife here."

"His name is Facto, and it is you who are my wife. My wife, Taralin Zarco."

"Buddy, I don't know you, and you're starting to piss me off big time. First off, you spilt my drink."

Facto and the others joined their King then.

"I am sorry for the deception, but, well, you were so changed, my Queen. We didn't know how to make you believe us."

"I am your sister, Stasha," the woman who had called herself Taralin announced.

Drew took a step backwards and hit the bar. Suddenly, she didn't feel so good. A wave of nausea washed over her, and sweat gathered on her upper lip, so she took a long sip from her drink. Feeling somewhat calmed, she said carefully, "I am Drewcila Qwah, I am a Salvager. I am not now—nor have I ever been—anyone's Queen."

Van Gar looked at Drew for a long moment, and then at the others.

"Drewcila was in a pirate raid five years ago, and she suffered complete amnesia—or so she was told. She has no idea what her life was like before that. She doesn't even remember the raid."

Drew gave him a betrayed look.

"You might be this person, Drew. Wouldn't you like to know? Once and for all, wouldn't you like to know who you were before?"

It took some doing, but they finally talked Drewcila into going back to the suite with them.

"I'm sure this must all come as a big shock to you," the one called Fitz said.

"Well, this may come as a big shock to all of you, but I ain't goin' nowhere with you bunch of wackos."

She pulled her hand away from Zarco for the fifteenth time.

"You should listen to them, Drew," Van Gar said.

"Why? This is their fairy tale, not mine. Fucking queen of some country! We all know who I am."

"Taralin Zarco," Zarco answered. "My queen and my love." He took her hand and kissed it.

"Would you stop doing that!"

Drew pulled her hand away. She glared at Van Gar as if he had forced her to commit some terrible and unnatural act just by helping them to convince her to come here at all.

Zarco got up and moved across the room. He could not be so close to her and not touch her, and it was obvious that it was distressing her. Zarco sat across the room and stared at his wife. She looked like Taralin. Except for the hair cut. She had cut her hair in some strange alien fashion—short on the sides and back-long on top. It was attractive, but he missed her long, flowing mane of jet-black hair. Still, the woman he sat across from looked exactly like his wife.

But appearance was where it stopped. Taralin did not walk or move the same way, and she certainly didn't talk the same way. Her voice had taken on a harsh raspiness, and every other word out of her mouth was alien profanity or slang no doubt picked up in her travel from spaceport to spaceport. In spite of all this, it was more than he could handle to have to look at her and not touch her. Because this woman—however strange she may seem—was his wife. The only woman he had ever loved. He only prayed that they were all wrong, and somewhere in her mind was locked away some memory of him and of their love.

"Quit staring at me. Yer giving me the creeps," Drewcila ordered. "Who do I have to kill to get a drink around here?"

"At once, my Queen," Fitz bowed low and ran off to a liquor cabinet. He opened it and peered inside. "I'm afraid it is not well-stocked. Does my queen have a preference?"

"Well, I've always found myself hopelessly attracted to men, though of course there were a couple of times when I was really drunk that . . ."

"He was talking about the drink." Facto sighed.

"Oh. Anything. Something in a bottle," Drew said.

She watched as Fitz pulled a shot glass out and started to pour a shot from the bottle.

"No, no just bring me the bottle."

He looked unsure but brought it to her all the same.

Drew put the bottle to her lips and downed half of it before coming up for air.

"This has got to be a mistake. I could never be anything like you stuffy bunch of pin heads. Nothing personal." She belched loudly. "I'm sorry you lost yer queen, but I ain't her." She belched again. "Hey! This ain't bad shit!"

"I couldn't agree more," Facto said. "And I'm not talking about the liquor."

"We know that she is Taralin, Facto. DNA doesn't lie. She is our queen." Fitz said.

"Oh, I have no doubt that this is Taralin's body. But I have been with this woman for the better part of a day, and there is no part of Taralin in her. Not one trait of our gentle queen is present in Drewcila Qwah. This woman is a rude, loud, drunkard, and a slut. When they removed part of her brain, they removed Taralin. They killed her."

Facto looked appealingly at his king.

"My King, bury Taralin's memory and find a more suitable mate than this Salvager."

"There can be no one for me but Taralin. What has happened to her is my fault. All our faults, because we cared more for our country than we did our kin."

"Sire, you did the only thing you could do. No one could ask you to act differently. You sacrificed your own happiness for the kingdom. You have punished yourself enough. Don't punish yourself or your country by bringing this mockery of Taralin home. Don't let this woman ruin your people's memory of a kind and noble Queen. What has happened is done, and nothing can undo it. I wish I could tell you truthfully that you could turn this thing back into Taralin, but in all truth I think it would be more suitable to put the crown on a Dridel Beast."

"What are you suggesting, Facto?" Stasha screamed. "That we leave my sister here to play Salvager—to the tender mercies of a Chitzky?"

She looked at Van Gar.

"No offense meant."

"None taken," Van Gar said with a shrug.

"Your sister is dead, Stasha. I can't believe that you wouldn't be sure of that, having spent time in the company of Drewcila Qwah."

"She is my sister, Facto. They may have removed her memory, but her basic traits—the part of her brain that made her what she was—that is still there, still the same."

"How can you say that? This woman waded into her hold with a weapon as big as herself and brutally killed people."

"She protected what was hers. That was very like Taralin." But now Stasha sounded unsure and defensive.

"She killed them, and then she came back to the bridge bragging about what she was going to get off their ship, and she ate a sandwich!"

"I was hungry," Drew said, defensively.

"I don't consider it a bad thing to kill pirates," Stasha said. "They would have killed us if they got a chance."

"She's a crook. You heard her on the docks. She's completely unscrupulous."

"Enough, Facto. I will not hear you talk of my wife—your Queen—in such a manner. You've said your piece, and we have heard it. No more. Taralin will return to her throne beside me where she belongs, and we will make her remember who she is and how to act."

"OK! Hold it right there!" Drew yelled. "If you guys could just stop talking about me like I'm not here, and calling me dead and implying that I'm walking around with half a brain, I've got a couple of things to tell you bunch of coconuts, then I'm going to make like a baby and go."

She waited to make sure she had everyone's attention.

"Now listen, cause I am only going to say this one more time. My name is Drewcila Qwah. I have always been Drewcila Qwah. It's true that I was in an accident and I suffered amnesia, but I have my whole brain, thank you, and I know who I am because they told me. Everyone knew me and everyone still does. I'm a Salvager, my parents were Salvagers, and their parents before them. That is my heritage, and I don't appreciate you saying Salvager like it was a dirty word. It is an honorable and useful occupation, as well as a profitable one. Unlike being some do-nothing Royal fuck. I have worked all my life. No one ain't never give me shit. And if I talk a little too rough for you, or act a little strange in your eyes, or put a little too much store in trash, maybe it's you that's fucked up and not me. I have my memories."

"Which were mostly fed to you by Erik Rider."

Van Gar looked at Zarco.

"She doesn't remember shit past five years ago. There is a scar on the front of her head, just under her hair line which Erik said was caused from impact, but it could have just as easily been caused from an operation." Drew gave him a heated look.

"Drew, if you're this Taralin person, this is your family. Aren't you even curious?"

"If this is my family I prefer the dead one. You know how I feel about these Royal shits. Living off people they look down on. People like you and me who keep the universe going."

Drew downed the rest of the bottle.

"Hell, these people don't even know how to make a decent drink."

"Sire, surely you can see that she can never be one of us again," Facto said in a pleading tone. "Would you really trust her to lead beside you? To give her control of all the kingdom's wealth? All the riches of the palace—all the treasure of your fathers?" Drewcila's eyes grew wide, and she smiled.

"You know," she said thoughtfully, "I have always felt lost in the world of Salvagers. Like an outsider. Like I just really didn't fit in."

Van Gar sighed and ran a hand down his face. He could see a scam coming on.

Chapter 4

"She has been talking to the Chitzky for thirty minutes, Sire. Can't you see that she has only agreed to go home with you so that she can get her hands on your wealth?" Facto pleaded.

"Can't you see that I don't care why she is going with me, only that she is with me?"

Zarco stared at the woman standing with her back to him across the vastness of the spaceport.

"Once we are together, all will be put right. This time apart shall be erased like it never was."

"But, Sire, surely."

"No more! I told you before. Your words border on treason, and they are falling on deaf ears."

"But, my King!"

"Not one more harsh word about the Queen," Zarco ordered.

He took a deep breath.

"Please, my old friend. I need your help more now than ever I did before. All that has kept me going these long harsh years has been the hope of being reunited with Taralin. Now we have found her, and she is whole, but she no more remembers me than a drunk man remembers his balance. I am all too aware that she may never be the woman that she was. That she may never again love me as she once did. But please don't tell me that I am a fool to try. Because if she is gone to me forever, then I'd just as soon they remove my memory so that I don't have to remember what I have lost. I'd rather be dead than never feel her love again."

"An entire fleet of ships. No! Why stop there? Two fleets and our own spaceport!" Drew wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth. "All I have to do is play my cards right, and I can be Queen of the Salvagers. We'll pick these Royal bastards till their bones are clean."

"Drew. That woman is your sister. That man is your husband. They are your past." Van Gar reprimanded her gently.

"Ah, bullshit," Drew said. "I ain't buying that brain-removed shit for one minute. I know who I am."

"You know they're telling you the truth."

"They think they're telling me the truth. I know they believe I am their Queen."

"You do, too. I saw the look on your face the moment you realized that they were telling you the truth."

"You read too much into an attack of gas. I didn't come from shit like that. I couldn't. They're just flash and air. I'm real."

She paused, re-gathering her thoughts.

"Now, here's my plan. I'll go with the Royal fucks. You take the Garbage Scow and follow. Don't stay too far back, just out of detection range. Land at the space port at Delta Ray station and wait for me. I figure it will take me about a week to make them decide that they want me as no part of their Royal Court, then they'll give me any amount of money I ask for just to be rid of me."

"Why can't you just admit that you are curious about your past and your people?" Van Gar asked.

"I don't need your asteroid belt analysis, Van. Wait at Delta Ray, and I'll come for you when I've cleaned them out."

"As you wish, your Royal Majesty," Van Gar said, bowing low.

"Knock it off, fuck head."

She turned and started to walk away.

"Aren't you even going to say good-bye?" Van Gar asked in a hurt tone.

She turned to face him, and smiled.

"Ain't goin' nowhere, fur ball." She winked at him. "See you in a week."

She turned and walked towards Zarco and the others.

Van Gar watched her go. Oh Drew, if you stay too long with this King, I'll lose you forever. He turned away quickly and started for the Garbage Scow. She didn't even realize that this was the first time they had been apart (really apart) in over four years. She didn't even bother to kiss his cheek or hug him. She'd gotten him a navigator and she thought he should be happy with that. Like just anyone could take her place for him. Hell, he couldn't remember the last time he had flown a ship with anyone but Drewcila Qwah. In fact, for the last few years he really hadn't had any continual contact with anyone else.

He looked back just in time to see Drewcila board the Royal ship. While its lines were sleeker, it wasn't half the size of the Garbage Scow, and didn't have near the character. Van Gar dragged himself onto the ship, thinking that he couldn't possibly feel any lower—and then he met the new navigator.

"Hi! My name is Tim," he announced in a voice that would grate on gravel.

Tim was a short, slightly over-weight male in his late twenties. To put the icing on the cake, he was human.

Van Gar made an unpleasant noise in the human's direction, and then he started to make a routine check of the ship.

Tim followed him around like a stray puppy, and occasionally Van Gar told him something he thought Tim should know.

Everything was checking normal, when the computer indicated a blockage in the number two exhaust port. Van Gar started stomping down the hall leading out of the ship.

"Damned Humans, spreading their filthy vermin through space."

Tim followed closely behind him, apparently oblivious to what Van Gar had just said.

"Everywhere they go, disease, war and pestilence follow in their wake. They brought us flies, and roaches, and ants . . ."

". . . and Velcro, and duct tape, and bubble gum," Tim said defending his race.

Van Gar picked up a section of pipe off the ground, walked over to the number two exhaust port and gave it a good hard whack. When the chiming stopped, a half dozen fur-covered creatures fell from the pipe.

"And rats, Tim. Humans and rats."

Van Gar laid into the dazed rats with his feet and the pipe till they were all dead.

"There's only one thing I hate worse than rats, Tim . . . Tim?"

He found the human laying on the ground, obviously out cold. "Humans, Tim. I hate humans."

Across the spaceport he heard the Royal ship powering up.

"Shit!"

He ran over and shook the human till he opened his eyes.

"Listen to me, monkey boy. Run up and get me the rat extractor, and hurry it up, or Drew will have both of our hides."

Tim jumped to his feet with help from Van Gar, and with a little shove in the right direction he started for the ship.

"Fucking humans!"

He slammed the pipe again and went after the rats with deadly perfect aim.

"Fucking rats!"

He watched as the Royal ship lifted off across the spaceport, sheltering his face with his arm to shield it from the sand and dirt the lift-off kicked up. Damn. She was gone. Maybe he'd see her again, but then again, maybe he never would.

"Good-bye, Drew," he whispered into the dust, choking back his tears. His only friend was gone and he was left in a world of humans and rats.

It was a nice ship, but Drew had seen better. Drewcila indulged them by letting Stasha take her on a tour of the ship and oo-ing and ahh-ing at all the right spots. When they finally got to the bridge, Drew parked herself in the captain's seat and started playing with the terminal. The captain nervously hovered around her.

"Uh, my Queen, this is a very sophisticated piece of machinery . . ."

"Honey, I have forgotten more about flying than you ever knew. Why don't you do some bowing and scraping and shit, and leave me alone?"

The captain looked at Stasha in disbelief. Could this be their gentle queen?

"She's been through a great deal," Stasha said.

"Actually, I didn't think it was all that great. Half my brain sucked out. Left to fend for myself in a cruel and unsympathetic world. Where the fuck are they?"

"My Queen?" The captain asked.

"Uh," Drew smiled nervously, ". . . coolers, you should really have ice coolers full of beer on the bridge. Nothing gets your beer really cold like real ice. Frozen H2O. How the fuck do you stay in space for any length of time without beer? Really!"

She got up and started pacing back and forth.

"Maybe you'd like to go change into something else," Stasha suggested.

"No. Once today is quite enough."

Stasha just gave her a lost look.

"For God's sake, Stasha. It's a joke, don't you get it?"

Stasha just shrugged. Drewcila took a deep breath.

"OK," she started slowly."You asked me if I wanted to change into something different, and I said once a day is enough."

Again, Stasha just shrugged.

"OK. Let's try again. This morning, I was a Salvager, right?"

Stasha nodded her head, obviously glad to understand.

"And now I'm the fucking Queen."

Stasha forced a smile and shrugged.

"It's not funny, though."

"Of course it's not funny now. The moment is gone!"

Drew threw up her hands in disgust.

"You're hopeless, Stasha. Are you sure you're my sister?"

Stasha looked hurt.

"Yes, I'm sure. Why do you ask?"

Drew shrugged, and started walking around the bridge looking at the read-out screens.

"Oh, I don't know. I guess I just always figured that if I had a sib out there somewhere they'd be more . . . well, you know, more hip."

"Hip?"

"Yeah, you know. Cool. With it."

"Cool? With it?"

Drew threw up her hands again and headed for the door.

"That proves it," she mumbled, "there ain't no way that I am this Queen bitch, because there is no way that I could have such an uncool, uptight chick for a sister."

She stopped walking, and Stasha ran into her.

Drew jumped about a foot in the air.

"Don't follow me!"

"You know, Taralin . . ."

"Don't call me that! Don't you understand at all? Any of you? You may as well be calling me Rover or Fido. I am not Taralin Zarco. Maybe I was once; I don't know for sure anymore. But I'm Drewcila Qwah now, and Qwah I'll stay. Hey! I made a rhyme!"

"We used to be so close!" Stasha started crying. "You know, in many ways you are so different, but in other ways you are just the same." By now she was screaming. "You are still selfish, willful, and full of yourself. They keep saying you're so changed, but they didn't know you the way I did. I look at you and I see my sister; changed and yet the same. You were always strong, and you always spoke your mind. You always had things your way, or not at all. You always treated me like a baby, and I always loved you, even though you were an arrogant, pigheaded . . . Oh! One of those nasty Salvager words you use all the time!"

She turned on her heal and stomped off in the other direction.

Drew watched her go and smiled. "Then again, maybe she is my sister." Shrugging, she decided to go on a quest for alcohol of any kind. Right now she'd even settle for the rubbing kind if she could get a glass of cold water to wash it down with.

An hour of extensive searching turned up not even a bottle of isopropyl, and so, feeling defeated, she headed back for the bridge. As she passed the Royal quarters, she could hear people talking inside, so she did what any good Salvager would do, and pressed her ear to the door.

"It's too much for her to absorb all at once, can't you see that Zarco?" Drew smiled at the fact that not only could she hear through the door but she could recognize Stasha's voice.

"I see that everyone has some reason why I shouldn't be with my wife," Zarco said. "If I could be with her I know she would soon feel the same way about me as I do about her. I know I could make her remember."

"You'd probably catch something," Facto mumbled.

"Snotty bastard," Drew mumbled. "Little toady dirt-eater." She missed the next remark, then a general shuffling warned her that they were all about to vacate the cabin. She moved quickly on down the hall towards the bridge.

A few seconds later, Zarco and his entourage entered the hall. They quickly caught up to Drew.

"Why are you not resting in your quarters? Are they not suitable?" Zarco asked in a concerned tone.

"With a capital NOT. First off, there is no bar," Drew replied. "Where are you guys going in such a hurry, and why do you always go everywhere together?"

Zarco laughed and smiled at her indulgently.

"There's safety in numbers, dear one."

Drew gave him a hard look.

"I swear, if you pat me on the head I'll slug you. Where the hell are you going in such a hurry?"

"The captain seems to think we're being followed. I'm sure it's nothing for you to worry about."

They passed her quickly, and Drew let them. After all, she knew who it was, and it was about time.

"By the way, 'safety in numbers' is a fallacy," Drew said to their backs.

Zarco stopped briefly and turned to face her.

"What do you mean?"

"Running."

Zarco shrugged, and once again started for the bridge.

"What a strange answer. I wonder what she meant?"

Facto looked over his shoulder at the grinning girl and she winked at him.

"Actually," Facto's fingers worked at his collar, which was suddenly too tight, "it's a rather good answer. A concept of Trigade, a martial arts form practiced by the United Peoples of Trinadad on the planet Caldeed. It states that," he cleared his throat, "There is no safety in numbers if the enemy is equal to you or has an equalizer, i.e. an attacker has a gun, and the group has stones. In a free area, whether we are talking about one man or one ship, you can more easily dodge an attacker. If there is only one, you may run from the greater attacker but if there are more of you . . . Well, say for instance we are facing an attacker with a gun right now. Your only real chance is to run. But could you really do that and leave all of us behind?"

"I would hope you would run as well," Zarco said.

"But you couldn't be sure, and in that moment of uncertainty . . ." Facto threw up his hands. "Trigade is not the most chivalrous of martial arts but it does take practice, patience and discipline."

"Are you saying that my Queen may have retained more of her former self than you previously thought?" Zarco asked with a smile.

"Perhaps. After all, Drewcila Qwah doesn't appear to have that kind of discipline."

The King gave him a hopeful look.

"Of course, she also could have picked that particular concept of Trigade up during a conversation in a Salvager bar."

"After you, Sire," Fitz said with a wave of his hand.

After the King had passed through the entrance, Fitz gave Facto a heated look, and Facto shrugged.

Drew watched them walk onto the bridge, then she punched up the buttons on her comlink which should connect her to her ship. She waited for the channel to be opened.

"Of all the stupid, ignorant . . . you'd think that anyone with half a brain would understand that following at a good distance does not mean up the ship's butt." She looked at her comlink. There was still no flashing light. "What the hell is taking them so long?"

She tried again with the same luck. Which could mean only one thing; Van Gar and the Garbage Scow were not the blip on the radar screen. Drew took off at a dead run. Once on the bridge she knocked the Captain and the others away from the radar screen.

"My Queen, I'm afraid I must protest," the Captain started.

"Blow me, rat boy. I was running ships when you were poppin' zits. Hey! I made another rhyme!" She checked the radar. "Ah, fuck! See that little blip right there?" she pointed.

"That's just a glitch on the radar," the Captain said through clenched teeth.

"Shit for brains! That's the ship. The other is just an image the smaller one is projecting to fuck you up. The smaller one is a cloaked ship, a ship which will no doubt be docking any minute if it hasn't already. The worst part is, it's not my ship."

"If a ship had docked us we would have felt something," Zarco assured her. "I think you are over-reacting."

"You need to get off the planet more, Kingy. There are pirate ships that can dock you and you won't even spill your coffee."

Suddenly the ship rocked violently.

"Then there are ships that dock like that. I hope your crew is armed, and that they know what the hell they're doing."

The warning sirens started screaming, and the doors to the bridge clanged shut. Drew hopped up on the scanner table and tried her comlink again. She ignored Zarco, who seemed to be taking command of the ship. "Come on, fur head . . . where the hell are you? I'm stuck here with a bunch of pinheads."

"What are you doing?" Stasha asked.

"Well, I had this really great plan on how to get rich, but part of the plan called for Van Gar to grow a brain!" She took the comlink off her arm and stuck it around her ankle, under her pants. "But none of that matters now that we're all going to die here on this big cow of a ship. A very expensive fucking ship. A ship which doesn't even have a detachable bridge."

"We have escape pods." Zarco grabbed Drew by the arm. "I won't lose you now, come on." He started to go and was spun around quickly by her dead weight."Please, Taralin."

"You hear that?"

They could hear the sound of blaster fire getting ever closer.

"Even if we could beat the odds and get to the escape pods, chances are we'd run out of fuel before anyone could find us. That's the problem with escape pods in deep space. You might as well open the doors and surrender. I doubt very seriously that we are dealing with the kind of riff-raff that I'm used to, and one way or the other they're going to get us." Suddenly a fog started pouring in the air ducts.

"Computer, shut down ventilation to the . . ."

Before he could complete the order, he fell to the floor.

"What did I tell you?"

Drew fell from the scanner table.

Chapter 5

Her head was pounding, and she rubbed at her temple. One too many Bend Me Over And Fuck Mes. She was really going to have to seriously consider maybe doing something about her drinking.

"I'm going to have to drink more. That's all there is to it. If I drank more, it wouldn't be such a shock to my system," she mumbled out.

"Oh, my Sweetness. Thank all the Gods. I thought perhaps you had perished," someone said.

No doubt the same someone was stroking her hair. Slowly she began to remember what had happened. She instinctively moved her hand towards the inside of her shirt.

"Forget it, Qwah."

She heard a bunch of clanging sounds and looked up in time to see a pile of weapons; all hers, cascade onto the floor.

"You keep weapons in the damnedest places, but a really thorough check turned them all up."

"I feel so cheap and used." Drew got to her feet and suddenly realized she was naked. She looked at the large greasy guy talking to her from behind the laser bars. "Do I know you?"

"No, but everyone's heard ah ya, and from what I been told my bosses made you who you are today."

His attention turned to Zarco. "Just so you won't be too shocked, the explosion which will be rocking our ship presently will be your ship and crew blowing into a billion tiny space particles."

The ship rocked violently, and the greasy guy laughed. "Sorry you had to miss the fireworks, folks." He laughed again as he left up the stairs.

Drew looked around quickly. Stasha had been spared, as had Facto and Fitz, though they had probably all been saved for a fate far worse than being blown up on a ship.

"Ever notice that when a bunch of naked people are standing around they never quite know where to look, or where to put their hands? It's hell not having pockets."

She looked out the bars at the pile of weapons and her comlink. No way of getting them, they were just out of reach. She looked up at the ceiling and found the monitors. "Well, at least they're not sloppy."

She had been in better positions in her life. And she had felt better. She held her throbbing head and leaned against the back wall of the cell.

She looked Zarco up and down and smiled. "Now I know for certain that I ain't your wife, because that I would not have forgotten," she said, pointing.

"This really sucks. I'm not even one of you Royal fucks, but I'll be tortured just the same, and I don't know shit. I'll die a horrible, cringing death and all because I let my greed get the better of me. Van has always told me that my greed would be my undoing. It fucking pisses me off when he's right."

She started pacing back and forth across the cell, throwing her arms around flamboyantly.

"At least I won't die stupid like that poor shlep that was just down here. He's so stupid he doesn't even realize the trillions and bezillions of iggys he could get ransoming you Royal dicks off to the highest bidder. That's what I'd do if I were him. I'd get rid of whoever hired me and go after the gold myself . . ."

"Why you mercenary little wretch," Facto swore, "you would sell out your own people!"

"Hey man, whatever greases your weenie. Ethics really don't matter for shit now since my plan to swindle you out of all your trillions and quadrillions will no doubt die with me."

"So what's the plan, Qwah?"

The greasy guy reappeared outside the bars with a little weasel-faced man. Drew smiled and turned to face them.

"Boys, stick with me and we'll all get out of this very, very rich," she rubbed her hands together.

"Now, first . . ."

"I can't believe you!" Zarco looked as if someone had stolen his last breath. "You aren't Taralin. You are nothing more than Salvager trash."

"Right on both counts," Drew said with a smile.

"I denounce you!" Zarco swore.

"Ooh! Does that hurt! Listen, Kingy, baby. At least I'm saving your Royal asses. That's a lot more than they would do. You don't really think that the Lockhedes intend to let you live? They'll use you to get control of your country, and then once they have it, what the hell do they need you for? You'll just be so much excess baggage. My way, you get to live. You get to keep your country. And a whole lot of hungry smugglers get to get rich. Look at it as a political move to help keep the space lanes clean. You know, Kingy, helping to make space travel safe for decent folks."

"I'd rather be dead." Zarco spat venomously.

"Sire, however mercenary and disloyal you may find the Queen's plan, it will save us and the kingdom from the hands of the Lockhedes," Facto said.

Drew leaned against the wall of the cell, and appeared to be counting. Suddenly the ship rocked violently, followed by a few moments of silence. Then the motors seemed to kick back on with a sickly-sounding grind.

Drew smiled at the others. "Phase one."

Jaco was commander of the Lockhedes on this mission. Till now, he had been quite pleased, as everything had gone according to plan. He had been reluctant to use the smugglers, but they were the only people he could find that knew how to dock a ship without being detected, and their price had been more than reasonable. Besides, this way no one could trace the King's disappearance to the Lockhedes or their government. Not and make it stick, anyway. The wreckage of Zarco's ship would be found, and Zarco and his staff would be considered dead. He could extract the necessary computer codes from Zarco and his staff, and then the take-over would be easy.

"I told you, Jaco. A piece of cake."

Erik Rider sucked on a big cigar, puffing the cabin full of smoke.

The ship lurched violently.

"What the hell is that?" Erik demanded of the ship's Captain over the comlink.

"One ah the motors has gone out," the smuggler answered. "We'll be some slowed, but it shouldn' be no trouble."

"Don't let it be," Erik ordered.

One of the greasy smugglers walked right into Jaco's quarters without knocking.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jaco demanded.

"The prisoners 'ave come to."

"It's about time!" Jaco got to his feet.

"Coming?"

Erik hesitated for a moment. He would really rather not deal with Qwah's wrath, but it was all going to have to come to a head sooner or later. He nodded and got up to follow Jaco.

The prisoners were each pacing their own path through the cell, looking at the ceiling instead of each other.

"So, the mighty King," Jaco laughed. "Brought to his knees for the love of a woman."

"Jaco!" Zarco hissed. "I will not grace you by making a comment."

"Oooh! Snappy come back," Drewcila mumbled.

"Here, put these on." He threw in a pile of white robes.

Drew had just grabbed one, and started to put it on when she saw Erik. "Erik! You fucking piece of shit!" She jerked her arms into the robe, which almost went to her knees. "You . . . you sold me out!"

"How's it feel?" Zarco mumbled.

Drew ignored him.

"How far into this shit are you, Erik?" Drew demanded.

"I've been in it since the very beginning." Erik looked at his feet."They brought you to me right after the operation on your brain. You understand, don't you, Drew? It's a big pay-off. Biggest of my life. The smuggling operation is bringing in a mint, but it's only a matter of time."

"Fucking smuggling." Drew hissed. "Kidnapping is one thing, but smuggling. Van Gar was right about you. God damned, rat-loving, Velcro wearing, roach eating, human."

"Why didn't you just kill us out-right?" Zarco asked.

"You truly are a stupid man, Zarco. The codes to shut off and turn on the computers that run your country are locked in the minds of you and your two top aides, both of whom you conveniently brought off the planet with you. The women are just to help guarantee that you will behave yourself."

"Did you really do that?" Drew asked in disbelief. "Did you really bring every man who knows the codes with you?"

"Of course not! Many competent men at the capital know the access codes."

"Not only are you stupid, but you're a shitty liar," Drew said in disbelief.

"It will be days before they give up all hope on you. In a few hours, we will land on an obscure little moon where one of my men will extract your memories, and thus your code key numbers, and leave you like your lovely wife. Of course, since that part of your brain has already been removed, Miss Qwah, and since you have no information we need, I'm afraid you'll just have to be terminated. Perhaps slowly, while Zarco watches."

Drew yawned, and stretched dramatically.

"Now wait a minute, Jaco, we had a deal . . ." Erik started.

Drew turned to Stasha. "How sweet. He just sold me out, but he didn't actually want me dead."

"Surely you understand, Erik. I can't let anyone live who knows what we're doing. I can't take the risk. Not when we are so close to reaching our goal."

"But you promised me you wouldn't hurt Drew. She's the best Salvager I've got," Erik pleaded.

"I'm so touched," Drew drawled out.

"Come on, man," Erik said. "Drew has no quarrel with you, give her a couple of iggys and she'll . . ."

"I'm sorry, Erik." Jaco pulled a laser. "But like I said. I can't let anyone live."

"No!" Drew tried to grab him through the bars, but it was a useless attempt. Erik hit the wall and fell down it, a small hole burned through his forehead. "Mother fucker!" she screamed.

Jaco smiled.

"I can't afford witnesses, but you can think about that for awhile."

"You bastard, you're going to kill us all."

"Down to every scum-sucking smuggler on this ship. When we land, they'll walk into what they think is a de-tox chamber, and they'll all be killed. Then we'll blow up their ship, and there will be no tracing us." He laughed and left the brig.

"You catch that, Jack?" Drew asked when she was sure that Jaco was out of ear shot.

"Loud and clear, Drew. Time for phase two?" A voice asked over the intercom.

"Time for phase two," Drew said calmly.

Jaco sat on the bridge and gazed out at space. He supposed he should feel guilty about the human. After all, without him, their plan couldn't have worked. But orders were orders. The ship rocked violently again. When the engines kicked back in this time, they really sounded sick. "What's wrong now?" Jaco asked impatiently.

But no one seemed to hear. Everyone seemed to be running around in a panic.

"I said, what's wrong?"

"We've lost all of our power. Something has drained it. Our air is going; everything. We'll all be dead in an hour," the Captain screamed in a panic.

Jaco saw something hanging in space in front of them.

"What's that?"

"It appears to be a ship. Wait, we're getting a signal now. It's a salvage ship, and it's been claimed."

"Is it operational?"

"Yes sir," the Captain smiled broadly."It looks like we've been saved."

"Start docking procedure immediately."

"Yes sir," the Captain said. "Cocky son of a bitch," he mumbled.

"What's that?" Jaco demanded.

"It's an old earth saying. It means good call."

Jaco made a noise and walked out of the cabin. In the hall he got on his comlink.

"Number One and Number Two, go and get the prisoners and go to the airlock. All other units, arm yourselves and go to the airlock. Kill anyone who gets in your way."

Jaco then made his way towards the airlock.

The cell was opened, and two uniformed Lockhedes ran in the cell. One grabbed Zarco, and the other grabbed Drew.

"The rest of you, come on," number one screamed. "We're all going for a little ride."

They led them down to the airlock, where Jaco and the rest of the Lockhedes waited. They were pushed roughly to the front. The smugglers arrived just as they were opening the airlock doors and found themselves facing a line of heavily armed guards.

"What the Hell?" Jack screamed.

"You'll be staying here," Jaco pronounced.

"Like hell you say. Our ship's lost all power. Soon there won't be any air," the Captain told him.

"Who knows? Maybe you can fix it," Jaco said with a smile.

"There's not a chance of that," Jack yelled.

"There's more of a chance of that than you'll have if you choose to fight us."

He pushed the prisoners out the now open airlock into the ramping tube.

"Move it," he ordered.

As they neared the derelict ship, the door opened as if by its own code. Jaco laughed.

"The idiots! I figured they'd forget to stop the door open sequence." They rushed into the ship. When the last of the Lockhedes were on board, the doors closed.

Jaco laughed again. "It's a little late now." He coughed."Too late for them." He coughed again.

Drew smiled.

"What have you done?"

The other men started coughing.

"What have you done!"

Jaco grabbed for Drew, but she moved easily out of his way, and he fell to the floor.

"People who deal in betrayal, shouldn't be too surprised when they get conned."

Drew kicked the dying man in the ribs.

Jaco looked up at Zarco with eyes that were growing dim.

"I've still won, Zarco. I've won because this woman will never be your queen. I have made her into . . ."

He spasmed and died as his men began to fall around him.

"Yes, yes? Go on," Drew said, "into . . . into what? I hate it when people don't finish their sentences. Well come on, boys and girls. We're burnin' photons."

Drew took off at a dead run for the bridge, and the others followed. She threw the dead pirate captain out of his chair, and turned the filtration system on high. Then she started powering the ship up. A voice came at them through the ship's comlink.

"Hey, Qwah! I thought you said that ship didn't run."

"Hey, what can I say? I lied." Drew laughed and flopped herself down in the Captain's chair.

"Come on, Qwah, you owe us. If it wasn't for us, you'd all be dead."

"And if it wasn't for me, you'd all be dead. I think that makes us about even."

"Damn it, Qwah. A deal's a deal. You do us outtah our part, and . . ."

"What, Jack?" Drew laughed. "This is a pirate ship. Do I have to get vulgar, or do you understand how much instant fire power I command? Not to mention my sterling reputation for dog fights. No. I'd say that in a fire fight you have a more than ninety five percent chance of getting fried. But if you're feeling froggy, go ahead and jump. I feel like a good fight. Besides, my hyper-power just reached the ready mark."

The ship took off with such speed that it sent everyone standing crashing to the floor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, take-off will be a bit rough, so be sure and buckle up. Oops! I'm afraid that I did that all out of order."

The ship stabilized, and Zarco and the others got up.

"Why did you do that?" Facto demanded, pulling the robe back down to cover up his privates.

"I said oops," she said. "Besides, you had it coming after the way you all treated me when you thought I was selling you out. I may be mercenary, I never claimed that I wasn't. But I'm a Salvager, and we have codes we live by, too."

Zarco fell on his knees beside her, picked up her hand and kissed it. "Oh, my sweet love, can you ever forgive me?"

"Oh, you're not going to start all that kissy-faced crap again, are you?"

"Forgive me also, Majesty. And thank you for sparing my miserable life." Fitz said, bowing deeply.

Stasha smiled. "I knew you could never really betray us."

Drew smiled and looked expectantly at Facto, coughing a little.

Facto shuffled his feet. "I'm sorry," he said flatly.

"But . . . How? I don't understand." Zarco looked at Drew. "This ship appeared as soon as their ship was done for."

Drew looked at him as if he were an idiot. "There was never anything wrong with their ship. The Lockhedes were in a big-ass hurry, so we needed to slow the ship down so that we wouldn't pass this ship."

She looked at Facto and Stasha. "Aren't you glad I gassed the ship now? We all knew their plans. I knew they wouldn't allow the smugglers on board, and knowing about the gas, the smugglers wouldn't want on board."

"Speaking of the gas, can I take this thing off?" Facto asked.

Drew bent over a screen and punched some buttons. "The air seems to be clear now," she watched Facto remove the clear hose from his nose, and then pull the filtration bag off his back.

"No, read that wrong."

Facto tried to cram the apparatus back on, and Drew laughed loudly. "Just kidding." She took hers off, and threw it on the floor.

"How did you know they would have filtration packs on board?" Fitz asked. "They aren't exactly standard equipment."

"They are on smuggler ships. Besides, they came and got us off your ship after they had gassed us, didn't they?"

She got on the ship's comlink and punched in a code.

"Hello Garbage Scow, do you read? This is Purple Cat."

"Great Gods, is that you, Drew? When we went past what was left of the Royal ship I thought you'd gone to that big junk yard in the sky. What the hell are you doing on the Purple Cat?"

"Now, that's a long story."

Chapter 6

The ship was running itself at this point, so Drew and the three men were moving the bodies into the airlock. Stasha couldn't make herself do it, and had in fact been crying for the better part of an hour. They were about to close the airlock door when suddenly Drew got a wild gleam in her eye.

"Damn! I'm really losing it." She ran in and started going through pockets, occasionally finding some money or an expensive trinket. "Would you look at this," she screamed in excitement, "these pants are real leather. I'm telling you these pirates, they know how to dress. I think they're my size, too."

To their horror, she stripped the pirate's pants off and held them up to her.

"Cool!" She pulled them on. "Now, if I can just find a decent shirt."

She started rummaging through the bodies again.

Stasha dried her eyes and decided that she was being silly. She decided to go help the others with their efforts. As she rounded the corner she saw the three men. Behind them she could see the airlock full of bodies. Taralin stood in the middle of the pile. She grabbed the hand of one of the corpses, and held it up out of the pile.

"Hey, sis. What do you think? Is this shirt me, or what?"

Stasha fainted dead away; Zarco caught her.

"Are you happy now?" Zarco asked harshly.

"Is that a rhetorical question, or do you really want me to answer it?" She took the black and red striped shirt off the corpse and smelled the armpit. She made a face, then took off her robe and threw it on the floor. She put on the pirate's shirt, smiled, and looked back to where Zarco held Stasha, who was starting to come around.

"Geez, all I wanted was an honest opinion."

She waded out of the bodies, carrying three knives and a bag filled with loot. At the airlock, she closed the door and pushed the button to open the exterior airlock.

"What are you doing?" Fitz asked in horror.

"Well, why do you think we carried them here, Fitz? For ornamental purposes? I'm giving them burial in space. A moment of silence please, followed by a loud bellowing fart should be appropriate." She was silent, then farted loudly, and started back towards the bridge. "I'm hungry. Wonder if these bastards left anything worth eating." She turned and looked out the portal just in time to see the bodies sucked into space.

"There, we're all cleaned up now. Would someone please close that exterior door?" She turned and walked towards the bridge again, but stopped when she realized no one was following her. They were all looking at her in shock.

"Ah, come on people, they were dead anyway. Most spaceports will hold you at dock for days if you have a body on board. Then the whole crew and the ship have to go through de-tox; which costs the ship's Captain a fortune. So, if your mother dies out here, you bury her in space. That's just the way we do things."

"Well, let me tell you how we do things," Zarco said hotly. "Our religion preaches reverence for the dead. Even if they are our enemies. There is a service and then the bodies are cremated and their ashes spread to the wind."

Drew shrugged and started walking again. "So what's the big difference? Bodies torched and tossed to the wind, or bodies cast into space to implode. That's the problem with religion, there's always all this nit picking."

Drew was sitting at the controls of the ship when the others returned. She pointed at the view screen where a green planet hung in space.

"So, there you go, people. I've punched up co-ordinates, and in eight minutes we will start re-entry procedures. I suggest that you strap in." She got on the comlink.

"Purple Cat to Garbage Scow, do you read?"

"You might have told me you were dumping bodies, Drew," an angry voice spit back.

Drew laughed. "Don't blow a gasket, Van. It will all burn off on re-entry. Come in closer. I'm not expecting hostiles, but considering my cargo, who knows?"

"I read, and am changing grid in accordance."

"Oh, baby, I love it when you talk that comlink lingo. Hey, Van . . ."

"Yes?"

"I miss you."

"I miss you, too."

"Over."

"Over and out."

"Why is that thing following us?" Jealousy dripped freely from Zarco's lips.

"Because I have no reason to trust you people. For all I know, you need a good Salvager for your war efforts. Lots of governments have tried to buy me before. You might have heard of my memory loss and cooked up this whole thing. How do I even know you are who you say you are?"

"But the Lockhedes!"

"You might have fooled them, too."

"What about your friend, Erik? You heard what he said!" Fitz said.

"Hell, Erik was running smugglers. Which means he'd sell his sister into prostitution to turn a buck. No, I hate to tell you all this, but you still haven't convinced me that this whole thing isn't just some cock and bull story."

"But the war is over. We have never had any need for Salvagers and we sure don't need any now that we're at peace," Zarco said.

"Maybe you'd better tell the Lockhedes the war is over, because I'm not sure they know it. Besides, usually after the war is when you need a good Salvager most. The country is usually going through a post-war depression, and they could really use all the metal and parts that got left on the battle field."

"I have crews . . ."

"That can't get half as much use out of scrap as one good Salvager. And I'm the best." She smiled, and her ego all but glowed right through her teeth."Everyone knows that."

"My country is quite solvent. We don't need to trade in trash," Zarco started.

"Salvage." Drew corrected.

"You are ridiculous!" Facto hissed.

"Yeah, well, you're a shit-head."

"I still want to know why he's following us," Zarco said.

"Protection. Plain and simple." She didn't elaborate.

"Commencing re-entry in 5, 4, 3, 2 . . ."

The ship started to rock as they hit the planet's atmosphere.

"This looks like it could get rough . . ."

A siren started wailing.

"What's wrong?" Stasha screamed in obvious panic. She hadn't lived her sister's life of the last five years, and she'd had just about all the excitement she could handle for one day.

"Shit!" Drew started punching buttons. "Fuck!"

"What's wrong?" Zarco demanded.

"Purple Cat calling Garbage Scow. Fuck it! Van, do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

"What's wrong?" Zarco screamed.

"We're all going to die horribly if you Royal fucks don't shut up!" Drew screamed back. "That's what's wrong."

"Van, the descent engines won't kick in. I've got no forward thrusters."

"Go to manual."

"Oh, gee, fuzz head. I never would have thought of that. I have taken it off computer. The computer isn't the problem. So, unless by 'manual' you mean that I should go turn the propeller by hand, we'd better come up with something else, because the gravitational pull is only going to increase."

"Can you reach escape velocity?"

Drew checked her readings.

"I don't have enough fuel to break the planet's pull now. Why didn't you think of that earlier?"

She looked out the front screen at the planet rushing towards her, and had to swallow the lump in her throat. "God, this isn't my fucking day!" Think, she had to think, there was always a way out. Damn pirate ship, if only she was on her good ole salvage barge . . . Salvage barge.

"That's it! Van, snag us with the tow-line and tow us in."

"That might rip your ship apart."

"I'd rather die up here than down there. Come on, Van."

"Get ready."

Van Gar looked at the human. "Hang on to your hat, monkey boy, we're going to lasso us a ship."

He turned the Garbage Scow's descent engines off for awhile, and allowed it to get dangerously close to the other ship, then he released the tow-line, slammed the descent engines back on, and turned on the electro magnet at the end of the tow-line.

"Prepare for hook-up."

When the tether caught hold of the other ship, it jerked both ships roughly.

"You're on tether."

"Really, Van? I thought my head just wanted to go visit Mr. Back Wall," she spit back. "Are you going to be able to guide us in?"

"Not really."

The ships shook violently.

"You have to realize, Drew, that most of the time we're towing in something that doesn't have anything living in it. Besides, when we have towed something, it has always been behind us."

"What are you saying, Van?"

"Well, let's just say that I'm in a wagon, and you're pulling me, and there's a hole in the road, so you have to stop."

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, let's say that you don't see the hole, and I have to make the wagon stop by dragging my hands on the ground."

Drew thought for a minute. "When I finally see the hole and stop, you still won't be able to."

"It's taking everything the reverse thrusters have now to keep us from plowing into the planet. I have no control over where the Scow is going, it's just following your lead."

"So, I'll lead, then," she answered thoughtfully.

"Drew, what are you going to do?"

"Put on protective headgear and start looking for a hole."

"Good luck."

"We're going to need it."

Drew had her hands on the ship's control, manually guiding both ships. Her eyes hurriedly went over charts and graphs.

"Van, we're going in."

She could practically hear the whine of the Garbage Scow's engines as it strained to keep both ships from crashing into the planet's surface. They were getting close now.

"Van, release the tether. Now!"

"Roger." He pulled up on the release, and the smaller ship dove like a rock. He ran well over the top of it and landed roughly in a pile of sand. He shut the ship down and then he quickly threw off his helmet and started out of the ship.

"Come on, monkey boy." There was no answer. The human sat limp in his chair. "Ah, damn. I wish I'd been nicer to him, now."

Van Gar exited the ship, stepped into the soft sand and sank up to the top of his boots. He looked down at the Purple Cat, which lay at the bottom of the dune he had landed on top of. A good quarter of its nose was covered. It lay there in the bottom of the hole like an egg in a bird's nest, and seemed to be intact. Of course, the Garbage Scow appeared to be intact, and the navigator was still dead. The sand slowed his pace, and it seemed like it took hours for him to reach the ship, when in fact it took only a few minutes. He beat on the hatch.

"Drew, Drew, can you hear me? Drew!" He had just turned to go back to the Scow and get the torch when the hatch opened, and Drew stepped out of the ship.

"So, I fell in the hole. What happened to your wagon?"

Facto appeared to have broken an arm, and they were all pretty shaky, but aside from that, they had all survived their crash. They started the climb up the dune towards the Garbage Scow.

"So, do you know where we are?" Van asked Drew.

"Some big desert on the planet Gar. I was just looking for a soft place to land, I wasn't taking in place names."

"There is only one desert on the planet, and that is the Galdart," Fitz sounded less that happy.

"So, we are in the Galdart desert." Drew shrugged. She looked at Facto. "What's the big deal?"

"This desert is two thousand miles across, the temperatures can reach one hundred thirty degrees in the day and thirty-two at night. There is no water, and the only organic life form is the Hurtella," Fitz informed them.

"So, we put out a distress signal, and someone will come pick us up in less than an hour."

"The Galdart desert is in the middle of the country of the Lockhede," Facto said harshly. "Of all the places to land us, you would land us here."

"Would you rather I have smashed you into a mountain closer to home?" Drew said hotly. "Besides, it's not even hot here."

"That's because night is falling, even as we speak."

"Oh."

She looked at Van Gar, whose jump suit was hanging open till it was almost indecent. She also noticed that his cuffs flapped in the breeze. "Van, fasten up your suit, you're going to get sand all in your hair."

"I can't, I ripped the Velcro off of them," he said, adamantly.

"Why?" Drew asked, shaking her head.

"Rats," Van answered, and stomped into the ship.

Drew looked around at the others. "Did I miss something?"

Drew went and got a beer out of the fridge and opened it.

"Could we send a message to your people?" she asked Zarco.

"I'm afraid any transmission would be picked up by the Lockhedes, and they would get here first. And they are our people, yours and mine." Drew made a gurgling sound, which could have meant anything, and began punching up screen after screen of what looked to him like nothing but garbled letters and numbers. But it was obvious that she was reading it.

"Couldn't we take this ship and go to our country?" Zarco asked

"The Scow won't be going anywhere for a long time." It was obvious by the tone of Van Gar's voice that he blamed Zarco personally for what had happened to his ship. "Bringing in both ships like that burned out all four thrusters. We're lucky we're not all dead."

"Speaking of dead," Drew shook her head towards the navigator.

Without a word, Van Gar went over, picked him up and carried him out.

"Where the fuck is everyone?" Drew asked Zarco.

"Fitz and Facto went to find medical equipment with which to fix Facto's arm, and I believe your sister went to her quarters. I'm afraid it's all been a bit much for her, and the sight of one more corpse was more than she could handle." He looked around."So, at long last, we are alone."

She turned to face him, then looked around quickly to see if it was true. Her distaste showed on her face.

"You really don't remember me, Taral . . . Drewcila, but I remember you. You are so different, and yet in so many ways, you are so much the same. If I scrape away all the hardness, I can still see you. I have to wonder if we are not all just victims of our circumstances. I see in you all the same traits you once had, but they have twisted to fit your new life. Your keen mind has saved us more than once. In a way, I love you more than I ever have."

He moved close to her, and took her in his arms. She started to push away, then decided to see just what he was up to.

"Please, just this. I ask no more of you now. Please, it has been so long. I know you don't know me, but believe that I know you, that I love you. If I could do it again, it would all be so different. Oh, how I have ached to hold you, to caress you."

Curiosity over came her better judgment . . . the way it usually did . . . and she wrapped her arms around his neck. When his lips met hers, she responded. She felt him warm against her, and she was not repulsed. He wasn't a bad little kisser, either. But she certainly didn't feel any deep stirring within herself.

Someone coughed, and then coughed louder. She pushed easily away from Zarco. "What do you want, Van Gar?"

"Sorry to bother you, but I thought you would be interested to know that I have disposed of the corpse now," Van Gar said through clenched teeth.

"Thank you, Van Gar," Drew said.

"I'll just go check on the others," Zarco swept off the bridge, giving Van Gar a heated look as he passed him.

Van Gar walked purposefully over to check a read-out which he then didn't even bother to look at.

"Don't think I'm trying to tell you what to do . . ." Van Gar started.

"I don't know why not, since that sentence is always followed by you doing just exactly that," Drew said.

"I was just going to say that if that was part of your plan to make him hate you, I'm pretty sure that it's not going to work."

"He kissed me," Drew said plainly.

"And a mighty battle you did put up," Van Gar hissed.

"How I choose to conduct business is up to me, Van Gar." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I think I know what I'm doing. I have a plan."

"I didn't know your plan included sleeping with Zarco!"

"Maybe I've changed my plans."

"What changed your mind, Drew? His tongue down your throat?"

"Maybe," Drew turned back to the screen, already tired of this argument, and not quite sure what they were arguing about. She frowned.

"That couldn't be right." She punched some buttons. "Damn!" She started walking off the bridge, and Van Gar followed.

"What is it?"

"According to the read-outs, the ship has sunk three feet since we hit."

They opened the hatch, and walked out.

"At least three feet," Van said.

"Van, look!" Van turned, and looked down the dune at where the Purple Cat had lain. It could no longer be seen.

"That doesn't make any sense. The Garbage Scow is twice as heavy."

"And spread out over ten times as much surface area. Still, at the rate it's sinking, it will be covered by morning."

Drew looked at Van Gar. "Life sucks! My beautiful Garbage Scow, doomed to sink into the sands of this stupid planet. I've only been here a few hours Van, and I already hate this place. It was a stupid plan. I wanted to be Queen of the Salvagers, now we're gonna wind up Hurtella food. Whatever the hell a Hurtella is."

"It's not your fault, Drew."

"Damn right it's not! If you had kept up with me the way you were supposed to none of this would have happened!"

He ignored her outburst, put his arm around her shoulders and pressed her hard against him. "You can fool everyone else, and tell them whatever you like, but I know you didn't decide to do this because of the money. You did it to find out who you are, and no one could blame you for that."

"What utter crap," Drew said in a not-very-convincing tone. "I wasn't lying. He really did kiss me first."

There was a long silence, and then Drew looked up at Van Gar and smiled sadistically.

"Of course, that's not to say I didn't enjoy it."

Van Gar laughed and pushed her down in the sand.

"There's a chance that we may be able to take all the thrusters apart and make one of them work."

"We can't take off with one thruster," Drew said standing up and trying to wipe the sand off of her jump suit.

"No, but we can keep the ship from getting buried in the sand long enough to figure out how to get out of here."

It didn't take them long to rebuild a thruster. Of course, clearing the sand out of the exhaust was another story. They took turns shoveling.

"This damn shit runs in the hole faster than we can shovel it out." Van Gar stopped for a minute leaning on his shovel. He tried to wipe the sand off of his stomach.

Drew smiled. "Why did you rip the Velcro off your jump suit?"

"Rats," he answered, and started digging again.

"I still don't get it." Drew laughed. "Maybe I should go in and get those Royal fucks to help us?"

"While you're at it, why don't you just get some fairies to wave their magic wand and just put the Scow back in orbit?"

"Want me to take over for awhile?" Drew asked.

"Nah. Why don't you do me a favor? I keep hearing something over on the other side of the ship. Maybe it's one of those creatures old what's his face was talking about."

"A Hurtella?"

"How come you can remember that, but you can't remember to clean the garbage chute?"

She ignored the question. "Fitz didn't say that they were hostile."

"Well, he didn't say they weren't. Just take the blaster and go check for me."

Drew got up and carefully dusted herself off. She picked up the blaster, and threw it over her shoulder. "Sissy little mama's boy," she yelled back.

Van Gar kept on shoveling. "Pain in the ass," he grumbled. "Stupid Royal fucks."

"Hey, Van!"

Van raised up so fast he hit his head on the bottom of the ship. He backed up against the wall of his pit and stared at the human in amazement.

"Tim?" Van asked, holding his shovel in front of him as if it would ward off evil spirits.

"Yeah," he coughed and spat out some sand.

"I must have fainted. Guess I don't handle stress well. How'd I wind up in the sand?"

Van hated to tell him he had thrown him away for dead. "Uh . . . Last I knew, you were sacked out on the bridge, guess you sleep-walked, dude."

The human shook his head as if the answer made perfect sense. "I woke up and the only thing sticking out was my nose. I had to dig myself out. It was a very frightening experience."

"I'm sure it was."

He was interrupted by the sound of blaster fire. He quickly climbed out of the hole and ran towards the noise, shovel in hand. About half-way round the ship he almost ran into Drew. She laughed at the sight of him.

"Better bring a shovel—make that ten shovels." She held up an armored creature about twelve inches long from tip to tail. "If you don't, the terrible Hurtella will get you for sure."

"Very funny, Drew. While you're fucking around, our hole, which we have been digging for about forty-five minutes, is filling with sand." He held a hand to his heart."One of these days you're going to give me a heart attack."

Drew smiled, threw the creature down, and followed him. "Do you care about me, Van?"

"Where the hell did that come from?" he asked doubling his pace.

"I've had a shit of a couple of days here Van. I'm feeling a little weird, indulge me."

"That's a stupid question, Drew," he said flatly.

"You know what I mean, Van."

"Would it matter if I did?" he asked, continuing his pace.

She ran to catch up with him and caught at his hand. "Now you're asking stupid questions."

"What's going to happen to us, Drew?"

"We'll be fine."

"I meant us?"

"I don't know, Van. It seems like yesterday our lives were all orderly."

Van shot her a look.

"Well, you know, like a dirty room, but you know where everything is—that kind of orderly."

"But don't you see, Drew? You didn't know where everything was. Now you do, and things are going to change. We don't know exactly how right now, but it's gottah change."

She tripped over the human on her way into the pit. "What the fuck?"

"Damn it, Tim." Van leaned down and slapped the human's face.

"Come on, Tim, snap out of it."

"I thought he was dead," Drew said.

"No. It seems that this really great navigator you got me goes to sleep if he gets scared."

"Oh, you're fucking kidding me!" Drew laughed.

"No, he walked up behind me right after you left, and like to scared the shit out of me. I told him he sleep-walked."

The human started to stir.

"The port's still clear. Let's go start the thruster before we have to dig it out again."

"Ten more minutes, mom," Tim mumbled as they pulled him to his feet.

"Come on, monkey boy," Van Gar pushed him forward. "Time to go home."