His Woodland Maiden Read online

  A man could only romance himself so many times.

  Groups of aliens passed by him. Their appearances used to draw his notice, the extra eyes and bony protrusions, but it was rare that anything surprised him anymore. A woman with yellow reptilian skin narrowed her eyes at him and appeared to be ready to do battle. Her oval head flared out at the cheeks, widening her features. She undoubtedly reacted to the fact he’d smiled at her.

  Rick waggled his brow and suggestively glanced toward a nearby VR pod. Her long tongue slithered out, and she hurried away from him as if he were the ugliest invitation to sex she had ever received.

  He couldn’t help but laugh.

  For Rick, smiling was as natural as breathing. The expression was on his face regardless of what he felt inside. No one needed to know what he was truly feeling at any given moment for, whatever bad emotions filled him, they would soon be buried deep where no one could find them. In many ways, existence was a fluid, pointless thing.

  A life spent sailing the high skies had taught him one thing. It wasn’t that life was short, or that everyone’s time was limited, or that the endlessness of deep space became tedious after months in the black. It was that in the grand scheme of everything, what he did mattered. Some greater force out there didn’t seem to want him dead. It wasn’t for lack of his trying. When he was younger, he’d put himself in all kinds of stupid situations, ones that no humanoid should get out of, and he kept surviving. Now that he was older, he put himself in even more dangerous situations, only for better reasons (mostly). His risky lifestyle was as good a reason as any to remain single.

  He was one damned lucky fly boy.

  He’d be even luckier if he managed to score some amazing VR equipment while at the conference. If not for filling the lonely time adrift, then for helping to keep him from dwelling on his past. Rick hated to dwell. The past couldn’t be changed, so he found no reason to let his thoughts wander in that direction. The future was uncertain. Now is what mattered. He needed to focus on what was happening right in front of him.

  “Rick, you have to try the adventure hall.” Viktor approached, looking very much like a cadet who’d just been introduced to a Galaxy Playmate for the first time. His brother Lucien was behind him, trying not to look excited even though it was evident that he was. The brothers were half-human, half-Dere. Their blanched complexions were nearly identical.

  “You’ll love it. They have Old Earth scenes in there,” Lucien said. It was no secret Rick had a mild obsession for twenty-first-century Old Earth memorabilia. “Just make sure the safety override is turned on when you go through so everything remains a hologram. If the override is shut off, the tunnel is fully interactive until everyone who went inside is finished with their tour.”

  “Sounds more fun that way,” Rick dismissed the warning.

  “Seriously, don’t. Once you go in you can’t turn back,” Lucien warned. “There are some creatures even Jackson and Dev wouldn’t want to face. We watched a Syog emerge covered in strange bites. Another guy was floated out by a medic stretcher.”

  “Any luck scavenging for programs?” Rick asked.

  “Not yet.” Viktor worked as their mechanic. To his credit, the man could rig almost anything, including a scanner that could (theoretically) bypass security protocols and record VR programs.

  “He’s been too busy exploring,” Lucien admitted.

  “We’ve been too busy,” Viktor corrected. “Forget deep space travel. I want to live here.”

  “They clear out the pods when this is over,” Lucien said. “Though it’s too bad we can’t stay. I hear the Medical Alliance conference is coming up. We could undoubtedly scavenge some new tech at that one. It’s not like anyone can afford to buy most of the stuff they sell, anyway. The markup on medical booths is out of this galaxy outlandish.”

  By scavenge, of course, they meant steal but the word had a nicer ring to it.

  “And they call us pirates,” Rick muttered. The Medical Alliance for Planetary Health (MAPH) had direct ties to the Medical Mafia. Together they controlled nearly everything from medical booths to scientific studies to galactic drug supplies. The crew had run-ins with both groups more times than they cared to think about.

  “I think we can all agree to stay off the mafia’s radar,” Viktor said. “Captain was clear. No mafia, no Federation Military, no Larceny Casino, no—”

  “What’s left?” Rick frowned, thinking over every less-than-upstanding organization they’d tangled with in the last few years. “Are we going to start flying vacation transports to Quazer? Next, you’ll be saying the Galaxy Playmate ship is off-limits. I draw the line there.”

  “Captain can’t do that,” Lucien said before turning to his brother, looking horrified at the idea they might no longer be permitted access to ships full of beautiful women. “Tell me he won’t do that.”

  “There’s supposed to be a Galaxy Playmates VR world somewhere around here. Keep an eye out.” Viktor patted his jacket pocket. “I’m going to try to scan the programming and see if I can get a copy for us.”

  Rick understood Viktor’s excitement. VR companionship would be better than watching sexy Old Earth transmissions on the viewing screen in his quarters. At least the women would hold a conversation with him, even if it was programmed.

  Rick placed his hand on Viktor’s shoulder. “It’s a noble and dangerous mission ahead of you, friend, and I promise if you succeed, I will not leave you behind. Even if the entire security team is trying to kill you.”

  “Thanks—Wait, what if I try and I don’t succeed, and the security team tries to kill me?” Viktor asked.

  “Well, it will have been swell knowing you. We will miss you, and I’ll wish you the best of luck in your escape.” Rick grinned, walking a few paces backward. “By the way, if you fail, when they’re chasing you, try to make it out of the pavilion. I hear the mountain folk on this planet are very welcoming to newcomers. They hardly ever sacrifice them.”

  Lucien laughed as Viktor grumbled a response.

  Rick made his way toward the center of the pavilion. The stone floors were polished smooth, and the glass arches of the ceiling let in enough outside light that not much else was needed. Metal seams held the panes into place. Occasionally, the shadow of a security drone would cross his path.

  He scanned the crowd, looking for potential problems. It was an old habit, but one that had kept him alive more than once.

  Everyone walked around in pairs or groups. They didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the increased security at the conference. They were all in their own little worlds, hardly noticing anyone or anything around them.

  “Did you see the rendering of the hogbeast? I’ve fought many and I doubt the programmer has even seen one in real life,” a woman with small horns protruding from her head like a crown boasted to her friends. She had the leather-plated clothing of someone who found herself in trouble more often than not.

  Rick could relate.

  “I want the one with the triangle bed.” A humanoid woman stroked her hands down the white feather wings of her partner as they came from the opposite direction.

  The Angelion lifted his wings slightly to shake her off. “I’ll bet you do. I saw the way you eyed those two servants holding the pot of oil.”

  “But watching torture is so much fun,” she persisted. “Please?”

  Rick made a mental note. A full-blooded Angelion at the same event as Dev could be a problem later. Although a good brawl would be a fun way to alleviate boredom. Bevlons and Angelions went together like angels and demons. Incidentally, since half-Bevlon Dev and half-Angelion Raisa both had a human parent, their proximity had never caused a problem on the ship.

  The woman glanced back to look over the crowd, hate in her eyes. Her gaze met Rick’s and narrowed.

  Second mental note, the female torturer was more of a threat.

  He again searched the crowd as he made his way toward the adventure tunnel line. The faintest melody of a laug
h caught his attention. It sent chills of recognition over him. He knew that voice. He thought about that voice often.

  As if in a trance, he followed the sound, looking for the source. A memory tried to pull itself from the murky trenches of his mind. It was the place where all the pains he did not allow himself to feel lived.

  A woman moved past him. Her dark hair coiled around the crown of her head. A thin veil covered the locks. She turned to the side. He saw the line of her neck and the angle of her jaw as the sheer fabric rippled with movement.

  It was enough. He remembered her.

  She had not given him an actual name, so his memories had nothing to call her.

  She didn’t look like herself, not like when she’d sauntered around her ship’s prison cell and threatened to eject him into the deep black. Now her clothes were demure, thick and flowing, almost laughably so considering she was a drug dealer. Even so, she was the same woman who’d abducted him years before and had taken him to the Lin Yao Mines on the planet of Lintian.

  There was something about her the first time he’d seen her on Leinad’s star port that had made him want to follow. She moved with confidence as if she belonged in her surroundings. Her body had flowed through the crowd. He’d tried to talk to her, to get her attention, to see why she was different from the other women he’d seen. His heart had been beating so fast, so hard. He wanted her, the surge inside his body like a blast from a starship. Her eyes had locked on his and then… nothing.

  All emotion had disappeared. He remembered what happened next with the same dispassion he recalled the food menu at a fuel dock diner. He’d followed her into a private room and right into a drug deal. The painted metal walls had been a strange backdrop to the twinkling of the floating chandeliers as if the proprietors had tried to dress up a sinking ship. Guns had been drawn. He’d made some wiseass remark as he’d tried to back out. The woman had struck him over the head, surprisingly strong. He’d woken up restrained in a chair.

  All that, and he felt nothing.

  Rick considered himself a fairly easygoing guy, but he had to admit the lack of emotional memory was strange. Sure the actions were there, but that was it. No hint that he’d felt anything during it whatsoever. When he was passed out, it was possible they’d done something to him to take away his feelings, but the medical booth scans had revealed nothing.

  In the end, it didn’t matter. His crew had found him. He’d escaped her, then she’d escaped him. He’d moved on from that adventure to the next, and then the next, and then…

  It was her. She was here.

  Rick found himself compelled to follow. It was curiosity. No, it was more than that. It wasn’t lust, at least not purely. He was a man who enjoyed female company, after all, so of course he was attracted to her. It was an itching in his brain, a tingling in his nerves. It was a thought on the cusp of being born, but still elusive.

  The high coil of her hair acted like a beacon to guide him. He found himself weaving through the crowd, lifting his arm to part groups when they would block his path. Something whispered in his mind to turn around, to leave it in the past.

  Rick was never very good at listening to that inner voice.

  He reached her side and took her gently by the elbow. “Miss me, moonbeam?”

  The woman jerked away from him in surprise before turning around. Dark eyes met his and filled with panic. Another memory tried to surface, and he imagined he was standing in a forest. As fast as it came, it left.

  “I don’t know you,” she answered, her tone firm. “You have the wrong person.”

  “That hurts, starshine. I—” His words were cut off when the brute she was with placed a heavy hand on Rick’s shoulder.

  “Eloise, is this space debris bothering you?” the brute demanded.

  Rick shrugged away from the touch. Why hadn’t he taken note of her companion?

  Eloise? That was her name?

  The brute roughly shoved Eloise behind him and straightened his broad shoulders. By appearance he was humanoid, a thick, muscled, ill-tempered humanoid.

  Rick glanced around to see if any of his crew were nearby. This man was as tall as Dev. Any fight that erupted wouldn’t be a fair one.

  Rick’s concern was for Eloise. What had he walked into? She didn’t appear too happy to be pushed around by her companion. A feeling of protectiveness rose up inside him.

  “No, Bucky, he’s mistaken.” Despite the irritated expression on her face as she stood behind the man, Eloise’s tone was demure as she tried to pull him away with her. “Come, I want to see the adventure tunnel—”

  There was no way Rick was going to leave her alone with this guy. Every inner alarm he had went off at the idea. Bucky radiated danger—and not the good kind.

  “That hurts, babycakes, after all that time we spent alone together on Lintian,” Rick interrupted, unable to stop himself. “I thought you said you loved me.”

  “What? I never!” Eloise again tried to pull Bucky. “He’s joking with you. I’ve never been to Lintian.”

  Bucky’s eyes widened, and he demanded, “You are not pure?”

  A drug queenpin would have lived anything but a pure life. Why was she pretending to be anything but who she was?

  “I’ve been cloistered on—”

  Eloise tried to answer but the beast of a man moved as if to grab her.

  “Pure? Her?” Rick forced a laugh to draw the man’s attention away from the woman. Yeah, he’d stepped into something strange this time. None of this made sense.

  The faint sound of hydraulics caught his attention as Bucky faced Rick once more. There was a mechanical look to the way Bucky’s shirt cut against his shoulder as if his arm was encased in metal and tubes instead merely of muscled flesh. Rick glanced down to see the man’s bionic hand balling into a fist. Someone had sprayed a silicone layer over the metal frame, but the wiring was unmistakable.

  Suddenly, Rick was worried.

  Sacred space balls, this was going to hurt.

  Bucky’s arm cocked back, ready to strike. Rick tried to stumble back but bumped into someone from the crowd. He lifted his hands to protect his face.

  “Blast it, Rick,” Eloise swore. She reached for the back of Bucky’s sleeves and pulled.

  Two loud pops sounded, and green ooze dripped down as the man’s arms instantly dropped uselessly to his sides. The move saved Rick from a potentially lethal fate.

  Eloise jerked Bucky’s shoulder, tripping him with an outstretched leg. As the man fell, her eyes met Rick’s and she scowled. “You better get out of here. Prince Bucky’s bodyguards won’t be too far behind.”

  Bucky rolled back and forth on the floor, sputtering curse words. He spun on his back and tried to kick Eloise without getting up. The sound of running feet and excited murmurings gave credence to her warning.

  Rick didn’t hesitate as he followed Eloise. She cut through the line of people waiting for their turn through the adventure hall. The automatic door opened to invite the next guests to pass through. Eloise pushed a woman out of her way as she slipped inside.

  Rick jumped over the surprised purple humanoid on the floor and called out, “Excuse us. Sorry.”

  Eloise flipped a large switch as she passed through the opening of the first VR pod. A loud horn blasted a warning that the safety override for the VR tunnel had been deactivated.

  “Hey, wait,” Rick called as he hurried after her. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

  He tried to turn the switch back to safety, but it wouldn’t budge. She’d already gone inside. The override would remain until she exited and the next group turned it off. Rick didn’t know what to expect inside the tunnel. Turning off the overrides meant the characters inside could touch, or grab, or do any number of things.

  He thought of Viktor’s words about the creatures.

  He couldn’t let Eloise face them alone.

  Rick grabbed the VR door before it shut and went in.

  Instantly a virtual program beg
an to play. The metal construct disappeared to be replaced by a field of green and brown grass. The door closed behind him, disappearing from view and he knew this was meant to be a one-way trip. He was expected to walk forward into the VR world. A light flashed in his eyes as a computer scanned him, and an automated voice stated, “Humanoid unfiltered experience in progress.”

  The wind picked up, blowing against his clothes and undulating the landscape in tiny waves. The air smelled fresh, and the warmth of the sun beat down upon him from a bright blue sky. Clouds floated like torn pieces of material, worn and thin. He turned in a slow circle, letting the taller grasses brush his hands. Aside from the woman running away from him, there were no signs of other people.

  “Eloise,” Rick yelled, rushing after her.

  Eloise kept moving across a field of grass toward the horizon. The veil fell from her hair and blew away. A holographic list appeared, running alongside him, citing the full solar benefits of the artificial sunlight and the carefully augmented sensory perceptions something-or-other. He swung his hand at it as if to push it out of the way, but the sales flyer merely rippled. A red triangle blinked on the scene, the only hint that there was an actual exit in the otherwise endless view.

  A shout disturbed the serenity, and he glanced back to see five oversized thugs rushing into the field from the pavilion door. It slammed shut behind them, disappearing once more.

  Rick caught up to Eloise as she touched the red triangle. Light shone as the entry to the next VR world appeared.

  “Eloise,” Rick said, trying to get her to turn around to see their pursuers.

  “Stop calling me that. It’s not my name,” she answered.

  “Easy enough, starbeam,” Rick said, flashing her a smile.

  She grabbed his arm and forced him into the light. A flash surrounded him as they stumble onto a cobblestone road. The air quality changed, filling with the smell of baked meats and what could only be classified as sweaty bodies. Evening had come to the strange town as they left the sunlit field.