Blood Impulse

Part 36.1 - BEG AND BARTER

Mississippi Sector, Midwest Station

He jolted awake ready for a fight, bolting up and balling his fists. He nearly took a swing at the first hazy figure he saw when he opened his eyes. The only thing that stopped him was the way her hair caught the light: an unmistakable blonde. "Cinderella," he gasped. My daughter.

"Easy," she reached out to steady him as he sat up. "You'll reopen the wound."

Right, the Jayhawker recalled. That was why his shoulder ached. It and his arm were both bound and immobilized in thick bandages that stank of antibacterial treatment. Anesthesia lowered the pain, but it still throbbed in time with his breaths. "Gives fucking shot me." A renewed hatred boiled up. "That bastard will regret missing my head."

"He didn't miss." The surgeon beside Cinderella pulled his mask down. "He shot you where it would hurt, but not kill you." The injury was serious, and it would take time to heal, let alone build back any shoulder strength, but there was a low chance it ever would have been fatal. "He spared your life, Stationmaster."

The Jayhawker curled his lip, but elected not to argue. The doctor he paid to keep on staff had the best qualifications available. Like it or not, whatever he said was accurate. Checking his surroundings, he could see that the medical bed, complete with a mobile set of sensors, had been wheeled into his office. The decorative lights hanging at different lengths above were soft and yellow. The blue, semicircular couch was behind him. His bed had been placed with a full view of the portholes. Outside, the stars and the orbs of the dark planets greeted him, but the starscape was empty. "He left?"

"Yes," Cinderella confirmed. "He took the coordinates for Crimson Heart, but he and his men left without further incident."

Immediately, the Jayhawker reached up to feel for the lanyard he kept around his neck, but it was gone, and the FTL key with it. Damn it. "The Singularity. Where did she go?"

Cinderella shook her head, blonde ringlets bobbing with the movement. "Into the dark planets. We lost track of her not long afterward. I didn't want to risk sending a drone to follow them." Defenseless as the station was, antagonizing a battleship would have been certain doom. A part of her was still very surprised Midwest Station had not been blown to pieces. Once he and his men had escaped, there had been nothing to prevent that destruction, but true to his legend, the Steel Prince acted unpredictably.

The stationmaster curled his free hand in frustration. How did he get away with it? His plan had been near perfect. He'd held all the cards. By the stars, he'd even managed to isolate Gives from the Singularity, a feat achieved by so very few. Victory had been in the Jayhawker's grasp.

"Father," Cinderella cut in softly, "What happened? I remember you dismissing your guards, but after that... I don't remember..." Had they cut a deal to ensure Midwest Station's safety?

The memory came to him as if from a haze, and he regretted Cinderella's question the moment it emerged, for the icy barbs of fear began to climb up his spine, culminating in the pinch of knife-like claws cutting into his neck. He reached up to feel for those gouges in a panic, but he felt nothing – no cuts, no scars, no bandages, only skin that felt so unexpectedly smooth. "Get me a mirror!" he snapped to the surgeon.

The surgeon quickly handed over a plain, handheld mirror, a peculiar look of analysis in his expression, but the Jayhakwer ignored it. He held up the mirror to look at his neck, as his fingers continued to map it out. Still, he found nothing but unbroken skin, soft to the touch. There were no wounds to be had, not even bruises. "...But I felt it." He had felt that thing dig in its claws.