Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) by Oganalp Canatan

Author:Oganalp Canatan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Published: 2016-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THE FOX

“Look what I found!” Sarah entered the cabin with a calico cat in her arms. “She was wandering around in the cargo bay.”

“Cute.” The animal seemed fine with being in company, but from Ray’s experience, cats seldom liked being hugged and kissed unless they clearly expressed it themselves. Ray had always had an uneasy friendship with pets back on Earth, not that there were too many left to live with on the completely overbuilt planet. Still, he felt uncomfortable around them.

“Come on boss, she won’t bite.” Sarah cuddled the now-purring cat. “She was frightened to death when I found her. It’s a wonder she survived with a company like Joe’s.”

“Yeah, probably for a reason,” Ray agreed, not seeing Joe’s people as the cat-lady type. He watched the animal purr and close its eyes in comfort. I really know nothing about cats.

“I think I’ll call her Darty.”

Ray smiled this time. “Sure.” It felt good to see something cheerful for a change, no matter how small or furry it was. “Darty it is.”

“All right, girl, now Sarah has to talk with the captain,” she cooed, putting the cat down. As if to complement her name, the animal darted into the hallway the moment she was free of Sarah’s loving touch.

“She liked you, Sarah.”

Sarah looked after the running animal and shrugged. “At least I named her right.”

Ray turned his attention back to the Arinar sitting before him.

“We’ll make the station in less than an hour,” Sarah said, sitting opposite. “Brother Cavil thinks his father can tell us something concrete about the Arinar and we can be done with whatever this is.”

Ray nodded. “What about supplies?”

“This thing has ceytelium plating, boss!” Sarah’s voice was full of awe. “I thought they only had those on military ships.”

“Smugglers do smuggle ship parts as well, Sarah.”

“Yeah, well, the power core is top-notch black market work. The ship has a small jump drive that can cover some nice distance and we have enough afterburner fuel to skywrite the ship’s manual,” Sarah suppressed a yawn. “We have enough food for three months or so and the water treatment system looks fine. Oh and the thing has radar cloak. I believe we’ll be safe from that agent of yours.”

Ray nodded again without a word.

Sarah narrowed her eyes, examining him.

“What?”

“Something has changed about you.”

“Hmm?” Ray broke his gaze, “What do you mean?”

“Something’s different about you.” She leaned forward. “The Raymond Harris I know was only interested in staying on the road and delivering his cargo. He wouldn’t even take the shore leaves.” Sarah’s eyes looked him up and down, trying to glimpse the truth behind his transformation. “What happened on Bunari?”

Ray put the artifact away, sinking back into his chair. He ground his hands into his eyes as if he could take away the memories. When he spoke again, his stare was distant.

“How many innocent people died because of an artifact they didn’t even know?” It wasn’t really a question.

“How bad was the crash, boss?” Sarah whispered gently, reaching for Ray’s hand on the table.

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