The Old Man and the Void by Karina Fabian

Author:Karina Fabian [Fabian, Karina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781733447126
Publisher: Laser Cow Press
Published: 2020-03-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“Space deceives; it holds no emptiness/rather its dangers lie hidden/too impersonal for even an ambush.”

Scarlet’s voice pulled Dex’s attention from the powdered eggs he’d been pushing around with his fork. “What?”

“Space deceives; it holds no emptiness/rather its dangers lie hidden/too impersonal for even an ambush. So, is that creepy or exciting?”

“Literary. What are you reading?”

“‘Planetside Dreams.’ You won’t like it—no schematics or equations.” Although her tone was teasing, her focus remained on the pad beside her half-eaten breakfast.

“Since when did you start liking that leak?” When she shrugged, he asked, “Are you homesick?”

“For a planet?” His space-born wife raised a brow at him. He loved when she did that; it never failed to send a thrill along his spine. Today, however, he looked around the cramped quarters of their ship, at the pre-packaged food rehydrated with water recycled from their own sweat and urine, at the window where deceptive space waited with its impersonal dangers that would leave you just as dead as any ambush, and he asked again, “Do you want to go home?”

“This is home, Dex. What a silly question.”

He threw down his fork and slouched in his chair. “Then why are you reading that fuzz-brained static?”

“Answer my question, and you just might answer yours.” She returned to her book, leaving him to grumble over his cold eggs.

The scene dissolved. Scarlet blurred and brightened while everything else darkened to reds and blacks. Then, Dex stood on the Bloody Road, the deceptive emptiness of space around him, the glowing brilliance of the goddess before.

“An interesting woman,” Elomij commented.

“Frustrating woman,” Dex corrected, his mind and heart still on the memory.

The goddess’ laughter flowed over him like sunshine: warm, comforting, yet impersonal. Did she hold secret dangers as well?

“Your Scarlet knew you too well. She played both predator and prey for you, Hunter, crafting new mysteries to confound you.”

Dex snorted. “Oh, she was good at that.”

“It kept you interested. And you loved her for it.” The goddess sighed, then, and her gaze moved from Dex to through him and down the pathway.

Dex glanced behind him but did not see her consort.

“Hudon doesn’t deserve you.”

She laughed, surprised. “Bold talk from a mortal.”

“Wisdom from someone outside your time. I’d like to think I interested Scarlet as much as she interested me. That’s what marriage should be.”

Her eyes flashed. “You presume too much, mortal! You have passed your second test, though Hudon is not impressed by your scurrying like a rodent. Nonetheless, I give you this prize. The greatest danger is to come; and impersonal, it is not. You will lose all to win.”

“A riddle? That’s it? I don’t remember ever asking to be part of this contest.”

Elomij raised her brow in a perfect imitation of Scarlet. “You never did.”

Dex snapped back to the present to find himself sitting at the table, powdered eggs before him, smothered in the dawlsu Molly had sent. On the viewscreen, the captured ship surged ahead. Although a blur to his unaided eyesight, Dex could see it was still tied to the grapplers and bore the wound he had inflicted on it.

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