Black Holiday (The Black Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  “I’m sorry I scared you,” Morgan said. “What time is it anyway?”

  “It’s not fair,” Haruhi said, pouting a bit, “You didn’t have to work today. I had to go to school.”

  “Haruhi got back from school an hour ago, but I told her she had to wait for you to wake up on your own,” Gertrude answered, before turning back to her daughter Gertrude clucked at Haruhi, “No, it isn’t fair. You get to go have fun and learn interesting things every day while we get to go and work hard.”

  Gathering up Haruhi in her arms Gertrude shifted the girl about until she was hugging her mom’s neck.

  “Let’s let Morgan finish waking up,” Gertrude said, walking slowly back towards their bedrooms. “And you can help me get dinner ready. After that I’m sure Morgan will be ready to tell you all about her trip.” She gave her a look as she left the room, clearly saying to Morgan. And we’ll talk about this more later.

  ***

  The nightmares didn’t stop over the following days. In fact, they got worse. Something about being back on the station freed the dreams from only endlessly repeating the attack. Perhaps it was because she no longer had the familiar corridors and walls to reminder her? Morgan didn’t know, but given how inventive her mind was in conjuring fresh hells to torment her with, she almost missed the simple repetitions of what had actually happened.

  With no work to do Morgan spent most of her time trying to read, either technical manuals and blueprints for STEVE, or some novels Gertrude had recommended.

  Morgan was competent enough a reader, despite her childhood spent far from anything like a classroom, but she still had to concentrate and work at it.

  That was why she preferred reading to other leisure activities, of course. It was the only thing that distracted her from her inner demons.

  Even then, each night she would wake up screaming, then spend long minutes and even hours staring at the wall or ceiling. She wasn’t getting enough sleep, but unlike that first time if she dozed off during the day she’d simply jolt awake from some dream or other after a half hour at most.

  She did her best to keep it from Gertrude, starting with changing the settings on her room’s hatch to deepen the soundproofing, but Morgan knew she could tell it was still bothering her.

  More than once Gertrude started to say something, always in moments when Haruhi was elsewhere playing, or doing homework.

  Each time Morgan just shook her head and retreated to her room.

  Why would she want to increase the times she had to think about it? What good would that do?

  What she really wanted to do was get to work on STEVE. She still hadn’t even gotten a look at the ship, except on paper. Even that was missing the interesting bits – the engines, the weapons, and even the massive shuttles the ship had to aid in cargo transfers were not included in the openly available schematics. She’d tried to get the rest, only to be shut down with something about industrial espionage. This made no sense to Morgan, but arguing the point with the computer did no good.

  Worse, Gertrude was working on the ship since hers wasn’t in port yet. Of course it wasn’t, that was the whole point, one ship out running cargo, the other in port for maintenance.

  Morgan wasn’t sure what was more frustrating, that her friend was doing what she dearly wanted to do, or that she couldn’t even really get mad with her about it. It wasn’t Gertrude’s fault, and having her familiarize herself with the ship would be invaluable to Morgan once she was finally allowed back to work.

  The only good news in all of this was that she had plenty of time to reserve a gym to work out in her preferred high gravity, since she could go when most everyone else was working.

  Nearly a week into her enforced idleness Morgan staggered out into the common room far later than normal, after Haruhi had left for school and the work day begun. She hadn’t even bothered to get dressed, still wrapped in a thick robe Gertrude had given her two years before. On her short frame the sleeves went past her fingertips and the hem reached nearly her ankles, which Gertrude knew was how Morgan preferred it.

  As comfortable as it was casual, no matter how Gertrude teased her about looking like a little girl wearing her mother’s clothes.

  Morgan didn’t realize she wasn’t alone in the quarters until Gertrude spoke.

  “Oh, you’re up. I was hoping you’d finally get the idea behind sleeping in while on vacation, but I suppose nine in the morning is progress,” Gertrude said. She was sitting on the couch, facing the large holo-tank to the side of the exit, normally kept flush with the wall. “Lady Novan and I were just catching up. She’s been out of the system for the last year, and wanted to see how we’ve been doing with our new jobs.”

  The three-dimensional display was on, tied into Gertrude’s uplink. The head and shoulders of a woman were displayed, but in spite of the magnified nature of the image Morgan still couldn’t even begin to read the stern woman’s mood.

  Not that such was surprising, from the noblewoman. For all the emotion Morgan could read in the woman’s jet-black eyes she might as well have been trying to read her equally jet-black hair.

  Lady Dame Colonel Emily Davenport, DCB, thirteenth Baroness of Novan, had been Gertrude’s husband’s commanding officer when he had died, and had stayed in close touch with his surviving family.

  As much as the woman irritated Morgan at times her sense of duty and responsibility was admirable, including how she watched out for all of the Marines who had been under her command, as well as their immediate families.

  That wasn’t what Morgan was thinking about just then, however.

  She was slightly more concerned with making sure her bathrobe was closed tightly enough and getting out of there before she embarrassed herself any further.

  “You know me, G, I like to keep busy. I didn’t know you were using the com, I’ll come back later.”

  “That is quite all right, Lieutenant Black,” Lady Emily said, “As Gertrude mentioned, I was calling to catch up with both of you.”

  “Lucky that you caught us in, then,” Morgan said, wondering why Gertrude wasn’t onboard STEVE already.

  “Indeed. In any case, I must give you a hearty congratulation not only on your promotion, Lieutenant, but on how you handled yourself during that nasty business with the pirates.”

  “You know about that?” Morgan asked, glancing over at Gertrude, wondering what the woman had revealed.

  “The promotion I just learned about, but the pirate attack I had heard of some time ago. Any attack on the shipping of Albion is of course important news to her military.”

  “I thought you were retired,” Morgan said, adding for good measure, “and Takiyama is based out of Zion, not Albion.”

  Lady Emily let out a single dry snort of amusement.

  “I see your distrustful nature is still intact. Good. It will generally serve you well. I might have been retired from active duty, but I am also a baroness, and as such I am still involved in military matters in that capacity, as well as others. Takiyama is in its majority a company of Zion, true. But it is hardly a surprise that the economies of two worlds in the same star system are intertwined much more fully than is readily apparent, is it not?”

  Morgan fought the impulse to roll her eyes. This conversation was going nowhere.

  “I see your point, Emily,” Morgan said, “But I doubt that’s why you’ve called.”

  Another thought occurred to Morgan. She had left her uplink in her room so she couldn’t check the distances, but if she was remembering correctly…

  “Hang on, are you on Zion? Albion’s at least a few light minutes distant from Zion right now.” She had to be on Zion, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to talk with at least some light speed lag.

  “I am. A minor diplomatic matter I was attending too, nothing you’d be interested in. It was quite boring in fact, but it is done with now.”

  “Oh, are you headed back to Ena Crossing then? It must be hard to spend so much time away from your land
s,” Gertrude interjected.

  “I am, at last. Actually, that is a larger part of why I called. I had extended an invitation to the both of you to visit some time ago, and I wondered if it might be a good time for you to take me up on the offer.”

  “Oh, that is good timing,” Gertrude said before Morgan could say any of the polite (or not so polite) versions of ‘no’ she had been debating between. “Morgan has several weeks off right now, and I’m sure they could spare me as well.”

  “What about Haruhi’s school?” Morgan said, grasping for some reason not to go.

  She wasn’t even really sure why she didn’t want to, given how bored she was.

  “She’ll be fine for a few days, besides, the semester is almost over anyway,” Gertrude said.

  Now Morgan was sure they were up to something. Gertrude was always emphatic about the importance of Haruhi’s education, something Morgan agreed with her about.

  “That settles it then. I won’t be back up to the hub-station for a few hours yet, several last tiny personal matters to attend to here. I could get my ship to Takiyama Station by late afternoon. Is that enough time to arrange matters with your captain?”

  “It should be,” Gertrude said, quite confidently for someone about to spring a surprise vacation on her boss with literally only hours of warning. “Doing any fun shopping today?”

  “Not this time, though perhaps the three of us can go shopping in Ena tomorrow. I will be stopping by Mister Browning’s shop today however, I’ll be sure to give him your regards.”

  “Oh,” Morgan blurted out, “I do actually have a message for Larry.”

  After Morgan had saved Gertrude from some muggers – and said muggers almost killed Morgan in payback later – Emily had introduced the pair to an old subordinate of hers, a military quartermaster who had set up a gun store on Zion. He had been the one to sell Morgan the weapon that had undoubtedly saved her life. It had also been his father, Joseph Browning, that had developed its bullets, dubbed Iridium Specials, that could defeat the armor of a skinsuit yet be small enough for someone Morgan’s size to carry concealed.

  She owed him more than just gratitude.

  “I’ll be sure to pass it along,” Emily said, waiting patiently for Morgan to say it.

  “Just tell him…” Morgan paused, not sure how to best express it. “Tell him thank you, that without my pistol I would have died that day.”

  “From what I’ve read you saved more than just your own life,” Emily said, nodding in approval. “Have you had a chance to replace the expended bullets?”

  No, Morgan hadn’t. She hadn’t even thought about that at all. She still had plenty of traditional gunpowder and lead bullets, for practicing with, but very few actual Iridium Specials.

  Emily nodded again, not needing Morgan to say it out loud.

  “I thought as much. I’ll get whatever he has in stock. Yours was the .22 caliber?”

  “No, they’re .17.” Thinking over what had happened she added, “A few more magazines would be helpful too.”

  Morgan knew it was useless to insist on paying for the bullets herself. Emily would just brush her off and, truth be told, they were expensive enough that she’d be hard pressed to afford to replace everything she’d used against the pirates in any case.

  “Wished you had more ammo with you,” Lady Emily said, nodding. “A feeling I know only too well. I’ll see if he has something appropriate to carry them in as well. An ankle holster perhaps?”

  “That would be helpful, thank you,” Morgan said, echoing the nod.

  “I’ll give you a call when I depart the surface,” Emily said. “Let me know if there are any problems, Gertrude.”

  “Of course,” Gertrude said, waving at Emily as the call ended, the holo-tank shutting off.

  “You planned all this,” Morgan accused, turning to Gertrude before the hum of the projectors had even faded completely away.

  “What makes you say that?” Gertrude asked.

  “For one thing you didn’t actually answer me. For another you should be at work right now, but you’re conveniently here, ready to receive a call you couldn’t possibly have known was coming. Unless of course it was arranged beforehand.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

  “Morgan, what possible reason could we have to conspire to get you over to Albion? Beyond, perhaps, hoping you’d relax, at least a little bit?”

  “You could have just asked me.”

  “And you would have agreed to spend a few weeks at Lady Novan’s estate, without anything to pressure you at all?”

  “No. Of course I wouldn’t. I’m up here because I want to be in space, G. I like fixing things. I won’t really have either of those things down there, will I?”

  “You don’t have them up here,” Gertrude pointed out. “At least not until you are cleared to go back to work. And if you don’t start taking better care of yourself you won’t be.”

  “Ah. That’s what this is about,” Morgan said, shaking her head.

  “Morgan, we’re worried. Is that so hard to understand?”

  “We? We are? When did this become we?”

  Gertrude sighed.

  “Emily and I hadn’t talked about this, if that is what you are thinking. She asked, a bit before you came out, how you have been sleeping. She guessed, or knew, that the pirate attack would be affecting you pretty hard.”

  “Oh she did?” Morgan was getting angrier than she normally would have liked, but at the moment she didn’t care. “Is she going to ask if I’m getting enough fruits and vegetables next? Maybe come up and check my suit seals each time I put my skinsuit on?”

  Gertrude sighed again.

  “Lady Novan offering to help always gets you riled up, I get it. I mean, I don’t understand it, but I recognize it is a big issue for you. Why not at least try to relax and enjoy yourself? You’ve always thrived under stress, but the last few months would be taxing for anyone. Even you.”

  “I’m just a project to her, something to be managed.”

  “You know that’s not true,” Gertrude countered. “Oh, sure, that was your first impression of her, but you have to have seen enough since then to know better. So, why don’t you stop and think about why you’re reacting this way.”

  “And if I don’t especially feel like talking about it with you? Which I’ve already said, several times?”

  Gertrude shrugged.

  “Then don’t tell my why. But you should at least be honest with yourself about it.” Gertrude stood up, stretching before she headed towards the door.

  “Now, I need to go talk with Captain Rain, pick up Haruhi, and get everything packed. I really hope you’ll come with us, Morgan, make a proper vacation of it. You’re my friend and I care about you. I love you, and yes, I worry too. But I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

  Before the hatch had even closed behind Gertrude, Morgan felt an impulse to rush after her.

  That was quashed rather effectively by the fact that she was in fact wearing nothing but a bathrobe.

  Settling for grumbling at the closed hatch Morgan slumped down on the couch.

  What was less annoying? Stay here – by herself, to boot – or let herself be gently browbeaten into going on vacation?

  If she actually had strong feelings about the vacation itself the choice would have been easier, but Morgan had to admit, to herself at least, that she didn’t. Her aggravation stemmed from the way they had arranged it, not the event itself.

  And Gertrude had made other good points as well. Morgan had gotten off to a rocky start with Emily, but she also thought she was past all that.

  Maybe it was just the exhaustion getting to her. Morgan still firmly believed she would get over the nightmares as she had everything else, but for the moment she was barely sleeping, and to deny that would have negative consequences was silly.

  “Augh. Fine, Gertrude
, you win,” Morgan said, yelling at the empty room. She followed this up with an unnecessarily heavy stomp walk back to her room – not that her bare feet actually accomplished anything on the carpeted floor – to retrieve her uplink.

  Pulling up the virtual keyboard she tapped out a quick message to Gertrude, what should I even pack, anyway, and then dumped the uplink back on her bunk so she could get ready for the day.

  Morgan resisted checking the reply until after she had finished, and eaten a large breakfast. It was always harder to be annoyed on a full stomach of pancakes, after all.

  Gertrude had sent a fairly concise list, most of which Morgan had expected. Dresses, toiletries, etc., etc… Morgan paused on one of the last items. A swimsuit?

  Seriously? What possible reason could Gertrude have to even slightly think Morgan owned such a piece of clothing?

  She barely even knew what one was, and even that only because she had accompanied Haruhi to her lessons a couple times when Gertrude had been unavailable for some reason or other, back on Zion.

  Morgan certainly didn’t know how to swim. Even if there had been any bodies of water appropriate for swimming near her village of Pari Passu – and there hadn’t been the local animals to worry about – she doubted the miners would have been allowed to use them.

  And once she got to Zion she’d been far too busy with school, studying, and jobs for pretty much any down time.

  Come to think of it, Morgan thought to herself, I don’t think I’ve ever been in water at all, if showers don’t count.

  “Uplink?” Morgan asked.

  “Yes?” The uplink responded, or rather, the station responded, since the uplink was tied into the station’s much more powerful computer system.

  “Is there anywhere on the station I could purchase a swimsuit?”

  “Checking store inventories. Is the item for personal use?”

  “Yes.”

  “Limiting to items conforming to your measurements.”

  After a few moments, the uplink activated its holo-projector, displaying a simplified map of the station, with two glowing dots representing stores.

  “Two stores either carry items that fit the criteria, or that have the proper licenses to fabricate the appropriate items.”