Read Online Living in Freefall (Living on the Run Book 1) by Ben Patterson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Ben Patterson
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Archer. If I wanted them to
know—”
“Stop! Those are good folks. I didn’t want you to walk out
on them without giving them notice or reason, so I outed you. Live with it.”
Ericca said no more, and Archer focused on his instruments. He
knew she didn’t want to make running away a habit. That she told him on
numerous occasions. But since Coredei, since Saundler Blackhart’s little ‘chat’
so called, with her, she felt loyalty to no one; no one, that is, but to Archer.
He was loyal to her. So she refused to extend her loyalty beyond him.
Yanking his mind back to the job before him, he focused on
his instruments. Though the nebula was bright and beautiful, for the man in the
back seat trying to decipher his scanner it was a pain. Its myriad of
fluctuating energies clouded his readings with static, making them difficult to
translate. To filter this, he dropped his visor over his eyes. Although Jordon Kori
designed the visor to cut through this sort of thing, the static interference
stubbornly skewed Archer’s screen anyway.
“Can you give me some sense of what’s in the nebula, Archer?”
“I’ll try, Cap.” Riley dialed in as tight as he could.
“Negative, sis. The Radical Ions are making a mess of my scanner. I’ll work to
clear the noise, but by the high count of it, a quick in and out should be
enough to recharge the core nodes several times over.”
“Roger.” Ericca went oddly still.
Riley gritted his teeth.
In that one lousy little word, ‘Roger,’ Ericca had managed
somehow to wedge two tons of her irritation with Riley.
He sighed. “I’m sorry, okay. I didn’t mean to hurt you. That
wasn’t my aim.”
She shrugged. “No. You were right. It’s out in the open now,
and it’s probably best they knew.”
There was a short moment of silence, then over his headset, Riley
heard her mutter to herself, “Roger dodger, okey dokey.”
“You okay, sis?”
“Archer?”
“Yeah?”
“You think we could come up with something better to say
than Roger?” She paused. “After all, it’s just you and me out here by our
little lonesomes. What do you say, little brother, any ideas?”
Though Ericca wasn’t wearing a joking smile, Riley felt she
should at least be less somber. She used to laugh all the time. Now, not so
much. Maybe, with a little effort, he could lighten her mood. “I’ve always been
partial to sounds of static and clicks and such, you know, radio sounds like, scuu –Roger– scuu ,
“or click scuu –Roger, Captain– scuu click .
“You know what I’m talking about. Like in those old movies
Dad used to watch.”
Ericca winced.
Riley paused. “Mentioning Dad triggered those bad memories
again, huh?”
“Yes, well, it’s not like I can help it.”
“Here’s the thing, sis, you should be able to. For the most
part, our childhood was a fun, exciting, and adventurous. Those are my memories
anyway. Maybe on your off hours you should think on those things. Train your mind
to default to the good times we had when someone mentions Mom or Dad. Harvest
festival was always fun. Unification day was good. So were our Christmases.”
“I wish it was that simple.”
Riley sighed. Then a thought struck him. “Did I ever thank
you?”
“Excuse me? For what?”
“For hiding me. For preventing me from looking. I still
can’t believe your strength though. You nearly broke my nose pressing my face
into your shoulder.”
She shrugged. “Fight or flight thing.”
“And yet you did neither.”
“What choice did I have? Dad barely got us off the ship in
time.”
Riley remembered. Man, how those Confederate dillweeds
wanted Reliant . But they couldn’t have it, not in one piece if Dad had a
say. A few months after their clash with the fed fleet at Los Dabaron, the enemy
ambushed them near Haggis. They fought their way out of that mess and ran, for
all the good it did them. A month later they were set upon near Ceti. And so it
went, the bad guys would set a trap,
know—”
“Stop! Those are good folks. I didn’t want you to walk out
on them without giving them notice or reason, so I outed you. Live with it.”
Ericca said no more, and Archer focused on his instruments. He
knew she didn’t want to make running away a habit. That she told him on
numerous occasions. But since Coredei, since Saundler Blackhart’s little ‘chat’
so called, with her, she felt loyalty to no one; no one, that is, but to Archer.
He was loyal to her. So she refused to extend her loyalty beyond him.
Yanking his mind back to the job before him, he focused on
his instruments. Though the nebula was bright and beautiful, for the man in the
back seat trying to decipher his scanner it was a pain. Its myriad of
fluctuating energies clouded his readings with static, making them difficult to
translate. To filter this, he dropped his visor over his eyes. Although Jordon Kori
designed the visor to cut through this sort of thing, the static interference
stubbornly skewed Archer’s screen anyway.
“Can you give me some sense of what’s in the nebula, Archer?”
“I’ll try, Cap.” Riley dialed in as tight as he could.
“Negative, sis. The Radical Ions are making a mess of my scanner. I’ll work to
clear the noise, but by the high count of it, a quick in and out should be
enough to recharge the core nodes several times over.”
“Roger.” Ericca went oddly still.
Riley gritted his teeth.
In that one lousy little word, ‘Roger,’ Ericca had managed
somehow to wedge two tons of her irritation with Riley.
He sighed. “I’m sorry, okay. I didn’t mean to hurt you. That
wasn’t my aim.”
She shrugged. “No. You were right. It’s out in the open now,
and it’s probably best they knew.”
There was a short moment of silence, then over his headset, Riley
heard her mutter to herself, “Roger dodger, okey dokey.”
“You okay, sis?”
“Archer?”
“Yeah?”
“You think we could come up with something better to say
than Roger?” She paused. “After all, it’s just you and me out here by our
little lonesomes. What do you say, little brother, any ideas?”
Though Ericca wasn’t wearing a joking smile, Riley felt she
should at least be less somber. She used to laugh all the time. Now, not so
much. Maybe, with a little effort, he could lighten her mood. “I’ve always been
partial to sounds of static and clicks and such, you know, radio sounds like, scuu –Roger– scuu ,
“or click scuu –Roger, Captain– scuu click .
“You know what I’m talking about. Like in those old movies
Dad used to watch.”
Ericca winced.
Riley paused. “Mentioning Dad triggered those bad memories
again, huh?”
“Yes, well, it’s not like I can help it.”
“Here’s the thing, sis, you should be able to. For the most
part, our childhood was a fun, exciting, and adventurous. Those are my memories
anyway. Maybe on your off hours you should think on those things. Train your mind
to default to the good times we had when someone mentions Mom or Dad. Harvest
festival was always fun. Unification day was good. So were our Christmases.”
“I wish it was that simple.”
Riley sighed. Then a thought struck him. “Did I ever thank
you?”
“Excuse me? For what?”
“For hiding me. For preventing me from looking. I still
can’t believe your strength though. You nearly broke my nose pressing my face
into your shoulder.”
She shrugged. “Fight or flight thing.”
“And yet you did neither.”
“What choice did I have? Dad barely got us off the ship in
time.”
Riley remembered. Man, how those Confederate dillweeds
wanted Reliant . But they couldn’t have it, not in one piece if Dad had a
say. A few months after their clash with the fed fleet at Los Dabaron, the enemy
ambushed them near Haggis. They fought their way out of that mess and ran, for
all the good it did them. A month later they were set upon near Ceti. And so it
went, the bad guys would set a trap,
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