Read Online The Stars Down Under by Sandra McDonald - Free Book Online Page B

said, “Tell me what you want me to do.”
    Myell squeezed her hand. “You could never turn your back on someone in need. That was true when I met you, and it’s true now. But I don’t trust Team Space. Not about this.”
    She asked, “Are you seeing … you know. Things?”
    He had told her that on the Aral Sea he had seen an Aboriginal shaman. During their trip through the Spheres on Warramala, he had seen a Rainbow Serpent. She didn’t think about those visions too deeply or too often, because they seemed so illogical and fanciful, so entirely unlike him.
    What could she say, anyway? She didn’t believe in visions. She believed in him. As she hoped he believed in her.
    Myell lifted his tequila and studied the depths of it. “A crocodile. In our kitchen.”
    She didn’t know how to respond, so she made a joke. “I’m glad he wasn’t in the bedroom.”
    Myell put the glass down. “I don’t want you to help them, Kay.”
    The use of her old nickname made Jodenny’s throat tighten. “I can’t promise anything. Not yet.”
    He said, “You promised me . On Baiame. That we wouldn’t get involved.”
    â€œThings have changed.”
    â€œI don’t think they have.”
    They drove home in silence.

CHAPTER SIX
    Myell stayed awake long after Jodenny fell asleep. He stared at the ceiling and listened to her slow, steady breathing.
    The little he’d eaten for dinner was still heavy in his stomach, or maybe that was the tequila, or maybe the lingering ache from being punched in the gut. He had managed to hide his wrists from Jodenny during dinner and while getting ready for bed. A small bump ached on the back of his head but he’d had worse, and mostly all he felt was a burning shame at being bound and blindfolded and gagged. If he hadn’t freed himself, he would still be there, miserable and afraid.
    He closed his eyes and saw the crocodile and dinosaur devouring each other, teeth rending flesh, blood in rivulets across the world.
    Lying in the dark, his hand resting against her thigh, he tried to imagine success in forbidding Jodenny to help Gayle. Tell me what you want me to do, she’d said, as if it mattered. Myell’s hand clenched. Of course his opinion mattered. But in the end, she had to do as her conscience dictated, or she wouldn’t be the officer he’d married.
    Woman he’d married, he reminded himself. Rank had no place in their bedroom.
    He slept, his dreams a jumble of hissing pipes and coiling snakes and the crocodile, neck-deep in the watering hole. Jodenny was still sleeping when he left for work. He had to wear a light sweater over his khaki short-sleeved shirt to hide the marks on his wrists. At school, fifteen minutes before classes began, he went looking for Senior Chief Talic’s office and found it on the third deck.
    The office was small but well decorated with plaques and vids. Talic was on his way out when Myell blocked the doorway.
    â€œOut of my way,” Talic ordered.
    â€œFuck initiation,” Myell said. “You want to threaten me, you do it by yourself, to my face, wherever you want. No more chicken-shit attacks in the dark.”
    â€œAre you crazy?” Talic asked, and tried to push past him.
    Myell punched him hard across the jaw. That hadn’t been part of the plan, but he took immense satisfaction watching Talic smash backward against a bookcase. A moment later Talic rebounded, his fists catching Myell in the ribs, and they crashed to the floor, cursing and struggling.
    The fight didn’t last long. The door swung open and Senior Chief Gooder and Sergeant Etedgy broke them up. Etedgy wrapped his arms around Myell and dragged him to a corner to calm down. Gooder pinned Talic up against the wall. Other chiefs were clustered in the doorway, and Gooder unceremoniously kicked the door shut for some privacy.
    â€œWhat the hell is wrong