C2 Entombed (Patreon)

Oh, the sweet irony. I pause billing because I feel bad that I haven't produced, and then I start producing again like mad. I should have done this earlier.

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Tori dropped her chin, feeling like sulking. She wanted to leave, but the commissioner was making her stay. “You only want to talk about my surgery because you don’t want me to leave,” she muttered.

“I suppose,” he agreed, “but you’re only here to talk about it also, so let’s talk.”

She frowned hard for several seconds, trying to remember all the arguments she’d been rehearsing in her mind, but with everything that had happened, it was all just a jumbled mess. At last, she said, “I got exposed to sulfur. My paws are so scarred that I can barely feed myself. I lost my sense of smell. I walk slowly with a cane. I need painkillers just to exist.”

“Wow,” said the crackly voice over the intercom. “If you were burned that badly, then how did you even survive?”

She drew a deep breath and released it slowly. “My last ship didn’t have restrictions against cloning. They made new lungs and eyes for me, but it’s not enough. I’m alive, but not for much longer. Once we catch our serial killer, I doubt anyone will need me. I’m disabled enough that there aren’t many jobs I can still do.”

“I see,” said the commissioner. “So, once this job completes, surgery is your best hope.”

Tori nodded. “Pretty much. But unfortunately for me, the doctor is afraid he’ll get in trouble if he does any cloning without your permission, so… Well, that’s why I’m here. Can I have your permission?”

Silence.

Tori chewed her lower lip, feeling worthless, hating that she had to beg for her life. “Sir? Is there a reason why you won’t save my life? Or won’t let the doctor even try?”

“I do have my reasons,” said Troykintrassa, “but they’re not the sorts of things you could debate. You have so much to lose personally that any other alternative would seem irrelevant.”

“So, that’s it then?” asked Tori. She knew she shouldn’t have stayed. “Your answer is ‘No’?”

“I didn’t say that.” He groaned quietly. “Let’s forget all my rules for the moment. You need my help. I need your help. What could be more logical than a little … quiet deal?”

“I help you,” she whispered, her heart lifting, “and you’ll stamp my form?”

“Yeah,” he whispered back.

Tori crossed her arms. “You can’t. The wireless network is down.”

“I bet I could,” said the krakun. “Authorizations, payments, exchanging contact information … all that stuff is sent peer-to-peer. I shouldn’t need a network. If you pressed your strand against this wall and I did the same, I bet mine could reach yours.”

Reality struck. “I can’t,” she whispered.

“Of course you can,” he said. “The power is out in here; the air is turning stale. I don’t feel so great, and I want to go home too, but the hatch leading back to the shuttle bay is … it’s jammed for some reason. I don’t need you to fix anything, I just need you to find me someone who can.”

“I want to help you, sir. I really do,” she sighed, “but I just can’t.”

“Okay, look. I understand that you’ve been injured, and you’ve already had a long day. Searching the entire ship for the captain must seem like an overwhelming request. I get it.” The commissioner groaned again, louder this time, and the bench she was sitting on shuddered. Was he beating the deck with his fist? “But you don’t have to. Just press your strand up against the wall, I’ll sign your form, then go out there and grab the first geroo you see. Tell them that the commissioner wants to speak with them. I’ll send them out running. You get your surgery, I get someone who can help me, and it only takes two minutes of your time. Everybody wins.”

Tori sat there, stewing. When she didn’t reply, he added, “Just go back to your apartment, go back to bed like you’d planned, but tell the first person you come across to take care of this. This ship is crawling with geroo. It could be anyone.”

The sad thing was, she knew she was being stupid, listening to him. She could imagine being trapped all too well in his dark room. It had to be horrible, like when she awoke in the med bay, blind, unable to speak, and fully restrained, but despite wanting to help, there was literally nothing she could do. If anyone managed to help him, if he managed to escape, they’d all die. What did authorization for surgery mean if she wouldn’t live long enough to use it?

But still, she couldn’t walk away. When she was stuck in med bay, Druka stayed by her side. If she were alone, she’d have given anything…

“I’m sorry, sir,” she whispered. “I want to help. I really do. I just … can’t.”

“Wait. Why?”

“I have my reasons, but they’re not the sorts of things you could debate.” Tori sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. “You have so much to lose personally that they’d seem irrelevant.”

A long-ish pause and then, “You’re not taunting me, paying me back for saying that earlier, are you? You really mean it. You can’t help me.”

Tori grimaced. She wanted to leave. She could just stand, close the hatch behind her, and go… Except she couldn’t. She’d never been able to hang up on someone before and never had a conversation been this serious.

She could almost hear the gears whirring in his head. “You can’t help me; you can’t help me escape… I’m not here by accident, am I? That hatch isn’t just stuck. What did the captain do? Park a truck behind it? Weld it shut?”

Tori covered her eyes. What could she say?

“He’s cut me off … the power … the network. Tori, this is important. Listen to me,” the krakun begged. “Your captain is murdering me. I know you want to be loyal to him, but whether he succeeds or not, he’s dead. You understand that, right? I can’t just go missing. Someone will come looking for me. The company will come looking for me. And when they do, you don’t want to be anywhere near this, trust me. The company will execute him and everyone who obeyed his orders. They’ll execute anyone who didn’t help me when they could have!”

She whimpered, “How did everything get so messed up?”

“Tori, if you help me get out of here, then nothing bad will happen to you, I promise.”

She repeated the captain’s words, “An attack on the commissioner is an attack on the company itself.”

“Yes, okay, normally yes,” he admitted. “Even trying to kill the commissioner would result in a full purge, but you’re going to help me. I don’t have to tell the company what happened. You help me get out of here, and the damage is limited to just those who did this. I’ll handle it quietly.”

He took a few slow breaths and then moaned. “But if I really do die in here, then I won’t be able to stop it. The company will clean house.”

Tori rested her cheek against the wall that separated them. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Commissioner Troykintrassa cried out. “What in all the Dead Gods names is up with my stomach today?”

“It wasn’t the captain,” Tori finally explained. “It was The Executioner. He’s spiked your drink. There’s no walking this back. There’s no pretending it didn’t happen.”

“Spiked my…? With what?” the krakun demanded. “You have to get me out of here! I need to get to a hospital.”

“I can’t,” Tori repeated for the hundredth time. “If you get out, everyone dies.”

“If I don’t get out, everyone dies!” he shouted. “You can’t hide this. No one can. The company will find out!”

“The captain switched off the trinity. He won’t turn it back on. He won’t let the company come and purge the ship,” Tori whispered. “We’re all stuck here until Planetary Acquisitions flies another gateship out here. We’re marooned for the next couple centuries.”

A very long silence stretched. All Tori could hear was her own breathing inside the little metal chamber.

“That’s… That’s not how the trinity works,” said Commissioner Troykintrassa.

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Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FLAAFFfvLZA4am-LJsYsrsAgLK0WHP_r-sL28ajx7jk/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?