Hailey's Comet Anthology Read online

  “I’ll have to coordinate with your handler, but I sincerely appreciate the offer. I’ve got the analysts looking for the ship she last traveled on. There may be a lead there.”

  “Let me know. I think I’d better get to the gym and start rebuilding,” Spice announced. “Talk to you later?”

  “Definitely.”

  Laura proceeded to her comfort zone: the research library. She hoped to dig up anything new on Artemis Kinkade III; she couldn’t think of any other way to help look for Comet. Laura bypassed all the articles she had compiled for Hailey’s mission and searched for tangential mentions of the Kinkade family. Several hours into her search, she came across a medical report from one of the rural areas of Mars. A young woman was treated for a broken arm. The doctor suspected the break had been caused by another person, so questioned the woman, who admitted to the doctor that she was having a physical encounter with Artemis Kinkade and he “played rough.” The doctor did her duty and made a report to the local authorities, but the case was never pursued. Laura couldn’t find any mention of the woman, the doctor, the incident, or an investigation in any other official sources. It was like the incident never happened.

  Laura stared at the medical report, lingering on the name: Artemis Kinkade. “Who do you think you are?” she asked the name on the screen. Paid your way out of that mess, did ya? Spurred on by the find, Laura dug deeper. Another hour of searching brought up Kinkade’s name again in a high school record. It was one of those ultra-exclusive, ultra-expensive schools where Artemis Kinkade Jr. made enough donations to have a library named after him, and Artemis Kinkade III made enough trouble to have a detention room named after him.

  She compared the official school record to the unofficial school record: the yearbook. Apparently, Kinkade went through girlfriends weekly and was voted “Most likely never to get Philamina Stout.” That’s an odd thing to highlight. Certainly, he didn’t bed every girl in the school except Philamina Stout. Lucky had to find out who this Stout person was. She followed the girl’s high school career and sat back in her chair, drained and appalled.

  Day after Day

  Hailey woke to another day in her cell. Now that she had a comm, she could keep track of time and days. She had been in Kinkade’s T’skala Nebula prison for six days. Every day, Kinkade brought her breakfast and stood around chatting with Hailey, who kept the comm hidden, recording, capturing his voice. She had gathered six of the eleven words she needed him to say. She was determined to get the rest that day. She was tired of the status quo and wanted to take over his compound and wait in comfort for the ship to return.

  When Kinkade was about to leave, Hailey gathered her resolve to overcome her abhorrence of giving in to Kinkade: she called him what he wanted. “Trip,” she said, “can you stay a little longer today?”

  “OK, Mari.”

  “You wanna… play chess or something?”

  “I’d love to. I’ll go get the game board.”

  “Trip, can we play somewhere… do you have a table someplace?”

  “Mari, are you trying to trick me into getting out of your room? I’m not that stupid.”

  “I’m not that stupid either. I know you’ve got your army out there.”

  “What do you propose?”

  “Well, if I could give you my wish list, it’s this: I want to take a proper shower, sit in a proper chair at a proper table, and play a civilized game of chess with you.”

  “And what will you give me in return for such gifts?”

  Hailey swallowed her anger. “Competition in a complex game, company in your empty house, conversation in a civil manner.”

  “That’s not offering much, Mari.”

  “I don’t have much, Trip. Besides, I’m not asking for much. It’s a fair trade.”

  Kinkade considered the proposal. “Will you wear the robe instead of that black suit?”

  Hailey pretended to think for a second. Of course she would do whatever it took to get out of that blasted cell. And she needed more conversation with the master of the house to collect his words on the comm. “OK,” she replied. Kinkade smiled. Hailey reluctantly raised a corner of her mouth.

  “You change and I’ll wait for you in the living room.”

  “Where’s the shower?” Hailey asked.

  “Oh, yeah. I’ll take you there. Get rid of the black suit.” He stood in her doorway watching her change. Hailey had been ogled before when she was only wearing the sheer undersuit. It didn’t bother her before; now she was very uncomfortable. Quickly, she donned the robe and left the suit on the cot. “C’mon,” Kinkade said, leading her out of the room.

  “Haven’t you forgotten something?” Hailey asked, slipping the comm into her robe pocket. “Can’t play chess if I’m full o’ holes.”

  Kinkade chuckled. “You’re absolutely right. Sentries,” the blue lights indicated readiness. “Allow the target to pass unharmed for the next minute.”

  “What about the rest of the house?” Hailey asked.

  “Sentries, do not harm the target as long as I am with it. Acknowledge.” All sentries flashed green and appeared to relax. Hailey knew they were not relaxed in the human sense of the word. Perhaps her own relief that her plan was working projected a positive vibe on the way she saw the robots. Whatever the case, she was ready to step out of her cell.

  With a cautious first step, she watched the ACMEs, on guard for the red warning lights. Nothing. She took another step. Still, no red lights. She gained confidence in the level of safety and followed Kinkade down the hall, around the corner, and through the main rooms of the prefab. “This way to the shower, Mari.” Kinkade led her to his bedroom’s washroom. She took in all the information she could about the dwelling. It was not opulently furnished, as his home on Ganymede was, but he had more comforts than Hailey and the other women had in their cells.

  “Water’s scarce, so don’t use too much,” he instructed. Again, he stood in the doorway and watched her disrobe.

  “Can I pee in private, please?”

  Kinkade chuckled and turned around. “I can’t leave you alone or my sentries might come after you. You have to be really specific with what you tell ‘em, y’know? Robots. They take everything so literally.” Meanwhile, Hailey hung her robe on a hook, making sure the comm was not visible to Kinkade. Then she removed her undersuit and draped it over the shower head.

  While she relieved herself, she tried to get a few more key words out of Kinkade. “Can’t you just tell ‘em to belay the previous orders?”

  “Belay? Who says that?”

  “Bridge crew on ships. It means ‘disregard the previous orders.’”

  “Why don’t they just say ‘disregard’ then?”

  “It’s just a navy thing. Or a ship thing. I don’t know. You can ask your pilot when he comes back.” As she stood and turned the water on in the shower, she added, “I wonder if it’s a robot thing.” Hailey pulled the curtain around the shower and Kinkade turned back to watch her.

  “Don’t worry about my robots. Don’t plot, either. They only obey commands from me.”

  “Believe me, I’m well aware they won’t listen to me. I tried giving them orders the first day.” Hailey rinsed her undersuit and wrung it out, then reached out of the shower to hang it over the robe. She saw Kinkade trying to get a good peek at her body. She reclosed the curtain. While she washed herself, Kinkade fondled the undersuit. It was nearly dry already. “You got a towel?” Hailey asked.

  Kinkade grabbed a fresh towel from the rack and held it out for her, not at all conveniently. She reached for it as he pulled it away from her. “What? You want to see my boobs? Fine.” She stepped out of the shower and stood in front of him. “Can I have the towel now?” He handed it over with a smile. Hailey took the towel, feeling like a piece of meat in front of Kinkade. She reached for her undersuit.

  “No.”

  “No, what?”

  “Just the robe.”

  “Our previous agreement was: no black
suit.”

  “Our previous agreement is subject to change,” Kinkade said smugly.

  Got ‘previous’, Hailey cheered herself. Just need ‘orders’. She took her undersuit, wadded it up, and put it in the pocket of her robe. Letting Kinkade see as little of her as she could manage, she donned the robe and used the towel to squeeze water out of her hair. “You got a comb or brush?”

  “You look fine the way you are,” he replied, unwilling to give her anything she could use as a weapon. Little did he know, she could use the towel or her bare hands to take him down, but she had to get control of the sentries before she took him out – which was definitely on her “to do” list.

  “Shall we play chess?” she said.

  “Right this way,” he replied, leading her back to the living room. “Have a seat,” he said, pointing to the sofa. “I’ll get the board.” He returned moments later with the tools for the game and began setting them up on a small table in front of the sofa. He sat next to Hailey and set the gameboard up sideways. “You can play sideways, right?”

  Hailey gave him a withering look. “I may not have all my enhancements, but I’m not an idiot.” She mentioned her decreased abilities as often as she could, reminding Kinkade that he had the advantage over her – in his mind, anyway.

  “OK, OK,” he laughed. “You can still kill with a look, Mari.”

  “Sorry, Trip,” she said. She wasn’t. But it was the first time she had shown regret for slighting him. It should’ve bolstered Kinkade’s ego. “Do you have any juice?” she asked.

  “Over in the kitchenette,” he replied, setting up the final pieces of the game.

  “You robots won’t shoot me?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “That’s reassuring.”

  “Try it out.”

  “Nevermind.”

  Kinkade chuckled. “MUPA, bring a cup of juice to me.”

  “Nice! Just holler orders into the air and the butler complies, huh? Can I try?”

  “It only follows my orders,” Kinkade reminded her.

  BINGO! Hailey celebrated internally. Now all she had to do was lose the game quickly and get back to her solitary room.

  With each bad move Hailey made, she cursed the loss of her enhancements, much to Kinkade’s delight. “Let’s make this interesting.”

  “What do you mean?” Hailey asked.

  “We’ll play strip chess. Whenever you lose a piece on the board, you lose an article of clothing. Same with me.”

  “I’m only wearing one article of clothing,” Hailey pointed out.

  “Then you’d better not lose any more pieces,” he laughed at his own cleverness.

  “I don’t like the new game. Let’s stick with the old one.”

  “Mari, haven’t you learned by now? I always get my way. You need to accept that.”

  Hailey looked down defeatedly. Quietly, she asked, “And if I don’t?”

  “I don’t want you to get hurt, Mari. I like you. But if you don’t accept the facts, you might.” He ordered A-12 to come to the living room and gave it a new command. “If the target does not comply with my request, shoot its right arm.”

  Hailey was appalled, but she wasn’t surprised; he had forced himself on Mandy with an ACME enforcer in the room. She couldn’t look at him, smug and self-satisfied, thinking he was so damn clever in his use of the ACME. She wanted to punch his stupid face into the back of his skull, but she couldn’t risk it – if not for her own safety, for the four women who were counting on her to get them out of the current hell they were living in. She spoke softly to her hands in her lap. “All right.”

  “Your move, Mari.”

  Hailey took a more offense-based approach to the game. She captured his rook. Kinkade happily removed his pants. “You can start with your… anything else, if it’d make you more comfortable.”

  “I’m comfortable. But thanks for the thought,” he smiled obscenely.

  Hailey cringed internally. How she hated the man. She analyzed that feeling: hate. She had never felt it before. Uncontrolled, it could lead her to do hideous things. Is this what makes people rebel, and fight, and kill? She considered her own efforts to reign it in, noting how hard it was not to take action. Hailey took a deep breath and let it out. The worst of the primal need to hurt him passed, so she said, “Your move.”

  He captured her pawn and leered at her hungrily. “Trip, wouldn’t it make the game last longer if I just reveal one thing at a time instead of taking the whole robe off?”

  He considered it. “All right, Mari. One leg.” Hailey uncovered her left leg, keeping the other one well hidden. “That is one sculpted leg,” Kinkade said. “You’re right. This is more fun. I’ll get the rest of you…”

  Hailey made a move designed to protect her pieces, then Kinkade purposely left his queen exposed. Hailey didn’t take it. She made another defensive move. Kinkade saw what she was doing and made a move that set her up to take one of his pieces or be taken by one of his.

  Reluctantly, Hailey took his knight and he quickly removed his underwear. Hailey looked away.

  Confident in his gameplay, he took her bishop, requesting to see her shoulder. She let the robe fall off the shoulder farthest away from him. “Uh uh. The other one,” he commanded.

  I’ve got to get out of this game, Hailey thought, knowing that he was already turned on and could pounce on her at any time. She could, of course, repel him, but a word from Kinkade to A-12, and she’d have a nasty wound in her arm. With no medical care, it could become a serious situation.

  She captured his queen, and he removed his shirt. He now sat buck-naked next to her, with only his slippers on his feet. He grinned. “Gee, I seem to be out of clothes.”

  “I’m not,” Hailey said sternly.

  “Let’s take care of that.” He searched the board for a move but found none that would capture one of her pieces. He made a reckless move, and Hailey pounced on his second knight. “Damn.” Kinkade searched again but didn’t really have his mind on strategy anymore. Another pointless move on his part, and Hailey had his pawn.

  Hailey whittled his team down to three pieces, while in the same amount of time, he only managed to get her arm out of the robe. He became frustrated and made sloppy moves. He couldn’t capture any of Hailey’s pieces with the three he had left, and she continued to frustrate him. She had only played the game once before, but this game proved to her that her organic brain was not so bad on its own. She gained confidence and finished the game in five more moves. Immediately, she recovered every centimeter of her body and stood. “I’ll go back to my room now.”

  Kinkade reached up a hand and grabbed her wrist. “Sit down,” he said menacingly. She hesitated and A-12 raised a weapon. She quickly sat. The ‘bot lowered the weapon. He enjoyed her forced submissiveness. He stared at her face, which she kept as blank as possible. He let go of her wrist. “Take off the robe.”

  “Trip,” Hailey said softly, pleading with her eyes not to command her.

  A-12 raised the weapon. Hailey released her hold on the robe and shrugged it off her shoulders. “Trip, please,” she said, quietly. He reached an arm out to touch her shoulder. A-12 had not lowered the weapon. It aimed its gun at Hailey’s arm, the one Kinkade was caressing. With a burst of Wraithian surety, Hailey pulled the robe back up over her shoulders, and grabbed Kinkade’s arm. She shielded her own arm with it as she leapt over the sofa, out of sight of the thirty-two-eyed sentry.

  Surprised, Kinkade was knocked to the floor in front of the sofa. Hailey got to her feet and sprinted for the hall to the cells. “Stop!” Kinkade yelled. The ‘bot saw that she did not obey his command, so took aim at her arm, but it was not quick enough to get a shot off before Hailey was around the corner and sprinting down the hall. She got to her room and slammed the door shut. Remembering the sixty-decibel limit, she threw herself toward the hole in the wall and squeezed hastily through, cutting herself in several places.

  Gunshots peppered the door
in her cell. After a ridiculous waste of ammo, Kinkade ordered a cease fire. Hailey quickly returned to her room and shoved the cot against the door, wedging it between the door and the opposite wall. A hissing noise drew her attention next. Several bullets had struck the opposite wall and one of them managed to get completely through the thick wall panel. “Idiot! Arming the ACMEs with armor-piercing rounds. Overkill!" she hissed.

  Hailey looked around the room for something to plug the breach. She knew that ship hulls had self-activating plugging compound embedded in the walls to fill any cracks or holes with instant-hardening goo. Why doesn’t this prefab have that in the walls? she wondered. No time to ponder the oversight, Hailey took the blanket from the cot and stuffed a corner of it into the bullet hole. The evacuation of the air in her room slowed significantly but did not stop. Even the miniscule holes in the fabric were enough to let air pass through slowly. Good enough for now.

  “Mari! Mari! Are you OK?” Kinkade called, trying to open her door. When he couldn’t, he tried to look through the holes in the door to see if she was dead. Hailey stood near the slice in the wall she had created. He couldn’t see her there. She dressed in her Wraith wear as quickly as possible and slipped through the fissure. Kinkade continued to pound on the door, yelling her fake name.

  Hailey tapped on the wall to get Mandy’s attention. “What’s going on? Are you OK?” Mandy asked in a loud whisper.

  “Just a little problem. Mandy, listen. Wedge your cot between the door and the opposite wall. Tell the others.”

  “Did you get food today, Hailey? I’m really hungry.”

  “Barricade yourself. I’ll try to get you some food.” Hailey went back to her cell and covered the portal with her robe. She moved the cot and let Kinkade come in at will. He stood at the threshold, breathing heavily.

  “What – the – hell were you thinking?” he asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious? I don’t want your hands on me. Got it? I will never want your hands on me. You will never put your hands on me, Trip!”