Black Hearts, Part Twenty (PG)
Mar. 27th, 2007 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalAnd lo, the plot moves (slowly) forward again.
Mark paced the length of his cell and back, worry and frustration threatening to drive him mad. All right, madder. It had been almost a day since Chan’s dinner meeting with Baron Fell and Cavilo. After concluding negotiations for which governments to contact, and a minimum opening bid (the amount being a sum that probably could have purchased Sergyar, if Chan was so inclined), Mark had been stuffed back into his cell and left to stew over the situation. About the only good point so far was that the hostages, Kareen included he hoped, had remained onboard the Marauder. He guessed that Cavilo was probably having some trouble finding a secure facility to hold them all, though that situation probably wouldn’t last.
Of Terinu, he’d seen no sign, Chan having led him away after the party. Mark could only pray that whatever physical humiliations were being forced on the boy didn’t extend past the collar and leash he’d been made to wear.
The cell block door unlatched and slid back, and Mark pulled himself up off the floor where he had been sitting. To his surprise, Matt slipped inside, bearing a tray. Instead of the usual anonymous glob obtained from the ship’s recycling system that Mark had been fed before, the tray held what looked like genuine vat steak with fresh vegetables on the side.
“Lady Mavra’s compliments, Lord Mark,” Matt side, leaning down and slipping the tray through the pass slot.
“Thank you,” he replied. “Have you seen your friend, Terinu?”
Matt paused, glancing up towards the ceiling, then back at Mark, looking conflicted.
“Are we being actively monitored?” Mark asked.
The boy shook his head. “Not actively,” he told Mark.
Which doesn’t mean someone won’t be reviewing the recordings later. Right.
“I’m just asking after a friend of yours,” Mark reassured him.
Matt finally nodded and said, “He’s quartered near Lady Chan under guard, or so I’ve heard. I haven’t seen him since…” He gestured towards the cell the alien boy had been occupying.
“Could you get… Do you think you might see him, soon?”
The boy bit his lip. “Maybe.”
“Tell him that…” Tell him what? Surely Terinu was watching for whatever chance presented itself to rescue his friend Leeza already. Unless the alien boy’s will was truly broken. “Tell him, I stick to my word.” Oh yes, and I’m also going to telepathically contact my brother’s old mercenary friends to arrange a rescue, and maybe throw in a pair of magic unicorns in the bargain. Alas, his assets and allies were rather scarce right now.
“If I see him, I will, sir,” Matt answered. “Excuse me. I have to bring dinner… to the guard room.” He turned and left.
Mark sat crosslegged on the floor, placing the tray on his lap and wondering if there had been a hidden meaning in the boy’s last words. He worked in the gallery, evidentially. Which might mean relatively unmonitored freedom of movement throughout the ship. Which was… useful. Maybe. If Mark could figure out what to do with it.
He cut into his steak and began to eat, wondering what Kareen was eating right now, and whether Terinu was being fed at all. On the third cut, his plastic knife skittered off of something hard and flat underneath the steak. He masked his reaction as best he could, after his next cut revealed a small white keycard hidden under his food. Mark let Gorge take over eating for a moment, evaluating the prize. I have to bring dinner to the guard room, Matt had said. Which meant he had access to both it and whatever was inside it. Like guards. And their keys. Mark suddenly let his knife skitter out of his hand. As he grabbed for it, he palmed the keycard at the same time, slipping the latter into the wide cuff of his jacket.
Assets and allies, he thought, and continued to chew his steak.
TBC
Mark paced the length of his cell and back, worry and frustration threatening to drive him mad. All right, madder. It had been almost a day since Chan’s dinner meeting with Baron Fell and Cavilo. After concluding negotiations for which governments to contact, and a minimum opening bid (the amount being a sum that probably could have purchased Sergyar, if Chan was so inclined), Mark had been stuffed back into his cell and left to stew over the situation. About the only good point so far was that the hostages, Kareen included he hoped, had remained onboard the Marauder. He guessed that Cavilo was probably having some trouble finding a secure facility to hold them all, though that situation probably wouldn’t last.
Of Terinu, he’d seen no sign, Chan having led him away after the party. Mark could only pray that whatever physical humiliations were being forced on the boy didn’t extend past the collar and leash he’d been made to wear.
The cell block door unlatched and slid back, and Mark pulled himself up off the floor where he had been sitting. To his surprise, Matt slipped inside, bearing a tray. Instead of the usual anonymous glob obtained from the ship’s recycling system that Mark had been fed before, the tray held what looked like genuine vat steak with fresh vegetables on the side.
“Lady Mavra’s compliments, Lord Mark,” Matt side, leaning down and slipping the tray through the pass slot.
“Thank you,” he replied. “Have you seen your friend, Terinu?”
Matt paused, glancing up towards the ceiling, then back at Mark, looking conflicted.
“Are we being actively monitored?” Mark asked.
The boy shook his head. “Not actively,” he told Mark.
Which doesn’t mean someone won’t be reviewing the recordings later. Right.
“I’m just asking after a friend of yours,” Mark reassured him.
Matt finally nodded and said, “He’s quartered near Lady Chan under guard, or so I’ve heard. I haven’t seen him since…” He gestured towards the cell the alien boy had been occupying.
“Could you get… Do you think you might see him, soon?”
The boy bit his lip. “Maybe.”
“Tell him that…” Tell him what? Surely Terinu was watching for whatever chance presented itself to rescue his friend Leeza already. Unless the alien boy’s will was truly broken. “Tell him, I stick to my word.” Oh yes, and I’m also going to telepathically contact my brother’s old mercenary friends to arrange a rescue, and maybe throw in a pair of magic unicorns in the bargain. Alas, his assets and allies were rather scarce right now.
“If I see him, I will, sir,” Matt answered. “Excuse me. I have to bring dinner… to the guard room.” He turned and left.
Mark sat crosslegged on the floor, placing the tray on his lap and wondering if there had been a hidden meaning in the boy’s last words. He worked in the gallery, evidentially. Which might mean relatively unmonitored freedom of movement throughout the ship. Which was… useful. Maybe. If Mark could figure out what to do with it.
He cut into his steak and began to eat, wondering what Kareen was eating right now, and whether Terinu was being fed at all. On the third cut, his plastic knife skittered off of something hard and flat underneath the steak. He masked his reaction as best he could, after his next cut revealed a small white keycard hidden under his food. Mark let Gorge take over eating for a moment, evaluating the prize. I have to bring dinner to the guard room, Matt had said. Which meant he had access to both it and whatever was inside it. Like guards. And their keys. Mark suddenly let his knife skitter out of his hand. As he grabbed for it, he palmed the keycard at the same time, slipping the latter into the wide cuff of his jacket.
Assets and allies, he thought, and continued to chew his steak.
TBC
