Release(5)

She knew what their destination was, and that could prove to be a valuable tool against her kidnapper. If she could get word to the authorities in Ossile, they could stop him from pursuing Risciter. And she could get her ship back as well. The tracking device on the ship was destroyed, but she did have her comm. Communication in hyperspace wasn’t optimal, of course. Her comm had a limited hypercomm capacity, but it was only good for sending text, not voice or video, and one message out was going to kill her battery.

She was going to have to think very carefully about who the best person to alert might be. The first person she thought of was Aunt Tildy. If she’d awoken by now and found Ariana missing, she was probably worried. But Ariana vetoed the idea, because Aunt Tildy might not actually be awake yet. She had no idea how hung over Aunt Tildy actually was. Aunt Tildy might be too slow to react. It would probably be best, instead, to contact someone on the planet Ossile, perhaps the authorities directly. Yes, that was definitely the best idea. Once she was safe, the man in jail, and her ship safely docked, she’d have plenty of time to contact her family and assure them she was okay.

Now the only problem was trying to figure out how she was going to send this message without the man seeing her. He’d stop her if he knew what she was up to. But she couldn’t simply march off and demand privacy. Well. She could, but he’d follow her, and she wouldn’t put it past this man to use force against her. She eyed him. He was very strong. She could see that he had wide shoulders, and when he moved his arms, she could see his muscles swell and contract under his clothes. He could hurt her very badly if he wanted. She didn’t want to take that chance.

So how was she going to get to be alone?

She stood up. “I have to visit the facilities on the ship.”

He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“The bathroom,” she said.

He shook his head. “Hold it. We’ll be in Ossile in twenty minutes.”

Oh. Wonderful. She summoned her best pitiful voice. The man might not be made completely of stone, after all. Perhaps he would pity her. “I can’t.”

He laughed. “Well, I guess you’re going to have an embarrassing arrival in Ossile, then.”

He was made of stone. How dare he be so horrible? He was forcing her to soil herself. She was aghast. Of course, there was the matter that she didn’t actually have to go to the bathroom, but that was beside the point. “Why are you so completely cruel? Do you enjoy making me suffer?”

The man looked at her. He sighed. “All right, all right. But I’m following you and waiting outside the door so you don’t try anything.”

“What could I possibly try?” she said. “You’re an ogre of a man. I wouldn’t stand a chance against you.”

He escorted her to the restroom off the bridge. She took great pleasure in slamming the door in his face.

Once inside, she whipped out her comm and switched it to hypercomm mode. Emergency numbers for every planet in the Evon Sector were programmed into her comm, so she selected the emergency number for Ossile and carefully composed her message. “I, Miss Ariana Gilit, daughter of the Duke of Wendo, have been captured. A man has stolen my ship and plans to arrive at Ossile in less than twenty minutes. Please save me!” She hit send.

Sure enough, the minute the message went through, the battery on her comm completely drained, and the comm switched off. She shoved it back in her pocket, flushed the toilet for good measure, and exited the bathroom.

The man was leaning against the wall outside. “Took you long enough.”

“I have a shy bladder,” she retorted. “It’s not easy when I know you’re outside listening.”

He laughed. “Well, I hope you feel relieved.”

She’d feel relieved when they got to Ossile, and the man was locked up.

The rest of the trip to Ossile was uneventful. Since the man didn’t want her to speak, and since she had nothing to say to scum like him anyway, she simply sat still and stared forward, hoping her message had gone through and that the authorities on Ossile would be waiting for them.

She was gratified when they emerged out of hyperspace to the sound of a message over the ship’s comm system. “This is the Ossile Department of Police. We’re responding to a distress signal indicating a stolen ship will be entering this system with a kidnapped member of the nobility on board. Please identify yourself and prepare for scanning.”

The man turned away from the console, glowering. “You couldn’t hold it, could you?” He shook his head. “How could I be so stupid? What did you do, send them a message on your comm?”