Spider's Game ((Book One) #Wattys2016 Winner!)

Chapter 4- A Path

The station was sterile despite the hordes of people who traipsed through each day. A slight stink of bleach hovered in the air. The last time Berrick entered an interplanetary hub like this was when he took his family to DelRion to see the dinosaurs. Petyr had been what five then? The station hadn't changed an iota. But Berrick liked the locale better this round.

He felt lost in the crush of people. In the steady stream of humanity, he almost shook free the thoughts that stalked him.

The windows that looked out to the shipyards had no animations. After crossing traffic, he sat down in front of a window panel to stare at the starry sky. Great ships occasionally blotted out his view of the vast expanse of glittering stars and endless black. His mind wandered from star to star and escaped, sometimes for a minute at a time, the lingering memory of Marim birthing a monster.

Memories arose instead from years before of his wife laughing as Marim and Petyr stood against these same windows. Their flushed faces plastered to the glass. I failed them. The old mantra took over but now it boasted a new line. I failed her.

Twice before, he'd been in the station and those moments echoed. The first with Polly, her belly big with Marim. Berrick thought then that he had landed the job of a lifetime and Polly beemed with pride. Both filled with dreams of the wonders in store for them. Moving back to Yahal was a dream for them, a promise of a bright future. That was before the real world came crashing in. Before Polly's dreams of a big family were squashed by complications in Marim's birth and she learned that the technology that stood any chance of helping her conceive again was illegal on Yahal.

The second visit was only months before Polly's choices caught up to her. Looking back, Berrick should have seen the signs. Weight loss, dark circles under her eyes, hands constantly fidgeting. Why hadn't she told him? Had she thought he'd condemn her, choose the letter of the law over his family? If he'd seen could he have saved them? Would he have even believed that the world he love, the values, could condone the thing that was done? The punishment for violating the laws exceeded his belief even now.

This time, he was alone, leaving Yahal. The land of opportunity and peace hadn't worked out for him. Why not give violence and self-destruction a go?

He'd spent all morning thumbing through news headlines for the nearby planets, looking for something to lead him to Halis. Even having given up his job, his security clearance still gave him access to a great deal. But so far, the glittering sky told him about as much about where to proceed as the news.

"Mind if I sit?" The voice was young and girlish. A timbre that reminded him of Marim before the spider mess. When Berrick looked over, he expected a girl his daughter's age, maybe younger.

What he got was something else entirely that elicited a burst of terror. She was delicate as a piece of handmade lace and so pale, she might have been translucent. Her eyes were an awe-inspiring pinkish-purple. The oddity was not what scared him though the color did remind him of an ill-fated albino rat Petyr once owned. The disquiet that rose in him came from her beauty, which if anything exceeded Silvia's.

It was no coincidence a woman like that was standing there.

When no reply was forthcoming, she sat. A woman of her physical caliber didn't expect 'no' as an answer. Probably hadn't heard the word her entire life.

She smiled with her colorless lashes fanning her cheeks. "I know you, Sir. You're Yahal's Police Chief. Trehar? Correct?"

"Not anymore." Berrick's hands trembled, longing to reach out and comfort her. His mind held back. She was dangerous and too beautiful to trust. The ticket stub in her frail little hand was a white splash across her black leggings. The plastic stub was displayed perfectly for him to view. He doubted that was an accident even though there was no proof to back his opinion. "You're not coming from Yahal. How'd you know me?"