When Gunny returns from the arduous task of securing enough water for the next leg of their journey, she learns that their cargo has already been secured. This is rather unusual, so she heads down to the cargo hold to investigate. There, she finds an unexpected — and unwelcome — surprise.
"Who the hell are you?"
In spite of what she's been told, she finds the cargo hold nearly empty. All that's in the hold of the Nameless at the moment is one thing — a girl.
One who doesn't seem to be paying any particular attention to Gunny.
"I said, who the hell are you?"
The girl looks up at Gunny, and Gunny realizes that she's older than she first appeared. Eighteen, probably, or close enough to pass for it. The look on her face reflects none of the confusion that Gunny feels, instead showing a surprising curiosity. "Hello," she says. "You must be Gunny."
Gunny doesn't say anything. The young woman isn't exactly helping herself with what she's saying's — Gunny can't help being suspicious of someone who knows her name before they've been introduced.
"I said—"
"Yes, yes, I heard. Who the hell are you and all that. And, let me guess — you're wondering where the cargo is, right? Well, I can help you with that. I'm the cargo. My name's Alice."
"MAL!"
Gunny's shout is loud enough to wake the dead. It certainly does the job against all drunks in range, of which there are a surprising number. Mal isn't one of them, but he almost wishes he were. Gunny's ungainly shout is loud and jarring enough to give him the corresponding headache anyway, and for now there's nothing to do but grumble under his breath as he gets up from his desk and hauls open the door to his cabin.
"Yes, Gunny?" he says mildly, standing in the doorway. He can just see the top of Gunny's head from where he is.
"The cargo's been delivered," she says as she climbs up to the lower deck.
"Yes, I know."
"And it's not cargo — it's a person."
He frowns in her direction, though she doesn't see it. "What?"
"You mean you didn't actually watch it get loaded? Or did she stow away in a crate she's hidden somewhere?"
"What—?"
The young woman, meanwhile, has started to climb the ladder behind Gunny. As she rises above the deck, Mal first gets sight of a head of dark hair, and then a pair of startling gray-green eyes so light they seem to glow. When her eyes meet his, she hesitates under the harshness of his gaze.
At least she looks pleased to see him, even if he's not reciprocating.
"Hello," she says. "Captain Mal, right?"
"Just Mal," he grumbles.
"Hello, Mal," she says. "I'm Alice."
He stares blankly at the girl for a few moments, hoping to see something familiar in the curve of her cheekbones or the dark tones of her hair. But none of that looks familiar to him, which means that she's not someone trying to pass themselves off as his daughter.
So he sighs and curses the flehtkuv Redunai that asked him for a favor. A small favor, Benny had said. Nothing big — just some live cargo that's got to fly under the Company's radar, and needs to get where it's going fast.
YOU ARE READING
A Trip To Tuanaki
Adventure(Adult Language) Alice has been looking for her father for four long years. She's running out of leads, but she has good authority that this last one is the real thing, and it has her bound for Tuanaki. When she charters the Nameless, all she's look...
