Free Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation by Ryk Brown Page B

warship, sir, not even a plasma cannon.”
    “I can dream, can’t I?” Nathan stepped forward, patting Mister Chiles on the shoulder as he passed. “Nice work, Mister Chiles.”
    “Thank you, sir.”
    “I’m taking a break, Commander,” Nathan announced as he headed for the exit. “You have the conn.”
    * * *
    Synda’s eyes fluttered slightly, slowly opening for the first time since she had been wounded. Her eyes opened farther as she began to examine the unfamiliar surroundings. She felt pain… and something else: tiny pinpricks all over the inside of her body. The sensation was extremely uncomfortable and was more intense in her torso than in her arms and legs. A wave of fear and confusion began to sweep over her as her eyes darted about the room. Where she was, what had happened, and why she was in pain: the questions only served to increase her building panic, made worse by the fog that still clouded her mind. Then she noticed Tony’s head lying on his folded arms alongside her, and her fear began to ease.
    She lifted her left hand and placed it on his shoulder. “Tony,” she whispered, her voice weak and harsh.
    Tony’s head rose slowly at first, then suddenly popped the rest of the way up and turned to look at his friend. “Hey,” he answered in hushed tones. “It’s about time you woke up.”
    His beaming smile eased her fear and uncertainty even further. She looked at his face, lines embedded in his cheek from his wristwatch. She had always thought him an odd-looking man, attractive but in a way that might not be obvious to most people. She couldn’t help but notice, however, that right now he looked wonderful to her.
    “I was starting to get worried,” he added.
    “What happened?” Synda swallowed with some amount of difficulty, trying to wet her dry throat. “Where are we?”
    Tony smiled. “You’re not going to believe this, but we’re on the Aurora.”
    Synda’s face cringed as a wave of intense pinpricks surged inside her abdomen. “What?” She looked at him in disbelief, then noticed his clothing. “Is that an EDF uniform you’re wearing?”
    “Yeah, they’re washing my clothes. You sort of bled all over me.”
    “How did we get here?”
    “We got ambushed on the surface, remember?”
    “Vaguely,” she admitted.
    “You were hit, so we came back with them.”
    Synda didn’t understand. “But how? How did they get past all the Jung ships? They’re everywhere. Surely they didn’t just fly right in and…”
    “I don’t really understand it all, Synda,” Tony interrupted. “All I know is that we took off from Earth, there was a bright flash, and the next moment, we were landing on the Aurora.”
    “The flash,” she said, her memory returning. “I remember, when that shuttle arrived. There was a big flash and thunder and wind, and there it was, just hovering there. How is that possible?”
    “I think it has something to do with their jump drives. I don’t know,” Tony admitted. “I just know that we’re here on the Aurora. Hell, I even met the captain. You’re not going to believe who he is.”
    “Where’s Jessica?” Synda asked, cringing again from the pain.
    “She was here earlier. She said she’d be back later. Are you all right?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Are you in pain?”
    “I’m not sure,” she said. “It’s strange. It’s like thousands of little, tiny needles, but on the inside.”
    “Must be the nanites,” Tony told her.
    “What are nanites?”
    “I don’t really know. Josh said they were like microscopic robots that they inject into your bloodstream to fix you from the inside.”
    “Who’s Josh?”
    “Some guy I met in medical. He was getting some nanites injected in him as well. He told me they might cause you some pain, something about the nanites not being designed for people from Earth.”
    “What?” Synda looked even more confused. Another wave of pain washed over her.
    “He said the doctors knew what they were doing.