Between

Chapter Thirty-One

Prison cell aboard the CRL Lorskoto, approximately 147 miles southwest of the Kinnarr ice barrier, Great Northern Ocean

J'taka Den-Keerta glanced up at the darkening skies through the tiny porthole in the side of the Lorskoto. The first twinkles of starlight were beginning to break through, indicating the night would be clear, but cold. Of particular interest, however, was the manner in which five of those stars were aligned. It had been a long time coming, and the jolt in his gut reminded him that he did, truly, know where they were.

It had been two days since he or Williams had last eaten, though he had been certain to remind both himself and his companion to keep well hydrated. The water from the faucet tasted just as awful as the food they'd so recently stopped receiving, but the prospect of returning to the sea for an unknown length of time insisted they drink regularly. Isla Williams' physical condition concerned him greatly, and the silver-feathered Kinnarr had spent the days since their initial discussion arguing with himself whether it was truly in the woman's best interest to leave Lorskoto. In all likelihood, both captives would perish in the attempted escape. If they didn't, they would likely die at sea instead, and J'taka suspected Isla would be the first. Even in poor condition himself, Kinnarr were adapted to the cold in a way that human beings could never be. Williams was insubstantial even in good health, and J'taka knew he would never be able to keep her warm enough in the terrible northern seas.

Alas, he could not find it in his heart to share his concerns, for their plans seemed to be all that was keeping the human female alive now at all.

Approaching the cot where Williams appeared only half-asleep, he clacked his beak and woke her. She opened her eyes and when she saw his expression, the human practically leapt into action.

"Is it time?" she whispered, as though the cameras could hear, even though they knew they could not. "It's time, isn't it?"

"I believe so," answered the Kinnarr, his stance tense. "They should be changing guards shortly, and the coming darkness will afford us an easier escape should we manage to get to a raft. But first we need to disable the camera."

"Lift me up," Williams directed, just as they had discussed, and the pair approached the corner where the camera blinked at them with its menacing red light. Straining even under the human's air-light weight, J'taka raised her upward until she was able to reach the cables behind the camera and tear them away.

"There!" she smirked in satisfaction as he set her back down. "Now we see how long it takes them to notice and come investigating. Do you remember what I told you about the mattress springs?"

J'taka nodded and made his way to the cot, tearing at the underside with his claws and working to twist a wire spring until it broke free and he was able to pull it out. He did the same with several more, straightening them and tucking them into a crudely made pocket in the horrid Corzean rags he now wore. On the opposite side of the cell, Isla Williams slipped behind the curtain by the toilet, and J'taka heard the sound of a porcelain lid being moved. A minute or so later, she returned with a long metal rod she'd disconnected from the handle inside the tank, along with the rubber float. She rinsed the float and then filled it with water. Next, he watched her disassemble the drain plug in the sink and, after several hefty tugs, the lift handle came free from the top of the spout and she concealed both of the rods and the water-filled float in the sleeves of her uniform.

"Now we wait," J'taka issued, his wings shrugging and his feather tips fanning out briefly. "Remember, we must not make our move until they believe we are not aware the camera has an issue."

Isla nodded, her figure just as tense as the avian's.

It was perhaps another twenty minutes before the door to the cell burst open and three Directorate guards flooded into the chamber. J'taka and Isla were on opposite sides of the room, and the soldiers pointed weapons at each of them.

"What's going on?" Williams inquired, her voice worried but, J'taka noted, doing a very good impression of innocence. Had he not been privy to the situation, even he might have believed her.

"Technical issues," answered the guard who had entered first, and then he turned his attention to the camera. "Son of a...Golberg, push that cot over here! O' course they wouldn't say to bring a fuckin' ladder, now, would they?"

The guard with his weapon aimed at J'taka did as he was ordered, and both the avian and Williams watched the third guard carefully for any moments of distraction.

"You mean to tell me that camera's down?" the female cried, feigning frustration. "That it's been down?"

"Lucky for you, Missy, we gots crews who watch these suckers just in case patients like you get any ideas 'bout tryin'a roam free," snapped the guard as he reached up to the camera.

J'taka saw his hands pause at the wires, and quickly exchanged a glance with Williams. Any second now, he would discover the wires had been pulled, and their cover would be blown.

All at once, the great avian fanned his wings out and clobbered the guard aiming at Williams straight across the back of the head, knocking him to the floor while he made a mad grab for the second guard. With a great screech that echoed off the cell walls, he jerked the human back against his chest and twisted one of the metal coil springs through the white fabric of the uniform and deep into the vulnerable flesh of his neck. Williams leapt for the third guard's weapon and smashed the butt into where she estimated the temple would be beneath the mask.

By the time his two comrades had fallen, the first soldier was spinning on the mattress and reaching for his own weapon, but J'taka pinned him against the wall by the throat with one scaled, clawed hand. His wings remained fanned out, and his head swiveled back and forth to look at the soldier from each side-set eye.

"Wait!" Isla Williams cried suddenly, rushing in front of J'taka and holding her palm up. "Don't kill him, we might need him-if there's passcodes or anything, or if we get lost along the way!"

J'taka, beak open, stared at her, incredulous.

"I thought you said you knew the way?"

"I said I was pretty confident I knew the way, but it couldn't hurt to have a little insurance, now, could it?"

J'taka frowned at the unfamiliar term.

"Oh-nevermind, just-bring him, dammit!"

She stripped the soldier of his weapon as well, tucking it into the garb she had seized off one of the other downed guards, and then shoved one into J'taka's pocket as well. They had three weapons now, plus the crude springs and rods from the mattress, toilet and sink. As the three of them stepped off the cot and back to solid ground, Williams found one other useful tool that had gotten kicked to one side of the cell in the scuffle-an electric prod. She picked it up and then jabbed it against the guard's back while J'taka held him.

"You so much as think about raising the alarm, buddy, and I'll jam this prod so far up your ass it'll fry your tongue."

"And where do you think you will go?" hissed the soldier, struggling against the avian. "We're in the middle of the fucking ocean!"

"We'll take our chances," snapped J'taka, his red crest flat against his skull, and the guard seemed momentarily surprised that he had spoken.

Williams slipped on the mask from the unconscious soldier, as the other was stained in blood and adhered to the body by the spring. She handed the prod to J'taka, who carefully concealed it from any prying eyes they might pass along the way, and substituted the weapon for one of the BAR guns, which she held at the back of the soldier's neck.

"I know my way around these ships pretty good, see," she whispered into the place on the mask where his ear would be, "but I'd like you to show me around anyway. So, what say we take a bit of a stroll, free of restraints, and I'll let you live as long as you don't steer us wrong or make a run for it. Get us topside, alive and in one piece, and you're free to go. Deal?"

"You'll never survive once you get off this ship."

"Maybe so, but better to die at sea than in this floating hell hole."

J'taka snickered and scraped his beak together in anticipation.

So far, so good.