Tim's Arc

Chapter 11 of 11

Tim pressed his face to the small port. The grey warship filled the view now. Its guns swung toward the cargo ship's path. Inside his sealed crate, blind to everything, he could only wait. If the ship stopped, the crew would search the hold. If the warship fired, no plan mattered. He pushed his lid up and climbed out. He had to see what was happening, or they would all die inside these boxes. Jake's lid banged open beside him. "Stay down," Jake hissed. "We can't be found." "We can't be dead either," Tim said. He crossed the hold to the port. A voice crackled through the ship's speakers, sharp and official. It came from a third vessel, smaller, swinging between them and the warship. Painted bright, trimmed with metal and old symbols, it looked more like a floating shrine than a fighting ship. It moved straight into the warship's line of fire. "This is the harbor guard," the voice said. "You will not pursue the cargo vessel. Stand down your guns." Tim held his breath. The warship's guns did not move for a long moment. Then the voice spoke again, slower now. "My daughters are aboard that ship. A baby girl and her older sister. I have been searching three sweeps for them. You will let them pass." Tim turned toward the two crates near the wall. His sister lay hidden in one. In the other, the toddler who had followed them up the ramp. The little girl pushed her lid open and sat up, her flying toy clutched to her chest. She blinked at the light, pigtails crooked, her shirt rumpled. She had no idea the man on the speaker was asking the whole fleet to spare her. The toddler held up the toy and grinned at Tim. "Fly," she said. Tim knelt by her crate. His hands shook. He had grabbed her as a trick to fix the weight count. He had not known she had a father out there, hunting ship by ship. He had not known she had a sister asleep three feet away, both of them lost in the sweeps before Tim ever opened a crate. On the speaker, the warship answered at last. "Guns stowed. The cargo vessel may pass." The grey hull began to turn. Its guns lifted away from the ship and from Juniperfall below. Tim let his breath out and gripped the crate's edge. Jake came up beside him and stared at the toddler, then at the hidden baby. "Her father," Jake said quietly. "That's who he came for." Tim looked down at the little girl waving her toy. He had carried two strangers' daughters onto this ship. Now their father owned the sky around them, and he would want them back. The warship was gone. But the harbor guard was still out there, and it was coming closer.