Chapter Six

VEN

I tossed and turned, thinking about my life and wondering if I had ruined things by using TerraMates. Maybe I could have convinced one of my female friends to marry me and help me out. Surely it would have been easier than living with a stranger for the next year.

Something didn’t sound right. I froze, holding perfectly still. There was noise coming from Emmy’s room. I listened patiently for a moment, then got up and put my ear to her wall.

I wondered if she was ill, but the noise didn’t sound biological. She was quiet. If I had been asleep, I wouldn’t have heard a thing.

Click.

I frowned, wondering what could have made a sound like that in her room. It felt familiar, like something I had heard a hundred times before. Was it the closet door? Her suitcase, maybe? Something she brought with her?

My room was eerily quiet all of a sudden. If Emmy was awake, she must have gone back to sleep because I couldn’t hear any more sounds coming from her room. I went back to my bed, full of curiosity about what she had been doing.

When I thought about it, I realized I knew nothing about my new wife. Perhaps she had other peculiar hobbies. I didn’t know much about Earth women, but it seemed strange that she was interested in weapons. Despite our differences, apparently it was one thing we had in common. I had used guns frequently in the military, but I was familiar with physical weapons such as swords, daggers, and the bow and arrow.

Since I became independently wealthy, I had spent some time acquiring and learning how to use old Stalwartian weapons. I had even started fencing lessons. I had the time and the money, so I thought I should put it to good use. I set up a training dojo for practicing martial arts and working with a fencing instructor. A target for archery practice was located outside the dojo.

Sleep eluded me, so I decided I should use my time productively and run through my sword kata. I pulled off my pajama pants and donned a pair of shorts, leaving my chest bare. It was a warm night, and I would be hot soon enough. At the training studio, I picked up the meerkif hanging on the wall. It was a curved sword and a traditional weapon on Stalwart.

The meerkif was my favorite blade. It was heavy, but I was used to the balance. I hefted it and centered my weight correctly, assuming an opening stance. Taking a deep breath, I flipped the sword out, facing the blade away from me and carving an arc through the night air.

I lifted the weapon over my head and brought it down with a controlled swing. I slashed horizontally to the left and the right, moving backward each time.

When I finished the exercise, I bowed and replaced the sword on the wall. I padded slowly up the stairs in my bare feet, feeling calmer and more relaxed. Perhaps I would be able to sleep now.

As I lay in bed, about to drift off into a deep sleep, I realized what made the loud clicking noise. The epiphany jolted me awake.

The sound came from one of my largest climbing clips. I used it for hauling large amounts of cargo up and down cliffs. Stalwart was a rocky planet, and everyone knew how to climb. I knew it as well as I knew the sound of my voice, but I hadn’t recognized it immediately due to the context.

Why would that sound be coming from Emmy’s room?

I wasn’t going get any sleep now. I hopped out of bed and was in the hall in seconds, positioning myself outside her door. My hand was poised to knock when I hesitated.

What if I imagined everything? Was she sleeping peacefully in bed at this moment? What if I woke her up, demanded to know about a vague clicking noise, and she told me to get the hell out of her room? It would not be an auspicious beginning to our union. Along with the chaste wedding night, it was shaping up to be an evening full of bad omens.

The security camera footage would let me see what was happening without disturbing her. It would also make me feel like a creep. It felt like invading her privacy and if she ever found out, she would be justifiably upset. Spying was out.

On the other hand, if something was wrong and she needed my help, I would kick myself for not going in sooner. My life had gotten pretty complicated in a few hours of marriage. I pressed my lips together and made a decision.

I knocked on the door and waited. I imagined Emmy would come sleepily to the door and ask me why I was bothering her. I had a story prepared that was mostly true. I could tell her I heard a suspicious noise in her room and wanted to investigate.

She would probably think I was coming in to seduce her. Would that be a bad thing?

The door wasn’t opening. I waited, frowned at the door, and knocked again. No answer. When I tried opening the door, I discovered it was locked.

Either she was a sound sleeper or something was terribly wrong. What was happening inside that room? I scanned my retina on the lock, and the door slid silently open. I crept in quietly, not wanting to wake or disturb anyone in the room. It was dark and I felt like checking the window to make sure it was closed. The security system in the house was state-of-the-art, but you never knew what might happen.

I tripped and found myself falling onto my face, but I tucked and rolled at the last minute, avoiding a painful fall. I smiled to myself. The reflexes were still there.

Why had I tripped? I spoke a command to activate the lights, revealing a mess on the floor. I had tripped over one of my climbing ropes, which someone had clipped to the pole of the canopy bed. The line led to the window.

There wasn’t a sign of Emmy anywhere.

Some of her clothes were still here, but her backpack was missing. I couldn’t tell if she had taken any clothing with her, but it seemed clear she was gone. I didn’t know where or why, but I had to get her back. Otherwise, this marriage would have been for nothing.

It took eight hours to retrieve the location of the gun. The information was available, but I had to go through a lot of government red tape to get it. If I had foresight, I wouldn’t have needed to wait at all. I could have put a tracker under my control in the gun instead of relying on the government-provided chip. The decision could have saved me hours.

Instead, I had to wait until the office opened, then wait some more because there was a line of people in front of me. When it was finally my turn, I had been standing around for hours while someone else found my information and decrypted it. I never thought anyone would steal my weapon.

I stared at the screen, trying to interpret the data. The locator chip sent back information every ten minutes. I was looking at a map with flashing lights ranging from faint yellow all the way to dark red, showing where she had been. The brightest yellow indicated her first location and the red dot was a prediction of her current location.

After Emmy left my house, she made her way to the main city street. She made a couple of random stops, then headed directly to the spaceport. She intended to leave the planet.

The thought of her departure triggered a tremor in my heart. Why did that idea make my heart jump? I didn’t know her. It didn’t matter if she was my wife or not.

It seemed that she had moved around the spaceport. The darkest red dots showed her going away from the building again. Apparently she hopped into a car and was heading out onto the nearest freeway. That didn’t make sense. If she was leaving the planet, why would she take a joyride back into the city? The next flight left in less than an hour.

I drew in a sharp breath and set the coordinates of my car to the loop outside the spaceport. Emmy was in trouble.