Page 26 of Seven Oars

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Like Phex, he had fine but abundant hair and a six-fingered hand still gripping the net he had lifted.

The pirate was a Rix alien.

Rosamma forced her hazy vision to focus on the shapes in the background.

They were all Rix aliens.

But not of the defender kind.

Chapter 5

After the initial scrutiny, the scarred pirate moved back into the shadows, and another pirate took his place.

“Stand up!” he intoned in the same mangled Universal.“If you don’t do what I tell you, you’re going to the chute with the trash.”

This Rix had a placid face, uncommon for his kind. He smiled as he spoke, baring stubby, dark-blue teeth and spotted gums.

The women struggled to their feet, unused to gravity after two weeks without. Fawn’s lack of exercise caught up with her, and she could barely stand.

“Get up,” Gro hissed at Daphne, who crouched over her mother.

Mara stayed down.

The pirate prodded Mara with his boot.

“Trash,” he said.

Choking back horror at the mental picture of Mara being upchucked into space like waste, Rosamma slid her hands under Mara’s shoulders and strained to pull her up.

“Gro, help me!” she wheezed.

Gro reached out, but after one tug, let go.

“Come on, Rosamma.”

“Please!” Rosamma refused to give up.

Gro slung her arm over Rosamma’s shoulders.“Let’s go. They’re waiting.”

“But Mara…”

Gro shook her head, pulling Rosamma close.“She’s not getting up again.”

The pirates watched them, a shadowy pack of predators, casually observing easy prey.

The placid-faced pirate turned his attention to Phex and planted his scuffed boot on his body.“What about this one?”

“He ain’t dead,” someone said.

The placid-faced pirate furrowed his brow.“You know who is? Aolis. We lost him.”

A chorus of angry shouts erupted. The crowd in the shadows shifted and stomped.

Then the pirate shrugged.“He was a cheat anyway. I’m taking over his sleeping node.”

The shouting cut off.

“No, you aren’t.”

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