Bonus Episode: Geneva

{{Written by Ginny}}

Geneva tossed and turned, restless in her bed. The twin moons of Bacchus stared at her like judging eyes, overshadowed by the menacing presence of Bacchus' twin planet, Diana, who took up the sky like a greedy onlooker. It made Geneva feel constantly on-edge, as though the planet was just waiting for the right moment to devour them all. She knew Bacchus looked about the same from Diana's surface, but logic wasn't in her mind this clear and cloudless night as she glared out at the interplanetary annoyances that crowded her sky and kept her trapped, and considered her options.

She could argue with her father more, but she knew that would be to no avail. She could run away. She ran over the different choices in her head, and none of them seemed particularly appealing. Where would she even run away to?

There is one more option, part of her mind piped up tentatively. You could always just marry the man. That thought struck her as so terrible that Geneva felt bile rise up in her throat. Throw away the rest of her life, nail herself to the floor here on the tiny, boring, useless, merchant planet of Bacchus, admit that her purpose was nothing but a house-cleaner, baby-maker and dinner-cooker for the son of some neighboring merchant? I'd rather die, she thought firmly, and that decided it. She'd run away. It was her only choice.

--

The docks were bustling as always, full of merchants hawking their wares, children playing and getting underfoot, and shrewd old women haggling and bartering and leaving the poor salesmen wondering how on earth a five foot two grandmother had convinced him that she deserved everything for thirty percent off. Geneva had told her mother she was going to look at cloth for wedding dresses, which had made her mother so hopeful that Geneva would finally be agreeable to the arranged marriage that she'd pushed some money on her and practically shoved her out the door. Now she was scrutinizing the different ships carefully. She needed something big enough that she wouldn't be treated too personally and noted as a runaway, but something small enough that passage wouldn't be too expensive. Something dingy enough that it wouldn't attract attention or have officers of the law on it, but something nice enough that she wouldn't have to fear for her safety being a passenger.

She had been passing by ship after ship after ship, when she glanced through the crowd and spotted a familiar figure. Her father, looking around the marketplace. He put his hand over his eyes and scanned the crowd. She instinctively knew he was looking for her. She didn't know why, but she did know that she needed to make her decision, and now. Frantically scanning the ships, she spotted one that looked promising. Two men, arms folded, were standing on the ramp talking comfortably while a third man hefted a mess of crates into the cargo bay. The ship was of a good size, and she didn't have time to be picky. She sped up her pace and approached the two men on the ramp.

"Excuse me," she called out politely, and they looked up. One cast an appraising eye over her and she experienced a moment of doubt, but chalked it up to nerves.

"What can we do for you, little lady?" the other man said, and she grimaced. Little lady. Great. Geneva looked young for her age, and it annoyed her, but now was not the time to pick fights.

"I'm looking for passage," she said as confidently as she could. The two men exchanged glances, but she didn't catch what they were communicating to each other.

"Passage?" one man repeated slowly. She assumed he was wondering where she meant to go. The two men started walking up into the cargo bay and she tagged along, determined to get their attention before they took off without her. Besides, being inside the ship would shield her from view of her father.

"I don't much care where," she added, "as long as it's bigger'n Bacchus. Then I'll get some more specific travel plans in mind," she added, realizing too late that she'd revealed herself as a lone and nonspecific traveler. Now they knew that if she disappeared, no one would suspect anything. She was already a drifter.

"We might be able to do that," the first man said thoughtfully, and cast a loaded glance at his partner. Geneva frowned and took an inadvertent step back. She realized that shielded from her father also meant shielded from the crowds on the docks - which meant she was in danger.

"Of course, we'll need to see about fare," she said warily, the idea in her head being that she would ask them what they charged and then, no matter what the cost was, she'd claim it was too much. Then she could find a ship with less frightening crewmen.

"Tell you what," one of them drawled. "We been lookin' for someone to help out in the kitchen. How 'bout we give you free passage in exchange for a little bit of assistance to our chef?" He smiled disconcertingly and she felt waves of mistrust roll through her. Damn. So much for that escape plan.

"I think maybe I should check out some other ships before I agree on anything..." she began, and took another step backwards - directly into the man who had been loading crates. He wrapped his hand around her upper arm. She felt her body tense up to run and opened her mouth to scream, and then she felt the barrel of a gun pressed into her lower back.

"You scream, girly, and you lose an organ," the man said, all too calmly. Geneva shut her mouth with a snap and tried to keep her wits about her. They led her through a hallway and to a set of double doors with bars on the windows. They cranked them open, revealing another set of double doors. So basically an airlock, Geneva thought helplessly. What don't they want to escape? The second set of doors opened to reveal another cargo bay, this one filled with crowds of unwashed people. They looked up with only the most basic of interest. Most looked as though they'd given up hope entirely.

"Passage to Isis," one of the men said with a smirk. "Lucky girl, you're going for free." The double doors closed on the sound of their laughter.