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It hadn’t mattered

There weren’t the questions about cargo or permits The invaders had come in like they owned the place, and Captain Darren had rolled over like a dog Everyone else—Mike, Dave, Wan Li—they’d all just thrown up their hands and gone along quietly The pirates or slavers or whatever they were had dragged them off the little transport ship that had been her ho tube without even minimal environ between thes if it did

Julie had gone along too, but then the bastards had tried to lay their hands on her, strip her clothes off

Five years of low-gravity jui jitsu training and theravity She’d done a lot of daht hen froot fuzzy after that Then the locker, and Shoot her if shenoise while they beat her friends down below and then threw one of them out an airlock

After six days, everything went quiet

Shifting between bouts of consciousness and fraguely aware as the sounds of walking, talking, and pressure doors and the subsonic rumble of the reactor and the drive faded away a little at a tiravity, and Julie woke fro while her muscles screamed in protest and then slowly relaxed

She pulled herself to the door and pressed her ear to the cold ht the quiet sound of the air recyclers The ship still had power and air, but the drive wasn’t on and no one was opening a door or walking or talking Maybe it was a crew ineering, fixing a serious problem

She spent a day listening and waiting

By day seven, her last sip of water was gone No one on the ship hadfor twenty-four hours She sucked on a plastic tab she’d ripped off the environment suit until she worked up so She yelled herself hoarse

No one came

By day eight, she was ready to be shot She’d been out of water for two days, and her waste bag had been full for four She put her shoulders against the back wall of the locker and planted her hands against the side walls Then she kicked out with both legs as hard as she could The cramps that followed the first kick almost made her pass out She screamed instead

Stupid girl, she told herself She was dehydrated Eight days without activity was h to start atrophy At least she should have stretched out

She one, then stretched, focusing her mind like she was back in dojo When she was in control of her body, she kicked again And again And again, until light started to show through the edges of the locker And again, until the door was so bent that the three hinges and the locking bolt were the only points of contact between it and the frame