Saturn Run (The Planetary Trilogy Book 1)

by Stanley Salmons

  He took a deep breath.

  It’s ridiculous to torture yourself like this. Just do it.

  He looked her up in an internal network directory of all Space Fleet and SpaceFreight divisions and personnel. Again he experienced a moment of panic. What if she wasn’t listed? Maybe she wasn’t with Space Fleet any more. Someone of her abilities could have been head-hunted…

  He relaxed – her name was there. Without allowing himself time to think he punched the code into his communicator.

  “Danny? Is that really you?”

  His breath caught at the sound of her voice. He tried to sound casual.

  “’Fraid so. The proverbial bad penny is back.”

  “You’ve come through on an internal line. Where are you?”

  “Ah, actually I’m working for SpaceFreight.”

  “SpaceFreight?”

  “Yes – look, it’s a long story. Um, do you think we could meet?”

  “Of course. It’s – what? – ten o’clock now. You’re not far away. The coffee lounge, top floor of the Space Fleet Headquarters building in half an hour?”

  “Good – er, do I need a separate security pass for your building?”

  “No, your Spacefreight pass will get you in. One pass works for both.”

  “See you there, then.”

  He clicked off the communicator and sat back with a sigh of relief. How had she sounded? Different somehow. More mature, very decisive.

  *

  The lounge was filled with Space Fleet personnel, different ranks, different divisions. He realized with a pang that the last time he’d seen such a colourful collection of uniforms was when a seventeen-year-old country boy left for the Academy on a supersonic out of Charlestown. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

  He walked in, scanning the lounge for her. He was dressed entirely in black. The material of his uniform had a subtle sheen and there was a gold Saturn emblem on the left breast of the tunic. Conversations died and heads turned. None of them would have seen a uniform like this, and for good reason: he was the first ever to wear it.

  At last he saw her. She was sitting near a window with a cup of coffee, engrossed in reading from a small paper pad. He moved closer but paused at a discreet distance to look at her, scarcely able to breathe. She lifted one page in slim fingers as she compared the content with the page below. It would be smart paper, probably updating even as she read. She wore the pale blue tunic but now it had navy blue epaulettes with silver bars. She was going up the ladder fast. He crossed to her and spoke, again trying to sound casual.

  “Congratulations on your promotion, Captain.”

  She looked up quickly and her eyes widened as she took in the uniform and registered who was wearing it. She placed the pad unhurriedly on a small coffee table next to her.

  He took the armchair opposite.

  “Well,” she said, surveying him. “You look a whole lot better than the last time I saw you.”

  For a moment he was stuck for words. He bit his lip. “Your visit meant such a lot to me. Did I ever tell you that?”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “I’ll say it again anyway. It kept me going, you know.”

  She adjusted the position of her coffee cup on the table with her fingertips, then took her hand away. “I saw the result of that gangster’s trial. After that you went off the radar.”

  There was the faintest hint of accusation in her voice. He grimaced. “I’m sorry. I wanted to get in touch with you, I really did, but… there were reasons.”

  “Well, never mind that now. Tell me what uniform that is and what you’ve done to earn it.”

  “It’s more what I have to do.” He looked around. There were a lot of curious eyes on him. “Look, I’d like to tell you all about it but it’s a bit public in here. Um… are you tied up at all this evening?”

  “Not really. I had some work to do but it will wait. Would you like to go out for a meal?”

  He hesitated. “I’d love to but it wouldn’t be clever to show my face in town. Rostov’s sidekicks are still on the look-out for me.”

  She grimaced. “Of course. All right, I’ll tell you what – we’ll go to my apartment. I can order in a meal. I have my own skimmer. I’ll pick you up. That way no one will see you.”

  “That’d be great. You know SpaceFreight HQ, don’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’ll wait in the lobby at – what, six-thirty?”

  “Make it seven o’clock.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there.” He got up, hesitated, then said quietly, “It’s good to see you, Neraya.”

  She raised those dark, lustrous eyes to him and her lips tweaked in a small smile. “It’s good to see you, too, Dan Larssen.”

  *

  On his way back he left word at the security gate, although her Space Fleet pass would get her in anyway. Then he went up to the Mission Overview Office and stood for a while, staring sightlessly at the papers on the table, replaying that brief conversation. Something lingered about it that he couldn’t put his finger on. It took a moment to realize what it was: her voice was as melodious as ever, but the slight hesitations were gone, and the accent, the cadence, were barely noticeable. It was natural enough: she had a good ear for language and, consciously or unconsciously, she’d absorbed the speech patterns around her. He smiled, recalling his own efforts to do the same when he first arrived in Armstrong.

  His brain was buzzing with excitement. It was so wonderful to see her, and this evening he’d see her again, and there was so much to say… He shook his head. He couldn’t spend the rest of the day like this. He needed to tackle something challenging, something that would take over his mind.

  He set the alarm on his wrist communicator, just in case he got too absorbed. Then he began to check the navigation routines and lookups for the trajectory across Jupiter orbit. It was a tricky code sequence, calling for intense concentration. As it gradually drew him in, the rest of the world fell away.

  *

  He had time to freshen up in his room before going down to the lobby. It was still early when he got there and he began to pace around. At just after seven o’clock a small metallic blue skimmer settled at the entrance apron and he hurried outside. She must have seen him coming because the door on the passenger side slid up immediately. He got in, gave her a quick smile, and pressed a button to close the door and fasten the automatic harness.

  She flew it smoothly and expertly, just as he would have expected, fingertips light on the stick as she banked the corners and selected lanes and levels. He smothered a smile as he contrasted this with the white-knuckle ride he’d had with Ferris.

  “Nice little machine,” he commented.

  “Mmm, I like it.”

  “Had it long?”

  “Nearly a year.”

  “You know, there was a time I used to know the specs for every skimmer on the market. These days I’m totally out of touch. I don’t know this model at all.”

  “It won’t break any records in a straight line but it changes levels quickly. That’s what you need in a town machine.”

  They’d reached the outskirts of Armstrong and as if by way of illustration she checked the top monitor screen and rapidly ascended six levels. Finally she glided the skimmer into a covered parking area at the top of a tall building. They took the elevator down twenty floors and walked along a corridor to her apartment.

  At the door she placed her palm on a reader. There was a click, the door opened, and he braced himself.

  Is she going to call out to someone?

  She didn’t. He breathed out.

  “Here we are. Make yourself at home.”

  The sitting area was stylishly furnished: carpet, curtains, leather suite, all in shades of cream. There was a modern sculpture on the glass coffee table and a screen on one wall that displayed a slowly changing abstract, currently in striking blues and oranges. He went over to the window. Dusk was falling, lights were coming on in the tall buildings, an
d the view of the urban landscape was stunning. Her voice extracted him gently from his reverie.

  “Something to drink?”

  He turned. “Thanks. I’ll take a little fruit juice if you have it.”

  She shot a searching glance at him. “Of course. I’ll have some, too. Ice?”

  “Not if it’s coming out of the fridge.”

  “It is.”

  She disappeared into the kitchen area and moments later returned with two glasses. She indicated the sofa and they sat down together.

  “I can order something now if you like. Are you hungry?”

  Food was the last thing on his mind. “Erm, not specially. Can we just talk for a bit?”

  “Of course. Why don’t you bring me up to date?” She smiled and leaned back in the sofa. “You can start with that uniform.”

  “This…?” he said, picking at the Saturn emblem on the tunic. “This is where I have to go to drop off some freight.”

  Her long eyelashes flickered, but she waited.

  He told her about the Saturn run, leaving out the classified material about the military involvement and the weaponry.

  Her eyes widened and she sat forward. “And you’re doing a trip like this on your own? Danny…”

  “There was no choice.”

  She frowned. “Because of prison, you mean?”

  “Worse than that. Much worse.”

  It all poured out. He couldn’t meet her eyes but he didn’t hide anything from her. He told her everything, including his shame at being thrown out by Virgilius.

  “It wasn’t any great distinction, working for an outfit like that in the first place, but what could I do? I had to live, and with a record like mine nobody else would have looked at me. And then to be fired because I was too drunk to fly… I tell you, Neraya, I’ve never felt so ashamed, so utterly degraded, in my whole life. Not even when I was in prison, because this was different…” It was hard to keep his voice steady and he had to speak very softly. “Because I did this to myself. I swore I was finished with alcohol, that somehow I’d rise above what I’d become and that I’d never sink so low again.”

  He rubbed his fingers at his temples.

  “This man you stayed with—"

  “Ralph.”

  “Yes, Ralph. At ground level? In that part of town?” She exhaled. “My God, you must have been desperate!”

  He sighed. “You don’t know what it’s like, living like that. It takes all you have just to survive. I’d dug myself a pit and there seemed to be no way of clawing myself out. Then this opportunity came up. It was like someone had thrown me a rope.” He looked at her and his lips tightened. “I know it’s risky, very risky, but like I said, there was no choice.”

  “Why on earth didn’t you contact me?”

  “Rostov’s thugs were still looking for me, probably Virgilius’s people, too. If I’d contacted you it could have put you in danger as well. Besides…”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

  He looked down, then back up at her. “I had to do it on my own.”

  “But I could have helped!”

  His throat had gone tight, his voice breaking up. “Don’t you see? I wasn’t worthy of your help. I was beneath—"

  She reached out and placed two fingers on his lips to silence him. He realized that her lovely eyes were filling with tears. She seemed to be looking right into him and seeing there all the pain, the humiliation, of his past life, and feeling it as if it were her own.

  “Danny.” She closed her eyes, and a tear broke loose and trickled down her cheek. “It should never have happened. None of it would have happened if it hadn’t been for that little toad and his loathsome father. Danny, poor Danny…”

  He reached for her and she fell into his embrace. He buried his face in her hair and her perfume rose into his nostrils. She raised her head and their lips met and parted gently. Then they met again with more urgency and all the hardships he’d ever suffered were swept away by an overpowering wave of tenderness. They kissed for a long time, embraced harder, and struggled to get closer still. Finally they slid to the floor and pulled at each other’s clothes until the warmth of their naked bodies could fuse them together. The carpet felt soft against his skin as they rolled back and forth and then she cried out and somehow they were already making love and sighing over each other in breathless pleasure. A sense of elation thrilled through him, a feeling of discovery, as if some dull green bud had suddenly burst open to reveal a gorgeously coloured flower.

  They held each other for a long time.

  “Neraya! I never dared to hope…”

  She nestled her head on his chest. “Danny, my darling. It’s always been you and me.”

  “But my life went from bad to worse…”

  “Do you really think it made a difference? I know who you are, Danny. What happened to you didn’t change that.”

  He pressed his lips to her hair, then took a deep breath. “This is crazy! You’re all that matters to me in the whole world and in a few weeks I’ll be running away from you all over again! Why am I doing this?”

  “You know perfectly well why. You have to regain your life, your self-respect. It’s the only way. We’ll find happiness. We’ll find it together. This isn’t the end. I’ll be here when you come back. I’ll be waiting for you. There will never be anyone else.”

  “Never is a long time, Neraya.”

  “Never.”

  34

  Maida welcomed Stott to her establishment as warmly as ever and conducted him down a corridor to a private lounge. She settled him into an armchair.

  “Zena will be here in a few minutes, dear. Would you like a drink while you’re waiting?”

  “Thanks.”

  She poured him a glass, then bustled about in a motherly way, tidying a few magazines and cushions, and left.

  He downed the drink in a single gulp then sat there holding the glass, his eyes sliding around the room.

  Zena entered the lounge dressed in a sheer peignoir. Stott glimpsed her shadowy form moving inside the thin material and his pulse quickened. She crossed the room, twined her arms round his neck and breathed a soft welcome into his ear. Then she towed him by his fingertips to her room.

  There was an upright chair near to the bed. She placed him in it, shrugged off the peignoir, and stood provocatively in front of him in a lacy black bra and thong. He sat bolt upright, moistening his lips and swallowing hard. Then she snuggled into his lap and moved slightly, and a surge went through his loins as he felt the warmth of her. She unbuttoned his shirt, ran her slim fingers over his chest and pinched his nipples. With a secret smile she turned her long fingernails inwards and he gasped with pain and ecstasy. He lifted a soft, damp hand and was about to plunge it inside her bra but Zena extracted herself skilfully and stood up. With a brief signal for him to take off his clothes she crossed the room, opened her wicked little black suitcase, and started to take things out.

  35

  In the Mission Overview Office Dan stood with Hal Lewis at the long table, which was buried in paper as usual. He straightened up and massaged the back of his neck with one hand.

  “I don’t know, I’m not happy about this.”

  “What’s the matter, Dan?” He gestured towards the papers. “It’s going well, even better than I’d hoped. We’re on schedule. What’s the problem?”

  Dan pulled over the large-scale drawing of the E-class and dragged a finger along one of the cargo pods.

  “There’s a large consignment of arms here, in Holds 52 through 60. Big, highly advanced weapons: bulkhead-mounted shell throwers, torpedoes and launchers, megalasers, explosives, timers, detonators—”

  “So what? That’s what they ordered. You think it’s overkill? That’s not our worry. The DoD allocated the funds, the companies are supplying, and we’re doing the hauling. Holds 52 through 60 are well away from any heat sources, we made sure of that. I don’t see a problem.”

  “Hal, the freighter itself is
still carrying no armament of its own, none whatever.”

  “That’s right. Why should it?”

  “Well, has anyone considered what might happen if this little lot fell into the wrong hands?”

  A look of realization bloomed on Hal’s face. “You’re talking about the request you sent in to the Board.”

  “Yes, I am. I asked for the freighter to be armed. I’ve heard nothing back and there are no changes to the configuration. Was it even considered?”

  “Oh sure, it was discussed. I was briefed on it afterwards. Look, Dan, the Convention on the Militarization of Space says—”

  “Yeah, I know what it says. No space vehicle shall have an offensive capacity.”

  “And it’s not just the Convention. People don’t perceive a threat out there. One of the Board is knowledgeable on these things. He said it was a pure waste of payload. The others agreed with him.”

  Dan didn’t need to ask who the “knowledgeable” gentleman was. He knew his trademarks and they were all over it.

  “Hal, how many ships have gone missing without trace just beyond Mars orbit?”

  “Two, and both of them were off course. Anything could have happened. Space is a dangerous place, you know that. An explosion on board, an asteroid strike—”

  “Piracy—”

  “Oh yes, piracy. The word came up in the discussion. Karl Stott said if he had to make a living intercepting the occasional ship that ventured through that quadrant he’d starve to death. Apparently they laughed themselves silly. There’s no substantial evidence for piracy, Dan – it’s all rumour. Mr Stott says there’s nothing in it.”

  Dan felt the old anger welling up inside him. “What the fuck does Mr Stott know about it?”

  “Easy, Dan. Stott’s a Director. You’ll have to go along with it, old buddy. It’s a Board decision. We’re only the Poor Bloody Infantry down here.”

  “Sorry, Hal.” Dan picked up a few papers then put them down again abruptly. “Look, I’d like to tell you why I think I’m right to be worried about this. Will you at least hear me out and keep an open mind?”