by Maia Tanith
I look around, keen to take in the details. The controls are clean, much less complicated than earlier versions of hovercrafts that I’ve been in. In all my years of flying, I’ve stuck to flying mid-sized ships. The hovercrafts are a different breed of flight, like winged insects. We whiz past buildings and hills with barely a few inches space. Our flight pattern is erratic, exhilarating.
I lean forwards and shout to our pilot. “How long does it take to learn to fly this thing?”
He ignores me.
I sigh and lean back. Okay, so that’s how it is.
The sun has passed its peak in the sky and is heading down towards the horizon again before we reach our destination. We’re in a city I’ve never been in before. It’s disorientating, to say the least. Travelling along so close to the ground when I’m used to travelling far above has stripped me of my sense of direction.
We land on the roof of a tall building and follow our lizard guide inside. The silent one follows behind us. I can’t help but notice the nerve detonator on his hip.
We’re taken through a maze of shiny hallways. Our lizard guide hisses at Delia when she pauses to touch the iridescent blue walls.
She snaps her hand back and hunches her shoulders.
Finally, we reach the doorway to the room where I will sign over my soul.
The lizard man strokes the wall with one finger, and it slides away so smoothly and quickly, it’s almost as if it disappeared into thin air.
“May I introduce you to my employer,” he hisses. “Crethin par Druk.”
The room is the very definition of opulent. Everything is white and gold, with not a spot or tarnished surface in sight. A lizard man lies on a sofa in the middle of the room, with a sunlamp shining down onto his back. It’s so bright that my eyes water when I look in his direction.
As we enter, he stretches, but doesn’t bother to stand. His fingers and wrists are laden with gold jewelry that clanks and rattles as he moves. “So you’re the pirate who wants to do a deal with me,” he says lazily. His forked tongue darts out between his lips. I’ve always found it disconcerting, that flicking they do with their tongues.
He does it again, as if he can hear my thoughts and wants me to be disconcerted.
Delia is openly staring at him as if she’s never seen a creature like him before.
Considering she’s an Earthling, maybe she hasn’t.
I elbow her and she flinches, before averting her gaze.
I look carefully at the far wall, not wanting to challenge him with a direct stare. “I am looking for finance. I wish to purchase a ship. I heard you might be able to help me.”
The lizard man rolls over onto his back to sun his stomach. “And tell me, little Kargan, what are you planning on doing with my ship?”
“I’m going to use it to make both of us wealthy,” I say boldly. “I know of a ship that is about to make a delivery of a number of high-tech weapons. I intend to take it. Once I have the weapons in hand, I will pay you back for the ship, and split the profit with you. In exchange, I ask for the ship upfront, with enough fuel to get me across the galaxy. Nothing more.”
He laughs. “Nothing more, you say. I say that’s a big thing for a stranger to ask of me.”
“It’s not such a big ask when you consider you stand to make enough credits to purchase a small planet.”
His tongue darts out to wet his lips again. I can see him trying to play relaxed, but he has clenched his fingers into tight fists. “How big is this weapons delivery?”
“Big. An entire ship full.”
“You know this how?”
“I have seen them for myself. It’s how I ended up in the pits.”
His face creases in thought. “You have a buyer already? I might be prepared to take those weapons off your hands.”
“I have a buyer,” I lie. He would take them off my hands if he could, I am quite sure, for considerably less than their fair value, and keep me forever indebted to him. I know how these types work and I won’t get suckered into a deal like that. “But you can take the price of the ship and your share of the profits in weapons if you prefer.”
His face perks up at that.
“Market price, same as my other buyer,” I add.
He hisses with displeasure. “And how do I know you won’t try to cheat me?”
I bark a laugh. “I’m not half-brained and I want to live. If I play fair with you, we both win. If I cheat you, you have to kill me or risk being cheated by everyone else in the galaxy. If you cheat me, word will get out and you ruin your business. I figure it’s in both of our best interests to play it fair with each other.”
He holds his hands out to the sun lamp, luxuriating in the warmth. “Let me think about it. It’s a risk.”
“Of course. Life is a risk, but the rewards are worth it. I will be here until next turn.” It is a subtle reminder to him that he has no hold over me. Yet.
He hisses again but seems to accept the unspoken implication. He is not the only financier on the planet. I can still go elsewhere.
I take Delia by the elbow and turn to go.
We are halfway out the door when he speaks again. “I might have a little ship that would suit you.”
I turn back again.
“She’s a good ship. Nothing fancy but solid and dependable. A compact Stargetter.”
I shrug. It’s a good enough ship, if rather old and slow. I’ll have to rely on my expert navigation skills rather than the speed of my ship to get me out of any trouble.
Should I happen to fall into any.
Which, I’m quite sure, I will.
Us freebooters always do, some time or another.
And then he names a figure that makes me open my eyes wide. It’s the cost of a fully fitted out warship, not a small trading vessel.
He chuckles at my reaction. “It’s a fair price for a fair ship.”
“I can go elsewhere for a fairer deal,” I growl back.
The lizard man hisses and slithers out from under the sun lamp. He steps towards me. “I do not know you, pirate. I do not trust you. You did not come here to strike a deal; you ask me for a favor.”
“A bargain, not a favor,” I reply. My shoulders are tense.
“No, this is not a bargain. You have no bargaining power over me.” He chuckles. “You are a nobody, with a human sidekick. A nobody who should have died in the games, so I hear.”
He blinks, his eyelids closing sideways, then raises his hand and motions at the lizard men behind us. “I’d recommend agreeing to my offer. Because if you don’t, I will have you killed right here.” There’s a noise from behind us and I whirl around. The lizard man behind me has raised his nerve detonator. He points it at my chest. The other has his pointed at Delia.
She lets out a strangled sob.
“This is not a fair deal if I am threatened with my life.” I turn back to him. My claws extend from my knuckles.
The lizard man laughs. “Put those toys away,” he hisses. “You’re more of a fool than I thought if you are going to try and fight your way out of here.”
I grit my teeth but do as he says.
He walks to his gold inlaid desk behind the sunbed and picks up a thin piece of metal, about the length of my forearm. The he walks back towards me.
“What are you going to decide, pirate?” He twirls the piece of metal between his fingers. “Do you want to live?”
“Do I have a choice?” I snarl.
“Everything is a choice. You coming here was a choice. You dying or becoming an employee of mine is a choice.”
I growl. “I want to live,” I say finally.
“I hoped you’d say that. As it happens, I’ve decided I could use a delivery of weapons. So my generous offer has now changed. You can pick a quick, painless death, or you can intercept that weapons ship and bring the goods back to me. In exchange for a small portion of the profits. And you can keep the Stargetter.”
There’s a pause, and the room is silent, save from Del
ia’s quick panicked breaths and my own pounding heartbeat. “What happens if I fail? If the ship you give me is no match for—”
“I wouldn’t recommend failing,” he says mildly. “You probably won’t like what I’d do to you.”
I bite my cheek. I’d been stupid to come here. But still, the prospect of destroying Lila and the satisfaction that would bring is sweet.
“I agree,” I say stiffly.
Delia inhales sharply next to me. What does she want me to say? No? And have us both killed?
The lizard man walks forward. I’m slightly taller than him. “Get on your knees.”
I hesitate, and a hard kick to my back catches me off-guard. I fall forwards, barely stopping myself from landing flat on my face, and then push myself up onto my knees.
The lizard man smiles. He steps forward and places the metal rod against my neck. It snaps around my neck tightly.
I reach my hand up and tug it. There’s no way it will come off.
“Think of that as your contract,” he says. “Only I can take it off. If you try to remove it, it will send a shock through your spinal cord and render you incapacitated until my men can retrieve you for your punishment.”
I shiver.
“It will track you, too. So no need for you to send in reports.” He smirks. “I’ll know what you are doing, and where you are. Do you understand.”
I nod stiffly. I understand only too well. I have been outmaneuvered.
“You have a week. Don’t disappoint me.” He turns away and slides down onto his back under his sun lamp. “Now get out.”
I do as I’m told. The humiliation of my collar burns on my cheeks. So much for not getting the worst end of a bargain and ending up indebted to my financier.
Now he owns me. Body and soul.
Delia doesn’t so much as look at me as we are escorted back through the glowing iridescent blue walls, back into the hovercraft and off to a private spaceport full of spaceships.
He is a wealthy financier, that’s for sure. A few stupid, desperate men like me have probably made bad deals with him in the past. More than a few.
We’re led to a small, run down ship. If it’s a Stargetter, then I’m a human. It’s older than the Stargetters by at least three generations. And rusty as well.
Dezar’s ship was a technological marvel compared to this.
My chances of success have now plummeted to approaching zero.
Of course, they never were very high to begin with, but I like to think I had at least had a chance.
The lizard escorts say little as they hand over the entry codes and stride off.
Then Delia and I are on our own.
Again.
Surrounded by untold wealth and with no way in hell of us taking a piece of it.
Shit.
I’m not in this deal to make a living for myself, like I’d planned. Thanks to my financier friend, I’m now in this deal to live.
Inside I walk to the control room and look around me. A few wires stick out haphazardly. Only half the control panel lights up. The fuel gauge shows half-empty. I slam my fist into the wall.
Delia speaks softly. “Azr-”
“Don’t,” I say, not turning around. I cannot face her. “Just don’t.”
She leaves the room. To where, I don’t even care.
Chapter 7
Delia
I find the living quarters and sink down onto one of the hammocks. They are tatty, but surprisingly clean. Good. The last thing I need is a case of bed bugs, or any other nasty alien biting insect thing.
We have a ship.
Or rather, Azr has a ship. Even I can tell that it’s pretty old and grungy. I’m sure he wasn’t expecting a Ferrari of spaceships, but this one looks more like a rusty old banger that even a hard-up teenager would turn his nose up at.
He also has a tracking collar and a lizard man who will kill him if he doesn’t deliver on his promise to steal a ship full of weapons.
No wonder he hasn’t told me about his plan before now.
It’s crazy.
He’s going to get both of us killed.
Which presents me with somewhat of a moral dilemma.
If Azr heads for Earth to take me home before stealing the ship of weapons, the lizard man might suspect that Azr is running out on him or get annoyed that Azr is taking too long to fulfill his end of the bargain and kill him.
Which would be a pretty poor return for his good deed in taking me home as he has promised. After all, he doesn’t have to take me anywhere. He didn’t ask to be saddled with me. I’m clinging on to him like a limpet because without him I’m lost. Dead.
In fact, I hardly even expect him to take me back to Earth, even while I’m petrified that he won’t. Few people in my life have ever kept their promises to me.
But if he doesn’t take me home before he steals a ship full of weapons, that means that I will have to go with him. That will make me a party to theft and piracy. Space piracy.
I wonder what the punishment for space piracy is. Probably something nasty, like being thrown into those awful games.
Again.
It’s all starting to make sense now.
He’s a pirate. A real life pirate. Without the cool dreads that Johnny Depp has in the Pirates of the Caribbean, but still a pirate. In space.
I still haven’t made up my mind what to do when the increase in the engine noise and the shuddering of the ship tells me that Azr has taken off.
At least he’s been able to get the old banger going. If anyone could, though, it would be him. He’s pretty good at making things work.
He’s good at a lot of things, if I’m being honest with myself.
Including making love.
I shake my head. Where did that thought sneak in from?
I sit by myself for a long time, until my ears become accustomed to the engine noise and it fades into the background, a dull roar.
I can’t ask him to take me to Earth, if he might be killed for it. I’ll have to go with him, to become a pirate myself.
Once we’ve delivered the weapons to that overgrown lizard mafia monster, then I can ask him to take me home.
If I’m helpful enough on this journey, perhaps I won’t feel so indebted to him. It will be my way of making it up to him, for saving me twice.
Yes, I’ll help him. As long as we don’t hurt anyone, I’ll help him in whatever way I can to steal the weapons. A fairer bargain for him. It might cost me my moral high ground, but what is that worth when my one friend in this galaxy, my one ally, is going to die if he doesn’t succeed?
Perhaps my moral high ground is less important than survival. And less important than Azr.
I look for the way back to the control room. It’s easy to find in this small ship. I pay attention to the way around this time. I’ll be living here for the next few weeks, after all.
I hope it won’t take longer than that to steal the ship.
In the control room Azr is facing the window to the outside. I look out in wonder. We are in space. It’s the first time on this crazy journey that I’ve been able to see outside while we’ve been off-planet. In front of me is a black sky, dotted all over with tiny bright stars, and a galaxy of brightly colored planets sweeping as far as the eye can see. At least, I think the colorful dots must be planets. Unless they have multicolored stars here too.
I’ve never seen anything like it. Not even on the few plane rides I’ve been on in my life. Looking out over the clouds has nothing on this. No country drive through rolling hills, or skyscraper cityscapes could compare. Nothing on earth would come close to the beauty of space.
“It’s beautiful,” I breathe. I walk up to the control panel and lean forward, my eyes as close to the glass as I can reach. I could look out there all day and not get bored.
Azr grunts. “Yeah, I guess it is,” he says finally. He doesn’t look at me.
I think I know why.
His plans have usually worked before. But this last on
e didn’t go well.
I turn to him. “I want to help you,” I say. “I’ll help you to steal the weapons. Whatever I can do to help, just tell me.”
He doesn’t look at me.
“Why do you want to become a dirty pirate like me all of a sudden?” His voice is bitter.
“I don’t. I want to go home. But I can’t ask you to take me there now. You’ll be killed if you don’t steal the weapons. Or if you take too long about it. That lizard man didn’t strike me as being a patient one.”
“That I will,” he says dryly. “Unfortunately, I don’t have the slightest idea where that damn ship is. So, likely I will be killed after a week or so with no visible sign of progress anyway. I’ve already decided I’ll take you home first. At least one of us will get out of this alive.”
My heart skips with joy for a moment, before I steel myself. “No,” I say. “I won’t let you. I want to help you. So you can get that stupid choker off your neck and be freed. Then you can take me home, once I’ve actually done something to help repay you.”
He turns to me, a small smile on his face. “The little earthling wants to become a pirate?”
“Only if we don’t harm anyone. I don’t want to hurt anyone, anything.”
He nods. “I don’t hurt people. I only steal. I might not be a saint, but I’m not a monster, either.”
I nod. “So it’s a deal then? I’ll help you on this, in exchange for a ride home, when this is all over?”
Azr shakes his head. “Delia, it means a lot you’d offer that. It does. I saved you only to put your life in danger again. But I can’t take you up on that offer. It would take longer than a week to find the weapons. And longer still to actually steal them, in this rust bucket. No offence meant by this either, but your kind, humans, aren’t exactly helpful out in space. You don’t have the faintest idea how to pilot this thing, how to navigate, how to—well, anything really. No, I’m taking you home first.”
I open my mouth to argue.
“You can disagree with me all you want, but that’s final. I’ve just sold my life to the Galgog. I’m not letting you go down for my mistake. If I take you home, at least I’ve got one good deed against my name before I die.”