17
The massive metal doors slowly began to close as Liam, Nix, and the crew slipped through. Outside, a faint purple glow encapsulated the spire, almost liquid in nature and obstructing their view of the other spires and the rest of the city. Nix dug his feet into the gravelly sand and pushed off through the barrier. It didn’t seem to hold him back at all, so Liam and the others followed suit. The purple barrier made Liam tingle but it was anything but painful.
Twenty meters away were four vehicles that hovered half a meter off the ground, similar to the hover bikes of Earth. Nix ran to the first one and made it jump to life, numerous controls lighting up blue and displaying information in an unknown writing system. The body of the vehicle was otherwise black against the night.
“Hurry,” Nix said, gesturing with a clawed hand before instructing, “Put on the blindfold.”
Liam took the piece of grey cloth and covered his eyes, tying a knot over the back of his damp hair. Saturn took his arm and led him to the back of one of the bikes, getting him situated before hopping on in front of him.
“What about the fourth bike?” Ju-Long asked as he powered on his vehicle.
“Leave it,” Nix replied. “It can’t be traced back to us.”
Liam felt the vehicle zip off and he grabbed hold of Saturn’s waist to keep himself steady. Saturn’s ponytail blew back into his face, her smell wafting into his nostrils. Her curves were intoxicating and he found his hands sliding down, unconcerned with anything else happening around him. Saturn took one hand off the controls and placed it on his, gentle for a moment, before peeling it off and placing it higher on her waist.
From the rush of the warm air around him he could tell they were traveling at blistering speeds, perhaps two or three hundred kilometers per hour. Liam heard Nix’s voice come over their radio, somehow loud enough to hear over the din of noise from the whooshing air. “Veer left at the next spire and be prepared to stop.”
Liam had lost track of time, but they could easily have been traveling for several minutes. Whatever link he still had with Toras needed to be severed immediately, if only so Liam could enjoy the landscape in peace. Liam felt the hover bike turn to the left and Saturn’s abdominal muscles tightening as she maneuvered past what must have been the next spire. A minute later Saturn eased back on the throttle, slowing them down until finally they reached a stop.
“Are we there?” Liam asked.
“We’re close,” Nix replied from his left, “But we need to take care of your little problem first.”
Saturn got off the bike and helped Liam find his way to solid ground. He immediately noticed that the ground was more compacted there. Liam was led into some kind of structure. He could hear Nix and Ju-Long chatting quietly behind him, their footsteps changing from the crunch of compacted soil to an echo off of smooth stone. Saturn stopped him after taking several paces over the stone. He heard a door slam closed behind him before someone loosened the knot of his blindfold and tore it off.
Even the dimly lit room made Liam’s eyes strain after becoming accustomed to darkness. They were inside a small shop of some sort, broken devices littered all around in a half-hearted attempt at order. Saturn’s hand found its way to his shoulder in comfort, though Liam wasn’t sure why. Nix stepped up to the glass counter and touched a broken square device. It popped up on tiny metal legs and danced around, spitting out an obnoxious sound at far too high a volume. Nix too was taken aback and started hitting the device frantically.
A Dinari came in from a back room and touched the device lightly on its underbelly, silencing it and returning it to its previous state. The Dinari’s features were softer than Nix’s, but the scales were far darker, appearing burnt by a persistent sun. It held out a hand, which Nix promptly took and kissed.
“Sestra,” Nix said, bowing his head, “I’d like you to meet my new friends.”
She put up her nose and sniffed the air, her nostrils widening along with her golden eyes. “They are not Ansaran, nor Dinari or Kraven. So what are they?”
“The Caretaker called them human. They’ve come from afar and need our help.”
“What help could a lowly shopkeeper such as myself provide?” she asked in a tone that suggested she was neither lowly nor really a shopkeeper.
“This one,” Nix said while pointing at Liam, “Has seen the Inner Eye.”
Sestra hissed and raised her cowl until it obscured her face. “Fool! Why bring them here? Close your eyes outsider.”
Liam looked to Saturn and Ju-Long, who both nodded silently. Saturn’s grip on Liam’s shoulder tightened. “Go ahead, we’ve got your back.”
Liam closed his eyes and Sestra’s hissing ceased. There were a few hushed whispers before Nix spoke to him. Several moments passed and Liam was about to say something, when Nix said, “Sestra has agreed to help, but for her assistance, she will require payment.”
“We don’t have anything to trade, our ship crashed and is in Ansaran custody as we speak.”
“Oh, but you do,” Sestra replied.
Saturn’s grip on Liam’s shoulder tightened even more and she asked in a piercing tone, “What do you want?”
“What every Dinari wants. To be owed.”
There was silence while Liam thought about the implications of the proposal. “What do you mean exactly?”
Nix spoke up first. “In our culture, and with the outer colonies of the Ansara Alliance lacking in currency, most of our trade is predicated on favors. The level of service provided dictates what kind of favor will be requested.”
“What did you have in mind?” Liam asked Sestra, perplexed.
“You may be right that you have nothing I need at the moment, but it is my guess that you will. I would require one favor to be given at my pleasure in the future. You would be honor-bound to oblige.”
“We don’t have to listen to this,” Ju-Long said. “A favor without limits is a blank check.”
“Nix, what do you think?” Liam asked.
“This kind of contract is common among my people. By taking away Toras’ sight over you, she is saving your life. It is likely her favor would entail a similar arrangement.”
Liam opened his eyes, prompting Sestra to cower behind the glass counter. Liam had spent most of his life in debt to someone and he didn’t want to start a new life in a new solar system the same way. But if Toras found Liam and the crew because of him and turned them over to the Kraven, their escape from the Asteroid Belt would have been for nothing. Once again, it looked like Liam didn’t have much of a choice. He needed Sestra’s help, and a promise to save her life at some unknown point in the future didn’t seem so bad, for now. At least he couldn’t be charged interest on an intangible debt.
“Done,” Liam said. “You’ll have your favor if you can break the link between Toras and myself.”
Sestra’s eyes widened, revealing a line of black around the gold. She covered her mouth with one clawed hand. “Toras is your link? Gods.”
Nix explained, “Toras’ exploits are legend among my people. Many Dinari have died by his hand for trifling matters.” Nix turned to Sestra and continued, “He is but a tool for the Caretaker, though, we must remember that.”
Liam took note of Nix’s words. He didn’t seem as skittish as he did in the spire.
“Let’s be done with this,” Sestra said, interrupting Liam’s thoughts.
Sestra turned and disappeared behind a tattered cloth curtain to the back of the shop.
Nix followed her back. Saturn frowned, releasing Liam’s shoulder and taking a few steps toward the counter. “This is a bad idea, Liam.”
“If we don’t break the link I’ll endanger all of you. They’ll find us eventually and we’ll be traded to the Kraven Throng.”
Saturn stopped when she reached the counter and put a hand on the glass surface. “What if there is no link and Nix is full of crap? Even if he’s right, Sestra might be able to help us now, but someday this is going to come back to bite us.”
“One step at a time,” Liam said as he walked past her toward the back room.
Ju-Long joined Saturn at the counter, putting his elbows down on the glass and checking out his reflection. “For the record, you’re right,” he told her. “But if it’s the way things work in this system, it’s better we owe a friend of a friend than a stranger.”
Ju-Long walked around the counter to join Liam in the entryway to the back room. Saturn drew a figure of a tree in the dust of the glass surface and said under her breath, “You forget, they’re both strangers really.”
The Corsair Uprising #1: The Azure Key Page 17