Stars Beyond

by S. K. Dunstall

  “Might not be a bad idea,” Roystan agreed. “But Josune will be with them. She’s taking the shuttle down.”

  They’d chosen Josune, as her name was less likely to trip alerts than Roystan’s was.

  “She might not recognize them. Won’t let them back on board the shuttle.”

  “Don’t worry, Carlos,” Nika said. “We’ll use the secret code word.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Airy-fairy modder types, of course.”

  Carlos scowled. “You think you’re so funny.”

  They were all on edge. Kitimat was too far into the middle of the legal zone to make any of them comfortable.

  “We’ll be as fast as we can,” Nika promised. “A quick in and out, Carlos. Get the machine and go.”

  Songyan had messaged Snow days ago to say his machine was ready.

  “We’ll be fine,” Josune said. “And we need to go now, to get down on-world during business hours. Otherwise we will have to stay overnight.”

  No one wanted to stay overnight.

  “Don’t forget the food I ordered,” Jacques said. If there was landfall, Jacques wanted fresh fruit and vegetables. Nika had bought up big too. To date they’d only been able to buy basic modding supplies. Here on Kitimat they could get rare salts and metals, along with some of the rarer plasmas. Even transurides, for a price, and she’d bought all she could.

  “Take care,” Roystan said.

  “We will. You can be sure of that.”

  “If you get into trouble, I’ll come find you.” It was a promise.

  * * *

  • • •

  “What have you got as weapons?” Josune asked as the shuttle headed toward Kitimat.

  Nika touched her heavy gold cross and showed her the mini-blaster she’d secreted under her shirt.

  “You’ll have to get up really close with that. You’ll be lucky to hit anyone. What about you, Snow?”

  He had a similar mini-blaster and a projectile weapon.

  “I feel like you’re going in undressed. They’ll stop you leaving the spaceport with those blasters.” Josune unlocked the weapons cupboard—even the shuttle had its own cache of weapons—and studied the contents with a frown. “Here, Snow.” Handed him a sparker.

  He stepped back. “I’m not going to use that.”

  “You shouldn’t need to. It’s just a precaution. To make me feel better. What are the chances you’ll have to fire it?”

  “What if it goes off accidentally?”

  “Then you didn’t put the safety lock on, and you deserve everything you get.”

  Josune waited with the shuttle for the supplies while Nika and Snow took an aircar to the Songyan factory.

  Snow rubbed the palms of his hands together. “Our first Songyan.” It was Nika’s third, but she didn’t correct him. She’d been just as excited when she’d ordered her first one. “I hope they’re as good as everyone says they are.”

  They were better.

  * * *

  • • •

  Nika had never been to the Songyan factory. Her machines had all been delivered, with an engineer to install it for her. She looked around the foyer with interest.

  It was opulent, reminiscent of a company headquarters, only nowhere near the scale. Tastefully done, but then it needed to be. Their clients were high-end modders. To the left, elegant pearl-white couches made a U-shape around a gold-flecked marble table. In the center of the room, enclosed in a flexiglass display case, was a Songyan. An early model, by the look of it. The wall to the right was covered with images. She recognized them all. Famous mods, probably all done in Songyans. One of her designs was there. The first one she’d done on a Songyan, in fact. Maybe she should send them another image. One that more expressed her current capabilities.

  They’d put her design right next to one of Samson Sa’s.

  She gritted her teeth.

  Snow practically bounced up to the counter. “We’re here to collect a genemod machine.”

  The receptionist looked at him warily. It would be unusual for any client to pick up an order, so Nika wasn’t surprised at the wariness.

  “A Songyan,” Snow added helpfully.

  “A Songyan.” The receptionist reached up to scratch her beautifully coiffed head, stopped just short of doing it. An old habit. She hadn’t had that hairdo long. “What name shall I say?”

  She probably didn’t even know whom to call for a pickup. Nika had a private bet with herself. They’d get one of the salesmen first.

  “Bertram Snowshoe.”

  The receptionist’s eyes widened.

  “I’ll let them know. Please take a seat. They won’t be long.”

  She’d recognized the name. Nika hoped that was only for the infamy of collecting his own genemod machine. She looked around carefully. They were the only ones in the reception area. She unclenched her fist from around the cross. Grabbing the cross was getting to be an automatic reaction. She’d have to work to eliminate that habit. After they were safe.

  She moved over to look at the Songyan. Snow paced around the reception. Stopped at the images on the wall. Tilted his head. “Nika?”

  She came over to join him. “Not my best.”

  “They should get a more modern image.”

  “Yes.”

  “The black-and-white was good.”

  “Thank you.”

  Snow resumed his pacing.

  Nika turned back to the Songyan. They hadn’t changed much. They’d always been a glossy black box. The corners were more rounded nowadays, but otherwise this machine didn’t look much different from the two she’d had in her studio.

  Snow stopped to read the placard at the other end of the Songyan.

  An exquisitely modded woman came out of the lifts. Nika watched her come. Dagar Songyan, whom Nika had modded four months before Tamati Woden had walked into her life.

  She made toward them.

  “Nika.” Snow’s voice was so high she looked around quickly to be sure nothing was wrong. “Do you know whose genemod machine this was?”

  “It’s the first Songyan my grandfather built.” Dagar Songyan answered before Nika did. She held out a hand. “Snowshoe Bertram.”

  Snow sighed. “It’s Bertram Snowshoe, actually. That’s an administration error.”

  Dagar’s eyes were on Nika. “And you are?”

  Nika hoped her disguise would hold. “Nika James.”

  Dagar looked at her, assessed, then dismissed her as she turned back to Snow. “You’re the apprentice?”

  They’d never said he was an apprentice. Nika hadn’t expected Dagar to be up-to-date on who was apprenticed to whom. Dagar didn’t normally lower herself to know modders until they became known. She moved around to read the plaque. “Gino Giwari’s.” This was the box that had modded Roystan. “Does it still work?”

  “Of course. It’s a Songyan. We service it once a year.”

  How different was it under the box? If they could look at it, would they discover how Giwari had modded Roystan?

  “Would you let us examine it for an hour?”

  Dagar swung back to Nika. “Why would you want to do that?”

  That had been a mistake. “Your mod is impressive,” Snow said smoothly into the sudden tension. “Who did it?”

  She preened. “Nika Rik Terri, of course.” She glanced at Nika and back to Snow. “But come, my office.”

  “Of course.” Snow sneaked a glance back at Nika, who shrugged. If Dagar had been farther away, Nika might have chanced a quiet “Standing appointment, once a year, on her birthday,” but she was too close.

  “But your own mod isn’t too bad either,” Dagar said. “Who did it?”

  Nika was as affronted as he was.

  “I am a modder. I do my own mods.”


  “My apologies, Mr. Bertram. I thought—” She didn’t finish her sentence, so they didn’t find out what she thought. Why would she think a modder didn’t do his own mod? Because she knew he was an apprentice?

  Nika had done her own mods while she’d been an apprentice.

  Snow made a half-placating movement. “It’s okay.” He looked at Dagar. “We came for the Songyan.”

  “As to that,” Dagar said. “It’s been confiscated.”

  “Confiscated?”

  “The Justice Department took it.”

  They’d walked into a trap. And spent time making small talk while the trap closed around them. Nika opened a link, discreetly messaged Josune.

  “The Justice Department,” Snow said.

  “Look, I don’t know what you did, but it’s not my fault they want to talk to you.”

  “We paid you for a machine,” Nika said. “You said it was here, ready to collect. When did the Justice Department confiscate it?”

  “Two days ago.”

  “And you didn’t think to call us and let us know?”

  “I rather expected you to call before you turned up.” Dagar held out her hands placatingly. “The machine is built. You simply need to collect it elsewhere.”

  They couldn’t leave without the Songyan. Roystan would die without it, but Nika needed answers. “Why did the Justice Department take it?”

  “I have no idea.” Dagar sounded as if she wanted the interview finished.

  Nika wanted it finished too. The sooner they were out of here, the safer she’d feel.

  “Agent Laughton said he wants to talk to you. He left his details.” She pushed them through to Snow.

  “Thank you.” They said it—equally frostily—in unison.

  Snow turned and marched out.

  Nika hesitated. “Do you know where the Justice Department took the machine?” she asked Dagar.

  “Back to his office, he said.”

  Nika nodded and followed Snow.

  He was waiting at the lift.

  “I bet you didn’t get that reception when you used to visit.”

  “I never came here. They always came to me.”

  “I don’t think you should mod her in future.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Hold the lift,” someone called, and jogged up to join them.

  Sinead Agutter. Nika’s own engineer. Not to mention another of her clients.

  “Thanks.” Sinead punched ground.

  The fact that Sinead didn’t recognize Nika was more disconcerting than Dagar not recognizing her. It made her feel like the nobody Dagar thought she was. She straightened her back. Leonard Wickmore and Alejandro had tried to ruin her life. They hadn’t succeeded. She’d fight back.

  “Nice hair,” Snow said of Sinead’s knee-length platinum locks.

  “Thanks.” Sinead appraised him. “Yours isn’t so bad yourself.”

  The lift opened into the lobby. It was crowded, filling with people in gray-and-black camouflage kit.

  Snow stopped. “The Boost.”

  Where had they come from? Although, the Boost had used the Justice Department before. Dagar Songyan had probably called them before she’d come out to greet them.

  Nika punched the top floor, pulled Sinead back into the lift. “You don’t want to go out there.”

  Sinead pulled herself free and gave her a cold look. “Excuse me,” and stepped out.

  The lift door closed.

  “Was that Sinead Agutter? Your engineer?” Snow leaned back against the wall of the lift. He looked exhausted.

  Nika nodded.

  “What are we going to do?”

  “Call an aircar,” Nika said, and did exactly that. She sent another message to Josune as well. They had an aircar on standby, but the Boost crew might have found that. “Captain Norris doesn’t take no well, does he?”

  “It’s bad for his reputation.”

  The lift door opened. There were four more black-and-gray camouflage suits on the roof landing pad. All four looked their way, and two started toward them. If they went back down in the lift, the mercenaries would suspect something.

  “Do you have that sparker?”

  “They’ve got blasters, Nika. They’re trained too.”

  “And we’ve got an aircar coming in”—she checked—“three minutes. We don’t want them following us.” The sparker would take out all the aircars on the roof. And the lift. They just had to worry about the blasters. “I don’t think they recognize us.” She hoped. “They’re probably stopping everyone.” Josune had shorted out the Justice Department ship with the sparker. It would be nice if it would short out everything here.

  She didn’t want to think of what would happen if it didn’t, but there was no time to make other plans.

  She forced her breathing to normal. She should have linked to Josune, but it would be obvious if she did so now. Don’t think, act. She stepped out, gripping the short cross of her necklace as she did so.

  Now to get close enough to shoot them with it. All four of them.

  “You are crazy, you know.” Snow pulled out the sparker—discreetly—one-handedly while he waited, head slightly bowed.

  He’d told her that before, and this plan relied on them being crazy enough for no one to consider them a threat.

  “Please identify yourself,” one of the mercenaries said while the other closed a hand around his blaster.

  Nika looked him up and down with all the arrogance she could muster. She was, after all, on the roof of the Songyan building. “Shouldn’t I be asking this of you? Who are you, and what are you doing on our landing pad? Where is your pass?” She looked around. “Where is your engineer?”

  The mercenary looked momentarily nonplussed. The second one laughed. “These people are all the same. Let’s put it this way, lady. If you don’t identify yourself, I’ll shoot you.”

  Nika stiffened her back further and looked down her nose at him. “Dagar Songyan will hear about this. Don’t think it won’t go further. But for the sake of expediency, I’ll identify myself.” She indicated the approaching aircar with one hand, the other tightening around the tranq weapon. “I have an appointment, and my car is approaching. I don’t have time to waste, so get on with it. Do you want the full ID, or will giving you our names suffice?”

  Three of the guards turned to the watch the aircar. The one who’d threatened to shoot her reached for his identifier. “Full identification, if you don’t mind.”

  As soon as he looked down to his equipment, Nika pressed the release on the tranq dart. “Now,” she hissed at Snow.

  Even a massive overdose like this took seconds to kick in, but it slowed the guard’s reflexes enough for him to react slowly as Snow raised the sparker. He crashed to the ground. The other three guards turned, drawing blasters.

  The electricity from the sparker jolted them into a macabre dance as Snow sprayed them all.

  The lift behind them sparked blue before its lights went out.

  Nika dived for the nearest prone figure, grabbed his blaster, and fired. Turned to the second and third and did the same. Four down. Too lucky. Would their luck last? She shut down the hysteria before it took control.

  Snow raised the sparker again, aimed for the closest aircar. The resulting crackle of power was fierce. There were three cars on the roof, and the power arced from aircar to aircar, then arced farther to connect with a pole.

  An explosion threw her forward, onto her knees.

  Lights went out in buildings around them.

  Snow was still standing. He looked down at the sparker. “I don’t know why Josune likes these so much.” His voice shook. His hands shook.

  Nika did. “Josune’s all about best weapon for least effort.” And the one that passed most security scanners. After all, who’d expect
anyone to carry a sparker?

  Especially given the aftereffects. Her head hurt. Her eyes ached. Even her teeth ached. She scooped up a second blaster, tossed it to Snow. “Someone will be here soon.”

  She tried to link in. The link was down. Realized the aching jaw was because the sparker had burned out the connection. Snow’s too, for a spot on his chin was blistering. They’d both need time in the Netanyu.

  Maybe she didn’t know why Josune liked sparkers so much, after all.

  An aircar descended to settle on the roof.

  Their cab. They ran for it.

  Only to be stopped at the door.

  “Please identify yourself,” the aircab said. “This car is hired.”

  What? “I hired you.”

  “This car is hired,” the aircab repeated again.

  “Our links are burned out,” Snow said. “It doesn’t recognize you.”

  Surely they weren’t trapped on this rooftop. “Iris scan,” Nika told the aircar, and prayed it was smart enough to check the scan against her ID. Some cars required the same ID you’d used to place the order.

  The car took what felt like forever identifying her. She imagined the mercenaries from the foyer pounding up the staircases. They must know that whoever was on the roof had been taken out. Or maybe they didn’t, for after all, no doubt they had problems of their own.

  The aircar door opened.

  Nika fell into the seat, Snow close behind.

  “Spaceport,” Nika said. Don’t think about how she’d just killed three people.

  The aircab drew smoothly away.

  “Too easy,” Snow said. “That was way too easy.”

  Except the last bit, which had been nerve-wracking, but they had gotten away. “I’ll take easy every time, if it works.” Nika watched the dark roof until it was out of sight. She shivered. Snow was right, though. It shouldn’t have been that simple. She half expected to hear someone knocking on the roof of the aircar, then blasting their way in.

  But they didn’t.

  “Sometimes the luck falls our way,” she said. It wasn’t over. They hadn’t got the Songyan yet.

  The aircab made it to the spaceport without incident. Nika let out a breath of relief as they exited and saw Another Road’s shuttle on the tarmac in front of them.