by L. Fergus
“Ah…fuzzy?”
“If you wanted that you would have stayed with Snowy.”
“She was nice, assertive, big beautiful red eyes…come on, you’re going to make me cry.”
Aspen laughed. “Not you, you’re made of stone.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“I know, but it’s still fun to tease you.”
The hallway was cylindrical with three doors, one on either side and one at the end. Kita could feel the textured surface under her feet.
“What is this?” said Aspen. “What’s wrong with a square hallway?”
“Every race builds to what they like. Try visiting a Verisom residence. They love mazes and can’t build in a straight line for the Crushing Depths. I’ll take the study. You search the bedroom for a DNA sample.”
Kita entered the study. It was a spherical room. Artifacts lined the walls. A round Zentonian-style desk was on the far side with a beanbag chair. She followed the room around, stopping to look at an interesting artifact labeled BIRTHING MASK. Kita wasn’t aware of any races that used birthing masks currently, but she didn’t know the history of most of them. She knew a bit about Verisom and Diamock, and none mentioned a birthing mask.
On the desk were a computer and a reader. Kita smiled over the civilian tech, cracking it would be that much easier. From her belt, she took two Wireless Universal Serial Adaptors. An invention of Snowy’s, it was modeled after Kita’s finger. The WUSA could configure to any port and let her gain access via wireless connection to the computer in her head. When she was finished, she could send a signal and the WUSA would self-destruct leaving no trace.
Kita attached the WUSAs to the computer and reader and attacked both with her hacking suite. Takkat wasn’t a fool, he used the best commercial grade security software, but it wasn’t a match for her tools, some of which had been custom designed by Raph.
She let out a sigh, thinking about the teenager. It was a shame he died so young. He was a true innocent, and she missed the boy’s charm and lightheartedness. Here’s to you Raph, my hero.
“Kita, we have a problem,” said Aspen.
“What kind of problem?”
“I’ve got two Aurorians chained up in this guy’s…nest.”
“Ignore them and find the sample.”
“I’m not going to leave them here like this.”
“We can’t carry them out of here.”
“We’ve got to do something,” Aspen said forcefully.
Kita huffed. Damn high angels, I swear. “Ok, let me see if Hali knows anything. Hali?”
“Yes?”
“Why would a Zentonian have two Aurorians chained up in his bedroom?”
“Ah…You want the short or the long version?”
Kita gulped. “What’s the short version?”
“Sex slave.”
“What?”
“So the longer version is: Zentonians like to procreate.”
“Yeah…”
“And in the past, their population would explode putting a strain on resources. The government has put a limit on how many children a female can have. But, they’ve never evolved away the need-to-breed instinct and have no contraceptive except complete organ removal. During breeding season they get the urge multiple times a day.”
Kita groaned. I’m glad I didn’t fall in love with one of them. “So why don’t they develop toys or something?”
“Oh, they do, but wealthy Zentonians prefer biological gratification to mechanical.”
“So they enslave Aurorians to do it for them? Isn’t that illegal?”
“On the Tet, yes slavery is illegal, but not on Zento. There it is only illegal to enslave another Zentonian. Their law says nothing about other races. What happens is, they hire some poor young Aurorian as a servant, which is legal, but then they take them to Zento and enslave them. Takket must have snuck these two back here.”
Kita rolled her eyes. “This is all we need. We can’t just call Tec-Sec when we’re finished?”
“I’m sure Takkat has people in Tec-Sec,” said Starlight. “He’d know they’re coming and move the girls. This is a hard crime to catch and even harder to prosecute because the Zentonians make the Aurorians sign contracts.”
“And this just became my problem,” Kita growled. “What are we going to do with them? We can’t bring them back to the ship or drop them off at the nearest Tet-Sec precinct.”
“You can’t, but the rest of us can. If I bring them in it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Goodie, more time for me in the trunk.”
Starlight chuckled. “The downside to being a wanted criminal. How goes the search?”
“Just about hacked his computers,” said Kita.
“I can’t search the room until I know what to do with these two,” said Aspen.
“Just knock them out.”
“Using what?”
“Here,” Kita sent Aspen the drug compound for putting Aurorians under.
“Sorry girls,” said Aspen.
“I’m into the computers. I’m coming to help, Leaf,” said Kita. “Thanks, Hali.”
“I’m curious to see how we get them out.”
“Me, too,” said Kita as she entered the bedroom. The bedroom was spherical and lined with pillows. The walls and ceilings looked like branches decorated with gold. The two Aurorians were lying on pillows, asleep.
“Find anything?” Kita asked Aspen.
“So far it’s clean.”
“There must be something in here.” Kita dug through the pillows all the way to the floor. “What kind of housekeeping does he have? Not even a hair.”
“What about the other room?” said Aspen.
“It was marked utility.”
“There’s no bathroom in here. There must be something close.”
Kita nodded, and the two assassins went back into the hallway and opened the third door. Inside was a counter with sinks surrounded by brushes and vials. To the right was an ornate looking hole.
“There has to be something in here,” said Kita.
Aspen picked up a brush and examined it. “Nothing.”
As Kita searched the bathroom, she searched the computers for files containing the keys for the stasis fields. So far, she had found weapon invoices, evidence of stock manipulation, and pornography, but no keys. “This place is spotless,” Kita grumped.
“Wait! I’ve gotten an idea,” said Aspen. She opened the cabinet under the right sink and crawled inside. “Bark, yeah! I think I have something. Let me have one of those cotton swabs.”
Kita opened a pouch on her belt and pulled one out. She unclipped the protective cover and handed it to Aspen. “Where are you looking?” said Kita.
“The P-trap collects all sorts of stuff. It’s got to have some of his DNA in it, but we should swab both sinks since we don’t know which one he uses.”
Kita opened the other cabinet and looked inside. Plumbing wasn’t her thing, and she wasn’t sure what to do or what she was looking at. “What do I do?”
“Bark! Did we finally find something you don’t know?”
“Plumbing isn’t something I keep on file.”
Aspen chuckled. “See the part that drops down? It has two connectors you need to unscrew. Just be careful, you don’t want to spill the water.”
Kita found the connectors and unscrewed them. Why doesn’t this place use a vacuum system like a ship? She took off the trap and wrinkled her nose. It was obvious no one had cleaned down here since the plumbing was installed. She took a swab from her belt and ran it along the inside of the trap. Kita bent back inside to reattach the piece.
“Did you get a sample?” said Aspen as she stuck her head in the cabinet causing Kita to bobble the piece and dump water on her face. Aspen giggled.
“Aw, yuck. It’s in my mask and in my mouth. Bleck!” Kita snarled. She couldn’t even stick her tongue out in disgust. With a flash of flame, Kita dried herself. Still doesn’t get rid of the smell.
She took it—her dark eyes alight with amusement.
Kita crawled out from the cabinet.
“Any luck finding the stasis keys?” said Aspen.
Kita sighed. “No. The machines are clean. We need to think of some other place to look.”
“Who else would have them?”
“An assistant, maybe. Hali do you have any ideas?”
“Hmmm…Takkat was wearing an interesting wristband. It had a tiny screen.”
“How’s it going with you?” said Kita.
“I’m following the power conduit to the junction box. I hope to get access to the conduit so I can short the circuit. So far, we’ve been on an interesting tour of the gardens.”
“So much for this being easy.”
“At least you’re not getting assaulted every five seconds for pictures. And they keep thinking Vee is you.”
“They’ll just have to be disappointed. Tell them I don’t do pictures anyway.”
Kita and Aspen went back to the landing. They took off, flying among the trees looking for Takkat.
“There he is, by the gravity fountain,” said Aspen as she pointed to Takkat holding court with a group of admirers. She and Kita glided above him.
“This is going to be tricky,” said Kita.
“You big girls think it’s all cool to be tall until you have to squeeze in somewhere,” Aspen chided. She held out her hand.
“Are you sure?” said Kita.
“Let this little girl show you how it’s done,” said Aspen with a wink.
Kita handed a WUSA to Aspen. If anyone could weasel her way in, it would be Aspen. She was only four foot eight and weighed eighty pounds soaking wet.
Aspen landed and made her way through the group of party guests without raising any suspicion. She crouched in front of Takkat. He liked to talk with his hands, and after a wild gesture, the screen on his wrist appeared.
“I saw it,” said Kita. “It’s on his left arm.”
“Got it,” said Aspen. She tracked Takkat’s movements, her hand waiting. Takkat held out his hands to show how huge one of his luxury spacecraft was. Aspen’s hand darted up his sleeve and attached the WUSA.
“Is it working?” said Aspen.
“Yeah.”
Takkat lowered his arms and Aspen jumped straight up to be next to Kita. She hacked the device using the passwords she’d recovered from Takkat’s other machines. The second password opened the device. There wasn’t much—a calendar, directory, a link to his personal banking account, and a program called SUnK. Curious, Kita ran SUnK.
“Got it!” said Kita to Aspen. “Let me clone the device, and we can get out of here.” Kita copied the entire device’s contents to the computer in her head. “Ok, we’re good. Hali, how are you doing?”
“We found the junction box, but there’s a servant in the way. We’re going to see if we can persuade him to move. Go to the vault and—”
A gong sounded.
“—Damn, that’s the signal for people to take their seats. We’ll have to act fast if we’re going to get things out of the vault.”
“Ok, we’re going there now.”
Kita led Aspen to the back of the mansion where a path led to a stand of trees. Kita landed and followed the path down to a heavily secured door.
“Is the electrical barrier off?” said Kita. She wasn’t in the mood to receive a heavy electrical shock and set off the alarms.
“Ah…Just a sec…” Starlight giggled playfully. “I’ll be right back…don’t go anywhere…”
“Was that to me?” said Kita.
“Sorry,” said Starlight. “I had to give Judge Amarax the slip. Ugh. He looks to have his hopes up. Vee’s keeping him busy. I think the other races are getting the idea that Angels are promiscuous.”
“Not really…at least, not outside the group.”
“I wasn’t sure if it was just you or…”
“I’m not promiscuous,” Kita huffed.
“You’ve tried to sleep with or have slept with every female in the group.”
“That does not mean I’m promiscuous. I didn’t try and sleep with you.”
“You would have if it hadn’t been for Cotton.”
Kita rolled her eyes. “I didn’t try and sleep with Onyx or Zen.”
“Kita does have a lot of long-term partners, but I wouldn’t call her promiscuous,” said Panther. “Though, she has had sex with both Raptor and me.”
“Not helping,” growled Kita.
“It was one of her rare promiscuous nights when she was upset with three people.”
“Hey, don’t bring me into this,” said Aspen. “I had no idea what was going on. I was just there.”
“With a big, silly grin on your face,” said Panther. “I owe you a thank you. If it hadn’t been for you, I would never have had my chance with Kita.”
“This is a story I have to hear,” Starlight said with a giggle.
Kita groaned.
“Ok, I’m at the junction box. I’ll have it down in a second,” said Starlight. “There you go. I sent a power surge through it that will trip the breaker.”
Kita grit her teeth as she touched the vault door. When nothing happened, she let out a sigh of relief. She activated the door’s security panel, and it cued her for a vocal input. Kita opened her mouth and let her vocal cords act as a speaker.
“My voice is my password. I am Takkat FretChat. I command you to open.” Talk about having control issues.
A green light lit on the security panel. A biometric scanner opened.
“Which should I stick in?” said Aspen.
“Just stick them both in and smear them around. It should find what it’s looking for.”I hope.
Aspen did as instructed, sticking the swabs into the hole and smearing the samples on the sensor lens. The biometric scanner closed and both Angels waited holding their breath.
Kita clenched her teeth. She tried to think of another way to get a DNA sample or find another way in. She could melt her way through if she had to, but that would take time. If only—a second light on the door’s security panel turned green. Kita let out the breath she was holding. She pushed on the door, and it swung open.
Kita and Aspen walked down a narrow passage that exited into a large room. Rows of artifacts, each behind a stasis field, filled the space.
“Damn. This vault must be nearly as large as the footprint of the house,” said Aspen.
Kita groaned to herself. It would take time to search for Crypt, Defiance, and Valor. “You start here. I’m going to go to the back and work my way forward.”
Aspen didn’t answer. She was already flying down the row. Kita glided over the artifacts to the back.
“Kita?” said Panther.
“Yeah?”
“We found our two missing Angels.”
“Where are they?”
“There are behind two curtains on the stage,” said Panther. “I’ve flipped through all my lenses, but I can’t make anything out.”
“It’s the stasis field. Just keep an eye on them. We’re searching for Crypt now,” said Kita as she hurried down another row.
“Ok, we’ve had to take our seats. They’re going to begin soon.”
“Bloody moons. That means they’ll be coming in here to get the items. Leaf!”
“Yeah?”
“We have to hurry.”
“I’m flying over the rows as fast as I—Wait! I’ve got one of them,” said Aspen.
“The other half isn’t next to it?”
“Ah, doesn’t look like it.”
“Is there a number or marking?”
“Nope,” said Aspen.
Kita opened the SUnK program and flipped through the list of keys. They had identifiers, but they didn’t make any sense to her.
“Kita! The vault door just opened!” cried Aspen.
As Kita ran down the sixth row, she found the second part to Crypt—Dead. She sea
rched the cabinet for an identification marking. Screw it. They’re going to know we’re here soon enough. Kita undid the entire list of stasis keys. The stasis fields dropped in a cascade.
“Grab Buried,” Kita instructed Aspen.
Kita picked up Dead. The curved black blade with pieces of inlaid obsidian felt perfect in her hand. Etched into the blade in blood red was its name. The worn lava rock handle was worn smooth. She sheathed it on her back and ran to the end of the row.
Five servants and Takkat entered the room.
“Did you get Buried?” said Kita.
“Got it. How do you want to do this? They’re going to notice the stasis fields are down and the swords are missing.”
“The servants are following Takkat to the right. If we go left, we can make it to the door and shut it. I can weld it shut.”
“Ok. I’m moving to the left.”
Kita reached the end of the row and turned toward the door. Aspen appeared ahead of her. Across the room, Takkat and his servants turned down the row toward Buried’s cabinet.
Kita’s vision tinted red and the world slowed down as she entered her berserking state. She sidestepped Aspen, grabbing the Angel at the same time. Kita charged down the same row as Takkat and his servants. She punched Takkat in the mouth, breaking his large incisors, sending the pieces flying. Slamming into Takkat with her shoulder, Kita drove him into his servants, knocking them down. She jumped over the downed servants and ran to the end of the row. Turning the corner, she sprinted to the passageway, ran out the vault door, turned, and kicked it shut. Kita dropped Aspen, heated her hands, and ran them along the edge of the vault door, welding it shut. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes as a wall of emotions crashed down on her.
“Wow!” said Aspen. “I never thought I’d get to ride that train. Bark, that was fast. You ok?”
Kita nodded as she wiped her eyes. “I’ll be fine, just a little shaken.”
“Here, this belongs to you.” Aspen took Buried from her back and gave it to Kita.
“Thanks. Now I need to find a home for Dusk and Dawn. Think you can manage?”
“ME?” exclaimed Aspen.
“Why not?”
“What about Kara or Hali or…or…”
“Leaf, you’ve earned it. You’re an excellent assassin.”