Aurora Burning

by Amie Kaufman

  I glance at the contents of the deposit box again and realize she is correct—I see no package for Zero anywhere. But, under the other bundles, there is a set of passkeys, and a tag with a berth number at the Emerald City docks.

  SECTION 6, GAMMA PROMENADE. BERTH 9[A].

  I hand the key to Scarlett, my mind racing. “Whatever is happening here, at least Adams saw fit to supply us with a ship. That is a beginning.”

  Scarlett glances up to the cams. “We better get moving.”

  I nod, shut the lid, and sling the box under one arm. We make our way from the deposit room, Scarlett in front, me stalking obediently behind. As we walk back out into the foyer, Finian looks up at us, relief plain on his face. Zila is nowhere to be seen, but Aurora and Tyler are on the thoroughfare outside. Aurora is still gesticulating wildly, her outrage only slightly muted by the glass.

  “She’s having more fun than I am.” Scarlett smiles.

  The pair of us walk calmly across the vast foyer, each step toward the door seeming a mile. Finian stands slowly, limping to the other exit. The crowd around us mills and sways; the manager smiles farewell. And it seems, for the moment, we may have succeeded in our deception. We may be home free.

  “May I ask you a question?” I say softly.

  “You’re not going to ask me to marry you, are you?” Scarlett murmurs.

  “No. And I know it is foolish to ask this now. But we are seldom alone, and there may be little opportunity to ask another time.”

  “This sounds serious.”

  I swallow hard, suddenly and deeply uncomfortable. “I have done much reading on…human courting. But there is a vast gulf between the written word and reality. And you seem…well acquainted with romantic entanglements.”

  “That’s a nice way to put it.” I catch a smirk at the corner of Scarlett’s mouth. “This is about Aurora, right?”

  I sigh. Even the sound of her name makes my heart swell. “Yes.”

  “You got a case of the mad lurrrve.”

  “I am…very fond of her, yes.”

  We are almost to the door now, Scarlett speaking under her breath. “I’m probably not the person to ask for advice on this one, Muscles. I’ve never been in a relationship that lasted longer than seven weeks.”

  “You are a human girl,” I say desperately. “You know what human girls like.”

  The doors slide open before us, and Scarlett looks over her shoulder, eyebrow raised. “We’re not a monolith, Kal, we—”

  Her words are cut short as she bumps into a small figure entering the Repository. I hear a growl of outrage, look down to see a small female gremp, surrounded by a dozen others.

  “Oh, pardon me, darling,” Scarlett says.

  The lead gremp stands perhaps a meter tall, which is large for her species. The tortoiseshell fur covering her body is perfectly coiffed under her pearl-white suit. Her pale green eyes are edged with dark powder and have the gleam of someone who feeds people to her pets for sport.

  She looks up at Scarlett, lips sliding back over her fangs.

  “You,” Skeff Tannigut growls.

  “Oh shit,” Scarlett breathes.

  SUBJECT: GALACTIC SPECIES

  ▶ UNALIGNED

  ▼ GREMPS

  GREMPS ARE A FURRY, BIPEDAL SPECIES FROM THE ARCTURUS SYSTEM, AND ONE OF THE YOUNGEST RACES IN THE GALAXY. THEY TYPICALLY STAND LESS THAN A METER TALL AND, FROM A TERRAN PERSPECTIVE, RESEMBLE SMALL HUMANOID FELINES.

  CUTE AND CUDDLY AS THEY MAY LOOK, GREMPS ARE ONE OF THE MORE INFAMOUSLY HOSTILE SPECIES IN THE GALAXY. CARNIVOROUS BY NATURE, THEY CONSIDER OTHER SENTIENT LIFE A POTENTIAL FOOD SOURCE, AND THEIR FIRST CONTACT WITH ANOTHER SPACE-FARING SPECIES (THE ISHTARRI OF FREYA III) RESULTED IN A BRIEF FIREFIGHT FOLLOWED BY A FOUR-COURSE MEAL—A FACT THAT THE ISHTARRI REPRESENTATIVES IN THE GALACTIC CAUCUS ARE QUICK TO REMIND EVERYBODY OF WHENEVER THE GREMPS PRESS FOR MEMBERSHIP.

  ANY URGE TO PET ONE SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY PUT OUT OF YOUR MIND UNLESS YOU’RE TIRED OF OWNING FINGERS.

  I make my way out the side door, aching like I’ve been stomped by an ultrasaur. My suit is close to completely crapping out, but we’re so close to pulling this off—the last thing I want is anyone’s attention. The doors hum closed behind me with a self-satisfied swish, and I turn right, toward the four-way intersection outside the Dominion Repository. By now, Scar and Kal should be parading their edible selves out the front door, where we’ll meet up with the others.

  Finally, finally, something’s going our way. Kal had a box under his arm when they left the vault, so I know we have a next move. I’m feeling a little self-satisfied myself as I try for a saunter around the corner, just in time to see Scarlett come face to face—or waist to face—with a pissed-off-looking gremp.

  I literally have time to think, Wow, imagine if that was the same one who— before suddenly the sidewalk’s bristling with weaponry, and everybody’s having a very tense day.

  I freeze in place. Scar’s already talking at top speed, hands lifted in placation, on the pointy end of a dozen disruptor pistols. Behind her, Dominion security guards have responded by pulling out their ordnance, which is all on the wrong side of heavy. This means that, on the upside, Skeff Tannigut can’t just drag Scarlett and Kal away to chop them into little pieces. On the downside, my squadmates are now threatened on all sides.

  “These two are wanted fugitives!” the gremp spits, black-rimmed eyes narrowing. “They assaulted me and my broodkin, almost killed my littermate!”

  “Nonsense, darling,” Scarlett says. “I’ve never met you before in my life.”

  “I knew your kind could not be trusted,” Tannigut growls.

  “My kind?” Scarlett musters some convincing outrage. “I suppose we humans all look alike to you, eh?”

  The Dominion guards, more than a few of whom are Terran, look less than impressed at the gangster’s accusations. I limp away from the Repository, trying to stay out of sight. I have no idea where Zila is, but just beyond the rising argument, Tyler and Auri are backing up into the crowded intersection, trying to follow my example and make sure nobody notices them.

  “Finian?” Ty mutters into his uni. “Can you muster us a distraction?”

  I’m typing on my uni as I reply. “Already on it, Goldenboy. I’ll have a diversion up in thirty seconds. Let’s all make sure we run away in the same direction, yes?”

  Tyler takes another slow step back, glancing up and down the bustling thoroughfare. “Turn hubward, and we’ll—”

  A scream cuts across comms, coupled with a vicious sizzling sound. I look up from my uni and see Aurora lying on the ground like a puppet with her strings cut. She’s wrapped up in bands of what looks like crackling red energy, steam rising off her skin, mouth open in a silent scream. And that’s about when everything goes to pieces. Kal leaps in her direction with a cry of perfect rage, completely forgetting Scarlett’s still got his freaking leash wrapped around her wrist.

  I mean, a leash, really?

  Anyway, Scarlett’s pulled after him like she’s weightless, crashing straight into Skeff Tannigut and going down in a tangle of flailing limbs and corsetry. Everybody starts shooting. The gremps let loose with their disruptors as their leader falls; the Dominion guards open up in response. A couple of bodies fall on either side, and blasts crackle through the air, gremps and goons ducking for cover or collapsing with yelps of pain.

  A stray shot hits a passing skiff, which skids sideways and slams into another parked vehicle, flipping end over end and crashing into a storefront. The crowd around the intersection screams and scatters. Another shot whizzes past my head and I hunker down behind a parked hoverskiff, my exosuit whining, a stabbing pain lancing up through both my knees.

  I squint through the firefight and smoke, see Ty and Scar have taken cover behind another hovertruck. Kal has dragged Auri behind a row o
f auto-peddlers. Our stowaway is still wrapped in that crackling red energy, convulsing where she lies. Kal is crouched over her body with his teeth bared, staring over my shoulder. I realize some of the shots in this firefight are coming from behind me.

  With a horrible feeling of foreboding—and I’ve really had a chance to fine-tune this sensation lately, so I feel like I nail it—I turn.

  Maker’s bits.

  The Unbroken are stalking down the street toward us. Kal’s sister is carrying a weapon that looks like a love affair between a disruptor rifle and an old Terran crossbow—I realize this is the gun that took out Auri. Her goons are spread out behind her, black armor daubed with white glyfs, lips pulled back into snarls. None of them are as terrifying as Saedii, her canines filed to those perfect points, the black stripe of paint across her eyes bringing out the violet and making them gleam. The Syldrathi are firing at the Dominion security goons, disruptor blasts BAMF!ing through the air. They take up cover along the thoroughfare as another skiff crashes to the road in a burst of sparks and twisting metal.

  I hunker down lower, doing the math. Nobody’s spotted me yet, at least, but my squad is now pinned down in a three-way firefight.

  The ground traffic has slowed to a halt; the air traffic is in chaos. A brief lull falls over the scene as everyone takes a moment to reload. Civilians are fleeing in a panic, alarms are ringing, and there’s already a SecDrone hovering above our heads. I can see Scarlett crouched by Kal’s side, whispering in his ear, while Ty looks up and down the street, searching for an escape route. The head of the Dominion Repository guards, a tall Rikerite with two curling horns sweeping back from his forehead, raises his voice.

  “Emerald City Security is en route! Everybody drop your weapons!”

  Our Mistress of Beauty and Terror completely ignores him, pointing at Kal and a still-convulsing Aurora and addressing Skeff Tannigut with at least a degree of civility. “I am only here for those two, little one.”

  Wait…they want Auri now, too?

  Our Tank rises to his feet in one fluid movement, his face twisted in a snarl. “You are hurting her! Stop this, Saedii!”

  Even at a moment like this, I’ve gotta admit that all those buckles and mesh are a sight to behold. His sister’s jaw drops when she sees him.

  “What are you wearing, Kaliis?” she hisses, openly horrified.

  “Release her at once!”

  “Weapons on the floor!” the goon bellows again. “That means everybody!”

  I’ve stolen around a little closer to my squad, lurking near the building opposite the Dominion’s main entrance, still tapping away at my uniglass with one hand. In all the tension of this three-way standoff, the panicked crowds, nobody’s clocked me yet. But looking across the smoke and wreckage, I see Tyler shoot me the smallest of nods. He’s sharp, my Alpha.

  “If you want those two,” calls the gremp leader, nodding at Kal, “then we can take the rest, and part ways before this becomes more complicated. Agreed?”

  “Now listen,” begins the Dominion goon. “We have authority here. Everybody stand down immediately!”

  “We are the faithful of Caersan, Slayer of Stars,” Saedii calls. “This is Unbroken business. Keep your horns out of it before I slice them off.”

  That rocks the Dominion goon back on his heels. The Starslayer has the governments of most of the galaxy terrified, and nobody wants to get on his bad side—let alone some security chud just trying to earn a living.

  The Dominion guards all exchange uneasy glances and ease off their weapons. Contempt on her face, Saedii emerges from cover, flanked by her Unbroken brethren, and begins stalking toward the Dominion Repository. Kal and the others are still pinned down by the gremps—they’ve got nowhere to run. And my mind’s racing light-years per second, wondering how exactly we’re going to get out of this mess, when Zila’s voice crackles in my comms piece.

  “Finian, is the diversion you mentioned still available?”

  “Zila?” I’d almost forgotten she wasn’t here. “Where are you?”

  “Is the diversion still available?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Please activate it in exactly twelve seconds from my mark,” Zila replies, calm as ever. “I am en route with transport. Mark.”

  I can hear the incoming sirens—Emerald City Security is on its way. I slide my fingers over the uniglass, forcing my way into the Dominion Repository’s systems with all the finesse of that metaphorical ultrasaur that stomped me earlier. I catch Tyler’s eye—he’s heard Zila’s message, too. And as Saedii and her crew draw close, I activate the fire extinguishers set up on the marquee in front of the Repository, and the whole world vanishes in a cloud of blinding white fog.

  Over the shouts and curses of at least five species, I hear rising sirens, the hiss of air brakes behind me. My stomach sinks as a heavy airvan barges its way into the intersection, lights flashing, the words EMERALD CITY SECURITY PATROL stenciled on the side. But my heart surges as the door is thrown open and I see a familiar figure sitting behind the controls.

  “Zila?”

  She motions to me, face calm, eyes blank. I break from cover, trying for a run. But my suit finally fritzes at the sudden movement; my knee gives out and I stumble, momentum carrying me forward, hands flailing as I fall. And then someone has me, pain shooting up my shoulder as they catch my elbow and yank me upright.

  It’s Tyler, and beyond him, Kal with Auri limp in his arms, Scarlett carrying the box they rescued from the vault. A dozen disruptor blasts fly out of the fire foam behind us, hit the wall by my head, spraying me with sparks. My breath’s coming quick and hard, and Tyler’s half carrying me as we throw ourselves into the van. I nearly slide right back out again as Zila guns it and the whole vehicle tilts. The Jones twins grab me in concert, and Scarlett hauls me back in as Tyler reaches past me to slam the door, a barrage of disruptor blasts and another of those crackling red energy coils crashing against the hull.

  “Punch it, Zila!” Tyler yells.

  All five of us in the back are crushed up against one wall as Zila stomps the accelerator, takes a corner like she’s tired of living, and zooms out into the thoroughfare. Tyler scrambles past me to slide into the copilot’s seat.

  “You stole a police cruiser?” he asks.

  “You asked me to secure transport,” Zila says serenely, reaching across to turn up the volume on our sirens. The vehicles in front of us part as their autopilots kick in, then close behind us once more, helping block pursuit. I realize she’s wearing dangly gold earrings with little bank-robber masks on them.

  Wait, wasn’t she wearing gremps this morning?

  Tall buildings race past as we roar through the posh end of town, gilt and white facades intermingled with red and green topiaries and decorated portals to the transport-tube network.

  In the back of the van, Scarlett and Kal have managed to unwrap the crackling bands from around Auri’s body. As Kal kicks them into one corner, the energy in them sputters and dies. Auri’s gasping for breath, her cheeks streaked with tears. Technically I’m the squad member who’s supposed to assist Zila with medical duties, so, gritting my teeth, my suit whining, I crawl over and bring up the med-scan function on my uniglass. Scarlett’s giving me an unforgettable view down that damn corset as she leans over Auri, though to my credit I try very hard not to notice.

  “What did they shoot her with?” she demands, staring at the lifeless bands.

  “Saedii’s weapon of choice,” Kal says. His face is grim, his eyes full of fury as he cradles Auri’s head. “An agonizer.”

  “A what now?”

  “A Syldrathi weapon,” I offer, remembering my mechaneering classes at the academy. “The bands hook into your neural network, overload your nervous system. It’s kinda like a disruptor on Pacification setting, but waaaaay more painful.”

  �
��Is she gonna be okay?” Scarlett asks.

  “She’s just stunned,” I say a moment later, holding up the med-scanner. “No permanent damage. I’m guessing the Unbroken didn’t want her slamming them with her brain magic again. Quick learners.”

  “Aurora?” Kal asks, gently stroking Auri’s cheek. “Can you hear me?”

  “K-Kal?” she whispers.

  Pixieboy sighs with relief, the muscles in his jaw relaxing. “Yes, be’shmai?”

  “Your s-sister is a real bitch….”

  The joke has us grinning, despite the trouble we’re in. But Zila’s voice from the driver’s seat kills our smiles real quick.

  “I do not mean to interrupt,” she says. “But we are being pursued.”

  “By?” Kal asks, lifting his head.

  “Skeff Tannigut and her associates, the Unbroken, Dominion Repository security, Emerald City law enforcement, and the officers who were formerly in charge of this airvan.”

  “Yay?” I offer.

  “Do we have a destination?” Zila asks.

  Scarlett fishes around in her corset (Eyes forward, de Seel, eyes forward) and brandishes a passkey. “There’s a ship waiting for us at Gamma Promenade.”

  Her brother twists around in his seat to gape at her. “What?”

  “You won’t believe what we found in the Repository,” Scarlett tells him. “But for now, there’s a ship waiting, and we need a ride out of here.”

  “Gamma Promenade it is,” Tyler says, turning back to the road ahead. “But we can’t lead them all there. We need to lose our tail.”

  I know that in this moment, I’m not the only one who thinks of Zero. That girl could drive anything you can imagine, steer it through the eye of a needle with one hand tied behind her back. The pang hits me like a punch.

  I was such a dick to her. Did she take it seriously? Did she understand I’m just terrible at sincerity?

  Instead of Zero, we have Goldenboy and Zila in the front of the airvan. Ty’s a decent pilot, but until today, I didn’t even know Zila could drive. And I’m wondering if Ty should be the one on the stick when she narrows her eyes, looking straight ahead.