by S. J. Bryant
Kari didn't have any illusions. If the Imperium got even a whisper of a rumor that their files had been leaked, they'd either kill or move Piper and the others and Kari's chances of finding them disappeared forever. She'd gladly spend two hundred tokens—if she had them.
"But you do know something?" Ryker said. "Because if we paid you that kind of money just for you to say you've never heard of it… well… that would make me mad." He stroked the shotgun strapped to his calf as he spoke.
"Bah!" Ollie said. "Your threats are no good here. I've got a half-dozen automatic machine guns aimed at your chests as we speak. But I'm no crook either. I didn't get my reputation by selling information that's no good. I know something."
An ache began in Kari's chest and spread up to her throat. This was it, her chance of seeing Piper again and it was going to slip through her fingers all because of a few tokens. If only she'd taken more jobs or been more careful. If only she'd found more salvage back on the Imperium ship. Anything that she could have traded for—
Kari's racing heart slowed. "What if we could give you information in return?"
Ollie chuckled and his thick chest heaved in time with his laughter. "There's no information in the Universe that you have that I don't."
"Really?" Kari said. "What about the names and histories of all the patients at Brassard?" She didn't actually know that the records included everyone but there were a lot of names, and it was all she had to trade.
Ollie stopped laughing, his cigar dangling limp from the left corner of his mouth. "You're bluffing."
"I have it. How do you think I found the name Brassard?"
"A rumor."
"No. I have records. Medical records."
"You swear?"
"If I'm lying then you can shoot me with those machine guns." Kari locked eyes with Ollie. What did it matter if she gave out copies of the information? It was better that people knew the truth anyway.
"Deal," Ollie said.
"Deal. Do you have a secure server I can send the files to?"
"Put them on here and give it to the man I'll be sending back with you." He handed her a thin memory drive.
"Fine. Your turn."
Ollie tapped out the cigar in a glass ashtray that rested on a polished wooden table by his right elbow. He shuffled forward in his chair, the smell of smoke heavy on his breath.
"Remember that when it comes to the Imperium nothing is ever certain."
"You said you had infor—"
Ollie held up his hand. "I do. I'm just giving you the warning first. I'll tell you what I know, but a lot of it comes from rumors, so not all of it may be true. Anyway, I've heard of the place and I've heard about the kind of experiments they're supposed to do there."
Kari stiffened.
"Ah, so those files you have confirm it." Ollie's eyes gleamed. "I wouldn't mind getting myself a super-human, or are they sub-human?"
Kari's hand clenched into a fist; he was talking about Piper. And is that what he'd do? Find those poor people and enslave them? But she couldn't worry about that now, all she could do was learn as much as possible and use it to save her sister.
"Anyway," Ollie said. "I once heard of a guy who claimed that he escaped from Brassard. No one believed him of course, the guy was a loony, and a little too fond of NRG if you know what I mean. But I did wonder… and he said he'd escaped from near the Riat asteroid."
"Riat?" Kari said.
"It's an old mining place. Used to be full of katium but it's depleted now. It got shut down years ago, but there's something going on there. Even before the loony said he escaped, I had my eyes on it. There's always a lot of Imperium ships in the area, more than there should be for an abandoned mining station."
"You think that's it?" Kari said.
Ollie shrugged and sat back, taking his cigar from the ashtray and putting it in his mouth. "If it's anywhere, it's there. All the rumors suggest the same thing."
"Riat," Kari said in a breathless whisper.
"Don't expect to get close though," Ollie said. "If that was your plan."
"Why?" Kari said.
"Like I said, Imperium interest. I've sent scouts before. They don't let anyone get near. Just you watch."
Kari barely heard him. Of course there'd be security, if this asteroid really was what they thought; some secret Imperium base. But that didn't matter, all that mattered was they had a destination and she was one step closer to saving Piper.
CHAPTER 3
Wren perched on her usual stool in the corner of the dining room, a thick shadow falling across her face and hiding her from the rest of the crew. The knife tucked into her boot provided a reassuring pressure against her ankle and the gentle buzz of Ghost's engines filled the air around her, sending subtle vibrations over the bare skin of her hands.
It was all well and good that she'd get free board for helping Kari. But if things went south… she'd have no one to blame but herself. The whole plan made the back of her neck tingle. If the Guild had taught her anything, it was to stay away from the Imperium, stay under their radar. The Imperium knew the Guild existed—everyone did—but both groups stayed out of each other's way. That would end if the Imperium discovered Wren involved in this.
At the other end of the ship, Wren heard the shower turn off and Ryker shove the door of his room open.
"What the hell was that?" Ryker's voice echoed through the corridor. His footsteps followed and he stomped into the dining room with a damp towel hanging from his hand.
"What's wrong?" Kari said, hand dropping to her gun.
Wren didn't bother getting up. If there'd been something really wrong, Ryker's voice would have been different, and he would have dropped the towel. No, nothing to worry about.
"The shower!" Ryker said. "It was humming!"
"Humming?" Kari said, sitting down.
Atticus cleared his throat, hunching in his chair at the end of the table. "That might have been me."
"What do you mean?" Kari said.
"I was making some modifications—"
Kari turned to fully face him and red circles appeared on her cheeks.
Wren almost felt bad for the poor guy. Almost.
"You made modifications to my ship without asking?"
Atticus sunk lower in his chair. "I was just stabilizing the hot water…"
Kari's nostrils flared, the way they always did when she got mad. "You broke the shower?"
"No!" Atticus said. "No, I didn't break it. The hot water system is fixed."
"Actually," Ryker said, patting at his damp hair. "The hot water was good."
"Then what did you do?" Kari said.
"Sometimes I get a little… carried away when I'm tinkering…" Atticus' Adam's apple bobbed and he stopped speaking.
"What. Did. You. Do?"
"It hums," Atticus whispers.
"What?"
"It hums!" Atticus threw his hands wide. "It's just a small addition. I can probably get rid of it if you want. But it just kind of happened. It operates from the flow of hot water so the tune changes depending on—"
Kari rubbed her eyes. "The shower hums?"
"Yes."
"But it's got great hot water!" Ryker said, grinning.
Wren kept her face expressionless but inside she allowed herself a small chuckle. Maybe the tinker wasn't so bad after all; the shower had needed fixing.
"Can we just focus on what's important?" Kari said. "We're not far from the asteroid now. And we need a plan."
"There's going to be a lot of security," Ryker said. "I've already picked out my guns."
"I don't know if that—"
A single high-pitched wail sounded through the ship's speakers and a red light flashed near the door. Then a robotic voice spoke over the intercom. "Warning. There is extensive space junk in the region surrounding Riat. Do not enter this area."
Kari sprang to her feet as soon as the alarm sounded. "You've got to be kidding." She brought up the control screen on the wall of the d
ining room, and sure enough, the radar showed space junk, as thick as rats on Zenith. No ship could hope to get through it undamaged.
"All vehicles are forbidden entry. Please adjust course," said the mechanical voice.
"Clever bastards," Ryker said.
"It's a fake?" Atticus said.
"It has to be. It's too much of a coincidence that that much junk just happens to appear right around their secret base," Kari said.
"They'll know we're here," Ryker said. "They'll have radar, and who knows what kind of other detectors. If we try to get closer, they'll see us and probably blow us out of the sky."
"Do you have any cloaking?" Atticus said.
Kari shook her head. "Not to fool Imperium equipment."
Wren watched them all, reading the tenseness in Ryker's shoulders. As much as he might hate violence, he was spoiling for a fight. Atticus looked nervous, and Kari's slouch spoke volumes: desperation.
"I told you," Rusty said, perking up for the first time in hours. "This is a fool's mission."
"Not now, Rusty," Kari said. "Just enjoy your drink."
Rusty shrugged and took another sip of his coolant. "You're the boss."
"We've got to get closer," Kari said. "But they'll know we're coming."
"So announce it," Wren said, speaking for the first time.
They all turned to look at her, although she knew they wouldn't be able to make out her expression through the shadows.
"What do you mean?" Kari said.
Wren shrugged. "There's no point trying to sneak closer, the only way is to announce yourself. Make sure they have no reason to suspect you."
"A distress call," Kari said.
Wren nodded, settling back onto her stool.
"Yes," Ryker said. "We pretend we've been hit, the ship is damaged, and we need somewhere to land."
"They'll just kill us," Atticus said. "Don't you realize how secret this facility is? If they suspected for even a second what we were really doing… and even then, they'd kill us just to make sure we didn't find out."
Ryker frowned.
Kari tapped the table with her finger. "We've got to convince them that they can't kill us. We'll tell them that we've already called for backup from the ship repair company and that they'll be here soon. That way, they won't risk killing us because then the people who are coming looking for us will have questions."
"Maybe…" Atticus said.
"It's the only plan we've got."
"We try it," Ryker said. "And if they try to shoot us down, then we just have to hope that our shields hold out long enough to get us out of here."
"Not much chance of that," Kari muttered. "Alright, I'll send out the call."
"What then?" Atticus said. "Even if they do let us dock, they won't let us go wandering off, and we'll all be waiting there for a repair team that's never going to come."
Kari's eyes darted back and forth. "I have a plan."
***
Wren stood staring out of Ghost's side window as they came up to the Riat asteroid. It looked just as she'd imagined an abandoned mining asteroid would look; scaffolding covered its surface like a steel skeleton, with deep holes leading down into its core. Docking bays and sleeping quarters sprouted at odd angles, dotted with the Imperium logo—a shield with a five pointed star. Ghost locked onto the only lit docking station.
A single other ship was docked to the structure, a small decrepit looking thing. But Wren could imagine what the place must have looked like when the mining boom was in full swing. Ships would have swarmed over the asteroid like ants, coming and going, depositing crystal hunters and hauling away crates of katium for processing. It was dead now in comparison.
The ship shuddered as they docked with the station and Wren drew a deep breath. She closed her eyes, imagined the person she was going to become and, when she opened her eyes again, Wren was gone. Now she was Karli—a woman similar to Kari, only she had no missing sister. She'd been on a routine mission when they'd hit debris and they were nearly out of air.
Wren's face twisted into a suffering mask and she staggered through the ship to the main door which was just hissing open. She fell through the opening as soon as it was wide enough and collided with the wall of the airlock, drawing huge gasps of air, bent almost double.
To any observer she would look close to passing out, but in reality, the position provided Wren with a view of the airlock and put her right hand close to the knife in her boot. Ryker and Atticus fell out of the door behind her, both of them gasping. Wren could see through their acts, but hopefully the elderly man in the blue jumpsuit who'd come to meet them wasn't quite so perceptive.
Wren drew another ragged breath and straightened. She managed to hold out her hand to the stranger, he gripped it and his wet palm left a sheen of sweat on Wren's hand. He was nervous.
"Thank you," Wren said, between a few more gasps. "We would have died."
"Of course," he said. "Although, it was dangerous of you to come here. There's a lot of space junk. I was just about to leave myself and then the air would be switched off…"
"Thank the cosmos you were still here!" Wren said. "What should I call you?"
"Jamie," he said. "I've been the caretaker while this place closes down."
"And a fine job you've done too," Wren said, glancing around the airlock and into the facility beyond.
Jamie nodded, sidling over so that he partially blocked her view of the facility. "A repair team is coming?"
"Yeah," Wren said, pretending not to notice his nervous twitching. But his anxiety was hard to ignore and it set off her own worries—they had no idea what kind of surveillance this place had. What if the cameras saw Kari? She had to have made it out of the ship by now…
But Wren kept her worry off her face and slipped back into character. She just had to keep this Jamie busy—and whoever else was watching—long enough for Kari to get inside and find her sister.
How hard could it be?
CHAPTER 4
Kari pressed herself flat against Ghost's inner wall. She could just hear Wren's gasping breath, and the voice of a stranger, coming through the open door. There were no sudden shouts, or sounds of gunfire, and then Ghost's outer door hissed shut, leaving Kari in relative silence.
She drew a deep breath and her nostrils filled with the musty, plastic scent of the spacesuit. It had been sitting in Ghost's storage bay for longer than she cared to remember. When was the last time she'd checked it for leaks? She couldn't be sure, but there was no time to worry about that now. She just had to hope it held together, for her and Piper's sakes.
With the door closed, Kari relaxed some and brought up a display of the view outside. A man in blue overalls was talking to Wren and the others. He looked nervous, but he hadn't drawn any weapons. Yet. The door behind him, leading to the rest of the facility, was closed and Kari couldn't see beyond it.
Oh well, she'd have to stick with plan A.
She shuffled through the ship, trying to walk quietly in the thick boots of the spacesuit, and stopped at the maintenance hatch in the engine room. She'd vented most of the air before they docked with the mining station so that anyone watching would really believe that they'd been in trouble.
The rusted valve of the maintenance hatch squealed in Kari's grasp. She held her breath and heaved, struggling to get a good grip with the thick, plastic gloves. Finally, the teeth caught, and she managed to get the hatch open. The last of the ship's air whispered out with a weak rush that didn't even ruffle the edges of Kari's suit.
Beyond the hatch, the darkness of space loomed like a huge black blanket, interspersed with stars. She could just make out the bottom of the asteroid, miles away.
The only sound now was Kari's breathing, which was like a bellows in her ears and fogged up her helmet. What she wouldn't give to be anywhere else—except for Piper. Piper was worth anything.
Kari lowered herself through the hatch, clutching the rungs of the ladder that led to the outside like a lifeline.
As soon as she left the close confines of the ship's interior, the anti-grav lost its grip on her and her body lifted, weightless. Her stomach lurched into her throat and she gripped the ladder even tighter, heart hammering. If she slipped for even a second, she could be lost forever.
She shivered. There weren't many worse ways to die than drifting alone in space until your air ran out.
Sweat trickled down her forehead and dripped into her eye. She shook her head and blinked. This was no time to lose her nerve or get scared. Piper was counting on her, and dammit she would save her sister.
Kari waited a few moments to get accustomed to the sudden weightlessness and then edged down the ladder and around so that she clung to the bottom of the ship, like some tiny fish clinging to a whale.
She pulled herself in tight to the ship and tried to keep her legs close to the hull. If the Imperium had cameras—which they would—then it would only take one flailing limb to give her away. They'd shoot her, and the others, without another thought. They were probably debating that very thing—they'd be weighing up the risk of a repair ship coming to look for them, against them actually being docked to the facility. Kari hoped they took long enough to decide that she managed to get in and save Piper. At least this was one time when Imperium bureaucracy might work in her favor.
Kari reached out and gripped a pipe toward the front of Ghost, using it to pull herself forward.
No sound of alarm, and no sudden shots in her back. So far, so good.
She reached for the next handhold but as she slid along the side of the ship, a fold of the spacesuit got caught on a piece of metal. It tugged her back and her fingers slipped from the handhold.
Her heart lurched and she flailed, sure that this was it. But her left hand slapped against Ghost's hull and she managed to pull herself back to the ship. She stayed there panting for a few moments, not wanting to go on but knowing she had to.