by Alex Kings
“Allying ourselves,” he said to himself glumly, “with the very worst people in the galaxy.”
Shaking his head, he entered the contact details Albert Wells and given him, stared at the screen in silence for several seconds, then forced himself to hit the call button.
He waited for some time. Just as he was about to kill the call, it was answered.
Felix Zino appeared on the screen. When he saw Rurthk his eyes widened briefly. But otherwise, if he was troubled by the fact that Rurthk had his contact details, he didn't show it.
“Captain Rurthk,” he said with a slowly glowing smile. “How's the leg?”
All healed now,” said Rurthk, smiling back with a razor-edged politeness. “You weren't there to defend the scientists at Blindness.”
Zino shrugged. “They were in a hurry. Didn't ask me along for the ride, so I didn't go. I am, after all, just their faithful servant.”
“Their loss, I suppose,” said Rurthk.
“And the scientists,” pointed out Zino. He sat back in her chair and grinned at Rurthk. “So, shall we get to the point? What do you want?”
“I want to hire you,” said Rurthk.
“I already have employers,” said Zino. “I do believe you've run into them a couple of times.”
“And yet here I am,” said Rurthk.
“Speaking entirely hypothetically,” said Zino. “If you did hire me, what would you ask me to do?”
“We want to destroy an enemy of ours,” said Rurthk. “Obliterate it completely, kill its leaders.”
Zino nodded. “Go on.”
“It's a very large, very powerful, and very secretive organisation,” said Rurthk. “I do believe you've run into it a couple of times.”
Zino stared at him, then threw his head back and laughed. He slapped his knee in mirth. “You want to destroy Vihan Yvredi?” he said. “Really? You and your little crew?”
Rurthk held his gaze.
“Why in the world would I help you hurt my employers?”
“Come on, Felix,” said Rurthk. “We know each other too well to play games like this. You're not looking for anything so banal as power. And you're certainly not motivated by loyalty! You want to kill the people who are worthy of your skills, who are supposed to be untouchable. And who is more untouchable right now than the leaders of Vihan Yvredi.”
Zino leaned forward, smiling broadly. “Am I so transparent, Rurthk? Oh dear. It's an audacious plan, I'll give you that. That's what I liked about you when you came for Sukone. Not many would take the fight to a Sweetblade boss, you know.” He paused, as if reliving the happy memory. “This is starting to look like a very tempting offer. But tell me one thing: You're starting to look pretty untouchable yourself right now. Why shouldn't I just kill you?”
“Because you can do it later,” said Rurthk. “If you help me with this, then I'll be the man who killed the crime boss Sukone and destroyed Vihan Yvredi. Then, I promise you, we can fight. And only one of us will leave the arena alive. Maybe you'll even want to use these.” He held up the three knives Zino had left with them before.
“Well, then,” said Zino, rubbing his hands together. “Make me an offer.”
“A hundred thousand credits, to make one strike. I'll tell you when and where to go. And I'll send one of my crew to meet you beforehand.”
Zino nodded. “I might need some help. Someone to do the grunt work. Whoever you send, I want them with me for the strike.”
Rurthk thought. “Okay, I think I can make that work.”
“Excellent,” said Zino. “In that case, you have yourself a deal.”
Chapter 65: I Haven't Been For A Long Time
It was late afternoon. Mero breakfasted alone in an expensive but mostly empty bar in Aria's capital. He made his way through a bowl of oats in water, a collection of sweet berries from various worlds, and some luminous blue human drink that had almost as much sugar as alcohol.
The Petaur girls had gone home one or two nights ago, and he hadn't been able to find any more yet. He supposed he should at some point, but right now he didn't have the energy.
Maybe I'll just do this for the rest of my life, he thought. Move from hotel to hotel across the galaxy. He could easily afford it, but for a moment he wondered how much it would cost. He grabbed his tablet and tried to work out the daily cost. He couldn't. He knew how he'd spent, but he couldn't remember for the life of him how long he'd been on Aria. It was somewhere between four and nine days, of that much he was certain, but further details eluded him. He supposed that with his tablet he could work it out, but suddenly he could no longer be bothered. He contracted it and put it away again.
The door opened. He peered dimly at the hooded human figure entering, decided she wasn't a threat, then looked away.
The next thing he knew, she'd sat down at the table opposite him and pulled back her hood. “Hi, Mero.”
He nearly knocked over his glass. For a fraction of a second, he was ready to fight, then he saw it was Olivia.
He stared at her from across the table. “What do you want? Actually, no, a better question: How the hell did you find me?”
Olivia grinned. “Let's see,” she said. “Lone Petaur, lots and lots of cash, recently arrived, no room of his own … You weren't that hard to find.”
“Damn,” growled Mero. “If it's that easy for you to find me, I hate to think how much I stand out to someone competent.”
Olivia shrugged and reached out for some of the human fruits. Violetberries, they were called, or something like that. “May I?”
Mero waved his hand. “Yeah.”
Olivia took some of the berries and ate them.
“So what do you want?” asked Mero.
“Well,” said Olivia softly. “If you want to help take down Vihan Yvredi –“
“Help Rurthk?”
Olivia nodded.
“Did he realise he needed my help before or after he gave me a concussion and four broken vertebrae?” said Mero.
Olivia took another berry. “After. Definitely after.”
“Oh, good. Glad we cleared that up.” Mero took a long drink. “No.”
“Huh?”
“No, I don't want to help Rurthk take down Vihan Yvredi,” said Mero. “I've got money and alcohol and drugs and sex. I don't need anything else.”
“Don't sulk,” Olivia chided him.
“How about I beat you up? And then we can see how eager you are to help me.” Mero leaned forward and grinned, bearing his teeth. His voice dropped to a soft growl. “I could, you know. Right now. There isn't much law enforcement outside. Plus side, you wouldn't have to worry about your father's facial recognition software catching you for a while.”
He slammed his hand down suddenly, right in front of her, with a sharp bang. He was gratified to see her flinch. He gave a joyless laugh.
“I like you, kit,” he said. “So piss off and don't make me consider it. The answer is a no.”
She stared at him. “Fine,” she muttered, standing up.
Mero watched her go, then went back to his drink.
*
Olivia stopped outside the bar, and turned to look back. Its sign was in neon green cursive English. The stained glass windows gave little hint of what was inside.
“Well,” she whispered to herself, “that could've gone better.” She put up her hood, jammed her hands in her pockets against the chill air, and headed down the narrow road.
The sun, a red giant that covered a huge portion of the sky, was already beginning to dip below the horizon. It left long and weak shadows.
She'd just have to try again. And if Mero actually did try and hurt her – something he could easily do – she'd just have to live with it. Her transport left in twenty hours. She could try again tonight, and if that failed, tomorrow morning. Perhaps she could convince him to let her have a drink with him, at the very least.
Occupied with these thoughts, she turned a corner without looking where she was going. It was only af
ter she'd walked a couple of metres that she noticed that there was a shuttle blocking the road. And that there were four armed people standing in front of it.
She froze for a moment, then grabbed her gun.
The shuttle's door swung upwards to reveal someone standing behind it.
“Catherine,” said her father.
He was standing behind a panel of strengthened sapphiroid, immune to gunfire. His guards all had their stun projectile weapons ready to fire.
Olivia focused her aim on the nearest of his guards, but then she heard another one coming up behind her. There was no one else around.
“Wonderful,” she muttered. “Just frigging wonderful.”
“Catherine,” her father said again. “It's time to stop playing around and come home.”
“Playing around?” said Olivia. She laughed with disbelief. “You think I'm the one playing around? Look at yourself! There are more important things going on than your stupid little empire, dad. And I'm part of them. I'm trying to fix this war!”
He waved a hand dismissively. “You need to learn to put this petty idealism aside and live in the real world.”
She shook her head. “I've got stuff to do, and you're in the way.”
“You are coming home now!” snapped her father.
“You know what'll happen if I do?” said Olivia. “No, I won't try and escape. I'm past that.”
Her father started to speak, but she kept going.
“I'll destroy it,” she said. “Trash it. Sell off your assets, give away your money. I'll do everything I can to bring you down. And if I do manage to escape again …” She took a deep breath and swallowed, uncertain if she could even bring herself to say it. “ … If I do escape again, I won't put so much effort into keeping you alive next time.”
Her father said nothing. For once. His face was a mask of poorly-concealed fury. For a second or two he just stood there, glaring at her, then he said, “Enough. You will come back, and –”
A lone shot rang out, and the man behind Olivia collapsed.
Before she had time to turn around, one of the guards fired. Not at her, but at something behind her. She sensed motion. The guards looked about, startled.
Then Mero dropped softly to the ground behind her. He held a pistol in one hand and a grenade in the other.
“Hi, kit,” he said, offering her a brief grin. Then, looking forward, he went on, “Enoch Chase! Goodness me, what brings a celebrity like you to a little world like this?” Without missing a beat, he held up the grenade and addressed the guards. “And, in case anyone wants to be a hero, I'm pretty sure I can throw this accurately before passing out. That's you three –” He nodded at the guards to his right. “– down, and that shuttle ruined. And that's assuming you manage to hit, which you won't.”
Chase's eyes were wide. His face was contorted into some combination of anger and bewilderment.
“I can have you killed with a single order, you flying rat,” he growled.
“Please do,” said Mero. “Really, go right ahead, because I've been having a pretty shitty week and I could use the excitement.
Chase looked between them. “This is one of your new friends, Catherine?” he said.
Olivia glanced at Mero, who nodded. “Yeah,” she said, smiling. “Now go away, before you get hurt.”
Chase was silent for several seconds. His guards stood ready, but looked increasingly uncomfortable.
“Fine,” he spat. “Go. Live in squalor. But you are not my heir. From this point on, you are no longer a member of the Chase lineage.”
“I haven't been for a long time,” Olivia told him as the guards retreated inside the shuttle.
He didn't answer. The shuttle's door swung shut, and the shuttle rose quickly into the sky. In a few moments, it was gone.
“Oh, God,” whispered Olivia. The enormity of what had happened just hit her. She found she was shaking. “Did I really just say that? Oh, God.”
“Calm down, kit,” said Mero. “How about you buy me a drink, and maybe I'll put some effort into listening when you tell me what Rurthk wants help with.”
Olivia swallowed. She gave a small, sharp nod.
“Yeah,” she said. “Yeah … let's go back inside.”
They turned and headed back to the bar.
Chapter 66: Something Profound
Mr. Soul once again had his ear to the wall but this time he was opposite the door. If he'd judged the ship's layout correctly, he should be close to the outer hull.
He tapped his claw lightly against the wall and listened to the echo. Then he stretched out his arm and tapped the wall again. He shifted his head, and tapped once more.
Comparing the echoes, he slowly began to build up a mental image of what lay beyond the wall. Connecting beams, cavities, pipes, volatile tanks. It was fuzzy, it was vague, but bit by bit, it grew clearer.
After an hour's work, not counting three times he had to stop as someone came to check on him, he had a pretty good idea of what to expect. There was a small gap between two volatile tanks, and on the far side of that, the outer hull.
Moreover, though it was very faint, he could hear the seams between the plates making up the wall. They were hard to see, but when he ran his claws over the surface, he felt them catch slightly on the seam.
He traced the outlines of the piece of wall plating he wanted to remove, then set about detaching it using a sliver of carbide he'd found under the bed and a piece of the manacles which had broken off. In his head, he repeated to himself what he'd heard.
They continued to interrupt him. Every time he heard footsteps outside, he leapt back and put his manacles back on. The door would open, and two of Rurthk's crew would look at him, weapons raised. At one point, the Tethyan, Laodicean, came inside and tested the manacles and searched Mr. Soul – but he was in a hurry and didn't find anything.
Mr. Soul went back to work. When he wasn't working, he listened at the door for more information. The crew were past the planning stage now, and were busy with preparations. But occasionally Mr. Soul heard an interesting comment such as “We need a decoy.” He memorised it all as he worked on the wall plating.
Eventually – it must have been a day at least – the wall plating was loose enough that he could slide his claws underneath a corner. He peeled it back carefully. There was a faint clicking nose as it separated from the surrounding wall, and then, with a sharp crack, it came away.
Beyond it, he saw the two volatile tanks, and beyond them the outer hull, just as he'd predicted.
There were footsteps approaching again, so he pressed the piece of wall plating back into place, made sure it was just firm enough to not fall down, and then went to put his manacles back on.
Soon, he'd be free.
*
Olivia walked across the surface of the spaceport to the Outsider. She smiled when she saw it. Its irregular bulk was outlined against the dim grey sky of Cantor. Light coming out of the cockpit windows lit up the finely-falling snow in front of it.
She clambered up the steps to the airlock. It clanged weakly when she knocked.
The airlock opened with a much louder clang and swung inwards. Rurthk was standing in the corridor inside. He smiled when he saw her. “Welcome back.”
“I'm early,” she said.
“Good. We're on a tight schedule.” He stepped back to allow her inside.
In the corridor, warm air blanketed her. She closed and sealed the airlock, and then shrugged off her coat.
They continued in silence down the corridor. Only when they were in the observation lounge did Rurthk turn to her. “How did it go?”
“Mero's in,” she said. “He's putting a team together now.”
“How long will that take?” said Rurthk.
“According to what he told me, less than twenty four hours.”
“Good,” said “Rurthk. “Albert Wells has all his strike teams in position. As soon as I tell them where to hit, he can begin.”
Olivia l
ooked out the window at the lightly-falling snow. “Damn,” she said. “It's actually coming together. We're actually going to do this.”
“Assuming Mr. Hand doesn't find us and send a bunch of people to kill us all,” said Eloise, striding through the door. She hugged Olivia. “Glad you're safe. Relatively, I mean.”
Rurthk took a deep breath as if preparing himself. “I've got another job for you,” he said reluctantly. “As it turns out, you really are our sociopath wrangler.”
“What is it?” said Olivia.
“Now, I'm not going to order you to do this. You're free to turn it down. You will be in danger …”
“We all will, when everything kicks off.” said Olivia.
“Fair point,” said Rurthk. He sighed. “We've got Zino on our side. The problem is, he wants one of the crew to go with him. And we all know he's a mite unpredictable. He can turn on someone if he decides they're fun to kill.”
“Ah,” said Olivia.
“The reason I think you'd be best to join is because …”
“Because I'm the weakest member of the team,” Olivia said.
“Well …” began Rurthk.
“He likes a challenge. He's only ever seen me run away. He won't think it worth the effort killing me,” said Olivia.
“Pretty much, yeah,” said Eloise. She put her hand on Olivia's shoulder. “But we can't guarantee that. So if you want someone else to meet Zino, that's fine.”
Olivia shook her head. “I can do it,” she said.
Rurthk nodded, and put his hand on her shoulder. “There's one more thing I want you to do,” he said.
*
The crew gathered in the observation lounge. Perhaps, Rurthk thought, for the final time. As he looked across them all, he felt a lump in his throat.
This was the sort of thing he wouldn't admit to anyone apart from Eloise – and now, perhaps, the Life queen. He didn't like to be sentimental, so he got down to the practicalities:
“Olivia has just got words from Mero. He has his little army with him, and he'd just landed on Cantor. He's ready to attack on our signal.”