by Rachel Caine
Nightmare Face came on without caution, seeing me as small and weak, already defeated. I was on my back, right? No need to fear me. But cats are most dangerous when on their backs, and I’d clawed my way up in the rankings. No way I’d stop now. My opponent committed, full lunge, mouth open.
In a flash, I whisked the shock stick in front of me and braced. Perfect angle: the electrified tip went into its gaping beak, past the ridged chitin and into the soft, wet tissue of its throat.
I jammed it in at an angle and made sure the charge kept running.
Flesh sizzling, my enemy thrashed as it choked on my shock stick. I rolled away, barely dodging the slamming strike of legs that could’ve impaled me, and then the flailing barbed tail. As the champion jerked and eventually stilled, the timer counted down to zero.
For a few seconds, the roar from the crowd was deafening as medical personnel came to check on my opponent and give treatment. I didn’t think I’d killed the thing, but its throat would probably be sore as hell for a few days. As the adrenaline surge trickled away, I absorbed how shaky I was. Somehow, I managed to keep my feet and pose for the crowd. My face shot up-rank, to a mixture of cheers and boos.
When I got back to Chao-Xing, she wore an expression I couldn’t read. “This is where you say, ‘good job’ or something,” I prompted.
Her look didn’t waver. The longer I scrutinized her, the more I thought she had something important to say. Then she put a hand on my shoulder. “You may not have the best training, but . . . I think you have a gift that cannot be taught.”
“I . . . what?” Of all things, I wasn’t expecting that.
“When you fight, you spot your opponent’s weakness. You instinctively see how to defeat them.”
“Well, yeah. Isn’t that normal, looking for a way to win?”
“Looking, yes. But most people don’t find it as fast as you. And I’ve watched you now, several matches, and your ability to pinpoint weakness? Uncanny.”
“It’s not that weird,” I said. “Where I come from, that’s just . . . it’s street fighting. You do whatever you need to, put your enemy down. You survive.”
Chao-Xing shook her head. She didn’t have time to argue with me, though, because she got called up next. Watching her fight, it dawned on me that she was right. Her strikes were fierce, but she didn’t seem to see what I saw. If I was up against this opponent, barehand, I’d go after its knees. They were knobby, spindly, and I could see how the match would proceed if I took that course. But C-X didn’t seem to pick up on it, so it took her much longer to win. I would’ve ended that bout in less than two minutes.
She was sweaty when she joined me, trembling with exhaustion. This time I didn’t care how she reacted. I gave her my shoulder. To my surprise, she leaned for a minute as the next fight was called. C-X mopped her face with her sleeve.
“Do you believe me now?”
“I think I might.” I told her what I’d noticed about the alien’s leg joints.
Seeming unsurprised, she said quietly, “I couldn’t pinpoint that, Zara. This is an advantage you must exploit in our next match.”
“Last time when we tag-teamed—”
“You were blindsided, and then you were watching me. This time, I need your full focus on the enemy.”
Otherwise, we’ll get owned.
She didn’t need to add the last part. The more we up-ranked, the tougher our opponents got. We were hanging near the top-middle now. If we passed this tag-team match, we’d be in the top ten, enough fita to access the upper tiers. Hello, starship supplies.
I bounced on the heels of my feet, shaking out the tension that came from waiting. We both needed to hydrate, so I got us some water from the vending machine.
“Here.” I handed C-X the tube, and she drained it without protest. “You think Nadim and Typhon are okay?”
“Is that what you should be concerned about now?” It was a reprimand, so I did my best to get my head in the game.
Five matches, five winners called. The ranking board changed according to those decisions, and then the avatars blurred and scrambled, their way of upping the tension and excitement. No joke, it worked too, because I tensed, waiting to see who Chao-Xing and I would face in the next challenge.
“Zeerakull and JongShowJing challenging!”
Since C-X had led the way last time, I followed her lead when she chose a long stick with a padded metal ball at the end, kind of like a bo staff, with a weight at the end for bludgeoning. “Challengers choose the xersis. Interesting selection. Champions decline weapons. Let the battle begin!”
Four aliens swaggered into the ring—not great odds for us—and they were a race I hadn’t seen before. I should have been awed by all the diverse types of life there were in the universe, but mostly I needed to focus on how to incapacitate them, which kind of took the wonder out of the equation. Gray skin, thin bodies, two arms and legs, but these weren’t the big-eyed grays from human lore; they were more like if someone mixed shark DNA with a primate to see how that would play out.
Claws, check. Teeth? More like fangs; jaw might have a second joint like a croc.
“Zara,” Chao-Xing called. “What’re you seeing?”
“Nothing yet.”
Their legs looked strong; same with their joints. The champions didn’t give me time to complete the assessment. Charging, two on one, they tried to overwhelm us with a flurry of powerful strikes. Those claws would do major damage, even in a nonlethal fight. Possible that we’d bleed out before medical personnel arrived.
I barely blocked all the hits, and the impact resonated into my elbows and set rockets of pain off in my shoulders. These bastards were strong. They attacked in perfect concert too.
I unfocused my gaze, trying to watch all four at once. And that was when I saw it: the perfection of the timing.
“They’re linked!” I shouted.
“So? Plan?”
“Working on it.”
“Work faster!” She fell back under the flurry of blows.
Murky eyes, holes in the side of their heads, but I couldn’t strike fast enough to get to anything that might slow them down. It was taking almost all my ability to block; I had no idea how to mount an offensive. These assholes were fast, fierce, and completely coordinated. Block, block, smash. I got lucky and whacked the end of my xersis into the alien’s earholes. Immediately they all stumbled and for a few seconds, they couldn’t seem to find me.
“I don’t think they see well! They hear! Earholes, now!”
In unison, C-X and I wheeled, slamming the sides of our enemies’ heads in a one-two strike. They staggered, and I smashed my xersis harder, digging into the soft flesh on the side of the skull. A shriek went up from all four, and they lashed out, no longer a perfect dance of death, but chaotic and agonized. I didn’t even have to hit them hard, but the repeated percussion put each of them on the ground, writhing in pain.
Unbelievably, Chao-Xing strode over to me and took my hand, raising both our arms in the air as the timer wound down. For a few seconds, I basked in the victory glow. She was feeling it too, all sass and swagger. I would not have believed C-X could showboat if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes.
“JongShowJing and Zeerakull, champions!” That was new. I guessed it meant we’d joined the Sliver’s elite warriors.
Damn right.
I strutted a little as we claimed our stuff from the lockers that held our personal gear. When we got out of the arena, fans practically mobbed us. C-X iced them out with a look that sent all but the most determined scuttling away. Bea, Marko, and Yusuf threaded their way toward us. In the short time since I’d seen him, Marko was thinner, with new lines by his mouth, and a layer of brown scruff that highlighted his pallor. Finally, he looked like a scraggly deep-space astronaut instead of a PR pretty boy.
While Marko radiated exhaustion, Yusuf had perked up some. It was good to see the man smiling. He had dimples too. Maybe the best cure for grief was being needed.
Before I could answer, I smelled something rotten. And familiar.
Mandy oozed up from the cracks in the metal flooring in a gooey rush. I could see why the bastard had claimed nobody could hurt him. Heh. We’ll see. Yusuf already had a weapon in his hand, and Marko was drawing, not that human tech could defeat this thing. While Bea looked like she’d wanted to run, her feet stayed firmly planted.
The crowd around us dispersed so fast it was like they’d teleported. In the viewing stands I heard shouts, cries, and hisses echoing as people started calling attention to what was happening down below.
Free show.
Mandy growled out, “Came for the debt you owe me, Zeerakull. You are dead.”
As he lashed a pseudopod at me, I dived and rolled.
Mandy chuckled this time. Sounded like a bad toilet draining. “You cannot escape me, softskin. I can find you anywhere. You and your friends. All know this. All know I am invincible!”
“Oh yeah? Let’s find out.” As I came up behind the blob, I took out the personal-force-field device that I’d bought on the junk level, tapped the button, and chucked it. The small box sank into Mandy with a plop. Mentally, I was counting the seconds.
“You fool. This is not a weapon,” the blob taunted.
Not in most people’s hands.
As the unit settled into the blob’s core, the timed force field flared on ten seconds later, turning Mandy inside out. Controlled expansion was one thing, but this push happened so fast that the alien splattered, exposing a glittering cluster of nerves that must have served as its brain—something like it, anyway. Before it reformed, I stomped the nerve cluster, grinding my foot against the floor plating until those delicate tissues were paste on the bottom of my boot.
“Can’t hurt you, huh?” Scrape and spread. I pulled the matter apart, breaking connections one by one. “Nobody screws with me or my crew. Don’t you ever threaten us.” I added that last bit for witnesses who might want to try me.
There was a hush on all the upper levels, and when I looked up, there were a thousand alien faces turned toward us. A whole bloom of Jellies, dozens of them, clustered above, floating in midair as they—presumably—watched.
Beneath my feet, a pseudopod trembled, tried to form. Nope. One last twist of my heel, and the sentient goo stopped receiving signal. The spatter was just residue to be scrubbed away by cleaning bots.
I turned again to look up at the crowd. “Don’t start none,” I said, “won’t be none. Got me?” Casually, I bent to pick up my slimy force-field gadget, wiped it on my pants, and shoved it in my pocket. Hope it still works. I don’t care what C-X says. This will come in handy.
It might have been one of Suncross’s crew who started the chant, but it picked up and thundered, seasoned with dozens of accents and translation matrixes. “Zeerakull! Zeerakull! Zeerakull!”
Bea was staring at me too. “You—you killed it.”
“Damn right I did. It nearly butchered Starcurrent. And it was gunning for every one of us.” I didn’t understand why she looked so shaken. “Had to be done, Bea.”
“But—”
“Beatriz. It had to be done. Best it be done out here where everybody sees it.”
“I agree,” Marko said, putting away his weapon.
Sure enough, he wasn’t the same bright-eyed boy who’d pulled me out of Camp Kuna.
Yusuf sighed softly and shook his head. “Sometimes we must do bad things to prevent worse, but that does not make them right.”
Necessary, not right. I could live with that.
“I have no idea how you thought of that,” Bea said. “Using the shield that way.”
“Hey, you have your area of expertise. I got mine. Mine mostly involves ruining somebody else’s good day.”
“Attention.”
I’d never heard a station announcement before, but this commanding tone overrode every sound, every conversation, and rang like a bell through the entire Sliver. A cool voice. Calm. Assured.
“Zara Cole, Zhang Chao-Xing, champions of the Pit, you are summoned. Bacia Annont will see you now.”
We’d earned a visit with the Sliver’s big boss.
FROM THE UNOFFICIAL PUBLICATION A GUIDE TO THE SLIVER
Source: Bruqvisz Planetary Database, unlicensed copy
If you are summoned to the dread presence of Bacia Annont, the unquestioned ruler of the Sliver, we have only one piece of advice to deliver:
Do not go.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Binding Command
BACIA MIGHT BE a big deal on the Sliver, but I understood crim bosses down to the bone. They waited until they had you at disadvantage, and then they summoned you, so you’d be conscious of the great gap between their grandeur and your squalor. I wasn’t about to answer a summons straight from the arena.
Maybe I couldn’t get a shower, but there were ways around it, even here. Spending some mynt got me hygiene kits and clean clothes. I handed one to C-X, saying, “If we start by jumping the exact second Bacia says jump, we’ll already be at a disadvantage in this sit-down. We aren’t hounds that heel on cue, okay?”
C-X nodded. “You make a fair point.”
“Plus, I’m dying to see if this helps,” Bea added, as she took her kit.
Our room was big enough that three of us could wash and change at the same time. I’d lived in enough group homes and rehab centers that I had no modesty. Mostly I was curious if these glorified wet wipes could help, and they did remove the salt and sweat from certain key areas. Once I’d tidied up as best I could, I put on the new outfit and then went to work on my hair. I needed to wash and condition it, but for now, I settled for doing the front in a crossed twist, leaving the back in a cute puff; I’d never been able to braid the back of my hair, but this, I could pull off.
“How is it?” I asked Bea, striking a pose.
“I love it. Can you do mine?”
In my whole life, I’d only done braids for my sister, Kiz, when my mom was too busy or too stressed. Bea had a lot of hair, probably type 3B, but I didn’t hesitate. “Sure. What’d you have in mind?”
“Fishtail?”
That wasn’t too complicated or beyond my ability with the limited product we had. I damped her curls as I had mine and got to work. C-X alternated between pacing and tapping her foot against the floor. “I can’t believe you’re actually doing each other’s hair.”
“What, you jealous I’m not fixing yours too?” I grinned at her.
“Just get dressed already,” Chao-Xing said to Bea.
Unintentionally, I’d gotten us matching outfits: yellow for me, blue for Beatriz, and red for Chao-Xing, who was grumbling as she pulled on her jumpsuit. “You think we’re a superhero team?”
“I got what was cheapest and looked like it would fit us.” The fabric was strange and milky, seeming like it should be transparent, and somehow it wasn’t. I could get used to the gossamer softness and how breathable the material was.
“These are probably pajamas,” Chao-Xing muttered.
“At this moment, I can’t stress how much I don’t care. Look, do you know how hard it is find clothes that fit us in a criminal squat that doesn’t even have humans? I think these are meant for those weird little gray guys. We need to move. A minor delay can be excused as us wanting to be courteous by looking our best. But if we screw around too long, it’ll seem like this is a power play.”
“Isn’t it?” Bea asked.
Shushing her, I found Marko and Yusuf pacing the corridor. “It’s probably not good to keep Bacia waiting,” Yusuf said.
“It’ll be fine.”
I hope.
Since Bacia had only summoned the pit champions—Chao-Xing and me—we probably couldn’t bring our whole entourage. I pulled Marko aside once we got to the main tier. “Take Bea and Yusuf; watch over Starcurrent. Ze’s in medical right now and we can’t leave zim unprotected.”
“Unders
tood. Be careful, Zara.”
“That was some good tactical thinking,” Chao-Xing said as we moved off.
We leapt from the transit platform together and kicked off for the top tier. Other commuters dropped off at each tier, but we kept soaring, up and up, until it was just the two of us, and when I looked down I could see the entire rusty, chaotic beauty of the Sliver spread below us.
What could I say? It had grown on me.
As we entered the last zone, a recording began to blare. It was a translation-matrix field: Warning, you are approaching a restricted area! Do not attempt to depart at this level without prior authorization. Death or severe maiming will occur.
Bacia did not play.
My heart thumped harder as I landed. Crimson lights flared all around as Chao-Xing settled beside me. I couldn’t see any threats. Didn’t mean there wasn’t a big-ass gun pointed at us, ready to shred our asses into space confetti.
“Maybe red means go,” Chao-Xing said. “Bacia may not see in the same spectrums, or have the same cultural—”
The lights suddenly flared gold, and a high, pleasant tone sounded. The words that followed were just a blur of sound until the translation matrix kicked in. “You may proceed to authentication.”
Turning, I glanced back at the dizzying view below, absorbing how small the tiers looked. At this remove, I couldn’t hear any of the gambling dens, none of the drinkers in the dives, none of the merchants’ patter. It was a different world in the Peak, one that gave me vertigo. Quickly I wheeled to follow C-X.
Security was tight. We walked up to a blank wall, where a featureless black plate emerged like it was rising out of a sea of milk, ripples and all. Was this thing liquid? I didn’t dare touch it to find out. “What now?” I asked.
“Breathe on it,” Chao-Xing suggested. “It’s probably for DNA collection.”
“Yeah, or they like a sobriety check.” I shrugged and leaned forward, and gave it a good sample of my breath.