Junker Blues: Mars: Junker Blues series

by Lon E. Varnadore

  Hazon looked from Lash to Marcus and back. His eyes were starting to regain composure. Does he see an opportunity with Lash? Marcus saw the businessman’s entire body shift from one of a caged animal, ready to strike, to a more controlled posture when his eyes settled on Lash. He pulled the gun up and away from Marcus. “Very well,” he said, dropping the pistol’s barrel to point at the floor. “Let’s talk, Ilas.”

  “Lash, what gives?” Marcus asked, looking at her confused. He pushed himself onto his feet and backed away from Hazon another step.

  “Had to find my partner,” she said without looking at him, flashing a small smile. This time, she let it her touch her eyes. “Besides, I told you I had a way to get out of this deal.”

  “Oh, this I wish to hear,” Hazon said, turning and slipping the gun away inside his coat with a small flourish. Marcus noticed he wasn’t rubbing the nub of his ring finger anymore.

  Well that’s a good thing, I think, Marcus thought.

  “The Eridani.”

  Lash let the words hang as Marcus looked at her, stunned. “Are you insane?” Marcus asked.

  “No. But dealing with him is,” Lash spat back, jutting her chin towards to Hazon, her hand not wavering from holding it on the mob boss’ goons.

  “Lash, there has to be another way,” Marcus said.

  There was a small pause, and for a moment, Marcus thought he saw Lash’s tendrils start to writhe and glow. It either stopped as soon as he noticed, or it was a trick of the light. He sidled closer to her, not wanting to move fast or spook anyone. “How are we getting out of here?”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Hazon said, his teeth flashing a sly grin. “It is impossible.”

  “I have ways,” Lash said, smirking back.

  What are you—

  There was a twinge of movement from Baller and Kryn, their arms coming up towards Lash. Their right sleeves tore open to reveal metallic arms with small, recessed thrower units built into their arms. Both whined with a high-pitched thrum as they came to life. Before Marcus could finish the thought, he watched Kryn spin a half turn towards Baller. Baller’s face mask turned to confusion as Kryn fired, sending a bolt of plasma through Baller’s arm. Baller flinched forwards as his twin moved, firing himself. Baller’s shot hit Kryn center mass. Both went down.

  “Let’s go!” Lash screamed in Marcus’ head.

  He surged past Lash while Hazon roared and fired. The crimson bolt of laser light missed Marcus by a centimeter. Marcus felt the heat of the bolt sizzle through the air. Hazon turned his pistol on Lash. Smiling his cold and vicious smile, the laz-pistol lowered with a sudden abruptness that stunned Marcus. “Very well then, go.”

  Marcus turned to look at Lash, who was already pushing him further into the corridor while shouting, “We need to go!” Her robotic voice screamed as Hazon let out a haunting laugh that chilled Marcus.

  Marcus knew that when Hazon started laughing, bad, bad things were coming down the pipe. And there was very little Marcus could do about it.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “We have to get out of here,” Lash said, continuing to shove Marcus forward towards the fire exit doors.

  “That is somewhat obvious. How did you—”

  “Run Marcus! Ask questions later.”

  Marcus bit back his next question. She’s right. He was out from under Hazon, for the moment, but he wanted to get out of the building to feel truly safe. “We still need a ship and need to get off-planet.”

  “What about selling the thing?” Lash asked. She opened a set of doors at the end of a corridor with a series of steps leading up and down.

  “Not going to happen on Mars. Hazon will make damn sure of that.” Marcus knew as soon as he had opened his mouth, Hazon would make sure he was the only one to get ahold of it. “We have to get off-planet if we want to sell it to someone.”

  “Dammit, Marcus,” Lash growled as they ran up the stairs, “You promised—”

  Marcus realized one beat and half a flight of stairs too late that they were going up. “Why are going up?”

  “The ride is up there,” Lash said, pointing upwards. She pressed his thrower into his hand. “You are better with this thing than I am. Come on. We’ll have company soon.”

  Not wanting to wait to find out, he jogged after her long-legged stride.

  Marcus cleared the rooftop door a moment after Lash shouldered open the door. He was stunned to see that on the roof of Hazon’s building was a shiny new skimmer. Off to one side was the gyro used by the twins to bring him to the building. Fore and aft held dual spinning blades with engines already humming. The spinning blades would cancel out the torque created by each other. The engine sounded like it was almost pristine as it started up from a device Lash held in her hand. There was even a double-sealed hatch; at least Marcus assumed it was from the way the thing opened like with a gull-like design.

  “Is this able to go outside the dome?” Marcus asked, ducking under the aft section to get a quick look at the blades. His eye wasn’t as skilled with land-based craft, but the thing looked to be brand new.

  “Yes. That is the plan,” Lash said as she pulled herself into the pilot seat of the skimmer. “Heading towards Tharsis City is the plan.”

  “How did you get this?” Marcus asked, marveling at the vehicle for a moment before getting into the passenger side door. “Wait. Why Tharsis?”

  “A friend,” Lashiel said, an enigmatic smile on her face, “Waiting for us there.”

  Marcus stopped. Something wasn’t right about this. “What friend?”

  “A guy named Jeff called me up and said he owed you. So—"

  Marcus felt something click in his head when that heard the name, Jeff. “Wait. Isn’t that the little weasel that used to work on the main dock of Tharsis City?” Marcus asked Lash.

  “Yes,” her robot voice said, a twinge of feedback causing Marcus to wince. “Why?” She asked.

  “I think I know who it was that tipped off the MDF to Hazon.” Marcus gave a sly smile. “And I want to get a crack at him before we jump atmo.” He cracked his knuckles as the skimmer lifted off.

  “How do you figure it was him?” Lash asked, not looking at him. She was trying to make the skimmer work with minimal help from the traffic buoys. It wasn’t easy, but she had skills; Marcus gave her that. Soon, she was weaving amongst the traffic lanes, descending a few levels so as to further hide away from any of Hazon’s goons.

  “When we first put in for a landing site, Jeff was the one I contacted first. Had to find out if there was any MDF activity nearby while coming in. At least that is what he was supposed to do.”

  “There is always—”

  “I know, but there are varying degrees. Normally, Customs isn’t going to be an issue for Hazon. Only when there is an uptick in security. Jeff said things were good. And then what happened when I sent a message to Hazon?”

  “We were raided,” Lash said. She sounded like things were coming together as well.

  “Jeff was the only little piece of slag that knew what we were hauling, and where we were on the Cusp of the MDF line. He’s in Hazon’s pocket more than I am, but the little fink sold us out to the MDF as well. Therefore, the bastard set us up,” Marcus said. It fits so well.

  “How do you know he did it? Maybe Hazon—”

  “Why would he do that?” Marcus asked as he watched Lash punch a few buttons to bring the skimmer downwards towards the traffic lanes. He checked using the sensors and visually as well, and no one was following them. “To throw you off.”

  “Doesn’t make sense. He has…had a stake in Junker. Why risk that?”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “Glad you did what you did back there,” Marcus said. “Though, it is disturbing that we aren’t being chased.”

  “And what makes you think that Hazon listened?” Lash asked. “Maybe he is tracking us some other way?”

  Marcus looked back at her. “Thanks, now I feel paranoid. Look, we still h
ave the relic. They don’t know where. You hid it somewhere safe, right?”

  “No,” Lash said.

  “What?”

  “No, I didn’t. I had it in the skimmer the whole time,” Lash said.

  Marcus looked into the backseat and groaned. The two-foot canister was there, the metal crown sticking out from the leather satchel Lash had stuffed it into when they first escaped the Junker.

  “Great, just great,” Marcus groaned.

  “No way was I leaving—”

  He waved a hand at Lash to stop her from continuing. “Don’t worry about it, Lash. We are free for the moment. Let’s go find that weasel Jeff and hurt him.”

  “Are you sure that is what you want to do?” Lash asked, her robotic voice filled with concern.

  Marcus turned to look her right in her golden eyes. “I am one-hundred-percent positive that I want to find him and make him pay.”

  There was a look on her face that Marcus couldn’t read. “Very well,” she said, sounding defeated, her shoulders slumped. “Let’s go find him.”

  “We should leave town,” Marcus said.

  “Not yet,” Lash said. “I have a place nearby. In the next dome.”

  “Why? Why not just leave?”

  “Hazon has the local cops in his pocket, right?”

  “Right,” Marcus said. It would be easier to lay low and wait a day or so before leaving for Tharsis. Plus, he could use the downtime to try and track down Jeff, or at least figure out where the little weasel would be holed up.

  The crash pad Lash had was pretty small. Two rooms in a the most run-down section of slums in the Cortez district of Arabella city. It was on a row of closed stores, some boarded up with wire mesh or pieces of siding. There was one little corner store that Lash pointed out to Marcus for food.

  When they first arrived, there was Lash’s landlady, Yvette. She clomped her way up to Lash’s apartment, most of her body using the bare essential cyborg or out and out robot replacements for worn out limbs. She was more an attached head on a barrel-like torso and thick chicken-walker like legs. Yvette still gave Lash a smile, gave a glare at Marcus. “You be treating her right, I don’t wanna hear—”

  “Thank you, Yvette,” Lash said with a half-smile as she entered her place. He’ll be on his best behavior. Won’t you?”

  Marcus only nodded. He was a mass of pain and needed to sleep for at least a week. He was glad to see the lock worked. He was ecstatic her place had a somewhat soft couch that Marcus settled down on, groaning as he stretched out, trying to work some of the kinks and pains that he’d amassed in the last two days.

  He covered his eyes and felt bone-deep exhaustion. He felt like a wire that had been pulled so taut that the smallest pressure would cause him to snap and recoil. “Feels like I haven’t slept in days,” he mumbled from under his arm.

  “Why are we trying to find this man?” Lash asked, looking at Marcus and then handed him a soda.

  He took it and cracked it open, knowing that he would need the caffeine if he was going to find Jeff. “Well… aside for him being the reason the MDF is after me, he’s the reason they are after Hazon as well.” He took a long pull of the synthetic caffeine, and when he was hit by the boost, belched and said, “He is also the reason you and I are stuck in this hovel instead of still having Junker to stay on.”

  “You sure that’s the case?” Lash asked.

  The statement pulled Marcus up short. “I’m sorry?” He asked, glaring at her.

  “How can you be sure Jeff’s the reason?”

  “He’s the twit who helped the Junker get past security all those times.”

  “But, do you—”

  “No, that is why I am bringing you along. You will be able to tell me.”

  It was Lash’s time to jerk back a little. “What did you say?” She asked.

  “That little worm caused this mess. You’ll help find him and—”

  “Marcus,” Lash said, “I—”

  “And, then we can stomp on his—”

  Lash grabbed him by the head, forcing him to look at her. “Marcus!”

  “What?”

  “What is wrong with you? You—”

  “The little weasel took my ship from me. My… our home Lash. I want payback.”

  She looked a little sick. “I don’t know if it—”

  Marcus grabbed Lash’s hand, pulling her closer. “Lash, I need your help. Please,” Marcus said, looking up at her. “The Junker was our home, Lash. How can you…”

  Lash looked away for a moment, sighing. When she looked back, she worked her mouth, as if trying to get moisture in her mouth again. “Alright, I’ll do it.”

  “I need a handheld and a terminal if you have one here.”

  “Yeah,” she pointed to the small, government-issued unit that was used for accessing things. It was slow, clunky, and barely functioned. Still, Marcus knew a few tricks with his handheld and used some special codes from his MDF days. He hoped they would still work and not bounce back to this place before he was done.

  He was able to break into the laughable security of the docks in Tharsis in much less time that he thought. He started to watch for Jeff. “That little bastard is still working the docks?” He asked out loud. Then, he realized he’d found an old cache that hadn’t been purged. He would have to get through it or attempt to access it again and have a greater chance of getting caught.

  “How much time is on this feed?”

  “Five days,” Marcus said, popping open another can of the synth soda.

  Lash waved a hand and muttered something about, “Happy hunting” before she went to go get sleep. Marcus continued to look over the feeds. Sometimes he stopped them and went back a little to see if he missed something. But, after five hours, he stopped them and squeezed his eyes shut. Even when he did that, his eyes hurt, and he felt tears trickling from the corners of his eyes.

  There was something off about the whole situation. Marcus couldn’t put a finger on it. Since he’d escaped Hazon, something felt wrong in the back of his head. The desire to see Jeff hurt spurred him forward more that he thought possible. He would find that little son of a bitch and make him pay. Not kill him, but Marcus would definitely want to break a few fingers and maybe a rib or two. Like his own side which was still tender from the attack by the Ministry patrol. It seemed like it was months ago, yet it was only three days ago, he realized. He needs to pay, that is all.

  He went back to watch the feeds, finally catching the bastard in a slip-up. Jeff walked towards a janitorial closet, stopped, and looked around before ducking inside. Ten minutes later, he came out and was wobbling a little as he did. He even idiotically looked up and smiled at the security monitor. There was a dull orange-red hue to one of his eyes and Marcus was stunned.

  Drops? Never figured you for a Dropper, Jeff. At least I have something to help lead me to you.

  And then what?

  “Hurt him,” Marcus said. He looked towards the room to see Lash was sleeping, her chest rising and falling. There was no glow coming from her head.

  And then? Marcus realized it was his conscience trying to stop him, uncomfortable with what he wanted to do to Jeff.

  “Get off-planet, find a buyer. Get really drunk.”

  And then?

  “Keep flying.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What do you mean he uses Drops?” Lash asked the next day, pushing the gyro into traffic and letting them go with the flow out of the Cortez District. They were heading toward the utility gate which would be less likely to be seen and detected.

  “Jeff uses Drops. It makes sense why he would have ratted us out to the MDF. They probably caught him on a feed and threatened to fire him.”

  “Alright, so?” Lash asked, leaning back in the chair and letting the auto-nav drive.

  “There is no way that Jeff would be able to hide everything he did from the MDF forever. He probably slipped up more than once, and the Drops were the last straw. So, to keep his
job, he started ratting people out to the MDF. Hazon and I were his latest casualties.”

  “That’s thin,” Lash said.

  “You have a better idea?”

  Lash was quiet. “No,” she said finally when they reached the scanner.

  Marcus took a deep breath and hoped the other little trick he’d done worked. The utility gate scanner blinked green, and they were through.

  “Slag,” Marcus said, letting out a pent-up breath. “Wasn’t sure if that would work.”

  “You weren’t sure?” Lash asked, looking at Marcus with anger burning in her eyes. “How could you be so calm?”

  “If it didn’t, we’d be dead,” Marcus said with a small smile. “Sometimes, you just have to roll the—”

  “I am not talking to you.”

  “Then, it’s going to be a quiet ride to Tharsis City then.”

  “I could make you walk,” Lash said, looking at him and then pointedly at the controls.

  Marcus held his hands up in surrender and leaned his chair back. He tried to sleep, yet it was like last night. Things were starting to cause more and more pressure, and he could feel himself coming closer and closer to that breaking point.

  Tharsis City was a much different domed place that Arabella. Unlike Arabella, which had small-domed sections, Tharsis was one of the original domes. There were three distinct places that the city had created, making it a strange conglomeration of strata. There was New Tharsis, a gilded upper city that was literally gilded. Silver and gold glinted in the city, far above the other two parts of Tharsis.

  Marcus was not as familiar with New Tharsis, but he knew Old Tharsis well. The bronze- and brass-tinged metal plating of the city was once a familiar place for him. It was a strange homecoming. It was not a place he thought he’d ever see again. He made sure that Lash hustled through it to where their real target was.