“Get out of my sight!” the arms dealer ordered the creature. It quickly slunk out through the side door. “Now, please join me in a drink.”
He took one shot glass, pushing the tray with the other two towards Elizabeth and Jess. Elizabeth took one and pointedly set it down in front of Jess, then took her own. She knocked hers back in one hit, as did the arms dealer. Reluctantly Jess followed suit, coughing as the strong spirits burned his throat – much to the arms dealers enjoyment. For a moment Jess worried what might be in the drink but his implants quickly confirmed it was simply alcohol, though particularly strong. The arms dealer stood.
“Thank you for your business. You will be escorted back to your shuttle. Please unload the payment and we will arrange for the containers to be delivered near to your ship, ready for your shuttles to collect. As agreed.”
“Thank you,” Elizabeth said. “And I apologise once again for my son's outburst. Come on Jess.”
They stood and followed the guards out of the room, robots once again following close behind. Still seething inside Jess played the part of a petulant teenager without any need to act.
I'm sorry. You couldn't save that creature. I know it's hard.
The message from Sal didn't make him feel any better. He trudged along the warren of passages before they finally entered the main corridor. Elizabeth didn't try to speak to him and he had no desire to talk. They reached the shuttle in silence. Elizabeth walked to the shuttle and entered a code on the control panel by the cargo door, a panel that wasn't connected to anything. Jess sent a pulsed command to the shuttle and the door opened. To the guards it appeared to be a normal shuttle with a security lock.
“Unload the cargo,” Elizabeth ordered the robots.
Again this was just for show, the robots were under Sal and Ali's control. They marched in and started unloading the contents. Large bars of gold and other precious metals were carried out and then scanned by the guards. Jess had no idea of the value, other than that it was far above a reasonable rate for their supplies. They were paying a huge premium to get the items with no questions asked.
The guards confirmed the payment was valid, that the bars were pure all the way through. Elizabeth sealed the cargo hatch, then she, Jess and the robots entered the shuttle's flight deck via it's airlock. Sal sent a message to confirm that the containers were being delivered. Everything had gone completely according to plan, yet Jess's mouth tasted of ashes and he had a heavy lump in his chest. He couldn't get the image of the poor enslaved creature out of his head.
They lifted off without issues and flew out of the station's docking bay. As they cleared the structure Elizabeth let out a huge sigh and visibly sank into her seat.
“My god Jess, what the bloody hell were you thinking? You bloody idiot! They coulda killed us both!” As always when she was stressed or angry her speech became clipped.
“I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. You saw what they did to that creature.”
“Yeah, I know. Sorry, shoulda known how it'd affect you. Bloody hell though. That was too feckin close.”
She paused for a moment, took several breaths to calm herself down. It must have worked as her speech became less clipped.
“Sorry, I wish we could've helped it too. We couldn't though. At best we'd have blown the deal. At worst they'd have started shooting, even with the robots I didn't want that. You OK?”
“Yeah, I'm OK. Really.” Jess replied, smiling.
She studied him closely. “Why the sudden change? I thought you wanted to save it? Now suddenly you don't care that we left it behind?”
“We didn't. I just checked the shuttle's sensors. It's standing behind you, against the wall.”
Elizabeth span round, staring at the wall. Jess knew she couldn't see the creature, nor could he with his own eyes. It was showing up clearly on the shuttle's internal sensors though.
“There's nothing there!” Elizabeth said.
“Actually, there is.” Sal's voice sounded strange coming from the robot's speaker grill. “Now Jess has pointed it out the robot can just about detect it, not easily though.”
“Try scanning for electrical discharge,” Jess said.
“Wow... yep, it's glowing away there. Amazing. It seems to be standing on the rear two sets of legs, the front half of its body is tilted up by ninety degrees and it's front two pairs of legs are just hanging down.”
Suddenly a chunk of the shuttle's back wall seemed to flicker and they could see the creature. Flexing its long neck it faced Jess.
“Found me have you. Take me back not. Please.”
It's voice was deep, the words more rumbled than spoken. Jess stared at the creature for a few seconds, amazed that it could speak. The alien he realised, for it couldn't be anything else. Realising it was waiting for a reply he tried to speak, only managed a squeak, cleared his throat and tried again.
“No. Don't worry. We won't take you back, I promise.”
“Much thanks. Kind are you. Pain recognised you. Slave recognised you. Slave were you? Your eyes saw it in.”
Jess struggled for a moment to make sense of the creatures words, then it struck him. The creature was asking if he had been a slave, was saying it saw that in his eyes. The creatures broken speech had led him to think of it as stupid, he realised with a shock that he had seriously underestimated it.
“Yes,” he said softly. “Yes. I was a slave. Until recently. I didn't want to leave you there. I couldn't get you free though.”
“Matter not. Myself freed did. Easy was.”
“Wait... your collar is gone. How did you do that?”
“Easy. Long time do could. No point. I go where? Waited. Long, long waited. Right soul for waited. Right soul found. You. Stay can?”
“I... I guess so. I need to speak to the others, we need to learn more about you. Whatever happens we won't take you back though. You'll be free. I promise.”
“You thank Jess.”
“You're most welcome.” Jess grinned. “What's your name?”
“Can say you not. Use you Teeko.”
“Teeko? OK Teeko. We'll be back at our ship soon. Is there anything you need before we get there?”
“Need no. Freedom I have. Much thanks.”
Once they returned to the Wanderer, Jess introduced Teeko to Ali and Sal. Both looked nervous. Jess could understand why, they had a complete unknown aboard the ship.
It's OK he pulsed to them. The ship can track it, I'm keeping a close eye on it.
Sal caught his eye and nodded once to show she understood.
“How did you get aboard the shuttle? How did you know where it was?”
“Followed did I. Followed to shuttle. As door opened entered did I. Fast am I.”
“And they didn't know you could do this, that you could disappear from sight?”
“No. Careful been I. Saving escape for. Saving today for.”
“How did they capture you?” asked Jess. “They mentioned a ship, were you flying it?”
“Memory not have. Memory start slave as. Young maybe was. Baby maybe was.”
“Have you met any others like you?”
“Not met. Want to much. Travel want to. Family find. Find you with?”
“Maybe. I need to talk to the others. You've managed to deceive those arms dealers for years, we have to decide if we can trust you.”
Teeko became agitated, weaving its head in a figure eight pattern.
“Deceive not them. Tell nothing them. Say not can hide. Tell you now. Tell you trust can. Tell you hurt will not. You fellow not-slave.”
“All right, calm down. We still need to talk about it, and we need to deal with the shipments coming across from the station too. Are you hungry? Would you like to rest?”
“Hungry now not. Rest like. Pool water warm like much.”
“Warm water? Well you can use the bath in my room. Anyone else want to ask Teeko anything?”
The others shook their heads, faces still troubled. Jess led Teeko to his ow
n cabin having ordered the bath filled, then left it, locking the door behind him.
“Well, what do you think?” he asked as he reached the living area again.
“Could be a spy,” Elizabeth said. “Classic way to get an agent aboard. Though I would've expected messages from the station, something about it having escaped and being very dangerous. Something to reinforce that it had escaped rather than been let go.”
“Or it could be on the level,” Jess countered. “We can't send it back, who knows what they'd do to it now.”
“I didn't say send it back. I ain't certain it's a spy, but it is a possibility. We need to be careful of it. Keep a close watch, not trust it.”
“Even if it's really escaped that doesn't mean we can trust it,” said Ali. “It might have plans of its own. Maybe it wants this ship. You heard it say how long it had waited, waited for the right moment.”
“That doesn't make sense,” Sal said. “You saw what it can do. It could have got onto almost any ship that docked here. Why wait all this time? There's no way it could have known our ship was special.”
“So spy or on the level,” muttered Elizabeth. “If it's a spy you catching it screwed their plans. It ain't gonna do much if we keep a close watch. We should do that even if we decide it's being honest.”
“Makes sense,” said Sal. “We haven't always been great at spotting what people are going to do. With an alien we can't possibly tell.”
“I guess,” Jess said. “We can use the ship to watch where it is. I don't think it can hurt us. Whatever it can do must be fairly limited. If it could control minds or the like then it would have taken over the arms dealers station years ago. Ali?”
Ali shrugged her shoulders then nodded hesitantly.
“I guess so,” she said. “Do we tell it our plans though?”
“As soon as the supplies are loaded we're heading directly for our target. I don't see how telling it the plans has any risk. And it has a right to know we could all wind up dead soon.”
“Cheerful thought,” muttered Sal. “All right, I think that's decided then. We need to get those supplies on board.”
Jess used the ships sensors to check on Teeko. The alien was stretched out in the bath, only it's long neck above the water, repeatedly making soft, deep crooning noises. Somehow Jess felt the alien seemed happy. He wondered when, if ever, it had last been allowed the luxury of a long soak in hot water.
Then they set to work using shuttles to grab the containers packed with supplies and load them aboard the ship. Armour and medical supplies went to one area, weapons to a different area – one that was self-contained and not accessible from anywhere else. Dishing out the weapons was a true last resort situation.
As soon as the supplies were secured he had the Wanderer heading away from the station. Once they were at the normal safe distance they jumped, heading for Iona orbital farm where Ali's friends were held.
Chapter Twenty Six
The flight to Iona was short, only fourteen hours, as they'd chosen an arms dealer relatively close by. They had planned to get a good nights sleep on the way. Jess soon realised that was unlikely to happen. Between the building excitement about finally putting their plan into action and the wonder and worry that Teeko generated no one would be sleeping much.
After soaking in the bath for more than two hours Teeko finally dried itself off and headed for the door to Jess's room. Alerted by the ship Jess unlocked the door and monitored Teeko as he returned to the living area. He was surprised at the changes he saw. The alien's fur was now a deep brown colour and far softer than it had been. When he asked Teeko about the change the alien told him the previous colouring had mostly been dirt. It hadn't had a bath of any form for several years.
They talked to Teeko for a while but it was frustrating. The alien knew nothing about its personal history or its race. Most of what it could suggest were things it had overheard its human masters discussing. Soon their conversation turned to the plan for Iona, they ran through it yet again from start to finish.
“The problem is still getting your friends off,” Elizabeth said. “Whatever happens making sure we get everyone off is gonna be tough. We won't know where your friends are so we can't be sure to get them off early on. Saving the others is good, but if you manage that and don't get all the folks snatched with Ali I don't think any of us are gonna be happy.”
“What else can we do?” Jess asked. “I can't think of any way we can work out where they are before making our move. If we could get access to their main systems it would be different. The Wanderer can create something to infiltrate and control the systems, but they aren't going to let us walk up and slap something in place on their consoles.”
“Help maybe can I,” Teeko said. “Package deliver can I. See me not will they.”
They all stared at the alien for a few seconds, then Jess smiled.
“Teeko could you know. We've seen how effective his camouflage is. How would we get him on board though?”
“Same way as we got him off last time,” replied Sal. “We visit as buyers, looking to buy food this time. He slips in, finds what we need and gets out with us. Or we work out a way to bust him out as the attack starts. Who should go though?”
“Me and Jess,” replied Elizabeth. “That worked well last time, we give off the right vibes. Sal's too old to be me daughter. Ali you're too close to this, you wouldn't be able to keep cool in there. Not so close to your friends.”
“Could we get the robots in there again?” asked Jess.
“One maybe, not both. Don't need two though, one'll be enough. It's a farm, not a bloody arms dealers.”
“Teeko, what if there's someone in the room you need to get to. There might be guards. It will take a minute or two for the package to infiltrate, after that it will physically have melted into the systems but till then they could destroy it, or they could lock down the systems. They might figure someone is in there but camouflaged, and start firing.”
“Enslavers not stop me can. Enslavers kill I. Succeed will I.”
“Damn right, look at the size of him,” Elizabeth said. “They won't see him coming either, won't know what hit 'em.”
They discussed the idea and soon everyone agreed it had promise. Jess worried for Teeko's safety but the alien was adamant it would be fine. One thing seemed to worry it.
“Leave me not. Back for me come,” it said, eyes fixed on Jess's.
“I promise,” said Jess. “Whatever happens we'll get you off that station.”
“Thanks Jess friend.”
They spent some time discussing the modified plan. If Teeko could deliver the infiltration package it would give them a huge advantage. They could locate the people Ali knew, ensure those prisoners were amongst the first evacuated. Then it would be a matter of freeing as many other prisoners as they could. Having access to, and control of, the internal systems would be a huge help there.
Eventually though they ran into the same problem they kept hitting – they couldn't finalise the plans till they saw the layout of the orbital farm. The meeting gave way to a meal, where they discovered that Teeko was vegetarian by choice – though it didn't object to the rest eating meat. It told them that it had often been fed animal offal, had been forced to eat it to survive, but that a vegetarian diet had always felt right.
Finally everyone started to head to bed. Jess asked Teeko if it slept, Teeko replied that it's body and mind entered a quiet state but that it never truly lost consciousness. Jess offered his room again, no sacrifice as he was sleeping with Ali each night. When Teeko accepted he felt he had to warn it that the door would be locked. Teeko took it with good grace, telling Jess that it understood why.
Jess and Ali went to her room but the intense passion of previous nights was missing. Instead they quickly found themselves clinging to each other, discussing their fears. Both worried for the other, worried it might be their last night together. Jess was surprised to find that rather than making them want to sleep tog
ether one last time, or several last times, he just wanted to hold Ali. Keep her close to him, feel her breathing, feel her heartbeat, smell the scent of her skin and hair. She clung to him in turn, alternating between clinging to him and pulling back to study his face, as if trying to commit it to her memory. Jess realised that night that he loved Ali, beyond any doubt, and that he wanted to spend his life with her. The moment was bitter-sweet, tinged as it was with the knowledge that this could be their last night together.
Breakfast was a quiet affair, each person lost in their own thoughts. Jess ate mechanically, knowing he would need the energy, but hardly tasting the food. He kept replaying the plan in his mind, searching for weaknesses or assumptions. The others were doing the same, he was sure.
Jess finally finished his breakfast and checked the time. There was still over an hour till they'd arrive at Iona. He spent most of that time checking and rechecking the readiness of the shuttles, drones and robots then the shields, weapons, thrusters and engines of the Wanderer. All things he already knew were absolutely fine, but it helped distract him. Tempers frayed amongst the others as the tension built. Sal and Elizabeth snapped at each other over nothing. Ali intervened, making several waspish statements herself.
When the timer ticked below ten minutes the change was tangible. Now the huge amounts of nervous energy in each person had a useful focus. Each prepared for their role, ensured they were clear on the plan, tested their communication links. Despite the approaching danger the mood swung from nervous to excited. Jess found himself grinning uncontrollably several times.
And then they arrived. The Wanderer broke back into normal space a reasonable distance from the Iona orbital farm, sensor information flowed in and for the first time they saw their target. Jess's first impression was of a large, blunt star shape. Eight long spokes radiated out from a central section, each spoke mounting numerous rectangular farm sections. Each farm section was topped by a clear material, the stations orientation meaning that the sun shone continuously on the crops. The scale of the farm was amazing, each spoke was nearly ten kilometres long.
Wanderer's Escape Page 21