by Isaac Hooke
Lyra looked at him in the rear view mirror. “The shipyard. Nebb’s waiting for us.”
“We’re going to look for Sinive?” Tane asked.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” Lyra replied. She must have been satisfied that no craft would attempt to pursue, because she let go of the control sticks and turned around completely to look at him. She’d obviously returned the vehicle to autonomous control.
Tane sighed. He gazed at his feet. “They got her. And there wasn’t a thing I could do. I walked into her room... a dweller was already there. It tried to grab me. If I didn’t have my shield, it probably would have succeeded. Sinive walked onto a Couraser space taxi, apparently of her own free will. Her eyes were black, and she had dark veins reaching up her next toward her face. The dweller spoke to me before it followed her into the taxi. It told me if I wanted her, I’d give myself up. I refused, and then it said, ‘you will come.’ It’s like they’re hoping to use her as bait or something.”
“That’s precisely what they’re doing,” Lyra said.
“How did they even find her?” Tane asked.
“It has to be the microcrillia inside of her,” Lyra said. “My guess is it acted as a sort of beacon, allowing them to hunt her down in this universe.”
“Well if they really want to use her as bait, they’ve failed miserably,” Tane said. “Because I have on idea where to find her. I watched her taxi fly into the city and lost sight of it. Unless you have some idea of what to do… maybe the local traffic control office can help us track down the routes of all Couraser taxis that left the area in the past hour?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Lyra said. “I’ve placed a tracker inside Sinive. The aliens haven’t disabled it. They want us to find her.”
“A tracker?” Tane said, feeling suddenly suspicious about Lyra’s intentions once again.
“Yes,” Lyra said. “It was sending out signals over the Galnet until shortly before you came back online. From what I can tell, Sinive’s craft docked with a larger vessel hidden just outside the city, and they jumped to another system soon after leaving the moon. I’ll know where the dwellers have taken her in the time it takes her signal to traverse the Galnet. That could be anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days, depending on how far away the vessel jumped. And my guess is she’s aboard a human starship, since I didn’t hear any chatter about it on Daaena’s law enforcement channels.”
“You’re assuming of course that the dwellers have taken Sinive to a system claimed by humans, one that actually has postal nodes,” Tane said. “And you’re also assuming the aliens won’t shut down her signal once they get there.”
“They won’t,” Lyra said. “They want us to follow, remember?”
Tane was silent for a moment. He gazed at Lyra and narrowed his eyes. “I have a tracker too, don’t I? One of those breathable nanotech models that form after I’ve inhaled the micro machines into my lungs.”
“Yes,” Lyra said. “It was for your own safety.”
“So earlier when you asked for my coordinates at the hospital, you didn’t really need them, did you? You already knew. It was all for show.”
She glanced at Jed, then sighed. “As I told you, it was for your own safety. And yes, while I didn’t need the coordinates, I wanted to see if you would trust me.”
“Really?” Tane said. “And like I’ll ever trust you again after this!”
“Tane, I’m sorry—”
“Remove the device!” Tane said. “Now!”
She glanced at Jed. “Do it.”
Jed pressed a gloved hand over Tane’s chest in a manner similar to what Lyra had done when removing the alien tracker inside of him before. Tane saw a bright white light emerge from beyond the edges of the glove, and then the Bander lowered his hand.
“It’s done,” Jed said.
Tane rubbed his chest. “You sure? I don’t feel any different.”
“Positive,” Jed said.
Tane gave Lyra a suspicious glance. “Like I said, I’m not sure I’ll ever trust you again.”
“But you have to,” Lyra said. “If you prefer, I could drop you off at the local TSN office.”
“I almost feel like letting you do just that,” Tane said. And if it weren’t for my father’s distrust of the TSN, I would. “But I’ll stay, for now. Only because I need your help to rescue Sinive. But I’m putting you on notice: do anything to betray my trust again and I’m gone.”
“You won’t actually be involved in Sinive’s rescue,” Lyra said.
Taken aback, Tane crossed his arm. “Of course I will.”
“No, you’re going to Talendir as originally planned,” Lyra said. “Once we’ve dropped you off with the Volur, Jed and I will wait for Sinive’s tracker to notify us of her destination system, and then we’ll attempt a rescue. Or die trying.”
“The latter most likely,” Jed grumbled.
“I’m going as well,” Tane said.
“No,” Lyra said. “I’m only agreeing to participate in her rescue on the condition that you’re safe on Talendir. If you refuse, and insist on rescuing her, then we part ways here and now.”
Tane merely stared at her in disbelief. “But I can’t find her without you.”
“Exactly,” Lyra said. “Which is why you’re going to do as I say.”
Tane barely fought back the nasty response that floated to the tip of his tongue. Instead he said, as calmly as he could: “Contrary to popular opinion, I’m no one’s puppet.”
“Don’t you see?” Lyra said. “If you go you’ll be playing right into dweller hands. Your coming after her is precisely what they want. And after the description you gave me—black eyes, dark veins all over her face—I’m not sure there’s anything I can actually do for her, even if we successfully rescue her. Especially if she’s already lost her free will. And I’m not even taking into account how much more the microcrillia will have progressed through her body by the time we arrive. Jed and I could essentially be risking our lives for nothing. There’s a good chance she’ll be irretrievably lost, forever.”
“But there is a chance you can save her, yes?” Tane persisted.
She nodded weakly. “A small one. But that chance is quickly fading with each passing moment. Which is why I can’t allow you to come.”
He remembered the words Sinive had spoken to him when they were trapped in the Umbra.
Promise me you won’t leave me here, no matter what happens. Promise me if I die, you’ll take me back. Don’t leave my body here for these creatures to devour. I’ll do the same for you.
“And yet I must come,” Tane told Lyra. “After all we’ve been through, I can’t abandon Sinive now. If you don’t want to come with me, that’s your choice. I’m calling your bluff. And don’t try to put me to sleep like you did before when we left my homeworld.”
“Even if it’s in your best interests?” Lyra said.
“If you do,” Tane said. “I swear to you, when I wake up, wherever I am, I’ll do everything in my power to get away. If I’m on Talendir, I won’t stay there for very long. Trust me.”
Lyra nodded. “I believe you’ll certainly try to escape, yes. Which would require your hosts to strip away many of your liberties. You do realize it’s not so easy to escape a planet populated by Volur?”
“I can be resourceful,” Tane said.
Lyra nodded. “I concede the point. You had to be resourceful to survive the Umbra on your own.”
“I wasn’t alone,” Tane said. “I had Sinive.”
“You two bonded when you were out there, didn’t you?” Lyra said.
“We did.”
“Is there anything we should know, specifically, about you two?” Lyra said.
Tane stared at her for a moment, then he burst out laughing. “It’s not like that.” Then he became serious, remembering Sinive’s comments about sex the night before. “I think.”
“Consider very carefully for a moment what you propose to do,” Lyra said. “Alre
ady the task is hopeless for Jed and myself. You would be joining what is essentially a suicide mission. She’ll be surrounded by a host of dwellers. Our chances of getting out with our lives are extremely low. Leave her to Jed and myself. Let me drop you off at Talendir.”
“Why do I get the feeling you have no intention of rescuing Sinive on your own?” Tane said. “Unless I go? You think it’s not worth it. You’ve convinced yourself that she’s lost already. I can tell. And when you drop me off, you’ll leave me a message a few days later, claiming that you weren’t able to rescue her, but you tried, real hard. Meanwhile the whole time you’ll be sitting in a luxury suite somewhere on Talendir, getting a toe massage.”
Lyra gave him a hurt look. Finally she glanced at Jed.
“He is persistent…” the Bander said.
Lyra nodded.
“I’ve told you once, and I’ll tell you again,” Tane said. “I’m not leaving her. I have to try.”
“You’ll deliver yourself right into their hands...” Lyra tried again.
“Then I guess you’ll just have to come with me and prevent that from happening,” Tane said. “Do whatever it takes to prevent the aliens from taking me.” He glanced significantly at the glowing pistol hanging from Jed’s hips. “Whatever it takes.”
Lyra turned around, not answering him.
25
Tane followed her gaze and watched as the taxi approached a shipyard on the rooftop of a tall building. It was the same shipyard the Red Grizzly had landed on in the Umbra, Tane realized. He recognized the hangar bay and the familiar pattern of circular landing platforms around it extending out over the building’s edge. Among the different vessel classes, he picked out the Rapier class ship itself squatting on one of the landing areas.
“If I allow you to come,” Lyra said slowly. “I’ll expect you to obey my instructions to the letter. If we get aboard the ship or base or wherever they’re holding her, and the resistance proves too great and I make the call to leave, you will obey immediately. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” Tane said.
“And now that you know you can Siphon, I’ll expect you to spend the next few hours or days training with me,” Lyra said. “Until we receive Sinive’s signal.”
“Why don’t you just purchase nanotech for me?” Tane said. “Seems easier.”
“I’ve spent almost everything in my account,” Lyra said. “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way. Unless you have funds to spare?”
“Old fashioned is fine,” Tane said. “I’m eager to learn.”
“I’m sure you are,” Lyra said. “We will remain on this planet until the signal arrives.”
“Good,” Tane said. “Because I have a feeling, once you bring me to Talendir I’ll have a hard time leaving.”
“You are correct, at that,” Lyra said. “The Volur won’t want to let you go, not until they determine why the aliens want you so badly.”
“It sounds almost like you don’t want to let me go, either,” Tane said. “Not even to them.”
Lyra didn’t answer that.
When the taxi touched down on the landing pad near the Red Grizzly, before getting out Tane removed the pouch from his belt and set it down on the seat between himself and Jed. “I have an angry combat robot locked away in my personal storage device. Think you can help me pull it out?”
Jed grinned. “I like your style, farmer.” He scooped up the pouch. “I’ll need access, of course. I intend to remove the robot somewhere else, so it doesn’t know where we’ve taken you.”
“Good idea.” Tane gave access and then exited the taxi. Lyra joined him on the landing platform.
The vehicle promptly took to the air, taking Jed with it.
Lyra was talking quietly, seemingly to herself. He thought he heard her say Nebb’s name, so he guessed she was updating the smuggler.
She glanced at Tane. “Head inside.”
“Is Nebb aboard?” Tane asked.
She nodded. “The cockpit.”
Tane proceeded aboard the Red Grizzly.
“Welcome back,” Grizz said.
“Hey Grizz, did you miss me?” Tane said.
“Not quite.” The ship’s AI sounded amused.
“To be honest, I didn’t miss you either,” Tane said.
“If I were a woman, I admit, I would have probably missed you,” Grizz said. “But seeing as I’m a not...”
“You’re not a man either,” Tane said.
“Well, if we’re going play at semantics, then neither are you,” Grizz said.
Tane half smiled. “Try fighting on the surface of a moon in the Umbra with me sometime. Then we’ll see who’s a man and who’s not.”
“I’m sure we will,” Grizz taunted.
Tane decided he truly didn’t miss the Red Grizzly’s computer system. “You know, if I ever buy a Rapier class ship, the first thing I’m doing is gutting the computer system and replacing it with a proper AI.”
“Good luck,” Grizz said.
“What do you mean, good luck,” Tane asked.
“Let’s just say, the Harold variants installed in Rapier class ships possess an extremely high degree of self-preservation,” Grizz replied.
“Oh really?” Tane said. “Then we must have damaged yours. Because you let us fly you into the Umbra.”
“Point taken,” Grizz said.
Nebb didn’t seem too happy to see him when Tane stopped by the cockpit. Positron, seated beside him, was his usual gloomy self as well, and gave Tane a scowl with that animated display of his.
“Hey kid,” Nebb said. “Heard you lost my jump specialist.”
“Sorry,” Tane said.
Nebb nodded slowly. “Now I’ll have to find another.”
Tane waited for a moment, and Nebb finally looked at him. “What? Why are you standing there glaring at me accusingly?”
“Is that it?” Tane said. “That’s all you have to say? No, ‘I’m glad to see you, Tane.’ No, ‘I’m sorry to hear about Sinive?’ Just, I have to find another jump specialist thanks to you?”
Nebb gave him a lopsided grin. “Well, yeah. Don’t get me wrong, of course I care about Sinive. Why do you think I agreed to transport you all for free to wherever she is? It’s just... well, I ain’t never been the sentimental type, if you catch my meaning.”
“I didn’t know you were doing this for free...” Tane said. “If so, I was wrong about you.”
Nebb gave him a sheepish look. “Well, it’s only kinda for free. I’m stilling getting a substantial reward once I drop you off at Talendir. At least that’s what Lyra has promised me. We’ll see if the damn Volur lives up to her word. But if you die rescuing Sinive, that ruins everything.”
Tane forced a smile, bearing his teeth. “I’ll try not to die, that way you can collect your fee. Or reward, I guess you’re calling it now.”
“Look kid, it’s nothing personal,” Nebb said. “This is just business.”
“Sure thing,” Tane said. “What part are you going to play in the rescue anyway?”
“I guess that depends on where she is, and what the situation is,” Nebb said. “At this point, I can’t offer any guarantees I’ll stick around.”
“What do you mean?”
“Figure it out,” Nebb said. “If it looks like you, the Volur, and the Bander aren’t going to make it, I’m out. Because unlike you three, I’m not willing to die for free”
“Even if it’s the honorable thing to do?” Tane asked.
“Dying is never honorable,” Nebb said. His eyes took on a distant glint. “No matter what light you might try to cast the dying in. Ain’t never honorable.” He glanced at Tane. “Now get out of here. I got stuff to work on.”
“Gladly.” Tane vacated the cockpit and made his way through the cramped corridors to his quarters. His storage pouch was waiting on the bottom bunk—apparently Jed had already released the robot and returned. Tane doubled-checked the inventory and confirmed the robot was abs
ent.
Tane decided not to stow any of his gear in his quarters, instead opting to secure his rifle and the grenade harness inside the pouch. When that was done, he attached the personal storage device to his belt.
Lyra called him to the Red Grizzly’s main entrance to begin his “lessons” shortly thereafter.
There wasn’t really all that much room for practicing aboard, so Lyra had apparently walled off a small area on the landing pad at the base of the ramp using spare bulkhead material that Nebb no doubt had aboard somewhere. She had vertically mounted a pipe to a tripod near one of the makeshift walls.
When Tane joined her, she was talking with a maintenance robot that seemed to belong to the shipyard.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t put detritus on the landing pads like this,” the robot was saying.
“We’ve rented out the entire landing pad for the whole day,” Lyra said. “As far as I’m concerned, the area is ours to do with as we please. Unless you’d prefer that a Volur train her apprentice in full view of the other ships? It might scare away some of your clientele, I think.”
“I see your point,” the robot said. It glanced at Tane. “Very well. See that you and your apprentice remain behind these bulkheads while you train. If you cause a commotion and distract the other pilots, we’ll be talking again.”
“We’ll be quiet as lambs,” Lyra said.
Tane watched the robot wheel past a small opening between two of the bulkheads and vanish.
“Is that what I am?” he asked her. “Your apprentice?”
“Essentially,” Lyra said. “For the next few hours, anyway. Or days.”
Jed was nowhere in sight, Tane noticed. “Where’s Jed, by the way?”
“He’s keeping watch beyond the practice area,” Lyra said. “I’ve instructed him to notify me if anyone else attempts to disturb us. And to prevent them from doing so.”
The runes on her blue dress abruptly pulsated to life and Tane involuntarily stepped back. She retrieved the small cylindrical device that hung from the right side of her utility belt.
“If you’re going to board a hostile vessel or base with me,” Lyra said. “And face the dwellers, then this is the weapon I want you to use.”