by Dan Schiro
“Kangor,” Orion called out with everything his lungs could muster. “Kangor, come on buddy, we gotta go!”
After a few moments of no reply but birdsong, Orion fished his datacube out of his pants pocket. “Link to Kangor Kash.”
The datacube spun slowly in the air as it waited for a response, and Orion heard a jangling tone in the distance that was not quite right for a bird. He stalked across the fragrant compost of the forest floor in the direction of the sound, listening for the digitized noise on the wind. After a hundred paces or so, he came to a slight depression in the forest floor. There he found a rotting tree trunk with a sound bleating from its hollow center. Orion reached in and hauled up Kangor’s rough-spun tunic, trousers and leather vest. He found Kangor’s datacube ringing in a worn leather satchel. “End link,” he told his datacube.
He tossed the vestments aside and thought for a moment, his green-and-blue eyes scanning the forest. Orion was still unsure of which way to go when he heard the thunder of hooves. He looked up to see a great beast cresting the knoll in front of him, its dark eyes wild, hot breath snorting from its quivering nostrils. Orion froze as his mind tried to catalog the creature gazing down at him — as large as a hippo with the shape of a pitbull and the spiked, tan scale-flesh of a horned toad. He wondered — was this what Kangor Kash meant when he had said the Kapata Wilds had “good game?”
Orion awakened his spellblade as the great beast came charging down at him. The silver gauntlet burst forth, and Orion conjured a spear with a long, diamond-shaped blade at the end. Though the ground shook with the weight of the creature’s cloven hooves, Orion set his feet and aimed the spear tip for the gaping mouth, hoping to penetrate a soft spot and skewer the beast’s brain with a single quick thrust.
If that failed… well, luckily, he didn’t have time to contemplate the grisly possibilities. What seemed to be part tree and part thorny bramble came to life at the edge of Orion’s vision. The blur roared like a lion and leaped at the forest creature, and only then did Orion realize it was Kangor Kash.
The seven-foot-tall vycart was still far smaller than the charging animal, but he lowered his shoulder and hit the beast with such speed that it lost its footing. The two of them skidded through the foliage and crashed into the base of a great tree with force that shook leaves down from the branches and sent birds scattering. Orion dashed after them with his spear in hand, but Kangor had already begun grappling with the ferocious forest creature. They roared and hissed at each other in a rolling tussle of fur and scales, and after a moment Kangor sank his long claws in and pinned his prey on its back. Orion saw a flash of fangs in the dappled sunlight, then a spray of red as Kangor’s jaws tore into the animal’s soft throat. The beast seized and bucked for a few seconds, but Kangor held on tight. Finally, it fell still.
Kangor stood, a bloody streak running from his chin to his belly. He turned his wide, fiery eyes to Orion. Orion could see that the vycart’s knack for adaptation had fully prepared him for the hunt. His bright orange tufts of fur had shifted to forest-green, and the thick, fuzzy hide that covered the rest of his body wrinkled like brown-gray bark. His fangs and claws had grown out by inches, and the large nostrils on his long face had opened even further to pick up the faintest scents. He stood naked but for a loincloth that wrapped the few delicate pieces of the vycart anatomy.
“Why have you interrupted my hunt, little friend?” he huffed.
Orion looked down at the bleeding body of the beast that had almost run him down. “That’s what you were hunting? I was picturing game hens, maybe a boar.”
“Yes, the wild stagnar,” Kangor said with a satisfied sigh. “Cunning and fierce in turns. I’ve been tracking this one for hours, only to chase him back to where we began.” He gazed down at the creature, drew a furry forearm across his mouth to wipe away the blood and smiled at Orion. “He was sly, but he seemed to lose all restraint when he smelled your soft human flesh.”
“What?” Orion said, suddenly feeling very frail in the shadow of the blood-drenched vycart. “You used me as bait?”
“To my own dishonor.” His brow furrowed as he looked down on the fallen stagnar. “Such a graceful beast should not be taken with that kind of trickery.”
Orion pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know what? Forget it. We have to go. Now.”
“I cannot.” Kangor leveled a placid gaze at him. “There are rites to be performed, and I’ll need to dress the beast before—”
“No way,” Orion hissed. “We have a job, a big one, for a candidate for—” He shook his head. “Look, I’ll explain on the way. We have to go, now, immediately, get AD, and roll out.”
“But I cannot,” Kangor said, as if the point were self-evident. “The rites.”
They argued for a few moments, and Orion realized there would be no changing the obstinate vycart’s mind. Under Kangor’s instructions, he reshaped his spellblade spear into a long, serrated knife and sawed through the stagnar’s breastbone. Then he carefully cut out the huge red heart and shoveled it into Kangor’s waiting hands. By the time he was done, his spellblade glowed with faint red veins that had captured the last lingering wisps of the stagnar’s life essence. As required by vycart ritual, the two of them traded bites of the chewy organ until it was gone.
After Orion finished vomiting — and Kangor finished laughing — they squeezed onto the skysled and rose out of the forest to speed back up the ring. Orion felt dizzy from retching, but he still pushed the skysled as hard as he dared with Kangor’s added weight. He had no time to waste and much to do before Zovaco’s campaign ship pushed off. By the time they returned to the shadow of the great solar panel, the Hub was more than halfway through its artificial night.
Finding Aurelia Deon was not hard. Pings from her datacube led them to the north side of the city, home to some of the city’s wealthiest citizens and the businesses that catered to their extravagant whims. As they closed in on the source of Aurelia’s pings, Orion spotted a castle-like tower flashing with colorful light. As they flew nearer still, Orion could hear the thumping bass and hyperactive strains of loud music. He thought it looked exactly like the kind of place where the Exile would unwind.
Orion slowed the skysled as they swept through the cool, dry night air and looked down to see a throng of people on the square rooftop. Music-synced lights flashed through the thick exhales of steam machines, filling the terrace with a bright, beating pulse. A band played on an elevated stage on one side, and gyrating bodies packed the rooftop gardens in front of them. An illuminated pool glowed like a cool blue jewel in the middle of the roof, and a long, busy bar at the far end teemed with thirsty partygoers from dozens of races. Orion circled down to land in the middle of the rooftop, eschewing the valet waving frantically at him from the edge of the roof.
The crowd scattered and steam fled as his SkyStreak settled to the ground. Orion saw four poxgane bouncers with 16 well-muscled arms thundering toward him from the edges of the party. The band played on, but most of the dancers, drinkers and swimmers playing naked in the pool turned to stare at the uninvited human and the hulking endangered species. “Fellas, fellas,” Orion said to the angry bouncers as he slipped out of the skysled’s saddle. “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s a bit of an emergency. I promise, we don’t want any trouble.”
Kangor stepped up next to him and took a quick look at the stout, gray-skinned bouncers surrounding them. “They wouldn’t be any trouble.”
The band stopped with a whimpering clatter of notes, and the poxgane bouncers seemed to hesitate for a moment. Before anyone could make a move, someone called out from the crowd. “Hey, that’s him. That’s the guy who saved Swada!”
Murmuring rose to an excited chatter, quickly building to cheers and applause. The bouncers froze, uncertain how to proceed, and the band started back up again, whipping the crowd into motion with raw electric chords and throbbing beats. Orion glanced around
for Aurelia Deon, but soon a male s’zone approached, and the crowd parted respectfully to give him a wide berth. The tall, hairless humanoid had a wide mouth turned down in a relaxed frown, and his enormous glossy eyes peered at Orion intently. He wore a gauzy, pale pink suit parted to bare his smooth chest and the patina of delicate turquoise flecks that painted his near-translucent white flesh. Though he only wore a few pieces of jewelry — a sparkling brooch here, a dangling bracelet there, a glimmering stud in his pointed ear — Orion guessed that the little collection could have bought a new skysled outright.
“You must be Orion Grimslade III,” said the s’zone, carefully trying out what must have been a strange name to him. His bluish-green eyes danced over Orion for a moment before he looked up. “And the great Kangor Kash.” He smiled hungrily at the shaggy vycart. “How I’ve longed to meet the two of you.”
Orion raised an eyebrow, tempted to take a step back and put a little more personal space between himself and the slender s’zone. “Good, you must be one of Aurelia’s friends.” He scanned the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of green skin through the alien bodies. “Do you know where I can find her?”
The s’zone stifled a soft, indignant scoff. “I’ll forgive you arriving uninvited at my gathering without even knowing who I am.” He leaned closer. “You saved my darling Swada, after all. The princess is a close personal friend.” The slim humanoid nodded his bald head officially, as if bestowing his pardon.
Orion shrugged. “I’m sorry, you are…? Aurelia didn’t mention you.”
“I am D’Aroq,” he said coolly, offering no more explanation.
Orion winced. “Ah, I should have known.” He had heard the name bandied about high-fashion circles of the datasphere and seen it on the clothing labels of women he had dated. And, of course, the famous designer was friendly with the sephilon princess, providing her with fabulously expensive clothing for everything from her wedding to her latest photo shoot. “My apologies, sir,” Orion said with a slight bow. “But if I could impose one more time, could you take me to Aurelia Deon? It’s most urgent.”
“Anything for Swada’s savior.” D’Aroq returned Orion’s bow. “Follow. I will take you to the Exile.”
Again the crowd parted for the slight designer. Orion and Kangor followed him across the roof and down a spiral staircase into the penthouse proper. Slow, syrupy music filled the spacious halls, and the smoke of strange drugs wafted out of dimly lit rooms. As they passed parlors and bedrooms, Orion heard laughter and moans and glimpsed entwined bodies that stirred his loins. Eventually they reached the end of the hall, and D’Aroq eased open the door to a smoky den with low furniture arranged around a bejeweled hookah. Aurelia Deon lounged naked on the soft pink cushions of a long couch, her buxom body smooth and green. Two naked young men, one a muscular poxgane and the other a ginger-pelted temba nubu, slouched insensible on the other two couches, their lean bodies limp as they snored softly. As D’Aroq, Orion and Kangor eased into the dim room, Aurelia’s eyes snapped open and danced with jade light.
“Orion. What a nice surprise.” Aurelia Deon stretched her naked body without any pretense of modesty. “You decided to join me after all. However did you convince Kangor to come along?”
“We’re not here for your orgy, Exile,” Kangor muttered, averting his eyes.
Aurelia glanced over at the two passed-out young men, and a surprised expression flitted across her face as if she had just remembered they were there. “A bit small for a proper orgy, don’t you think?”
“AD, we gotta go,” Orion said, cutting through the lingering blue smoke with a wave of his hand. “We got it, we got the big job that we were looking for, but we need to roll out first thing in the morning.”
Aurelia yawned. “It can’t be delayed?” She glanced at D’Aroq. “This party won’t peak until well after dawn.”
The designer shrugged his thin shoulders. “True. It takes time to build to a proper crescendo.”
“Absolutely not,” Orion said, shaking his head. “Now, come on, get dressed.” He snapped his fingers sharply three times.
Aurelia’s face twisted into a snarl and she leaped to her feet. “How dare you snap at me, human.” A rush of green light sparkled on her skin and flashed in her eyes. “Do you forget that I am the Sojourner of the Velvet Rift? Do you forget that I am the Siege Breaker of the Holy Emerald Stronghold?” Wind roared around her, and her aura of green fire flared to life, waking the two young men.
Orion held up his hands. “Aurelia Deon, I would never forget who you are,” he said calmly. “I apologize for snapping. But if you’re part of this team, we need to go. Now.”
Aurelia relaxed her energy field with a scoff. “The races of the lesser carbons. Always in such a hurry.” She pulled her purple silks off the back of the couch and started winding her green flesh in them. “I suppose I would be too, if my lifespan were so short.”
“Whatever. Can we go?” Orion stalked out to wait in the hall. Behind him, he heard the two young men imploring Aurelia Deon to stay.
“Goddess, don’t go, don’t leave us,” said the ashy-skinned poxgane. “Please, please, don’t go.”
“Stay with us,” begged the temba nubu. “Don’t go, goddess, please.”
Aurelia laughed, three cruel notes. “I’m sorry, sweet boys. But perhaps I’ll see you again before that firm flesh of yours turns to mush.”
Out in the hall, Orion and Kangor had a moment alone with D’Aroq. “Once again, sir,” Orion said, “I apologize for interrupting your party.”
“It is forgotten.” D’Aroq waved his six-fingered hand through the air, as if casting a spell that wiped the slate clean. “And consider yourself formally invited to my next gathering.”
Orion chuckled, shuffling his feet. “A few years ago, I would have been all over that.” He shrugged. “But I’m not much for parties anymore. However, if a high-profile individual like yourself were ever to need any kind of security or investigative services, AlphaOmega would be happy to help.”
Blinking his huge s’zone eyes, D’Aroq seemed to consider it for a moment. “There is one thing.” His gaze, hungry and mischievous, settled on Kangor. “You.”
“Me?” Kangor’s thick brow furrowed.
“You, you sexy beast.” A smile spread across his thin lips. “You should walk for me. You would be perfect for the collection I’m releasing next quarter.”
Kangor looked deeply confused, but Aurelia interrupted any explanation as she joined them in the hall, her tall, heeled shoes clapping against the tile. “Shall we?”
Back on the roof, Aurelia kissed D’Aroq’s slick cheek and hailed an aircab, while Orion and Kangor blasted off together on the skysled. After a quick ride over the never-sleeping pink glow of the Hub, the three of them arrived back in their private hangar in Echohax Tower. Orion could feel the fatigue from a day that had included everything from deal-cutting to bookkeeping to lovemaking to a wild stagnar nearly trampling him. But his training propped him up, and he couldn’t help but think of what his sullen old durok mentor had said so many times on rocky Khanpara Guha: Sleep is a petty surrender, human.
“So, Orion,” Aurelia said as they gathered in the oily hangar. “What’s this job?”
“Yes,” said Kangor. “I’m eager to hear more myself.”
Orion smirked. “Does the name Zovaco Ralli ring a bell?”
Aurelia shook her head. “Hmm, no, I don’t think so.”
Kangor looked around the hangar bay. “What bell do you speak of?”
Orion sighed. “Okay, the job is this. Someone is trying to take out a politician, who, as an aside, I believe happens to be a genuinely good guy. We keep good old Zovaco alive long enough to get elected to Union Parliament a few months from now, and the paycheck keeps AlphaOmega’s glowglobes on for a good long while.” Orion cocked a blond eyebrow. “But the long view is high-paying government cont
racts down the road. I’m talking big, big UC. Fortune follows favor, after all.”
Kangor nodded. “Sounds stimulating.”
Aurelia seemed to think more deeply about it. “It’s a powerful force that wants a politician of stature dead. Are you ready for that?”
“C’mon,” Orion said with a smirk. “You know I’m ready to swim in the deep water, AD.”
Aurelia Deon smiled, tilting her head ever so slightly. “But are you ready to swim with the big fish?”
Chapter 9
The quartermaster of the Star Sentry seemed to dislike Orion almost at sight. As long as he could remember, he sometimes had that effect on people. “If you’ll just check the manifest,” Orion said calmly, “I’m sure you’ll see that my team and I were added.”
The middle-aged freyan shook his gray-plumed head and leaned back in his chair. “I checked the manifest yesterday.” He plucked a mug off the counter in front of him and took a slug of bitter-smelling tea. The veteran SpaceCorps officer had a single wing with feathers like dirty snow on his right shoulder and a prosthetic wing on his left, perhaps earned in the same firefight that had won him his cybernetic left eye. “I know my manifest, and I didn’t see anything about an Alpha or an Omega.”
“AlphaOmega Security,” Orion said, loudly and clearly. “And I’m telling you, we were add—”
“No, no, no.” He shook his head with dour disappointment and sipped from his mug. “I’m sure as hell not adding any civilian deadweight just hours before we’re supposed to leave dock.”
Orion sighed. “For the third time, Sergeant Clynn, Zovaco Ralli contracted my organization yesterday afternoon and made all of the arrangements.” He steepled his fingers and offered his most diplomatic smile. “If you’ll just check.”