by Alex Kings
“So we go forward,” said Rurthk. “We meet with Sukone, but we go prepared. Alright?” He looked around his crew, but they all nodded solemnly. “Good.”
“Sukone won't want to separate us from the Outsider like he did last time,” said Eloise. “That would risk the ship escaping, even if he killed the people he was meeting. The rendezvous point is in the Kuiper belt.”
“The perfect grave,” murmured Dr. Wolff. “No one would find our remains there before galactic civilisation died out.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” said Rurthk. “That's good to know. Anyway, we won't know the landscape until our reconnaissance stop. So that gives us just ten minutes to put the final details on our plan. Mero, Olivia, I want you to start working on the telescope images as soon as they resolve. Sukone's people will search us, of course, so I'd like a way to drop weapons surreptitiously.”
“Yes, sir,” said Olivia.
“But knowing we'll be on a Kuiper belt object gives us something to work with. So until then, start studying the geology. Kaivon, is there any way we could hide the Outsider and use decoys?”
“I can think of several ways,” said Kaivon.
“Good,” said Rurthk. “That's your task. But first, I want you to copy everything we know from the hard drives, and download a million cryptcreds. We may need them. Now, Doctor …”
“I fear, as always, there won't be much I can do until the shooting is over.”
“Yes, I want you on standby. But before that, there's something I want to talk to you about.” Rurthk looked them over. “Now, let's get to work.”
*
En route to the rendezvous point, Rurthk found Olivia in the observation lounge. She was sitting, a tablet extended in front of her, staring out at the stars. He recognised the patterns of bunched-up skin of her forehead. In humans, that meant they were troubled, or thinking, or both. Reading human expressions wasn't natural to him, but he'd taught himself a long time ago.
He greeted her, then grabbed a carton from the fridge and sat at the tablet.
Olivia's eyes went from the stars to the carton. “You always drink that,” she said. “What's it like?”
“I like it,” Rurthk said. “Eloise doesn't.”
“It's not poisonous, then?”
“Not as such.”
“Can I try it?”
“If you want.” Rurthk grabbed an empty cup from the end of the table and poured some of the contents of the carton into it. The liquid was dark red and syrupy. He pushed the cup over to her.
Olivia sniffed it and pulled a face. “It won't make me sick?”
“It won't poison you. I didn't say anything about being sick.”
Olivia stared at the contents of the cup for a moment, then shrugged and took a small sip. Her eyes widened, and she spat the mouthful back into the cup.
“Jesus,” she said, and leapt off her seat.
Rurthk smiled to himself. He always like seeing human reactions
When she'd washed her mouth out, she asked, “What is that?”
“Blood, fermented and spiced,” said Rurthk.
Olivia settled back in the chair opposite him, eyes wide. “Glaber blood?”
Rurthk laughed. “In this price range? No, it comes from a hru … an animal that grazes on fungus.”
“But you can get Glaber blood?”
Rurthk shrugged. “Sometimes. If two hives fight, the more enterprising one might take the blood of their defeated enemies and sell it. It's not very traditional – that sort of thing is usually reserved for gifts to secure alliances – but it happens.”
“Oh …”
“How are you feeling, anyway?” said Rurthk.
“Oh … I .. I don't know. I don't think I'm suited to this sort of thing.”
“Why?”
“I'm scared,” she admitted. “No, not scared. Terrified. I … I don't want to die. And here we are … and I know you probably think this sounds like the tantrum of a silly little human child.”
“I'm terrified too,” said Rurthk.
Olivia stared at him. “Really.”
“Of course. We are going into an extremely dangerous situation, and we have no way to avoid it. We're all scared. But you now what? The people we're facing aren't scared. Because they think they know what's going to happen. That gives us an advantage.” Rurthk leaned forward and held Olivia's gaze. “Be scared. Nobody worth your time will look down on you for it. But use your fear. Let it focus your thought instead of paralysing you. Understand?”
Olivia nodded weakly. “I think so.”
“Good.” Rurthk. He sat back and picked up the cup. “You're not going to finish this, are you?”
Chapter 50: The Trade
The planetoid had no name. It was a ball of rock and ice a little over a thousand miles across. The local star, six billion miles away, was visible only as a faint pinprick of light hanging in the sky, almost impossible to distinguish from all the other stars.
But, as Mero and Olivia had discovered on the reconnaissance stop, it had been inhabited once. A fifty-year old research station formed a map of long corridors across its surface, covering hundreds of miles and bridging over giant canyons. Most of the facility was uninhabitable, with its air either lost to space or frozen into a layer of ice on the floor. But a few pieces were still active, still kept warm, with a breathable atmosphere.
The Outsider jumped into orbit over the planetoid.
Rurthk stood in the cockpit, behind Mero's chair. Kaivon stood beside the other console, his suit plugged directly into the system. And Eloise stood behind them.
“I've got a view of Sweetblade's ship,” said Mero. “Now doesn't that just fill your heart with joy?”
Rurthk frowned at the telescope display. “What is it?”
“It's an old Solar Alliance frigate,” said Eloise. “After the War of the Ancients, Unity and Sweetblade captured a lot of old Alliance ships. I guess they still have a few in service.”
“Take us in,” Rurthk told Mero. “But keep us near the far side of the planetoid.”
“Sure thing, boss,” said Mero.
The console chimed. They were being hailed. Rurthk hit the switch. “Rurthk speaking,”
“Good to see you here at last, Captain,” came Zino's voice over the speakers. “I was starting to worry you wouldn't show.”
“We're here now,” Rurthk said. “What's the plan?”
“Come to the following location on the planet's surface,” Zino said, sending co-ordinates. “Bring the hard drives. I will check them, and if they check out, I'll pay you. Then if you want, you can come with us to meet Sukone – or not, whatever you prefer.”
“Alright,” said Rurthk. “I'll meet you there in twenty minutes.” He cut the channel.
Mero gestured at the console to transfer control to Kaivon, then flipped acrobatically over the back of the chair.
“Kaivon,” said Rurthk, “get behind the planetoid as soon as we leave, and launch the decoy.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Now let's go and get our payment.”
*
The last of the Outsider's shuttles glided over a landscape of crater-covered landscape in mottled brown and reddish-ochre. Occasional canyons yawned in the ice.
Rurthk, Eloise, and Mero sat inside, fully suited up except for helmets.
Mero looked at the console. “Height and velocity are both ready for the drop,” he said. “No obstacles.”
Rurthk, sitting beside him checked the readings. “Good,” he said, and tapped the console.
A cargo container was magnetically bolted to the underside of the shuttle. It detached on Rurthk's command and dropped towards the planetoid.
As soon as its rounded base made contact, the volatiles in the ice began to melt and boil. The container skated along below the shuttle, leaving behind a faint vapour trail. After a few moments, Rurthk scanned it and checked its heading. It was exactly where they wanted it to be.
Mero turned the shuttle away
and headed for the meeting point, decelerating. Meanwhile, the cargo container crashed lightly into the base. There, it stopped, wedged halfway through a brittle, fractured wall. It had made its way without power, and, with any luck, hadn't been detected.
The meeting place was less than a hundred metres away. Mero brought the shuttle down onto a landing pad atop the facility. Old but still functioning automated systems extended a docking tube to the side of the shuttle and pressurised it.
“Atmosphere registers as safe,” said Eloise. “Cold, though.”
“Let's not rely on it too much,” said Rurthk. “Check your suit safeties.” He tapped at a panel on his arm. In the event of depressurisation, a helmet would extend automatically to protect him.
Everything checked out. Mero opened the shuttle's door, and Rurthk picked up the container of hard drives. As soon as they stepped out of the shuttle, gravity dropped to a fraction of its normal value. Their steps became long, slow leaps.
At the end of the short docking tube, an escalator, no longer working, led down into the facility itself. The air was chill. Their breath fogged in front of their faces.
They headed down a corridor lined with labs.
“How are you feeling?” Eloise asked Rurthk.
“Full.”
“Well, uh, don't explode.”
“I'll try,” said Rurthk.
“That,” Mero said slowly, “would actually be hilarious. At least until they shot us.”
Rurthk remembered what Dr. Wolff had told him. You're really pushing the boundaries of the Glaber strong stomach here.
They reached the end of the corridor, where it opened out onto a much larger room. It looked like it had been a large lab of some kind. Strips in the ceiling offered a weak, sallow light. The remains of computer terminals jutted from the floor in various places, their insides long since stripped for anything valuable. The remains of heavy equipment, similarly gutted, sat nearby.
Rurthk noted the cover. Surreptitiously tapping his fingers against the inside of his suit's glove, he composed a quick message, ordering them where to take cover, and sent it to Eloise and Mero by means of a tightbeam laser between their suits.
The middle of the room was empty, free of terminals or equipment. On the far side of it, a couple of guards stood, one human, one Varanid.
They came forward. “Are you unarmed?” said the human.
“As requested,” said Rurthk.
“Come forward. Stand there.”
Rurthk waited while the guards inspected the box of hard drives, then his suit.
“No visible weapons,” the human said into his comm.”
The door on the far side of the room opened, and Felix Zino came striding out, his arms spread. “Captain Rurthk! A pleasure to see you here at last. Now let's see what you have for me.” Another human, a technician, came running after him.
He was still wearing his white suit, which seemed wholly inappropriate in a place like this. Even his guards had pressure suits. But then Rurthk noticed a transparent strip poking up from beneath Zino's collar. He was wearing a pressure suit beneath it.
Rurthk and Zino stepped forward together to meet in the middle of the room, and Rurthk put the container down and took the lid off.
Zino took one of the hard drives out of the container and turned it over in his hand. “Come on,” he snapped. “I haven't got all day.”
The technician ran forward, opened a bag of equipment. Kneeling in front of the container, he quickly connected the hard drives to a tablet and gestured at it a few times. Then he looked up at Zino and nodded.
“Excellent work,” said Zino. “I knew we could count on you.” He looked down at the technician and said, “Take them back to the ship.”
“Yes, Mr. Zino.” The technician disconnected the hard drives, put the lid on the container, and carried it out of the room.
“Now, about payment … ” said Rurthk. Without looking around, he kept a firm grasp of the nearest bit of cover – a piece of equipment behind him and to his left, a couple of metres away.
“Of course,” said Zino. He spoke into his comms. “We have the goods. Do it.”
Silence hung in the cold air, while Zino stood opposite Rurthk, giving him a wolfish smile.
Through one of the windows, Rurthk saw the ice plains flash briefly. It was, probably invisible to human eyes, but Rurthk noticed it. A second later, his comm alerted him silently: The decoys had been destroyed. Zino had just attempted to nuke the Outsider.
A second later there was a closer explosion, which made itself known by a strong, brief vibration through the floor. Their shuttle had been destroyed.
That was it, then.
Rurthk tapped the inside of his glove to send another message to his team.
“There's something I have to tell you,” said Zino, clearly savouring the moment. He reached into his jacket. “You see –”
NOW! sent Rurthk.
They moved together. Rurthk dived back behind the terminal. Eloise and Mero ran for their own cover.
Zino paused, bewildered by the movement. But only for a second.
“Oh, I see. You already know,” he said, grinning again. He took out a pistol from his jacket. His guards did the same.
Rurthk closed his eyes and forced himself to retch. Once. Twice. An oily taste filled his mouth.
“Shame you don't have any guns,” said Zino.
Here goes, thought Rurthk.
He stood. He saw Zino's pistol focus on him. He opened his mouth.
And he spat a stream of thick flame across the room at Zino and the two guards.
Chapter 51: The Chase
A wall of fire divided the room. The human guard was screaming, floundering, covering in flames. Thick smoke billowed out of it, obscuring his view of the far side.
Eloise suddenly at Rurthk's side, helping him get up. His mouth was numb. He'd fallen over. He didn't remember falling over.
“Come on, we need to move!” said Eloise.
“Right,” said Rurthk, or tried to say, fighting to come to his senses. A gunshot rang out, blowing a hole in one of the terminals. Behind the wall of flame, he could see the outline of a Varanid.
He ran with Eloise to the door and down the corridor.
“M …” began Rurthk.
“Mero's gone on ahead,” explained Eloise.
As they ran, Rurthk pulled the thin greasy membrane out of his mouth. There seemed to be heaps of it. When he got all of it, he dropped it. It had been the biomaterial Dr Wolff had synthesised, to keep the mix of noxious, pressurised chemicals from touching each other – or the lining of Rurthk's stomach.
Gunshots sounded behind them. Giant Varanid bullets tore holes in the floor. At last they reached a corner and dived behind it.
Mero was there, waiting for them. “Come on,” he said. “We're nearly at the cache.”
*
Felix Zino stalked down the corridor with his thin sapphiroid helmet up. The front of his jacket was charred, and he could still feel his lungs burning from that first breath of smoke. The chemicals had made an impressive mixture – a napalm-like gluiness which clung to the floor, producing thick, noxious smoke.
He was grinning. This hunt was going to be more than he expected. An actual challenge.
Naturally, he had the Varanid go first. He liked a challenge, but he wasn't suicidal.
This was planned, he thought. That meant … they might still be expecting to escape somehow. He hit his comms to connect to the frigate. “First of all, I'm setting my comm to ping you every two minutes if the suit still registers me as alive. If that stops, and if you can't get in touch with me, destroy the facility.”
“Are … are you sure, Mr. Zino?”
“Do I sound unsure?” Zino growled.
“Understood, sir. Doing that now.”
“One more thing … See if there's another ship out there. Don't look for transponder or comm noise. Check thermal signature, engine radiation. Set the threshold low. They're
probably hiding it.”
There was a pause, then, “I have something, Mr. Zino. Residual engine signature, three hundred kilometres from our previous target.”
“I thought so,” said Zino. “They're clever. They sent out a decoy. Find the target. Destroy it. Use three missiles, maximum yield.” That was overkill – but Zino liked overkill.
“Firing now.”
“And?”
“The target has been destroyed.”
*
Rurthk, Eloise, and Mero were running down the corridor together when they heard Zino's voice ring out, amplified.
“That was a clever trick, Rurthk, sending out a decoy like that. But not clever enough. I've found your ship's real location.”
Rurthk tried his comms, but there too much interference from the recent chain of nuclear explosions, and the clouds of vapour and dust they had kicked up from the planet's crust.
“You haven't got anywhere to go. Give up! Or … or actually keep fighting,” said Zino. “I don't care either way. You're at a dead end!”
They reached a dead end. The corridor was closed off by a shutter.
Mero gestured at the panel nearby. It flickered weakly a few times, but stayed on. “Hard vacuum on the other side. This is where the cache landed.”
“Open it,” Rurthk said. He tapped the inside of his glove, and a helmet of sapphiroid-strengthened smart matter grew from his collar to enclose his head.
“I'm trying,” Mero said, putting his own helmet up.
The deep clang-clang-clang of huge Varanid feet against the corridor grew steadily louder.
“Come on, you bastard,” Mero said.
The shutter whined slightly and climbed a few inches, then stopped. Air began to rush out.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Rurthk said, and grabbed the bottom of the shutter. Together, they hauled it upwards. As soon as it was high enough to squeeze under, Mero did so. Eloise followed.
Rurthk saw the Varanid appear at the end of the corridor, and dived under the shutter after them.
He emerged onto a layer of ice covering the floor. Air rushing in under the shutter became foggy as it encountered the freezing temperatures. It glittered with microscopic ice crystals. Most of the lights were off, but Rurthk's eyes were good enough to make out the general shape of the room.