Lasers, Lies and Money

by Alex Kings

  “Of course, he could just be waiting so he can get a clear shot at us,” said Mero. “It's what I would do.”

  “Then let's see,” said Rurthk. He wasn't going to walk away without knowing that Zino was dead.

  Pistol still held ready, he stepped out from behind his car and walked slowly over to Zino's.

  It had left a streak of charred black shrapnel along the roadway where the effector field pads and nose had been abraded away. A few sparks were still glowing a faint orange. The nose was crumpled into the front of the cabin, and the transparent polymer of the windows had been torn open by the impact. Something in the engine clicked as it cooled.

  Rurthk advanced upon the car cautiously. There was still no sign of movement.

  He silently summoned Eloise and Mero with a wave of his hand. He gestured at them to move around the other side of the car. He wanted them close enough to pick up his pistol if he was shot, but spread out so any attacker would take more time to shoot them all.

  A couple of yards away from the car, and still nothing. Rurthk caught sight of something in the front seat. It wasn't moving.

  He came closer and looked inside.

  It was the driver. By the angle of his head, he was clearly dead.

  But the seat next to him, where Zino had been sitting, was empty.

  Chapter 65: In The Dark

  The foyer was cavernous, empty, lit only by trickles of sunlight from small, high windows. It swallowed the sound of the slamming door and returned a stream of echoes.

  Olivia's heart was still pounding. She considered holding the door closed on the Albascene, then decided against it.

  Instead she ran. There were broad stone ramps spiralling up and down into the building. Up would trap her, but there would be room to hide. Down might offer a way out.

  She chose to go down.

  As she reached the ramp, the door opened with a clang. Without looking back, Olivia rounded the first curve of the ramp.

  No lasers fired. Had the Albascene seen her? She had no idea. She kept running.

  The ramp ended in an open-plan storage space. The light was weak and sickly green, coming from tritium bars in the ceiling. Containers and polymer crates were stacked in a semi-orderly way. Some had tipped over. A few automated tractors and forklifts were parked in the corners. The whole scene gave the impression of recent, if disorganised, usage.

  Olivia stopped for a moment at the bottom of the ramp and looked around. There was no obvious exit.

  There was no choice but to search. She headed forward into the maze of containers. The spaces between the containers, the size of the handles, and the computer terminals all gave the impression that Varanids worked here.

  The suit's faint hum came down the ramp.

  Olivia leapt immediately behind a stack of containers and held her breath.

  The hum grew louder. The Albascene was in the basement with her. It was approaching at a leisurely pace.

  Olivia waited a few moments before padding away to the left, then stopped and listened again.

  The Albascene moved between towers of containers, pausing occasionally. Every so often she could hear the sound of its segments turning against one another. Cautiously, slowly, she moved towards the wall, trying to stay out of sight.

  The Albascene sounded like it was on the far side of the basement when Olivia reached the wall. She looked up and down. Blank stone in both directions.

  That left another three walls to check.

  Or leave the basement, But that option, for the moment, was out. It sounded like the Albascene was staying in a line of sight of the ramp. So she had to try and find another way out.

  She moved back between the stacks of containers. The Albascene was to her left, so she turned right and headed for that wall.

  A sudden crack interrupted her motion. Laser fire. Olivia leapt behind a forklift and peered out, shaking. Had it seen her?

  Another crack sounded from the far side of the basement.

  Olivia frowned. What was going on?

  The Albascene fired again, and again. And then she saw what it was doing: Half the basement was shrouded in darkness, and a lighting strip vanished with the fourth shot.

  Its suit wouldn't stop with simple visual sensors. It could have infrared, ultrasound, night vision, lidar. With all the lights destroyed, and with the Albascene still watching the ramp, Olivia would be easy prey.

  At least this task was keeping it busy. Olivia moved as quickly as she dared along the wall until she reached a corner. The next wall was blank too.

  She moved carefully along it, hiding behind a stack of containers and listening carefully before hurrying to the next one.

  The Albascene kept up its steady destruction of the lights, working its way from one side of the basement to the other, its laser cracking regularly.

  Olivia reached the third corner.

  It was impossible to tell if the third wall had an exit. More than half of it was dark.

  And moving along it would take her back towards the Albascene.

  She bit her lip silently. Waiting would do no good.

  She began to walk along it.

  The Albascene grew closer, carrying darkness behind it.

  Crack.

  Crack.

  Crack.

  It was almost on her, at the intersection between light and dark. She could hear the growing hum.

  She stopped, crouching behind a stack of containers. With another crack, the light panel to her left shattered.

  She just had to wait for the Albascene to pass, and then she could continue.

  She waited.

  The next shot didn't come.

  Instead, she heard the volume of the humming suit increase in volume. It was approaching her.

  There was nowhere she could run.

  The Albascene came closer. She wracked her brains trying to think of how she'd attracted its attention, but came up with nothing. She berated herself silently for being such a fool.

  The humming retreated. A moment later, there was another crack, and the light strip to her right shattered.

  Shadows fell across everything.

  Olivia stood and reached out slowly with her right hand until her fingers brushed against the wall. It was cold and faintly greasy to the touch. She stretched out her left arm directly ahead of her. And then she walked forward into the darkness.

  Her only points of reference were the wall against her fingers, and the cold floor through her socks. Her left arm swept about in the emptiness. Her mind was filled with hidden obstacles, anything she could trip over, anything that might give her away.

  Her fingers brushed over cold stone. Still there was nothing. Behind her, the Albascene continued to destroy the lights. It was nearly finished now.

  Her left hand met resistance. She froze, holding back a cry of surprise. Then she realised it was another wall.

  Last chance.

  She stopped to think it through. This wall faced the bottom of the ramp. The Albascene was staying in a line of sight of the bottom of the ramp, which meant it was very likely she would move into its line of sight at some point.

  But there was no other choice. She kept going.

  With a sharp crack, the last hints of light vanished. The Albascene was finished. Now it was coming to find her.

  She moved quicker than before, listening for the faint hum of its suit.

  The hum vanished.

  She paused and listened. All she could hear was her own breathing. No sign of the Albascene.

  Had it gone?

  It couldn't have. Of course, she realised, Albascene suits had to be able to turn that hum off at some point, if they intended to fight at least. Without it, they would struggle to hide.

  Trapped in the dark with an opponent she couldn't see or hear.

  Wonderful.

  She walked forward more freely now. There was no telling where the Albascene was.

  Her hand brushed against something. A ridge. A seam. A door? />
  A door!

  It was wide and low, made for Varanids. It was partially hidden behind some large containers, which meant the Albascene hadn't yet noticed it.

  She explored with her fingers, trying to find a handle or a switch or a panel. Nothing. She pulled it. No luck there, either. She tried again, hoping she'd missed something but there was still no luck.

  She stopped, tried to calm herself and thought it through.

  Premise one: The Albascene would still be watching the ramp.

  Premise two: This was a rather trigger-happy Albascene, judging by how it had used its laser before.

  Conclusion: Olivia quietly took her shoes from around her neck, running through the geometry of the basement in her mind.

  Reaching out, she found a stack of containers nearby. When she was certain of its position, she quietly dropped one shoe in front of the door. Then she dodged behind the stack of boxes.

  She knew that if she'd misjudged the Albascene's position, it would be able to see her.

  Please work. Please work.

  There was a sharp crack. It was accompanied by a brief flash, over so soon that Olivia only became conscious of it as an afterimage.

  There was no time to wait. If the Albascene came over to investigate, it would see the door.

  Olivia ran the few steps over to the door, blindly grabbing it. There was a hole where the laser had hit it. The ragged edge cut into her palm as she wrenched it open.

  But then she was through, into the thin green again. A ramp led further down. She ran down it without hesitating. Behind her, there was another crack.

  The ramp went straight down and ended in a sort of platform. One wall was transparent, looking out onto a cavity where a transport pod stood.

  “Oh, thank you,” Olivia whispered to herself. She gestured at the console. The door opened, and a moment later she was inside.

  The Albascene came gliding down the ramp. It fired, burning the edge of the outer doors.

  Select destination, said another console inside. Olivia jabbed at the first one she saw.

  The door slammed shut, and the cabin descended as the Albascene arrived on the platform.

  The cabin reached the dark space between the inner and outer shells of Nereus and began to decelerate sharply. Olivia leant against the wall and sighed. Her heart was still pounding. After a few moments, she leaned forward to check where she was going.

  Chapter 66: Not A Lucky Man

  Rurthk looked at the empty chair for only a moment before reacting.

  He stepped back from the car and told his companions, “He's not –”

  Zino appeared, vaulting over the car. Blood covered half his face and ran down to stain the shoulder of his suit. The jacket was ripped in several places. He was grinning viciously.

  He tried to kick the pistol out of Rurthk's hand. Rurthk leapt back, keeping hold of the gun but losing his aim. Zino took the opportunity to leap off the car and tackle Rurthk.

  Rurthk fell back with Zino's weight on top of him. They wrestled over the gun.

  “God damn, it'll be so much fun killing you,” Zino said. “All of you. I haven't had this much fun in years. I'll be sad when it's over.”

  “I won't,” said Rurthk, and tried to bite him.

  Zino twisted his neck out of the way of Rurthk's incisors and laughed. “Every Glaber does that. I thought you were independent. Try something smarter, Captain.”

  “Hey, look what I found” said Mero, to the side.

  He was holding the miniature grenade launcher.

  Rurthk and Zino both looked at him.

  Zino grinned. “Go on, then. Shoot me. Oh, no, wait. You can't. It's broken. Why do you think I left it behind?”

  “That's okay,” said Rurthk, leaning forward with his razor-sharp teeth bared.

  Zino moved with lightning speed, evading the bite and punching Rurthk in the muzzle. “Oh, I see,” he said. “Was it just a trick to distract me from your attack?”

  Behind him, Eloise placed a perfectly placed strike on Zino's back. Zino grunted, eyes wide, and faltered. “No,” she said. “From mine.”

  Rurthk kicked Zino off him and stood up.

  Zino scrambled to his feet at the same time. His breathing was laboured. Every time he tried to straighten his back, he winced. He looked across the three of them slowly. “You got me,” he said.

  Rurthk said nothing. He lifted his pistol and levelled it at Zino's head.

  Zino moved suddenly, leaping forward and wrenching the pistol out of Rurthk's hand. A moment later he had it pointed at Rurthk's belly. Immediately, Eloise started to move towards him.

  He pulled the trigger.

  The gun made a sharp electrical twang, then a click, then fell silent without firing.

  Everyone stopped to stare at it.

  The coils had shorted.

  Zino stared at it for a moment, then started to laugh. He threw the gun in an almost friendly way to Rurthk. “There you go. You might want to get that repaired.”

  Rurthk turned the pistol over in his hands. “Uh, thanks.”

  “I'm not a lucky man,” said Zino. He shook his head. “I am not a lucky man. But I can live with that. Because I know all my successes are down to skill alone.”

  Rurthk smiled faintly. That, he realised, was the first thing Zino had said that had made any sense to him at all.

  “I suppose now we just have to face all your goons in the double helix building,” said Rurthk.

  Zino laughed. “I doubt it. Without me around to bully them, they won't be that motivated.”

  They stood facing each other in silence. They could keep fighting, but without a gun, even with Zino hurt, Rurthk could tell a victory would be costly. Zino seemed to feel the same way.

  “I'll see you again, Captain, I'm sure,” he said, turning.

  “Wait,” Rurthk called out after him. “Where's Olivia?”

  “The girl? How should I know?” said Zino. “The guard I sent after her has stopped responding.” The tapped the comms on his collar. “Learned just after the crash.” He walked away, still wincing, down the street. Rurthk let him go.

  Chapter 67: Between Shells

  The cabin hurtled between the two layers, decelerating to the outer shell. Olivia could feel her weight shifting slightly as the artificial gravity ramped up to compensate.

  She was alive, and she was free. What next?

  She felt a pang, realising she'd left the others behind fighting Zino and not returned. She could've helped them.

  Her comms still weren't working. She tried using the cabin's comms, routed through Nereus itself, but there was no way of using it to signal her friends or the Outsider.

  But Eloise, Rurthk and Mero were all good fighters. Together, they could beat Zino, she was sure of it.

  She went to the control console. For a moment she considered going to the Outsider, then shook her head. She gestured at the console to change destination, and turned it back to the double helix building.

  The cabin changed direction and began to accelerate again.

  Olivia settled back into the cabin. She was looking out the window when she caught sight of a small light in the cavernous space between the two shells.

  Curious, she peered at it. As it came closer, she saw it was another cabin, on the same trajectory as her, it seemed. She shrugged and leaned against the wall.

  When she looked back a minute or so later, the other cabin was closer. Close enough now that she could make out the shape of an Albascene suit inside.

  “It can't be,” she said to herself. “Just a coincidence.”

  Even so, she tried the cabin's comms again. The Outsider was still unavailable.

  She waited a moment and watched. The other cabin slowly drew closer.

  Just to check, she went to the control console and changed her destination again. Her cabin angled to the right as soon as she confirmed the destination.

  The other cabin changed direction too.

  Olivia stare
d at it for a moment. It was still gaining on her.

  She tried another destination change.

  The other cabin followed.

  She knelt on the seat and looked out the back window. The Albascene must have overridden the navigational systems so it could control its cabin directly.

  Which was nice to know, but didn't really help her at all.

  She paced back and forth, thinking. Wherever she got out, the Albascene would arrive moments later. Her only hope was to go somewhere friendly – but with the Outsider away from any docks and the rest of the crew out of touch, she had no idea where that was.

  The cabin caught her eye again. It was close enough for her to see the Albascene inside was the same one who had hunted her through the basement. And the distance between them shrinking.

  What would happen when they met?

  A small, circular section at the front of the other cabin bent outwards suddenly, like something inside had slammed into it. When Olivia looked closer, it was glowing a faint red

  Then the patch burst. The metal bloomed outwards into ragged petals, glowing red with heat. There was a faintly visible puff of dust as the air inside the other cabin rushed out through the new hole into the vacuum.

  Olivia realised what was happening. The Albascene inside had been firing its laser at the cabin. The hole was deliberate.

  Why?

  Albascene suits made them immune to vacuum. The suit oxygenated the water automatically. So it wouldn't be hurt by blowing a hole inside its own cabin. But why would it do such a thing?

  The other cabin drew closer. It was barely twenty metres away now.

  The Albascene vanished from the window. A moment later, the top of its suit emerged from the hole in the cabin.

  And then Olivia realised what it was planning.

  “Oh, shit,” she said.

  The Albascene crawled out of the hole, its suit horizontal and effector fields like tentacles bracing it against the outside of the cabin. If it could shoot a hole in its cabin, it could shoot a hole in hers.

  She ran to the console and called up a map. The nearest stop was a zero G factory on the outer shell. She set it as a new destination.