by Scott Moon
“Penny, you all right? Watch out …coming … well-trained … the pain,” Sledge said, his words transmitting slowly, disjointed, and confused.
She laughed at him, but it was a tense laugh. He felt her pushing harder, then she slapped him on the ass as he finally went inside the ship. Confused, he tried to turn around but she wouldn’t have it. Not for the first time, he realized how strong she was despite her small size.
“Thanks, Grandfather,” Penny said as she pushed Sledge ahead of her on the shuttle ramp.
“Penny, do I look old enough to be a grandfather?” the man said.
“You know you don’t, but you’re no kid either. Youth doesn’t come cheap and you’re richer than the five wisemen of SagCon,” Penny said. She wiped dirt and grime from her face. “That was a hell of a fight.”
“It looked like it,” Cornelius ‘Grandfather’ Vandersun said. “Doesn’t seem entirely done.” He nodded toward a swarm of soldiers running to cover. True to the archaic nature of this conflict, a group of Pro Chaos Fighters set up a heavy machine gun in a clock tower and rained death upon the local militia.
“Not my people, not my problem,” Penny said through clenched teeth. “We’re not here to babysit half-trained militia grunts. I don’t have a beef with the PCF, and now that all SagCon civilians have been evacuated, it’s time to go.”
The Army of Organized Restoration positioned their machine guns on a rooftop across the plaza from the PCF and opened fire on the square.
Cornelius closed his eyes at the sight of the final SagCon squads caught in a crossfire between two opposing forces.
“What the actual…” Penny said as Sledge interrupted her.
“Everyone is fighting everyone, Penny. SagCon is pulling out. Doesn’t mean we can just stand aside and watch mass murder.” Sledge’s mind cleared enough to speak, but between his words, he saw pulses of red and black as his heart pounded in his throat.
Penny climbed down from the shuttle ramp and stepped away as a squad of SagCon security forces bolted toward the landing zone at one end of the plaza. They were almost to their shuttle when the PCF gunners strafed them and the second shuttle. Shoulder-held rockets reached out from a dark building, slamming into the nose of the non-military craft that had been requisitioned for the evacuation. The cockpit exploded. Moments later, the damaged craft tipped over. Crew and passengers scrambled from the flames.
Penny never said a word as she ran to help the wounded. Sledge pushed toward the door, but the crew chief shoved him back easily despite their extreme size disparity.
“You’re already a casualty. Going out there will only slow her down and get her killed,” the chief said. “Get back in your seat.”
Wounded SagCon soldiers piled up on the loading ramp. Cornelius and the crew chief dragged them in, cursing and grunting with effort.
“That’s it. Time to go,” the pilot announced from the cockpit.
“Penny!” Sledge shouted.
Cornelius pushed him back to his launch seat. “I like your partner. Tough broad. Probably too much woman for an old man like me.”
“I’m going back for her!” Sledge said, holding the blaster wound to his left arm.
“No, you’re not. You’re going to Darklanding to find my granddaughter and save her life,” Cornelius said. “This shuttle is already over capacity. She can take care of herself—has a better chance of survival than you would if the roles were reversed.”
“Frag off, old man. She’s my partner.”
Cornelius Vandersun, one of the richest and most powerful personalities in the known galaxy, nodded at his pilot and waved one finger in a circle.
Engines flared as the ship fought free of the harsh gravity well of Devlin’s World.
“You’ll like Darklanding, SI Hammer,” Cornelius yelled over the noise of the rockets.
Sledge held onto the straps of his launch seat, wishing he could look down and see Penny escaping the chaotic revolution of the day sweeping across Devlin’s World.
All around him, medics tried to keep wounded men and women alive during liftoff, which amounted to verbal encouragement and cursing.
Sledge fell into a dark funk when the ship entered the void and medics scrambled to care for their patients. Penny was a badass, but that didn’t make it right to leave her down there to fend for herself. He started to get pissed off at her, feeling more and more like she had shoved him onto the ship and abandoned him—not the other way around.
* * *
Sledge’s thoughts returned to the present. He looked up to see Ruby walk out the front door, turning quickly and bolting into the darkness.
“Dammit!” He vaulted from his seat at the bar and ran through the Mother Lode and into the night.
Wisps of shadows where there shouldn’t have been shadows. Movement when all was calm. Silence when there should have been sound.
Sledge’s focus narrowed. He could feel her movements unlike any other time he tracked her. He walked down the middle of the street, thumbs hooked in his belt, eyes forward as he let his peripheral vision tell him all he needed to know. He followed her without following, because he knew.
* * *
Ruby eyed Sledge from the top of the crude Unglok stairway. He had been especially persistent this time when she thought he would be comparing notes with his old partner, SI Fry-Grigman. Instead, he had renewed his pursuit of her like a crazy man.
She had long ago learned the value of knowing her enemies. His past was both pathetic and romantic. She thought she knew just the card to play. All she needed was a few words and she could knock him down a notch.
This part of Darklanding was pre-SagCon development—carved from stone and positioned out of the seasonal winds that plagued the mesa.
“You picked a good location,” Sledge said. “I think I could catch you, but it’d be ugly, and I assume you have something to say.”
“I saw SI Fry-Grigman in Darklanding. Are you surprised she’s alive?” Ruby asked.
“Not at all. She’s tough. And smart.” He paused. “And too stubborn to die.”
Ruby snorted. “You’re full of Yindor manure. How do you live with yourself?”
He made the broad, over-sincere smile all the girls at the Mother Lode loved. “I’ve got a great sense of humor. I’m also patient. Sooner or later, I’m taking you back to your grandfather.”
“I’d go with you right now if you weren’t lying. I’ve got warrants for murder and my mother has a capture contract on me. I’ve considered turning myself in for the reward, it’s so massive,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow and nodded, thumbs tucked through the tactical belt of his smoke gray jumpsuit. “Lot of money.”
“I tried to go to my grandfather. Sent him messages. Jerkfaces like you intercept them and come after me every time. I’m starting to get irritated,” she said.
“What do I have to do to convince you he sent me?” Sledge looked around, assessing his chances of capturing her. They weren’t good.
Ruby laughed. “I’ll believe you when he stands there and tells me himself.”
Sledge dropped his chin to his chest, muttered something, and shook his head in weary frustration. “That’s not what I’m being paid for.” He looked up hoping that she could see the sincerity in his eyes.
“I’d go anywhere with my grandfather. You know that. Don’t piss me off,” she said.
“I do know that! Why do you think I told you who I’m really working for?”
“He doesn’t pay. Everyone knows that,” she said.
“Some things are worth more than money.”
“Like what?”
“Respect. Loyalty. Honor,” he suggested.
Ruby laughed. “You almost had me. Have you ever met my grandfather?”
Sledge crossed his thick arms, stretching the high-tech fabric of his immaculate jumpsuit. “Respect, honor, and loyalty are important to me. My grandfather taught me about all three on the open range in the dead of winter when not
every animal in the herd could survive.”
Ruby crossed her arms and tried to stand taller. “Are you lecturing me or trying to capture me?”
“I know you respect Cornelius. Why else would you try so hard to follow in his footsteps.” He dropped his arms and shook his head. “Listen, kid, I didn’t want to come here. Believe it or not, I wanted to go back for my partner, even though I was wounded—for the record.”
Ruby listened. Something about the hairy-knuckled brute seemed sincere.
“I was a soldier before I became a lawman.”
“Is that what you call working for SagCon?”
“But I felt the need for justice before either career began. If I thought you murdered those men, we wouldn’t be standing here chit-chatting. I’d have hit you with a stun-bolt.”
“You’d miss,” she said.
“Maybe.” Lifting his chin to stare down at her, he waited.
She backed away, then stopped. “Don’t creep up on me. You’re already too close.” She peered around for Penny or the sheriff just in case they were helping him this time. “I didn’t kill them. You have to believe me.”
He stepped forward when he saw the tears rimming her eyes, believing her for once.
“You say you think I’m innocent. You say you’re taking me to Grandfather Cornelius. I can’t risk it.”
“You can’t get off Ungwilook. Darklanding isn’t that big. Transport canyon and the rest of the wilderness is too dangerous to provide a hiding place, even for you.”
“Then what are you waiting for! Use your stupid stun-gun!”
“I think I’ll wait for Penny to help me. We’re going to catch you, Ruby Miranda Vandersun. You can let us take you to one of your grandfather’s sanctuary planets or wait for some trigger-happy bounty hunter to spot you.”
CHAPTER FIVE: Battle of the Frys
In the morning, Thad felt worse than he would have after a night of hard drinking. He wasn’t accustomed to staying up so late regardless of how easy and natural it had seemed at the time.
His problem wasn’t alcohol. It had been a while since he truly indulged—the price of good liquor being what it was on Darklanding. He was wondering what the feeling meant, and if coffee could fix it, when Maximus chuffed noisily.
He looked down at the strange animal. “You sure I can’t talk you into a run?”
Normally, such an absurd suggestion would cause the animal roll its eyes or display his unique ability to fart on cue. Maximus merely looked away from Thad in disgust.
Thaddeus glanced back and saw Penny standing against the wall of the building on the north end of his vacant lot training field. She had her arms crossed and one booted foot up on the wall like an old cowboy.
“You saw her, didn’t you, you filthy animal?”
Maximus snorted, looked away, then preened the side of his face with one foot.
Thad pretended not to see Penny, turning to face his training equipment instead.
The tractor tires, heavy chains, and thick ropes were right where he left them. His newest acquisition included a collection of Unglok counterweights used to measure local agricultural yields. None of the weights translated well to human measurement systems, but he didn’t really care. He had heavy weights and really heavy weights to move around and get stronger, and that was the only measurement system he needed.
What surprised him was a basket of peaches set on the upturned packing crate that he used as a desk and/or stool, depending on the needs of the workout.
He stared at the fruit, unable to control his salivation. For a moment, his mind went blank. How could fresh fruit make it to Darklanding, much less his vacant lot gym?
Penny sauntered up beside him and crossed her arms. She nodded at the peaches. “Aren’t you going to read the note?”
Thad realized he was already staring at a paper envelope attached to the box. He was so stunned by this unexpected treasure that his mind was crawling around in confusion. He swallowed and reached down to pick up the bundle. Without thinking about it, he tossed Penny one of the peaches.
His ex-wife bit into the peach and talked with her mouth full. “Who’s your admirer?”
Thad concealed his annoyance, or thought he did. “You owe me five hundred credits for that peach.”
“You’re scowling!” She laughed in a way he remembered fondly but was annoyed by at the same time. He didn’t really want her to be here in Darklanding.
“That’s not what you said last night.”
“Maybe I sent the peaches? You know, to make amends. Maybe you’re going to get lucky again tonight,” she said.
Heat rushed to Thad’s loins. “Frag it, Penny, you don’t understand what peaches on Darklanding mean.”
Penny sighed explosively and threw up her hands. “You always complained I was too serious. Now you’re obsessed with fruit economics.” She looked around, planting her hands on her hips. “Is this the best you can do? Flipping tires and climbing ropes, really?”
She rolled up her sleeves and tied her boots tighter.
Thad put down the letter and the fruit, then rolled up his sleeves and tightened his boot laces. “Get away from that. You can’t just start flipping tires. You’ll throw out your back.”
“You talk like an old man. Where’s the Thaddeus Fry I used to punish on the obstacle course?”
Thad thought about the note in the short message. The word scrolled through his mind… Why don’t we finish what we started?
“Do you know how to run, Penny? Because that’s how we are starting this dance,” he said.
She laughed louder than he had heard in a long time. “Oh, you poor man. I’m going to punish you with running.”
“I think you punished me enough during the divorce,” he muttered as they started jogging around the large vacant lot.
“Thaddeus,” she said. “The lawyers kept things simple. All we had to do was sit across the table and glare at each other.”
Thad stop talking and concentrated on his breathing and his stride. He set the hardest pace he’d attempted since arriving in Darklanding. The early morning sun glowed above the spaceport, small traces of the recent A19 disaster gave the atmosphere a magical ambience. The regular line of transport ships descended from the upper atmosphere and made their way to landing zones.
He tried to watch Penny without getting caught watching her. She wasn’t the most beautiful—or even the toughest—woman he’d ever met. Throughout the early morning workout, they panted around the training field trying to out-sweat each other. He couldn’t help but think of when they first met and how much he had come to love her. The reasons they had fallen apart and argued constantly seemed less clear now.
She grabbed the edge of one of the tractor tires, which was several times larger than she was, and hoisted it up to her hips with perfect technique. When the edge of the tire reached her midline, she thrust her hips forward, using her legs, core, and upper body muscles in fluid synchronization. As impossible as it seemed before it happened, the tire flipped over and smacked the ground with considerable force.
Thad could almost taste his pride driving him toward a terrible decision. “You use two hands?” He shook his head. “I learned this when I was recovering from my blaster injury. This will put hair on your chest.”
He knelt down and gripped the knobby edge of another heavy tire with one hand. He braced his feet and stabilized his spinal erector and abdominal muscles. After sucking in a deep breath, he pushed down his diaphragm to create pressure around his spine, then heaved with all of his might.
During this type of maneuver, the arms were merely connection points; like ropes with hooks at the end. There was no reason having only one hook would cause his legs to work any harder, or so he thought.
Something popped in his left knee and he felt a flash of heat. It was too late to stop the maneuver, so he sent the tire over, where it crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Penny eyed him suspiciously as she clapped slowly. Th
en she crossed her arms. “Be careful, old man. Don't get cocky just because you were raised in Earth gravity.”
Thad clenched his teeth against the pain and spoke with artificial nonchalance. The gritty tension of burning misery in his words could not be entirely concealed. “I’m not any older than you are, woman. If I was an old man, I’d be retired and enjoying a cold drink on a hot beach.”
* * *
Shaunte watched Dixie walk out of the Mother Lode with a basket of fresh peaches hanging from her arm. She wondered if the big-haired super-blonde had penned another secret fan letter for Thaddeus. Against her better judgment, she had watched the madam of the Mother Lode creep to Thaddeus’s workout field and leave him a gift. It was an easy thing to watch from her office window. That didn’t mean she had time for such nosiness.
She didn’t care what Dixie did, or what Thaddeus did, or what anyone that was not helping her put Darklanding back together did.
Then why are you still thinking about it, she asked herself.
“It must be nice to be able to go after any man you want without concern for your reputation,” Shaunte said as she turned away from the Mother Lode main room. She’d taken more and more to looking down on the place from the walkway to the stairs on the highest level of the establishment. The noise of the automatic piano and loud conversations mixed with the clinking of glasses when the workers had enough money to get drunk.
She closed the door behind her and faced her office, resisting the urge to look out the window for as long as she could. When it was unbearable, she walked and stared down on the vacant lot where Thaddeus Fry often exercised like some sort of college freshmen.
“Well, look at that. The hits just keep on rolling,” she said as she crossed her arms and glared at the new girl in town, or new mean-as-hell woman, if she was going to be accurate.
Sheriff Fry was sitting against one of his stupid tires massaging his knee. His ex-wife, SagCon Special Investigator Penelope Fry-Grigman, reached out and rubbed his shoulder.