The Smuggler's Ascension

by Christopher Ingersoll

  ~17~

  Kristof could understand Sabine’s anger and frustration at the situation, but not her anger at him. Ever since he had returned to the warehouse from getting dinner and the intelligence they needed she had seemed on edge towards him. After everything they had been through, especially during the passage through the Devil’s Eyes, he found that this vague anger towards him all of a sudden was causing him pain. Granted, they would eventually have to go their separate ways, but he wanted to enjoy the time they did have together while they could.

  As he sat staring at the wall, Kristof’s eyes fell upon his bag and the picture frame and stack of manifests he had moved earlier when he cleared the table, a sudden suspicion dawning on him. He had seen her glance in that direction several times since he’d returned. Walking to the picture and grabbing it, he saw that it was the picture of himself with Anasha that had been taken shortly after they had been married. He remembered how happy he had been back then, and the sight of Anasha brought an ache to his heart as it always did. The picture was dusty, he saw, but it also showed signs of being handled by more than just himself recently.

  Looking at the picture, it came to Kristof once again just how much Anasha and Sabine truly resembled each other. He supposed he had known it all along on a subconscious level; had he not made the comparisons in his mind just days ago? But seeing Anasha’s image so clearly before him now after Sabine had stormed out, it struck him like a blow. Sabine had known about Anasha before now, he knew. He suddenly realized this had been the first time Sabine had seen a photo Anasha, though, and he understood her anger towards him now. He set the photo down and turned to follow her to the roof, eager to dispel her belief that he’d only been with her because she resembled his dead wife.

  Kristof was still kicking himself not anticipating this problem when he reached the roof. Rain still fell lightly over gloomy city as the moon of Bonibus moved behind the distant blue gas giant it orbited. The air smelled cleaner now, rather than its normal burnt out smell, as dark clouds swirled overhead. A quick glance found Sabine standing near the roof’s edge, looking off towards the lights of the city and spaceport in the distance. He walked to her and stood at the edge of the roof a few feet away, silent and waiting for her to seek the answers he guessed she desperately needed.

  “Why did you make you home here?” Sabine asked after several minutes, “Especially after everything that happened to you here, and what you lost because of it.”

  It wasn’t the question Kristof had expected. It took him several moments to find a way to explain why he had made his home in the place where he had experienced his greatest pain. The answers came hard, as he’d never truly considered it before. Coming here had just seemed right at the time.

  “My life ended here the day Anasha died,” Kristof began softly, staring off into the distance as if looking back through time. “I had never deserved her, and I always waited in dread for the day she would realize that and leave me, but she never did. I was the happiest man in the galaxy, but guys like me aren’t meant to be happy, not for long anyway. She wouldn’t leave me, no matter how much her father asked her to, so life took her from me instead.”

  Sabine turned to look at him, arms crossed, but remained quiet as he continued.

  “I tried hard to end my life in prison after that,” Kristof went on, the memories coming fast now. “Oh, I was too honorable or cowardly to end it myself, depending on your point of view, so I would constantly challenge other inmates to fights. I kept hoping one would shank me or something, until the guards eventually put me in solitary confinement and just left me there. Once they let me out of the prison after the end of the occupation, I tried death by drinking instead. I was doing a good job of it, too” he laughed sadly, “right up until Subat found me in a gutter and dragged me back to this warehouse.”

  “I thought for sure that finally the death I so richly deserved had found me at last,” Kristof went on, his voice hollow and lost. “I welcomed it, I was ready for it at long last. Subat, though, he sentenced me to a worse fate that day. It seems that he’s a cruel bastard. He sentenced me to live with my memories, with what had happened here. He also told me that I had a purpose yet to fill, and that it wouldn’t be accomplished by lying in a ditch drunk and senseless, or by dying. And then he told me that he held me accountable for the death of his daughter, and that I owed him a debt that he would one day call due.”

  Silence fell for a long moment as Kristof continued to look off into the distance. The memories of that day with Subat were seared into his memory, even despite the drunken haze he had been suffering from at the beginning. Subat’s methods of rehabilitation had been harsh, yet very effective. The fire worm tonic had purged Kristof’s system of the alcohol in a rather painful manner, and had made it so Kristof would become sick if he drank alcohol again for almost a year after that day.

  “Subat gave me this warehouse and the Wraith after I was clean and sober, and told me that Anasha’s desire to help people in need was a noble one, and that I should carry on that legacy until the time came when he called in my debt,” Kristof said. “It took me a few years to truly take up that calling. The pain was still too great to be here. It finally dawned on me one day that the man I had been died in that crash with Anasha, and that I had become a ghost of my former self. This was about the same time Max and I left the Star Fox. I vowed to myself then to take up Subat’s challenge and become something better, but I call this place home to remember who I was and what it cost me to come here. I come here to remind myself that I need to keep up the fight she supported, any way that I can.”

  Silence fell as the rain began to fall harder around them, the storm threatening to break in earnest at any moment. Kristof turned and walked to Sabine and looked down into her deep brown eyes, and she returned his stare with all the pain, confusion, and desire she felt laid bare in her eyes. There was strength in her eyes too, and Kristof could see his own reflection there as she stared up at him.

  “I see her fire in your eyes,” Kristof said softly, reaching up to brush a strand of wet hair away from her face. “You share her passion and drive as well. You could have been sisters, you’re so much alike. I swear to you though, Sabine, that no matter how alike you may be to Anasha, you were never just a replacement for her to me. That person I was when I loved her died long ago with her. The person I am now wants you, and only you, for who you are, not who you might remind me of.”

  Kristof wrapped Sabine in his arms as she burst into tears and hugged him tightly. The sky above opened up in earnest as well, as if adding its tears to hers. Kristof was surprised to find tears of his own had joined the deluge as he held this tiny, fierce woman in his arms. Recounting his memories to her had helped to release some of the residual pain in his heart. It seemed Sabine had a very good impact on him, just as his former wife had as well.

  “I was afraid,” Sabine whispered in time. “When I saw her picture. And I’m afraid still, because no matter how much I want you, I know that in the end that I can’t keep you.”

  Silence returned as Kristof picked Sabine up and carried her inside out of the rain, which had turned cold as the darkness deepened. She was shivering by the time they reached the Wraith on the warehouse floor. Max gave him a quizzical look as they passed, but for once decided to remain silent.

  Kristof helped Sabine up the ladder to the third deck and to his cabin, where he helped her remove her clothes and led her to a hot shower. He undressed and joined her under the hot water, and slowly her shivering subsided as she lay her head on his chest. Soon, he turned the water off and dried her before laying her down in his bed and covering her. He watched as the emotional overload she had faced over the past few days dragged her down into sleep.

  Sabine’s words echoed in his head as Kristof dried himself off, and he knew the truth of them as well as she did. The universe would not let them keep each other, no matter what they wished. The dictates of her culture would see to that. He vowed to himself th
at it would be enough to see her live and find happiness, no matter what it might cost him personally.

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kristof watched Sabine sleeping. Thousands of thoughts and memories flashed through his mind as he sat there, hour after hour, as if standing guard over this tiny woman who had turned his world upside down. Max looked in a time or two to see if Kristof was ok, but he sent the android away before he could awaken Sabine. For now, he just wanted to store away as many memories as he could.

  ~*~

  ~Interlude 1~

  Max watched as Kristof carried a soaking wet and shivering Sabine into the Wraith and disappear within the ship. Humans were so irrational and illogical, he thought to himself. He continued working on the plasma injector he had pulled from one of the engines in order to clean and recondition it while he puzzled over human behavior.

  As an android, everything Max did was usually calculated and logical, and yet those logical calculations were often thrown off by human unpredictability. He frequently found himself confused by humans, who would frequently act in contrary manners that completely ignored logic. The fact that they had been on the roof in the rain was one such example of their truly illogical actions.

  Sabine had been shivering from the cold and the wetness of the rain, and Max thought to himself that such an obvious result should have been enough to keep her out of the rain in the first place. Kristof had obviously followed her, which only compounded the irrationality of their actions. He supposed it had to do with human emotions, which frequently tended to make simple solutions very complicated, Max had noticed.

  The obvious feeling between Kristof and Sabine were a prime example. They clearly had feelings for each other, Max knew. He had witnessed it in their tense relations before he had been deactivated prior to entering the Devil’s Eye’s. That tension had been elevated immensely by the time he had been reactivated, and Kristof in particular seemed overly sensitive whenever Max pointed it out.

  Max decided that he was glad that he did not have emotions such as humans did. These emotions were clearly complicating the situation between Kristof and Sabine needlessly, he thought as he reassembled the plasma injector. If they wanted to be with each other, they should just be with each other, but instead they seemed intent upon letting factors other than how they felt about each other to create a bunch of stress for themselves.

  Finished with the injector, Max picked it up and headed back into the Wraith. He paused for a moment in the cargo hold, hoping he would not hear the human’s in their mating ritual yet again. Silence greeted him, however, and Max resumed his trip to the engine compartment. Slag greeted him as Max entered the cramped compartment and made his way back to the engine he’d been working on.

  Max liked Sabine and the fact that she seemed to make Kristof happy. He was genuinely fond of Kristof and hoped that things would resolve themselves for his friend’s sake. Humans just needed to quit complicating their lives so much, was all that was needed.

  ~*~

  ~18~

  Sabine awoke to find herself in Kristof’s bed alone. She had no idea how much time had passed as she lay there thinking of the night in the rain. Kristof had managed to set her heart at ease about how he felt about her, but she couldn’t help but think that in the end it didn’t matter. She could be honest enough with herself to admit that she had fallen in love with Kristof, as crazy as it seemed in such a short time, but it didn’t matter because her people wouldn’t care. They would never accept Kristof.

  At the foot of the bed Sabine found a set of fresh clothes from her satchel, along with her jacket, gun belt and blaster. She felt surprisingly refreshed, but wondered that there was no sign of Kristof, nor any sign that he had slept beside her. She dressed quickly, eager to find Kristof. The ship seemed to be deserted however, so she proceeded out into the warehouse. Max worked near the back of the ship, disconnecting refueling lines. The android’s dark coloring made him difficult to see in the shadows beneath the ship, which Sabine concluded was probably what Kristof had had in mind when choosing it, besides its menacing appearance.

  Sabine also noticed that Max was armed for the first time since she had met him. On each wrist and forearm was a twin barreled assembly that she knew were blasters that drew their power from the android’s own power core. She found it curious that the android had chosen now to arm himself when things seemed to be so quiet. The rain from the night before had stopped, and sunlight shined through dirty windows high in the warehouse walls.

  “Ah, you’re awake at last,” Max said casually as she approached. “I was beginning to think you planned to sleep until we got you home.”

  “How long was I out?” Sabine asked curiously.

  “Sixteen point two hours,” Max replied in his exacting manner. “I believe Kristof watched over you for most of that time before heading into the city about an hour ago. It seemed most irrational to me since you would sleep whether or not he watched, but what do I know, I am just a machine.”

  “You’re more than just a machine,” Sabine replied reassuringly. “So what’s with the hardware?” she asked, nodding towards his wrist blasters.

  “Bonibus can be unpredictable and dangerous at time,” Max responded. “Too many stupid fucks running around looking for a quick score. The people here can also be desperate at times. Now that the weather has cleared, people will be moving about out there more. I believe that is why he left your weapon for you, as well. Better safe than sorry, I believe the phrase is.”

  Sabine reflected on the android’s statements from a few moment ago as he returned to stowing away the refueling lines. The thought of Kristof watching over her for the entire night made her feel safe in a way she hadn’t felt in a very long time, not since her father had been alive. It made her miss him even more and regret the distance that had grown between them the night before. She greatly wished that she hadn’t let her thoughts doubt his actions towards her so easily.

  “Where did he go in the city?” Sabine asked curiously, wanting Max to keep talking so she wouldn’t have to think about what an ass she’d been.

  “The main spaceport,” Max answered. “A number of ships arrived in port overnight that have been to Purannis in the past few days. He is looking for more up to date information about what is happening there that isn’t being reported on the news nets. Most freighter pilots, both legal and not so legal ones, pick up a lot of information that they then pass on to friends and colleagues. It is a lucrative trade all by itself, sometimes.”

  Max finished stowing away the refueling lines as Sabine thought about the spaceport. The idea of spending another day in this dank and dark warehouse didn’t appeal to her at all. She gave the android a speculative look, wondering just how rigid his programming was and if Kristof had left instructions to keep her there in the warehouse.

  “Perhaps we should go find him,” Sabine suggested innocently to the android, “If the spaceport and the city are as dangerous as you suggest then he might need our help. Also, three sets of eyes and ears are better than one for picking up news.”

  Max gave her a look that told her he’d seen right through her weak reasoning, but she held out hope that he wouldn’t refuse to go with her or worse prevent her from going at all.

  “That would not be a good idea,” Max told her bluntly. “Your safety is of paramount importance, or so I am told. The spaceport would not be a safe place for you, as I may have mentioned already. Bonibus is not a place for site seeing.”

  “That’s why you will be there to protect me,” Sabine replied airily. “I’ve spent almost half of my life being coddled and protected, and I’ve never gotten to see anyplace or anything in the Protectorate that wasn’t deemed proper. I want to see the galaxy a little bit before I end up locked away in council meetings and royal functions forever. Besides, I can’t stand another day in the dismal warehouse. Stay here if you like, but I am going.”

  “You don’t even know where the spaceport is if I don’t go,” Max objected
sarcastically, since the spaceport was easily visible from the roof of the warehouse and he knew she’d been up there and seen it. “You’ll probably get lost.”

  “I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually,” Sabine told him as she started heading for a nearby door. She was fairly certain that the android would follow her now once it became apparent that she did in fact intend to leave. Just to be safe, though, she added a little bit of speed to her walk so that the android wouldn’t just come and stop her from leaving before she made it outside.

  “Fuck,” Sabine heard the android mutter before he quickly moved to catch up to her before she made it to the door after all. “If you end up dead,” Max said as he opened the door for her, “Just remember this was your idea.”

  “You won’t have to worry your circuits about it if I do,” Sabine giggled as she stepped into the sunlight.

  “Oh, I won’t,” Max answered as they headed into the city.

  Kristof’s warehouse was in a little used section of Bonibus. Many of the surrounding buildings showed signs of having suffered fire damage in the past, while others were partially collapsed. Only one in five buildings in that district of the city showed any sign of use at all.

  “What happened here?” Sabine asked as they walked towards the city proper.

  “When the blockade began years ago by the Clovani Empire, they began by bombarding the moon from orbit to crush any resistance,” Max informed her. “The moon still bares many of the scars from that period. No one has bothered to make repairs to this section of the city, since nobody really comes here. The citizens of Bonibus have never truly recovered financially from the blockade, so no money no repairs. The Empire stripped the moon of all of its valuable mineral resources, which had been their primary industry.”

  Silence fell as Sabine walked next to the android. Soon they entered the city proper and the buildings became better tended and they began to see other pedestrians and vehicles moving throughout the streets. The people seemed in poor spirits, she noticed, and none seemed to have been well fed. Many of the shops here were boarded up, and the few that were open employed heavy security at their doors.