by Rachel Aukes
“He lied,” she said bluntly. She rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s not your fault. I should’ve known he’d put his claws into your head.”
“No,” Sebin replied, incredulous. “He—”
“Played you, just like he plays everyone, and now a future we’ve sacrificed everything for is in jeopardy, all because of your naivety. Only Mason would have the authority to block my messages.” She pointed to the screen. “Those torrents were counting on my help when they reached Alluvia, and I failed them. Now, they’re all dead or soon will be.”
She pulled out her gun and aimed it at Sebin. She needed to hold the gun with both her hands to keep it steady.
“Don’t,” he said.
“People are dying because of us…because I trusted you,” she added in a tiny voice she didn’t recognize.
He gazed into her eyes for a long moment. He didn’t click his heels as he’d always done in the past. Instead, he spoke softly. “I love you.”
Her lips trembled. Then, she clenched her jaw and then shot him through the heart.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Stuff of Nightmares
Reyne, Critch and the others ran through the warehouse and out the front door. They saw Mason climb into the hovercraft that they’d arrived in and peel away, leaving them with no escape vehicle. In the distance, the hum of multiple hovercrafts was drawing near. Sixx chose the first direction and led them around the building and away from the street side.
The other side of the building wasn’t much better. Reyne grimaced against the pain in his side.
“I could use a hovercraft right about now,” Critch said.
“We’ll take the water,” Boden said.
Reyne shot a surprised glance at his mechanic.
“The water?” Sixx asked. “I thought it was full of sea monsters.”
“The catfish hunt mostly at night. Trust me. Some tenured runaways even live under the platforms. We only have to swim down twenty feet or so.”
“Twenty feet?” Reyne asked, eying the water with trepidation.
Critch scowled. “I grew up on Terra. What in the eversea would make you think I could swim?”
“I grew up in Ice Port,” Reyne said. “I’d never even seen a real lake until I left Playa.”
Boden rolled his eyes. “Can none of you swim?”
“Of course I can,” Sixx said.
“I can swim,” Chutt added.
“I swam a little when I was a child,” Doc said.
“I can doggie paddle,” Birk said.
“That doesn’t count,” Boden countered.
Critch shook his head. “Three out of seven, not great odds.”
“I can take two of you down with me,” Boden said. “I can come back for two more unless Sixx and Chutt can each take one.”
“Why not,” Sixx offered. “If I’m going to drown down there, I’d rather not drown alone.”
“I’ll take Doc,” Chutt said quickly.
She sighed against the pirate and mouthed the words, thank you. The pirate turned and gave her a hooded gaze.
Boden nodded. “Okay, Sixx you take Birk. That leaves me with the captains.”
They followed the Alluvian to the edge of the platform that ran alongside the row of warehouses. Hovercraft engines and voices barking commands came closer and closer.
“We need to hurry,” Reyne said.
Boden watched the water. His eyes darted around as though searching for something. “This is a good spot. Climb in slowly and grip the ropes along the pontoons. Whatever you do, don’t make any splashes. No quick movements. You have to trust me on this.”
“I take it splashing is a bad thing.”
“Only if you don’t want to draw in a school of killer tuna.” Boden sat and edged himself over and down the pontoon, entering the water without making the slightest wave. He went under, and Reyne found himself holding his own breath. Boden lifted his head out of the water seconds later. “Everything’s clear. Get in.”
Reyne took a deep breath and was seriously, intensely scared. Stepping into a bottomless ocean was terrifying enough. Stepping into a pit of razor-toothed sea monsters was what nightmares were made of. Reyne sat on the edge and lowered himself into the surprisingly tepid water. He felt the safety of Boden’s hand on his back, and he found the touch calmed his terror. He didn’t go in as smoothly as Boden had, but he also didn’t make a splash. Once he was in, Critch followed at the same time Sixx and Chutt entered the water.
Reyne held himself up, afraid to go under the surface, as though he were safe as long as his head was above water. Birk went in next, and Boden helped him down.
The voices shouting commands were getting louder, and Reyne suspected the CUF had discovered that their prey had escaped the warehouse.
Doc sat on the platform. She looked at Reyne. “I’m sorry. I never knew how to tell you. They caught Throttle and me at the farm. They were going to kill you. They—”
“I’ll deal with you later,” Reyne snapped back. “Get in the water.”
She slid in a bit too fast, but Boden caught her before she went all the way under. He helped her grab onto a rope, and she remained frozen, eyes wide.
“I’ll take the lead,” Boden said. “Sixx and Chutt, you follow. Now, don’t worry if you lose me. Just keep diving down against the pontoon until you reach the bottom. Use the pontoon to keep pulling yourself down if you have to. Then go under it and head straight up to the surface. Your ears may hurt, but it’s not deep enough to do any permanent damage.”
The voices grew perilously near.
Boden heard them, too, because he rushed over to grab onto Reyne and Critch. “It’s like moving in space. I can move faster if you’re limp. Trust me, I won’t let go of you. Okay? Take the deepest inhale you can, and let yourselves become dead weight. It’s okay to let out air on the way, but remember to never inhale under water.”
Reyne glanced at Critch, who seemed to be absorbing Boden’s every word. When Boden sucked in a breath, they each did the same. Reyne found himself yanked under the surface, and his first instinct was to kick back up. He fought against it and instead imagined himself in the zero-g simulator at the space dock.
He opened his eyes, and found he could see under the surface, though the water distorted things. Pressure built in his ears until it downright hurt, and he instinctively grabbed his nose and cleared them just like he would diving through the atmo.
Boden continued diving down, and everything darkened. Reyne found himself in awe of the speed at which they sank, but his lungs began to burn. Even with all the time he’d spent in suits and conserving his air, he craved to breathe, and they hadn’t even reached the bottom yet. He grew more and more fearful that he’d drown.
A huge dark shape moved past them. Green eyes glowed on a head the size of Reyne’s chest. As he reached for his knife, the sea creature came toward them. He was ready to stab at it, only it didn’t get close enough and continued its journey.
Reyne gripped his blade, waiting for an attack. But then the pontoon was suddenly above him, and he scraped under its slimy bottom. Reyne thought Boden swam fast before. That was nothing compared to the speed they shot upward once they cleared the bottom of the pontoon. He’d barely blown out the last of his air when they broke through the surface.
Reyne gasped and pointed with his knife. “Sea monster. Down. Below.”
“It was only a cod,” Boden replied. “More inquisitive than aggressive, but if you would’ve cut it, you would’ve drawn in every blood-eater in the area.”
Reyne eyed his blade and then promptly sheathed it.
Boden motioned to the rafters above them. “Pull yourselves up onto the support beams to get clear of the water. Try not to make much noise, because there’s less than a foot of platform between us and everyone on the surface. I’ll go check on the others.”
He took a deep breath and disappeared below the surface.
“I want that man on my crew,” C
ritch said.
“Over my dead body,” Reyne muttered. “If we live through this, I’m going to have him teach me how to swim.”
“Now, who’s the optimist,” the other man said before grabbing onto a rafter and lifting himself out of the water.
Critch made it look easy. Reyne grabbed a rafter and made it look damn near impossible. Pain shot through his side as he pulled himself up. He splashed water and froze, expecting the worst.
“Here.” The pirate held out a hand and grabbed Reyne’s leg and helped him pull himself the rest of the way out of the water.
“I’m still a little off from getting shot,” Reyne said as if that explained everything.
Critch, mercifully, didn’t offer a rebuttal.
A second later, Sixx and Birk broke the surface, both gasping and sounding even more desperate for air than Reyne had.
“Up here,” Critch said and then pointed above him. “But do it quiet-like.”
Neither wasted any time in getting out of the water.
“I think that may have been the worst experience in my life,” Sixx said once he was safe on a beam.
Reyne’s brow rose. “Worse than that woman on—”
“Worse,” Sixx finished.
Boden broke through the surface. “We’re good.”
Chutt shot up the next moment, who immediately pulled himself up onto the rafters as though the water was acid.
Doc surfaced a second later, gasping. “You bastard!”
“Keep it down,” Boden scolded.
“The asshole cut me!”
Reyne glanced at Chutt, who gave her a knowing grin from his perch.
A wave rippled near Doc, and she twisted around. “What was that?”
Boden shoved away from Doc and rushed to pull himself onto the rafters.
Reyne tensed as he watched Doc. “Get out of the water.”
“It’s too late,” Boden whispered. “They’re already locked on.”
Everyone watched Doc who was struggling to tread water. “Help me,” she pleaded.
If Reyne could swim, he probably would’ve jumped into the water. Instead, all he could do was watch in dread as a smooth, gray shape broke the surface. Something barreled into the woman with a splash, and she disappeared under the surface, only to reappear a second later, coughing. “Help me!”
Dozens of gray shapes broke the surface then, all headed straight at Doc. Her shriek was drowned out under the roiling water. A frenzy of tails and fins randomly broke the surface. Red blood swirled among the gray.
Reyne watched the relentless attack, clinging to his lifeline.
Many long seconds later, the water calmed. Reyne stared into the dark water, still expecting her to surface any second, but nothing surfaced, and he could make out no movement below. The blood blurred into the dark blue water until no traces remained of Doc or her attackers.
A sense of loss poked at the edges of his heart, but it was subdued. Strange, he thought, since they’d been close for over twenty years. He supposed it was because he’d lost her back in the warehouse. Her lie overshadowed the time they’d shared together. All that time, she’d known how much it tore up Reyne being seen as a traitor, let alone all the punches he’d taken and shitty jobs because of his tarnished reputation. Still, she’d said nothing and just played along, as though she were being compassionate. Hell, she was just being selfish.
Looking back, it was obvious she’d been the traitor. He’d been too blind to admit it.
He might possibly mourn her death someday.
But that day definitely wasn’t today.
Sixx broke the silence. “Please tell me I never have to get in that water again.”
“You never have to get in that water again,” Boden said, still staring down. After a couple seconds, his attention returned to the crew around him. He pointed up at one-foot wide beams. “We walk the rest of the way.”
Critch looked up. “How the hell do we walk those?”
“Very carefully,” Boden replied.
*
Six hours later, they’d covered a mile, and every joint and muscle in Reyne’s body ached. His side felt like someone had embedded a white-hot rod of rilon in it. During the trudge, he was forced to accept Chutt’s assistance a time or two when Reyne slipped and nearly fell into the water. However, he still planned to have words with the pirate if—when—they got out of this mess.
Finally, Boden got them to the topside through a surface hole cover. Once they were standing on solid ground, Critch cocked his head at the cover. “Why the hell didn’t we use one of these to get below the platform the first time?”
Boden shrugged. “I didn’t see one nearby.”
“Call me surprised we’re still alive,” Sixx said. “Only one thing. We’re still stuck in the middle of enemy territory.”
Reyne’s comm chimed. He read the short message and burst out laughing. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Critch frowned. “What’s so funny?”
“Boys, we’re traveling home in style. We’ve got to hurry, not to mention we have the little problem of getting from here to the space docks without being seen. I’m guessing our faces are plastered on every screen across Alluvia by now.”
“Leave that to me,” Critch said and turned to Chutt. “I think it’s time you have a smoke.”
Chutt grinned and pulled out a small plastic bag. “Hell yeah.”
Five minutes later, Reyne stood in the shadows near the dock entrance watching Chutt walk casually down the sidewalk.
“It’s a little trick I like to call the Fire Feint,” Critch said next to Reyne.
Chutt dropped a lit cigarette near a hovercraft. Within seconds, the craft’s smoke alarms sounded, and everyone in the vicinity turned to the noise.
“Now.” Critch led their group through the entrance and down the docks, careful to not look up into any cameras.
“Seriously, where do you even find a cigarette nowadays?” Sixx asked Critch.
“Chutt makes them himself. They taste like shit and will burn your throat raw for a week, but they work like a charm.”
The ship came into sight, and Reyne found himself grinning from ear to ear.
Critch’s jaw dropped. “How the hell did she manage to get the Gryphon onto Alluvia?”
Reyne didn’t answer. Instead, he hustled on the ramp and to the bridge, where he found Throttle already strapped in.
“Fuck you for leaving me,” she said before he had chance to speak. “Strap in. We’re running out of time.”
He kissed her forehead and squeezed her shoulder before he took a seat. “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”
Critch entered the bridge. “Throttle, I think I want to marry you,” he said as he took a seat.
“Take a number,” she said before returning to her pre-launch prep. “Dock Control, this is Phantom cruiser Alluvia-Two-Three-Hilo-Four-Two. Ready for departure.”
“Phantom cruiser Four-Two. You are cleared for immediate launch. Moving you onto launch pad Zulu Thirty-one. Have a nice flight.”
Throttle smiled sweetly. “Thank you, dock patrol. Have a good day.”
She leaned back in her seat, and Reyne cocked his head. “How’d the Gryphon get an Alluvian ID?”
“The Gryphon was destroyed at Ice Port, remember? My new friend, Gabriela Heid, loaned me the ID. Her father just so happens to have a Phantom III class gunship sitting in his obscenely extensive private collection. She gave me her personal assurance that his ship would not be making any kind of flight plans for the foreseeable future.” She turned and winked. “It sounds like his hangar platform suffered a pontoon failure, and his entire collection is about five hundred feet below the surface as we speak.”
Reyne stared at the docks for a long moment. “So, we’re flying out of Alluvia under Mason’s banner.”
Critch barked out a laugh. “I wish I could see his face when he finds out that he helped us escape.”
“Who’s Mason?” Throttle as
ked.
“Long story. We’ll fill you in on the way back.”
“Where are we headed?” she asked.
“Nova Colony,” Critch said.
Reyne looked back at Critch. “Why not Tulan Base?”
The pirate took apart his pistol and pulled out a data coin. “Because we have unfinished business.”
Chapter Thirty
Full Circle
Reyne and Critch sat in silence in the pirate’s office at Nova Colony. A light on the panel blinked when the data coin’s contents finished copying onto Critch’s system.
“I’m no tech,” he said. “But I know that if I upload this data to the Net, there are techs out there who will know what to do with it.”
They had no guarantees the information would make it to the Collective news. Most citizens would likely never see it. But, if enough colonists saw it, the Uprising would have a chance.
“The fungicide should be dropping on Sol Base right about now,” Reyne said. “With a show of good faith like that, coupled with the data, the fringe will band together against Myr. I only hope it will be enough to stop Ausyar.”
Critch moved to press the upload button.
Reyne grabbed his arm. “Wait.”
“What?”
“It’s missing one thing.” He reached into the neck of his shirt and lifted out the medallion he wore.
Critch’s lips curled. “How right you are.” After several keystrokes, he flipped the screen so Reyne could see the cover added to the data file. It was a simple gray cover, blank except for a single torrent raindrop on its center.
Reyne leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Now, it’s ready.”
The pirate tapped a button, and the word UPLOADED appeared over the file.
“It’s done.” Critch leaned back.
“Good thing Demes was smart enough to make copies of the data,” Reyne said.
Critch nodded. “Demes was a good tech.”
“He was a good pirate,” Reyne added.
“He was a good torrent,” Critch corrected.
Critch reached into a drawer and pulled out a bottle of bourbon. He then pulled out two glasses and filled them both. He slid a glass over to Reyne. “Here’s to two old torrent marshals taking on the universe.”