Gambler

by S. J. Bryant

  Tyra banged the heads of two men together like coconuts. They both looked unconscious but that didn't stop her giving them another few slams just to be sure.

  For the moment, Nova was free. Shane looked less sure of himself, but he was still smiling. She wanted to beat his face in. She could do it too, she knew it. On the other hand, Tanguin looked like she was in trouble.

  Nova darted around the pool table and smacked her stick onto the shoulder of the man that was targeting Tanguin. He grunted in pain and turned around. Nova smiled at him and swung the stick with full force.

  He held out his forearm, blocking the blow, although the force of it made him wince. He didn't stop to look at his wound, instead going on the offensive. He grabbed hold of the pool stick and yanked it out of Nova's hands, tossing it over his shoulder where it clattered to the floor.

  He lunged forward with his calloused hands outstretched. His nails were caked with mud and blood.

  Nova ducked and rolled. She came to her feet out of his reach and cast around for a weapon, but there was nothing close by. She ran at the man, swinging her fist in a wide arc aimed straight at his forehead.

  He was faster than he looked. He ducked out of the way and brought his fist up. He caught her in the chin and she reeled. The force of it made stars burst in her vision. She tried to blink them away but was too slow; he was on her with his hands wrapped around her throat.

  "Pity I'll have to kill ya," he said. "Could have had some fun with a girl like you."

  "Glad I'm dying then," Nova said through gasping breaths.

  He grinned down at her with chipped and yellow teeth. Red veins stood out around his eyes. He had all the symptoms of a Zine addict.

  His breath on her face smelt like rotting flesh and it made her gag. The warmth of it stuck to her face, like a wet rag.

  Blood surged through Nova's veins. Her ears rang and dark splotches bounced across her vision. She drew in a ragged breath but the oxygen couldn't get past the man's clenched hands. She couldn't feel her legs and her thoughts were getting slower. Her focus thinned down to a narrow tunnel; she lost track of the bar-room and the fighting. There was just her and the man in a circle of darkness.

  She used the last of her strength to struggle against him, but it was no good.

  "Take this!"

  Something smashed into the man's head and he fell to the side. Blood surged into Nova's head and her vision cleared. She spluttered for air. It flowed into her lungs and brought a soothing sensation.

  Tanguin stood over her holding a chair. She looked scared, but triumphant at the same time. The man lay unconscious on the floor beside Nova, his eyes rolled back in his head.

  "Is he dead?" Tanguin asked, her face dropping.

  Nova glanced at his moving chest. "Unfortunately not."

  Tanguin helped her to her feet. Battles raged around the bar-room, but the action around the Hunters was almost over. The prone bodies of the fallen thugs surrounded them. Orion smacked out with a deadly right hook and knocked out the last of their attackers. Only Shane remained.

  His smug smile was gone. He stepped away from the Hunters, glancing around. None of his cronies were left and the Hunters stood between him and the exit.

  "You bastard," Gus grunted. He used the pool table to get to his feet. A massive purple lump sprouted from his forehead. He looked around at the destruction. "And I've missed most of the damn fight!"

  He turned towards Shane and his lips drew back from his teeth. "You," he said, pointing at Shane's chest.

  "Just leave and there won't be any trouble," Shane said. His fat face was frozen but his shaky voice betrayed him.

  "You're wrong, sunshine. There's going to be a whole world of trouble."

  "I'm warning you," said Shane. He tapped around behind his back. All he found was a half-burnt cigarette.

  "Too late for warnings," said Gus. He pushed his sleeves higher up his arms to reveal bulging muscles. The other Hunters formed a line behind him.

  Their eyes flashed with anger and they made a formidable force.

  Nova filled with pride and fury in equal measure. She wanted to see Shane torn into tiny pieces, for every spec of him to be blown apart. He was obviously a trouble maker; she'd be doing the world a favour if she just got rid of him.

  She'd let Gus decide what to do with him. She kept half of her mind on the rest of the bar. A few brawls were still going on, but none of them were nearby. Most of the patrons were either passed out on the floor or stumbling back to their chairs; their eyes fixed on Shane and the Hunters.

  "My friends and I were just here for a drink," Gus said. "Now you've put me in a very bad mood."

  "I'm not afraid of you Hunter," said Shane, his legs shaking.

  "You should be," said Gus, stomping towards Shane with fists clenched and teeth bared.

  "I'll buy you a drink!" Shane said. His façade finally broke and he held out his hands.

  "I'm not thirsty."

  Gus pulled back his fist and slammed it through the air. It cracked into Shane's temple and he sprawled to the floor.

  He scrambled across the floor away from Gus like a worm, his shirt soaking up the spilled drinks and blood.

  "Typical Hunter. Hit like a wimp," Shane called over his shoulder, his voice cracking.

  Gus gripped hold of the back of Shane's shirt and hauled him to his feet. He spun the other man around and pounded his fist into Shane's stomach.

  Shane bent over double and spat blood onto Gus's shoe.

  "Is that all you've got? You ugly bastard," Shane panted.

  Gus slammed his knee up and caught Shane in the face. His nose poured blood. Shane swung a limp punch, but Gus easily dodged and slammed his knee into Shane's groin.

  Gus didn't stop until Shane lay unconscious on the floor, bleeding from multiple wounds. Three of his teeth adorned the floor some distance away, surrounded by a pool of blood.

  "There," Gus said, turning around.

  He wiped his hands on his pants and nodded at the other Hunters.

  "So, Nova. A rematch?"

  The Hunters leant back against tables and chairs, poised for another attack.

  "I'm afraid I was forced to break the cue," she said.

  "We'll call it a tie then," Gus said, shrugging his hefty shoulders.

  Nova nodded. Normally, she'd be furious that her sure victory was ruined. As it was, she figured the giant welt on Gus's forehead was payment enough.

  The silence of the bar-room was replaced with whispered conversation. The other patrons stopped staring, drawn back into their own conversations.

  "Some fight," the barkeeper said, coming to stand beside Gus.

  He folded his arms over his chest as he looked down at Shane.

  "Sorry for the damage," Aart said. "But as you know, we didn't start it."

  "I know you didn't," said the barman. "Still though. I'll give you each a drink on the house, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

  "What!" roared Gus. "We didn't do a damned thing!"

  The bartender held up his hands. "I know how it started. But you're all obviously fighters. You're making the rest of my customers uncomfortable."

  "This is crap!" said Aart, throwing his hands in the air.

  "One drink. Then you leave."

  "We'll take it," Nova said. "Thank you."

  The bartender nodded and walked away.

  "You're just going to accept that?" said Aart, incredulous.

  "You don't know what it's like here," said Nova. "If we don't leave when he tells us, he'll just call the cops. And trust me when I say they'll throw us into prison just for the fun of it. None of you are ready for that."

  "Such a nice place," Orion said. "I don't know why we don't come here more often."

  Nova rolled her eyes.

  "Kind of explains why you're so friendly," he said, smiling at her.

  Nova slumped into a nearby chair and the others did the same. The bartender came around with their drinks and they sipped
in relative quiet.

  "Any injuries?" Aart asked.

  "Are you kidding?" Gus said, pointing to his forehead.

  "Pfft. That's nothing!" said Aart. "Anyone got some real injuries?"

  "Just a few scratches," said Orion.

  "Yeah. I think I'll get a bruise on my arm, but they're a lot worse off," said Tyra, pointing at the prone men on the floor.

  "Nova nearly died!" Tanguin said.

  Nova frowned at her and Tanguin blushed.

  "As if the great Nova could die," said Aart.

  "It wasn't that big a deal," Nova said. "Tanguin took care of it."

  "With a chair," Orion said. "I saw it all. Everyone be careful of that one, she's a lot more deadly than she looks."

  Tanguin flushed a deeper red and sipped on her drink. The Hunters chuckled, drawing worried glances from the other patrons.

  Nova slurped the last of her drink. "Any plans from here?"

  "I think it's nearly morning," Aart said. "Any recommendations?"

  "Nah," said Nova. "Besides, I have to get back on this case. I've got some unfinished business here."

  "I think I have to rest my head for about a week," said Gus, prodding his forehead and wincing.

  They stood and ambled from the bar. Nova heard the room erupt into conversation as the door swung shut behind them. Hunters weren't uncommon on Tabryn, but the fight had been quite extraordinary.

  "Alright, back to the Maw for us," said Aart.

  "Make sure you actually go there this time," Nova said. "Tanguin, I'm putting you in charge of making sure he gets there."

  Tanguin groaned. "You know he never does what I say."

  "Just remind him of all the times we've saved his arse. Then tell him that next time I'm going to let the slug eat his brain."

  Aart scowled. "That's the last time I throw you a surprise party."

  Nova smiled and put her hand to her forehead. "Thank goodness. I wouldn't want another brawl like that for quite some time, thank you very much."

  "Admittedly the brawl wasn't part of the plan," conceded Aart.

  "See you back at the Maw," said Gus as he and Tyra left the group for their own ship.

  "Yeah. Say hi to Vicki for me," Orion said, gazing dreamily into the distance.

  "In your dreams," said Nova, rolling her eyes.

  "You bet," he replied. He skipped off before she could smack some sense into him.

  "Thanks for coming," Nova said to Aart and Tanguin.

  "Thought you could do with a laugh," said Aart.

  "You have no idea. I'll be honest with you two, I was pretty much ready to quit before you showed up."

  "You never quit!" said Tanguin, shocked.

  Nova shrugged. "It's this place. It messes with my head."

  "I don't blame you," Aart said. "It's a bitch of a place."

  Nova looked around. "And this is the good area."

  "Are you alright after your fight with the cyborg?" Tanguin said, frowning.

  Nova nodded. "Makes me want to take out the whole casino though."

  "Me too."

  "So why help him?" said Aart. "You could just leave the job now. If it's taken you this long to solve it, I don't think anyone else will be able to. Just leave it; let Cracos keep bleeding money."

  "I don't intend to help him. He's more of a criminal than whoever is taking his money. I plan to make him pay for it."

  "You know," Aart said. "In lots of circles we would be considered criminals."

  "I know, I know." Nova waved her hand at him. "But it fits into my own warped sense of code, okay?"

  "Warped is definitely the right word."

  Nova scowled.

  "Wish I'd seen you mech fighting."

  "You've seen my fighting before."

  "Yeah but this is different. This is on your home turf. It's special."

  Nova chuckled. "It was special all right. Nearly died from blood loss."

  "You're better now though right?" said Tanguin.

  "Yeah."

  She pulled up the side of her shirt to reveal the jagged stitches that held her skin together in a raised ridge. Fresh blood dribbled down from where she'd strained it during the fight but it looked a lot better than it had a few days ago.

  "That's disgusting," Tanguin said, her face turning white.

  "It hurt at the time."

  "I bet," Tanguin said.

  Nova let her shirt fall back into place. "Alright, you two. Leave. Go back home. Tanguin, please try and talk some sense into this maniac. He knows what about."

  "Yes sir," Aart said and saluted.

  He and Tanguin turned towards the shipyards and started to shamble away.

  "Thank you for coming," Nova called after them.

  They turned back and smiled at her. "What are friends for?" Aart yelled back.

  Nova smiled and waved. They disappeared into the mass of ships. Nova turned back for Inner Tabryn and Crusader. She felt a lot better than she had on the way over. Usually, she liked to do things on her own, but there was something to be said for teamwork. She just hoped that Aart got the message and stopped his foolish ideas about defying the Confederacy.

  She walked back to Crusader and collapsed onto her bed, still buzzing from her Blue Saturns. It sent a pleasant tingling all the way to her toes. She closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Nova woke up feeling far less joyful than she had when she went to sleep. Her head pounded with the after effects of the Blue Saturns. She couldn't believe that after all these years, alcohol still came with the same damned bad side-effects. At least now there were drugs which mostly took care of it.

  She went to the food generator and typed in the code for Parapem, placed the blue square on her tongue, and waited for the magic to take effect. She slumped into her command chair.

  Video footage of the casino filled Crusader's front screen. Nova scowled when she remembered the recording she'd watched the day before.

  "What else is going on in that damned awful place?" she asked Crusader.

  The video screen zoomed out so that there were four separate displays. Nova studied each of them in turn.

  The bottom left corner showed the card tables and Nova shook her head as she saw the elderly man, Ted, playing again. She was relieved to see that he appeared to be doing better than the previous nights. Another part of her was sad to see him still wasting his time, and money, away at the casino. Of course, she could understand. On a planet like Tabryn, the man probably had no family, no one to look after, so he may as well flush his credits away on cards.

  She watched the man for some time as he played hand after hand. Her eyes flicked to the other screens, but always they returned to the elderly man. His back hunched over his cards and his tattered jacket sported many holes.

  Finally Ted stood and tossed a chip to the dealer who nodded before turning to the rest of the table. Ted shuffled towards the cashiers, pulling chips from various pockets until by the time he reached the woman behind the desk his hands were over-flowing.

  Nova's eyebrows rose. "Hopefully that makes up for his losses all the other nights," she said, mostly to herself.

  "I should think so, the elderly man usually does quite well," Cal said from his position by Nova's side.

  Nova turned to the robot with a frown. "I've sat next to him at least twice, and he's lost all of his chips each time."

  "You must be mistaken. He has walked out of the casino with credit every night."

  Nova bit her bottom lip as she turned back and watched the elderly man push a sizeable pile of chips towards the woman behind the desk. His entire countenance had changed, the bent shoulders were now straight and he held his head high. He even appeared younger than Nova had originally thought. He joked with the woman behind the counter with calm confidence and flicked her a chip. It flipped through the air and landed on the desk in front of her. The man winked and held out his cred stick.

  Nova watched with an open mouth as the nu
mbers on the stick skyrocketed. "And he wins that much every night?"

  Cal was silent for just a second as his internal systems processed video footage from the previous nights. "Yes, he has gained between ten and fifty thousand credits each night."

  "Son of a bitch," Nova swore.

  CHAPTER TEWNTY-TWO

  "I want every bit of history you can get on that man. Scour the Cloud and don't you dare leave one file unopened."

  The sound of Crusader's computer kicking into full gear echoed around the command pod with a whirring, reminiscent of an old-fashioned helicopter. Nova paced about the command centre, scraping both hands through her hair.

  "C'mon!" she said, twirling her hand for Crusader to begin.

  "Theodore Granite. According to preliminary records, he is seventy-eight and lives in a small apartment. He has no family and few friends."

  "Deeper," Nova said, waving.

  "However, further analysis shows that this identity only came into existence three years ago." Crusader's curt tone suggested the computer was annoyed that Nova had interrupted. "He appears to have little in his name aside from a bank account and the apartment. Records of where he came from originally and what his real name is, cannot be found."

  "Get me those bank account details."

  "I'm afraid his account has a security level which my processers would take over a decade to crack."

  "We don't have a decade," Nova said through clenched teeth. "Get me Tanguin."

  The official file on Theodore disappeared from the screen to be replaced by Tanguin's face. Dark patches circled her eyes and her hair was bunched up on one side.

  "Tanguin. I need a favour from you straight away," Nova said, leaning her hands on her chair as she stood over the controls.

  "Nova? Why the hell are you calling me so early? Call back when I'm not asleep."

  "Take a Parapem. This is important."

  "You should have thought of that before you made me drink those Purple Blasters last night."

  Nova rolled her eyes.

  Tanguin patted her hair with her hand and blinked, her eyes bloodshot. "What do you want?"