by Chris Reher
Seth ducked out of the way of a trolley loaded with someone’s crew heading somewhere and stepped up to an open window from which food was served to passersby.
He settled on a packet of daijo bean curds and declined the offer of the thick, syrupy liqueur favored on Tayako. The curds weren’t bad but he wondered when he last had a real meal. “You wouldn’t have seen a couple of Centauri uglies walking around, would you?” he said conversationally to the woman serving him. He pointed his skewer toward the entrance to the Hajsa. “Looking for the chief or first mate.”
The Human looked at him as though he lacked the fundamentals of common sense. “What? After what went on before you think I’d be pointing them out?”
He smiled his best and let his eyes linger on her pretty, if tired, face, wondering what had brought someone of this relatively rare species to serve snacks in the Badlands. At another time, he would have asked her to share her story, another piece for the vast puzzle he had worked on for years in trying to understand the people of Trans-Targon. “Yes, I do.” He pushed another bit of currency across the steam table.
She blushed under his scrutiny but quickly took his money. “Most of them are back aboard. Cleaning crew’s gone now. They been keeping to themselves, anyway. Not even sent for food. Other than you, no one’s come looking for them.”
Seth nodded. No doubt they’d want to keep anyone from noticing four reluctant spanners in their midst. “Did you catch any names?”
“No.” She glanced across the traffic between them and the docks to find a group of people clustered around a Caspian in bright yellow coveralls. “That’s the boss over there. Shouting at the controller. What’d you want with him? He’s not friendly.”
Seth reached up to loosen a few strands of hair to let them obscure the small metal implants at his temples. In these parts, only navigators and those who operated heavy machinery would be using a direct neural interface. “Going to get a job,” he said.
Chapter Four
“This board is totally sub-standard. I don’t know how you expect me to work with this.” Ciela stood before the manual control panel managing all functions of the Hajsa, hands on hips and an appalled look on her face. The helmsman paused his preparations for departure from Tayako Station to frown at her impertinence.
The hulking Centauri leader standing far too close behind her cursed. “You just got off a tinbucket heap of a freighter. This is what you’re used to.”
“Pfft,” she said, testing his patience a little further. “Your interface mods look like someone dropped them randomly. If that display is correct, you don’t even have your coolant gauges calibrated for this sector. And look at that bench! If you expect me to jump I’ll want that cleaned up.”
Ivor Sebasta growled but did not snap at her the way she had heard him snap at his crew members. She had gambled that he would indulge her as Velen Phar had and so far that was working. They had nothing to gain by being treated like prisoners. She looked past him at the others huddled in confusion by the door to the bridge, guarded by several oversized Humans. Miko’s brow furrowed as he tried to decide what she was up to. Deely glowered at her, buying her act as much as Sebasta was. Luanie was still crying.
“You don’t have to jump at all,” Sebasta said. “My spanner can get us through that keyhole just fine.”
“That might be best. I need to sleep anyway. Want to be in top shape to meet the new bosses.” She avoided Deely’s angry expression, already too intent on hiding the fear that threatened to paralyze her. “That last jump just about did me in and I’ve only had a few hours to rest up.”
“As you wish, Princess,” Sebasta said. He gestured to his guards who began to herd their charges from the bridge.
“You are traitor and a disgrace to the Arawaj cause!” Deely shouted at Sebasta. “We will not stand by while you make pact with the Shri-Lan. Murderers and criminals, all of them.”
“Yes, yes,” the Centauri said. “Are you done? You don’t really have a say in this.”
“I will not work for them! And I won’t work for you. You are no better than the Union overlords.” He shook off Luanie’s hand when she grasped his arm. “I can’t believe you’re doing this, Ciela! Did they get to you, too?”
Ciela walked a few steps toward him, pleased when no one stopped her. “This won’t help us, Deely. He’s right, we don’t have a choice. And maybe it’s time we admitted that we need the Shri-Lan to get ahead. Alone, we’ll never make a difference to anything the Commonwealth does to these worlds.”
“How can you say that? Look at all we’ve already done. It’s because of us that Caspia is free of Union interference.”
She shook her head. “You know that’s not so. I’ve thought about this for a long time now. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you with this, first. I didn’t want Velen to know. But I made my choice. Please, be sensible.”
“Listen to the girl,” Sebasta advised, a cruel grin on his face. “She’s got a good head on her. Not like some of you.”
Ciela glanced at Miko and had to look away again. He knew her better than the others and she hoped he could keep the small grin from his lips a little while longer. She turned back to Sebasta. “Just give them time. I can get them to understand.”
“You better. I’ll not have us embarrassed in front of Shri-Lan leadership. The folks coming to meet you are highly placed. This is our chance to show them that we are sincere. That’s not going to happen with a bunch of fanatics happy to keep fighting with sticks and suicide missions.”
“Ciela,” Deely pleaded. “Don’t do this.”
She did not look at him. For all his stand-offish, cantankerous ways, she loved him dearly and had done so for as long as she could remember. It hurt to see him doubt her like this. “It’s for the best. He’s right. With just a little of Shri-Lan resources, we wouldn’t have to creep around the Badlands in junk farm vehicles.”
“Watch it,” Sebasta said. He waved to his guards. “Take them away. The girl can have Jula’s cabin.” He glared at Deely. “Lock the other three up. Separately. They can have a proper bed when they’ve come to their senses.”
Miko winced at Ciela as they were led away and then glanced at Deely. If he understood her plan, he would not now have a chance to explain it to the others.
Not that she had a plan. All that could save them now was to find a way to get off this freighter and seek refuge with the administration of this station. Would they stand against a crew of Arawaj traitors? Would they fear reprisal, after what happened on the Othani? In many ports, locals who had nothing to gain from rebel activities but much to lose if they stood against them simply turned away when they could. The rebels were Air Command’s problem. In places where Air Command had no jurisdiction, that problem landed on the local government. And for many of those, avoidance, if not outright collusion, was the best way to stay healthy and, if done right, very wealthy.
She, too, went to the door. “Please don’t hurt them,” she said when Sebasta followed her into the narrow corridor. The remnants of ozone and disinfectant stung her nose as they walked to the crew quarters. “They are my friends. They… they just don’t understand. Things are changing. The Arawaj must change, too.”
He peered at her through narrowed eyes. “Who would hurt a spanner? The worst they’ll find is an empty stomach and a cold floor to sleep on. I don’t intend to coddle them. They’re Arawaj, not imbeciles. If they don’t find their way, they’ll end up working in servitude. You and I both know that our Shri-Lan leaders will have more confidence in us if your friends didn’t fight us over every jump they make.”
“They won’t,” she promised. “Let me talk to them. I’ll make them see. They can’t work well if they’re frightened or angry. None of us can. We almost lost Deely on the way here because of that pirate.”
“You’ll talk to them once we clear Tayako,” Sebasta said. Apparently his trust in her as a newfound ally didn’t prevent him from making hostages of her friends. When she start
ed to object he raised a hand and quickly scanned up and down the hall. “We are both clear that our Shri-Lan partners expect more than just four new spanners, am I right?”
Her steps faltered when he said that but the odd stumble was to be expected in this gravity. “Of course,” she said lightly, recovering. How much did he know? “We must pool all of our resources if we want to defeat our oppressors.”
* * *
Ciela waited only long enough for the corridor to clear before slipping out of her assigned room again. She walked purposefully back to the lift, her finely honed navigator’s mind studying and remembering the ship’s design and measuring distances as she worked her way to the main processor of the Hajsa.
All of this would have been far easier if someone hadn’t taken her data sleeve, she thought moodily as she tried to decipher signage written in something that didn’t even look like writing. But she had spent most of her life on ancient wrecks like the Hajsa and the basic configuration felt familiar.
An access panel she had noticed earlier beckoned her with a tantalizing array of apparently active controls, but there were people in the hall. Sebasta had decided not to make a prisoner of her but surely a stranger poking around the com system was going to get noticed. She leaned against the wall by the lift, watching, waiting for her chance. A direct link to the central processor was what she wanted, the com system would do if that’s all there was.
A young Caspian hurried past, or as fast as his clawed and oversized feet would allow him to hurry, with barely a glance in her direction. She knew little about Caspians but something had this one in a bit of a lather. Another rebel caught up to him and she heard their loud whispers from a distance. She hoped that whatever was going on didn’t mean trouble for her and the other spanners.
She worried about them. Luanie would be frightened. As would Miko but he’d look after her. Deely had likely withdrawn into that crusty shell that none of them could get through when he was in a mood. He’d be furious with her. Would he really think her a traitor? These people just murdered Vichal’s gang for no reason other than to avoid paying for the spanners. Did he really think she’d cooperate with people who would do such a thing? Sometimes she wanted to shake the man to get him to look past his endless calculations.
Ciela stepped into the lift and dropped to the lower floor, hoping to find a less conspicuous way to access the ship’s database. With luck, it would show the location of the prisoners. The passage now before her lay empty and she smiled when she saw far more extensive access ports at the end of the corridor. Other than a low thrumming note in the air, silence prevailed.
She hurried to a wall display beside a sliding door marked with more of those indecipherable symbols. Her nervous breathing seemed to echo in this space and she paused a moment in search for some semblance of calmness. Her people managed their resources far more efficiently than most species and she was able to quiet herself as she placed her hands on the panel. Shutting out her surroundings, she linked her neural interface to the ship’s system and carefully interacted with the database, avoiding command functions, using the communications system to find her way into the processors. The talents that made her a superior navigator also allowed her a near perfect interface between mind and machine. Her Arawaj training ensured that her contact circumvented security failsafes.
The ship’s schematics were easy to decipher now. Within just moments she knew the design, its modifications, its weaknesses and its secrets as well as if she had worked here for years.
“Aren’t you a beauty,” she murmured when the larger of the two cargo holds revealed only a single row of grain bales around its perimeter, leaving plenty of space for a Fleetfoot cruiser, completely powered down and hard to detect within this apparently ill-used hulk of a long-range hauler. It left doubt whether the dorms and cabins were occupied by deck hands or Arawaj troops.
She shifted her attention to the surveillance system which also included locator scanners. One by one, the most likely locations of the other spanners became apparent. She knew them well enough to recognize their life signs, size, gestures even through the impersonal mechanical sensors.
Ciela whirled around and nearly stumbled over her own feet when the door beside her slid open. She grimaced when her interface with the computer severed abruptly.
“What are you doing down here?” A Centauri woman dressed in engineer’s coveralls stepped into the corridor.
“Hungry,” Ciela said. “Ivor said I could have some food. I’m looking for the galley.”
The engineer regarded her coolly for a too-long moment. That wasn’t unusual; most people had trouble deciding to which Prime species Ciela belonged. While most assumed her to be Centauri, another Centauri was not so easily fooled and often pegged her as Human. “Down here?” the woman said finally. “Get back topside and head aft. It’s not hard to miss. Good luck finding anything edible now. Third shift is kind of thin.”
“That’s okay. I could eat churry curry right about now.”
The Centauri smiled and began to say something when her wrist array warbled a notice. She unspooled the data sheet from its housing and slipped its tab over her finger. Then she flipped her hand over to show Ciela the image of the ship’s first mate now in her palm, rolling her eyes as she did so.
“Krinn, we’re taking off now,” he said. “Get your crew together.”
“Now?” Ciela said. “I thought they were still irradiating the… the holds.”
The woman looked up from rapidly entering some commands into her palm. “Air Command’s on its way, so I guess we’re done with the scrubbing. You better get back to your cabin. Stay out of the way. Things can get crazy when we have to bug out so fast.” She turned and left without another word.
Now a voice from unseen speakers in the ceiling also announced the imminent departure. Ciela raced to the end of the hall and used a service access tube to climb up to the main level of the ship. The crew quarters were clustered in the aft section and she headed that way, having been informed by the ship that Miko was locked up in a storage room down there. She met only two crew members who glanced at her curiously but continued to their stations. The door of the storage room was unguarded and the lock unsecured.
“Ciela!” Miko exclaimed and then covered his mouth when she hushed him. He had been busy with removing a wall panel, hoping to get at the key plate from inside the room.
She looked up at the warped edge of the sheet. “I know where the others are. Quick. We’re about to leave the station. If we don’t get off this ship we’ve had it.”
He smiled broadly, flashing brilliant teeth and deep blue eyes. “I knew you didn’t go bad on us! You had me going for a while, though. And you totally convinced Deely. Poor guy.”
“Serves him right.” Ciela peered out into the hall. “He’s down that way, near my cabin.”
“How are we going to get off this ship?”
She blinked. “Um, I have no idea.”
“You think maybe there’s a door open somewhere?”
She grinned. “Yeah. Or a window. Come on.”
They scurried along the passage, stopping to listen to the sound of voices and the tread of weighted boots on the deck plates. The vibrations rumbling through the ship were clearly those of the pogs slowly releasing from the docking clamps.
Ciela held her arm out to stop Miko from rounding a corner. “Centauri up ahead.”
They edged forward to see a tall man standing by what used to be Ciela’s cabin, apparently having just knocked. He carried a covered bowl, possibly food for her. He wore his hair fairly long in contrast to the bald pate favored by many Arawaj grunts but his clothes and weapons suggested guard duty or combat. Heavy boots, scuffed trousers, a well-worn flight jacket no doubt stolen from a Union officer. He opened the cabin door and peered inside. After a moment he closed it again and strode away.
Ciela nudged Miko to continue their quest to reach Deely’s prison. “That one,” she whispered just as someone’s
arm snapped out from an open door to wrap an iron fist around her neck. Miko cried out in surprise and fear when the Centauri stepped into the passage and shoved her against the wall.
“Shut up,” the stranger snapped. He checked her for weapons with a few practiced pats but it took only a glance at Miko’s snug clothing to see that the man was unarmed.
Ciela dug her nails into the Centauri’s wrist, encountering only the thin layer of graphene cloth that held his data array. She tried to kick at him but he stretched a leg out in front of hers. “Stop it,” he hissed. “I’m here to help you. Velen Phar sent me.”
She gave up her struggle at the mention of the name. The stranger overpowered her easily anyway. He released her carefully, as if not quite trusting her to stay where she was.
“You didn’t have to choke me,” she said angrily, rubbing her neck. “Who are you?”
“Don’t worry about it. We have to get off this ship.”
“Really. What do you think we’re trying to do?”
He jerked his chin into the direction from which they had come. “Exits are that way.”
“We’re not leaving without the others.”
Miko nodded emphatically. “Deely’s in that cabin there.”
Seth stood aside when Ciela brushed past him to access the key panel. He watched as she manipulated the display until a soft buzz indicated success. Light from the hall fell into the small space when the door drew aside. “Deely, are you in here?”