Ryonna's Trials: Novella 1 (Universe in Flames Book 20)

by Kallias, Christian

  He didn’t wait for the dust to settle but started firing his blaster in the direction of the door; but his shots ricocheted, one beam grazing Ryonna’s thigh and another hitting Hens on the arm that was holding his blaster. Alix entered, brandishing a full, protective force field in front of him.

  “Don’t kill him just yet!”

  When Alix saw the old man try to grab his blaster with his other hand he ran and hit him in the face with a powerful thrust of his knee. Two of the few teeth he had left flew through the air, as well as some blood, before his head hit the floor. Alix shot all three hovering devices holding Ryonna prisoner and she fell ungracefully to the floor.

  “Are you alright?”

  She rose to her feet. “I’m fine, thanks to you. How did you know I was in trouble?”

  “It was taking too long, so I checked with my ship’s computer and your vitals didn’t look normal.”

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry. I thought after the bar incident it would be safer for you to have a tracker. That way, if you were in too much trouble, I would know about it. It took a while to reach this underground room. This house is booby trapped with a lot of security measures. I had to proceed carefully.”

  She took three steps forward and punched Alix square in the face.

  “What the fuck?”

  “I’m sorry, but things like this you mustn’t hide from me. But thank you for coming for me.”

  Alix put his hand on his bruised cheek. “You’re welcome . . . I guess.”

  “Look, I have a real problem with things being done behind my back. You should have told me.”

  “Duly noted.”

  “Did you by any chance get my weapons?”

  Alix handed Ryonna her blaster from behind his back. “The rest is waiting outside.”

  “Thanks. I only need this for the time being.”

  She turned her attention to Hens, who was still passed out on the floor. Setting her blaster to lasso mode, she shot Hens twice, immobilizing him around the torso and feet. She then dragged his sorry ass to the nearest chair.

  “Did he give you any useful information?”

  “He gave me a partial solution. I need more. But we have to wait until he wakes up now.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  Alix took a small tube containing a yellowish-green liquid from his jacket and injected the old man in the neck.

  Soon he regained consciousness.

  “He’s all yours. I’m gonna find his main security system and make sure we don’t face any more surprises.”

  “Good idea. Thank you, Alix.”

  “Sure thing.”

  He took the stairs to a higher level.

  Ryonna faced the creepy old Droxian. Every cell in her body wanted only one thing: to kill him. But she still needed to extract some vital information, and this time she would do whatever it took.

  C H A P T E R

  IX

  When Hens opened his eyes he struggled to free himself, but that only caused the energy bindings to tighten more, increasing the pain.

  “The more you fight, the more pain you receive. Sound familiar?” said Ryonna with an ice-cold voice.

  “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

  “On that we can agree, but now it’s too late. You’re my prey now, and I suggest you cooperate and tell me how to smuggle the quadrinium pin from the decontamination chamber. And I suggest you tell me quickly.”

  “No way! You’ll kill me the moment I give you that info.”

  Ryonna was in no mood for games and delay. She punched his face three times in quick succession. She had more than enough residual hatred from being tortured. She had patched herself up as best she could, but the wound in her stomach wouldn’t stop bleeding. She would need yet another visit to that annoying hologram of a doctor.

  “Don’t test my patience. Like you I can make this last. It can be more painful than you could ever imagine.”

  He spat blood and one more tooth onto the floor, looked at her and grinned.

  “Very well, have it your way.”

  She grabbed his left hand and broke one of his fingers in three places. Hens screamed. She saw in his eyes that he wouldn’t endure pain long. That was exactly what needed to happen. She had already lost way too much time. She couldn’t bear letting another day pass by while her son fought for his survival in the hellhole known as Hellstar.

  She grabbed another finger, looking Hens straight in the eyes. “Should we continue?”

  “Go fuck your—”

  He never finished his sentence. Ryonna had broken the next finger, making sure she crushed as many bones as possible.

  “I don’t have time for this.” She didn’t wait for Hens to end his screaming and went directly for the third finger.

  The pain must have been unbearable. Hens’ face was distorted.

  “Stop! I beg you, stop it now. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

  “I’m listening.”

  The old Droxian drew a few breaths with his eyes closed.

  “Talk! Now!”

  “Alright, alright. Your best bet to defeat the scanner would be to have something installed inside your body, a small area that would masquerade as an organ, but would, in fact, be a hiding place, somewhere inside your stomach.”

  “So I’d have to swallow the quadrinium? Isn’t it highly toxic?”

  “Raw quadrinium is extremely toxic. Military refined and dense quadrinium is still lethal if ingested as-is, but it takes way more time to release its toxicity within a living host. With the right augment the pin could be intercepted and moved to a tightly sealed location inside your guts that wouldn’t allow the toxic properties of quadrinium to harm your organs.”

  “Intercepted how?”

  “Basically, you need to install a nanite factory inside your digestive system. The nanites will locate the quadrinium and hide it. You could also have them programmed to transform the raw material into a working bomb. Finding the right equipment to create a bomb within Hellstar won’t be easy. And unless you’re a very skillful engineer, you wouldn’t know how to make one anyway.”

  Ryonna was okay when it came to hacking, or making slight repairs to ships, but she lacked the expertise for more specialized tasks.

  “Where can I find a doctor willing to make this contraption?”

  “There are a few. They aren’t cheap, though.”

  “Let me worry about that. I need the name and location of the nearest one.”

  “I . . . I’m not feeling good. I can’t seem to remember. You’ll need to let me access my terminal so I can find this information.”

  “Nice try. You’re not getting near a computer terminal.”

  “Then you’ll have to locate the doctor on your own.”

  She went for a fourth finger. “Are you completely sure about this? I still have plenty of fingers to go through, then we move to toes.”

  He shot her a murderous look and she started applying pressure.

  “Wait!”

  “Make it fast.”

  “There’s one doctor on Droxia who could do this.”

  “Name and location.”

  “Dr. Alphran Zarott. His operation is located in the capital.”

  “You see, you remembered after all.”

  “You’re going to kill me now, right?”

  Ryonna didn’t answer. She went upstairs and returned a minute later with a grenade and some adhesive tape.

  “What is this? Shoot me if you have to kill me.”

  “I think they would disagree,” said Ryonna, pointing towards the heads in the jars.

  “I told you what you wanted to hear. Have some pity.”

  “Pity? Twenty minutes ago you were talking about killing me slowly and raping my body once I was dead. You’re lucky I don’t have time to stay here and make sure you suffer for days, if not weeks.”

  “Please—”

  But Ryonna didn’t let him finish. She put some adhe
sive tape on his mouth. He tried mumbling something through it, but she was already attaching the grenade to his face, making sure he could see the timer she set at five minutes. She activated it.

  “So long, you sick piece of shit.”

  He mumbled even more, tried to get out of the restraints, but was rewarded with added pressure and pain. When Ryonna took one last look at the old man, his gaze was locked on the timer.

  A few moments later, when Ryonna and Alix exited the house, they heard the explosion.

  “Thank you for the assist, Alix.”

  “You sure had a funny way of showing it.”

  “I’m sorry. I really don’t like being deceived.”

  “Yeah, I’m never doing that again.”

  “Good. May I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Why are you helping me? What’s your incentive?”

  “Do you really want to know?”

  “I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

  “I used to have a son as well, he . . . he died because I cared more about my warrants than my personal life.”

  “I’m really sorry to hear that. But this is not your fight.”

  “In a twisted way, if I help you get your son out of Hellstar, I guess . . . Who am I kidding? There’s no redemption for my soul. My son is dead, my wife left me and I deserve everything I get.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you had known your son was in danger, would you have done everything to save him?”

  “Of course I would. I would have moved mountains to save him. But it was an accident. I was supposed to stay home and care for him, but a very well paid job came at the same time. I just made the wrong choice. I never wanted anything to happen to my little buddy.”

  “Then you shouldn’t blame yourself. Sometimes things happen outside our control.”

  “That’s nice of you to say, Ryonna, but you know, at the end of the day I just can’t let go of what happened. I think on some level I have continued this shitty job to punish myself. When you captured me I thought that was it, that my day had finally come. And I was okay with that. I don’t deserve better anyway.”

  “I disagree. You’re a nice guy. And I would like you to know something else.” If she warned him about her vision, could she change the fate she first saw? If so, then perhaps Chase had a chance to save Sarah as well. She wanted to believe that her visions weren’t set in stone.

  “What?”

  “I’m a priestess amongst my people, and I have the power of foresight. I see the death of people I meet, unless they’re Droxian.”

  “Are you telling me you saw my death?”

  “I did.”

  “And?”

  “I’m not supposed to give you details. It goes against everything I’ve been told.”

  “Then why bring it up in the first place?”

  “Because I owe you my life. And because, thanks to you, my son might soon be free from Hellstar.”

  “Where are you going with this?”

  Where was she going with it? She wanted to tell him everything she had seen, but all her instincts told her not to. Still, Alix had been more than useful, and though he was in search of redemption for something that wasn’t really his fault, she understood his motives.

  “All I will say is that if you keep helping me, I think you will die.”

  “I’m fine with that.”

  “Alix, please think carefully about this. You could always walk away.”

  “We all have to die at one point. That’s the cycle of life. Whether I die helping you or later down the road, that day will come anyway. At least if I help you I do so in accordance with myself. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to stick with you.”

  Ryonna smiled. “You’re a much nicer guy than you give yourself credit for.”

  “If you say so. Now, let’s go visit that doctor so you can break your son out of Hellstar.”

  “Thank you, Alix.”

  * * *

  It took an hour to travel to Primus, the capital of Droxia. With the help of Jonas they located Dr. Zarrott. Jonas had seemed really worried during the communication, and wanted to see Ryonna the minute she was done with her operation. He didn’t want to talk over an open channel, and that told Ryonna it was bad news.

  After a short interview they set a price for the intervention at one hundred and eighty thousand credits. Alix agreed to advance the money to speed things up. Ryonna was taken into the operating block and the doctor explained that this particular operation was reversible. In fact, it needed to be reversed no later than five days after implantation or there could be life-threatening implications. She didn’t really care about the risks. All that mattered was getting to Ronan, even at the cost of her own life.

  When she woke up a few hours later, the doctor demonstrated how the implant worked. He made her swallow a small, innocuous piece of metal, and then he showed her on his screen how the nanites grabbed it and introduced it to the nanite factory. He demonstrated where she should apply pressure on her belly to give the command for the nanites to deliver back the package, by inducing vomiting. She was all set for her mission to Hellstar. Now she needed to find a way to get sent there. Perhaps Jonas would have an idea. Before she left she would have to see him and discuss Jax’s case. He had found out something, and it sounded like something big.

  He proposed they meet just outside Primus. Jonas had always been a little paranoid, and he preferred to avoid crowded place, which suited Ryonna too. She was still being hunted, after all.

  “One more thing,” said the doctor.

  “What’s that?”

  “You can no longer use your holo-suit. You’d risk interfering with the nanite factory.”

  “That’s going to be a problem. I really don’t need to show my face around here.”

  “I know. I took the liberty to check your DNA with the wanted list. I like to know who I work for.”

  Ryonna’s looks darkened. “Is this going to be a problem, Doc?”

  “No, you have nothing to fear. My computer system is highly encrypted, and I don’t double cross my clientele. You’re not the first criminal nor the last that will end up on my table. I just like to know who I’m dealing with, that’s all.”

  Ryonna wanted to object but decided against it. The doctor could have simply not said anything and sold her to the first bounty hunter; or worse, call the Droxian authorities while she was under. The fact that he discussed this openly confirmed that he could be trusted, as far as anyone could be these days. He had also accepted Alix’s presence during the entire procedure.

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  “You’re welcome. Thank you for your patronage. But please remember, this has to be reversed no later than five days from now. Preferably sooner.”

  “What side effects should I expect when the time comes?”

  “Intense stomach cramps, possibly headaches; but when you start spitting blood from your mouth, you’ll have minutes or an hour tops before the walls of the factory lose cohesion, at which point they won’t protect your organs from deadly quadrinium anymore. Even if the piece has been delivered, the residual quadrinium particles will kill you. You really don’t want to die this way. It ain’t pretty.”

  “Thanks, Doc, I’ll keep it in mind. Am I free to go?”

  “I would try and rest for at least half a day.”

  “Not really on the cards.”

  “Will you put your life in danger when you leave my office?”

  “Most likely. Why?”

  “Then I should inject you with a stimulant. It will have a detrimental effect on your sleep patterns for a week, but it will allow you to have maximum reflexes. Without taking the time to rest properly, your system is still flooded with the sedative I had to give you to do the procedure. Right now your reflexes are impaired by at least twenty percent.”

  “I can’t have that.”

  “Indeed. The stimulant will actually increase your natural reflexes, but you will have trouble
sleeping as a result.”

  “Very well.”

  The doc injected her with a purple substance and she felt the effects almost instantly. Her mind raced, she was able to think clearer and the veil of fogginess she felt when waking up from the procedure was lifted in seconds. In fact, she felt in a better mental and physical state than she had in years.

  “Wow, this is quite the potent elixir. Any chance I can get some more?”

  “I would not recommend it. You’ve been through a lot lately. I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving you more.”

  “What would happen if I took more? What are the risks?”

  “If you take another dose in the next twenty-four hours, you will boost your internal reaction time, whether mental or physical, you will have more strength and think faster. But there’s a risk of brain aneurism as well. While every patient is different, there’s a thirty percent chance of that on a double dose. Since you’ve had two operations in the last twenty-four hours, it could be as high as fifty percent in your case. Even more if you’re under great pressure.”

  “Can’t you program some of my nanites to prevent the aneurism? Aren’t they able to travel within the blood stream?”

  “Yes, they could indeed provide some shielding and lower these odds, but why take the risk?”

  “I don’t know what awaits me next, Doc. All I know is that I could use the boost if I end up in a sticky situation, which seems to happen every few hours lately.”

  “Look, I can give you one dose to take with you, and quickly reprogram a few nanites to travel into your cortex and help mend a broken blood vessel if one should rupture, but this is to be used only as a last resort.”

  “Very well. Thanks, Doctor.”

  The doc entered a few commands on his holo-terminal.

  “There. I’ve dedicated ten percent of your nanites to this task. They are short-term powered, so you need to have them flushed out of your system as well, but there’s no urgency to remove them, unlike those in your stomach.”

  “Got it. Thank you.”

  “I would tell you to be careful, but the patients I see usually aren’t the corporate types. There’s always some battle to be fought, a mission to be done, lives to be saved or taken.”