by Eric Vall
It was a shuttle, a transport from the larger cruiser that hung in orbit above Proxima V, and it could only mean one thing.
Arden fucking Warrick had decided to make an appearance.
A moment later, and I was running. I tore across the marketplace as I traced Warrick’s trail of fire, and I did my best to ignore the way my side ached and burned. I opened my mouth to gasp, and then to warn Omni, but cursed when I remembered my lack of communications array. It was okay though. The shuttle would have shown up on the radar system aboard the Lacuna Noctis. Omni knew Warrick was coming, which meant the girls did, and hopefully, they told Cy’lass or Slal’ops.
I had no idea what Warrick’s game was, I hadn’t seen or heard from him since we landed on the planet, but I knew whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
I quickly lost sight of the shuttle as it descended past the skyline of the buildings, but it didn’t matter. I had seen where it was headed, and I doubled my pace.
The air sawed in and out of my lungs as I ran, but thankfully my stroll through the city had taught me some shortcuts. Less than five minutes later, I burst out into the courtyard that ringed Ka’le’s central tower. Spots danced before my eyes, but I didn’t let that slow me down. I stumbled my way forward toward the crowd that was twice as large as it had been this morning. The Almort didn’t move aside as easily for me as they had for their prince, but I managed to shove myself through with a minimal amount of hissing.
I reached the front of the crowd just as the small transport shuttle hissed with hydraulics and began to lower its ramp. The shuttle was small, only large enough for one or two people, but it was bright, newly painted, and the best Terra-Nebula had to offer. I guess with my termination, Warrick seemed to have gained himself a promotion.
I glanced around the gathered Almort faces and found Neka and Akela across the plaza, near the entrance of the tower. Beside them stood Cy’lass and Slal’ops and in front was U’eh, flanked by Sef’sla. The chief and his daughter had fierce scowls upon their faces. The prince, along with his advisor and my crew, merely looked apprehensive.
I turned my attention back to the shuttle just in time to see Warrick walk down the loading ramp. Dust billowed around him, disturbed by the shuttle’s descent and landing. It was just the sort of dramatic bullshit that Warrick thrived on. I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. Warrick stepped off the ramp, and the moment his feet struck the dirt, he looked around at the gathered crowd with an air of smug triumph, like he was already planning where to erect a statue of himself.
Bastard.
Arden Warrick was a broker not that much younger than me, and he had been recruited only a few years after I had been. He was tall, though shorter than I was, with a mop of blonde hair he wore in an aloof mess, and boring brown eyes centered in a bland, uninteresting face. His nose was too long, his teeth were too white, and he was just unpleasant to look at in general. That was my completely and totally unbiased opinion.
However, the asshole could be cunning, and sly, and ruthless. I knew his track record, and I knew he was about to stir up some shit.
I took a step forward out of the crowd and an instant later, Warrick’s eyes zeroed in on me from twenty meters away.
“Well, well, well,” he crowed into the silence, and a smarmy, sharp-edged smile spread across his face. “If it isn’t Colby Tower, formerly the second best broker Terra-Nebula had to offer.”
I glared at the broker and opened my mouth to correct him… only to snap it back shut. I glanced over to see U’eh staring at me, an intense look in his eye. It seemed like the trial’s rule still applied.
God damn it.
I seethed in silence and did my best to convey my oceans of hatred toward Warrick through my eyes. The broker raised an eyebrow at me, confused by my lack of retort, but the bastard always liked listening to himself talk.
“What’s wrong?” Warrick taunted as he tilted his head to the side like a predator did when considering how best to consume its prey. “Cat got your tongue?”
As he said this, his eyes flickered over to where Neka hovered just behind Chief U’eh. Warrick’s grin only grew as he caught sight of my assistant.
“Speaking of cats,” he quipped, his eyes going hooded. “There’s my favorite gen-mod. It’s been too long, Neka. You’re as sexy as ever. How’s CT been treating you, sweetie? He still keeping you warm at night?”
Neka bared her teeth in a snarl, her ears flat against her head, and I recalled the satisfying crunch of Warrick’s jaw when I decked him the last time he came on to the cat-girl. If he kept talking, he was in for an instant replay. I didn’t need to speak to kick this guy’s ass.
Warrick winked and blew a kiss to my assistant, but turned back to me when Neka just bristled and hissed. “Still feisty that one,” the other broker directed at me with a lopsided grin.
I crossed my arms and leveled the blonde with a glare. Warrick sighed and held up his hands.
“And you still lack a sense of humor obviously,” he muttered. “Come now, CT, where’s that razor wit I’ve been missing? Don’t tell me you’ve started grunting and hissing like these savages here.”
A uniform hiss rose from the Almort around us, and Warrick glanced at them with a wary and bewildered eye.
“Why do they look like they can understand me?” he mused aloud as he dug his grave even deeper. “Last time, they wouldn’t even meet with us long enough to get the translators working properly.”
“Perhaps because we had nothing to say to someone who sees us as savages,” Cy’lass hissed as he stepped forward. The prince flared his gills and drew himself up to his full height of nearly two-and-a-half meters. Lights flickered along the scales of his face and reflected off the bared points of his opalescent teeth. The apprehension that had previously been on his face had faded away to nothing now. This was the prince of the Almort, and he was not afraid. He was strong, he was powerful, and most importantly, he was annoyed.
Warrick actually took a step back in shock as Cy’lass’s words registered and translated. His brown eyes shot to me for an explanation, but I just stared back at him blankly. On the inside, I cheered to see him plant his foot so firmly in his mouth.
To his credit, the broker composed himself rather quickly. He cleared his throat and turned to face Cy’lass more fully.
“Apologies,” he simpered as he inclined his head in faux reverence. “I didn’t realize that Mr. Tower here had already fitted you with translators, though faulty as they may seem. I don’t know why he would program them to view the word ‘natives’ as ‘savages.’”
I snorted and rolled my eyes at his weak attempt of passing the blame to me. Cy’lass saw through it, too, because the prince merely looked blankly down at Warrick, his eyes flat and dark and unreadable.
“What is it that you want, starman?” Cy’lass demanded. “My father has already refused you and your kind twice. You are not welcome here.”
“And yet, I find you treating with him,” Warrick countered as he tilted his head at me. “He’s been on your planet nearly a week now. Why is that if we are not welcome?”
I bared my teeth and wanted to snap that there was no ‘we,’ not in any sense of the word, that I had absolutely nothing in common with this slimy prick, but all I could do was glower at Warrick in silence.
“My father and CccT have come to their own accord,” Cy’lass hissed as he loomed over Warrick. “It is of no concern to you.”
Not one to be intimidated, Warrick held up a finger. “Ah see, that’s where you’re wrong,” he said, “because it is my concern. I bet dear old CT didn’t even tell you he’d been terminated from Terra-Nebula and as such no longer has the authority to broker an agreement between you and the Corporation.”
“He has told us who he is and what he intends,” Cy’lass corrected and took a step forward to crowd into Warrick’s personal space. “We have no need for you or your Corporation.”
I nearly fist pumped at Cy’lass words. He really was
n’t giving Warrick a centimeter. This seemed to throw the broker off a bit. His lips dipped into a frown, and his eyes darted between Cy’lass and me. “Well, if he told you he no longer works for T-N, then you must realize there’s nothing he can do for you,” he argued. “He has no money, no resources, nothing.”
Cy’lass glanced at me, and then over his shoulder to U’eh. The chief steadily met his son’s gaze and then jerked his head to motion at Warrick’s shuttle. Cy’lass inclined his head to U’eh and turned back to the broker before us.
“We have said all there is to say,” the prince said stiffly. “If you need it stated more simply, then here it is: We refuse you, starman, and all you have to offer. We do not wish to negotiate or bargain with you. Leave now, for you are not welcome.”
Warrick narrowed his eyes at Cy’lass and then looked to me. I gave him a thin-lipped smile and waggled my fingers at him in a taunting goodbye.
The smug, teasing light went out in Warrick’s eyes. Fury and indignation replaced it. He never did like being told no.
“Whatever Tower’s offering you,” Warrick said coldly, “I can double it. What do you want? More medicine? Technology? Weapons? You name it, and it’s yours. I can give you better quantity and quality of whatever you like. I promise you, I can do worlds better than Tower.”
Perhaps the righteous anger that burned through my veins carried more oxygen to my brain or something, but either way, Warrick’s words hit me like a lightning bolt. I actually gasped, and that caused Cy’lass and Warrick to whirl on me in surprise. I ignored both of them, however, and spun to face Chief U’eh.
The answer, I knew the answer to the riddle.
It seemed so simple now, so stupidly easy I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner.
“Tower, what the hell are you...”
I walked away before Warrick finished, and my feet carried me to the steps of the tower where U’eh, Sef’sla and my crew still stood. I looked up into U’eh’s face, and he looked down into mine. After a moment, the chief seemed to understand as he blinked his two sets of eyelids.
“Have you an answer for my riddle?” he asked me solemnly. Somehow, his voice seemed to carry in the now quiet plaza. I could feel everyone’s eyes on us, and I inclined my head in a nod.
U’eh looked surprised, but he motioned for me to continue.
“What is something you may keep, even after you have given it to another?” I repeated the riddle, loud enough for it to echo across the courtyard. I looked U’eh in the eye and then pivoted to look at Neka, Akela, and finally Cy’lass and Warrick behind me.
“Your word,” I declared, voice hoarse from disuse, and I met Warrick gaze for gaze. I sneered at him, my chin raised high in defiance. “And I am a man of my word, Almort, unlike this… this Malog that stands before you!”
I jabbed a finger at Warrick in accusation, and the broker glared at me in fury. “Like the Malog,” I explained loudly, “this starman looks to stalk and deceive you from the shadows. He aims to catch you unaware and take all that you hold dear before you can even blink!”
I retracted my extended arm and thumped my fist against my chest. I didn’t have scales or gills to flare, but the muted thud seemed to resonate with the Almort, who stomped their feet in response.
One of the most important lessons I learned from being a broker is when to say the right thing at the right time. Well, this was my moment.
“I have agreed to your Akornath,” I exclaimed as I looked around at the gathered host, “and I have proved myself worthy once already! The meat of the Malog has fed you. So has the meat of the Opalks that I slew when I saved your prince and advisor! What has this starman done for you?” I asked as I pointed at Warrick again. “I have dealt with him before. His promises are empty. His word is false. I only ask that you continue to honor our agreement. I only ask that you let me complete the Akornath.”
My chest heaved in and out as I subsided into silence. My throat felt raw from screaming after not speaking all day. The Almort hissed quietly around me, but they all looked to their chief for guidance on how to respond.
I turned to face U’eh once again. His face was unreadable, his eyes dark and fathomless, and for a moment I feared that I had gotten it wrong, that I had not answered the riddle correctly. But there was no way. The Almort were a people of honor, of respect. It was embedded in their traditions, it was apparent in how they treated each other and their planet. I had to be correct.
Fuck, I hoped I was right.
“You shall have your chance,” U’eh declared suddenly and his voice rang out clear as a bell as he met my eye. “You have passed the second trial, Cccolby Tower. You have demonstrated the depth of your understanding. And tomorrow, if you succeed in the last test, we shall have our agreement.”
The chief let out an undulating cry that once more his people echoed. I grinned in relief and triumph, and a moment later, Neka and Akela tackled me with dual hugs. However, as they congratulated me, their voices loud and indiscernible in the chaos surrounding us, I looked over their shoulders to see Warrick silently slip back onto his ship. He met my eye before he closed the ramp, and under the elation that swelled like a balloon in my chest, I felt a pinprick of apprehension.
That look in Warrick’s eye said he wasn’t done. The broker did not like to be told no, he did not like to be refused, and he certainly did not like to be embarrassed. I had orchestrated a situation in which all three had happened. Warrick was plotting his revenge before the loading ramp even closed all the way.
I knew it, and it seemed U’eh did as well. The chief had a look in his eye, too, and it was another look that I was very familiar with.
It was the look of a man, or amphibious alien, who would do anything to protect his home and the people he cared for. It was the look of a man preparing to go to war.
I only hoped I could complete the last trial and get U’eh to sign a contract before it came to that.
As Warrick started his engine and rose back into the sky, dust billowing around us, I knew my time was running out to save Proxima V and the Almort.
There was no room for error. There was no time for mistakes.
If I didn’t stop Warrick and Terra-Nebula right here, right now, we were all screwed.
Guess it’s a good thing I was the best broker in all the galaxies.
And now Warrick was going to find out exactly why that was.
Chapter 19
After yesterday’s trial, and Warrick showing his idiotic face, when I opened my eyes this morning I wanted nothing more than to stay in bed. The guest pod’s bedroom was dark and warm around me, and I thought I could happily stay cocooned here forever.
However, I knew that dawn, or this planet’s equivalent at least, was creeping continuously closer. I could feel it in the minute tensing of my body, in the way my heartbeat had steadily begun to climb as the minutes ticked by.
It hadn’t arrived yet, though, not just yet, and I was going to get the most out of this moment as I could.
“What do you think his plan is?” Neka suddenly whispered into the dark. The bed creaked beneath us as she shifted and stretched.
“If I know Warrick, it’s not anything good,” I replied quietly.
The cat-girl sighed. “Can’t you just punch him again?”
I chuckled softly. “I wish,” I muttered.
Suddenly, another voice cut through the darkness.
“I second Neka’s idea,” Akela yawned from my left side.
I winced and turned my head in the mechanic’s direction, even though I could only see the vaguest hint of her shape. “Sorry,” I whispered. “We didn’t mean to wake you.”
Akela yawned again and smacked her lips. “It’s alright,” she mumbled. “I’m a light sleeper.”
The bed shifted again, and then I felt the silver-haired woman press lightly up against my left side. She didn’t pillow her head on my chest like Neka did on my right, but just the brush of the mechanic’s arm against mine s
ent goosebumps racing up my skin.
Akela got comfortable again, and then I felt the tickle of her hair as she leaned her head against my shoulder. “What were we talkin’ about again?” she mumbled, and her breath puffed warmly against my neck.
“CT punching Warrick in the face. Again,” Neka happily supplied. The cat-girl nuzzled closer to me, and her ears tickled the underside of my chin.
“Ah, yes. Let’s talk more about that. Neka, can you describe the first time CT punched that prick? In detail please,” Akela instructed sleepily.
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help the grin that stretched across my face in the dark as Neka launched into her story and, as instructed, she didn’t leave out a single detail.
“Well,” she started dramatically, “we had run-ins with Warrick before. He was always trying to beat CT’s record for brokered planets.”
“Something he never even came close to doing,” I felt the need to add.
“Hush,” Neka chided playfully, and her tail came up to lay across my lips. “I’m telling the story.”
I pretended to nip at her tail but let her continue.
“Anyway,” the cat-girl went on, “most of the time he showed up, CT was able to shoo him off quickly, so Warrick never really noticed me. But this one time we were at this T-N sponsored party thing--”
“It was meant to be a marketing meeting,” I cut in as I moved my mouth out from under Neka’s tail, “but since profits were at an all-time high, they just told us to keep on keeping on and then brought out the booze.”
Even in the dark, I could feel Neka’s glare. I subsided back into the pillows.
“Sorry,” I whispered. Her tail slapped down on my face this time, and I spat out fur.
“As I was saying, we were at this party and Warrick cornered us out of nowhere, already drunk,” Neka recounted.
“Uh-oh,” Akela muttered, “that’s never good.”
Why does she get to interrupt, I wanted to ask, but Neka had my lips firmly sealed with fur.