by James Wisher
“Thank you, sir.” She wanted to ask about the Omni case, but she knew a dismissal when she heard one.
She’d visited the tech lab on the third floor plenty of times and after five years nothing much had changed. Four stainless steel tables dominated the room. Disassembled machines of various sorts covered two of the tables. Metal cabinets lined two of the walls. On the back wall a small monitor sat dark and lifeless on a small wooden table.
Iaka didn’t know how long they’d keep her waiting so she walked over to the monitor and flipped it on. An image of two guards appeared on the screen. They leaned against the wall and passed a flask back and forth. She smiled, a bored tech had hacked into the security system.
The whole building had cameras watching so Iaka switched between them using a little knob on the bottom of the screen hoping to find something more interesting than two guards drinking on duty. She’d almost given up when she came across Captain Wright’s office. She frowned. No tech should have access to the captain’s system from here. Whoever had done it either needed a promotion or a severe reprimand. The captain faced the camera and looked like he had someone on the hypernet link.
She couldn’t see to whom he spoke. Curiosity got the best of her and she activated the lip reading program in her implant, one a score of useful programs the tech’s installed before she left.
“I know she was supposed to be dead,” Captain Wright said.
Her breath caught in her throat. They couldn’t mean her. They must want another woman dead. Captain Wright listened as the other person spoke. Damn it, who’s he talking to.
“Those fools at Omni said they’s taken care of it,” Captain Wright said. “There’s another problem. Two others may know what we’re doing. Yes, we can arrest them and eliminate them quietly. I’ve already dealt with the girl.”
Iaka flipped off the monitor. She needed to go, before someone dealt with her, and warn Marcus and Solomon.
Iaka took a couple steps toward the door then it opened and yawning tech in a white lab coat came in. “Hello, sorry to keep you waiting.” He nodded toward one of the empty tables. “If you’ll take a seat I’ll get started.”
“I was just headed to the ladies room.”
“Can’t you hold it. I’m running late and I’ve got department head waiting for me to fix his hypernet connection. This’ll only take a few minutes.”
He stood between her and the door so she’d play along for the moment. Iaka sat on the table he indicated.
“Thanks.” He took a syringe out of coat pocket. “I’ll give you a local and we can get started.”
Her heart raced as a blast on adrenalin surged through her. The erasure process didn’t hurt, and she didn’t need a local.
She jumped off the table. “I don’t think I can hold it.”
He stayed between her and the door. His eyes went cold. “This would have been so much easier if you’d just played along.” He pressed the plunger on the syringe and a drop of clear liquid oozed out the tip. Poison. He held the syringe like a small knife.
Her eyes darted from one end of the room to the other. She needed a weapon. She spotted it on the table behind him, a small, titanium hammer. That would do. Now she had to get past him. He circled left forcing her right and away from the door to keep the table between them.
“What now?” He asked. “Are we going to run around this table all day?”
“Why don’t you drop that needle and I’ll kick your ass?”
He laughed. “I don’t have time to play today.” He lunged across the table at her, needle leading. She dodged aside and leapt toward the hammer. She grabbed it and swung just as he swung back at her. The hammer crunched into the back of his hand. Bone snapped and flesh tore. He dropped the syringe but lashed out with his other hand clipping her cheek and staggering her.
“Bitch!”
She shook her head to clear the stars. The assassin charged her. She swung the hammer again and caught him in the ribs. He grunted but didn’t stop. He bowled her over and the hammer went flying. The killer landed on top of her and grabbed her throat.
She pounded his ribs. He winced and squeezed harder. Her vision flashed in and out. She grabbed his broken hand and wrenched it. He screamed and let go of her. Iaka maintained her grip and pushed her thumb into the back of his hand and twisted. He fell to the ground beside her. Iaka rolled to her feet, coughing. She gasped, trying to force air into her burning lungs.
He looked up at her, hate burning in his eyes. Iaka snapped a front kick into his snarling face. He crumpled to the floor, unconscious. She bent over, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
When her heart had slowed to something approaching normal she searched the lab and found the syringe. She looked at the man that had tried to kill her lying unconscious on the floor. Part of her wanted to jab him with the needle and see what happened. No, she wouldn’t murder him. Iaka squirted the poison out, bent the needle over, and threw it away. She needed to go.
Iaka ducked out of the hall and walked to the elevators like she hadn’t a care in the world. She pushed the call button and regathered her hair while she waited. When the door opened she stepped inside and pressed the button for the lobby.
As the doors closed someone shouted. “Wait, hold the doors.” She saw a man running toward the elevator. After a moment’s indecision she put her hand out to stop the doors.
“Thanks.” The gasping agent said. He punched the second floor button. After the initial look he didn’t seem interested in her. Iaka relaxed. “I haven’t seen you before. Are you new?”
Iaka forced herself to smile. “No, I just got back form a field assignment. How about you?”
“I’ve been here five months. I work in encryption. What’s your department?”
“Xenobiology.”
He grimaced. “I’d hate to work with those weird things. Give me a nice air-conditioned office any day.” The bell sounded and the doors slid open. “Thanks again.” He stepped out and the doors shut before anyone else could get on.
She rode the rest of the way in blessed silence. She wondered how many guards awaited her arrival? Would they stun her or just blast her on the spot? The bell tolled and the doors slid open.
No guards, no blasters. She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d held and stepped off the elevator, so far so good. Iaka made it half way to the doors when Lar shouted, “Wait. Young lady, wait.”
She froze. Should she run for it? No, a dozen agents stood between her and the doors. She’d never make it. Got to play it cool. She walked to his desk. “Yes?”
“Your temporary badge, you forgot to turn it in.” He held out a hand.
She smiled, hoping he couldn’t tell how relieved she felt. “Sorry, it totally slipped my mind.” She dropped the badge into his hand.
Lar waved one of his other hands while the first slipped the badge back under his desk. “Don’t worry. Happens all the time. So you heading out again so soon?”
She sighed. “No rest for the wicked.”
Lar patted her on the shoulder. “Do be careful.”
“I intend to,” she said.
Iaka left the reception area and went out the main doors. Her whole body trembled. She’d made it this far, now she needed to get away from here. Where could she hide? Damn it! Marcus, they still wanted him and Solomon. She had to warn them. No, Captain Wright would expect that. She couldn’t go straight to them and the comms would be monitored, she needed a round about way to the spaceport. All her old friends worked for Earth Force so they were out. She’d have to do it on her own.
CHAPTER FIVE
Marcus rolled over on the cheap bed and groaned. He’d guessed right about the party. His mouth tasted like a family of dome rats had moved in and set up housekeeping. Light streamed through the windows of the room he and Solomon shared. Two beds, two footlockers, and nothing else. The rooms at the lounge didn’t cost much for a reason.
How long had he slept? The party wound down w
ay after midnight. He sat up and wished he hadn’t. His head throbbed and room seemed to expand and contract with his pulse. He couldn’t do this any more, the all night parties, maybe the Fireside wouldn’t suck so much after all.
The door swung open and he grabbed his gauntlet. When he saw Solomon he set it back down.
“Finally awake?” Solomon carried a tray loaded with pastries and a steaming carafe.
Marcus groaned and laid back down. He didn’t want food, just thinking about it made his stomach churn. The coffee smelled good.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Solomon set the tray on Marcus’s footlocker and poured coffee into two cups. He dug two gray pills out of his pocket and held them out to Marcus along with a cup. “Here, Dodger left these after he helped carry you up here.”
Marcus sat back up and took the cup and pills. “His miracle hangover cure?”
“So he said.” Solomon spoke around a mouth full of pastry.
Marcus grimaced. Dodger’s habits made him look like a tea tootling nun. His quest for a miracle hangover cure had grown legendary. Marcus tossed the pills aside and they rolled around in the corner. “Last time I took one of his concoctions it made me sicker than the hangover.”
“He said he had it just right this time.”
“He said the same thing three years ago. That mixture must have been this fifteenth version. This must be thirty or forty. No, thank you.” Marcus reached under his bed and dragged out his duffle. He dug around and pulled out a bottle filled with painkillers big enough to numb a horse. He managed, with much effort, to choke one down. “That ought to do it.”
They finished the pastries; in fact Solomon finished the pastries, Marcus just nibbled on a doughnut. His headache faded and his brain started function again. They needed to sell the destroyer. Then they’d have enough to give the Star a complete overhaul.
“Are you sure you want to spend another night here?” Solomon asked.
Marcus almost grinned, but the dull ache behind his eyes made him think better of it. “Maybe one night partying with the old gang was enough.”
“Should I call over to the Inn and make reservations?” Solomon danced in place.
“No, let’s head to the junkyard and sell the destroyer first. Then we can find new accommodations. There must be somewhere better than the bloody Fireside Inn.”
Solomon shrugged. “All right, where are we going?”
“William O’Mara’s junkyard.”
Solomon groaned. “Not Slick Willie again. The last time we went there he tried to cheat us.”
“Trying to get twice as much as something’s worth isn’t the same as trying to cheat you, it’s negotiating. Willie’s as honest as any of the merchants we deal with.”
“There’s a ringing endorsement.”
Marcus laughed then wince when his headache flared up. “I thought I was supposed to be the cynic. Everything Willie sells works and he always pays on time. You can’t ask for any more.”
“Fine, but the way you two haggle I’d better make the reservations now.”
“Suit yourself, my friend,” Marcus said, trying hard not to laugh.
They left the empty Spacer’s Lounge and headed down the street to the hovertrain platform. Willie had his junkyard in the next dome north. They had the platform to themselves, most people with jobs left for work well before ten o’clock. The train arrived with computerized precision. Marcus dropped a twenty credit coin in the slot and the doors slid open. They boarded and sixty-seconds later they blasted out of the doom at three hundred miles an hour.
It took half an hour to reach the next dome. They disembarked and found a small group of tourists waiting to board. Marcus sidestepped a man with a holorecorder who paid more attention to the scenery he filmed than where he walked. He couldn’t imagine what the dope wanted to record around here. The buildings had all seen better days and the air left a metallic tang in his mouth. Marcus figured the filters needed tuning, or better yet replacing.
They left the tourists behind and headed down the street toward the mountain of junk visible from the platform. Dying maples and yellow grass grew at irregular intervals along the sidewalk. For sure something wrong with the filters. Three blocks from the platform they found the junkyard unchanged from their last visit. Scrap metal and parts piled on either side of a squat, rundown office. On the side of the building an ancient 1900’s style neon sign flickered. It showed a leprechaun sitting on a hyperdrive coil.
They went in without knocking and found Willie behind his desk writing and muttering to himself. The old man looked like a big brother to the leprechaun outside. He glanced up as they approached.
“Hi, Willie,” Marcus said as they entered. Solomon closed the door behind them.
“Hello, lads. Have a seat.” He gestured to a pair of chairs covered with papers. Once they cleared them off and sat Willie continued. “So what brings you boys by?”
Marcus smiled. He turned thirty in eight months and nobody had referred to him as a boy in a good while. Still, he took no offense as Willie passed ninety a few years ago and to him everybody younger than sixty looked like a kid. “We’re here on business.”
The old man’s expression narrowed and he got a hungry gleam in his eye. Willie lived for a deal. “Buying or selling?”
Out of the corner of his eye Marcus saw his friend roll his eyes to the ceiling. “We’re selling,” Marcus said.
Willie rubbed his hands together. “What have you got for me?”
Marcus typed a short command in to his gauntlet and a hologram of the destroyer appeared in the air between them. “We found it drifting in deep space. There was no one on board to claim it so it’s fair salvage.” It was true enough since Iaka didn’t want it.
“That’s an old Earth Force destroyer, isn’t it?” Willie squinted at the hologram.
“Sure is, decommissioned for civilian use.”
“Give me the specs and I’ll make you an offer.”
Marcus typed half of another command when in walked two men wearing identical black suits. Slight bulges under their arms betrayed the blasters holstered there. Earth Force agents, Marcus would have bet the Star on it.
“You two will come with us,” the agent on the right said. They showed no emotions. Earth Force agents seldom did.
“Of course,” Marcus said. His mind raced. Whatever Iaka’s mission, it must have been important if they had the dogs out already. Marcus knew they should have delivered her frozen and let Earth Force thaw her out. He remembered those legs and decided maybe he could stand a little trouble. He had to figure a way out of this mess.
As he and Solomon eased up to their feet, Marcus tapped the front of his gauntlet and a pair of metal studs popped out and locked in place. “We’ll have to finish this conversation another time, Willie.”
Willie nodded. “Sure lad. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’ll have to remove that as well,” the agent on the left indicated his gauntlet.
Feigning irritation, Marcus removed the gauntlet and tossed it to the agent on the right. He threw it harder than necessary and the agent fumbled it. His hand hit one of the studs. A light flashed and the second agent watched his partner fall to the ground. Marcus took advantage of the distraction to clobber the still standing agent in the jaw. He wobbled and Marcus waded in with a left to the gut and an upper cut. The agent collapsed to the floor, out cold.
Marcus rubbed his hand. He hated bare knuckle fighting. His hand would ache for days. Marcus collected his gauntlet and helped himself to the agents blasters and communicators. Solomon caught a blaster and communicator when Marcus tossed them his way. The second weapon Marcus slipped into his front pocket. He smashed the second communicator under his heel.
“How do you suppose they found us?” Solomon asked.
“Sleeping beauty probably told them we planed to salvage the ship.”
“I suppose, but how did they know to look for us here?”
“I don’t expect th
ey did. How much you want to bet there’s another pair waiting at Mac’s junkyard. What I don’t get is why? We don’t know anything. We just give her a ride home. Hell, they should thank us for rescuing her”
“I hate to interrupt you boys, but what should I do with them?” Willie nodded at the unconscious agents drooling on his floor.
Marcus reset the weapon’s module on his gauntlet and pumped stun blasts into each of the agents. “They’ll be out for at least an hour. Give us a fifteen minute head start then call the dome patrol. Tell them what happened but don’t mention the destroyer.”
Willie nodded. “Speaking of the destroyer, I’ll take a pass on it. You boys come back after you get this mess cleared up and we’ll talk again.”
“Sure,” Marcus shook hands with the old man. “I’m sorry to get you mixed up in this.”
“Bah, I’m ninety-four years old. What are they going to do, arrest me?” Willie peered at them. “You boys in bad trouble?”
Marcus sighed. “Bad enough, I imagine. I noticed their blasters didn’t have a stun settings so what does that tell you? I think it’s time for us to get off Mars for a while.”
“Yeah, like forever,” Solomon said.
They left Willie and the unconscious Earth Force agents and retraced their steps back to the train platform. They needed to return to the ship and jet. If someone left a job offer they’d wait long enough to load.
An empty platform greeted them. Pity, Marcus would have welcomed some people to act as cover. Solomon went to check the schedule. “Next train’s in five minutes.” Solomon sat on the bench while Marcus paced. Their head start dwindled by the second.
Marcus checked the clock in his gauntlet for the third time in a minute. You’d think the goddamn train could arrive early once in his life. He looked up and blinked. A pair of large, hairy humanoids plodded towards them. When they got closer Marcus realized how big they were. Both stood over seven feet and must have measured five wide at the shoulder. They wore nothing but loincloths. He recognized the creatures as Gorts. Not just any Gorts, but he suspected a pair of old associates.