by Jake Elwood
It was Rhett, with a spool of cable slung over one golden shoulder, his red eyes glancing at the two men, then returning to his handholds. He descended with the agility of a spider, his tireless metal fingers bringing him quickly to the horizontal strand that supported the two men. The strand began to vibrate harder under Chan's arm. It made him think of guitar strings, and thoughts of music filled his mind. Titan disappeared, replaced by giant notes that danced and gyrated before his glazed eyes. He smiled, stretched out his arms toward the notes, and fell.
He landed on the hull of the Stark Raven.
Chapter 11
The Raven hovered beside the hideout welded to the stilt. The inside of the ship stank of methane. Only a bit of Titan's pungent atmosphere had come in through the airlock with them, but it was enough to have Chan fighting his gag reflex. The elaborate stilts that supported the city of Crius made sense now. Being above the neutral pressure line made a world of difference when the local atmosphere smelled like rotten eggs. Chan had never smelled rotten eggs. Out in the far reaches of the solar system eggs were as precious as rubies, and they were certainly never allowed to spoil. He would recognize rotten eggs if he ever met some, though. The stench was unforgettable.
Riverson sat in a chair on the bridge, sipping a glass of water while he used the panel in front of him to contact Crius. On Chan's recommendation he was calling his daughter. Chan was pretty sure that Eloise Hansard was in the kidnap plot right up to her elegant neck.
"Dad!" The face that filled the monitor in front of Riverson was swollen-eyed and splotched with red. "Oh, my God! You're alive! Are you all right?"
Chan, sitting at the next station, eavesdropped shamelessly on the virtual reunion. He was grinning like an idiot, but he couldn't make himself stop.
"I'm fine, sweetheart." Riverson took another sip of water. "I'm thirsty and hungry, but that's easily fixed. I could use a good rest, but what else is an interplanetary flight good for? No, I'm fine."
"We were so scared," she blurted. "John dropped off the ransom a couple of hours ago. When we didn't hear anything, well, we thought…" She wiped a tear from her cheek. "But they let you go, so it's all right."
"They didn't exactly let me go," Riverson said. His voice sharpened. "This ransom. What form did it take?"
Her eyebrows rose. "Strips of platinum. We packed them in a suitcase. Then John took it, he wouldn't tell me how it was being delivered." She leaned forward, and some of her father's sharpness was in her eyes. The emotional quaver disappeared from her voice as she said, "Why, Dad? What's going on?"
"Well, since they didn't release me," he replied, "I don't feel they entirely deserve their ransom." He held up a hand. "That's all I'm going to say for now. I'm safe, I'm well, and I'll see you soon. All right?"
She nodded and he broke the connection.
Liz, sitting at the helm controls, gestured out the front windows at the hideout. "Do we go in and pick up the prisoner?"
"What, and let more methane in here?" Chan retorted. "Leave him where he's at."
"But don't go anywhere," Riverson said. "If you don't mind."
Liz shot him a quizzical look. "What are we waiting for?"
Joss, sitting across from Chan, straightened in her seat. "The ransom!" she said. "They should be delivering it, right?"
Riverson flashed his teeth in a wolfish grin. "Give the young lady a cigar." The grin turned rueful as he added, "Maybe the smoke will kill some of the stink in here."
"Look!" Joss interrupted. "I see something."
She pointed out the window, and Chan leaned forward to look. A silver briefcase was descending from above, hooked to a length of cable, with a wide white strip of plastic fluttering from the handle to make it easier to spot.
Chan grinned. "Joss," he said, "contact the police. Tell them the ransom's being lowered from the catwalk outside of Dome Eight right now." He swivelled his chair. "Rhett."
The robot, standing quietly at the back of the bridge, turned a gold and black face toward him. "Captain?"
"Do you mind going back outside? You'll have to stay out there until we get back to the city."
"Of course, Captain."
"Detach the briefcase and hold on. And be careful. It's a long way to the ground." He turned to Liz. "Can we get under the briefcase?"
"Already on it, Captain."
Rhett's voice over the radio was smooth and perfect with none of the static that Chan associated with him. "The briefcase is secure, as am I."
"Great," Chan said. "Take us up, Liz." Chan stood and took Riverson's empty glass. "Can I bring you a snack from the galley, sir?"
Riverson looked up at him gravely. "Young man, I would kill for a dried-out protein bar. I might even eat the wrapper."
"I think we can do better than that."
Riverson stood. "Lead the way."
They hovered beside the catwalk on Dome Eight long enough to watch police in red and blue vac suits lead a couple of men away in handcuffs. Riverson smiled around a mouthful of instant noodles as he watched. Then Liz brought the ship around and into the big lock on Dome Five.
Chan hit a button on his console and opened the hatch on the roof of the bridge. Rhett lowered the briefcase through the opening, and Liz pushed Chan aside as she hurried to take it.
"Pass it here, buddy. Oh, yeah." She set the briefcase on top of the navigation console and opened the latches. "Would you look at that."
The case was full of thin metal strips, each smaller than the palm of Chan's hand. They gleamed a dull silver in the bridge lights, and Liz spent a moment gazing reverently into the case. Then a grin split her face from ear to ear and she plunged both hands into the case, pulling up a double handful of the precious strips. She lifted them high, then let them pour through her fingers in a glittering cascade. "We're rich! Rich, baby, rich."
"Liz," Chan said.
She ignored him, scooping up more platinum, pouring it from hand to hand, watching the strips clatter and spill across the console and onto the floor.
"Liz, it's not ours."
She shot him an indignant look. "Of course it's ours. It's the agreed-upon price for returning Riverson safely. That's what we're doing, isn't it? We're returning him safely!"
"Five hundred dollars," Chan said. "That's the price I agreed on to keep Mr. Riverson safe. And I've already been paid." He thought about it. "Actually, the company still owes me three-fifty. But then, I did let him get kidnapped, so perhaps we're even."
Liz's eyes were wide with indignation. "But, Captain!"
He crossed to the navigation console. "Forget it, Liz. It's not how we operate." He scooped up the spilled strips, then flipped the briefcase closed, shut the latches, and hefted it, grunting at the weight. "Here you go, sir." He handed the case to Riverson.
"Thank you, Captain Chan." The old man smiled. "I'll be in touch about that tip you mentioned." He surveyed the bridge with those sharp eyes. "Thank you all. I won't forget this." And he turned and left the bridge.
"Hmph." Liz sat back in her seat, folding her arms. "Integrity sucks." Her face brightened. "There'll be some kind of reward, though. I guess it's worth waiting around a few days. How much do you think he'll give us?"
A chime sounded on her console, and she reached over to press a button. A young man in a Dock Services uniform appeared on the screen beside her. "Stark Raven. You're back. Is Repair Services still covering your docking fees?"
Liz said, "Um, yes?"
"Great. I'll check with them and get it set up. I was afraid you weren't coming back."
"Really?" Liz said. "Why?"
"Your other crewman," he said. "He was so upset that he missed you."
Chan's mouth went dry.
"Er," said Liz, "what other crewman do you mean, exactly?"
"I didn't get his name," the man said. "Big guy. Huge beard. He was so excited when he heard you were here, and then we had to tell him you'd left." The man shook his head. "I thought he was going to go berserk."
; Liz turned in her seat, looking at Chan and Joss. Chan looked at them, wondering if his eyes were as wide as theirs.
"Um, that's great," Liz said to the man from Port Services. "I can't wait to see him again. Thanks." She cut the connection and swivelled her chair around. "It's him," she said. "Beardy the Pirate."
Chan remembered the last meeting with the former owner of the Raven. The man had shot Liz and Chan before stealing a salvaged lifeboat to escape. Only the low charge in his capacitor pistol had saved their lives. He'd sworn he was going to get his ship back.
"What do we do?" said Joss.
"Wait for him?" Liz suggested. "Teach him some manners?" She curled her hands into fists.
"We don’t know that he's alone," Chan countered. "All we do know is that he's homicidal and utterly ruthless."
"And for all we know," said Joss, "he might have a bill of sale for the Raven."
Chan swallowed. Losing his ship would be only slightly better than being murdered by an angry pirate.
"If he's found us," Joss continued, "the corporation can, too." They didn't even know the name of the company that had set up a research base on Enceladus. They only knew that it was a powerful organization willing to kill to keep its secrets.
"I was getting tired of Saturn anyways," Chan announced. "Let's get out of here. Rhett, if you want to go ashore, now is the time."
"You have not yet repaired my speakers, Captain."
"Yeah, sorry about that. You're welcome to stay aboard if you prefer. We'll fix you up as best we can. We can't bring you back to Crius, though."
"You'll drop me at your next stop, then?"
"If you like," Chan told him. "Or you can stay. The pay is lousy, but there's a place for you on the crew if you want it."
"Thank you, Captain. I accept."
"We've got clearance to take off," Liz said. "Last call. Anyone getting off?" She looked from Chan to Joss to Rhett. "Okay." Her hands moved on the helm controls and the ship rose several metres. "Here we go." The big docking bay doors slid open, and orange fog swirled against the force field that kept the air inside. "Where to, Captain?"
He considered it. Jupiter and Neptune were currently on the far side of the sun. This part of space was mostly empty except for Saturn. "I think we'll head in-system," he said. "There's always cargo and passenger work in the belt. We'll stop at Hera Station long enough to buy supplies and then we'll head sunward."
The ship moved through the force field and fog writhed against the windows. "Supplies?" Liz said. "We can't even afford docking fees. We're broke, remember?" She squirmed in her seat, then reached down with one hand. She pulled up a strip of platinum, and smiled. "Okay, maybe we're not completely broke."
Chan stood and crossed to the navigation console. Three or four strips of platinum littered the carpet under the seat. It wasn't the fortune Liz wanted, but it was enough to get them to the asteroid belt.
Heading closer to Earth felt risky. Cops were thicker closer to the sun. There was more ship traffic, more opportunity for the Raven to be spotted by their enemies.
But the asteroid belt was enormous. They would be impossible to find in that vast expanse of tumbling stone, prospector ships, and private space stations. A good ship with a dedicated crew and a clever captain could do very well in the belt.
"It's settled," Chan said. "Hera first. Then we head sunward."
The city of Crius fell away behind them and the Stark Raven soared out into the darkness.
Author Notes
Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your comments. Go to http://jakeelwoodwriter.com to leave me a note or to learn about other stories, or sign up for my newsletter to hear about new releases. I can be reached by email at [email protected].
Voyage Three, Battle in the Belt, is available now.
I'm also the author of Star Raider, a serial now collected into one volume, available from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W0E1KOO. Cassandra Marx is a thief, and a good one. This time she got greedy, though. She swiped a priceless artifact from Carmody, the most powerful man on Hesperus. He's been beating his daughter, Lark, so Cassie took the kid too.
Now Carmody is tearing the galaxy apart hunting Cassie down. The artifact isn't just a priceless relic of a lost civilization. It's the key to a galaxy-wide conspiracy. Cassie needs to figure out the significance of the ancient egg, but with bounty hunters and mercenaries hounding her from one end of the galaxy to the other, she and Lark have another puzzle to solve -- how to stay alive.