Molly played with her bottle. “Still, neat that you have an insight into all that. I don’t think us humans have anything like a tradition or a religion in our recent past. I mean, there are snippets of info out there from old archives, but we don’t have many practicing traditions like you guys do.”
“Yeah, I guess. Mind, since I left home, I kinda found my own religion,” admitted Paige sheepishly.
“Oh, what’s that?” Molly became even more intrigued.
Paige’s eyes opened. “Beauty! And my god is my collection of nail polish.”
Molly nearly sprayed her mouthful of beer over the table. Swallowing what she could, she couldn’t contain her laughter. She got up from the table and grabbed some paper towels, mopping up the beer she’d dribbled down her chin.
Paige giggled away with her.
When they finally caught their breath, Molly noticed that Neechie was looking a little perturbed by the sudden eruption.
“Aww, Neechie, sorry. Are we behaving inappropriately?” Molly reached out to tickle him. He backed away a little.
“I’ll tell you something. My mom would love you,” declared Paige to the sphinx. She reached out to tickle him too. Neechie ventured a little closer to her, as if drawn by some hidden affinity of their shared ancestry.
“Well, so much for me!” complained Molly, as the sphinx took another couple of steps across the table to Paige.
“You know, in the tradition, these guys were thought to have been able to see both sides of the veil.” Paige explained.
“Yeah…pretty creepy, no?” Molly was curious about the sphinx and their abilities, but didn’t want to come across as too into all that. After all, Paige had made it clear that it wasn’t her religion, although she’d probably been indoctrinated as a child.
“Yes and no. So, what about your parents?” Neechie had settled down in front of Paige and was snuggling his face against her forearm as she tickled the back of his head with her other hand.
Molly took another swig of beer. Her impulse was to try and avoid the subject, but a few drinks in, and feeling a great affinity for Paige, maybe it was time she start being able to share what really happened.
After all, that was what one of the psychotherapy people in the services had been trying to get her to do, after she was busted for acting out one time.
She took a deep breath. She wasn’t being forced now. She could change the subject whenever she wanted, right?
Fuck it.
Molly spoke. “My parents were, well…busy a lot of the time. And I was a little odd, and they didn’t quite know what to do with me. So, they basically gave me a holo, some processing power in their business network, and left me to my own devices. Long story short, I ended up hacking their EI to do some investigating of my own, and in poking around some places I shouldn’t have been, I set off some trip wires.”
She paused, and shifted in her seat. She hadn’t told anyone about this. Not even the psychotherapists she’d been ordered to see a few years ago.
“What happened?” Paige was looking concerned.
Molly played with her beer bottle some more. “Well, the trip wires were put there by certain organizations within organizations. You know, people with commercial interests in stuff. When they saw our EI in places it shouldn’t have been, they assumed my parents were infringing on their interests or looking to expose them for their own commercial gain. Either way, they decided to take them out.”
Paige gasped.
“Yeah,” acknowledged Molly. “I remember a team of men in black atmosuits and guns storming our home and restraining them both. I hid in a cupboard watching everything. They were about to execute them, then some other men showed up. They looked military, but I never found out which service or who they were. They stopped the execution from going ahead, and killed a couple of the first group of men. They took the bodies with them and marched everyone outside. A few hours later, my parents came back into the house. Alive. But nothing was the same after that. It was all my fault.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “And though they didn’t really punish me for it, I’ve overheard them talking about it since. They try not to blame me, but they can’t help how they feel. And they’re right. It was all my fault. They came this close to dying.” Molly held up her thumb and forefinger with a tiny gap between them to illustrate her point.
“Whoa. That’s intense. How old were you?”
“Twelve. As soon as I was old enough, I ran away and joined the military. There just wasn’t much else I could see myself doing, after making all those bad decisions that led to that day. At least in the military you kind of surrender your choices to someone else who presumably can put your talents to good use.”
Her voice drifted off, as she remembered that decision and everything she had left behind in the last few weeks.
“I can see how there would be comfort in that.” Paige was gently bobbing her head, Molly’s sadness echoing in her eyes.
Molly blew out a breath. “Yup. Until you end up back in the real world again, having to fight the good fight without as much as safety net.” Molly smiled, trying to lighten the mood a little.
Paige cooperated with the change of mood, and subject. “So, what’s next?” she asked as Molly took a sip of her beer.
Molly eyed Neechie, wondering if she wanted to reach across the table. That cat was an equal opportunity pleasure seeker. “Next, we await a call to take possession of the new ship. Then our boys will check it over, and if it’s fit for flight, we start making arrangements to get off-world as fast as possible. In the meantime, we’re going to find something on that pod that will get Dewitt off our backs, once and for all…”
Paige raised her bottle in solidarity, and Molly leaned forward and clinked with her.
Molly smiled. “And if we’re really good, we’re going to be able to take apart a little of the system of corruption, leaving the Inner System just a bit better for those who are currently at the mercy of this kind of fuckery.”
“I’ll drink to that,” agreed Paige, drinking down half the beer in one swallow.
---
During one of the very short moments that Oz dropped the jamming, Molly received the message through her holo that the ship was ready for handover. The message had the hangar and port numbers.
“I mean, I really like him, but I don’t know if I want to disappear off-world with him forever. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” Paige had only had two beers by now, but something told Molly that her metabolism wasn’t built for holding her drinks.
Molly squinted to read the details in her holo. “Looks like the ship is ready. I need to get down there. Someone needs to sign for the supplies that should be arriving to coincide with the hand over, and I’m not sure the current owners are going to be handling that for us.”
Paige looked disappointed that girl time was over.
Oz, could you send the details over to Joel and get him in touch with the pilot and the engineer to meet us down there? Also, I could do with their photos and names, so at least I know who we’ve hired.
“Want some company?” Paige asked.
“Sure.” Molly could sense she didn’t want to be alone with Garet right now. Plus, she’s probably keen to check out this bad boy machine that is going to get us off-world.
I’m sure. Message sent to Joel’s holo.
Are you sulking, Oz? Molly asked.
Yes, I believe I am.
Well, fuck you.
Molly, feeling even shittier, downed her current bottle of beer and snatched her jacket off the back of one of the empty chairs. Storming out of the kitchen, she didn’t pause to freshen up or check herself in the mirror.
Are you sure you want to go out with your blood alcohol so high?
You’re driving.
Molly approached the car, Paige still trotting after her through the hallway, bottle in hand.
Molly heard something move in the bushes just off to her right, and then felt a sharp pai
n on her head.
Everything went black.
---
Henry looked pleased as punch, wielding his baseball bat and standing over the girl’s limp body.
Erik was already grabbing her ankles when a second girl appeared from the house and froze, stunned at the scene in front of her. Erik lunged for the baseball bat, which he grabbed out of Henry’s hands.
“Hey, biatch… that’s my ba—”
Erik thwacked the second girl on the head, and watched her crumble into a heap over the first one.
Erik handed the bat back to the protesting Henry and started dragging the top girl over the gravel to the car that was parked on the street.
“Wanna give me a hand? Or do you just want to watch and then call it in to the boss?” Eric sneered sarcastically at Henry, the events of the last several hours still seething in his veins.
Henry, taking the hint, put the bat down, and helped him carry the bodies into the vehicle.
Once both prisoners were secured, Henry tootled back to his bat. Holding it like a doll, he practically skipped back to the car and got in on the passenger side, as if everything were fine and dandy.
Erik’s face relaxed and went back to its regular witless look, before he started the engine and pulled off onto the strato highway.
Inside, Garet continued working with the data, piecing together contracts that seemed to be leading to a money trail. If he could track the money, then he would have corroborating proof of what was going on.
He thought about shouting to the girls, but then, figuring they would want to know the result rather than the breakthrough, decided to get some more work done before he shared it with them.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Safe house, fifty kilometers west of Uptarlung
Twenty minutes later, Joel arrived back at the safe house. The car was still in the driveway, which meant Molly would be around. He braced himself. He wasn’t ready for everything to just be okay with them right now. Not yet.
He had calmed down enough to want food, though.
He keyed in the door code and slipped into the house, wandering through the rooms to find signs of life. Finding Garet in his room, he asked where the girls were.
“No idea. Last I saw, they were in the kitchen finishing off the stock of beer.”
“That figures,” smiled Joel, taking his atmojacket off. Molly would be suffering tomorrow, if not already. She never could hold her drinks, even when they had had intensive squad training. She seemed to operate well though, even when she was blitzed.
Heading into the kitchen, he was surprised to find evidence of intense drinking in the form of many empty beer bottles on the table, but no sign of life. Unless you counted Neechie, who emerged from the back of the room and rubbed up against his legs in a “hello, please feed me” maneuver.
“All right, buddy. You know which side your bread is buttered on, don’t you?” Chatting to the sphinx, he opened the fridge and pulled out food for him.
He arranged food in Neechie’s little dish, and plopped it down on the ground. The sphinx looked up at him and meowed.
“What’s up, pal?” he asked.
The sphinx just tilted his head and meowed again.
“You trying to tell me something?” Joel probed, only half aware that he looked crazy talking to a sphinx. Neechie walked past him and hopped up on the nearest chair, and then onto the table. Joel watched him. The sphinx walked amongst the empty beer bottles, and meowed again. Then he stopped and looked at Joel.
“You trying to tell me that Molly was here? I know she was. What’s up with you?” He stepped towards the sphinx and tickled him behind his head. “Do you just miss her when she’s not here?” he asked.
Picking him up gently, he gave him a cuddle before placing him down on the floor again. “Me too, buddy. Me too.”
Grabbing a soft drink from the fridge, he eased into a kitchen chair and checked again at his downloaded messages. Both guys had accepted their offer, and were ready to meet up tonight. Joel figured he’d need to disable the signal jammer to send the messages. He could do that, if it was just for a few seconds. He composed the message from the details Oz had provided, and fired them off, pausing the jamming signal for a few moments.
He had another message from Oz, about taking receipt of some supplies. It was a detail for the two new guys in case they got there before Molly.
Oz suggested they check the number of packages was correct, the ID tags lined up, and then have them loaded up onto the bird so that the new gear and supplies were at least secure.
Joel tutted at the message; now he knew exactly where the money had come from to be able to buy all those supplies, as well as the ship. He forwarded the details, as Oz had requested, and let the guys know that Molly would probably already be there by the time they arrived.
He took a deep breath, and released a little more of the pent-up tension that last message had built up in his system. He knew he’d get past this. Eventually. But right now, he should probably get working on the rest of the plan.
If they had the ship, they should start deploying the rest of their scheme to separate Dewitt from his resources. He called out to Garet to come and work in the kitchen, and started tidying up beer bottles to give them some space.
It was going to be a long night.
Spaceport, Hangar 08771A, Outskirts of Uptarlung
The Sark had already disappeared under the horizon, leaving the atmosphere cold, dusty and inky black. Condensation had already started forming in the cracks of the silicon-based tarmac.
Crash looked up at the hangar number, to his holo, then back up at the number.
08771A.
He was in the right place. There had been movement around some of the other hangars as he’d driven down the towpath to arrive here, but now, there wasn’t a soul in sight.
He idly scuffed his boot heel along the ground, waiting for Molly or the other guy to show.
Crash wondered who this mechanic was that was going to have his life in his hands for this next mission. He’d flown with many crews over the years; some competent, some nothing more than cowboys in jumpsuits. But one thing he knew was that a good relationship between the wrench monkey and the fairy could mean the difference between life and death for them all.
He hoped to hell that this Dunham guy knew what he was doing in the selection process. He paused for a moment, suddenly wondering whether it was a good sign that he had been selected for the fairy job, or not.
There were footsteps behind him.
Turning around, he saw a man’s figure come into the light. His breath caught in his throat as he realized who it was.
“Long time, soldier.” The man called out to him.
The smile. He’d never forget that smile.
“How the devil…” Crash lost his words, as he took a few steps towards the man in the metallic blue atmosuit. He was just as confident and vibrant as Crash remembered him.
Until things had gone bad, that was.
Crash held his hand out for a proper greeting, but the man opened his arms, as if all the treachery of their last meeting had evaporated. Relieved, Crash hugged him, grinning from ear to ear.
“You realize you’re too good looking to be flying whatever shit is in that hangar?” he asked him.
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