Troubled Space

by A. K. DuBoff

  Finally, they made it to the calmer air surrounding the valley that contained the prison facility.

  Moments later, a light bump indicated that they were on the ground. The engines wound down.

  Alyssa and Triss came out from the cockpit.

  “Stay quiet and wait for the signal,” Alyssa said, approaching Jack. She pulled out the metal implement she’d previously used to adjust Jack’s cybernetic and cycled it to the electromagnetic field setting, per their plan.

  The enhanced vision on his left and normal on his right gave him a headache. “Got it.”

  Triss pulled out a pair of handcuffs from a cabinet while Alyssa prepped for debarkation. When the cuffs were in place on Jack’s wrists, Alyssa released the final seal on the main hatch.

  A wave of oppressive heat flooded into the cabin, burning Jack’s lungs when he took his first breath of the scorched air. “Are we seriously going out there?”

  “It’ll just be a few minutes. You won’t die,” Alyssa said. She stepped outside and then immediately back in. “Okay, this is pretty awful.”

  “We can’t leave the door open or everything is going to melt. Come on!” Triss said and directed Jack outside.

  It was even hotter outside the ship, with a breeze that felt more like bands of heat radiating from a bonfire. Jack was pretty sure his shoes were melting on the black rock of a historical lava flow as he was guided across the open ground toward a door set into a rock outcropping in the center of the valley. The towering walls of the valley cast shadows that were likely the only reason the party wasn’t instantly vaporized.

  When they were five meters away, the door in the rock cracked open and a figure wearing a thermal suit poked their head outside. “Is that Jack Tressler?”

  “Yes. He’s here to trade places with Finn McGloven,” Triss stated.

  The hooded figure looked Jack over. “That doesn’t seem right.”

  Triss sighed loudly. “I thought this had been cleared with management? Gah, this always happens.”

  “Our communication relays burn out, like, all the time,” the figure stated. “Maybe it came through while the network was down. Come on in and we’ll get this sorted out.”

  Triss beamed. “You’re the best! You know how things are with these outlaws—it doesn’t really matter which one of them is locked up.”

  “You’re telling me. Our funding is just based on the number of live bodies we have—doesn’t really matter who,” the guard agreed. “I’m sure the Warden wouldn’t mind mixing things up with some fresh meat to roast.”

  “Great!” Triss nodded.

  She nudged Jack forward and they passed through the partially opened doorway, followed by Alyssa.

  Inside was moderately cooler than out in the open, but still far above a livable temperature by most standards.

  The figure that had greeted them removed the thermal suit, revealing an oafish man with reddened skin. “You know, we don’t get all that many trades.”

  Alyssa nodded. “It was kind of a strange order for us, too. But I guess they decided that Finn was an okay guy and ol’ Jack here was a trouble-maker.”

  “I am,” Jack stated.

  Triss kneed him in the back of his leg. “Thinks himself rather witty, too.”

  “Well, a day in the sun would change that,” the guard said. “Well, uh, let me go talk to the Warden and see if we can find any record of the trade request.”

  “Great! You’re the best,” Triss exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm.

  The guard wandered off down the hall.

  As soon as he rounded a bend, Alyssa turned to Jack. “All right—where’s the control conduit?”

  Jack scanned around the hall, focusing on the image conveyed by his left eye. A glowing electrical conduit came forward through the wall. He pointed to it. “Over there.”

  “I need it to be a lot more precise than that,” Triss said. “Show me. Hurry!”

  He ran over to the wall and used his hands to trace the outline of a segment of the conduit. Triss made some markings on the wall.

  “All right, stand back,” she said. She slipped a metal rod with a trigger on one end out from along her thigh. In one motion, she jammed the rod into the wall.

  Jack’s vision lit up with a bright electrical charge as the rod made contact with the interior wires.

  Triss depressed the trigger on the end of the rod and clipped on a control panel that she’d been carrying in her inner coat pocket. She made a series of furious entries. “Okay, I’m in. Locating Finn now.” She scanned over the search results. “Got him. And… unlocking.”

  “How is he going to make it up here?” Jack asked, even though he’d tried to ask during the planning session.

  Like before, Triss’ answer was the same, “You don’t know Finn.”

  “What are you doing?” The words came from down the hall deeper into the facility.

  Jack looked over to see that the guard had returned with an older man, who’d been the one to speak.

  “Well, they got here a lot faster than I expected,” Triss muttered.

  Alyssa pulled out an electrified nightstick from under her coat. “Change of plan.”

  CHAPTER 7: Jailbreak

  — — —

  “What are you doing?” the older man—whom Jack assumed was the Warden—repeated.

  “Just picking up a friend. Don’t mind us,” Alyssa replied with a charming smile.

  “Get reinforcements!” the Warden shouted to the guard.

  The guard hesitated. “Well, Tony is on break, and Alberto is out sick. Robby would probably help out but he’s having troubles with his lady and has been pretty distracted. And Brian? Well, Brian is just lazy.”

  The Warden stared at him with disbelief. “That’s probably the most honest statement I’ve ever heard.”

  The guard shrugged. “I try.”

  “Hey guys!” someone else called from down the hall.

  “Hey, Finn. Just finishing up here,” Triss said. She returned her attention to the Warden. “So, we’re going to take our friend and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Not so fast,” the Warden growled. “We’ll—”

  The guard ran away down the hall, sidestepping Finn.

  “—I’ll stop you!” the Warden completed. He un-holstered a laser pistol strapped to his hip.

  Alyssa lunged toward him.

  The Warden fired, but Alyssa made an acrobatic tumble and tackled him. The laser pistol flew out from his hand and he was knocked to the floor with his head gripped between Alyssa’s thighs. She flipped him to his stomach and looped his arms at the elbows using her nightstick.

  “Like I said, we’re just here to pick up a friend,” Alyssa said with a victorious smile. “How you doin’, Finn?”

  “Fine and dandy,” Finn replied, jogging up to them. His brown hair was swept back in a stylish wave on the top of his head, and he had a lively spark in his green eyes, despite his time spent incarcerated. “I see your hacking is still as good as ever, Triss.”

  “This was child’s play.” Triss snorted.

  “And who’s this?” Finn asked after looking Jack over. “And what in the planets happened to his eye?”

  “Morine got creative,” Alyssa said.

  “It has all these cool settings!” Jack chimed in.

  “Well, you look like a monster,” stated Finn.

  Jack shrugged. “I’m just embracing it.”

  Finn nodded. “You know what? Good for you. Not everyone could have your kind of confidence while looking like that.”

  Jack smiled. “Thanks!”

  “You’re all a special kind of crazy,” the Warden muttered from between Alyssa’s knees.

  “Yeah, we like it that way,” she replied. “So, we’re gonna go now.”

  “All right,” the Warden agreed.

  “Cool.” Finn headed for the main door.

  Alyssa got up off the Warden and Triss pulled her rod from the wall. Jack wandered out after the
m as the Warden waved goodbye.

  Jack shook his head. “Huh. That really was surprisingly easy.”

  “Yeah, this place talks a big game but it’s really poorly managed,” Triss said. “A little light hacking is all it takes to catch them off-guard. This is the fourth time we’ve done this and they have done nothing differently.”

  Alyssa sighed. “Good help is so hard to find these days.”

  The four of them dashed across the tarmac as quickly as possible in the oppressive heat. Triss had to use her rod to enter in the access code for the hatch, as the hull had heated up too much without the shield up to touch with bare hands. The door swung down and they ran up the ramp, then re-sealed the door.

  “Air conditioning. Now,” Alyssa said while running into the cockpit to initialize the ship’s systems.

  “Ahh, it’s good to be free!” Finn cheered while stretching his arms wide. “Thanks for coming for me, Triss. It’s good to see you.”

  “You really need to stop getting yourself arrested,” his friend replied.

  “No risk, no reward. I couldn’t possibly stop having fun now.”

  “You can continue your fun. In fact, please do,” Triss clarified. “Just get better at being sneaky about it.”

  “You know I have a flair for the flamboyant.” He preened his hair. “That said, this jumpsuit does nothing for my figure.”

  “We’ll get you something fabulous,” Triss assured him. “But first, we need to steal a nano induction module.”

  Finn raised an eyebrow with interest. “Taking on the Winkelson Brothers, eh?”

  “We’ll distract them, but we need you to crack their safe.”

  Finn stroked his chin. “They have an Anticrack 9000—top-of-the-line auths. They say they’re unbreakable.”

  “And what do you say?” Triss asked.

  He grinned. “What’s my cut?”

  “Ten percent.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “Give me five minutes with it and you’ll have all their goodies.”

  “What’s my cut?” Jack interjected.

  Triss crossed her arms. “Uh, not being dead?”

  “Well, I’m risking my life now being here,” Jack said. “I lost an eye—”

  “And got a pretty sweet new one,” she cut in.

  “Still, I think I’ve earned my keep. I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me.”

  Alyssa returned from the cockpit. “He has. I think we should cut him in. What better way to motivate performance?”

  “Threat of death can be pretty motivating,” Triss pointed out.

  “Still,” Alyssa continued, “he’s right. He’s in this as much as the rest of us now. With the Luxuria destroyed, we’re not under Svetlana’s thumb.”

  “Can he be trusted?” Triss looked him over. “Trent is still looking for us. I wouldn’t put it past him to send a spy.”

  Jack raised his eyebrow. “Trent? Never heard of him.”

  “If you were his spy, it’s not like you’d tell us.” Triss sighed.

  “Honestly, I don’t think he’s a good enough liar to pull that off,” Alyssa said. “And that’s not how Trent operates. I think Jack’s about as honest as they come in this trade.”

  Triss sighed. “All right, he can be part of the team.”

  Finn frowned. “I have to share my room, don’t I?”

  Alyssa smiled. “I’m sure you’ll be best buddies in no time.”

  Jack clasped his hands. “Great! Do I get ten percent, too?”

  The three others exchanged glances. “How about five?” Alyssa offered.

  Jack shrugged. “Is there any room for negotiation?”

  “No,” the others declared in unison.

  “Then I’ll take it!”

  “Excellent,” Alyssa nodded. “Now go get settled in. We have a long trek ahead of us.”

  Jack and Finn headed down the hall toward the sleeping cabin.

  Finn placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “So, this would probably be a good time to tell you about my night terrors.”

  *

  As it turned out, Finn’s night terrors were more terrifying for observers than they were for him to experience.

  Jack spent the next six hours huddled at the back of his bunk with a blanket pulled up to his chin while Finn cycled through a pattern of sounds consisting of a barking dog, a parrot imitation asking “who’s your daddy?”, whistlings, and a snore reminiscent of someone with sleep apnea. At several points, Jack attempted to leave the room to go sleep on the couch in the common area, but whenever he crept from his bunk Finn’s eyes would open and he’d stare unblinkingly at Jack. If Jack made any move toward the door, Finn would begin to snarl. Fearing for his life, Jack would ultimately cave and return to his safe place on the lower bunk. The cycle would then reset.

  After six hours, Finn stretched on the top bunk and hopped out of bed. “That was a refreshing sleep!” He noticed Jack rocking himself back and forth. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Your terrors, they’re…”

  “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard it can be kind of wild. Don’t worry, I won’t bite.”

  “It certainly didn’t seem that way.”

  Finn shrugged. “I’ve only drawn blood once. Anywho, we have some loot to steal!”

  Jack hauled himself off the bed and followed Finn out into the common area. Alyssa and Triss were seated on the couch.

  “You look like you’ve been up all night,” Alyssa commented to Jack when she saw him.

  “That’s pretty accurate.” Jack tousled his blond hair.

  “Well, let’s get you some coffee,” Alyssa offered, rising from the couch to head for the galley along the opposite side wall. She poured him a mug from a metal pot and handed it to him.

  Jack cradled the mug in his hands. “Thanks”

  “I should really call it ‘caffeine water’ rather than coffee,” Alyssa said with a scowl.

  He sniffed the liquid in the cup. “Smells… coffee-ish.”

  “Alyssa is something of a coffee connoisseur,” Triss chimed in.

  “I’m homing in on the perfect space brew,” Alyssa said with a committed glint in her eyes. “I’ll have it perfected soon.”

  Finn groaned. “Oh stars, you’re not still after vapor fusion conversion, are you?”

  “It’s possible! You’ll see!” Alyssa declared.

  “What’s this now?” Jack asked.

  Finn shook his head. “Alyssa got this crazy idea that it’d be possible to brew coffee using a fusion reaction directly between the coffee bean and water. It has no basis in science.”

  “With enough energy it’s possible!” she insisted.

  Finn laughed. “Maybe with a micro energy core, if those were real—oh wait. We’re not stealing the MEC prototype for Svetlana to manufacture weapons, are we?”

  Alyssa’s face contorted into a power-hungry grin. “After we have that core, we’re going to start our own empire of Spacecups.”

  CHAPTER 8: Adventures in Food Service

  — — —

  “I have to say that working as a barista wasn’t one of my career goals,” Finn began.

  “No, don’t you see?” Alyssa continued. “We have the perfect team to get this venture off the ground. Once we have the MEC, there’ll be nothing to stop us.”

  “I told you not to jump too far ahead,” Triss cautioned. “We won’t even know if your brewing method works until we get the MEC.”

  “It’ll work, and it’ll make us richer than any amount of arms dealing ever could.” Alyssa’s tone was one of complete confidence. “I mean, it’s a highly addictive, legal drug. That’s business gold right there.”

  “She does have a good point,” Jack admitted.

  “And this cut we talked about earlier—that’s actually for a share in the business?” asked Finn.

  Alyssa nodded. “Exactly. When the company takes off, we’re all going to be billionaires.”

  Jack got a sinking feeling in his chest. “So when you
said my money troubles would be over…”

  “Yep! Five percent shareholder in Spacecups.”

  “What’s the ROI on that? Because… debts,” Jack asked tentatively.

  “We should have positive cash flow and be paying dividends in two years, tops.”

  “Yeah…” Jack looked down. “Any chance I can get an advance on that?”

  “We’ll talk about it later,” Triss said. “Right now, we need to get ready for our meet and greet with the Lords of Doom. They have an urgent soup delivery headed their way.”

  The team ate a quick breakfast and then ran over the details of the plan for the day. Jack was once again not pleased with being cast in a questionable supporting role, but like other recent events, he decided to just go along with it. Admittedly, he rather enjoyed being part of a successful op after years of failure on his own.

  Four hours later, everything was ready. They executed the hyperspace jump to take them to the Winkelson Brothers’ outpost at a station orbiting a red dwarf.

  As they neared the station, Jack stared out the window in the common room at the cylindrical structure. “They’re really out in the middle of nowhere, aren’t they?”

  “Adds to the mystique,” Triss commented from the cockpit. “If anyone bothered to come out here, I don’t think the brothers would be in business for long once they saw what the operation was really like.”

  “I guess we’ll be the ones to officially ruin their image,” Finn observed. “But, we get to become legends in the process.”

  “See? That’ll give us all sorts of street cred for Spacecups,” Alyssa chimed in.

  “Taking out black market dealers and coffee are not the same thing.” Finn sighed.

  Jack considered it. “Well, black market, black coffee… It might—”

  “Don’t encourage her!” Triss pleaded. “Let’s get the MEC before we plan out a whole business for something that may not even be chemically possible to do.”

  Alyssa sighed. “You’ll see. You’ll all see!”

  “Shh, time to call them,” Triss said and waited for everyone to stop muttering responses to Alyssa’s declaration under their breaths. She opened a comm channel to the station. “Chili delivery for the Lords of Doom.”