Stars Uncharted

by S. K. Dunstall

  “They’ve fixed it all now,” Lexie said, and Nika had to force herself to remember what they’d been talking about. “Roystan helped there, too. The spurs break off at the stress points, where they’re supposed to. We’ve had two break since then.”

  The box drained slowly.

  Lexie didn’t notice. Her expression was raw. “Lost good people both times, but not too many. Not like that first time.”

  The Dietel beeped.

  Nika opened the cover.

  “You’re not supposed to open them before their time,” Lexie protested. “I’ll call the doctor.”

  “It’s fine. I know what I’m doing.”

  Josune opened her eyes. Blinked three times, moved her hand.

  Nika picked up the spray bottle with the diluted antiseptic. “You coming out?” she said to Josune.

  Josune surged up and out of the tank.

  Nika sprayed the liquid into both guards’ eyes.

  “Hey! What?” They scrabbled wildly, trying to clear their eyes.

  “Don’t move,” she ordered. “You’ll make it worse.” Which was a lie. “I’ll call Doctor Jack.”

  Josune pulled on the robe Nika handed her, snatched up her clothes, and hunted through them. She pulled the sparker from an inside pocket. “Let’s go.”

  Nika wished she’d known about the sparker. She could have used it.

  She pressed the exit button.

  Out into the corridor, where the station manager—a company man with her—was raising a hand to the entry button.

  “Calli. Thank goodness,” Nika said. “Call Doctor Jack. Those two people in there. They need medical help. Their eyes.”

  Kane started yelling, “I can’t see.”

  Calli called the doctor.

  “Excuse us.” Nika stood between Josune and the company man. Josune didn’t look the same anymore. Some of the mods had started to take—the patterning on her skin, the warm, pink tones.

  The pin on his collar was all she saw. And the movement of his hand as he raised his blaster.

  Something crackled past her ear.

  Josune’s sparker.

  The company man jerked. The blaster shot arced.

  Josune pulled Nika and Calli down.

  The shot passed overhead.

  Josune’s sparker crackled again. This time she’d aimed for the arm holding the blaster, and followed up with a kick that sent the blaster halfway down the corridor. Josune followed that up with an elbow to the company man’s head. He dropped and lay still.

  “What’s going on here?” the station manager demanded as she picked herself up.

  Nika crawled across to get the blaster. She trained it on the company man, in case he moved.

  “What’s going on?” Calli demanded again.

  “I lied to your security guards,” Nika told her. “I said what I sprayed in their eyes was dangerous. It isn’t, although it stings. Tell the doctor it’s diluted antiseptic.”

  “I wish someone would tell me what’s going on.”

  Josune snatched up Kane’s weapon. Checked it. “You ever used a stunner like this before? No?” She swapped it for Nika’s blaster and showed her how to fire it. “It won’t kill anyone, but it should stop them.”

  They took off running.

  “Wait,” the station manager called after them. “You’re going the wrong way.”

  Nika wouldn’t have stopped. Josune did, looking back at her.

  “Lockup’s Sector C. Level 5.”

  “Thanks.” But they kept running, and turned down two corridors before Josune stopped. “Do we trust her?”

  “Probably. They seem mostly pro-Roystan. That was Calli Mattins. The station manager.” Nika tried to inspect Josune’s skin. “How do you feel?”

  “Deaf and blind,” Josune said.

  Nika inspected her eye.

  Josune pushed her away. “I can’t connect to the station. I feel helpless. Patch in and find which sector we’re in, and what level we’re on.”

  “But you can see out of your right eye?”

  “I can, and I feel unbelievably good, and pain free. I’ll thank you for it later, but right now we need to know where Sector C is, and how to get there.”

  Nika activated the link in her jaw. “Station directory,” she said, as the screen in front of them illuminated. “Tell us which sector we are in.”

  “Current location is Sector E, Level 17.”

  “How do we get to Sector C, level 5? The fastest way possible?”

  “Follow the blue arrows.” The floor in front of them illuminated with discreet blue arrows.

  The fastest way wasn’t through the public halls. “We should have specified a route you had access to,” Josune said, as they backtracked from a locked door. “Still, no one will expect us to come this way.”

  As they ran, Nika told Josune what had happened. “Justice Department put a call out. For you, for Roystan, for Snow, and for the crew. They’ve all been arrested. I pulled you out of the tank early or you’d have been arrested as well.” She hesitated. “I didn’t finish the job. Your skin will flake for the next few days. It’s not pretty, but it’s not dangerous.”

  “You did what had to be done. Now let’s rescue Roystan and the others and get out of here.”

  “I gave Snow some acid to use on the door seals, but I don’t think he understood.”

  Josune grunted as they came to another restricted area and had to retrace their steps again. “That sort of understanding takes years to develop. He hasn’t been with you long.”

  No, he hadn’t, and if Snow had his way, he wouldn’t be around after they stopped running. Nika would miss him.

  “If the floor plan is right, this is Sector C5.” Josune slowed. “Ask the station to switch off its guide. Someone might see the arrows as we get closer. We can see which direction to go from here.”

  Nika did as asked. “The company will expect us.”

  “So we shoot first. I wish I had my eye.” Josune looked at Nika. “I don’t, but it would be useful right now, and I have to rely on you for all communication. It’s frustrating.”

  “Think of it as a feature, rather than a disability. They can’t see you in the system.”

  “Genius. They won’t, will they?”

  There was more than one way to see on station. “What about the station cameras? Won’t they pick us up?”

  Josune waved a dismissive hand. The skin on the back of it was flaking, starting to peel. Nika didn’t think Josune had noticed. “I don’t look the same as I did before. No one will expect me to change my appearance.” She grinned, and skin flaked off around her mouth. “Unless they are looking for you now, we should be good. They’ll be relying on IDs. Do you think the company is at the prison yet?”

  Nika thought Calli would give them time. So would Doctor Jack, once he ensured she truly hadn’t injured the guards. “I don’t think so. Did you kill the company man?”

  “I certainly hope so.”

  Nika wasn’t sure killing someone would help their cause.

  Josune grinned. Her lips were chapped, and the grin made them bleed. Some of the moisture from her lips had been redirected to other parts of her skin. It was the worst, most unfinished job Nika had ever done. “Let’s assume we’re not walking into a trap. If Mattins is helping us, we’ll only have station staff to deal with. How many guards?”

  “Two.” If Doctor Jack had implied correctly. “Two at the hospital, two at the lockup. But they’re station staff, and we don’t want to kill them. They were trying hard not to kill Roystan.”

  Josune nodded. “If we can avoid it.” She looked at the stunner Nika had forgotten she was carrying. “Can I take that? We need to take them out long enough to escape, and I don’t want to kill anyone.”

  Nika handed it over with
alacrity.

  “Thanks.” Josune tucked the weapon into her robe to hide it, then stepped out into the passage.

  * * *

  • • •

  A noisy crowd had gathered outside the lockup. Two guards were trying to quiet the mob. One of them—the woman—held a weapon. “Under orders from the Justice Department. I can’t do anything.” It looked as if she had been saying it a while now.

  “What’s Roystan ever done to you? He’s one of us. Give him a chance to disappear.” The speaker was an older, fine-featured man whose skin looked as if it had never seen sun.

  “Let him go. We know Roystan. If he did anything to those company men, they’ll have deserved it.” The mob surged forward and the two guards pressed back against the door to the cells.

  “Keep back or I’ll be forced to shoot,” the second guard said. “You wouldn’t want to be responsible for deaths, Niall. Our orders come from the Justice Department.”

  “It’s not the Justice Department out there,” yelled a woman with equally fine skin. “Roystan’s been set up. We won’t stand by and let them take him away.”

  The mob pressed closer to the guards. “Open the doors.”

  The first guard raised her weapon higher. “Keep back or I’ll shoot.”

  The alarms on the door behind them sounded. A long slow beep.

  Both guards glanced back.

  Niall chuckled. “That Roystan. He’s escaping. Open the door.”

  The guard raised her weapon and tightened her finger on the trigger.

  Josune stunned her.

  “Apologies for that,” she said into the silence that followed. “She’s only stunned, but she was going to fire.” She looked at the other guard. “Drop your weapon.”

  The crowd parted before her, backing away.

  “Drop your weapon,” Josune said again.

  The guard did. He moved away with the others. “It takes two of us with the door code, and you’ve dropped Pad here. You won’t get in.”

  “Maybe not,” Josune agreed. “Nika?”

  Nika picked up the weapon.

  Not that anyone was looking at the weapons. They stared at Josune and backed away, until they were stopped by the wall.

  The woman next to Niall dropped to her knees to check the guard. “Stunned,” she told the crowd. “She’s fine.”

  “Lot of good that’s going to do her if she catches a pox,” a voice in the crowd said.

  Pox? Nika glanced at Josune and grimaced. With her shedding skin and the distinctive pattern showing beneath the flakiness, who was to say what she had wasn’t viral. She did look bad.

  So too did the blood-rimmed lips.

  Two residents broke from the back and ran.

  Moments later, a siren blared, and a message was broadcast throughout the station. “Warning, contamination alert. Please stay in your area and remain there until the station has been cleansed.”

  The door behind the guards opened a sliver. Manually forced.

  Niall lent his weight from his side while everyone else kept an eye on Josune. The fear was palpable.

  Roystan came out first. He looked around, and his gaze passed over Josune and stopped at Nika. “Josune?”

  Nika pointed to Josune.

  “Josune? Are you sure?”

  Nika nodded.

  “But she doesn’t look like—”

  “It is me, Roystan,” Josune said.

  “You look . . . terrible. Your face. Are you . . . all right?”

  Roystan certainly knew how to make a newly modded person feel bad.

  “I’m fine. Itchy, but fine.” Josune pointed to Pad’s blaster on the floor beside her. “Get that so we can get going.”

  He took the weapon and looked at the downed guard. “Pad?”

  “She’s fine. Stunned.”

  “Thanks.” He looked around at the crowd.

  “They’re here to rescue you,” Nika said.

  “Thank you.” Roystan bowed at them, then turned to his fellow escapees. “Let’s get out of here before we get these people into any trouble.”

  Jacques glared at Nika. “That’s not Josune. You’ve left her in that machine. Unprotected.”

  “This is me, Jacques,” Josune said. She turned to Carlos, who was looking equally dubious. “When the Hassim arrived I was curing the fly gear.”

  They didn’t have time to stand around and talk while they debated if Josune was Josune or not. “Can we discuss this on the way?” Nika asked.

  “What did you do to her?” Snow demanded.

  “Got her out early.” Snow’s timing stank. “We’ll talk about it when we’re back on ship.”

  “Out, all of you,” Josune said, aiming the order at Roystan.

  He nodded. “Come on.” He led the way.

  “Move,” Nika said. “Before they lock the station down for contamination.”

  “But she’s not—”

  “Later.”

  Roystan backed inside the door again, hands up, blaster facing up. Carlos and Jacques backed with him. Two company men followed them in. Blasters aimed. They both wore black pins.

  Eaglehawk’s thugs. They’d shoot straight and fast, and wouldn’t miss.

  Nika risked going close. She raised her voice to a screech and pointed at Josune. “Didn’t you hear the contamination alert. Look at her. Keep away. Let us out of here.”

  The two men glanced over, then backed away without realizing they had done so. Nothing scared people in space more than an unchecked, unknown virus. It was enough. Josune took one out with her sparker, while Nika and Roystan took out the other.

  Both company men still managed to fire, taking down the woman who’d checked the guard earlier and two others.

  Nika hoped they would be all right. Doctor Jack was going to be busy.

  Niall snatched up one of the blasters. “Get going,” he told Roystan. “Or you’ll never get away.”

  “Sorry about—”

  “Go,” Niall, Josune, and Nika said at the same time.

  Roystan didn’t linger.

  “Go,” Josune said to the others.

  Carlos threw another dubious glance at Josune. Was he going to start arguing again?

  “She’s fine,” Snow said, oppressively. “It’s just a botched mod.” And with a glare at Nika he grabbed Carlos with one hand, Jacques with the other, and ran.

  He was an intriguing mix of young and sensible. You just couldn’t tell when he’d be young, and when he’d be sensible.

  “Thanks for your help,” Josune said to Niall. “Appreciate it. Nika, go.”

  Nika paused. “Talk to Doctor Jack later,” she said softly to Niall. “Tell him to read the machine. He’ll tell you it’s not—” She didn’t need to state the obvious. “You’ll be fine,” she said, and raced out after the others.

  17

  JOSUNE ARRIOLA

  Two corridors. Three. Roystan was ahead of her. At the next passage he paused, slowed.

  He was going to wait for them. Josune waved him on. “Get ready to take off,” she said, although she didn’t think he heard her.

  She waved him on again. “Call Snow,” she ordered Nika. “Tell him Roystan has to keep moving. He needs to be ready to take off.”

  “I don’t know Snow’s ID.”

  It surprised Josune enough that she stumbled. A plasma bolt sailed over her head. That was worse than using a sparker on station. She swung around and fired the sparker in an arc. The resulting bang was deafening. The corridor went dark, and there was a strong smell of scorched plastic and hot metal.

  The emergency lights came on.

  “Run,” Josune ordered Nika. “As fast as you can. Don’t look back. Don’t stop. Don’t wait for me. If Roystan is stupid enough to wait, knock him out and drag him with you.”
>
  “And you?”

  “I’ll be right on your heels.” But she’d glimpsed two company men before the lights went out. There would be more. How could she stop them?

  They made it onto Spur Thirteen.

  Roystan waited inside the huge breach door that separated the thirteenth arm from the central station. They had barely cleared the door before he thumped the emergency switch. The door slammed shut.

  Any door into space could open if the electronics said it could, so there was always a manual override lock to prevent any accidental doors opening to deep space. The lock prevented the breach door from being opened. Roystan turned to the manual controls and broke the seal. He grunted as he turned the lock.

  Josune moved over to help him. It was stiff, hadn’t been serviced in years. She would have to fix that next time they were here. If they were welcome after today’s fight. She was doubly glad, suddenly, of the extra airlock she’d installed. But that was why she had installed it, wasn’t it? Because one day that breach door was going to break.

  “Why aren’t you on the ship? Ready to take off.”

  Roystan sagged against the door as the lock clicked into place. “No point.” He wiped his forehead.

  She was sweating as much as he was.

  He pulled out his handheld, tapped, and brought up the image of near space on a nearby screen. Two ships hovered, each fifty-one kilometers from the station on opposite sides of The Road. Both were stationary.

  Fifty kilometers was the minimum distance one could go without incurring landing fees.

  These two ships didn’t plan to land.

  Roystan brought one of the ships into close visual. He overlaid infrared. Three hot spots jumped into focus. “Plasma cannons, primed, and ready to fire.”

  They surely were. Josune calculated the distances, as she was sure Roystan had already done. “They’ll know as soon as we start our engines.”

  The Road would take time to come up to speed. They wouldn’t be able to avoid either ship.

  “We’re safer staying on station,” Roystan said. “Those two are already mobile. As soon as we take off, they’ll shoot us.”

  They wouldn’t kill them straightaway—at least not all of them—but they’d damage the ship so it couldn’t fly, and once they’d done that, the crew of The Road would be at the company’s mercy. Once the company got whatever it wanted from The Road—the Hassim’s memory or the knowledge Feyodor had been seeking—or found they didn’t have it, they’d kill the crew. The same way they had slaughtered the crew on the Hassim.