by D. J. Holmes
“It’s from Ranack,” Sarah thought as she read the note. Though she knew the artificial intelligence could read her mind and see what she was seeing, it still felt natural to talk to her. “He wants to meet in an hour. He is only asking forty thousand credits for the information he has.”
“You better wake up Divar then,” Alexandra said.
“Maybe he’s had a change of heart,” Sarah said, ignoring Alexandra’s last statement. “I was expecting him to charge more. I would be happy to pay more if it helps his cause.”
“We still don’t know what his cause is,” Alexandra said, rehashing the conversation from the night before. “Nor do we know what information he has. Forty thousand could be a lot for what he can give you.”
Again, Sarah chose to ignore Alexandra, she had heard the arguments before. “The place he wants to meet is half an hour away from here,” she said instead, after checking a map of the city. “I have to get ready pretty quickly.”
“Shall I send a message to Divar then?” Alexandra asked. Though Divar didn’t have a neural implant, he carried a COM unit that allowed Alexandra to contact him without being detected.
“No,” Sarah said quickly. “I think I will meet Ranack alone. He and Divar didn’t get along too well yesterday. If I’m going to convince him to join us, it might be better if Divar isn’t there.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Alexandra replied.
“Yet it’s my decision to make,” Sarah said. “I’m giving you a direct order not to wake him or contact him. And this isn’t an order you can decide to disobey, do you understand?”
“I do,” Alexandra answered. “I know how much you want to get home, and how much you want to befriend Ranack. Don’t forget I can see your dreams as clearly as you can. But this seems a little foolhardy.”
Sarah blushed for the second time in just a few minutes. “I don’t think I’ll be in any danger,” she said nevertheless. “If he hurts me or threatens me, he will simply be losing out on his money.”
“Unless he takes you hostage and forces Divar to pay him a ransom,” Alexandra said. “I daresay he could get a bit more than forty thousand credits from us then.”
“Don’t be silly,” Sarah replied. “He hasn’t shown any signs that he is anything other than what he said.”
“He did keep his blaster pointed at Divar the whole time,” Alexandra shot back.
“He thought we were there to capture him and cash in on the bounty on his head,” Sarah said. “But don’t worry, I’ll be bringing my blaster with me. I know I want to trust him, that doesn’t mean I do. I’m just ready to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.”
“Very well,” Alexandra said. “I can tell you can’t be talked out of this.”
“Good,” Sarah said with a smile. “You know we need to take risks if we’re ever going to get home. This is a very small one compared to what we’ve already been through.” Not expecting a reply, she put Alexandra to the back of her mind. Sarah turned her focus towards getting ready. She wanted to make sure she looked as well as she could.
*
Ranack let out a slow whistle as Sarah walked up to the booth he was sitting in. He had arranged to meet Sarah at a small restaurant. “That flight suit really suits you,” he said as she slipped in opposite him. “That Burakkian dress wasn’t doing anything for you.”
Sarah blushed again. “Thank you, I think,” she said.
“Where is your chaperone?” Ranack asked. “Did you give him the slip?”
“Not quite,” Sarah replied. “He is still asleep. I thought our conversation may be more productive if it was just to two of us.”
“That’s fine by me,” Ranack said with a smile. “The last time I dealt with his species, they were chasing me with two warships. You do know his people work for the Elders?”
“Yes, though Divar was a slave. He isn’t employed by his homeworld’s navy or police service,” Sarah answered.
“That’s good to know,” Ranack said. “I would hate to have to kill him and see the bounty on my head increase again.”
“There’s no need to kill him,” Sarah said, concerned. “I thought we were here to make a deal?”
“Relax,” Ranack said chuckling. “That was a joke.”
“Oh,” Sarah said, slightly embarrassed.
“You know, you brought back a lot of memories yesterday,” Ranack said. “It’s been years since I left the slave markets of Kashal. Seeing you has reminded me of how much I miss our people.”
“You were at Kashal as well?” Sarah asked.
“Yes, after I was made a slave, that’s where I was taken to be sold to the highest bidder. Then I was sold to someone from this part of the galaxy. It took me years to figure out a way to escape,” Ranack explained.
“How old are you?” Sarah followed up.
“Thirty standard years,” Ranack answered. “I’m guessing you’re around twenty?”
“I’m not sure,” Sarah answered. “I don’t know when I was born, though twenty-one is what I would guess.”
“I’m not an expert, I don’t know too many human females, but you’re likely right,” Ranack said.
“So how did you get free?” Sarah queried.
“I killed my master,” Ranack said. “I didn’t want to do it,” he added when he saw the look that came across Sarah’s face. “Yet it was the only way I could see to get free. He punished me regularly and more than once I thought I was going to die. In the end, it was the only way I thought I could survive. As much as I didn’t want to do it, I don’t regret it.”
“That I can understand,” Sarah said. “The pirate who owned me forced me to kill him as well.”
“That’s just one more thing we have in common,” Ranack said as he reached out and touched Sarah’s hand. “It can be hard living with the fact you have ended someone else’s life.”
Sarah nodded, all too conscious of the warmth of Ranack’s hand. “It is,” she said.
“Now,” Ranack continued as he removed his hand. “I suppose you want your information?”
“Yes,” Sarah answered eagerly.
“Well, I’m afraid I have one more condition,” Ranack said.
“I thought we had a deal,” Sarah replied, her voice rising.
“We do,” Ranack answered. “However, you have intrigued me. I’m willing to give you the information at such a cheap price, because I want to know your plans. You know the galaxy. You’ve grown up a slave, yet you seem to have some strange idea that you can help our people. I want to know your secret. If you really can do what you think you can, then I want to join you.”
“I don’t know,” Sarah said. “I don’t know you well enough to trust you.”
“You do,” Ranack answered. “We’re the same. We both miss our people, our homeworld. I know what it’s like to want to help people. If you have the means to help our people, then I want to join you.” As he spoke Ranack reached over and placed his hand on Sarah’s. “Together we could accomplish a lot,” he said as he gave her hand a light squeeze before removing his.
“Well…” Sarah began, about to jump into her story.
“Don’t do it,” Alexandra shouted into Sarah’s mind. The volume of Alexandra’s voice sent a piercing pain through her head. It caused her to pause and reach up to her head with one hand as she closed her eyes. She hadn’t known Alexandra could cause such pain by simply speaking. “We can’t trust him, we don’t know enough about him,” the artificial intelligence continued at a lower volume. “This is too much of a risk.”
With a thought, Sarah muted Alexandra. It was a trick she had learnt from reading Destiny’s manuals. The artificial intelligence hadn’t told her she could do such a thing. She had been rather upset when Sarah had tested the feature. Sarah guessed Alexandra would be livid now. “I have to trust someone,” she thought to the artificial intelligence. “If it isn’t someone from my species, then who else could it be?”
“I’m sorry,” she said out loud a mo
ment later when she looked back towards Ranack.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“That depends,” Sarah answered with a small smile. “Does having another voice in your mind count as being all right?”
“You hear voices?” Ranack said, his face falling. Sarah guessed he was beginning to fear she really was delusional. “I don’t know what to say,” he finally added.
“It was a joke,” Sarah said as she chuckled. “You should have seen your face.”
“Oh, well I’m relieved,” Ranack said with a smile. “I don’t want to throw my lot in with a crazy woman.”
“Well...” Sarah began. “It was only partly a joke. Let me explain.”
For the next ten minutes, she relived the past few months of her life as she told Ranack most of what had happened to her. For the most part, he sat back and let her talk. Sarah saw his eyes widen in surprise more than once. Secretly she was delighted, in the fact that she could so easily recognize his surprise, they were as alike as she had hoped.
“And that is why I’m here looking for you,” she finished.
“Amazing,” Ranack said after letting out a long, low whistle. “To be honest, I’m not even sure if I believe you. Maybe you are crazy.”
“You will when I show you Destiny,” Sarah said. “Does this mean you will join us?”
“I need to think about it,” Ranack answered. “What you’ve done, what you have found, it’s the best hope our people have. However, you have to admit you’re still an idealist. It may all come to nothing. Simply having the Elder’s technology doesn’t mean you can beat them, nor free our homeworld. And even if you did manage to free our people, keeping them free is another matter. As soon as word got out that a planet had rebelled against the Elders, they would send a massive fleet to destroy the planet.”
“I know,” Sarah said. “I’ve already seen just what the Elders will do to rebels. However, what Destiny offers our people is a chance. I’m not saying we’re going to show up on our homeworld and drive the Elders away tomorrow. But we can form a plan, the Elders are beatable.”
“If your story is to be believed, they certainly are. If what you’re saying is true then you present the best hope our people have. However, I still have commitments here in this sector. People that are counting on me. Yet I don’t see how I can say no to joining you,” Ranack said. “Here,” he added as he pulled a small datapad out of his pocket. “This is the information you wanted. I will give it to you for forty thousand credits. I have a friend who needs the credits, otherwise I would give it to you for free.”
Sarah quickly pulled out one of her credit chips, passed it over to Ranack and then grabbed the data pad. Immediately, she started scrolling through the material. “Earth,” she said slowly as she read the name of her homeworld for the first line.
“That’s right,” Ranack said with a smile. “Earth, that’s where we’re from.”
“It’s been a Tier One colony for over two thousand years?” Sarah said. “How come they haven’t advanced?”
“Our people did something in the distant past,” Ranack said. “I think Earth has been designated as a permanent Tier One colony.”
“What did they do?” Sarah asked. She had never heard of such a thing.
“I don’t know,” Ranack said. “I don’t think anyone does. Whatever it was, the Elders didn’t like it.”
“That’s strange,” Alexandra said, breaking into the conversation.
“How?” Sarah began. Alexandra was supposed to be muted. “Never mind, we can talk about that later. “What is strange?”
“I have no record of a planet called Earth,” Alexandra replied. “Nor do I have a record of a planet being a Tier One colony for so long.”
“Well maybe your records are incomplete,” Sarah said. “Remember, you weren’t able to identify my homeworld from my memories of it.”
Despite sounding confident, Sarah wanted to ask Ranack a series of questions. She was confused about what he was trying to sell her. Yet when she scrolled down to an image of Earth, she shut her mouth. It was exactly as she had seen it when she had imprinted with Alexandra. Except this time, she could study the image more fully. For several seconds, she lost herself in wonder at the blue and green planet. “It’s beautiful,” she eventually said. “It’s unlike anything I have seen before.”
“There are other worlds out there like it,” Ranack said. “But they are few and far between. Most of them have been turned into city worlds. Earth is so beautiful because the Elders have stopped our people from developing or growing too numerous.”
“Where are the coordinates?” Sarah said in alarm as she reached the end of the document. “You haven’t given me Earth’s coordinates. Not even its sector.”
“In all honesty, I don’t know its coordinates,” Ranack answered.
“What?” Sarah said as her eyes flared in anger. “You lied, you tricked me into telling you about Destiny.”
“I didn’t lie,” Ranack said. “I never told you I knew the coordinates. I do know what sector Earth is in though.”
“Tell me,” Sarah demanded, “you promised all the information you had.” She was beginning to fear that even what he had given her was fake.
“I will,” Ranack answered. “However, I have responsibilities here on Ankara. I have people that are counting on me. I can’t just give you this information and then up and leave with you. I need your help first.”
“What do you want?” Sarah said, feeling stupid for being so open with Ranack. She felt betrayed.
“There is a penal world the Elders set up more than a hundred years ago not far from here. It’s not on any official maps. I work for an organization that specializes in helping fugitives escape the Elders and get to safety. Often, we bring them here to Ankara. Our goals aren’t as lofty as yours, but we try to help people find freedom. We’ve been planning a raid on the penal colony to free the captives for more than a year now. With your help, with Destiny, our success would be guaranteed. That’s my price. If you help me complete the mission I’ve been working towards for the last year, then I’ll be free to go with you. I can’t abandon my friends until I’ve seen this through.”
“I don’t know,” Sarah answered. “I don’t know if I can trust you, never mind help you. I’ve never even heard of a penal colony.”
“There is another option,” Alexandra said. “If Ranack came from the slave markets of Kashal, then there must be other humans there too. I don’t know where Kashal is, but as slaves are brought to this part of the galaxy from there, someone is bound to have its coordinates. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find. We could forget about Ranack and go to Kashal and see what we can find out.”
“I don’t know,” Sarah said out loud, both for Ranack and Alexandra.
“Penal colonies exist,” Ranack said. “They are a well-kept secret, but the Elders do have them. They keep high profile political prisoners there. People who are too important to kill. People they may want to use on one colony or another in the future. It will be an easy mission. Because they are such a well-kept secret, they are lightly defended. One week from now and we could be heading for Earth. There is almost no risk invo…” Ranack cut off midsentence as Sarah suddenly tensed. “What is it?” he demanded.
“Angrave,” she said as she ducked further into the booth they were sitting at. “He has been hunting me. He knows about Destiny. He’s trying to steal her from me.”
“Who?” Ranack asked as he casually glanced over his shoulder.
“The one with the slave collar,” Sarah answered. “He just walked in to the restaurant.” As she spoke her mind was racing. If Angrave was here, it meant Klixar was too.
“I see him,” Ranack said. “Why does he have a slave collar? Who does he work for?”
“Someone very dangerous,” Sarah said. She hadn’t told him about being chased by an Elder Admiral. She hadn’t thought he needed to know that just yet.
“Leave it to me,” Ranack said. �
��Count to ten after I get up, then make your way to the door.”
“What are you going to do?” Sarah whispered after Ranack, but he was already up and on the move.
Slowly, Sarah counted to ten and then got up. As soon as she left the booth, Angrave spotted her. He marched straight for her, one hand already moving towards his holstered blaster. “You,” he shouted. “Stop right there.”
Seemingly from nowhere, a glass bottle swung round and hit Angrave in the side of the head. Stunned, he fell to the floor. Quickly, he got himself up and turned to meet his attacker. Sweeping out his leg, Ranack struck the two pincers Angrave was using to push himself back upright. As the pirate began to fall again, Ranack followed up his attack with a fist to the face. “Come on,” he shouted as he threw another fist towards Angrave. “Run.”