Cold Revenge

by Jaleta Clegg

  "Up and to your left," Doggo said as he shoved me.

  I climbed the teetering stack and went to my left. There was an alcove in the building with a door that opened when I touched it. I fell inside the room.

  Two shadowy shapes leaned over me. Doggo shut the door behind him. I heard muted calls in the alley below.

  "They want you bad, spacer chick," Doggo whispered. "Those threads are too seeable. You got to change. Tifa," he said and snapped his fingers at one of the other shadows.

  Lights came on in the alley outside. Some straggled in through cracks in the wall, painting dim yellow stripes over us. The one Doggo had snapped at stood over me, hands on hips and a frown pinching her thick lips.

  "You got extra clothes, you help her look like one of us," Doggo said to Tifa. "They catch us for sure if you don’t."

  Tifa was wearing more clothes than she really needed, although all of them were either skimpy or tight. Tifa peeled off the long sleeved, low cut shirt she wore over a tight tank top. She tossed the shirt to me. I unfastened my shipsuit.

  "Stop looking," Tifa ordered the other two. They turned their backs on us, peeking out through the cracks in the wall to the alley below.

  I picked up the shirt and pulled it on. It was a pale pink with tiny flowers dotted in a zigzag across the front.

  "You’re too skinny," Tifa said, watching me stand after I pulled the shirt on. She unfastened the ruffled skirt she had on over a pair of extremely tight pants. "You take this," she said and handed the pink and black skirt to me. "The pants don’t look right if they sag."

  I stepped into the skirt and fastened it. It was loose and hung low on my hips. Tifa looked me up and down, lips pursed. She unfastened one of the three belts she wore, thick black ones with metal studs. She wrapped it around me twice and buckled it in front.

  "Nice boots," she said. And grinned. "You got the hair right. Now you look like one of us." She had jet black hair cut in ragged spikes that framed her face like a bizarre hat. One spike glowed blue.

  "We ready?" the one I hadn’t been introduced to yet spoke.

  "Quit looking at her, Torch," Tifa said. "I’m your girl, remember?"

  "Let’s go," Doggo said. He crouched near the far wall and did something. A section of the wall swung free and he slipped out into the alley below.

  "You next, spacer chick," Torch said.

  I crouched down and slid out the opening. There was a drop of several feet to the alley I wasn’t prepared for. Doggo caught me and grinned before putting me on my feet. He handed me his bottle again. I needed it. My head was floating after that swallow. I was feeling a lot better. I swayed as the buildings spun around in circles.

  "This way." Doggo pulled me into the dark by my hand. Tifa and Torch followed us.

  We crossed three alleys, Doggo peering around the corners first. We came to a lighted street with people walking down it. Doggo sauntered into the light, pulling me with him. He still had hold of my hand. Tifa and Torch came behind us. Torch had his arm around Tifa and she was draped over his shoulder. He winked at me.

  We walked down the street, the others acting casual. I tried, but my heart pounded. I caught a glimpse of what could only be one of the Sidyama ahead of us. He turned into an alley. I tried not to be obviously relieved.

  There were three men in dark suits ahead of us, spread across the street and watching faces as they walked purposefully down the street. They were searching for something, I would have bet everything I owned they were looking for me and they were Targon. I got more nervous as they came closer. There weren’t any alleys handy to duck into.

  We slowed as they came closer, finally pausing in a shadowed stretch of the road.

  "Now what?" Torch whispered. "They looking for you, too, spacer chick?"

  "Probably," I said.

  "You got powerful enemies," Torch said.

  Doggo laughed. "Tweak their nose, and hard."

  "It’s not a game," I said. "They’ll kill you without thinking."

  "I know, spacer chick," Doggo said. "Dangerous, but stupid. They push us around all the time. We get them back."

  They were getting closer. One of them stopped, giving us more than a casual glance. If he recognized my face, I was dead. Or worse. I turned quickly.

  I was face to face with Doggo. So I did the only thing I could think of to hide my face. I kissed him. He froze with surprise for a second and then kissed me back enthusiastically.

  It was interesting. I don’t know of a better word to describe it. Doggo was definitely not Tayvis.

  "They gone now," Torch said. "You can stop."

  Doggo squeezed me one last time and let me go. He draped his arm over my shoulder and swaggered down the street, dragging me with him.

  We ducked into a dark alley and twisted our way through a maze of boxes and broken crates. Doggo knocked at a panel in the wall that shifted aside. We crawled through, into a dark room. Doggo pulled a curtain back. We walked into a warehouse.

  Curtains hung from the ceiling far overhead, thick draperies with dust hiding in the folds. Cushions scattered the floor, looking like they’d been scrounged from a dozen different pieces of furniture. Half of them were spilling stuffing. A single lamp cast golden light and shadows over the people in the room. They lounged on the cushions. Most of them were in their late teens, a few were a lot younger, a very few looked older. Doggo swaggered into the middle of the group.

  "We got her, Scholar," he addressed the one sitting on the fattest pile of cushions. Doggo leaned closer. "I vote we keep her. She’s one hot chick."

  Torch pushed me into the middle of the circle. The one they called Scholar looked me up and down. He finally met my eyes. He was older than I’d first thought. He was still younger than I was, which wasn’t saying much. I felt ages old but I was barely twenty five, if I remembered when my last birthday was.

  I was aching and tired underneath the glow of whatever Doggo had given me to drink. It must have made me a bit crazy, or maybe still being alive was making me crazy. Doggo offered me his bottle again, I took another drink and felt the glow brighten. I caught Doggo, holding his face in my hands.

  "Thank you," I said and kissed him again. He seemed to like it.

  Torch was standing close, looking expectant, so I kissed him, too. Tifa slapped him and the rest laughed. A short boy, barely into puberty, popped up by my elbow. He grinned slyly at me.

  "Want a snap?" he said and offered me something that smelled like food.

  "Thanks," I said and kissed him, too.

  He strutted around the circle while the rest hooted.

  "Who’s the man?" the boy crowed. "Me, Yobo, I the man." He waved his hands in the air. "You want more, Spacer Chick?" he asked me.

  I had my mouth full and didn’t answer. It was the first food I’d had for over a day.

  "Like I said, Scholar," Doggo said draping his arm around me again, "Spacer Chick is hot."

  The drink sent golden fireworks in my brain and disconnected my mouth from the part of me that still had some sense. "Thanks for rescuing me. Why did you do it?"

  Scholar stepped close, his eyes measuring me, seeming to almost pull thoughts from my head. Or maybe it was the drink making things fuzzy.

  "Because they paid us to," Scholar said and pointed over my shoulder.

  I tried to turn around. My feet weren’t listening to my head. Doggo used his arm over my shoulder to spin me around.

  Tayvis and Jerimon sat on cushions behind me, out of the crowd enough that I hadn’t noticed. If I’d been sober, I would have seen them, I told myself. I pushed Doggo’s arm away and swayed over to stand near them.

  "Nice outfit," Jerimon said.

  Tayvis had on his stone face again. He looked me up and down. "You’re drunk."

  "You’re jealous," I shot back.

  He grabbed my wrist and pulled me down next to him. It hurt, I landed on fresh bruises. I winced. He eased his grip.

  "It’s the only painkiller they had," I said.<
br />
  "Did you have to kiss them all?" he muttered in my ear.

  "I don’t think they’d appreciate you kissing them." My head was muzzy. The words came out slurred.

  Scholar stood over the three of us. He slowly grinned at me. "You’re one tough chick. Doggo told me what they were doing to you."

  Tayvis squeezed my arm.

  I pulled it away from him. "Ow. The Sidyama are here and they want a piece of me, too."

  "What did you do to the Sidyama?" Tayvis asked. I’d surprised him.

  "They want Ginni and Habim back."

  Tayvis closed his eyes. "I thought only Targon was after you."

  We both ignored Jerimon’s snicker.

  "You said you’d tell us if we found her for you," Scholar said. "Pay up, since you got no money."

  "You lost your money?" I asked Jerimon. It came out unintelligible.

  "Since you seem to know all about it, Jerimon, why don’t you tell them?" Tayvis said.

  "You want to know why Targon’s after her," Jerimon said, looking up at Scholar.

  The rest sensed the beginning of a story and shifted closer, settling onto cushions. I saw Tifa being possessive over Torch, who winked at me. I tried to wink back, only both eyes closed and I had a hard time prying them back open.

  Jerimon started back with Belliff. He glossed over parts, like the entire Sessimoniss adventure. He made up other parts. I was just starting to enjoy the story, partly because my brain wouldn’t believe it was about me, when my eyes slid shut and wouldn’t open again.

  Tayvis put his arm around me, sighing. I slid against his shoulder and fell asleep.

  Whatever dreams I had that night, I blamed on the drink Doggo carried around. They were the weirdest dreams I’ve ever had.

  Chapter 37

  I woke in a nest of cushions. My mouth tasted like my cat had used it for a litter box. My head wasn’t in much better shape. I tried to move and groaned. Every muscle ached. All of my bruises had stiffened. I lay back and waited for the explosions in my head to stop.

  The room was dim, a diffuse drifting of sunlight speckled bits of the floor. It was quiet. I didn’t want to panic, I didn’t want to think I’d been left behind. I panicked anyway. It got me off the cushion and on my knees.

  They were bare. I looked down at myself. I was wearing a very short, very frilly miniskirt and a tight shirt that barely covered my navel. I had a studded metal belt wrapped twice around my middle. I remembered where I’d gotten the clothes and why I was wearing them and wished I was back asleep. Dancing purple sand cats were much better than Targon and Sidyama and people who wanted me dead. Or facing Tayvis. I had blurred memories of kissing a bunch of teenage males.

  "You finally awake?" Tayvis asked, looming over me.

  I didn’t look up at him, I could feel my face turning red just remembering the vague fuzzy bits that I could. I nodded.

  "You want something to drink that's not an intoxicant?"

  It sounded absolutely marvelous. But it required me to sit. It took me a minute for my body to remember how to do that. I shifted off my knees and managed to tuck my legs around so not too much bare skin hung out.

  Tayvis sat next to me and handed me a cup and a painkiller. He didn’t look at me. He just sat and watched sunlight speckles dance on the floor.

  It was water, warm and tasting of metal. I drank it slowly after swallowing the pill, waiting to see whether my head would explode before my stomach did or if Tayvis was going to say anything. I finished the cup and he still hadn’t said anything. The furry taste in my mouth was gone and my headache was getting less. The rest of me still hurt.

  "Are you waiting for me to apologize?" I said.

  "For what?"

  "Last night."

  "Looking at the collection of bruises you’ve got, I don’t think you need to apologize. I cornered Doggo and asked him what that stuff was. Straight quatzolatl. I’m surprised you could still walk after the second swallow. Doggo is in awe of you."

  "No wonder my head keeps trying to explode." Only professional drinkers messed with quatzolatl, or those who had different physiology. Most humanoids left it alone for good reason. "What’s Doggo doing with that?"

  "He told me it was what he drank every morning. I suspect he uses it to polish his chains. He didn’t expect you to actually drink any."

  "I don’t think I would have made it far without drinking it."

  "So tell me what really happened yesterday. I left you asleep in a doorway, out of the way and safe. Jerimon and I came back to find you gone."

  "The Sidyama recognized me and chased me. They beat me up wanting to know where my ship is."

  "Because of Ginni and Habim," he said. "Jerimon told me about them. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t believe any of it. Not as pure coincidence."

  "Are you still jealous?" I shot him a sideways glance. He was looking away, watching the light.

  "Of Doggo and Torch and Yobo and others I don’t know about? Of course not." He turned to look at me. "Should I be?"

  It was my turn to look away. My face was burning. "Are you still upset with me?"

  "Over last night? No."

  "What about the night before that?" I rubbed one boot on the floor and picked at a ruffle. "Maybe Lady Rina was right, maybe everyone is right. Maybe we should just say goodbye. This is never going to work out between us." I didn’t want to say it, but I had to. I had to be honest with him and with myself. And maybe it wouldn’t hurt quite so bad. It still did.

  "And maybe they’re all wrong. Maybe we both need to learn to trust each other." He reached over and took my hand in his. "We may not have much of a future to worry about. We’re stuck here. We don’t know where to go anyway."

  "Maybe not," I said slowly. "The Sidyama ran off and just left me, as if I wasn’t needed anymore. They knew where to go. Some place that sounded like Zeequeetotal."

  "Xqtl?" Jerimon said from behind us.

  I jumped about a foot and a half. "You sneak!" I said, turning around and swinging ineffectively at Jerimon. "How long have you been listening in?"

  He grinned wickedly. The grin mellowed when he saw the look on Tayvis’ face. "Long enough."

  "You know of this place?" Tayvis said, skipping over all the things I wanted to know, like how much of our personal conversations Jerimon had been overhearing.

  "Xqtl is where I picked up the Eggstone," he said.

  "Great, now we’ve got the Sessimoniss in this, too." I rubbed at the parts of my head that still hurt.

  "I don’t think so," Jerimon said. "The planet is covered in Sshoria ruins. I think the Sessimoniss who stole the Eggstone merely hid it there to keep it out of the way."

  "That explains why it was missing for so long," I said. "Whoever put it there, either forgot or never made it back to tell someone else where it was."

  "It’s not important, Dace, I really doubt the Sessimoniss are there," Jerimon said. "Xqtl had a lot of visitors, not just scientists. The group I was with just looked the other way. As long as no one interfered with their research, they didn’t care who else was there. I remember one conversation I overheard."

  "It’s a bad habit that will get you in trouble," I said.

  "Speaking from experience, Dace? Dr. Aruthers was complaining about the other groups. Dr. Smythe, the one leading the whole dig, told him they kept the other pirates away."

  "Xqtl as the headquarters of Targon," Tayvis said. "It explains a lot. Not Targon, no, too far away from their operations. Blackthorne?"

  "Who are they?" I asked.

  "More enemies you’ve managed to make," Tayvis said. "Another crime syndicate. Blackthorne Conglomerate deals mainly in drugs and slaves. Xqtl makes sense as their head base. It’s positioned right, if I remember the map correctly."

  "Hey, Scholar," Jerimon called over his shoulder.

  Scholar rose from a pile of cushions that I would never have suspected held a person, even if he was almost smaller than me. "You want a star map?" He picked up a
thin metal box and brought it to us. Wires trailed from one side.

  He set it on the floor in front of me and settled himself on a cushion next to it. He plugged two of the wires into sockets hidden in the floor and twisted knobs on the box. Images blossomed in the air. He tapped his fingers through the floating images. They shifted rapidly and finally settled on a blank blue. A cursor blinked, waiting.

  "How did you do that?" Jerimon asked impressed.

  "Tapped into the datanet without anyone knowing? Trade secret. You want to see their most encrypted files?" His fingers flashed. Information bloomed and flowed in the air.

  Tayvis leaned forward, scanning it as fast as he could. His jaw would have been hanging on the floor if he had let himself show anything. His dark eyes flicked over Scholar’s face. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you could get in doing this?"

  "Considering I’m not hacking the Patrol or government, I’m hacking a criminal organization, the worst they’ll do is kill me. If they ever find me." He deliberately glanced at the Patrol emblem on Tayvis’s black uniform. "You going to arrest me, Commander?" It was a veiled challenge.

  Tayvis leaned back and grinned. "You want a job?"

  "With the Patrol? Not hardly," Scholar said.

  "See, I’m not the only one with the smarts to say no," I said, unable to resist.

  Scholar looked between the two of us. "I think there’s a lot to your story you haven’t told."

  "What information can you get on Xqtl?" Tayvis asked, a shade too blandly.

  "You’ll have to pay extra for it," Scholar said, looking deliberately at me.

  I felt my face go red again.

  Scholar laughed. "You don’t have to kiss me, although it would be an interesting experience. But, judging from the look on the Commander’s face, I don’t want to live that dangerously."

  "It’s still worth the risk," Jerimon said. He ducked away from the fist I swung at him.

  "I’m still thinking of ways to get even with you," Tayvis said.