Trinity: Atom & Go

by Zach Winderl

  “I don’t aim to interrupt your game.” The woman shook the cold from her greatcoat.

  Hither slipped over to lay a protective hand on Byron’s shoulder, even as she curtsied with deep respect. “Sorry, ma’am.” She kept her head down in humble demeanor, but cast a sidelong glance to Atom as she turned and guided Byron back to their table. “Din’ mean to cause no troubles, ma’am.”

  Atom, leaning back on the bar, took everything in.

  “No trouble on my end,” the woman said in a pleasant tone as she shed her coat and folded it over her arm with a crisp, minimalist touch.

  Atom arched an eyebrow at the fresh-pressed uniform beneath the coat. With a dismissive sigh, he turned back to the bar and waved to Svitać for another mug of chi. Ignoring the woman’s presence, he rested his weary head in his hand as he waited.

  Behind him, the woman stared at Atom’s lean form with a chill smile.

  “Atom Ulvan,” she declared. Her Cheshire grin failed to reach her eyes. “What a pleasant surprise.”

  “Toks.” Atom took the fresh mug from Svitać and stared into its depths, but shifted his seat enough to free his pistol from his coat without moving his hands. “What brings someone of your prestige this far from the Palm?”

  Toks Marshall draped her damp greatcoat over a chair as she approached the bar. As she drew close, Atom noted the worn nature of her immaculate, white uniform. Despite the old clothing, she projected a feral, if caustically thin image. Only her large, icy blue eyes, magnified by thick, square glasses presented a clashing perspective to the lines and angles that defined the imperial captain.

  “On a bit of a treasure hunt.” Toks sidled up to the bar, but kept her eyes locked on Atom as she raised a finger to Svitać. “Ice grass wodka, neat.”

  Atom sipped his chi and glanced over at the woman. “Sounds interesting.”

  Toks measured Atom as Svitać poured.

  “This official business?” Atom asked.

  “On the side, but above board. I cleared with Admiralty before committing. The Genkos pay well enough for the higher-ups to agree.” She barked out a harsh laugh. “Does it hurt knowing I took over your contract after Lilly slipped past you on that back-channel dumping ground?”

  “Hurt my business a touch, but pride’s still intact,” Atom replied.

  “I know what she was getting into….” Toks left the statement dangling as Svitać slid the glass down the bar. “I know why she’s so important.”

  “Just a mark, Toks. Genkos pulled my contract, so I’ve got no reason to care.”

  “I know you spoke with Johansen.” She picked up her glass and with a spider’s grace, slipped her long legs around the stool beside Atom. She sipped her drink. Then, appraising it with a pleased frown, she threw the liquid down her throat and tapped at the bar to regain Svitać’s attention.

  The barkeep wandered back from where he conversed with Daisy and poured a second dram of the local spirit.

  “I can only assume the merc passed on information I could have used,” she said.

  Atom set his mug down and turned to Toks. “And what information would that be? And are you admitting to killing a civie without provocation?”

  “No, of course not,” Toks said with an easy laugh. “I studied the recordings.”

  “Then you know what he said. He rambled about his shepherd. I’m assuming he was trying to get me to save his soul or at least reach out to his priest. Beyond that, I couldn’t tell you a shepherd from a cowboy.

  “I was after that bounty on Lilly. It would have been a solid fifty-thousand ko. But thanks to you, that fell through and now I need to find another way to feed my crew.

  “Is there something more to this that I should know about? Is there something you want to tell me that should get me upset? Because the way I see things, you just happen to be the boke that snatched a job from me. Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot I care to be talking to you about.” His hand dropped and he traced a finger along the grip of his pistol. “Is there a reason I should feel slighted on the way things fell out?

  “You know me, I have no qualms about shooting first,” he said with a dark grin.

  Toks met his gaze. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Oh, you know, information that may, or may not, relate to the final resting place of the Ave Maria. I’m specking he let something slip with that dying breath.

  “I can’t imagine he would let information like that go with him to the Black.” Toks leaned forward, taunting Atom with her closeness. “Would you?”

  Despite her clean uniform, Atom caught the faint scent of sweat, an engineering bay, and an exotic spice. He narrowed his eyes. Then he pulled his hand from his gun, instead raising it to scratch his jaw in thought.

  “Ave Maria? You don’t say.” A vulpine smile spread across his face. “So that’s what he meant.

  “Thanks, Toks.” He spun and hopped to his feet before glancing back at the Imperial captain. Her smile faded into the bottom of her cup. “By the way, you know that legit merc died at the hands of imperials. I can only assume that as the only imperial presence in the sector, they were your troops. That means you must have approval.”

  Toks drained her cup and slammed it down hard enough to crack the base.

  “Did you have a warrant to call in a death strike?” Atom watched the tension drain from Toks’ narrow shoulders.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The smile returned to her face as a touch of humor crept into her voice, like an inside joke had flashed through her mind. “You know I arrived in system after the incident. In fact, I recall you fleeing the scene of the massacre.”

  “If you aren’t involved, then what are you doing here?”

  Toks rose to her feet and squared with Atom. She bristled. Staring him down for a moment, then the smile pinched her eyes behind their glasses. “I’m just patrolling my sector and following a knotted string in my spare time, Atom. Surely you remember the doldrums of the endless patrol?

  “With Admiralty approval I’m tracking a known fugitive. The fact that she is just the end of that knotted string doesn’t mean a thing.

  “I’m touching the end of my cycle and I happened upon a distress call from Gomori Alpha. I responded. I reviewed the vids,” she said as the smile drifted, replaced by something bordering on relief. “I just need to get through this, catch that fugitive, and end my loop without anything exploding in my face. We accomplish that and burn for the Palm.

  “I know everything’s more expensive up there, but I hate the way everything crawls out here. Life is too slow with too much Black between the spots of life.

  “I need more life around me, Atom.” She leaned in, like an old friend and confidant. “That’s why I’m following up on the incident and seeing where the information takes me. I’m pushing through as quick as a marcher. Ain’t a thing in the Black will slow me down and keep me from taking my crew home.

  “And I’m hoping to do it with our accounts a touch heavier.” Her smile grew wider.

  “Nothing to slow you? Not even a trail of death?” Atom crossed his arms. “You and I both know that complicates things. Paperwork takes time.”

  “Out of my jurisdiction.” Toks shrugged in innocence. “Which I can’t imagine them asking for. Nobody likes higher-ups interfering in anything. Locals are perfectly capable of wrapping up a few dead bodies far more efficiently than I could ever hope to do.”

  Atom stared, trying to plot her trajectory.

  “Unless you have some information you’d like to pass on from your Lilly investigation,” Toks said, crossing her arms with a shrug. “From one hunter to another, you know, professional courtesy. The bounty will be a nice little bonus, regardless of anything else we find on this loop.”

  “I had the bounty and had it pulled.” Atom thrust his hands in his coat pockets, hunching in as a defeated look dragged his features down. “Not much I can do with it now and you have the same information I had.”

  “Then
you aren’t much use to me, are you?” Toks pouted, but her eyes flashed with an icy chill that mirrored the weather above the dome.

  Before Atom could reply, Toks pointed a finger at his chest and a long, blue spark leaped across the narrow space.

  Pain arched Atom’s back.

  With a jerk, his muscles contracted and he wiped out several stools as he flopped to the floor. There he spasmed and twitched like a fresh-landed fish. Tears stood out as his face locked in a mask of agony.

  “Arrest this man,” Toks announced to the room as she retrieved her greatcoat. She swung it around to set on her shoulders like a cloak of authority. “It is unlawful to threaten an imperial officer. Furthermore, he slandered the name of our righteous emperor and is wanted as a person of interest in the terror attack on Gomori Alpha.”

  Before she finished speaking, a double squad of armored assault troops in familiar red amor burst through the door.

  Without thought, Daisy hoisted Margo over the bar into Svitać’s arms. The barkeep looked stunned for a split second before he dropped to the floor, expecting violence. Behind the safety of the heavily reinforced metal of the bar, he tucked the child into a small cubby.

  Margo stared at the barkeep with wide eyes, but remained silent.

  Daisy had no such qualms.

  With a drunken roar, the bear launched himself off his stool into the press of troopers.

  “Non-lethal force,” Toks called out in a pleasant, sing-song voice as a pair of troopers flew across the room to slam into the bar with a resounding crack. “We don’t want any citizens of the empire to be permanently damaged.”

  She crouched beside Atom’s still twitching form as Daisy carved a hurricane-like path through the troopers. She patted Atom’s cheek and wiped away a stray tear. With a mocking salute she rose to leave. Circumventing Daisy’s scrum, she trotted to the door, pausing to scowl at the scattered occupants of the bar with a measured glare.

  “When you’re done subduing these terrorists, turn them over to the local constabulary. Less paperwork.” She quirked a smile and swept through the doors.

  Daisy fought on.

  ***

  Atom fought the darkness again.

  Flashes of restraints, scent of dogs, cold. Visceral emotions laced through the pinwheel images as they fluttered by.

  Eventually, Atom’s senses returned and he found himself slumped on a metal bench beside Daisy. A single, heavy gauge plastic shackle bound him to the seat. Atom jerked against the cuff as the sudden sensory rush threatened to overwhelm him.

  “Easy, Cap.” Daisy reached a steadying arm around Atom’s shoulders. “You’ve been out a while. I’m surprised they didn’t take you direct to the medoc.”

  “Where are we?” Atom squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing the grit away with his free hand.

  “Processing.”

  Across the room, a fit-looking officer sat behind a small desk, plinking away, single fingered, at an archaic keyboard as he squinted at the monitor in front of him. The man scowled and looked as if he wanted to punch through the screen.

  “I’ll wrap as soon as I enter your information,” the officer said, scratching his shaved head with a purple gloved hand. “Then I’ll toss you upstream.”

  “But, where are we?”

  The man’s index finger hesitated as he tore his glare away from the terminal. Atom met the man’s gaze with placid eyes.

  “System lock-up,” Daisy answered for the officer.

  Atom eased back against the wall, his head ringing from the repeat trauma of the past days. He kept his eyes on the man, studying him, plotting. The man’s short-sleeved uniform revealed a tapestry of glowing tattoos down his left arm. Skulls and shadowed figures slithered along the curve of muscle.

  “What’s the story with your art?” Atom asked.

  Again, the words seemed to interrupt the man’s thoughts as his finger froze over the keyboard. “We all face the reaper at some point,” the officer growled, looking down at his arm.

  “Have you?”

  “Once,” the office said as he rolled his arm, displaying the tattoo with a brash cockiness. “I faced down death and won.”

  “My name is Atom Ulvan.” Atom leaned forward. “Meriwether.”

  “Thanks, I was just going to ask your name. I’ll make a note that you’re cooperating when I send you on up.”

  The man’s face blanched and his eyes saucered.

  “I see facial is matching up.” Atom flashed a feral grin.

  The officer, face a ghastly pale, rose to his feet and scurried from the room, careful to never turn his back on the seated Atom.

  “What’d he see?” Daisy asked as soon as the door hissed shut.

  Atom shrugged. “I’m guessing the part of my record that isn’t sealed.”

  “Just part?” Daisy cast a sidelong glance at Atom.

  “It was enough. Most of what I did in my past life is sealed up in imperial archives somewhere. Even disgraced, they don’t want that information floating free.” Atom chuckled as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. “The only problem now is that facial gives us a countdown clock. They are going to be obligated to pass this further up the chain than they thought.

  “System lock-up is where we want to be,” Atom said as he glanced up at a series of cameras bracketing the room. “They should cut you loose on drunk and disorderly, but they’ll call Toks back from wherever she is on her loop to take me into custody and transport me back to the Palm.

  “I’m guessing she wasn’t anticipating me revealing my ID. She just wanted us out of the way, but this might throw a spanner in her pipe.

  “I just bought myself some time,” Atom leaned in and whispered with a conspirator’s ease. “When they release you, I want you to collect the bounty and head for Mei Ling’s. When I get out, I’ll meet up with you there and we can move forward. Just make sure you give the bounty to Kozue.”

  Atom sat back up as the door flashed open. He rested his eyes again.

  The ashen officer stood flanked by a pair of armored assault troops. “Atom Ulvan of the Meriwether Han,” his voice quaked. “You will be placed in solitary in the system prison until such time as the Imperial Governor sees fit to send an escort ship to retrieve you and return your person to the Imperial Court.”

  Without hesitation, the two troopers levelled their weapons at Atom’s face.

  “Any provocation will free us to terminate with lethal force.” The officer swallowed on a dry throat and somehow managed to suppress a choking cough.

  “Easy there, skipper,” Atom said without opening his eyes. “I imagine the Emp might be touched if you didn’t return his favorite toy in one piece. Plus, if I’d wanted you dead, I’d be walking out of here right now with your sidearm in my hand.”

  The troopers recoiled and the officer trembled.

  Atom laughed.

  ***

  Atom sat in his cell, alone and in silence. Occasionally, a faint voice echoed from the outside, from the open yard between the tiers of cells. Atom could have looked down on the congregating prisoners through the narrow window of the cell door, but he remained seated, cross-legged on his bunk.

  He stared at the wall.

  The silence proved oppressive.

  Thoughts came to prison to die.

  Alone in his head, he wandered and waited.

  Time refused to pass.

  Despite his words of bravado, Atom wilted inside. He estimated mere hours had passed, but with no way to judge time, his estimations proved as accurate as jump coordinates missing one of the four dimensions.

  Eventually, Atom curled in on himself. He tried to craft a plan. Without thought he pulled the thin, plastic blanket up around his shoulders for comfort, not warmth.

  “No blankets until lights out.” A guard stifled a yawn as he peered into the cell.

  Atom nodded and tossed the blanket into a loose pile at the foot of the bed. He waited, listening as the guard’s heavy boots echoe
d away on the metal walkway. Rolling onto his back and lacing his fingers behind his head, Atom stared at the shoddy paint job of the ceiling. The footsteps disappeared within half-a-dozen steps, fading into a void of silence.

  A whispered word floated up from the yard below, but nothing more.

  Then a faint grinding drifted from somewhere above, like hard plastic on metal. A weapon being crafted or nervous insanity manifesting, Atom wondered.

  The phantasm of sound ended.

  Atom closed his eyes, listening to each breath, each beat of his heart, the soft ringing in his ears from years of combat explosions.

  Somewhere around beat seven hundred, he drifted off.

  ***

  Kozue stood over him, her silken hair drifting around her face as the soft autumn breeze stirred the embers deep in the fire.

  She said, “I miss this every summer.” She smiled and wandered around the broad stones of the firepit to rest a hand on his shoulder. “The first fire of the autumn chill is always the best. Fires in summer are fun, but they just make you hot instead of making you comfortable.”

  Atom leaned his head down, resting his cheek on his wife’s hand.

  “I wish I could steal this weather and pull it out for just the two of us to enjoy.” A gentle kiss on her fingertips echoed his words.

  “I wish we could steal this moment.”

  Striking like a panther, Atom snatched Kozue into his lap and enfolded her in his arms. He did not kiss her as expected, instead, he snuggled her into the fold of his neck and breathed her scent. Atom closed his eyes and savored all of his wife.

  He locked each morsel of the moment away in his mind to pull out and reminisce.

  “I love you,” Kozue murmured, reaching up to cup a soft hand over Atom’s cheek.

  ***

  “Atom,” Kozue whispered. “Are you awake?”

  Atom took in a deep breath, opening his eyes from his nap and found Kozue astride him. She leaned forward so her dark hair canopied over them.

  She smiled down.

  With a languid stretch, Atom returned the smile. “I am now,” he grumbled, his voice sleep deepened. “How long was I out?”

  “Long enough,” she said with a throaty laugh and leaned down to plant a kiss that bordered on violent. Atom’s eyes flashed wide before drifting closed as he attacked the kiss with similar vigor.