by Zach Winderl
“Yeah, but you never dropped fists with imperial troopers before.”
Daisy nodded. He rolled his shoulders and stretched out his back. “They really did a number on me, but I’m surprised they didn’t do worse.”
“Toks gave a clear order. Non-lethal. Soldiers are crafted to follow orders.”
“They sure toed that line.”
Atom laughed and said, “But they didn’t break anything or leave you damaged beyond recovery.”
“Prisoners, move,” one of the armored guards said after they concluded their conversation. The guard waved them forward through the gate. They waited through the cycle and as the second gate opened the guard recited, “Stay to the left and keep quiet while in transfer mode.”
Atom and Daisy followed instructions with their heads down, but a dozen steps down the long corridor Daisy drifted. Without warning, one of the guards shoved Daisy with an armor augmented hand and bounced the pilot of the wall.
“Stay to the left.” The guard sounded bored.
Daisy rebounded, looking startled. Atom read the tense set to Daisy’s shoulders. He coughed a sharp warning that caught the pilot’s attention. Daisy took a breath and settled back into their walk.
The guards relaxed from a readiness Atom only noticed after Daisy settled.
At an intersection a thin, bald man stood waiting. He adjusted the powder blue cravat adorning his immaculate suit with long, nervous fingers. Beside him a hard woman scowled at the approaching group. She rivaled Daisy in size and seemed overly eager to tear someone’s arms off.
Atom and Daisy exchanged a worried glance.
“Sergeant, give us a moment,” the bald man ordered.
The guards froze.
“You can wait in the next lock.” The man adjusted his glasses and smiled, but his eyes grew hard at the hesitation.
“You know who this is, sir?” the sergeant stammered.
The slow predatory blink drilled through the guard. “He’s just another prisoner and if you don’t follow orders, I’ll let Fresk sort things out.” He stared death at the man as the woman growled behind him.
Without further hesitation, the armored guards thumped down the hallway, leaving Atom and Daisy with the two newcomers.
“Don’t let them fool you,” the man said as he unbuttoned the jacket on his simple, yet well-tailored suit. He smiled. Atom’s instincts bristled. “I think the guards are worse than the prisoners here. You seem to understand how the system works. I’m in charge, but we want things to run as smoothly as possible.
“Warden James.” He extended a hand, palm sideways, neutral. “I know you’re new and only here on temp assignment. I also know your credentials are on lockdown, so in the system you’re just another short-jock jumpsuit.”
Atom tapped the Warden’s hand.
“But I know who you really are.”
Atom froze.
“In addition,” the Warden continued in a business-like manner. “I know that you’ve been approached by Charnal’s people. They need to be taken down a notch to maintain the status-quo. Make that happen and things will run a touch smoother for your end.
“I assume it’s something your experience will sort out for you.” The warden hesitated as information flashed along his glasses. “Daisy Hernandez.” His eyes drew back into focus. “My, you are a specimen. Maybe I should give you an eve with Fresk here. Think of the offspring you two would create.” A darkness fluttered in James’ eyes. “I could get rid of the guards here altogether. What do you think, Fresk? Would that be enjoyable?”
“He might give me a run.” The woman spoke for the first time, in a feminine voice that failed to match her hulking frame.
“So, what are you proposing?” Atom crossed his arms, a defiant tone on his lips.
Before he could follow up, Fresk’s ham-fist slammed into his stomach like a sledgehammer. Moving faster than his eye could register, the woman had doubled him and dropped him to the floor.
Daisy nodded with an appraising frown.
“Care to join him, Daisy?” disdain dripped from James’ use of the name.
Daisy shrugged. “I’ll dance.”
Before the words finished wandering from his mouth, Fresk moved. Daisy slipped the blow, ducking to let Fresk’s fist glance off his forehead. The blow stunned Daisy for a moment, but he felt one of her smaller bones pop.
Daisy grinned and shook the cobwebs from his head.
The woman narrowed her eyes and circled, cunning caution in the placement of each foot.
She stalked.
Daisy danced.
“Atom, you yobo?” Daisy asked in a conversational tone. He flashed a charming, toothy grin at Fresk and rolled his neck. He continued to draw her attention away from his gasping captain.
With a grunt, Atom rocked himself up into a sitting position and scooted back to lean against the wall. “I think she may have crushed my innards.” He worked to regain his breath as he studied the passive Warden James. “Are we sure this is the best use of our time on this rock? I mean, we might miss our hair appointment.”
James turned an indifferent eye to Atom as Daisy slipped another lethal attack from Fresk with a playful deftness. He lashed out an open paw that caught the woman in the side of the neck.
“Darl, you’ll need to move faster—” Daisy’s banter cut short as her flat-footed heel kick caught him in the chest, forcing a stumbled retreat.
Fresk grinned.
Before Daisy regained his balance, she pounced. The pilot threw a heavy punch, but Fresk slipped inside his guard and wrapped an arm around his shoulder even as she pistoned her knee into Daisy’s side. The maneuver crumpled Daisy inward as the ogrish woman continued to drive her mass up and through. Off-balance, Daisy rolled sideways, attempting to gain purchase, either with his feet or on Fresk’s body.
He failed.
Their momentum ran the pair into the wall where they rebounded and crumpled into a heap of muscle. Fresk slithered like an eel, twisting about Daisy in a sinuous manner that placed his arm and neck at the mercy of her trunk-like legs.
Only a few seconds spanned the fight from start to finish. Atom, recovering from the gut blow, slipped up the wall, still fighting to regain his breath.
“Daisy,” he gasped as he lunged toward his fallen friend.
James caught him like an intervening father. “Atom,” he chided. “This is just a test to show where you stand on the ladder. I mean no harm to you and yours. In fact, you serve no purpose if you are too damaged to function.
“I say, Fresk.” He released Atom’s arm, but hesitated to make sure he could stand under his own power before turning his full attention to his goon. “Ease up on Mr. Hernandez.”
Like a bear trap released, the pressure disappeared from Daisy’s arm and neck.
“Easy, girl.” Daisy spun up from his back in a defensive crouch, giving Fresk a wary glare.
“We’re done.” The thick-necked woman dismissed Daisy with an approving nod and moved her hulk behind Warden James again. There she came to an easy parade rest with her hands tucked behind her back and her eyes locked in the middle distance.
“As you can see, gentlemen,” the Warden said with a playful smile. “I have no need to play petty games of violence with you. If I wished to be more permanently damaging than Fresk here, I could simply cut the atmo supply to your cell while you slept and never lose a thought over it.
“This.” He glanced over his shoulder at Fresk. “Was simply a demonstration that you are playing a game on so many more levels than you are used to out there in the Black. Play my game and you might survive. Prove profitable and your chances increase exponentially. The two faux-hans exist because they bring stability to my prison and ko to my pocket.
“But,” he sneered. “They both need to be taken down a level or two.”
“I have your permission to achieve this?” Atom still held his side, but now he managed slow and even breaths as he straightened up to stand before James, proud, b
ut less defiant. “I have your permission to terminate parties that I see as a threat to the functionality of your prison?”
James hesitated. He narrowed his eyes and gave Atom a thoughtful look.
“Atom.” Excitement laced Kozue’s voice. “The burst succeeded. I have contact with the Ticket and Hither informed me they move on your word and can be on location within an hour.”
Daisy placed a heavy mitt on Atom’s shoulder.
“What are your thoughts, Daisy?” Atom never took his eyes from James.
“Always up for a tussle,” the giant grinned.
“This isn’t a negotiation,” James snapped.
“Isn’t it?” Atom asked with mock surprise.
“Just give them something to think about.” Warden James turned and strode down the side hall without care. “Send them my message.”
Fresk continued to glare at the pair as James disappeared through the gate at the terminus. “Don’t think to cross the warden,” she squeaked. “If you dream it, I’ll finish what I started here today.”
Daisy bowed from the waist. “Any day, darl.” He reared up to look down on the titan-like woman.
She bristled.
“Come on.” Atom turned and sauntered along their original path, away from where Fresk stood in undecided rage. “We have business to attend to. Plus, there’s that payment of reading material Roop promised us.”
Daisy’s grinning face brightened. “Brawls and books and brawls,” he sing-songed as he trotted to catch up with Atom. “Could this day get any better?
“Side thought.” His words became calculating. “James said he knew who you were, but then he said you couldn’t handle the game within a game. Do you think he really knows who you are?”
Atom shrugged and laughed as they approached the monolithic hatch, “As I told that officer, most of my file is sealed. It’s like an iceberg, they only see the tiny bit poking the surface. Most people have no idea what I’m actually capable of. My old boss knew . . . and maybe Hither and her sisters.”
They reached the end of the hall and Atom banged on the sealed gate. Daisy stared at Atom as the gears and pressure locks whirred to life.
“Respect.” Daisy ducked his head as the gate ground open, revealing four power-armored guards standing in an anxious arc. All four peered beyond Atom and Daisy to where Fresk still glowered.
Then, without a word they filed past, leaving Atom and Daisy alone.
The gate thudded behind them.
“What’s that about?” Daisy examined the gate as they stood in the quiet embrace between the two massive gates.
“Maybe we’re free to move about our business,” Atom said with a chuckle.
The far gate hummed to life.
“I could have pounded her seven ways from a turnip.”
“I know.” Atom watched the gate inch open. “I know you were holding back. But they want to play games. James said so himself.”
“So that’s what we’re here for, a sit down of crimps?”
“Seems that way, but we have business to take care of first.” Atom stepped through the gate as soon as the gap allowed. Daisy followed him into a yard identical to the previous, with one exception.
“Where are the guards?” Daisy growled as they surveyed the block.
“Not sure,” Atom puzzled. “Stay the course. We get paid, then we move on to our secondary job.”
“And then the third?”
“Game within a game within a game,” Atom muttered as he looked for a place to start.
Behind them the lock shuddered shut.
The yard flowed. Prisoners, men and women, wandered about with slow purpose. Occupied tables sprinkled the floor, surrounding an open row of showers that drew a line down the center of the yard. Three tiers of cells rose on both sides of the yard connected by sporadic bridges and symmetric staircases.
Atom looked up to the synthetic, blue sky.
“Kim first?” Daisy flexed his arm, rubbing at the strained elbow joint.
“How’s the shoulder?” Atom asked. “You didn’t reinjure it?”
Daisy stared at him for a moment. “Oh, from the players? They bonded it with an internal bone cast. Stronger than normal,” he said with a grin, demonstrating the full range of motion. “Why you concerned about my hand, aren’t we supposed to be using our eyes for this gig?”
“Firm,” Atom replied. He studied the hundred or so cells. “I wish we had locked down a more precise location from Roop. Fishing for firebats could take a turn or two.
“Go make friends.” He waved toward the busy floor of the block. “I’m sure you can find a game to join or someone with a tipple-pot. Keep your wits about and your ocs wide. I’ll catch up with you when I’ve located our target.”
Daisy tugged at his jumper and wandered away.
“I can help,” said Kozue. “Lilly’s tampering gave me a mousehole into most of the prison datasets. My access is passive, so I can’t operate anything, but I can look.
“Our target,” she paused. “Can be found on the second tier, cell 213.”
“Daisy,” Atom called before the pilot had reached the first tables. “We’re moving faster than I’d thought. Let’s go for a walk.”
The block bustled with more energy than the one they had left behind. Atom surveyed the occupants as Daisy returned. All the cell doors stood open and people moved with purpose.
“Kozue, is the lack of guards normal?” Atom asked as he watched the swirling motion of the cell block. “What does security usually look like for this prison?”
“As I’m tracking,” the AI replied, “the block you just left seems to maintain the second highest guard presence. The greatest concentration of guards appears to be the central hub, which is administration.”
“What’s the block we just left?”
“It appears to be a neutral ground between the Granix and Charnal factions.”
“Interesting,” Atom pondered, tapping the gun shaped void on his hip.
“What’s our play?” Daisy asked.
“Two jobs,” Atom picked out a mixed group sitting at a table off to the side of the main floor. “Why don’t we divide and conquer. You go talk to those gentlefolk over there and get a feel for how operations run around here. Find what might send the message we’ve been hired to deliver.”
“What’s the schedule?
“Not sure, we’ll stay liquid.” Atom looked around, searching for something. “What do they use for currency in a place like this?”
Daisy shrugged. “Goods, information, favors….”
“Interesting.” Atom’s eyes lit on a man mixed in with the crowd. “I might have a touch of an idea. I’ll catch up with you when you need me,” Atom said with a nod. “Feel free to yell if that comes sooner. Take your time, feel the situation. In the meantime, I need to find a dispensary on my way to visit our friend.”
“Works for me,” Daisy frowned. “I wonder if there’s a place to get a drink around here.”
“I’m sure you’ll work that out,” Atom said with a laugh and wandered into the crowd.
He cast a curious glance behind him just before Daisy disappeared from view. “I wonder what kind of trouble Daisy will get himself into while I’m busy?” Atom mused to the alarm of several passersby.
“Depends on his ability to find drink,” Kozue replied in Atom’s ears.
Atom flashed a feral grin at the floor and a small, empty circle grew about him.
“What’s your plan?” she asked.
“Find a bowl still.”
“You don’t drink.”
“True, but it’s polite to bring a gift when visiting an old friend,” Atom said with a laugh that widened the circle. “I would hate to have our friend think we’re rude and don’t value his friendship.”
“Interesting,” Kozue sounded amused.
“Friend.” Atom’s hand snaked out and snatched the arm of a frail woman. With a rough grin and a twist of his wrist, he revealed a run of track ma
rks.
The woman squealed with a mixture of pain and surprise.
“Where can I find a still?” Atom pressed his face close to the woman, ignoring the rancid, death-breath of the addict. “I’m new to these parts and have a thirst that needs quench.”
“Second tier, outer,” she managed to squeak.
“Many thanks.” Atom released the woman and mockingly bowed, as if the woman embodied the empress in her skeletal form.
The woman shambled away, mumbling a few choice words.
Atom straightened his too-tight jumpsuit and made his way up the indicated stairs. He wandered down the walk, glancing into each cell as he passed. After half a dozen cells, a faint scent alerted him to the proximity of his goal. Several cells further down the trail, a pair of heavy inmates leaned against the railing in apparent conversation.
“Ho there,” Atom called out, stopping a respectful distance from the pair.
For a moment the two thugs ignored him.
“An acquaintance pointed me in the direction of your ship.” Atom leaned to the side without moving his feet, trying to make eye contact with the men. “I’m new and trying to figure out how this works.”
With an annoyed grunt, the nearest man turned his glare to Atom.
“The way things work,” the man growled. “Is you give us payment and if what you offer is worth it, we give you what we want.”
“What do you take in payment?”
“What’ve you got?”
“Well, like I said, I just arrived, so I don’t have much in material.” As Atom spoke, the man crossed his arms and turned back to his companion. “But if you take information, I might have something you could take up the chain.”
The man hesitated and glanced back at Atom with narrowed eyes.
“You guys are Gravixhan, correct?”
The man cocked his head, without replying.
“You have a Charnal over here.” Atom shrugged. “Maybe he’s on legit business, or maybe he’s checking up on things. I’m assuming that this is your territory and your bosses probably aren’t too keen on your enemies wandering around unescorted.” Atom pasted a cheesy smile on his face. “For a bottle of your purest grain, I’ll point him out to you.”
“Just a tick,” said the meat.