The intimidating cement and steel wall rose out of the flat desert like a tombstone, towering over the rest of the prison and blocking out the stars. Black cameras glinted along the top, nestled amongst razor-sharp barbed wire.
Nova held her breath. They were getting close. Another ten meters and they'd be within range of the shield. She just had to hope that she'd done everything right. She'd checked and re-checked her handiwork, but what if there was something she missed?
She shook her head to dislodge the thought and pushed harder on the control. Her labourbot surged forward, rushing over the dirt ground, wheels kicking up a trail of dirt.
A part of her knew she should be more careful. A racing labourbot was bound to draw attention. But she couldn't do that. If she paused or slowed down for just a second she'd lose her nerve. She had to do this right now while she still had the guts.
A part of her subconscious noticed that Carter wasn't racing to get ahead of her. No doubt he wanted to make sure she survived before he put himself in danger. She couldn't blame him, she would have done the same thing.
Three metres to go... two metres... one metre...
Nova burst past the invisible line of the radiation shield. She kept her hand firmly on the controls, expecting to burst into flames. She squeezed her eyes shut, couldn't bear to open them and watch her skin falling away.
Her arms and legs were already itchy. That was probably a side-effect of the radiation. Was her hair falling out?
Crash!
Nova slammed forward in her metal casing and her face smashed into the front panel with a crunch. Pain exploded across her forehead and the control fell out of her hand, clattering down somewhere near her feet.
Her eyes popped open.
She patted her skin; it didn't feel like it was falling off. She lifted her aching head and gazed out of her small screen. A thick grey pole filled most of the view.
She scrounged around for the control, her injured shoulder scraping against the hard metal. She finally found it tucked next to the back of her shoe. Pushing the joystick right, the robot jerked back to life, rumbling in a rough circle.
She couldn't make out much through the small screen, but she could tell one thing. She was inside the guard's enclosure. Somehow she'd made it past the radiation shield.
Carter's labourbot trundled through the gate, racing just as hers had been. At least he had the sense to pull up short before he slammed into the pole.
She cast her mind's eye over the building plans she'd spent so long studying. There was a clear pathway from the entrance straight to the dumping ground for old labourbots. There shouldn't be many guards out now; they'd all be at the transporter getting packed.
Nova led the way through the compound. It was easy enough; a driveway covered in labourbot tracks showed the way. They followed it around a corner and came face to face with a pile of broken robots. Some of them were falling apart with rust, others were missing limbs or were so dented they would be no good for anything.
She steered her labourbot around to the far side of the pile where she was least likely to be spotted. Carter followed her around.
"Just stay where you are," Nova said.
"Hang on! How do I know you're not going to leave me here?"
"Because you still haven't told me how to get past the border," Nova said with gritted teeth.
"I'll hunt you down if you leave me here," Carter said. "I feel like my arms are going to fall off."
"Just trust me. And be quiet!" Nova hissed.
She took one last look around but couldn't see any guards. She popped open the front panel and crawled out into the garbage heap, careful to keep away from the jagged machinery.
She crawled to near the top of the junk pile and shuffled bits of refuse around. It didn't take long to find what she was looking for. A labourbot with a bright orange stripe lay in the heap. It wasn't especially memorable, a standard issue labourbot, that Aart had sent down not long before, just as planned. It hadn't worked when it arrived so it had been tossed straight to the rubbish pile, ready for her to find.
She fiddled with the front panel and lifted it away. The whole time her ears strained for any kind of noise. After the radiation shield, this was the most dangerous part of her plan. If she was spotted now, the guards would shoot first and ask questions later.
Inside the labourbot lay a simple uniform, an ID badge, and a knife.
She pulled the guard's uniform on over her clothes, balancing to try to keep her weight off her injured leg. They were loose-fitting blue overalls. She tucked her hair up under the matching blue cap and clipped the ID card to her front pocket. She glanced down at the picture.
It would have to do. The woman's hair didn't have big black spots like Nova's and her face was rounder. At least it was night-time and hopefully the guards would be too busy to notice. Nova had done her homework. The guard in question, Terry Brine, was as antisocial as they came. She actually enjoyed her shifts on Ankar because it meant she didn't have to talk to anyone. None of the more than twenty other guards knew her very well so they wouldn't notice that Nova had taken her place.
Nova staggered down off the junk pile, brushing dirt from her pants. She put her hands on Carter's labourbot.
"Stay here. I have to check the guard."
"You can't leave me here!" Carter hissed.
Nova stepped away. "Stay here!"
She strode away from the dump pile as if she belonged, despite her limp, and rounded the corner. Bright lights lit up the inner rooms of the enclosure, spilling an orange glow into the night. Nova counted three windows along and stopped, back pressed against the wall.
She took a deep breath and ducked her head around, peering into the room beyond.
A blond woman in blue overalls lay on the bed inside, Terry. A diamond ring glimmered on her finger. Plain package wrap lay scattered on her bed.
Nova let out her held breath. Despite everything, Jimmy had upheld his end of the bargain; he'd delivered the ring on time, and Terry had done just what she was supposed to; put on the ring and activate the sedative gas release.
Nova ducked away from the window and hurried back to the dump. As soon as she came into view, Carter's labourbot rolled towards her.
She laid a hand on top as it came close. "Like we talked about."
Carter's labourbot lurched forward.
Nova tried to keep her hands on the frame, to give the illusion that she was pushing it along. That would have been almost impossible with Carter's added weight. She'd told Carter the directions and made him repeat it to her twenty times a day. He didn't fail her.
They went around the outside of the enclosure and came to a gated yard. The guard transporter sat inside.
Nova's heart fluttered. Freedom.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Seven guards stood gathered around the ship. Two leaned against the door, keeping watch, while the others loaded supplies and equipment into the storage compartment.
"Where have you been? The damn ship landed an hour ago."
Nova grunted and waved her right hand at the woman. She walked straight past with the labourbot rolling in front.
"Be glad to see her go," she heard the guard whisper.
Nova couldn't have agreed more.
The storage bay was already full. Clothes, personal items, mementos as well as monitoring equipment and computers filled most of the space. Nova's stomach dropped. She hadn't counted on the guards having so much stuff. But then, they were trapped here for three months with not much to do. They probably packed heavy.
"Why are you bringing that thing?" a male guard asked.
Nova glanced at his name tag; Jared Wilkinson. Two other guards hoisted a large package into the storage compartment, blocking her exit. "Manufacturer wants a look." She put a twang on the end of her words to match the accent of Terry's home-world.
"What the hell for?" Jared asked.
She shrugged. "Not like they tell me anything."
"I do
n't think we have room for it."
"Well, make bloody room," Nova said. The fury in her voice wasn't faked. "I've been ordered by the boss to make sure this gets on board. Do you want to argue with him?"
Jared gritted his teeth and glared at her.
Nova kept her head down so that her hat covered most of her face. Her fingers tingled with anticipation. She measured the distance from her to Jared. If he got suspicious she could snatch his gun and take them all out but then she'd be trapped here forever, or dead.
"What a pain in the ass!" Jared bellowed. "Oi, Carlos, we're gonna have to leave the X300. Apparently the boss has ordered this labourbot back."
"What!" Carlos yelled from the storage bay. "That's bullshit."
"Yeah, well, take it up with him."
"Yeah, right. After what happened last time? No, thank you," Carlos said. "Good for nothing."
"Alright," Jared said, nodding to Nova. "Load it up."
She nudged Carter forward and he took control. He rolled up the ramp and into the storage bay, coming to a stop in the far corner where he would hopefully not be bumped around too much during take-off.
"Got anything else?" Jared asked.
"Nope," Nova said.
"What about clothes?" he said as if talking to an idiot.
Nova shrugged. "Buy new ones."
"Yeah," Jared said. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Sure. May as well load up then."
Nova went around to the personnel entrance and slid the heavy door open. It squeaked as it slid to the side, revealing a small room with seats running along each wall fitted with old-fashioned buckles.
Handles protruded from the roof but the rest of the ship was bare. Rust and grime covered the metal walls, partially hidden by dead light bulbs.
Nova chose a seat at the front where she could see the control panel and pulled her cap lower, pretending to sleep.
It took another hour for the rest of the guards to load up their stuff and climb aboard. They chatted to each other, all eager to get away from Ankar. None of them bothered trying to talk to Nova. They glanced at her every now and then, their eyes full of fear as if she might leap at them at any moment. Having looked at Terry's record, it was possible she already had.
"All life-forms accounted for," the ship's smooth voice said, floating to them out of speakers set along the walls. "Take-off in ten minutes."
"Why does it always take so long?" Carlos said. "I swear these last ten minutes always feel longer than the whole last six months."
"Confederacy probably does it to torture us," said Jared.
Nova kept silent. She'd studied the specs for the ship and she knew exactly why they waited ten minutes. It was in case anything went wrong. If there was a prison riot, or if there was a stow-away then the ten minutes was supposed to be enough for the problem to be found. The time was based on extensive research, Nova just hoped that this time it wouldn't be enough.
Carlos was right. The next ten minutes were the longest of Nova's life. Her stomach stayed clenched in her throat for the whole time and her hands shook where they lay curled in her lap. She had horrible visions of Carter losing patience and getting out of his labourbot. He'd be sensed in seconds and the whole plan would be blown.
The seconds dragged by like days.
She kept her breath steady by thinking about what she was going to do once she got free. She needed to get to The Jagged Maw and collect Aart and the others. She hoped he'd managed to convince them to come. There would be lots that would say no. Going beyond the border was more than madness. To most people it was considered suicide.
Nova shook her head. Those thoughts weren't going to calm her down. She needed something else to focus on, but she couldn't find anything. It seemed like every memory she had was filled with some kind of danger, something that made her heart race.
"What's your problem?" Carlos asked.
Nova's stomach dropped. She swallowed hard. This was just the kind of question she'd been dreading.
"I—"
"Take-off initiated," the ship's voice interrupted.
A second later the ship filled with the deep rumbling of the engine. Everything rattled and vibrated and the guards gripped their handholds, falling silent.
Nova clasped her hands tighter and hoped that her hat hid how pale her face was. This was the final stage in her plan. She just had to get through this and everything would be okay.
The ship blasted up and into the air, throwing Nova sideways into Carlos, despite her harness. He glared at her but didn't say anything. She clasped her hand over her hat to stop it from flying off and pulled herself upright.
This was it!
She watched the coordinates flick by on the navigation panel.
They broke atmosphere and the rumbling engines died away into a dull murmur. The other guards resumed their conversations as if nothing had happened.
"I'm going to Tabryn," Jared said. "Going to use all the credits I've earned in this dump and make me a fortune."
"That's ridiculous," said a female guard, Ari. "Those games are rigged. You're just going to lose all your money and then you'll have to come back here next year."
"No way!" said Jared. "You just have to know how to play them. You watch, I'll be rich. One day you'll be watching the Cloud and you'll see me driving along in my brand new ship on my way to Haven."
Ari and Carlos scoffed. "You keep dreaming."
"Oh, I will," said Jared.
Nova's eyes stayed glued to the coordinates. They didn't have far to go now. Another minute at most.
She slid both hands into the pockets of her overalls. With her left she flicked the switch on a gas bomb, and with her right she gripped a mask.
Gas hissed out of the device, whispering through the compartment.
Nova held her breath and let her eyes slide sideways to watch Carlos. His eyes drooped and his chin bobbed towards his chest. The other guards yawned and their conversations slowed to a stop.
"What—" Jared said.
"I'm so tired…" Carlos said, voice trailing off as his eyes closed.
Nova's head pounded with the need to breathe and her lungs ached. She forced herself to stay calm, to do nothing.
Carlos sagged into a heap beside her.
Stars flashed across Nova's vision. She waited until the last second before ripping the mask out of her right pocket and pulling it over her face. She drew a deep breath and the clouds cleared from her head.
"Terry?" Jared slurred, eyes drooping.
"I know you," Ari whispered, hand falling towards her gun but hanging useless at her side. "You're that Hunter, the one the Confederacy has a bounty on."
"No," Jared said, his eyes widening.
The rest of the guards had already collapsed.
Nova undid her harness and stood.
Jared fumbled for his gun but as his palm reached his holster his head fell back and his eyes rolled in his head. Ari slumped over beside him.
As soon as they hit the floor, the ship's engine cut off, falling eerily silent, while the ship continued to coast forward.
"Internal attack detected. Life signs faint. Emergency escape protocol activated. Engines and life-support terminated."
The gentle blow of the temperature control and air supply stopped.
Nova tightened the mask about her face. She'd expected the shutdown, a standard security measure of the guard transporter; if the ship sensed any kind of trouble it shut off all systems to kill anyone on board. Better to kill a few guards then risk a prisoner getting free of Ankar.
She hurried to the back of the transporter and opened the cargo pod.
"Carter, get your ass out of there."
There was a lot of grunting and then the front of the labourbot sprung open. Carter clamboured out. Bruises covered his arms and legs from where they'd been crushed against the insides of the labourbot and he gleamed with sweat.
"About bloody time," he said.
"Put this on," Nova said, pulling anoth
er mask from her overalls.
Carter pulled the mask on and pushed his way past Nova and into the main compartment. He cocked his head to the side and listened.
"Where's the life support?"
"Turns off automatically," she said.
"What?" Carter's eyes bulged.
"Confederacy would rather kill everyone on board then let a prisoner get off of Ankar."
"You've led us into a death-trap!" Carter roared. He pulled a concealed knife from his belt and held it towards Nova.
"No," she said calmly. "I have a way out. But it's my security. If you kill me now, or if you don't tell me how to get past the border, then you'll die here."
"If you can restart the ship, I'm sure I can. You're no good anymore."
Nova's eyes flashed and hot anger boiled in her chest. "No one could restart those engines. They're dead. Trust me, I'm the only way you survive this, so tell me your secret. Now."
Carter's face fell. He narrowed his eyes at Nova as he shoved the knife back into his belt. "You better have a way out of this."
Nova nodded and sat, leaning back against the wall.
A cold chill seeped into the air; without the temperature control her and Carter would freeze to death within an hour. It was either that or they'd run out of oxygen.
"So tell me how to get past," she said.
Carter scowled as he sat opposite her. "You need a warp crystal. Only a few authorized Confederacy ships, and me, have one."
"I told you," she said, thinking back to Taive and the crashed colonization ship. "I've got one."
"If you say so," Carter replied, rolling his eyes. "You know, usually you'd be killed for pulling a stunt like this with me."
"Yeah well, usually people don't have your life in their hands. The border. Go on."
"You have to get your ship to analyse the crystal structure. They're specially made and the way the atoms are arranged is a code. You use that code as a frequency. It cancels out the border shield and you're home free."
Prisoner Page 16