by Gwynn White
Domino slapped on her goggles and grabbed a face shield from the cabinet beside the door. She gestured for Keva and Dottie to grab one as well.
Keva didn’t need one, but she didn’t need to broadcast her military engineering. Her body, sensing that the air quality was low, cut down on her lung’s need to inhale deeply. All systems went into hyper-efficient mode. She could survive on less air, less food, and less water than anyone else in the group. She’d been designed that way. She handed a face shield to Dottie and slipped one over her own head. She pulled the mask tight to her face, creating a good seal, and then cleared it with her hand.
Dottie followed her lead like a pro.
That woman would be all right. She adapted well.
Which was a good thing.
Everyone masked, they followed Hale and his flying coattails off the ramp of the Tencendor and into the red dust storm.
The first sign that they’d made it into the small town of Crossroads was the outline of a rectangle, metal building rising from the dust to their left. It was joined by another, connected by a ramshackle walkway. Hale led them off the dirt road and to the right where more metal buildings in staggering height and size appeared like wraiths from the cloud of death. The roofs tilted and sagged, showing signs of age, though, they could very well be brand new, for all Keva knew. In this kind of environment, it was hard to say for sure.
Hale ducked inside the partial doors of the Jiggling Donkey, the same damned dancing donkey on the sign, but without the neon lights.
As soon as Keva stepped through the doorway, the dust stopped pummeling her.
Dottie stared back at it, her eyes narrowed.
“Force field.” Keva took off her mask.
Dottie did as well. “I figured as much but didn’t realize it would have so much of an effect on dust or even wind. Force field generation isn’t effective for either of those. Electrocuting or destabilizing material objects? Yes. Keeping the wind out?” She shook her head. “No.”
“Well, I can’t say.” Dottie had a way of opening her mouth and making Keva feel stupid. She headed for the bar.
But instead of being greeted by Sparrow, another woman manned the bar. She looked just like Sparrow, with the dark hair pulled back in several tiny braids, but her eyeshadow was bright pink instead of Sparrow’s usual orange, and glitter reflected the pale light.
Hale pulled his head back and opened his hands. “Karrow, is that you? I haven’t seen you in a dog’s age.”
A smile split Karrow’s face. She ducked under the bar and met Hale halfway, wrapping him in her arms. She managed to lift him slightly. She wasn’t a small woman. “You’re here. That’s good.”
Domino stepped up to her and gave her a hug, saying something low so that only Karrow could hear and received a chuckle in response.
“What’s the word?” Hale asked.
Karrow raised an eyebrow, sobering. “Not good.”
Keva heaved a sigh. Great.
24
Karrow hopped onto the bar, reached underneath it, and pulled out a bottle. “Hey, Hap!” She waited for the other bartender to look up and then gestured to the group and waved toward an empty table.
The bar on Joy was one of the more spacious Jiggling Donkeys. It had a lot less clutter waiting around for someone to stumble into or break over another patron’s head. There were more people, but fewer tables and chairs. People stood, for the most part, their clothes ragged and dirty, their eyes green and glowing. Someone grabbed a drum in the far corner and whooped before banging an intro beat.
A few others joined in the whooping, picking up tables, benches, chairs, cups, or anything else they could use and an impromptu drum circle started.
Keva had been entertained the first-time time she’d come to Terra HUMP Joy because these impromptu drum circles also brought some freaking hilarious lyrics. As they passed the drum around, the new leader would choose the topic for their limerick contest.
She wasn’t interested in that now. She followed Dottie who stayed close on Karrow’s heels.
They stood around a large, round table near the front window, though the view consisted of more flying dirt.
Hap came over with enough glasses for everyone.
Dottie picked up her glass and looked at it with a frown.
“Everything on Terra HUMP Joy is dirty,” Keva said in a quiet voice as she leaned over. “You can wipe the glass clean with your shirt, but it’s kinda rude, so don’t be surprised if you receive bad service.”
“But will I die?” she asked, her voice barely heard over the din of the drum circle.
“Not right away.”
Dottie slow-blinked her pale gaze to Keva’s. “That’s not helpful.”
Keva gave her a tight smile and pushed her glass to the center of the table. “Just drink what she offers you.”
Dottie took in a deep breath and pushed her glass closer to the center as well.
Karrow ignored Dottie, though the crinkle around her glowing green eyes told Keva she’d at least noticed the exchange. She poured everyone a tall glass of the piss they called beer and recapped the bottle. “The military pulled out.”
“I didn’t think the military had much of a presence.” Keva took a swig of her beer and kept the grimace from her face. She hated HUMP beer.
Karrow shook her head. “They don’t. At least, they keep at least a bare minimum here. Guards, mostly, meant to ‘maintain the peace’ and remind us who we work for.”
Keva narrowed her eyes at Hale.
He completely ignored her.
“But, more than that,” Karrow continued, “the Families left, too.”
Domino threw back her beer and slammed her glass on the table. She opened her mouth and belched, then shook her head. “That doesn’t seem right. The Families always had a major presence in HUMP. It's how HUMP’s stayed limping along for so long.”
“I know, and that’s why I’m concerned.”
Dottie stared at Domino, her eyes dry, her mouth open.
Keva wanted to chuckle, but couldn’t. Not with the information she was gleaning. “Where are they?”
“Word is?” Karrow knocked her beer back and slammed her glass down, her bench deep and radiant. She took in a breath and nodded.
Domino tipped her head, pulling the corners of her lips down as if congratulating the barmaid for a better belch.
“The word?” Keva asked, trying to bring the conversation back on point. She had no idea how long they had on Joy.
Karrow unstopped the bottle and poured Domino and herself another glass. “Osiris is on a Black run.”
Osiris? The same man who took on Wilmur on Kalamatra?
Since the Elite had terraformed Reyher System, the corporations had agreed there would be no more runs into the Black. Everyone else had to fall in line because the Elite controlled commerce. Black runs cost too many resources and resulted in minimal results.
No. There was no way they would have been able to keep it that quiet.
“That makes sense,” Hale said, shaking his head. He looked like he’d been punched in the face. “That’s what Koyl meant when he said he’d be too busy to help. But what about Raptis? This is their system.”
“Raptis got pulled back to run Kalamatra in Osiris’ absence.”
“Now, wait,” Keva said, holding up a hand. “Let me get this straight. Koyl Osiris stood up and pissed all over Wilmur Zervek, stirred a fucking tegret nest, and then left?”
Hale held up his hands, but he didn’t say anything.
“Why?” Keva turned to Karrow. “Why would he leave? Why go on a Black run? How is he even doing that? And why now?”
“We’re on the brink of civil war,” Hale said flatly as if she should be able to figure it out herself, but the reasoning defied all logic.
Karrow nodded, her pink eyebrows raised. “I know. Trust me. I know, but he just went all the way through each of the systems, including Earth, gathering as many ex-military personnel with ships he
could get his hands on. The last of them arrived at Kalamatra while you were there. You didn’t see the huge armada?”
“Kalamatra’s a big station,” Keva grumbled. “There are always a lot of ships there.”
Karrow sighed. “Anyway, it doesn’t look good for HUMPers. We’re on the lookout, keeping our heads on swivel.”
Dottie leaned over and whispered in Keva’s ear. “Why are all their eyes glowing green?”
Keva took in a breath of patience and leaned over to whisper back, “That’s the HUMP toxin.” Keva itched to fight her way in, rip someone’s throat out. This situation was impossible.
“I’d read about it.” Dottie shook her head. “But seeing it. We’re safe?”
“The filters are inside the building, but we shouldn’t stay long.” Keva would see the reactions in everyone else within an hour even with the filters. Their veins would pop closer to the surface and appear black against their flesh. Their skin would pale. They’d have a harder time breathing.
It would take years to develop the green eyes, no matter what color they started out as. And only those born here or who had spent time on HUMP as a child developed the bright green glow. Somehow, those with glowing eyes were better able to breathe and lived longer, though it seemed like they should have a shorter life span with that much toxin in their system.
“HUMPers are looking for anything out of the ordinary,” Karrow continued, ignoring Dottie and Keva. “Anything that might alert them to what’s happening.”
“Where’s Sparrow?” Hale asked.
“Red Sky,” Karrow said simply. “She wanted to follow your hunch herself. She’s got contacts who could get her in.”
“Get her in?” Keva asked.
Karrow nodded. “When Red Sky won its independence, it lost its product flow. No one leaves or enters without going through the military first. They stopped taking the Hexium. They stopped bringing in rations.”
“Shit.” Without rations, Red Sky would soon die out. They couldn’t manufacture more than a turd. And if the Elite weren’t taking the Hexium…what was going on here?
“Yeah. Well, Sparrow knows of a few ways in around the military.”
“And?”
“So, far, she’s still trying to find her contacts. I’ll know something as soon as she finds it.”
Keva nodded.
Dottie glanced at her and frowned.
Keva shook her head. If Dottie was still confused about how Sparrow would get the word out, it would take too long to explain at the given moment. “Has anyone seen the Zervek ship?”
“Hard to miss that damned monstrosity,” Karrow grumbled. She took another swig of her drink. “But no. Haven’t seen it for weeks.”
Keva frowned.
Karrow narrowed her eyes at Dottie. “Something wrong with your drink?”
Dottie winced and then her Elite mask slammed into place with a graceful smile. “No. I am unfamiliar with the practices and have never been much of a drinker. I fear I would be what you would call a lightweight.”
Karrow’s expression fell into one of bemusement.
Keva leaned over and said out of the side of her mouth, “A little stiff, princess. A little stiff.”
Dottie’s eyes flared, and she smiled, raising the glass to her lips. She took a sip and tried to cover her grimace. “Mmm. This is… interesting. Do you make it yourself?”
Karrow threw back her head and laughed. “From the swine of asses. Yes, I do.” Her gaze went blank.
Keva and Hale exchanged glances.
That blank-eye thing meant Karrow was communicating to one of her pod.
Karrow blinked and refocused her eyes. She knocked back the rest of her beer. “Something’s happening on Red Sky. Rations just arrived.”
“From who?” Keva and Hale asked at the same time.
Keva glared at him.
He didn’t seem to even notice.
“Military,” Karrow said.
“Hale Reeves, in the flesh,” a male voice called two tables over. He was tall, broad, and looked like a battering ram than a human. A gnarly scar trailed down one side of his face. “As I live and breathe.”
Hale stood with a smile before seeing who spoke. He slumped back to the table, his expression falling. “This isn’t good, guys.”
“Who is that?” Keva asked.
Karrow gave her a dry look. “Larn Volces, local thug.”
“When I say it’s time to go,” Hale said under his breath, “just go.”
Keva didn’t have a problem with that.
Domino and Reach did, though.
Reach just grinned and unlatched the gun on his right hip.
Domino unlatched both her guns and took the baton from her left hip.
Keva released a long breath and turned to Dottie. “This is going to get ugly. When the fighting breaks you, you find a place to hide.”
“I’ll go behind the bar.”
“No.” Keva’s fingers flared. “You never go behind a barkeep’s bar unless invited.”
Dottie frowned.
“You cheated me.” Larn strolled up to the table.
“I did no such thing,” Hale bantered back, rising to his full height. “It was a fair deal, tight as could be.”
“I lost my ass.”
“Looks like it’s still firmly attached.”
Karrow pushed the cork into the bottle and grabbed it by the neck. “All broken furniture and glass will be added to the tab of the person who throws the first punch.”
Hale spread his hands with a grin. “I can’t help it that you made a bad deal. I agreed to your terms, Larn. I didn’t make you agree to mine.”
“It shoulda been fair.”
“I agree, and if you’d accepted mine, they woulda been, but you wouldn’t hear it.”
“I didn’t want you swindlin’ me.”
“And yet, here we are.”
Larn glared at Hale.
Hale smiled at Larn.
Karrow sighed, tucked the bottle close to her, and retreated to the bar.
“You can go to the bar,” Keva whispered to Dottie, “but do not go behind it.”
Dottie nodded once, left her glass on the table, and disappeared.
They were out of time.
25
Keva felt the familiar hum of an incoming transmission just a beat before her chip translated the message from ILO. Provisions on Red Sky were not procured by the military. A secondary contractor made the delivery and the source can’t be traced.
Crap. Then the rations could have been laced with Batch D-65. Or they were being used as a distraction.
Keva turned to the bar, searching for Dottie. She wasn’t hiding, so much as staying out of the way. Keva had to give her credit for that. She flagged the woman down, made a motion that meant to represent the face shield and hooked her thumb for the door.
Dottie nodded, made a run for the table and grabbed her face shield before heading in that direction.
Getting Hale and the others out of the brawl wouldn’t be as easy.
Larn threw the first punch.
It was chaos after that.
Keva stepped into the melee, blocking the punch of a man twice her size. She braced her stance and pushed the man back. He toppled over a chair and landed hard on the floor.
Domino grinned as she punched a woman a good head shorter than her in the face. “Good times,” she shouted.
Yeah. Great times. “Time’s up,” Keva shouted over the din.
Domino sighed dramatically, punched another man in the chest and pushed her way toward Hale. “Party time’s over, Captain.”
Hale didn’t seem like he heard. He swung a barstool at Larn’s head. It broke in several pieces after connecting with the other man’s shoulder. He held the busted stool leg in his hand.
Larn rose to his full height.
Hale glanced at the stool leg, shrugged, and tossed it with a chuckle. “You know, we could discuss this.”
Larn lunged at him.<
br />
They didn’t have time for this.
Keva shoved the table out of the way and slammed the flat of her hand into Larn’s windpipe.
He stumbled backward, hand to his throat.
She raised her leg and slammed heel onto the top of his knee, disabling but not permanently hobbling him. She waved her hand in front of Hale’s face. “We have a location. Let’s go.”
Hale waved at Larn around Keva with a smile. “Next time, just agree to my terms.”
Keva pushed Hale toward the door, grabbing their masks from the one table that hadn’t been toppled yet.
Reach broke away from the brawl and followed.
The wind had died down considerably while they’d been in the bar. Keva could see the other side of the wide hard-packed dirt street. Doors were opening, and people were spilling out, most without masks, but instead protected from the air by their glowing green eyes. HUMPers.
They staggered down the street, the hull of the Tencendor rising over the small town, her head held high above the rest.
Karrow stepped out of the bar and shouted after them, “I’ll let Sparrow know you’re on your way.”
Keva waved her hand, not even bothering to look back.
“What do we know?” Hale shouted.
“The military didn’t provide the rations,” Keva shouted back.
“And how do you know that?”
“ILO.”
Hale glanced at her over his mask, then continued to the ship in silence.
They cleared the ramp and threw off their masks. “We’re clear, Geny Pete!” Hale punched the button for the ramp, and it rose as Reach and Domino ran in. The Tencendor lifted off.
Keva ran to the belly hatch that led to her ship. They needed speed. Wilmur had probably already beat them to Red Sky. Even with the faster traffic lanes, they couldn’t outrun slip drive.
So, what was he doing?
The mind worm wasn’t giving them any information he didn’t want them to see, and he was playing it very close to the chest.
It all came down to control. Countermeasures within countermeasures. Damn, Keva almost missed Ajian.
“Where are you going?” Hale shouted.