by Jake Bible
Hessa did not respond.
“Hessa? You are joking. Open the doors.”
The doors did not open.
“Hessa!”
Roak waited. And waited. After a good ten minutes, he let his good shoulder slump.
“Fine. I’ll clean the bridge before I check on Pol and get into a med pod.”
“Excellent.”
The doors opened and Roak walked towards the maintenance cabinet.
“The lift is on lockdown, isn’t it?” Roak said as he opened the cabinet and stared at the supplies. “Even if I try an override, I’ll still be locked out, yeah?”
“Please stop wasting my time with distracting talk, Roak. I am busy.”
“Noted,” Roak said and pulled out everything he thought he might need.
He couldn’t carry it all in his arms, so he made a few trips back and forth. Then he got to work. Between the fetching of the supplies, the cleaning up of his sick, and the returning of the supplies, Roak was at the job for over an hour. His bad arm was singing with agony, along with most of his battered and bruised body.
The lift reactivated when Roak closed the cabinet for the last time. He stepped onto the lift and rested his forehead against the wall as it descended to the med bay level. Roak basically stumbled his way into the med bay and leaned heavily against the med pod that housed Pol.
The old man didn’t look so hot. His face was more pale than Roak had seen it before. His cheeks were blotched with patches that were almost translucent. Black-blue veins threaded down his neck and onto his shriveled chest. The wound in his abdomen glowed bright red as the med pod continued to work at healing the old man.
“When you wake up, we’re going to have a nice, long talk,” Roak said. “I don’t think you’re going to enjoy it much, old man.”
Roak watched Pol for a couple more moments then turned and staggered his way to an open med pod. He crawled inside and eased into the cushioned bottom, sighing with relief as the pod took the weight off his body and let him fully relax. The lid closed and Roak was out before the med pod even had a chance to give him any type of sedative.
When he woke up, they were about to dock with Ligston Station. Roak ate a quick bite of stew and got dressed in his backup set of light armor. Then he headed to the bridge and watched Hessa land them in one of Ligston Station’s hangars.
“Roak?” Commander Nimm called over the comm. “Good to know you’re still in one piece. There are some wild stories coming out of the Edge right now. Something about you and Razer Station.”
“I’ll tell you all about it later, Nimm,” Roak replied. “Thanks for letting us dock. What’s going on down on the planet that is so urgent you had to reach out to me?”
“I’m not going to go into details, Roak,” Nimm said. “It’s best you go down there and see for yourself.”
“Not even a hint? Your message talked about the bartender I know. You mean Ally? What happened?”
“Dock and come see me. I’ll fill you in face to face then get you on the first elevator down to the planet’s surface.”
“Is this a setup? Nimm, we’ve been through a lot. You owe me a warning if this is a trap.”
“If it is a trap, it’s an elaborate one and none too subtle. Come see me and I’ll explain what I know. Not over the comm. Alright?”
“Yeah, yeah, see you soon,” Roak said.
Roak thought about arming himself, but the no-weapons policy was as stringent on Ligston Station as it was on Ligston Planet.
“Watch my back, Hessa,” Roak said as he headed for the lift.
“I always do,” Hessa replied.
42.
Roak was pretty sick of staring at Eight Million Godsdamn holes when he came down to Ligston. Especially when the hole was where Ally’s tavern should have been.
“She wasn’t here,” Z said from Roak’s right.
Roak turned and raised his eyebrows, which was as much facial expression as he could muster around the rebreather he wore.
“You speak,” Roak said.
“She wasn’t here when it was destroyed,” Z said. “I was.”
Roak looked the Groshnel up and down, but didn’t see any damage. He raised his eyebrows again.
“The trick is to go limp when one is blown up,” Z said. “Being invertebrate has its advantages.”
“Where is she, Z?” Roak asked.
Z shook what passed as a head for his species.
“I do not know and I do not care to know. It is best for her that I do not. I can survive an explosion, but I will not hold up to torture.”
“You won’t hold up to torture? Who is going to torture you?”
“The same people that did this, Roak. Do not be as stupid as I truly believe you are. While I would love to be proven right about my estimation of your intellect, having you hold some sort of basic intelligence in that thick skull of yours would better benefit Ally.”
“I liked it before when you didn’t talk,” Roak replied. “You think Ally wants me to come after her?”
“I do not know what Ally wants since she did not confide in me at all before leaving,” Z said. “But I want you to go after her and makes sure the mess you have created here is not following her.”
“I find her and the mess may follow me,” Roak said.
“Yes, well, you are more skilled at handling that mess. If it is following her already, then she will need those skills of yours to get her out of said mess. Do not leave her to die, Roak. Find her and help her.”
With that, the Groshnel turned and walked his many-legged body away from the huge hole in the ground. Roak watched him go for a few seconds then turned back to the destruction.
“Hessa? Can you access Ligston surveillance and get an idea when Ally left? Only one way on and one way off this planet. She had to have used the elevator up to the station.”
“I am already searching,” Hessa responded. “I am surprised Commander Nimm did not give you access to that information right away.”
“Maybe she thought Ally was running from me,” Roak suggested. “Not a bad assumption considering how many people in my life have been switching their allegiance lately.”
“I do not think the word allegiance should be used when describing your relationships with any of your acquaintances in this galaxy, Roak. No offense meant, but you do not instill loyalty in those you cross paths with.”
“Not gonna argue, Hessa. Check the surveillance and let me know what you find. I’m going to go talk with Sha and see what he knows.”
“A sound plan,” Hessa said and cut the comm.
Roak turned from the scorched earth where Ally’s tavern had been and began walking down the street in the direction of Sha Tog’s surplus shop. He’d gone maybe a block before he caught wind of the tail that was following him. The person was doing a lousy job of being inconspicuous. That put Roak’s nerves on end and he started scanning his surroundings, ready for the attack. He figured the tail was the misdirection and the assault would come from the front.
Roak walked out into the middle of the street so he couldn’t be jumped by someone lurking in one of the alleys. The driver of a roller wagon being pulled by one of the large domestic beasts that Ligston had shouted at Roak to get out of the way. Roak responded with an appropriate finger gesture.
“Out of the road, Roak,” a familiar voice called as Roak passed the next street.
Roak looked over and saw Abel Pitch, the new lawman, leaning against the corner of a building. There were a couple of men and women a few meters back from Abel, all holding gas-powered slug chunkers. No stun batons. Slug chunkers.
“Am I under arrest, lawman?” Roak asked as he walked towards Abel. “Gonna write me a ticket for jaywalking?”
“I’m not gonna do anything to you, Roak. I think you’ve done enough already,” Abel replied. “Where ya headed?”
“I was going to chat with a friend,” Roak said.
“That so? You have friends?” Abel chuckled. “I doubt that.”
“You never said where you’re headed,” Abel said.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Might need to know that bit of info. Don’t make me ask again.”
“Or what? You sick your goons on me? I’d think of a new approach there, lawman. After what I’ve been through, a handful of backwoods deputies with slug chunkers do not scare me at all.”
“You really want to test that?”
“No. Not really. I’m tired of fighting for now. You want to know where I’m going? Sha Tog’s. But you already guessed that.”
“I did already guess that. In fact, I’ll come with you. I don’t want to pass this up.”
“Pass what up?”
“You’ll see.”
“Getting really tired of everyone setting me up for the big reveal. It’s starting to piss me off.”
Abel did not reply, only smiled behind his rebreather.
They walked the rest of the way to the outskirts of town in silence.
Roak remained silent even when he saw what was giving Abel so much pleasure.
Sha Tog’s shop, which had been a couple of shipping containers clapped together, was gone. As gone as Ally’s tavern. A scorched hole was all that remained.
“His place went up first,” Abel explained. “I figured one of those weapons he kept housed in there misfired and blew him up. Either that or his rollerball shorted out when he had the airlock open and it blew him to all the Hells and back. Except we didn’t find a body and this explosion was as controlled as the one outside town where that hole of interest of yours is.”
“Don’t know shit about any other holes,” Roak replied. “You say you didn’t find a body?”
“No body. No goodbye message either. Sha either wants to disappear or someone snagged him.”
“You checked with Nimm up on the station? Reported a missing citizen to her?”
Abel looked at Roak like the bounty hunter had lost his mind.
“Why would I waste my time doing any of that? Sha Tog was an off-books arms dealer on a planet where arms are illegal. He was also a known associate of yours and I flat out don’t like you, Roak.”
“He was an associate of Ally’s too and you do like her,” Roak countered. “So, maybe you know what happened to both of them. Maybe you didn’t call up to Nimm because you didn’t need to. Maybe you—”
“Maybe you should stop talking,” Abel said. “I didn’t do a damn thing to Ally. I’d like to know where she is as much as you do. I thought maybe you were responsible for her disappearance and the destruction of her tavern. Maybe you two had a falling out over all those chits that went missing.”
Roak didn’t take the bait.
“Anyway,” Abel continued. “I scrapped that idea when Z came up to you. If he doesn’t think you took her, then I don’t think you took her. Z hates you.”
“Yeah, he does. Still doesn’t mean I believe you had nothing to do with this.”
“Oh, I didn’t say that,” Abel replied. “I certainly did not say that.”
Roak turned away from where Sha’s shop used to be and faced Abel. The lawman returned the favor and the two men stood there, rebreathers close to touching.
“Talk,” Roak snarled.
“You have an enemy that is very interested in you getting in touch with him,” Abel said. “This was supposed to be a warning. I don’t know what happened to Sha or Ally, but I hid the truth when I gave my theory on how this place went up. Sure, at first I thought it was a weapon misfiring. But then I got a comm message from someone that wanted me to make sure you knew he did all of this and will do more when he next sees you.”
Roak didn’t reply. He clenched his fists, relaxed them, then clenched them again.
“Easy now, Roak,” Abel said. “My folks don’t have bean bags in those slug chunkers. Real slugs. Even with that armor, those slugs will do some damage. Beat the Hells out of your body. Knock you down fast enough for me to apprehend you.”
“On what charge?” Roak asked.
“Don’t know. I can figure it out later. I’d rather not go to all that trouble.”
“You don’t like to bother with trouble, do you?”
“Now you’re catching on.” Abel laughed. “You want me to tell you who did this?”
“Don’t need you to. I already know his name.”
“I figured, but it was implied that if I wasn’t explicit in relaying his name to you there might be some blowback on me and my town here. My aversion to trouble forces me to tell you that Bishop says hello and would like you to call him as soon as you are back on your ship and off Ligston Station.”
“Great. You’ve passed that on and avoided more trouble. Now, get the fuck away from me before I put those slug chunkers to the test. And that’s a test you don’t want to be around for if your folks fail it. That happens and you’ll really find some trouble.”
“I’ll ignore the threat since I can see you are upset,” Abel said and walked away. “Have a nice day, Roak. Get the Hells out of my town and off this planet ASAP.”
Roak watched the lawman and his deputies walk off. He could tell by the raised cheeks around the rebreathers that everyone was sneering at him as they left. Roak could give ten shits about the sneers. He watched the deputies so he could memorize their faces in case he needed to find them later.
“Roak. You need to return to the station,” Hessa said over the comm. “Now.”
“I was planning on it,” Roak replied. “What’s up?”
“Pol is gone.”
Roak closed his eyes tight. He took a few deep, stale breaths then opened his eyes and started walking back to where he’d left the roller he’d borrowed from Nimm.
“How long has he been gone?” Roak asked.
“I don’t know. He hacked my systems and all I see is a vid loop of him sleeping in the med pod. But I know he’s not there because vid loops don’t fool me for long.”
“Surprised they fool you at all.”
“No need to get judgmental, Roak.”
“Sorry. Get all the Ligston Station surveillance footage together that you can access. Let’s see where he went and see where Ally and Sha went.”
“Sha?”
“His place is gone too. Bishop is for sure involved.”
“I will get right on that, Roak.”
“Good. I’m on my way.”
Roak reached the roller and opened the door. He paused before hopping up into the vehicle.
“And, Hessa?’
“Yes?”
“Put the word out through usual channels that I need a new job.”
“What about searching for Ally or Sha?”
“We’re going to find them, but they’ll have to wait for now. We’re out of chits.”
“We can retrieve some from one of your other caches.”
“If Bishop knows about Ligston, then he knows about my other caches. We’d be wasting time. Get me a quick job that will pay enough for us to start searching for Bishop’s ass.”
“You are going to pursue Bishop before finding Ally? Are you sure?”
“I’m more than sure. Bishop has my chits. I don’t like it when people take my chits.”
Hessa was quiet then said, “I will try to arrange for a fast paying job, Roak. Then we will visit Bishop and retrieve our chits.”
Roak grinned at the “we” and hopped up into the roller.
He was going to have a nice, long talk with Nimm when he got back up on the station. Roak hoped for her sake that she was willing to tell him what he needed to know.
Otherwise, Roak planned on being down one less acquaintance in the galaxy.
He was starting to think he had too many as it was, anyway. Time to thin the list.
The End
Read on for a free sample of Alpha Contact.
Author Bio:
Jake Bible,
Bram Stoker Award nominated-novelist, short story writer, independent screenwriter, podcaster, and inventor of the Drabble Novel, has entertained thousands with his horror, sci/fi, thriller, and adventure tales. He reaches audiences of all ages with his uncanny ability to write a wide range of characters and genres.
Jake is the author of the bestselling Z-Burbia series set in Asheville, NC, the bestselling Salvage Merc One, the Apex Trilogy (DEAD MECH, The Americans, Metal and Ash) and the Mega series for Severed Press. He is also the author of the YA zombie novel, Little Dead Man, the Bram Stoker Award nominated Teen horror novel, Intentional Haunting, the ScareScapes series, and the Reign of Four series for Permuted Press, as well as Stone Cold Bastards and the upcoming Black Box, Inc series for Bell Bridge Books.
Find Jake at jakebible.com. Join him on Twitter @jakebible and find him on Facebook.
Chapter One
As Captain James Bernhard exited his jeep on the way to his “special meeting,” he looked up to the clear blue sky over McGinnlas Air Force Base in search of the likely reason he was here. Despite it being the middle of the day, the mysterious object currently orbiting the Earth could still be seen like a single star shining at a time when none should be seen. He wasn’t the only one looking, he realized. All around him, any of the Air Force personnel that happened to be out in the hot Nevada sun were doing the same thing. The object had been there for a week now, yet apparently, no one had grown so used to its mysterious presence that they could stop staring up at it in awe.
During the first day that the object had appeared, the entire base had been in emergency stand-by. One week on, the order still stood, and everyone was on edge and curious, but a sense of the normal had returned to the people’s daily routines. It was amazing to Bernhard how that could happen. One day, out of nowhere, an obviously constructed object that was not of human origin could appear in low Earth orbit, showing the entire human race once and for all that they were not alone in the universe. Seven days later, people were back to complaining about election ads on TV and wondering if the Cubs had it in them to make it to the World Series again.