by Clara Woods
The loud and rhythmic voices of merchants praising their products filled the air. Lenah looked curiously at the mix of people. To her surprise, not everyone around was a shaggy-looking pirate. There were a good number of uncombed figures, both male and female, and mostly human; but they didn’t outnumber the well-kept ones, and even more surprising was the large number of parents holding hands with their children. A woman passed them, deep in discussion with her two sons why they couldn’t get another pair of toy water guns. The normality of it struck Lenah.
“I’ll go and find out about the special trades being offered,” Cassius said next to her. He almost had to yell for them to hear him. “Will you two be alright here? Walk around and pretend to be shoppers.”
“We won’t need to pretend. This place is amazing,” Persia said and beamed. “I already saw a place where they can polish my hammer. I’ve long lost my polishing tincture.”
“And here I thought you’d be more excited about the fashion being offered,” Lenah said but nodded her okay to Cassius. He left them a moment later, making his way to the back of the hall. He’d draped his coat around his arm, and she was sure he was worried about being recognized. His imposing size alone drew some looks.
“Let’s go see about your hammer,” Lenah said to Persia, as Cassius vanished in the crowd.
“Absolutely. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to afford it. But it can’t hurt to go and look.”
“Let’s do it,” Lenah agreed. “And let’s get some more rations, too.”
They spent the next thirty minutes slowly making their way through the market. After initially feeling very uncomfortable and fighting the urge to look over her shoulder every few breaths, Lenah started to relax. She knew the people around her were criminals, but with laughing kids and lively merchants, it was difficult not to get into a shopping mood herself.
In her old life, Lenah had gone shopping regularly and always enjoyed the alone-time away from work. The new Lenah didn’t have time for that. Nor did she have the same amount of money.
They did, however, have money for urgent things, like food, and Lenah managed to convince Persia to purchase some decent shoes. They were used but sturdy black boots that would go with just about anything while being comfortable enough to allow her to get into all sorts of trouble. She’d been wearing her knee-high gladiator sandals for weeks, and their hike through the jungle of Masis III had been especially uncomfortable—and not the most hygienic—to her bare toes.
“How much are these?” Lenah asked the merchant, a middle-aged woman with a big chest and a big belly whose table sported everything from clothes to dinner plates and even paintings. The only common theme seemed to be that all of it had seen better days.
“That’s ten CGC for the pair,” the woman said.
“For these shoes?” Lenah stared at her, then realized that she was probably supposed to haggle. At least that’s what people in movies always did when they were in a market such as this.
“We’ll give you five,” she retorted to the vendor, trying to sound very sure of herself. Was five a reasonable price? Was she being rude? She had no idea.
“They cost more than that to purchase from the previous owner,” the woman said, chewing loudly on pink gum and blowing out a lazy bubble which finally popped close to Lenah’s face.
“Then how much?” Lenah asked, backing up as another bubble burst violently, then vanished back into the woman’s mouth.
“Eight.”
“That’s too expensive. I’ll give you seven.”
The woman regarded her, then Persia. “Fine.”
“Seven, those socks, and that hair kit over there,” Persia said, pointing to a box promising scissors, a hairdryer, and pale-white hair dye. `Moon Princess Kit` the label read.
“Otherwise, we’re picking up the shoes from that other shop over there. They have nicer ones, anyway.”
“What?” Another gum bubble was violently pulled back into the woman’s mouth. “Old Wagner don’t have nicer stuff. His things’ll fall apart the minute you’re out of here’,” she huffed, eyeing Persia while chewing on her gum. Persia tapped her fingers on the table but didn’t say anything.
“It’s a deal, but only because you’re new customers. Special price,” the merchant finally grumbled.
“Yeah, right,” Persia said and grinned while Lenah pulled out the seven chips. After they paid, the merchant packed up the hair kit in a bag while Persia put on her new shoes.
“Persia, what’s up with the princess hair kit? Was that because I was that bad at haggling?” Lenah asked as they stepped away from the booth.
“You were being ripped off,” Persia said, tying her laces. “Really, these shoes shouldn’t have cost more than three CGC. Besides, didn’t you say you wanted to dye your hair? New look, new Lenah, or something like that?”
“Oh.” Lenah shook her head. “I mean, yes. That was very observant of you,” she added, realizing what Persia had been up to. “I guess I’ll need it even more once I blew up my father’s lab.”
“Thought so.” Persia stood up and took a few steps in her new shoes. “They’re not as awesome as my sandals, but it does feel good not to have freezing toes for a change.”
“I bet.”
They spent the next few minutes browsing more stalls and picking up some rations when Lenah spotted Cassius’s tall figure walking toward them.
“I found us a deal,” he gravely said when he reached them. Then his eyes darted down to the bag Lenah was carrying in one hand.
“You went shopping?” He peeked into the bag. “Moon Princess hair dye?”
“It’s a whole kit,” Lenah informed him, feeling stupid. She hadn’t thought that now she’d need to tote it around with her.
Cassius made a face that seemed to say: Women, can’t be left alone in a market, not even for a few minutes, but he gallantly took the bag from her and didn’t comment further. Was he pissed? Or amused? She couldn’t tell with his face having gone back to the mask he liked to put on.
“It’s that way,” he said, pointing to a hatch on the far side of the hall. “We’re expected there in twenty minutes to inspect their children’s toys.”
That meant they had only twenty minutes to find their explosives without being missed somewhere else. Cassius had argued that, in order to be less conspicuous, they shouldn’t be asking around for weapons. After all, there was a small chance that their plan worked out so well that no one connected the departed customers of toys with the weapon thieves.
“It’s one thousand tablets. Fresh from the factory,” he explained as they made their way across the room.
“Oh great, just what we wanted,” Persia cheerfully said. And loudly.
It sounded so fake that Lenah hoped no one had heard them. She shot Persia a warning glance.
They reached the hatch where two guards looked them over.
“What’s in the bag?” the one on the left asked Cassius. He took a peek inside and then proceeded to pat Cassius down. “You’re clear.” Satisfied, he repeated the same procedure with Persia and Lenah, who was surprised that Cassius, with his tranquilizer gun and knives, qualified as clear. The guard’s hand touched over Lenah’s knife in her pocket, then continued.
“No illegal weapons. You can go through.”
The hatch opened for them, and they stepped into the corridor beyond. Bright blue lights illuminated it, and large signs numbered the multiple doors.
“It’s this way,” Cassius whispered, pointing to a small side hatch with a sign reading “Entrance Restricted”.
He quickly took in the surroundings, and, apparently satisfied that no one was around, opened it and ushered them through. They ended up in a large and empty corridor. It was icy cold.
“We need to be quick here. This is the transportation corridor, and the drones transferring the loads can pass by at any moment. They’ll sound the alarms if they see us.”
“Why is it so cold?” Persia asked, her breath puffing out
in a cloud.
“This corridor is only meant for the transport drones,” Cassius whispered. “Humans are not supposed to come here, and I guess they don’t want to encourage it. Using drones ensures anonymous transport of the goods from the parking bay to the trading bays.”
“I have no doubt,” Persia said, hugging herself.
“I couldn’t figure out what other goods were being offered here today, not without being suspicious,” Cassius whispered as he started walking. “We’ll have to check each bay.”
Lenah nodded. They had expected this much. “Is it far?” she asked him, shuddering. It was really cold in there.
He shook his head. “Just a few dozen meters until we’re in the next ship of the station. It’s heated in there.”
They walked in silence, and Lenah started to feel nervous again. So far, everything had gone to plan, but they hadn’t really done anything yet.
“The only guarded post is right ahead,” Cassius softly spoke as they reached the end of the tunnel and stopped a few meters before a closed hatch.
“This hatch should open by a motion sensor. We’ll have to be quick with the guards.”
He removed his weapon, and Lenah and Persia followed suit. Cassius waved for them to stay close to the walls while he took the center. He walked forward, and the hatch opened.
Lenah peeked her head out in time to see three guards pulling out their laser weapons. Cassius was already shooting his tranquilizer gun. He got two of them, and Lenah aimed at the third. All three went down unconscious.
Lenah inspected the new corridor. It was very different from the last one: pleasantly heated and with hatches every few meters. A view window on each hatch provided basic visibility to what was going on beyond. They also didn’t seem sound protected because loud voices traveled over to them from the closest one.
Carefully, Cassius approached, taking a peek through the window. Lenah stayed behind, reaching out with her senses. She could make out the presence of five people in the bay.
“If you can’t pay my price, you shouldn’t have bothered to take up my time.” An angry male voice drifted into the corridor. “These are good quality woods, freshly cut from the very trees of Cassidia. If they weren’t here, a Cassidian would be building a house with it by now. You can’t find this anywhere else.”
“The wood still looks wet,” another voice said, this one with a high-pitched nasal sound to it.
Cassius stepped away and motioned to them. They quickly crossed the hatch, and Lenah got a glance into the room beyond. A group of men stood around stacks of beautiful purple wood beams, the likes of which she had never seen before. Luckily, none of the five men were paying attention to what was going on behind them, and Lenah and her crew passed on undisturbed.
19 Bad Surprise
They crept further down the corridor until they reached the next open hatch. Here, whoever was talking inside, was doing so in a low voice, and Lenah couldn’t pick up more than a faint murmur. Following Cassius, she inched closer to the opening to take a peek. She stumbled into him, not realizing that he had abruptly stopped an arm’s length away from the hatch. Lenah had to suppress a yelp as she collided with his metal arm and shoulder. Cassius didn’t even react. He continued to stand frozen.
Maybe he was listening to what was being spoken out there? Curious, Lenah edged around and managed to stick her head out next to him.
The crates that were being sold here definitely weren’t what they had come for. Wrapped in transparent plastic, she saw rounded, white shovels. Lenah stared at them for a few moments before recognizing them for what they were: ivory from three shovel tuskers, and extremely illegal. The tuskers, native to Galtaca, had been hunted for centuries, their shovels made into trinkets and jewelry. They were grand beasts, as tall as a two-story building with exceptionally long life spans. And a very slow reproduction rate. Now, there were so few left that hunting them was absolutely forbidden. Was Cassius an animal protector? Lenah looked up at him and found him still transfixed on the ivory, fist clenched and gripping a knife with the other hand.
She followed his gaze more closely and noticed that he wasn’t actually looking at the crates but at the group of merchants. The sellers, it seemed. There were three of them, but a tall, burly man with green eyes and long, blond hair in a ponytail looked like the leader. He stood wide-legged with an air of authority. Next to him was an equally tall, younger man, with the same eyes and same hair, who must have been his son. The last one was a slightly shorter man with dark eyes and the broadest and most muscled of them all.
Lenah sucked in a breath of recognition as she looked back at the two tall men. Someone with another pair of those green eyes was standing right next to her. The young man—could that be Cassius’s brother?—was talking, holding a data pad in his hand, while his father was standing next to him, staring down the buyers with an air of importance. Unlike she’d expected, he was well dressed in a purple shirt with shiny silver buttons.
Lenah touched Cassius on the arm, trying to pull him away.
He had gone completely still; the only thing moving was a vein pulsing at his temple. His arm, though not the cyborg one, felt hard as steel under her hand. He looked like he was about to rip open the door and attack his father and brother. But hadn’t he run away from them? Had something happened before that? He had mentioned a mission.
She put her arm around his waist to remind him that she was here, that he had friends now, and that they were on an important quest. Lenah turned her gaze back into the room. Her hand touched his enhancement, and she shivered looking back at Cassius’s brother.
Cassius had told her that his father was responsible for his enhancements, wanting a loyal bodyguard and had made Cassius undergo the surgeries when he was barely an adult. Seeing his brother now, not a cyborg, but instead working as his father’s business aid, put a splinter in her heart.
“Cassius,” she whispered as she tugged at him again. His mouth worked, and his eyes still bore into the room, but, finally, he looked down at her. He shook his head, taking a deep breath.
“What’s the matter?” Persia whispered, coming back toward them and taking a peek through the hatch window for herself. “Those assholes. Smuggling tusker ivory.” She shook her head.
Lenah ignored her and tried to pull at Cassius. Her arm was still wrapped around his waist, and this time, he let her guide him away from the hatch.
“No way! That guy looks just like you, but without the cyborgyness,” Persia hissed from behind, recognition widening her eyes.
Cassius stopped dead in his tracks, and Lenah firmly gripped him, turning her head to give Persia a warning glare. Persia blushed and came over to them without a further word.
“Time to go,” she muttered as she reached Cassius’s other side and tugged at his arm.
He looked at both of them and seemed to come to some inner conclusion as he nodded to himself, took a deep breath and started to walk away on his own accord. He walked briskly ahead of them, barely stopping to check the next few hatches and making it very obvious that he didn’t want to talk about what had happened. Lenah, still seeing the pain and anger emanating from his tense shoulders, felt like catching up and giving him at least some moral support, but now was not the time. Nor did he seem to want it.
They reached another hatch and could hear loud voices discussing the price of the goods. “Thirty thousand and not a single CGC more,” someone said in a thick accent that Lenah couldn’t identify despite knowing she’d heard it before.
Cassius was already peering through the window of the hatch. A moment later, he turned around, giving a thumbs-up.
Had they found explosives? Lenah crept closer to take a look for herself. Instantly, she realized why she’d found the strange accent familiar. Two Craff stood in the room, both clad in thick parkas that covered everything but their clawed fingers and reptilian faces. Both had their claws painted in iridescent rainbow colors. Were they female? The parkas were neutral, and Lenah
couldn’t determine. The last time she’d seen one had been on Lunara Station. The Craff had been in his office, a boiling sauna, probably reminding him of his volcanic home planet. But out here, on a human-dominated station, these Craff had to adjust to the temperatures made to please the other species.
The buyers discussing with the Craff were a trio of humans, each of them wearing a glistening, black combat suit. The carbon-nano material tightly encased their bodies, but they would be immune to almost anything, including laser beams as long as they weren’t shot in their exposed faces.
Finally, Lenah looked at the merchandise. The lid of one crate was lifted, revealing small round spheres, mostly silver, with red stripes on them.
“Are these explosives?” Lenah whispered to Cassius, unsure what she was looking at.
He nodded. “These are perfect. The EJ 67s are very modern, lots of destruction in a small explosive, and they also have a timer.”
He paused, looking down on her. “Are you ready?”
Lenah’s heart started pounding. She wasn’t. She’d managed this only twice and with the already familiar minds of her friends. She hadn’t anticipated alien minds. What if her powers didn’t work on the Craff? But she’d never find out if she didn’t try, would she? She took a deep breath and nodded to Cassius and Persia.
Cassius stepped aside, giving her the best view of the room behind the hatch. Lenah took some time to start seeing the minds in front of her inner eye. At least, she had no issue making the Craff’s minds visible. In fact, they didn’t feel too different to her than human minds. Just as with Uz, a mind was a mind.
She looked at each one for a short while before sending out the first tentative thoughts. The group, who was still discussing prices, stopped talking. Lenah pushed more, worried that someone would realize how unrealistic it was that they had gone from fighting over prices to being overbid by another party. She sent a memory of Cassius and Persia walking through the front door on the other side of the room and offering the double price.