Talon tried not to smile, but seeing Julius’ attempt at trying not to get caught staring at her drew it out of him. “C’mon, Vee. Not in front of her.”
“Don’t think you were gettin’ lucky just ‘cause you just got back.” She let go of him and slid over to position herself between him and Julius. “I’m too tired anyway. Those Morastus thugs sure know how to handle a lady.”
“Better than me?” Talon asked.
“Always fishin’ for compliments.” She leaned over seductively and stopped just in front of his face. “You were the best.” She pretended she was going to kiss him but before their lips touched she reached down to picked up Elisha who was fast asleep. “Now let me take her off your hands. My shift is over. I’ll let you two lovebirds enjoy your first night in paradise.”
“We won’t stay long,” Talon said. He placed as lengthy of a kiss on Elisha’ forehead as he could manage with his cuts before releasing her fully into Vera’s arms.
“Stay as long as you want. And don’t be shy with the rest of the girls.” She gestured with her head toward the cages hanging from the ceiling throughout the club. Half-naked women danced suggestively inside of them—all of them for hire. There were even some men on the faar side doing the same. “I’m sure they’ll be gentle,” she continued before sauntering away, leaving all of the men along the bar who happened to get a glimpse of her salivating as she passed.
“Damn.” Julius marveled until she disappeared through the reveling crowd. “When are you gonna tie that girl down?”
“She’s all yours if you want her,” Talon said, shrugging. Unlike everyone else he was already facing the bar, staring into his empty glass.
Julius laughed and wrapped his arm around Talon’s shoulders. “Have I ever told you you’re the best friend a man can have?”
He flashed a grin. “Not enough.” He motioned for the android bartender to come over. “I’ll get us another round. We can talk about business tomorrow in private after we’ve settled in. See if you can get Vellish and Ulson to come too.”
“Sounds good to me.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN—SAGE VOLUS
Another End of the Circuit
Sage stood on the Conduit Station suspended above the asteroid Ceres, watching as the shimmering, golden sail of the Solar-Ark she’d arrived in faded into the void of space and was lost amongst the stars. Her head was still throbbing so excruciatingly from the disembarking process that she had to stop on the landing platform in order to lean on the railing. Her human thumb and forefinger were wrapped around her temples, squeezing gently in an effort to try and alleviate some of the pressure.
It wasn’t her first time aboard one of the Solar-Arks interweaving the Circuit, but it had been many years. She had forgotten how strenuous it was to get on or off of one. The ships went so fast that they could reach Pluto in nine days from the sun on a straight run, so she wasn’t surprised that her brain felt like it was going to tear through her skull. The technology the Ancient’s produced in order to sustain a human through the transition continued to amaze her, despite how much it hurt. Somehow magnetic and Gravitum induced systems had brought her from a fraction of the speed of light to a complete halt alive. The concept was enough to make her head spin if it weren’t already pounding so intensely.
The newly repaired Executor implant inside her dulled some of the pain, but only enough to make it somewhat tolerable. It couldn’t help the fact that her legs were sore from remaining completely still aboard the Solar-Ark for almost five days. They weren’t much in the way of luxury, and being confined to a tightly secured seat didn’t make her shoulder feel much better either. Every time she moved it too much it stung as if someone was gradually sliding a thin blade into the muscle and trying to pry it apart from the artificial arm.
“Please proceed into the Conduit as quickly as possible,” a soothing, female voice spoke over the speakers. “The docking air-lock will be released in five minutes.”
As much as she didn’t feel like rushing, Sage had no desire to be sucked out into space either. She used the sill to pull herself along, wincing with every step until she caught up with the crowd. The doors sealed shut behind them as they passed into the Conduit
It wasn’t as clean or polished as Midway Terminal, but it was at least double the size. A similarly massive, airy room was filled with at least a dozen floors, but there were no projections of the Tribunes rising through the many atriums to instill hope in the Ceresians. Like Midway, each level was bustling with merchants from all over the Circuit, but unlike it they also branched into other subsidiary terminals with localized shuttles. For the Ceres Conduit wasn’t just the hub of a single planet, but for all of the Asteroid Belt and Ceresian Space.
She wasn’t sure which way to go so she stayed close behind the largest group of travelers that broke away, assuming that most people would be heading toward Ceres Prime. Merchants desperately tried to show off their wares, but she kept her head down and ignored them. She figured that if she was going to be playing a woman experienced with Conduit Merchants then she’d be better off staying away from their kind. One wrong slip of the tongue and she had no doubt that any worthy trader would be able to see right through her guise.
It proved to be a difficult task. One of them pushed his stand out in front of her in order to offer custom made silverware. She almost banged into it, but the pain throughout her body was lessening with each step and she managed to avoid it. Another merchant offered chairs fashioned from fused together scraps of broken down ships. She couldn’t even believe they stayed upright. In fact all of the wares she saw being sold were unequivocally mundane, but they were things she never imagined could be purchased—a plate to call your own, or even a strange looking statue made out seemingly useless materials. In her room beneath New Terrene she had a mattress, a light, and a locker to keep her belongings which were all provided by the Tribune. Everything she saw seemed like such a waste. Though, even she couldn’t help but be impressed by Ceresian ingenuity as much as she didn’t want to admit it.
The crowd led her down a wide set of escalators. At the landing there was another merchant stand, but this one seemed far more hazardous. She stopped in her tracks. Hanging from its racks were the powered down chassis of androids. Before she knew it she found herself standing right in front of one, analyzing it from every angle.
“Aye, that one there is an old service bot,” the merchant out in front said. “Won her in a game of cards on Fortuna. Probably been around since decades before the Earth Reclaimer War, but she can still help you with repairs on whatever you’d like.”
Sage didn’t bother responding. Just the look of the abomination sent a shiver down her spine. She had heard that there were many androids which survived the Tribune’s warranted cull during the war, but she had never seen one in person before. The way its rusty, metal frame tried to mimic a human body was enough to make her feel sick. Its mouthless face seemed to be staring at her with dull, white-panel eyes as if it were innocent.
“You interested? She’s yours for 10,000 Pico.”
She? Sage thought to herself. She wanted to smack the man for referring to the atrocity as if it was alive. As if the Spirit of the Earth possibly connected with hunks of metal and wire like they were human. The only thing she found herself interested in was finishing the work of the Tribune and tossing the merchant’s entire stand over the nearby railing.
She reached out with her artificial arm and grabbed it by its artificial neck. Then she froze. The metal of both her hand and the android were of the same shade. Her lips began to tremble.
“Say something or move along,” the merchant grumbled.
“Just looking,” Sage said as she pulled her arm back to her side and quickly brushed passed the merchant. Destroying them would just get me caught. She justified it to herself, but as she continued onward she couldn’t keep her eyes from drifting toward the synthetic hand sticking out from beneath her armor. I will not lose faith amongst the faithl
ess, she repeated to herself. She shook her foggy head and continued following the crowd through a wide entrance into the Ceres Prime Terminal.
There was a small transport shuttle waiting at the opposite side of the long line. It wasn’t moving too slowly. It was much quicker for security to scan CP cards than to take retinal scans, as was the Tribune’s protocol.
She fell onto the line, making sure to appear like she had done it a hundred times before. That didn’t keep her from carefully analyzing her surroundings. The native Ceresians were incredibly pale—as white as the tundras of Mars’ poles. Many of them were noticeably lengthier then the people she was used to. Not that they were necessarily taller than the people she was used to, but they were lankier. As if someone had tied two ropes to their arms and legs and pulled.
The man directly in front of her, however, was as hulking as anybody she had ever seen. Muscles bulged out of his crummy, sleeveless shirt. When the line moved forward a spot, a young boy in front of him glanced back over his shoulder and apparently noticed who he was. With her head finally feeling as close to normal as it had in days, Sage listened closely to their conversation.
“You’re Culver aren’t ya?” the boy asked excitedly. “The Hammer of Pallus Major.”
“I am. What’s it to you, kid?” Culver responded gruffly.
“I’ve seen you fight in the arenas a dozen times! Please, please tell me you’re headed to Dome 534 for the fights?”
“Course I am. Now bug off.” Culver gently shoved the boy forward toward the security officer at the entrance of the transport shuttle.
Sage wasn’t sure what awaited her on Ceres Prime, but the word ‘fights’ was all she needed to hear. If what she had heard about Ceresians was true, then she knew that they were a rugged people. Clearly, since Culver had his own nickname and fans, there was a great amount of respect to be earned by proving she could handle herself in a planned fight. She intended to put the rumors to the test. It was a perfect way for her to earn an important role in Ceresian life. She knew that none of them had any chance against an Executor.
Culver presented his CP card to security before stepping onto the shuttle. Sage pulled hers out of the satchel on her belt and did the same, half-ignoring whatever the officer said as she watched to see where Culver was going. She had no doubt that the Tribune-forged card would work, and it did without a hitch. When the officer finished looking her over, she stepped onto the shuttle and strapped herself into a seat as far away from Culver as possible where she could still keep an eye on him. It was time to do what she did best.
CHAPTER TWENTY—TALON RAYNE
Simple Enough
Talon was sitting on the edge of a precipice, which overlooked the entirety of the West 534 Housing District. It was a spot carved into the rockscape at the lower end of the living blocks, so secluded by two perpendicular walls of metal shanties on either side that few other people even knew it was there. His parents used to take him there when he was a child and for whatever reason he kept coming back. They died in the Earth Reclaimer War. It was a quiet place, far above the vibrant Dome. It gave him a place to be alone with his thoughts, but at the time it was serving as a place where no prying ears would hear his conversation.
“So, what is it you brought us here for?” Vellish asked as he took a seat on a ridge of rock across from Talon. Julius was sitting next to him, his eyes sleepy. It wasn’t morning, but it was impossible to tell the time of day by the dim, subterranean light everywhere on Ceres Prime. “And where’s that beautiful little girl of yours?” he added.
“She’s with her mother for now. Where’s yours?” Talon smirked.
“Mine?” Vellish looked to the craggy ceiling of the hollowed asteroid as he tried to think.
“C’mon Vellish. Really?” Julius gave him a playful slap on the back of the head.
“Oh I get it…Ulson.” Vellish said, his cheeks going red. “Very funny, Tal. Just ‘cause Julius here ain’t as tender don’t mean you gotta be jealous.” They all shared a long laugh and when Vellish caught his breath he finally answered the question. “He’s with his real wife. I suppose we should all actually be jealous of that.”
“I don’t know,” Julius responded. “Things got pretty rowdy last night. Not sayin’ I can remember all too well, but there were some beautiful ladies down there.”
“Yeah, but he don’ have to pay for his,” Vellish cackled, taking the easy opportunity to try and make somebody else blush.
Talon struggled to hold back his amusement. “Alright, guys, we don’t want to end this partnership before it even begins,” he said. “Besides, who said that Julius needed to pay for anything last night?”
Vellish’s eyes widened and he looked toward Julius. The big man only offered him a wink and allowed his lips to be pulled back into a toothy grin.
“You guys are both fuckin’ liars,” Vellish groused. He shook his head and leaned back against the rock. “Okay, that’s enough of that. Spill it Tal. I plan on heading down to the Dome sometime before I die.”
Julius flashed a nervous look at Talon. Death had been a shaky subject around him since he found out he had contracted the Blue Death. Talon nodded at him as if to say, it’s fine, he didn’t know, and then he carried on.
“I told a little to Julius already. The Morastus Clan has made me an offer to help make things right after I deprived them of one of their best miners.”
Vellish rolled his eyes at the thought of Bavor.
“I know,” Talon agreed, “and if I had any other choice I would’ve told Zaimur to shove it up his own ass. But you both know that’s not an option.”
“Ancient’s know if I ever got a chance to meet the Morastus Prince personally I’d sure hope that I wasn’t still a damned miner,” Vellish said matter-of-factly. Julius nudged him in the arm. “No offense, but not all of us chose this life like you did.”
“I know, and you both know why I did, but this job may keep us all out of the mines for the rest of our lives.”
Vellish leaned forward. “Now you have my attention.”
“Zaimur wants us to intercept a Tribunal Freighter on its way from Earth to Mars, and steal all of its cargo.”
“Now I know you’re fuckin’ lyin’!” Vellish exclaimed. “What the hell is it carryin’?”
“Gravitum,” Talon pronounced, accentuating each syllable. If Vellish and Julius were leaning in close before, that word almost made them fall forward off of their seats. “Most of the New Earth Tribunal gets their stores from the Circuit, the same as we do,” Talon continued. “Now I don’t know how much you two know about it, but the major clans are beginning to think that the Keepers are beginning to favor the Tribune. Every year since the Reclaimer War, our shipments have been getting smaller and smaller, while the Tribune’s remain steady. The Tribunal Council even has the nerve to personally attain Gravitum from the mines on Earth that they now control.”
“I’ve heard rumors,” Vellish admitted with a shrug. “Never thought anything more of it.”
“Well that’s the truth of it. We have tons of natural resources the Tribune desires, water not being the least among them, but it’s nothing they couldn’t figure out how to acquire even if we stopped supplying the Solar-Arks. We need Gravitum to survive, and they control the only source.” Talon noticed his friend trying to mask their skepticism. “I know it seems impossible, but if the Solar-Arks stopped trading with everyone who stands against the Tribunes then we’ll all be as fucked as the Earth.”
“That’s a big if, Tal,” Julius finally chimed in. “In half a millennium no faction has ever been able to turn the Keepers from neutrality. What makes you think they’d do it for the Tribune?”
“In all the centuries since Earthfall no faction has ever controlled the entire planet until recently. I’m not saying that they’ll turn completely. I don’t even know if I believe Zaimur that they’ve been turning slowly for years. But there is another war coming, of that I have no doubt. This time we’ll wind up bei
ng the fathers that die in the fighting.”
“So what does that all have to do with one shipment of Gravitum for one lazy ass Tribune?” Vellish questioned, the skin on his crooked nose wrinkling. “We’ll need a hell of a lot more than that.”
“Not one,” Julius said. “Must be why there’s been talk of other Tribunal Freighters bein’ robbed throughout the Cell recently.”
“I couldn’t tell you. Zaimur knows as little about that as we do,” Talon clarified. “But whoever’s responsible for those attacks has somehow been able to avoid being powered down and tracked by the Tribune’s security encryptions which we mistakenly thought couldn’t be breached. They’ve been taking the freighters completely intact, and disappearing into thin air. Fortunately Zaimur only wants the cargo and doesn’t care if we turn the ship into nothing but shrapnel.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Vellish said sarcastically. “What if we run into whoever these mystery pirates are while we’re there?”
Talon opened his mouth, but wasn’t immediately sure of what to say. He hadn’t begun to plan for that possibility. “Well then we’ll just have to hope that they’re on our side,” he decided.
“I’d be more worried about the Tribune,” Julius added sternly. “They’re sure to beef up defenses eventually.”
“Look,” Talon sighed. He got to his feet and faced out over the tremendous hollow surround Dome 534 before continuing. “I won’t force either of you. To be honest, I’d rather you both say no and make this easy. I don’t want to be the reason anyone joins me in death, but I don’t have many people I trust. This may very well be a suicide mission, but I’ll do whatever it takes to bring you back to Ceres alive. That I promise.” They all went quiet for a long moment, too long, and Talon couldn’t help but fear the worst.
“You ever done anything like this before when you were with Zargo Morastus?” Vellish asked, finally breaking the silence.
The Circuit, Book 1 Page 12