While Sander and Pereen talked, I couldn’t help but feel like an outsider. They discussed people, places, and projects that meant nothing to me. I listened keenly and waited for Sander to ask about the people who killed my father.
‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ Pereen said, making my ears perk up.
Sander pointed at me. ‘He wants to find the folks who did it. Do you know anything?’
‘No, I’m sorry. I can check, but can’t promise anything,’ Pereen said.
They continued to discuss some projects, and I know I listened, but the actual contents of their conversation I soon forgot.
Then they shook hands again. Pereen waved goodbye to me too, and soon the room was back in its grey grid state.
‘Who was he?’ I asked.
‘Mr Pereen leads the Sweeps and is also personally in charge of the cleaning business.’
‘Cleaning?’
‘Yeah, they help make troubles disappear.’
I swallowed. ‘Oh, that kind of cleaning…’ I started wondering if I was in the right place. The man did not know about my father, and I didn’t believe I’d signed up for a job. ‘Maybe I need not go after all…’
‘What? Are you kidding? It will be great, trust me. Anyway, it won’t be long, just a few days and you’re back in Luzasand. And if I’m not mistaken, there’s something great for you to see already. Let’s go.’
I followed him back to the corridor and through the engine room to the cockpit. We sat down on the luxurious body-hugging seats. Sander took the controls and pushed a few buttons to change the navigation screen from the Reuna system to an interstellar star-map.
‘Your first pinch, coming up,’ Sander said. ‘To Hirwe system. In three, two, one— Engage.’
With the boom of the pinch engine, the static backdrop of stars outside began fluctuating, and soon they burst into all colours of the rainbow. The colours danced on the view with such a speed that I had to close my eyes. When I opened them, the sound of the engines fell, and the stars slowed down and faded back into their own colours, making their way to their rearranged spots.
I brushed my hair back with my fingers. ‘Whoa, that was… It was… Wow!’
Sander chuckled. ‘You’re lucky to experience your first pinch with a lady like the Reacher. She’s so smooth, bro.’
Before us opened a fantastical view to a purple star-dotted nebula, at which I stared dumbfounded for a few minutes. The navigation screen told me we had pinched over one thousand parsecs to the Hirwe system, and while I thought we’d be heading to planet Neriwe, or perhaps one of its moons, Sander had set the course toward the asteroid belt.
‘Wasn’t the Sweeps base supposed to be in Neriwe?’
‘I was just using it as a shorthand approximation. The Sweeps hide inside a big asteroid, and we run without the transponders. I’ve just turned ours off,’ Sander said, with a crafty expression on his face.
‘Is that even possible?’
‘Of course. The landing mech crew has set up a system to enable transponder controls on this ship. See?’
Having the transponder off would mean neither the Alliance Dawn officials nor the Navy would be able to track the ship. ‘Is it legal?’
‘Well, it depends… I don’t think the Alliance would think so, but flying under the radar, it doesn’t matter.’
I had seen this coming. I knew Sweeps weren’t on the right side of the law—that was the whole reason for me to come and talk to them, only those folks could help me—but it still made me feel somewhat worried.
Sander eased the throttle as we neared the asteroid belt. He took the manual control to steer past the rocks—some small ones hit the shields, and some bigger ones were like moons, but with sharp edges like pieces of cracked porcelain. The navigation and the HUD showed his target, a medium-sized asteroid, and as we neared, it took shape, like a rough letter ‘L’. Sander flew us to the inside corner, and as we got closer, lights came on to show the way. On approach, the autopilot matched the asteroid’s rotation. Sander engaged the docking procedure, and the massive doors, which from afar had looked like just another flat surface area of the rock, opened up.
Inside, it was as if the whole rock was hollow as the expanse opened in front of my eyes. Little lights in an orange shade illuminated the space, and we seemed to be the only ship on the move. The inside was huge; I estimated there was space for hundreds of ships like ours, as the automatic landing procedure took us down to our designated spot.
The ship trembled as it docked and sealed around the docking point, which included connections to the airlock and the power source. I had never been to an asteroid, let alone another star system. It was fantastical and scary at the same time.
‘Welcome to the Sweeps,’ Sander said. ‘Get your stuff and let’s meet Jude.’
Jolt
I scream without a sound.
Every two or three hours it wakes me up from whatever dream or thought I was having. They want to remind me I am nothing but a head in the box, that I should not fall into a dreaming bliss, fall into thinking I was in a better place, but to keep me in this waking nightmare.
They run an electric current right up my spinal cord (or whatever remains attached to my brain). It is difficult to describe the feeling, other than it is immensely uncomfortable. I can’t think about anything else after I get jolted, but over time, it is becoming easier to recover.
Still, when it happens, it hurts like hell—a crude awakening.
I find myself reminiscing about the times when I was a wide-eyed, callow lad without a care in the world, an innocent boy who suddenly lost his father, and everything changed. I made it my life’s purpose to avenge him, and then to make my name brighter than the stars.
I should have been jolted then to make me think twice. Even though everything started with my father’s murder, I had a choice, and I chose as best as I could. That choice created a lot of pain and suffering, but if I were to make that choice now, it wouldn’t be easier at all. In my weak moments, I recall being back in Runcor with my family and my brothers, and wonder how life could have turned out if I had let it go. Instead, I’m in the dark alone, a head in a box.
I remember that as soon as I arrived at the Sweeps, things beyond my control began moving. I thought I was doing good.
Part II
Chapter Eight
Jude was a human woman with straight red hair, a pointy, freckled nose, and a hardened stare that told me she had seen things.
‘I have a job for you right now,’ she said, ‘if you’re willing to get your hands dirty.’
I hesitated, but then again thought, why not? I had hauled myself over one thousand parsecs to get to know these people. And though the place was shabbier than I had expected, I assured myself it wouldn’t be too bad.
We stood in a room that, with its rough black walls, dim orange lighting, and some unknown soot on the corner, resembled a cavern instead of a modern base.
In contrast to the rough surroundings, Jude wore something that looked like a top-of-the-line operational suit, something perhaps the military used.
‘You will pair up with Naido, a junior fellow just like you. This gig is easy, but it needs to happen fast, hence the urgency. We need to get you two geared up and briefed on the double.’
Her demeanour made me think of her as an army sergeant, not that I’d ever been near the real marines, but I thought they’d be like that. Regardless, she was a stark contrast to Sander, who seemed to always take it easy, and had probably gone lounging somewhere even though he had said he needed to take care of some business.
Jude briefed me on the mission. I was to take a package worth hundreds of millions of teradollars, comprising digitally-marked chips that the Sweeps used at their casinos. Someone was expecting a delivery of their winnings and had wanted physical chips instead of digital money or jewels. Jude said it was a quirk of the eccentric rich or that they just didn’t want to get any of that money in the system. There was a shadow system o
f currency in these chips, I learned, which made the casinos like banks. They could make money out of nothing. But that money, as opposed to bank money, was useful only to the hidden side of society.
They got me a suit similar to what Jude had been wearing, and a transport ship to take me out with this other guy.
His name was Naido, and like me, he was a human, with inky hair and skin slightly darker than mine. With a stumpy build, he looked perhaps even more like me than my brothers did.
‘So, what’s your story?’ he asked, as we boarded the ship carrying our precious cargo, a sturdy metal box, between us.
‘My father died. I found you guys through my brother, Sander. You know him?’
‘Sander Tait?’ he said, nodding. ‘He’s a cool dude.’
‘Have you done a lot of work with the Sweeps?’
‘Nah. A few delivery gigs, and before, I used to work at a casino door at Five Ways space station.’
We carried a box made of crystallium that had a smart lock designed to open up to the bio-identification of the designated recipient or blow up in the face of anyone who tried to open it by force. There was nothing else to the mission than to deliver the box.
Simple, I thought.
I wondered why they’d put two juniors on the same job. I had expected to work with someone experienced, someone from whom I could have learned about the Sweeps, and perhaps about my father’s killers. But the arrangement made perfect sense: we were the delivery boys, starting from the bottom of the food chain. I also wondered what it would take to get to where Sander was, and in a passing thought, whether this was the right path for me.
The trip to the recipient’s location required a pinch to the neighbouring star, so we were accompanied by an experienced pilot, Kesh, a dark-skinned guy with a sharply-trimmed beard.
In the designated coordinates, we found a massive space cruiser, and docked our little transport onto its side. By the looks of the ship’s interior, its main dwellers were Baar with some serious money.
Upon entry, a collegiate of silent Baar men greeted us. They wore long white coats, accentuating their blue skin and various combinations of black and white in their hair. The one in the middle—a tall man, even for a Baar, in a dusky shade of blue—stepped forward.
Looking down on us, he said, ‘I am Tarlar IV of the Vishtornering.’
I nodded—that was the name of the designated recipient—and pushed forward a handled terminal on which he confirmed his identity and receipt of goods.
It was a weird atmosphere; nobody even flinched as we lowered the box onto the floor before Tarlar IV. Two of his men picked it up, and two others escorted us back to the door.
The entire exchange was over in a matter of minutes.
As our ship’s airlock closed behind us, Kesh said through the intercom, ‘Get your asses in as fast as you can, we don’t want to be sitting here any longer than we absolutely must!’
‘What’s the rush?’ I asked as the inner door opened.
Naido gave me a grin. ‘You don’t know?’
I did not understand. For what it was worth, I was almost straight out of Sander’s ship to the briefing and onto this weird delivery job. ‘No, was it not enough we paid?’
He laughed as we ran up the corridor towards our seats on the bridge.
‘What’s so funny?’ I said as I scrambled behind him. Kesh had already detached us from the Baar ship and was turning in preparation to ignite the propulsion engines. Watching the world rotate outside made me lose balance and take support from the wall. The artificial gravity kept my feet on the ground and made my sensory experience flip.
‘You’re funny,’ Naido said, ‘but you’ll see soon enough.’
We entered the bridge as the ship was already speeding up. ‘Buckle up, boys,’ Kesh shouted. ‘It’s gonna be rough!’
I had no idea of what he was talking about, but I did as he said. So did Naido beside me. Kesh put the rear-view camera on the side of the main screen, and as our ship flew further, it increased its zoom to keep the Baar vessel locked in view.
Naido said, ‘See the timer in the corner? It’s the time they have to wait before they can access the lock in the strong-box.’
I got what he meant; the timer provided us with just enough of a head start so we would be far enough before the Baar could open the box. But I didn’t get the reason for it.
‘So, did we not pay enough?’
Naido and Kesh chortled.
‘What?’ I said, ‘If we need a better head start, why not set it for a longer period?’
‘They’re expecting five to ten minutes, it’s standard in time-release safety boxes.’
We all looked up at the screen.
‘Are we far enough if they strike?’ I said.
‘I don’t think they will.’
‘So why then are we running away from them?’
Kesh turned around on his chair and grinned at Naido. ‘The new kid doesn’t know?’
Naido shrugged. ‘It’s just a few seconds away.’
I was still confused about what was happening. The numbers counted down on the screen beside the massive Baar ship. All three of us sat silent, as if mesmerised, as the counter reached zero. The Baar ship remained stationary: nothing came out, no fighters, no missiles.
Naido hit my shoulder. ‘Wait for it, any moment now they—’
A compact ball of fire emerged near the spot we had docked. Another three burst around it, followed by dozens bursting out of the ship’s sides. I realised what was happening.
‘It was a… bomb?’ I said with my mouth open.
A massive fireball emerged from the middle of the ship, and the screen blurred in bright white and static.
Naido chuckled and said, ‘A high-power plasma explosive.’
‘Wait for it,’ Kesh said.
For a moment, it was calm.
In seconds, the shockwave hit us. Even if our ship was running fast on propulsion, the shockwave caught up and made the small ship tumble, and I thanked the Shades for the safety harnesses that kept me from flying around. No inertial dampener could take out the sudden impact like that. The controls beeped a warning, and the shields took a hit, but it passed as fast as it had come, and the ship resumed smooth sailing.
As Kesh prepared for a pinch back to Hirwe, the nature of our mission sank in.
‘Was it…? Did we just…?’ I babbled, trying to understand what had just happened.
‘Yep,’ Naido replied. ‘Woohoo!’
Kesh turned around, and said, ‘Brilliant job guys, you should’ve seen your faces! I’ve got it on video—wanna see?’
‘Yes,’ Naido said.
‘No,’ I said and swallowed. I had just delivered a high-power plasma bomb into an enormous ship and seen it blow to bits. How many lives did we take? Hundreds? Thousands? I fell back on my seat and hung my head. So, this was what they did. I never signed up for this. How many fathers just like Don, with sons like me, did we just kill? I didn’t even want to ask why.
For the rest of the trip back, we spoke very little. I resolved I was going home as soon as we arrived at the Karu-124 base.
Chapter Nine
‘You didn’t tell me!’ I shouted the moment I saw Jude.
She was standing in front of a glowing terminal in the dimly-lit room inside the Sweeps’ asteroid base. After we landed, Kesh went up to the housing wing, and Naido followed him. I was in no mood to settle in because I was going home.
She turned around. ‘Tell you what?’
‘That we were to blow them up. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be.’
‘Oh, really? Well, that’s just too bad, then,’ she said, and turned around.
‘We just killed thousands of innocent people, and this is how you react?’ I said, raising my voice.
A face of irritation made vertical lines appear above her nose. ‘Innocent people? They were all part of a criminal Pure Nano-470 consortium, and they were stealing from our casinos.’
‘Stealing? But they were expecting a delivery!’
‘First, anyone who wants physical cash has something to hide. Second, they’ve been leeching from us for several standard months, in the form of an elaborate scheme where they made it look like they were just lucky. But their luck ran out with our analytics team. And third, the less these kinds of criminals steal from us, the more we can help disadvantaged communities thrive. You need to man up.’
I just stared at her, unable to say a word. I still thought blowing up an entire ship was too much, too much to catch a criminal. They had families, people waiting for them to come home. ‘I don’t want to be part of this.’
‘OK,’ she said with a shrug, as she turned back to the screen in front of her. She flicked a few displays, ignoring me.
Having had enough of the Sweeps, I went after Sander to take me back. I looked for him up in the living quarters, where Kesh and Naido had gone. The door to that area was closed, and I engaged the terminal beside it.
‘I would like to speak to Sander Tait,’ I said.
The computer voice responded, ‘He is not available.’
That didn’t help too much. ‘Does it mean he’s not here?’
‘He is not here.’
Stilted piece of dialogue code, I thought, and asked a specific question. ‘Where is he?’
‘He is not here.’
‘You’re not helping.’
‘Glad to have helped. Come again!’
At least I knew Sander wasn’t there. I turned around and made my way back to the docking bay, to see if he was back at the Reacher. When I arrived in the port through which we had entered, I found it empty. I checked around to confirm if I was mistaken and had gone to the wrong dock, but no. The ship beside it was the same as before. The Reacher just wasn’t there anymore.
Did he just drop me here and leave?
I ran back to Jude.
She turned around. ‘What do you want now?’
Crooked Stars Page 5