Shockwave

by Lindsay Buroker

  “Oh, they’re aware. Odin is considered backward because of its stance on genetic engineering, but it has the same tech as the rest of the systems. Some knight with a telescope in Jager’s castle is probably counting the zits on your butt right now.”

  Yas’s hand strayed to his backside. “I use an antibacterial soap that keeps those to a minimum.”

  “I’ll let the guys know. Especially Moretti. He’s about given up on his fantasy of the captain jumping his wrench after a vigorous sparring session in the gym. Maybe he’ll shift his attention to you.” Jess winked.

  Yas had no idea what to say. This conversation had taken an alarming turn.

  “Whatever the men think, I’m not the captain’s confidant.”

  Yas could have spoken of the autopsy and the footage he’d seen, but Rache had been clear that he didn’t want that information getting out into the wild. Though the idea of intentionally ingratiating himself to the captain turned his stomach, it occurred to him that if Rache did treat him differently than he did the rest of the crew, Yas shouldn’t snub that. If he could stomach it, maybe he should attempt to cultivate a friendship with the man. Rache had considerable resources for a criminal. Maybe it was possible he could one day help Yas clear his name.

  “That’s disappointing,” Jess said. “You should offer him some of that special soap.”

  The comm chimed.

  “Doctor Peshlakai,” the captain said. “Is there a DNA sequencer in sickbay?”

  “There is, actually. I just completed an inventory and was surprised at some of the equipment in the storage room here.” Specifically, Yas had wondered if the mercenaries had raided a medical laboratory somewhere and let their last doctor shop gleefully through the haul before selling off the remains.

  “Good. Dust it off.”

  Yas couldn’t imagine what on the refinery Rache had found that he wanted sequenced. They had already identified the bodies of those who had died.

  “Yes, sir,” was all he said, certain Rache wouldn’t appreciate prying.

  The comm clicked off.

  “What are we sequencing?” Jess had moved to the door, but her eyes were bright with curiosity. Had it truly been some lost bet that had sent her up here to gather intel?

  “I don’t know.”

  “Will you tell me when you do?”

  “Not unless the captain says I can.”

  Her lips twisted. “You’re no fun, Doc. But I should have known that when you started talking about butt soap.”

  She waved and left sickbay before he could find a decent response.

  Yas headed toward the equipment storage room but paused, glancing toward the medicine case. He hadn’t been watching Jess when the captain had been speaking. A part of him didn’t want to look, to see if the number of foil trylochanix packets matched the number he’d just recorded on his inventory, but his feet took him over there, regardless. He opened the case and counted. Several packets were missing.

  He rubbed the back of his head, pushing his fingers through hair that had grown shaggy in the last three months. What was the protocol for something like this? Did the mercenary ship have a rule book? Should he tell the captain? Or talk to Jess? For all he knew, half the mercs were jacked up on some drug or another. Was it within his purview to question these people’s life choices?

  Yas pushed the quandary to the back of his mind to consider further later and went into the storage room to dig out the DNA sequencer he would never have expected to find on a mercenary ship. Or be asked to use.

  17

  When the Stellar Dragon released its docking clamps, Forseti’s airlock attachments seemed to give the freighter an extra push. Bonita imagined the station very much wanted to get rid of them.

  Qin sat in the co-pilot’s seat, and Kim and Casmir stood just inside the hatchway to navigation, watching the display with tense faces. She wasn’t sure how they had made it back to the ship in one piece, especially when they weren’t wearing armor or galaxy suits, but she suspected Qin and the hulking crusher that had strode on board with them accounted for it.

  Kim had acquired a stunner somewhere, and Bonita took note of it. Before they reached the refinery, she would have to take it and any other weapons they might have acquired. In the bounty-hunting business, it was bad form to hand over armed captives. She had no idea how she would take the crusher from them.

  She’d almost wet herself when that had walked on board. Whether Casmir had reprogrammed one of the others or built one from scratch, she didn’t know, but it added a big complication. Handing over a captive with a killer robot at his back was even worse form.

  “I hope we got them all,” Qin whispered, her eyes locked on the display.

  Bonita nibbled on the inside of her cheek as they sailed away from the asteroid protecting the station. She didn’t know how long Forseti would wait to fire—or attempt to fire.

  An incoming courier ship sailed past them on its way to the station. Bonita realized that even if the torpedoes were all disabled, if Forseti’s traffic-control officers acted quickly enough, they could send ships with working weapons after the Dragon.

  “Everything that was on the builders’ schematic,” Casmir said.

  “What’s the deal with your new friend?” Bonita asked casually, hoping Casmir would get chatty, as he tended to do, and explain it in great detail, especially whether it needed to plug itself in and take a nap at night.

  “I got tired of being bullied,” was all he said.

  He smiled but also peered into her eyes, as if to ask, Are you also a bully I need to protect myself from?

  “I can believe that,” Bonita said and faced forward again, adjusting a couple of controls that didn’t need adjusting.

  She doubted he would find any duplicity in her eyes, as she had plenty of experience at bluffing and keeping her thoughts masked, but there was no need to take the risk. Even if he was goofy, she reminded herself that he was also smart. She’d met engineers and programmers who were good with their tech and far less so with people, but she didn’t think he fell into that category. The fact that she felt guilty about what she was planning attested to that. She wouldn’t say he’d won her over, but she already regretted her choice. She just didn’t see any other options now.

  An alarm beeped on the control panel, and she tensed. A warning about weapons firing?

  No, it was the fuel indicator.

  “We’re being warned that the ship doesn’t have enough fuel to get us back to Odin or to the gate and beyond,” Qin said.

  Kim and Casmir exchanged alarmed looks.

  “I know,” Bonita said. “Viggo and I already chatted about that. We’re going to stop at Saga on the way out and either collect some helium-3 ourselves or see if we can borrow a tank from one of the orbital refineries.”

  “Borrow?” Kim asked.

  “I’d say barter for one,” Bonita said, “but I don’t think there are any people stationed on those refineries, and I don’t know how to barter with robots.”

  “They tend toward the practical,” Casmir said, “but I don’t believe there are any self-aware robots out there. Just automation. Most of the systems learned from the Verloren Moon incident that creating artificial intelligence comes with a lot of risks.”

  “No kidding.” Bonita got the shivers every time she flew within a light year of the computer-run moon. She’d heard the whole thing had once been covered in ice. Now, it was covered in the gray of metal and circuit boards, an entire world turned into a giant computer, or at least it seemed that way from the outside. As far as she knew, no humans ever went there, other than the cyborg nuts who started to believe they were computers. “If you all are feeling bad about taking fuel without paying, maybe we can leave your crusher in trade.” She smirked at Casmir—that would be one way to get rid of it. “What do those go for on the open market?”

  Casmir didn’t return the smirk. “They’re not on the open market. The Odin military holds all the patents since the work w
as done in their labs. I’m breaking another law by making one, since I no longer work there.” His shoulders slumped. “I no longer work anywhere.”

  He looked so forlorn and dejected that Bonita had the urge to give him a pat and say that things would work out. But she didn’t. Thanks to her, things probably wouldn’t work out for him.

  The comm panel chimed. The entire station was visible on the display now, meaning the Dragon was likely far enough away that it could be blown out of the stars without causing collateral damage.

  “It’s station security,” Viggo said.

  Bonita was tempted to accelerate into their course and ignore them, but curiosity made her take the comm. “Captain Lopez.”

  “You are ordered by Knight-Colonel Dresdark to halt your ship and prepare to be boarded by a hazardous materials team that will deal with your quarantined cargo.”

  Bonita muted the comm. “I’m guessing that means they tried to fire at us and found out they couldn’t.”

  “If they had wanted to send a team over,” Viggo said, “they would have tried again while we were still attached.”

  “How much do you want to bet that they want us to wait while they ready a ship with enough firepower to blow us up?” Bonita asked.

  “I would not take that bet,” Viggo said.

  Casmir shifted uneasily behind them. Kim merely watched with her typical flat expression.

  The message repeated, followed by a terse, “Respond, Captain Lopez.”

  Bonita unmuted the comm. “I think you want to blow up my ship, so I’m going to pass on your offer.”

  She programmed in the course for Refinery 2 in Saga’s orbit.

  “It was not an offer; it was an order.”

  “Since I never served in the military,” she said, “I get those two mixed up.”

  A new voice came over the comm, a man’s deep baritone. Was this Knight-Colonel Dresdark himself? “If you keep flying, Lopez, you’ll never be welcome in our system again.”

  “Trust me—I’m not planning to come back.” Bonita ended the comm and faced Kim and Casmir. “You two better pod yourselves in.” She waved toward the lounge. “We’re about to accelerate out of here as fast as our engines can take us.”

  Casmir hesitated but nodded. “Let me know if you need help building a helium-3 collector for Saga. I could make something to pick up and isolate enough for your needs, so we wouldn’t have to borrow anything.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Bonita waved them out of navigation, feeling a twinge of an emotion she couldn’t quite identify. He’d offered exactly what she’d thought he might. She wasn’t sure when she’d started wanting to hire him rather than collect his bounty, but it was inconvenient.

  After Kim and Casmir disappeared down the ladder well, Qin whispered, “I don’t want to turn him in, Captain. He’s done everything we’ve asked. Cheerfully.”

  “I know, but we can’t keep him, Qin. Someone is hunting him. Someone rich and powerful. We have problems enough without him on board.”

  “That doesn’t mean we have to be the ones to turn him in.”

  “Qin, we need the money.”

  “If we gather free fuel…”

  “We’ll still need money. I owe money on the ship, have nothing left to buy food and parts with, and after this fiasco, I’m not even sure I’m going to be able to keep flying. The Kingdom is known to hold grudges. Flying off to another system may not be enough to escape their reach. I’m probably going to have to fling bribes around left and right and maybe do a complete overhaul and ID change of the Dragon if I want to survive the year.”

  “But—”

  Bonita jerked up a hand. “I won’t drag you along with me. I’ll stop at the first station we come to and drop you off with your pay. You’ve been good enough not to point out that it’s been two months since I’ve been able to pay you. After this, I’ll be able to. And you can find another gig. With a captain who’s more…” More what? Smarter? Younger? Better connected? Bonita rubbed her eyes, irritated to find moisture there. “Just more.”

  “I’d rather go on not being paid if that means not turning them over to someone who may kill them.”

  “That’s not an option.”

  “Captain—”

  “It’s not an option, Qin,” Bonita growled, spearing her with a glare. “If you can’t drop it, get out of navigation.”

  Qin’s face closed up, and she left her pod without another word, clanging the hatch shut behind her.

  Bonita sighed and almost asked Viggo if she was doing the right thing. But she knew she wasn’t. She was doing the desperate thing, as she’d been doing all year. One desperate thing after another. What were the odds that she would survive her choices and live to see her next birthday?

  “I can’t believe you’re fixing her things,” Kim said from the treadmill she had pushed out of the equipment cabinet.

  They were alone in the lounge, three days into their flight to Saga, a horrifically inhospitable planet that had starred in no tourist brochure ever. Casmir was surprised there wasn’t a prison set up there, but it would cost a fortune to build something that could survive the railing winds that scoured the gas giant. As with most planets, it was easier to build a habitat in orbit than to combat the elements inside the atmosphere.

  “I like to keep my hands busy.” Casmir sat cross-legged on the deck, spare parts and things never meant to be parts mounded to either side of his knees as he attempted to build a couple of cleaning robots to replace the ones he had sacrificed on the mercenary ship.

  “Why don’t you busy your hands hacking into the comm system to see why Lopez is really taking us to Saga?” Kim pounded along on the treadmill, the steady thumps creating a rhythm.

  “I don’t think that’s wise.” Casmir tapped his temple and glanced upward to remind her that the sentient ship could hear and see them from anywhere on board. He activated his chip in case she wanted to communicate silently.

  Because they’ll retaliate? Kim messaged. Or because you’d rather keep your head in the sand like those giant ostriches in the zoo in the capital?

  It’s not that. I just don’t see how we could change our fate right now.

  We could take over the ship. Your big robot has been nothing but a dust collector for the last three days. Kim waved a hand to where Zee stood in a corner, watching the hatch.

  I assure you, he’s not dusty. I saw one of the ship’s cleaning robots crawling up his leg earlier.

  Why not put him to use? Kim asked. If we could take over the ship, we could control our fate.

  What would change? At this point, we’re closer to Saga than we are to Forseti Station or anywhere else in the system. And it doesn’t sound like we could go many other places on the fuel the ship has. One of Saga’s moons, maybe, but none of them are inhabited. Nothing out this far is.

  Kim shook her head. You’ve succumbed to this, Casmir. We’re not wearing shackles. We’re not helpless. Yet. That could change if we do nothing. I bet you a hundred crowns and a pound of my favorite dark roast that someone is waiting for us—for you—on that refinery.

  Maybe, maybe not. Why are you so sure Lopez and Qin are lying to us?

  Why are you so sure they’re not?

  I’m not. I’m just optimistic.

  Well, knock it off. At least hack into the ship’s comm and read up on your bounty. We don’t even truly know if there is one yet, do we? I checked, and it’s not on the public network. I assume there’s some private bounty-hunters-only club that you join to get job notifications, but wouldn’t you like the details? And to see if Lopez has been in communication with the person who posted it? Or anyone else?

  Casmir exhaled slowly, pretending to be engrossed in his work, but he couldn’t argue against Kim’s logic. I wouldn’t be opposed to checking on that information, but I doubt I can hack into the comm system without Viggo knowing about it. He would tell Lopez, and she might stun or tranq us for the rest of the trip.

  With your lo
oming bodyguard watching?

  She could gas us through the vents.

  For an optimist, you sure know how to worry about all the negative possibilities. Look, if they act against us, we’ll take over the ship. You send your robot against Qin, and you and I will figure out a way to stun Lopez and deal with the ship.

  I can’t threaten to kill anyone, Kim.

  I’m irked enough that I can. I want to be in control, at least of myself, by the time we dock at that refinery. If we’re not, you could be shot the second you step out of the hatch.

  Casmir held up a hand. All right, let’s find out first if there’s truly someone waiting for me.

  You’ll hack into the comm system?

  Let me try something less incendiary first. Casmir got up and headed for the hatch.

  Kim slowed her run. Where are you going?

  To visit Qin.

  Kim unstrapped herself from the treadmill and caught up to him at the hatch to Qin’s cabin. Neither of them had been inside before.

  When Casmir knocked, a polite “Come in” sounded.

  Not sure what to expect from the room of a deadly killer who could hold her own in a fight with a crusher, he pulled the hatch open and stepped inside. Then blinked. Several times.

  The cabin was pink, purple, and frilly. There were posters of famous knights, sports stars, and vid actors on the walls, and a glass case held shelves of books packed tightly so they wouldn’t shift around in zero gravity. Other cases held sculptures—or were those wax candles?—of mythological creatures such as griffons, dragons, unicorns, and minotaurs.

  “Hello,” Qin said, the word half greeting, half question.

  She lay on her stomach on her bunk, flipping through a physical magazine with glossy pictures of musicians. A song that reminded Casmir of a smithy’s hammer on a rampage in a room full of anvils played from the speakers.

  “Sorry for the intrusion,” Casmir said, waving around the room.

  “It’s all right. You can come in. I never get visitors, not nice visitors.” Qin sat up and crossed her legs. “The pirates used to come, but they only wanted sex.”