Fractured Stars

by Lindsay Buroker

  Dash jogged to catch up to McCall as she was about to step into the woman’s office.

  “Rose says an imperial spy box just spent a good minute hovering outside the hatch, then zipped off at top speed,” he said. “I think we can expect law enforcers to show up shortly and demand we give their ship back.”

  “I’ll make this as quick as I can.”

  “Are you actually going to buy some androids? Can you afford it? Enough to make a difference?”

  McCall knew Dash was skeptical of her plan, but more than ever, she didn’t think they had time to come up with something else.

  By coming into the city and being seen—damn, she hadn’t realized the empire’s ubiquitous spy boxes would be on a world this far out—she may have ensured they would soon be fighting the law as well as cyborgs.

  “Rose,” Dash said, pacing as he waited outside the office for McCall to conclude her business. “I think you and the others better get off the ship. You don’t want to be inside if the law enforcers come. I may have to take drastic measures to keep them from getting the ship. I don’t want you caught in the cross-fire here or in the cyborg colony. McCall is determined to go back so we can question Axton. And I’m going with her.”

  “Your loyalty to your friend is admirable,” Rose said over the comm device, “and I don’t begrudge her it, but please consider that there are more lives at stake here. If you return right now and take us to the base—”

  Rose stopped speaking so abruptly that Dash looked down at the comm unit, wondering if she had ended the transmission. No, the channel was still open.

  “Rose?”

  She sighed heavily. “Four men in law-enforcer uniforms walked onto the lot.”

  “Keep the hatch locked. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

  “Won’t they have the ability to override the lock? This is one of their ships.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Dash said. “It’s a ship from Headquarters on Perun. That’s a long ways from here. But if nothing else, there’s some duct tape in a drawer by the lav.”

  “How’s that going to help?”

  “Be creative.” Dash closed the comm and turned toward the door, intending to tell McCall that they had to abandon this idea and get out of the city now, but it opened as he started to knock.

  McCall stood there in her rumpled black and gray clothing wearing an expression somewhere between shock and bemusement.

  “Are you all right?” Dash looked past her shoulder to the saleswoman, who stood at a desk wearing a very pleased smile.

  “I made a purchase,” McCall said.

  “I’m activating them now,” the saleswoman said. “Are you sure you don’t want to upgrade them with the combat-readiness package?”

  Panic or maybe horror flashed in McCall’s eyes. All Dash could read from her was that she’d spent a fortune and was afraid it had been a mistake, that she was throwing her life’s savings away.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked quietly.

  “The combat-readiness package means they would come with a bunch of extra daggers and blazers,” McCall said. “I don’t want to kill anyone doing this. Not even Axton. I just want a distraction so we can get to him.”

  “I meant are you sure buying androids is a good idea?” Dash asked.

  “Oh. No. But I did it anyway.”

  The comm unit beeped again. Dash grimaced, certain Rose had more to report than trouble finding the duct tape.

  The saleswoman glided past and clicked something that looked like the lock fob for a ground vehicle.

  Several androids hopped off their pedestals and into the aisle. More than several. Dash gaped as he counted.

  “Twelve? You bought twelve?”

  “There was a big discount if you bought a dozen,” McCall whispered.

  “Do you have that much money?”

  His mind boggled. A dozen androids? She couldn’t have spent less than a hundred thousand tindarks. One could almost buy a ship for that price. One could buy a used ship.

  “She’ll be extremely pleased with her purchase.” The saleswoman frowned at Dash, as if she feared he would try to talk McCall out of the deal they had made. “These are state-of-the-art, less than a month off the assembly line. You’ll find no higher quality android out there, even in the heart of the empire.”

  “I’m sure of it,” McCall said. “We’re in a hurry. Can we take them now?”

  “Yes, of course. I’ll have the certificates of ownership digitally transferred. Androids, you belong to this lady now.” The saleswoman gestured to McCall. “Do A and G Manufacturing proud.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” twelve identical voices rang out at once. They saluted McCall as if they were soldiers.

  She didn’t look like she knew how to respond, but she managed a curt nod. “This way, gentlemen. We have a mission.”

  McCall waved for Dash to lead the way out of the building, and he, reminded of the beeping comm device, took off at a run for the empty lot.

  McCall hurried after him, and the thuds of boots echoed off nearby buildings as the androids trotted in step behind her. Passersby on the sidewalks gawked at the group.

  Dash checked on McCall, a little worried for her sanity. That was a lot of money to drop at once for a dubious reward. But she had recovered from her slight panic of a few minutes before, and he sensed determination from her now.

  When Dash reached the empty lot, he was glad that the four law enforcers Rose had described hadn’t burgeoned into more. Two men were fiddling with the control panel for the ship’s hatch while two others stood guard. One noticed Dash immediately.

  Four law enforcers were still a considerable obstacle, considering they carried stun guns and blazer pistols, and Dash didn’t want to hurt anyone, so he didn’t know how to approach this. Could he use his mental tricks on the highest-ranking one and somehow convince him they had made an error?

  “Stop those men from getting into that ship,” McCall ordered.

  For a confused second, Dash thought the order was for him—and unnecessary since that had been his intent. Then the androids sprinted by, almost knocking him over with the breeze of their passing.

  One of the law enforcers shouted a warning to his comrades. Two opened fire as the androids stampeded toward them. One man had his stun gun in hand, and the blast struck an android in the chest harmlessly, doing no more than if he’d fired the weapon at a boulder.

  Another law enforcer used his blazer, but his android target anticipated when he would fire it and flung himself into a forward roll. The orange energy bolts sizzled past two feet above him. The android leaped to his feet and hoisted the enforcer into the air before he could shoot again. One of his cohorts did the same to the officer who’d fired the stun gun.

  The two law enforcers who had been working on the locked hatch sprang away from the herd of androids. They didn’t draw their weapons. They sprinted off down a back alley, one tapping an earstar comm device draped over his helix.

  “We’re going to have more company soon,” Dash said, coming to a stop near the two androids holding the officers over their heads.

  The men kicked and flailed but couldn’t reach their captors.

  “That sounds like a good reason to leave,” McCall said. “Androids—uhm, you’ll have to give me your names soon—please throw those men…” She looked around, then up. “Onto those roofs.”

  “I am designated as J-2923,” one of the androids announced, then hurled his man onto the three-story roof adjacent to the empty lot.

  Dash gaped as the law enforcer sailed through the air, flailing and cursing. Tiny hard candies fell out of his pocket and rained to the asphalt.

  “I am designated as J-2924,” the other android with an officer said and gave his burden the same treatment.

  “Catchy names,” Dash commented as he opened the hatch.

  “We’ll come up with something better later,” McCall said.

  Later? How long did she intend to keep the
se androids? Could she return them if they survived the cyborg encounter? Get some of her money back?

  “How are you going to tell them apart?” Dash pulled open the hatch, surprised by a ripping and suction sound that accompanied the movement.

  “I’m not sure. Tattoos, maybe.”

  Torn strips of duct tape hung from the hatchway with two of the Alliance men inside holding rolls of the stuff.

  “That might have worked better if the hatch opened inward,” Dash said.

  Rose, who stood behind the men with her arms over her chest, said, “I thought so, too, but thought perhaps you, as the pilot, knew something I didn’t.”

  “I promise I know very little you don’t, Professor.”

  She quirked an eyebrow. “So much for the notion that street smarts have value.”

  “I thought I told you to take everyone and clear out of here,” Dash said, ignoring the dig.

  “There wasn’t time before the authorities showed up.”

  “Well, there’s time now. You better clear out. After the new recruits come in, that is.”

  Dash waved for everyone to follow him inside, but it wasn’t until McCall made the same gesture that the androids trotted into the ship, again running in sync. The Alliance team skittered back with wide eyes to make room for them to pass. The androids weren’t quite as hulking as the people chosen for the cyborg program—they didn’t need brawn to have strength, after all—but they were still on the large side for humans, well over six feet tall and broad of shoulder. The ship seemed much smaller after they were packed inside.

  “Must be nice to have your own personal army,” Dash remarked to McCall.

  “I… haven’t decided yet.”

  “If this works and we get your ship back, what are you going to do with them all?” Dash decided not to point out that half of them might be damaged beyond repair in the fight ahead or that he’d also seen cyborgs throw people thirty feet in the air.

  “I’ll figure something out. I suppose if I had aspirations to lead a mercenary army, it could start with them. Are there precedents for that?”

  “You’d have to tell me. I’m sure you’ve read more history books than I have.” Dash squeezed past the androids and headed for navigation.

  “Androids are relatively recent, historically speaking.”

  “Androids were invented on Old Earth in the early twenty-first century and had a place on the original colony ships that traversed deep space to eventually settle in the Tri-Sun System,” one of the androids spoke up. “It did take many centuries for humans to regain the ability to manufacture such complex compu-organisms once they landed on the various habitable planets, as those early colonists struggled for basic survival for many generations, but androids were once again created in time. They have been gaining in popularity in the last two hundred years as they have grown more affordable to produce. I am designated J-2919.”

  “He’s older than the others,” Dash said from the pilot’s seat, his hands guiding the ship into the air. “That’s why he knows more.”

  “It is true that our numbers denote the order in which we came off the assembly line, but we were all programmed with the same information and thus none of us has more knowledge than the others at this juncture in our existence.”

  “You can name that one Chatty,” Dash told McCall as she slid into the co-pilot’s seat beside him. “Or Garrulous. I don’t think you’re going to need a tattoo to tell him apart from the others.”

  She smiled faintly, but that same determination he’d noticed in her before burned in her eyes now. She gripped the sides of her seat and stared at the holodisplay, as if she could will the ship to get out of the city faster.

  Dash had no problem with that. He swept over the rooftops, amused at the two enforcers banging at a locked access door to a stairwell, and headed south again, hoping to escape the continent before more law enforcers caught up with them.

  19

  McCall realized, as the ship sailed low over the jungle canopy once again, that she hadn’t stopped to purchase any drugs to use on Axton. Neither sedatives nor truth serums. Not that she would have known where to buy them on Selva Moon.

  She just wished they had them. What would she do if she managed to get Axton by himself to question? Her stun gun wouldn’t do anything to convince him to talk. She hoped Dash could telepathically find the answers she sought.

  “Are we trying the law-enforcer ruse?” Dash asked as they flew closer to the compound.

  The suns had set, and twilight blanketed the jungle. McCall didn’t know if that would make it easier or not to single out Axton.

  “Let’s give it a shot,” she said. “If we can avoid starting a war and damaging my new friends, that would be ideal.”

  “Friends?” Dash raised his eyebrows as he looked back at the androids sitting side by side in the rows of passenger seats.

  McCall always had a hard time thinking of anything sentient as property or a thing, and she doubted she could start now. “Friends,” she said firmly.

  “Just so long as they know we may need them quickly when we need them.”

  “I’ll tell them.” McCall was certain the androids could hear the conversation and already knew. “Can you find a spot to land far enough away that the cyborgs won’t hear us coming?” She thought of the roar of the engines and feared someone with enhanced hearing would detect the noise from miles away—and run up to that rooftop to man those e-cannons.

  “I think we may have to take a direct approach. Unless you want to crash, there’s nowhere to land but in the fields the cyborgs keep cleared of the jungle foliage.”

  McCall winced at the idea of setting down in plain sight and so close to the cyborgs.

  “Sorry, but we need a flat area larger than this ship, and it doesn’t look like there’s anything for miles and miles in any direction.”

  “What about those crash sites?”

  “Those ships mowed down some trees as they struck down yes, but there were still stumps and all manner of undergrowth. We couldn’t land on that.” Dash smiled at her. “Think of it this way. If the cyborgs rush out firing at us, your android army will be close at hand.”

  “Twelve androids don’t constitute an army.”

  “A legion?”

  “Legions denoted major units in Ancient Rome on Old Earth. They typically consisted of three to six thousand infantry soldiers and one hundred to two hundred cavalry troops.”

  “So…” Dash waved to the androids. “Not a legion?”

  “A squad at best.”

  “Disappointing.” Dash held his hand over the controls. “I need to make the decision soon. Do we land in their compound?”

  McCall blew out a slow breath. “Yes.”

  She didn’t see that they had another choice, not when time was of the essence. Those law enforcers back in the capital city would have reported in by now, and satellites and ships might already be hunting for the stolen craft.

  “Do you want me to go out alone?” Dash asked. “You’re not going to pass as an officer in that baggy clothing.”

  “No, this is my fight.” McCall wondered if it might go better if Dash didn’t show himself at all. Would cyborgs be less likely to brutalize her if she walked out alone to talk with them?

  Maybe cyborgs in general, but she wouldn’t count on Axton treating her well. She could walk out with her android squad at her back, but she didn’t want to tip her hand.

  She hoped the cyborgs let them land without firing on the ship. There was no guarantee since they’d fired earlier without any attempt at communication.

  McCall looked toward the rear of the passenger area where several of the Alliance people were looking back at her. Dash had offered again to drop them off somewhere, but they’d all decided to stay, not wanting to be abandoned on some moon with no way to get off. She sensed, too, that they no longer trusted him fully. Maybe they believed he would leave them behind to ensure nobody learned his secrets.

  Whatev
er their reasons for staying on the ship, McCall felt guilty for involving them in this and wished there had been another way. Maybe she should have left the ship in the capital and found transportation to the jungle on her own. Was she being selfish for keeping Dash here?

  “All right, but I’m with you.” Dash must have sensed her hesitancy to include him—any of them. He looked over at her, his expression fierce.

  Even though she hated taking the risk that he would be hurt—or worse—she appreciated his desire to help her. She wasn’t sure what she had done to win his loyalty, but she was glad not to be out here alone.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  “You’re welcome. Taking us in.”

  McCall gripped her stun gun and nodded.

  A few lights came into view but not many. McCall bet the satellites couldn’t find this compound from space. She felt fortunate she’d been aware of the cyborg colonies already, or it would have taken her much longer to find Axton.

  As the ship settled into a field close to the communal buildings, several doors opened, and cyborgs ran out. One man raced toward the stairs that led to the rooftop e-cannons.

  “Better hurry and get them talking before they start shooting,” McCall muttered, her heart already pounding against her ribcage.

  As she jogged toward the hatch in the rear, Dash waved for Rose to come to navigation. “Wait for us to get out, and then press this to raise the shields. You’ll have to lower them again if McCall bellows for her androids but better to have them up for now. In case they start firing.”

  “Understood.”

  “I have a comm unit,” McCall said as Dash joined her in the back. “I won’t need to bellow.”

  “Oh, trust me. You’ll bellow if cyborgs start firing at us.”

  He hit the button, and the hatch opened, the strong earthy scents of jungle foliage wafting in. McCall stepped toward the exit, but Dash hurried to go out first.