Breaking Point

by David Alastair Hayden

  Siv admired the jumble of multicolored lights dotting the city. It was still four hours before dawn. “It’s beautiful up here.”

  Tamzin nodded and whispered. “I’ve always liked this spot.”

  “My bike will be here in about fifteen minutes.”

  She drew her binoculars and scanned around. “We seem safe.”

  "We are, for now, sir. I'm using passive jamming, and I don't see any reason why someone would look for us here."

  “So where to now?” Siv asked her.

  She shook her head. “I don’t like talking, Siv Gendin.”

  “I’m going to need to know.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s my bike, so I’m driving.”

  “Is it really your bike?”

  “It is now.” Siv ran his hands through his hair and resisted the urge to tug. “Look, I get it. You don’t trust me. You’re asocial. Maybe you’ve never teamed up with anyone. But we’re in this together, like it or not.”

  “We may be allies, but we’re not in anything together unless Galen says otherwise.”

  “Fine. But I still think you should trust me.”

  She made a noncommittal sound.

  “I didn’t come all this way to learn your secrets.”

  She lowered the binoculars and glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. “We’re going to the old mining tunnels in the foothills. At a junction about a kilometer in, we’ll reenter wraith space and use the wormhole near there to travel to my home.”

  Siv sat upright. “A wormhole? In wraith space?”

  “I do not like having to repeat myself.”

  “There aren’t any known stable wormholes in the galaxy! I didn’t even think they were possible.”

  “A stable wormhole is theoretically possible, sir.” Silky’s voice exuded awe. “But only in wraith space. And none have ever been reported before.” Silky cooed. “Oh, sir. This is big…like a billion Boss D’s big.”

  “Calm down, Silkster.”

  "Kiss my circuits, sir, but unless she's shitting us… We could travel through a freaking wormhole! Glory be me!"

  “Silkster, take it down a notch or two. I’m trying to focus.”

  “You know what, sir? You can suck it.”

  “Does anyone else know about it?” Siv asked Tamzin.

  “Galen. And now you, unfortunately.”

  Siv was utterly at a loss for words, but Silky was not and insisted on giving him a long string of questions about the wormhole to ask her.

  “She’s not talkative, Silkster. Be patient. We’ll figure out what we need to know soon enough.”

  Silky grumbled a nasty retort.

  “If your home is on the other side of a wormhole, does that mean it’s on another world?”

  Tamzin nodded. “Yes. It’s…” She sighed. “It’s in another galaxy.”

  “Holy shit, sir! This is even better than the best thing ever. I take back everything I said about her. I love this woman! I. Love. Her.”

  Groaning, Siv shook his head.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Tamzin asked.

  “My chippy is overexcited.”

  Tamzin cocked an eyebrow then shrugged.

  “Close your eyes and meditate while we wait. You seem to handle wraith space well enough, but the trip through the wormhole is rough. Even I get dizzy in there.”

  “Sir, the Spy-Fly we deployed earlier has caught up to the bike.”

  “Oh, good. I was afraid we’d finally lost one.”

  Siv closed his eyes and took deep breaths. “Monitor Tamzin closely.”

  “You got a problem with the new love of my life, sir?”

  “It’s just a hunch, Silkster, but something is off about her.”

  29

  Mitsuki Reel

  Mitsuki waited a few minutes for Siv to reappear before fleeing the alley. She checked into a random, rat-infested hotel in the nearby slums. Rat-infested was probably too generous a term for the place.

  The human attendant offered her a free room in exchange for “favors.” It took every ounce of willpower she could muster to refrain from knocking out his last three teeth.

  She paced her room, ignoring the abnormal grunts from the next room over, and waited for Silky to contact her. After twenty minutes, she tried taking a nap. On the floor, because it appeared to be cleaner than the stained comforter and dirty sheets on the bed. She couldn’t fall asleep, though. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Siv disappear in that halo of weird light.

  He might be dead or trapped in wraith space, or that crazy girl could have turned him over to one of their enemies. There was no way for her to know. B reminded her it had only been forty-five minutes, but it seemed forever.

  If Siv was lost, then so was Silky. Without Silky, she’d have no way to contact the others and tell them what had happened. And no hope of escaping Titus II.

  She would be stuck here until all of this blew over, until no one cared that Mitsuki Reel might know something about Oona Vim. Then she would eke out a few years here working as an extraction agent until she earned enough to return to…

  She smiled sadly. There was no returning to Ekaran IV. She'd burned the Shadowslip too bad for that. She would have to choose a new home, somewhere without an influential criminal guild presence.

  Or a significant Federation presence. The Feds might someday forget her connection to Oona Vim, but not her connection to Silustria Ting. She would have to live the rest of her life on the run or under disguise on a backwater planet along the Outer Arm.

  She started pacing the room again. “Damn you, Siv Gendin. My life was perfect. Safe, easy, and uncomplicated.”

  She stopped and stared at a small tear in the pink-striped wallpaper. She peeled it away to reveal a layer of yellow-striped beneath it.

  “Uncomplicated but meaningless.”

  Damn him for shaking up her life.

  She thought back to the first time she’d met Siv. He was fourteen and still in training. Being nineteen and having seen more of the worst the world had to offer, she hadn’t thought much of him. But it hadn’t taken long for him to begin to charm her with his optimism, something she lacked entirely.

  Even now, she still had a weird crush on Siv. Weird because it wasn’t romantic. It was more that she admired him and always wanted to spend time with him, even when he didn’t want her there. Because spending time with him made her feel like she could be brave and strong and have a purpose, too.

  The bastard.

  And now he’d pulled her into this suicidal cause of his. Siv might believe they were somehow making a difference, and maybe Silky did, too. But whatever Oona’s powers might be, they were not going to lead to a restoration of the Benevolence.

  The Benevolence was gone, and the galaxy would be better off once everyone got over the idea that restoring it would bring back some mythic golden age.

  Mitsuki felt sure the girl was going to turn evil demon-queen on them, like Empress Qan.

  Not that knowing this had stopped Mitsuki from risking her life to reunite the girl with her father. They deserved however many moments of peace they could share before Oona’s awakening. Besides, without the dad, Oona was even more likely to die or go evil. And regardless of how things went for Oona, Kyralla would have her father to comfort her after she lost her sister.

  “Damn you, Gendin.”

  Mitsuki cleaned her guns and armor. She stripped to take a shower, saw the grime in the stall, changed her mind, and dressed again. Then she and B rehearsed all the escape routes and scanned the police feeds.

  “Incoming message, madam. From Silky.”

  “Patch him through!” Mitsuki said out loud.

  “Bats! We’re safely back in real space.”

  “Both of you?”

  “I haven’t taken on a new host…yet.”

  “The woman? What about her?”

  “Tamzin Moi. She’s here with us. And she’s agreed to take Siv to see the ambassador.”

 
; “Just Siv?”

  “That’s the deal.”

  Mitsuki wasn’t surprised. For Tamzin, taking only one potential threat was the right call.

  “Siv’s resting now. They’re going to ride his bike as far as possible, then they’ll pop into wraith space to complete the journey. Through a wormhole, Wings! We’re going through a freaking wormhole!”

  Mitsuki rubbed her temples. Nothing was ever simple anymore. Why couldn’t this be an average smash and grab? Or even a normal super-dangerous one?

  “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “Nonsense. It’s exciting! I’ve survived a lot of battles and seen some true wonders. I’ve even saved the galaxy—once, maybe twice. But I’ve never gone through a wormhole before. This is completely new, and it’s something almost no one else has ever done before.”

  "Oh, well, in that case, I'm happy for you. This is the best result we could've gotten."

  “Thanks! I agree.”

  “I know you get sarcasm, Silkster, because you dish it out like a chef.”

  “Sarcasm? I’m just a chippy. And my name is Silky.”

  “What does Siv want me to do?”

  “He didn’t say. But I can give you my orders.”

  “Advice. You’ll give me your advice.”

  “I call spades spades, madam. I contacted Captain Jax and offered him everything we have in addition to Tamzin’s offer, and he agreed.”

  Hope flared to life within Mitsuki. "So we have a way off-world?"

  “In theory, but I wouldn’t bet a single one of my circuits on it. I wouldn’t bet a 1G’s circuits on it.”

  “Why not?”

  “Have you seen us, Wings? We look damned dodgy.”

  “So he’s going to suspect we’re what all those ships in the system are looking for.”

  “He’d have to be an idiot not to.” She sighed. “So he’s going to try to get the best offer available. Which means—”

  “Selling us out to the ones searching for us. Jax might still be an option, but I’d prefer someone desperate and gullible if possible. He seems too sharp a customer for me to feel comfortable, and he agreed too readily to my offer.”

  "So you want me to keeping searching for more ships?"

  “Only on the net. Keep out of sight and lay low. You don’t have a ScanField, and B’s range is limited. Going outside is dangerous right now. Otherwise, monitor the police feeds and watch the news. Hopefully, we won’t be away for long.”

  “I can do all that.” She glanced at the peeled wallpaper and what appeared to be rat droppings in the corner. “Although this isn’t the best place to lay low.”

  “Gummy gonads, I just checked to see where you are. You need a better hotel. The place you’re in was condemned last year, but the owner paid off the authorities to keep it open.”

  “I’d love to move elsewhere, but you just told me to stay out of sight.”

  “If you leave now, I can help B guide you to a safe place. It’s nearer to where we’ll reemerge, it’s cheap, and they’ve got pneumatic delivery room services available. It’s far from luxurious, but you’re not likely to catch a disease there.”

  “You think that’s a risk?”

  “You wouldn’t be the first person to catch something where you are now.”

  Suddenly, she regretted putting her stuff on the bed and having lain on the floor. She was definitely glad she’d avoided the shower and getting under the covers.

  “Anything else I can do?”

  “Honestly, no. Wings… Mits… I can’t tell Siv this but…even if we do get the ambassador… No, especially if we get the ambassador… I don’t think we’re going to make it off this planet.”

  “I know, Silkster. I know.”

  “So just…stay safe. Okay?”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  30

  Siv Gendin

  Siv ignited the bike's engines, and Tamzin hopped on the back. She started to wrap her arms around his waist then shifted. After a few moments of fidgeting, she grabbed the edges of the seat.

  “Have you ever ridden a bike before?”

  “No.”

  The bike lifted into the air, and he eased it out of the parking garage.

  “How do you normally get around?”

  “I walk or use my sky-board.”

  "You have a sky-board? That's awesome. I've wanted to get one, but they're hard to find."

  “My mother passed it down to me, but it’s broken now and needs repair.”

  Siv flashed a smile back at her. "We both inherited our cool stuff, huh?"

  “So it seems.”

  “You didn’t bring the sky-board with you?”

  “It seemed too conspicuous,” she replied.

  “Well, if you have a sky-board, then I assume you have maglock boots. Between them and the bike’s inertial dampening field, you won’t need to hold onto anything.”

  Following the circuitous route Silky provided, Siv drove the skimmer bike at a brisk but legal speed along an old road then onto a highway leading in the general direction of the foothills.

  “So you’re a bounty hunter?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m good at catching people, and it pays the bills,” Tamzin replied. “Why are you a thief?”

  “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “We all have choices.”

  “That’s true,” Siv answered. “But death was the only alternative.”

  “Running away wasn’t an option?”

  Siv explained how the Shadowslip had Kompelled him. Surprisingly, he even told her about having wiped his memory twice so he could maintain hope.

  “Sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”

  She grabbed his waist and leaned forward so she could look into his face. He glanced back at her awkwardly.

  “There is nothing stupid about that, Siv Gendin. A lot about you makes no sense to me. But that does.” She released his waist and sighed. “I lived alone for ten years, stranded on the other side of the wormhole. Without hope and determination, I would not have survived.”

  She didn’t say anything else, and Siv didn’t ask.

  “Sir, I still have a lot of questions for you to ask her. New ones, in fact. For starters, how did she end up stranded on the other side of the wormhole?”

  “Silkster, she’s not the sharing type. She probably just told me more than she’s told anyone else ever, save for Ambassador Vim. If I push her, she’ll talk less.”

  “Buzzkill.”

  “It’s brave, what you’re trying to do for Galen’s girls,” Tamzin said.

  “You didn’t have to save the ambassador either.”

  Tamzin sighed then tensed. “Turn back! You’ve got to go around this area.”

  “This abandoned town up ahead?”

  “Yes.”

  “That will divert us by twenty minutes.”

  “It’s too dangerous here,” Tamzin said.

  Siv checked the map in his HUD, showing the location of all known enemies. He didn’t see any problems ahead. “Every minute we’re in the open increases the danger.”

  “The Reaper ship is in an empty lot where a building was demolished.”

  “They moved.” Siv direct-beamed a map from Silky to her chippy and marked the location of the Tekk Reaper ship. “This is where they are now.”

  “Are you sure? It’s cloaked.”

  “I can detect it, and I’m certain of its position.”

  “Shit!” Tamzin slammed a fist against the side of the bike. “That’s the tunnel entrance that we need.”

  “Looks like they parked their ship in front of it,” Siv said. “I’m sure they were hoping to catch you coming back out.”

  “I figured they had men in the tunnels. That’s why I hiked all the way into the city using wraith space. We’re going to have to find a place to park and enter through wraith space.”

  “I’d rather get the bike into the tunnels. That way we can get Amb
assador Vim out quickly. From what you and Oona both said, he can’t get far through wraith space without coming out a mess.”

  “You’re planning on slipping past them while riding this skimmer bike?” she asked incredulously.

  "I was going to this entrance." He pointed it out on the map they were now sharing in their HUDs. "Hopefully, they've left it unguarded."

  “Your map is old. That entrance caved in months ago. We’ll have to go all the way around to here.”

  The place she pointed to was much farther out. “The map doesn’t show an entrance there.”

  “It’s old and has been sealed off for over a century, but we can get it open.”

  “You’re certain?”

  “Yes, I am,” she snapped. “I memorized the location in case I ever needed it.”

  A dense, prickly shrub and decades of accumulated soil and debris concealed the entrance. With her shock-blade, Tamzin severed branches from the bush, and Siv scraped away dirt. Wanting them out of sight as fast as possible, Silky pestered Siv to hurry.

  “You want me to go faster?” Siv snapped.

  “Please, sir.”

  “Then stop pestering me! Your chattering just slows me down.”

  “I could go a lot faster,” Silky mumbled.

  “Then grow some damn arms!”

  Together, Tamzin and Siv tugged on the rusted door, which refused to move. At first, Siv thought they were going to have to blast it open, but then it shifted, and inch-by-inch slid open.

  Siv backed away and wiped sweat from his brow, streaking dirt along his forehead. He eyed the exit. “It’s not much of an entry, is it?”

  “It was only an emergency exit, sir.”

  Tamzin patted the bike. “Is it going to fit?”

  “Just barely, sir.”

  "According to my chippy, it will." Siv walked over. "But I think we're going to have to push it through."

  He turned on the bike, and its antigrav engines lifted it into the air. Tamzin pushed it in, and Siv pulled on the door. He got it three-quarters of the way before he had to rest. Tamzin pulled it the rest of the way shut.

  As soon as it clanged into place, complete darkness closed in on them. Silky activated the headlights on the skimmer bike and maxed the lowlight settings in Siv’s smart-lenses.