by M J Dees
“Who?” asked Tori.
“Why?” asked Sevan.
“Tori, take this anti-matter,” she handed him the two cylinders. “In the drive room you will find everything you need to connect them to the drive.”
Tori looked inquisitive but could see that Ay-ttho was in no mood to answer questions, so he just did as she instructed him.
Sevan, however, was impervious to these subtle signs and weighed in with the question that had been burning his marbles since the Republic attempted to arrest her.
“Ay-ttho? How did you steal the cylinder? That vault sounded impregnable.”
“I know Brabin too well,” she answered. “The vault was only a distraction. Where do you hide one of the most valuable items in the universe?”
Sevan shrugged.
“In plain view of everyone.”
Ay-ttho pointed outside the observation window to the silver statue of the winged Chronos. When Sevan looked closer, he noticed that the handle of Chronos’s knife was missing.
“The handle?” he asked.
“Exactly.”
“But why would Brabin take such a colossal risk with something so valuable?”
“Because he wanted me to steal it.”
“Why?”
“That’s a good question, I’m not entirely sure.”
Ay-ttho checked the instruments on the control panels in front of her.
“Ron? Can we activate the drive?”
“You can use the standard gravity manipulation drive while Tori is setting up the anti-matter modification.”
“So we can take off?”
“Yes, we can take off.”
“Ron, I want you to track the ship that was docked next to ours.”
“I’m afraid I can’t locate that ship on my sensors, but I have drawn up a short list of likely locations which we can try.”
“Okay, let’s do it, Ron. Strap yourself in, Sevan.”
Sevan did as he told and, within a moment, the Mastery of the Stars was lifting off. They were halfway to the first destination on Ron’s list of probable locations where Braçilee might have gone when he received a signal.
“It’s from the Republic,” said Ron. “Braçilee has reported the theft and there are warrants out for our arrests.”
“Oh, great,” said Tori, overhearing the conversation from the drive room.
“Ron, where is the nearest system with a habitable planet, outside of Republic control?” asked Ay-ttho. “We can use the false identities Brabin gave us. Ron? Use the false identity signal for the ship as well.”
“New identity applied to the ship’s footprint,” Ron confirmed. “The nearest habitable planet is Sicheoyama. I’m setting a course there now. However, we might not be completely safe there. Kirkland has offered a bounty for anyone who finds us.”
“Double great,” said Tori. “Now we have bounty hunters after us and all because you couldn’t keep your thieving hands to yourself.”
“Shut up, Tori.” Ay-ttho snapped.
“At least I’ve almost got this anti-matter drive set up,” Tori continued. “Ron, if you engage the anti-matter propulsion to get us to Sicheoyama, at least they shouldn’t be able to track us there.”
Ron did as Tori suggested and soon they were well on their way to Sicheoyama.
“What are our new identities, Ron?” asked Sevan.
“Sevan, your name is Edicla, you are a bounty hunter from Daphnis.”
“At least, I know where Daphnis is.”
“Ay-ttho’s new name is Ysteb, she is a missionary from a Saturnian convent.”
“What?” Ay-ttho protested.
“I guess Brabin has a sense of humour,” Tori laughed, having returned to the bridge. “Who am I, Ron?”
“You are Sirrah,” said Ron.
“And what do I do?”
“You are a cleaner.”
Now it was Ay-ttho’s turn to laugh.
“Yes, I suppose Brabin does have a sense of humour,” she said.
“What is a bounty hunter doing travelling with a missionary and a cleaner?” asked Sevan.
“Tori, I mean Sirrah works for you, Sevan, er, I mean Edicla,” said Ron. “And you are giving Ay-ttho, er, Ysteb a lift.”
“I work for him?” Tori protested.
“Someone has to keep the ship clean,” said Sevan. “By the way, there is some laundry in my cabin.”
“Even Mastery of the Stars has a new identity,” said Ron.
“Oh yes?” said Sevan. “What is it?”
“Flavia.”
“Flavia?”
“That’s right.”
“And what about your name?”
“We are approaching Sicheoyama,” said Ron.
“Don’t change the subject, Ron,” said Sevan. “What’s your new name?”
“Animus.”
“Animus? Hmm, not bad.”
“Do you think?”
“I quite like it,” Sevan glanced at Ay-ttho and Tori, who were both trying to stifle laughs.
“Sevan? Would you tell the missionary and the cleaner that we are actually getting near Sicheoyama?”
“Yes, Ron,” Sevan turned to the others. “Ron says-”
“Yes, we heard,” said Tori. “We are approaching Sicheoyama.”
“Okay, let’s hope for the best,” said Ay-ttho.
There were no hangars, the Mastery of the Stars, touched down on the outskirts of the settlement, which looked very run down in the dark night of Sicheoyama.
“Maybe we should wait until dawn before we introduce ourselves,” Sevan suggested.
“I don’t think they’ll allow us to wait that long,” said Tori, pointing to figures approaching the ship.
“Let’s see what they want,” said Ay-ttho.
They all went to the gangway and walked down it to meet the visitors on the ground.
“Which one of you is Edicla?” said a visitor.
Tori and Ay-ttho looked at Sevan.
“What are you looking at me for,” he protested, before realising. “Who did you ask for?”
“Edicla.”
“Oh, yes, that’s me, pleased to meet you, and your name is?”
“We don’t like your sort round here.”
“Doomed Planeters?”
“Daphniseans,” Tori whispered.
“Oh yes, that’s right, Daphniseans?”
“No, bounty hunters,” said the visitor.
“I’m not a-”
Ay-ttho gave Sevan a hard nudge.
“Oh, yes, I am a bounty hunter.”
“You admit it. What is your business on Sicheoyama?”
“I’m on holirotation.”
Both Ay-ttho and Tori gave Sevan a hard stare.
“Holirotation? On Sicheoyama?” the visitor laughed. “You’re the first holirotation maker on Sicheoyama. If you want entertainment, D’Auria here owns the most entertaining establishment on the planet. You’ll find the Blazing Light opposite her bar. The figures there are the best in the region.”
“And you are?” asked Ay-ttho.
“My name is Rioch, I am the law around here and you are Ysteb, the missionary, we don’t like your sort round here either.”
“And me?” asked Tori.
“You’re a cleaner, you don’t matter. But you, Ysteb, if you think you are going to come in here fomenting unrest with your wacky stories, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“I’m on holirotation too,” said Ay-ttho.
“Well ain’t that sweet,” said Rioch. “The missionary and the bounty hunter on holirotation with each other. You look familiar, haven’t I seen you before?”
“I don’t know, where did you used to work?”
“On the penal colony on Aitne.”
“Never been,” Ay-ttho lied.
“Hmm, I could have sworn... never mind.”
“Let’s all go to my establishment and celebrate your arrival,” said D’Auria.
“Yes, let’s go,” said Ay-ttho.
“As a missionary, I thought you would abstain from the likes of fushy and pish.”
“Pish?” Sevan’s antennae stiffened.
“I am on holirotation,” said Ay-ttho, following Sevan off the ship. “Where are you going, cleaner? You must stay here and clean Flavia, especially Animus.”
Tori growled.
Sevan and Ay-ttho followed Rioch and D’Auria to D’Auria’s establishment, where she had promised them pish. Once there, D’Auria introduced them to his partner, Llorrac, a disagreeable-looking creature who seemed to spend all his time ordering around a small minion called Nadio.
“Nadio! Take the pish!” Llorrac shouted. “Nadio! Clean the counter!”
Sevan and Ay-ttho watched as they bossed the poor creature around, punctuated with occasional smacks and kicks.
“He’s harsh on that poor creature, isn’t he?” Ay-ttho commented.
“Don’t bring your Saturnian pity here,” said D’Auria. “He’s lucky to be working here at all. We took him in out of our own goodness and receive only a pittance for his keep, despite considerable expenses.”
Nadio brought them more drink and food, and then Llorrac shoved him off into the kitchen.
While Sevan and Ay-ttho were eating, someone else, in a cloak, entered and approached the counter. D`Auria excused herself to attend to him.
Sevan struggled to understand the conversation but could hear snippets.
“But I have no more,” the hooded visitor was protesting.
“Then you had better find it or he will have to live with you,” said D’Auria.
“He can’t live with me right now.”
“Then I’m sorry. There’s food, education, clothing. You have until the full moons.”
The hooded figure left and D’Auria returned to their table. A moment later, Llorrac pushed Nadio back into the room with more jugs of pish. Sevan noticed they dressed him in rags, dirty and bruised. He nudged Ay-ttho for her to observe the child.
“You are welcome here,” said D’Auria. “As long as you don’t meddle in our affairs.”
“We don’t like anyone who meddles in our affairs,” echoed Rioch. “More pish?”
“I shouldn’t, it makes me sleepy,” Ay-ttho admitted.
“What’s this?” laughed Rioch. “The missionary can’t take her drink?”
“I bet I can drink more than you,” Ay-ttho challenged their hosts.
“You’re on,” said D’Auria. “First to fall asleep pays for the pish.”
Rioch and D`Auria plied Sevan and Ay-ttho with more pish and Sevan panicked when he saw that Ay-ttho was dropping off to sleep. But relieved when the heads of Rioch and D’Auria hit the table first.
“Ay... Ysteb, don’t fall asleep,” Sevan pleaded, trying to drag her away. “Let’s go.”
Sevan only dragged her outside the entrance of the bar before they both fell into a slumber.
Sevan awoke to discover it was light with a large crowd of ugly looking creatures surrounding and staring at them.
“We don’t like strangers,” some of them were saying. “Wake up and get out.”
“Our ship is just over there, we’ll be on our way,” Sevan reassured them.
“We’ll just wake up your friend then, shall we,” said one carrying a container of dirty water.
“No, don’t do that. Trust me, you really don’t want to do that.”
As the thug threw the water, Sevan made a dash around the side of the building to avoid what he knew were the inevitable consequences.
From his hiding place, Sevan could hear a great deal of shouting, screaming, crying, crashing, crunching and squelching before everything went quiet. He emerged to see the ugly thugs lying in various contorted positions on the ground with Ay-ttho in the epicentre.
“Come on, let’s go,” said Sevan, leading her away from the carnage.
As they were walking away, Rioch and D’Auria emerged from the bar, clearly hungover, and surveyed the scene.
“The last time I saw something like this,” said Rioch. “Was in the penal colony on Aitne. There’s only one individual who could have done this.”
CHAPTER 3: FIGURES OF BLAZING LIGHT
Nosliw rushed to the Kepchaniacorp Industrial facility to find the entrance door already sealed.
“You are late again,” said the ugly supervisor through a flickering screen.
“I know, I’m sorry but I had to see...”
“D’Auria about your offspring, yes, I know.”
“How do you know that?
“Never mind about that, you have been late for the last time, your work is no longer required at this facility.”
“No! You can’t.”
“I can and I just have.”
“No, you don’t understand. I need to...”
The screen fizzled into darkness.
Nosliw wandered back through the outskirts of the settlement, wondering how he might find the credits that D’Auria demanded.
He stopped at a sign: ‘Credits for organs’.
He went inside.
“What organs are you looking for?” he asked the dirty and spectacularly ugly receptionists.
“Nothing, you won’t miss,” she replied.
“And the surgery?”
“Quite painless.”
“The payment?”
“Immediate. And we give you a free full health scan.”
*
“I’ve got some bad news,” said the receptionist, once Nosliw awoke from the surgery.
“Did it go wrong?” he panicked.
“No, the surgery was fine. It was the free health scan.”
“Did it not work?”
“No, it worked well. Too well, you might say.”
“What?”
“You have an incurable illness. Fortunately, it didn’t affect the organ, so you can still have your money.”
“Illness? What illness?”
“l’Illusion de Refroidissement. You will feel a chill, but in reality every cell in your body will overheat until you burn to death from the inside.”
“This can’t be right.”
“There is no cure, I’m afraid, I’m very sorry.”
Nosliw took the credits and wandered back towards D’Auria’s bar, where he found her drinking at the counter as usual.
“How much would it cost for you to raise Nadio until he is of age?”
D’Auria traced a figure in the dust on the counter.
“This is all I have,” he pushed the credits through the dust.
“I’m sorry, it’s best you take her somewhere else,” she turned as if to call Nadio.
“No, wait. There must be somewhere I can earn money, but I have little time.”
“Kepchaniacorp?”
He shook his head. She nodded her understanding and gestured to a similar establishment on the opposite side of the dirt from her bar.
“The Blazing Light?”
“We are always looking for new figures, and we pay well. You will raise the sum with whatever time you have left.”
Nosliw pulled his hood straight and headed across the patch of dirt to the Blazing Light.
At the same time that Nosliw was leaving D’Auria’s bar, Ay-ttho and Sevan were approaching from the Mastery of the Stars, Rioch was approaching from Kepchaniacorp, where she had just been discussing Nosliw’s case with the supervisor, and an ugly thug called Bor was just leaving the Blazing Light.
Nosliw and Bor were the first to meet, and Bor took a fancy to him.
“Hey, you must be a figure. How about giving a poor thug a good time?”
Bor grabbed him, but he pulled himself away and slapped her in what was almost too ugly to be a face.
At that moment Rioch arrived and grabbed Nosliw.
“You are under arrest, you troublemaker,” she said, pulling a weapon on her. “You’re going to get 4,000 units to teach you a lesson once and for all.”
“You can’t,” he pleaded. “I need to earn money to pay for
the upkeep of my offspring.”
“Release him,” shouted Ay-ttho as she approached the scene.
“Ah, our missionary,” laughed Rioch. “And I suppose you will take care of him if I turn him over to you?”
“I will.”
“Then he’s yours,” Rioch pushed Nosliw toward her. “But I don’t want to see him or you causing trouble again. Is that clear? ”
Ay-ttho and Sevan took Nosliw back to the Mastery of the Stars.
“Another project?” Tori commented as he saw them board the ship.
“What’s wrong with you?” Ay-ttho asked.
“Nothing, I’m just the cleaner, remember.”
He sloped off, leaving Ay-ttho and Sevan to talk to Nosliw.
“Was that your offspring we saw in D’Auria’s bar,” Ay-ttho asked, giving Nosliw a drink.
“Yes,” he said. “I was very much in love once. And I paired my friends up with her friends. When Nadio was born, she and her friends abandoned us. I came here for work at Kepchaniacorp but had to leave Nadio with D’Auria and her partner. They do not allow offspring in the Kepchaniacorp complex.”
“I will fetch Nadio for you,” said Ay-ttho.
“Oh, but it is all pointless,” Nosliw cried. “I have an incurable illness. I just need to earn enough money to pay for D’Auria to raise him. She says education, clothes and food are very expensive.”
Ay-ttho and Sevan exchange glances.
“We will get you medical treatment,” said Ay-ttho.
“Ay-ttho?” said Ron. “Sorry to interrupt. I took the precaution of scanning Nosliw as he entered the ship. Unfortunately, neither the medical facilities on board the Mastery of the Stars or the limited facilities on Sicheoyama are sophisticated enough to treat him.”
“Where are the nearest facilities, Ron?”
“Angetenar. But even their medical unit might not cure him.”
“It’s better than nothing and Angetenar is close to here,” said Ay-ttho. “I will get Nadio, then we will go.”
“There are reports of an asteroid storm around Angetenar,” Ron warned.
“We’ll have to take our chances.”
Ay-ttho had no sooner descended the Mastery of the Stars gangway than Rioch confronted her.
“I know who you are, missionary,” Rioch shouted. “You are Ay-ttho, twice criminal to the Republic, and sentenced to life on Aitne. I have already informed the Republic that you are here. They will arrive at any moment.”