by M J Dees
“It wasn’t easy,” Sevan admitted. “We couldn’t get too close to Aitne in case they detected us. We had a radius where we knew you might have floated to and then it was just a case of sweeping the area and hoping that we would find you before you ran out of nutrients.”
“It was a close thing,” said Tori.
“And how did you get away from Sicheoyama?”
“To be honest,” said Sevan. “As soon as it became clear that the Republic would not let you go, we fled. We returned to Angenetar to get authorisation from Nosliw to take custody of Nadio. Ay-ttho...”
Sevan dried up.
“What is it?” asked Ay-ttho. “What’s happened?”
Sevan could not look at Ay-ttho.
“What is it?”
“Nosliw is dead,” said Tori.
Ay-ttho closed her eyes, her antennae drooped.
“We must go to Sicheoyama and get Nadio,” she said, opening her eyes.
“Of course,” said Tori. “We are already on our way there.”
*
“Any sign of the Republic?” Ay-ttho asked as they approached Sicheoyama.
“They are not appearing on any of my scanners,” said Ron.
“We should land away from the settlement and proceed there on foot,” Tori suggested.
“Agreed,” said Ay-ttho. “I will go alone.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“If we all go, it will be more suspicious, I will disguise myself with a breathing mask and robes.”
Sevan and Tori thought about arguing, but they knew it would be no use. They landed the Mastery of the Stars far enough away to avoid detection by the settlement’s primitive scanners, but close enough for Ay-ttho to make the walk to the settlement within a rotation.
As she was nearing the settlement, Ay-ttho saw Nadio was collecting something and placing it into a container which looked very heavy.
“Let me help you with that,” she said, taking the container from Nadio. It seemed too heavy for offspring of Nadio’s size to carry. “What is it?”
“My begetter told me never to talk to strangers.”
“But I’m not a stranger, I’m a friend of your begetter.”
Nadio looked sceptical.
“You are just saying that.”
“It’s true. Your begetter is Nosliw and you live in D’Auria’s bar.”
“Do you really know my begetter?”
“I did, yes.”
“Where is he?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You can’t tell me because you can’t or because you won’t.”
“Both.”
Nadio looked at Ay-ttho, trying to make sense out of what she had just said.
“I want to see my begetter.”
“I know you do, so do I. But first we need to get this container to the bar.”
As they approached the bar, Ay-ttho fitted the breathing mask and pulled her robes over her head.
“Best not say anything to D’Auria and her partner about me,” said Ayttho. “Do you think you can keep a secret?”
Nadio nodded. Ay-ttho set the container down near the back of the bar, then left Nadio and went around the front of the bar and entered.
“Where have you been, why have you taken so long?” Ay-ttho could hear D’Auria’s partner shouting at Nadio, then she heard a thud as if he had hit the offspring.
Ay-ttho sat down at a table and waited for service. As she waited, she noticed how badly D’Auria’s partner treated Nadio, then she noticed that D`Auria and her partner had offspring of their own, because there were two other small creatures who, though they looked similar to Nadio, were clothed and treated immeasurably better than Nadio.
“What would you like to eat?” D’Auria’s partner asked when he finally got around to tend on Ay-ttho’s table.
“Something to eat. What do you have?”
“Antibiotic setian sticks, bite-sized pseudo-supplement with spicy salt sauce or flourless luna-nuts.”
Ay-ttho felt her antennae droop at the prospect of the selection. She was not keen on eating other species at the best of times, but her dislike of supplements or nuts was greater than her dislike of genocidal farming.
“Bring me the setian sticks.”
D’Auria’s partner turned and headed for the kitchen, Ay-ttho heard him shouting at the chef in some thuggish dialect.
Then there was a commotion between D’Auria’s offspring and Nadio.
“She was playing with our Imagi-Knit!” one offspring was complaining.
“Scum!” D’Auria’s partner shouted at Nadio. “You know you may not put your filthy paws on their toys.”
He delivered the setian sticks to Ay-ttho. Ay-ttho ate the putrid flesh sticks as quickly as she could, then approached the counter.
“Do you have accommodation?” she asked.
“We have a room.”
“Please reserve it for me,” said Ay-ttho, throwing some credits on the table before turning to leave the establishment.
Ay-ttho wandered along the dusty, barren streets of the settlement. All establishments looked almost identical, only D’Auria’s bar and the Blazing Light appeared to advertise any kind of commerce. She saw a thug coming towards her and asked for directions.
“Is there somewhere that sells toys?” she asked.
The thug looked at her suspiciously. She grunted and pointed roughly toward a ramshackle building near the end of the street.
Ay-ttho approached the establishment and ventured inside. A small timid thug in dusty overalls wearing goggles with ardently powerful lenses entered through a doorway in the back.
“Do you have any imagi-knits?” Ay-ttho asked.
“Yes, the imagi-knits are here,” the attendant said. “These are the standard models, but I also have a deluxe version.”
The attendant reached into a drawer and pulled out an imagi-knit, clearly much better than the one D’Auria’s offspring were playing with.
“Thanks, I’ll take the deluxe version.”
“Really, it is quite expensive.”
Ay-ttho handed over some credits.
“That will do nicely.”
Ay-ttho took the deluxe imagi-knit and returned to D’Auria’s bar, where she found Nadio and offered him the toy. He was hesitant.
“It’s okay. It’s a gift for you.”
Nadio nervously took the toy and then ran away, clearly delighted with it.
“Is my room ready?” she asked D’Auria, finding her drinking his own profits in the bar.
“Yes, this way,” D’Auria sighed at the prospect of having to do work and led Ay-ttho upstairs to a room which overlooked the rear of the establishment.
The barely furnished room had an unusual smell.
“Does the window open?”
“Yes, there’s a bit of a knack to it,” said D’Auria, banging the frame in strategic places before it opened.
“Thank you,” Ay-ttho handed her another credit as a gratuity.
“Will you need a morning wake-up call?”
“Definitely not, thank you.”
“Okay, well, if you need anything, I’ll be downstairs.”
D’Auria left Ay-ttho alone.
She sat on the edge of the sad-looking bed near the window and heard D’Auria’s offspring complaining loudly.
“She’s got the deluxe imagi-knit,” they protested. “She said the new visitor gave it to her.”
“Is this true?” Ay-ttho heard D’Auria’s partner asking Nadio.
There was a moment’s silence in which Nadio inaudibly replied.
“I can’t believe it! It’s outrageous,” D’Auria’s partner exploded into a vitriolic rage. “Who do they think they are coming here buying gifts? D’Auria! Did you see this? It’s not right, buying gifts for that and giving nothing to my two little darlings.”
“What do we care?” Ay-ttho heard D’Auria reply. “As long as they pay their board and lodgings, I don’t think we should bother too much a
bout what else they do.”
The commotion died down and darkness fell, so Ay-ttho closed the window, with difficulty, and prepared to sleep.
In the morning, when Ay-ttho awoke, she went down into the bar where D’Auria served her a breakfast of germinated tamkro patty with freeze-dried rozlocks jelly.
“Would you also make me a packed lunch?” asked Ay-ttho.
“We can do you maeks fish batons and olgkloren carbohydrate tubes.”
“Make enough for two please.”
“Will you be staying with us another night?” D’Auria asked Ay-ttho when she had finished eating and went to collect her packed lunch.
“I would like to leave this rotation and I would like to take Nadio with me.”
“You are welcome to him,” said D’Auria’s partner, who had been listening in.
“No, I couldn’t possibly let you take Nadio, I love her and I am very concerned about her welfare,” D’Auria lied. “I couldn’t let her leave with a stranger, if you pardon me for saying so.”
“I will give you 1,500 credits.”
“Get Nadio,” she told her partner.
He brought Nadio into the bar. He was clutching his only possession, the deluxe imagi-knit. Ay-ttho led him out of the back entrance of the bar and back the way they had come, where she had encountered him the rotation before.
They hadn’t got very far before D’Auria chased after them, clutching the 1,500 credits.
“You can’t take him, I want him back,” she shouted.
“Why?”
“You can’t take him unless you have authorisation from Nosliw.”
Ay-ttho showed D’Auria the authorisation that Sevan and Tori had got on Angetenar before Nosliw had died. D’Auria examined the holographic testament.
“In that case, I demand you give me 3,000 credits.”
Ay-ttho turned and led Nadio away, leaving D’Auria wishing she had brought a weapon. She watched Nadio and Ay-ttho disappear into the distance before turning back for her bar where her partner would be waiting to chastise her for failing the mission on which he had sent her.
It relieved Sevan and Tori to see Ay-ttho return with Nadio, and they welcomed him to the Mastery of the Stars.
“Let’s not hang around here any longer than we have to,” said Ay-ttho. “D’Auria will have told Rioch, and they are probably already out searching for us.”
“Where to?” asked Sevan.
“Angetenar. It’s as good a place as any to lie low until the heat dissipates.”
“May I remind you about that group of asteroids?” said Ron.
“Do you have any more data?”
“Not enough to make a definite conclusion.”
“Then, let’s go.”
Ron set a course for Angetenar while Ay-ttho was pleased she could remove her disguise and show Nadio around the ship.
“What are we going to do when we get to Angetenar?” Tori asked later when they were well on their way.
“I think we should hide the ship and find lodgings,” explained Ay-ttho. “It’s the ship they will look for, so there will be much less chance of finding us if we are not with it.”
“What about me?” asked Ron.
“Don’t worry, there are plenty of places to hide a freighter on Angetenar.”
“What is Angetenar like?” Nadio asked.
“It is like any other part of the galaxy,” Ay-ttho explained. “There is a minority, the merchants and the priests, who own most of the wealth and then the majority live in abject poverty.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that, like your begetter, they don’t have enough credits to live properly and they have to work long units in terrible conditions just to survive.”
“Like I did at D’Auria’s bar.”
“Exactly. We are very lucky to have the Mastery of the Stars. We can do things that most couldn’t dream of doing in their lifetimes.”
“I’m glad I am with you,” Nadio smiled. “When are we going to see my begetter?”
Sevan, Tori and Ay-ttho looked at each other in silence.
CHAPTER 6: SILVER MARAUDERS
Nadio was inconsolable all the way to Angetenar and was barely consolable as they concealed the Mastery of the Stars in a deep cave beyond the outskirts of the largest city on Angetenar.
He allowed them to console him a little when Ay-ttho suggested they find out where they buried Nosliw and visit her grave.
“In a hole?” She exclaimed when Effeek’o explained what they had done with Nosliw’s body.
“That is the custom here. It is very expensive to buy an individual burial plot, and Nosliw had self-cremated. He almost set fire to the hospital.”
Ay-ttho looked at Sevan and Tori, who just offered apologetic shrugs.
They visited the mound under which they had unceremoniously tossed remains of Nosliw’s body along with countless others. This, at least, gave Nadio some form of closure and he clung to Ay-ttho, who consoled him with a big hug.
Eventually, Nadio allowed them to leave the burial mound, and they returned to the centre of the city to find accommodation.
The streets were full of creatures, begging, sleeping rough or offering sexual favours. Some were asking for work, while unscrupulous employers hired the offspring of others for tasks unsuitable for their age.
They gave a wide berth to a group of creatures who looked diseased.
“Are you sure this is a good place to hide?” asked Sevan.
“Can you think of a reason anyone would come looking for us here?” asked Ay-ttho.
In one side street, a fight had broken out and was threatening to develop into a riot. They headed in the opposite direction to the violence.
“I mean, it’s not exactly a suitable environment for Nadio, is it?”
“It’s only temporary.”
The streets themselves were dirty, and negligent begetters left abandoned offspring to wallow in the filth.
After a while they found a small entrance advertising accommodation. They entered, expecting the interior to be as diminutive as the outside. It surprised them to discover that it opened out into an immense space.
The creature running the establishment was a large thug and looked suspiciously at the group.
“He’s not your offspring,” he said as he logged their false identities. “You don’t look like a missionary, he doesn’t look like a bounty hunter and he doesn’t look like he’s cleaned anything in his life. I don’t want any trouble here.”
“And you shan’t have it,” said Ay-ttho. “His begetter died, I have his authorisation to take care of him, here.”
Ay-ttho showed him Nosliw’s holographic image. Nadio became emotional and Ay-ttho gave the hologram to him to hold.
The hologram slightly reassured the owner, but he was much more reassured when Ay-ttho produced a pile of credits to pay for the accommodation.
He led them upstairs to a large room of questionable cleanliness in which several beds were arranged and a side room containing the wastes disposal unit and a variety of cleaning apparatus. There was one window overlooking the street.
“Can we explore?” Nadio asked. “After I have finished all my cleaning duties.”
“You don’t need to clean here,” said Ay-ttho. “It is time you studied. We can go out later, but only as it gets dark. We must keep a low profile for a while.”
“I wish we could keep a low profile on The Doomed Planet,” said Sevan.
“Where is that?” asked Nadio.
“It is where Sevan comes from,” Ay-ttho explained. “We are on our way there, but we need to wait here for a while until the Republic stops searching for us.”
True to her word, when darkness fell, Ay-ttho, and the others took Nadio to explore the local vicinity. As they wandered around they saw that there were several creatures in silver uniforms, they were playing with the infants at the side of the road, talking with the beggars and those advertising themselves for work, even the sex w
orkers. They saw a couple of them dressed in silver trying to break up a fight and another trying to reason with a creature that looked like they had lost their marbles.
“What’s wrong?” Tori asked Ay-ttho, observing that she looked uncomfortable.
“I’m not sure. I’ve got a feeling that we are being watched or followed, but I can’t see them. It’s like a shadow out of the corner of my eye that disappears when I turn to look.
“Who are these creatures in silver?” Nadio asked.
“I think they are members of Effeek’o’s temple, the Silver Marauders. They work with the local community, helping the poor, the sick, the uneducated. The government of Angetenar does nothing to help these groups except build new prisons, they just see them as a criminal rabble.
“But why are they called marauders?” asked Sevan. “Doesn’t sound friendly.”
“Because they used to be marauders,” said Tori. “They started just raiding ships, freighters, that sort of thing, and then they developed social conscience and started donating their ill-got gains to those in need. Over time, they focused more on their social projects and less on their criminal until now they steal no more, they just help those in need.”
“So that’s how Ay-ttho knows Effeek’o.”
“Got it in one.”
“I think I’d better get Nadio back,” said Ay-ttho, still looking concerned.
“Do you mind if Sevan and I wander around longer?” asked Tori.
“Of course not, you have your communicators, right?”
Sevan and Tori both checked their suits and nodded.
“Right, we’ll see you later,” said Ay-ttho, leading Nadio back the way they had come.
All the way back to the accommodation, Ay-ttho had the same uncomfortable feeling that someone was following them or that they were being watched. She felt safer once they were inside the room with the door closed. She put Nadio to bed and then sat up, waiting for Sevan and Tori to return. She hoped they were not getting up to anything stupid.
She checked the window; it had shutters, but someone had broken them. She checked the street outside; it was quiet. Then she sat in a chair where she could see both the window and the door.
She wondered where Sevan and Tori had got to and struggled to stay awake. She wondered whether she should contact them on the communicator, but didn’t want to appear worried. She had almost lost her battle when there was a knock at the door.