“Well, thank you. That’s more than any of us know or have had the chance to find out.” Holly looked at her companions. They shifted in their seats and cleared their throats. Holly understood. She wasn’t feeling comfortable either. Macav was kind enough, but there was something ambiguous about him. Perhaps it was the way he denied and embraced whatever he wanted about the races.
“You are quite welcome. Did you bring payment?”
Shiro took out the novas he’d brought for paying Macav that were sequestered away in his interior pockets and placed the stack on the table.
“It’s all there.”
Macav produced a single lens from somewhere in his clothes and glanced through it at the stack of novas. “So it is. Well then. I would like to warn you to be incredibly cautious as you proceed. The SC does not play friendly. In fact, I have begun to feel their presence more and more on Helo. So, watch your backs, my friends.”
27
According to Macav Onini, the other part they needed—a thermo-core suppresser—to make the ridiculous communications hub tap work, was in a seedy, quite questionable joint on the moon of Joppa. Joppa was a place that had been formed to resemble Centaurus sans the dangerous life-forms that rendered the original planet one of the most deadly in the known galaxies hosting humanoid life. It was tropical and supported a wide diversity of species.
The Centau themselves adapted to the dangerous environment and through millennia had developed a tribal family system that worked to keep children in stable family units. Several males and females of child-rearing age banded together into communal living to form a family, of six to eight individuals. They had nine to ten children and worked as a unit to raise them, every adult invested in the children like they were their own. If one of the parents died in a random sting from a poisonous insect or a bite from a sneaky, venomous reptile, or by being eaten alive by one of the many horrific, monstrous creatures that did that sort of thing, there were still five to seven parents equally invested in raising the children to adulthood.
But it kept their population in lower numbers. It had the added impact, however, of forcing the Centau who didn’t die to become geniuses of science and engineering. They learned quickly to overcome environment by blending into it seamlessly, or by living above it. The houses on Joppa were elevated on stilts. The stilts were designed with traps all around them to prevent insects from migrating up them and into the home.
Despite this being Joppa where none of the threats lurked that did on Centaurus, the cities of Joppa resembled quite successfully those found on their homeworld. The tall city buildings made of white stone rose out of the jungle with green rolling hills as a backdrop. The autos that rolled along the streets were protected with strong, unbreakable glass. Buildings were equipped with multiple exit routes, but protected against pestilences with ventilation that trapped or poisoned anything trying to enter through openings.
Holly had seen photos of Joppa and knew the lore. Being in it was quite another sensation.
The odors of the planet were heavy with humidity and the fragrances of sickly sweet flowers that hung from vines clinging to buildings and the towering trees with giant glossy leaves. The species variations of the plants was in some astronomical number, and many of them had been brought to Joppa by the Centau.
However, one of the unfortunate side affects of the tropical species was the sheer number of drugs that could be synthesized from the various leaves and vines.
And that was the location Macav Onini had sent them to. A legal drug house.
Holly reached under her dark wine blazer and shirt and felt the grip of the Equalizer for a moment of reassurance. On either side of her were Odeon and Shiro, both outfitted with their weapons.
“So, I never told you yokels that my father lives here, on Joppa. I have no fucking idea why he would, but there you go.” She told them this as they approached the Jungle of Delicious Delights.
“Ah, Ms. Drake, I would have expected you to tell us sooner.”
“Really?” she scoffed.
“No, that was me, giving you the slightest ribbing,” Shiro said.
“He’s an ex-cop.”
“And yet another surprise,” Shiro said.
They stood outside the location, watching people pass by and enter and exit the building. Holly glanced around nervously. “Let’s just get this stupid part and get the hell out of here. This moon is giving me the creeps.”
Shiro gestured at the rolling green hills in the distance. “I understand what you mean. I believe it’s due to the humidity. We’re used to the drier climate of Kota.”
“Why couldn’t this part be in one of those Centau-worship churches?” Holly mused aloud. “Or some other church? Where it doesn’t seem like we’re about to be injected with hallucinogens or shot at for startling someone?”
“I’d take another church. But alas, the Centau worship thing is a cult, and I don’t do cults, of any sort,” Shiro said.
“In my view, all churches are intimidating,” Odeon said.
Holly rubbed her hands together and took a few quick deep breaths. “Let’s go in, grab the part, and leave.”
“Oh hey, guys, just a quick rundown,” Darius said over the comms. He’d been listening in but hadn’t said anything for a while. He was busy at the same time with sifting through the information his filters had given him. His program wasn’t quite as effective as he’d been hoping. “The woman with the part runs this joint. Now, though there’s a bit of stigma with this stuff, it’s not outlawed. The Centau figured out early on that making it illegal only caused their people to do it more, because as you might have guessed, life on Centaurus is stressful as hell.
“My take is, offer her however much money she wants for it and get the hell back here. We’ve got to move on this shit.”
“Great. Great. Thanks Darius. Really helpful,” Holly joked.
“What? I know how you guys work. You’d try to have a long chat with her about business, sit down for drinks, pop some drugs, have some fun, maybe get wild and crazy, and then I’d see you again in four days.”
Shiro entered the establishment when he realized that Holly was hesitating. It was snug between taller buildings, a two story structure that had a wooden sign in the front with Centau script on it. Holly and Odeon followed Shiro inside.
“Welcome,” a voice said as they moved inside. The lights were bright and sterile. Holly blinked. She’d expected a dim ambiance. “Take a look at the menu, then let me know what you would like.”
The voice was coming from a Centau female sitting behind a wooden counter. The front of it was glass. On the other side of the glass there was paraphernalia for using drugs. Glass pipes, devices for making tiny teas of jungle species leaves, beakers, flagons, and kits for distilling. In the center of the room there was a cozy arrangement of couches, armchairs, and a rug. A few people—Consties, mainly—sat talking and drinking tall, thin mugs of tea. When Holly and her crew entered, they glanced toward the door, then resumed their shushed conversation.
Holly went to the counter where the Centau puffed on a pipe and studied a ledger on a v-screen. She looked up at Holly.
“What would you like?”
“I’m not here for drugs,” Holly said, feeling slightly disturbed by the environment. Her father had always claimed that the Centau were idiots about drugs. They needed to be regulated and used only for pain and mental illness. Not for recreation. Holly didn’t know what she thought, but she did find it uncomfortable to be in a place that sold them for recreation.
She felt Shiro come to stand beside her before she saw him in her peripheral vision. “Macav Onini sent us, madame. Do you know him?”
“Macav, yes. He is one of my clients. If he sent you, then you must want something he made.”
“We do, yes,” Shiro said, spinning his cane and then stopping it suddenly and placing it on her counter. Holly bristled at Shiro’s decision to hi-jack the conversation.
“We’ll pay you what
ever you want,” Holly blurted, wanting to resume control. She was the leader, after all.
The Centau’s silver gaze settled on Holly again. Her skin glittered darkly. She seemed unperturbed by Holly’s nervousness. “You would benefit from Supernova. A four hour session should do it. Would you like to try?”
This was the reason Holly found such discomfort in joints like the place. “I’m here for business, not pleasure.”
Shiro shifted, and something about the way he moved told Holly that he was irritated that she’d cut him off. Touché, she thought.
A short time later, they were outside the Jungle of Delicious Delights heading to a hotel they had booked for the night. The next zeppelin didn’t leave Joppa till the morning.
“Fifty thousand novas, Ms. Drake,” Shiro said, his lips pressed together. He swished his lion-head cane furiously before him to clear a path in front of them, narrowly missing the back of a Constie laughing and strolling along with a group of friends. “Preposterous. What were you thinking?”
“I didn’t know she would jump to such an astronomical number immediately. We don’t have time for bartering, Shiro. Charm—”
“That is why you never say the words that you said. You play hardball. Keep your cards close to your chest,” he said.
“I know, Shiro,” Holly said, her face and ears turning hot. She found herself reverting to what had become her default to avoid conflict and a potential blow-out episode with Graf. She spoke quietly, next. “It was an accident.”
“I am an experienced negotiator. I could have gotten the part for ten thousand novas if you hadn’t interfered.”
“There is no point in this, Shiro,” Odeon said, reading Holly and stepping in. “Centau are hard to bargain with. They do not care to meet anyone on even terms. There’s no telling if you could have gotten her to go so low.”
They strode through the street, keeping to the side to allow autos to pass by. Holly hated this place now. It was the site of her embarrassment. She’d reacted to Shiro doing something she didn’t like and now she’d lost a sizable chunk of her money just for a part they may not end up needing if Darius could get the filters working well on the city-sweeping drone.
“I want to know what Ms. Drake was thinking. I want to prevent this from happening again in the future. There should be a designated haggler. And it ought to be myself, because it is what I’m good at. No, I am great at it.”
“Even with Centau?” Odeon probed.
“With any race. I’ve spent years studying it. It’s one of my specialties.”
They’d reached the hotel. Holly cleared her throat, and kept her eyes averted. “You two, do whatever you want for the rest of our time on Joppa.” And then, feeling chastised, embarrassed, and irritated that she’d reverted to her old mannerisms, she muttered that she was going to the hotel bar for a drink and left Odeon and Shiro behind as she hurried through the front entrance and went to the bar.
* * *
Odeon and Shiro had sense enough to leave her alone for a time. They didn’t barge into her space sitting at the bar having a drink quietly. She hoped that Odeon had taken the thermo-core to their room and deposited it there safely.
The hotel bar was sparsely populated. It was still early in the day and maybe there were better places for a drink, but Holly didn’t want to go too far. Joppa unnerved her. The bartender took care of her drink—when she’d finished the first whisky, he poured her another.
For a while, she didn’t want to think about why she’d interrupted Shiro. What she wanted was to be done with the wild-goose chase. Things were never easy. It was always a complicated series of small tasks to make one big thing happen and it was getting exhausting, frankly.
After she’d had two sips of the second drink, she could finally admit to herself that it really bothered her to have Shiro upstage her negotiation. If they had discussed it prior to talking to the Centau, then perhaps it would have gone differently. As it was, it seemed that he had kind of dissed her by simply stepping in, pushing her aside as though she wasn’t important.
He was right. He was better at haggling. That didn’t bother her. She was willing to let people take different roles, and excel where they did—Charly was insanely brave, willing to do crazy shit that Holly wouldn’t want to do in a million years. Darius, the same thing—he knew how to work around problems using his tech skills. Odeon, the calm one, the quiet muscle and her rock, the thief, the rogue. He had multiple skills that were severely under-used such as breaking into safes and through locks. And Shiro. Chameleon. Haggler. People-person that could read a scene and adapt to what was needed.
And Holly loved that about her team. She didn’t love getting pushed aside, she guessed. And definitely not by Shiro. In fact, he was the only one brave enough to pull that move.
She took another drink of her whisky. She’d gone wild and ordered something she’d never order normally. Soon she became aware of the low voices of a conversation nearby. A husky, accented voice, talking sharply to another person, who spoke in a curious, naive tone.
“Because he’s the Hand, yeah? And I wouldn’t fucking cross him,” the husky voice said. Male. Possibly a Constie. Holly didn’t think it wise to turn and look for them, to tip them off that she was listening. So she continued to sit at the barstool, considering her drink and sipping it occasionally.
“A Hand. Jako. One of them. And he’s the weakest one. I’m not worried about it.”
Jako. Holly thought she’d heard that name before. Jako. Where had she heard it? They were talking about the Hand. One of them, they said. How many Hands were there?
“What’s the point of your existence in the first place? If you cross him, I’m not going to be there to find out what happens. So, go ahead, do it. Have your fun. Skim off the top. See what happens.”
“Give me a break. It’s not even a noticeable amount. It would fit two canisters at the most. In the scale of how much they bring in, he’ll never notice.”
“Yeah? You willing to bet your life on that?”
“It won’t come to that. Unless, that is, you tip them off. And if you do, then you better hope I am dead.”
“The job is, mate, and I quote, ‘deliver the gas, get the hell out.’ There was nothing in there about changing the mass of the gas by taking some.”
Gas. What gas? Is that what they were doing here?
Holly’s communicator buzzed—the one she used for Xadrian or the official. She pulled it out of her blazer pocket and answered. “What?” She knew it was Xadrian, and she didn’t want to risk saying his name where others could hear her.
“HD, where are you? I’ve been trying to reach you for hours.”
“I”m not there.”
“So I had gathered. Where, pray tell, are you?”
“Off-planet.” She noticed in the back of her mind that the conversing voices had gone quiet. She turned, feigning interest in something behind her, and saw that the men had simply left the bar area altogether. She relaxed a bit and turned back to the counter, placing her elbows on the surface and leaning against her hand.
“You were told not to do anything, I believe. To wait to hear from me.”
“It’s not got anything to do wth that, exactly. But anyway, I couldn’t just keep waiting. I’ve really got to keep moving, XT.”
“Not wise, HD. Not wise at all.”
“Maybe not. I don’t know. But I’ve got a plan.”
“Be that as it may, we have something for you to do. And it’s important.”
“I’m currently busy. What I’m doing is also important. And it’ll also get me the information I need to find her.”
“I’ll be patient. But I can only do that for a short time. So, when you get back to Kota, come see me immediately, if you still want the work. There’s only three days left to move on this. So you must hurry if you want to have time to pull it off.”
28
By the time they were taking the space elevator back up to the platform to board their sp
ace zeppelin, Holly had cooled off. Shiro still seemed ruffled, but she wasn’t going to sweat it. If he wanted to talk over the subject further, she would engage with him. So conversations were quiet and consisted of the basics. “Hold my bag? Thanks.” “It’s our turn to board.” “After you.” “I’ll ride next to Odeon.” “I’d like to ride next to Odeon as well.”
And so Odeon was in the middle. Because Holly didn’t want to have to look at Shiro, really. And she didn’t want to smell his musky fragrance in the cramped compartment. And she didn’t want his arm brushing against hers as they sat in the restraints. It was bad enough having to be next to a total stranger on her other side. A Centau, this time.
As the carrier rose into the atmosphere, the air pressure adjusted. Holly’s ears popped. She kept her gaze away from Shiro, which also meant she couldn’t look at Odeon. So she watched out the windows as the sky faded from blue to a dusky color. The green jungle planet receded below them. Soon they passed the transition between Joppa’s atmosphere and where it faded into the coolness of space.
In the distance, far from the platform, Holly caught sight of a massive, behemoth tanker in orbit around Joppa. It’s exterior was orange and blue like other Centau fleet ships.
“What is that?” she whispered.
The Centau female beside her answered. “A water tanker from Helo.” Her accent was thin. Her head was shaved and her dark skin reflected the dim capsule lights like dark brown porcelain.
Holly flinched when the Centau spoke. “Really? Why is it here? This moon doesn’t need more water.”
“Indeed. It is odd to see it here,” she agreed.
“What do you think, Odeon?” Holly asked.
“I do not know. Perhaps it is related to the conversation you heard at the bar.”
Holly had related the conversation about the Hand to Odeon. Maybe Odeon told Shiro. Holly wasn’t sure. Seeing the massive tanker stirred emotions of being dwarfed in the face of such awesome power and size. The grandeur of the enormous ship and the visual manifestation of the applied ingenuity of the Centau, all of it gave her the chills.
The Colossus Collection Page 45