“Who are you?” Zoober sat in the living room on a dark chair meant for one. His second guard stood behind him, small arms twitching as if he expected trouble.
I pointed at my chest in an exaggerated motion, as if to say “who…me?” His tongue flicked between his lips, and returned to its resting place. “I’m Reginald Vanhoutte,” I told him.
“Never heard of you. Where’s the tattoo?” he asked, and my breath caught in my throat.
“Why do you ask?” I accepted the beverage from the hopping guard, and he gave Loweck one as well before heading toward his boss.
“Because I don’t see many Kold people, and here… I’ve now seen two today,” Zoober said.
“I’m afraid I don’t know who you speak of. I’m human,” I told him, sipping my drink, trying to appear casual.
“Hooman? Oh, the pesky new race everyone’s been going on about. Kind of an ugly bunch, aren’t you?” Zoober asked, a smile spreading across his warty face.
I’d just been insulted by a giant frog. Where had I gone wrong in my life to end up here? “Can we focus on business?” I wanted to press him about the Kold, because we now had a name for the V-shaped ships attacking Haven. This was good.
“Yes, business. This is why we’re all here, isn’t it?” Zoober’s gaze snapped to Loweck, who’d stayed quiet. I was mentally urging her to speak, since she was playing our leader.
“Zoober, quit messing around.” She stood up tall, seeming as picturesque as a superhero. “We want the same things, Rutelium being on the top of the list. You know where the planet is. We have the means to travel there and scope it out, find out what makes it tick, and we have the financial backing to set it up.”
Zoober’s eyes rotated around in his head. “And why should I bother working with the Ghosts?”
“If you were capable of doing this on your own, you wouldn’t be sitting in this room on a distant space station. You’d be overseeing the mines from a mansion on the world right now,” Loweck said point-blank. She was doing a great job.
“You’re not as dumb as that one looks.” Zoober pointed at me. “I’ve tried, but a few recent… misgivings have set me back a few years.”
“I’d be careful who I insulted, Zoober,” Loweck said. “That ugly human is your only hope of funding this expedition. He’s our money man. A private investor from New Spero.”
“New Spero. That god-awful place where everyone’s supposed to live in peace and harmony and all that crap?” His tongue forked out a few times in distaste.
“My home offends?” I asked.
“It’s not natural. A space station like this, yes, I understand the value. We come, we go, we leave the aliens to their business, but living among one another on a single planet? That’s calling for disaster. I give it five years before the entire world is nothing but rubble orbiting a star,” Zoober said.
“Then we’d better get to work so I can find a new home,” I told him with a smirk.
“You’re growing on me, Reginald,” he said. “Still, I can’t trust you guys have the tenacity to reach the planet and do what needs to be done.”
“Why?” Loweck asked.
“Because all I’ve heard are rumors, and I don’t operate on rumors. I need proof.”
“And how do you obtain proof?” I asked him, and took a sip of the drink. It was sweet and sour at the same time, but surprisingly a good combination.
“You do a job for me. Return in one piece with the object, and you earn the planet’s coordinates,” he said, far too satisfied with himself.
“A job?” Loweck asked. “You have to be kidding. We’re not some low-rent mercenary group.”
“That’s the deal,” Zoober said.
We’d talked about some options on the ship as we’d traveled to the Tri-System Station, and I decided now was as good a time as any to try the bribe.
“We’re low on time here, Zoober.” Slate had set a pack behind the couch, and I went to it, unclasping the top. The energy field allowed me inside, since I was programmed to have access, and I wrapped my fingers around an Inlorian bar. I held it up.
Zoober’s eyes popped out even more, and his guards looked at their boss. “Is that…?”
“An Inlorian bar. You cut the crap and give us the planet’s coordinates now, and we give you two of these today,” I said.
“Two… that’s only…” It was a lot of credits’ value, and he knew it. The price of the bars had skyrocketed after the Inlor withheld production to create demand. Their cost had doubled since I’d used them to buy a ship from the Traders on the way to find Magnus and Natalia.
Loweck took over. “It’s a lot of credits, and you know that. We’ll give you two more when we’re satisfied the planet is the right one.”
Zoober stood quickly, and his guards had guns appear in their hands with the blink of an eye. “Or we can take that bag and dispose of your bodies,” he said with a laugh.
“I don’t think so,” Loweck said.
“And why’s that?” Zoober asked, the mirth still in his voice.
“Because your guards aren’t going to be able to help you,” she said. Seconds later, the two frog people slumped to the floor, and Walo stood behind them, a weapon akin to a wasp’s stinger in her hand.
Zoober shuffled off the chair and surveyed the bodies. “Are they…?”
“Dead? No. But they’re going to feel like they drank a keg of nectar tomorrow,” Loweck said.
“Fine. You win. But the original bargain stands. You do a job, I give you the location, and I want fifty percent of the mine,” he said.
“Five,” I told him.
“Five! That’s ridiculous. You have to be out of your mind! Forty,” he countered.
“Seven.” I took another sip and over-admired the flavors for his benefit. “This is good. Do you want one? You’ll have to pour it yourself. It seems your little serving boy is having a nap.” I nodded to his guard on the floor.
“Reginald, I thought we were becoming friends,” he said to me with a scowl. “Thirty. I want thirty percent.”
“Tell you what. You tell us what this job is, and then Phantom will make the call,” I said, pushing the negotiations over to our leader. Loweck grinned.
Zoober did get that drink, and he spoke while his back was to us. “Nothing really. There’s an abandoned space fleet around the bend.” He turned, and his eyes were bright as he finished the description. “Rumors say there’s a device inside one of the vessels. I want it.”
“A device? Why haven’t you retrieved it yet?” Loweck asked him.
“As I’ve said, I’m no longer a man of means like I once was. It’s rare to make it off my home world… no one. They’re all content to hop from one pad to another in the Pond of Life, eating oversized insects… no offense.” He glanced at Walo, and she buzzed quietly. “I’m not going back there. This device is special.”
“What does it do?” I asked.
“I’m not really sure, but there was a battle centuries ago, and no one has been able to salvage the fleet in all these years. This device could change the way wars are won,” he said.
“Does the device keep scavengers away?” Loweck asked.
“Perhaps. As I’ve said, it’s merely a rumor.” His eyes were bouncing inside his head. It was hearsay, but I could tell Zoober believed the story.
“So you want us to head to an old battle site, where a device may or may not be waiting to kill us?” Loweck asked. “You have to be kidding.”
“I’m not. Not if you want the Rutelium,” he said.
“And this… this device is worth more than two Inlorian bars today. Right now?” I asked.
He nodded, his throat flaring as he croaked nervously. “Far more. I’ll never have to worry about anything in my life when I sell it to the right bidder.”
This had me curious. I needed to see what this device was, if it was real. I didn’t like his thought process. “Where do we find it?” I asked.
“Does that mean the
Ghosts will take the job?” he asked gleefully.
“Do we have a choice?” Loweck asked with a growl.
“I suppose not. Not if you want the coordinates, that is,” Zoober said. He pulled a tiny drive from his pocket and drained the rest of his drink, setting the empty cup on the countertop. “This has everything you need. Bring the device to me, and you have the coordinates. And I have my thirty percent.”
Loweck grimaced. “Twenty. For all the charades you’re putting us through. Twenty.”
Zoober nodded. “Fine. Twenty. When I sell this device, that’ll be spending credits.” He nodded to his men on the floor. “What do we do about them?”
Walo knelt beside them and poked their skin with another tool, this one obviously an antidote. They groggily came to, shaking their heads and croaking.
“Stand up. We don’t have all day. Letting a bug get the best of you? You should both be ashamed of yourselves,” Zoober said, going on as he left through the hallway. A minute later, they were all gone, and Hectal was catching up with us inside the suite.
“What’d I miss?” the Keppe warrior asked.
I flipped the small information drive in my fingers and looked Slate in the eyes. “It seems the Ghosts have a mission.”
Nine
“You have to be kidding!” Slate watched as Suma took us through the information again from the meeting room on Horizon. “He wants us to head into that? It’s guarded by robots. It has to be.”
“You’re right.” Suma tapped her chin with a finger. “I have a plan, though.”
The image showed well over a hundred vessels, dead in space. Over half of them were circular: shaped like donuts, hollow in the middle. The picture was taken from a distance, because as soon as anything came within range of the fleet, the ship’s system was killed. Instantly, the power was cut, no matter what anyone tried.
“What about the power source problem?” Loweck asked.
“I might even have a solution. It’ll take a few days to reconfigure the Padlog ship, but I think we can do something about the energy issue,” Suma said.
“Okay, so let’s say we do manage to sneak past the sensors that kill every other ship. Then what?” I asked.
“Zoober doesn’t know which ship the target device is on, and he didn’t tell us what it was, other than the fact it wiped out an entire enemy fleet in minutes. Or so his rumors advise him,” Slate said. “Could we run a scan of the area and find out where the confluence of energy is coming from? That would mark a ship, right?”
Suma nodded. “That would work, and it appears like someone thought of that in the notes here, but no one has been able to breach the wall before. If we can pierce through the barrier, we’ll run the scan, find the ship with the fabled device, and board it.”
“What about the robots?” Hectal asked.
Loweck tapped a tablet, and a holographic image appeared, talking about the race of Maev from thousands of years ago. They’d created robots, putting their own consciousness inside the husks in an effort to live forever.
“These robots will be waiting for us on the ship we track? Guarding the device Zoober wants?” Slate asked.
“It seems that way,” Suma said.
“What could this life-changing device be?” Walo asked, and I leaned forward, contemplating Zoober’s comments.
“He wants to know how the Maev put themselves into the robots. He wants to sell the ability to live forever.” I cringed at the idea of placing my mind into a metal man.
“I’m more interested in the barrier that cuts any energy source, like a powerful EMP in space,” Suma said.
“You’re right. Imagine if we could use it against an enemy invader. If those Kold returned to Haven, we could have a surprise in store for them,” Slate said, clapping his palm hard on the table.
“We have a plan. Suma, you find a way to avoid detection on our ship. We run a scan, find the ship they’re centered on, board it, download what information we can about the Maev and their creepy technology, and take whatever’s killing the energy from any approaching vessels. Sounds easy enough,” I said sarcastically.
“We need someone good at sneaking around. I wish we really were the Ghosts, because I don’t imagine Hectal here would be a great team member to infiltrate the robot vessel,” Loweck said.
“I wish we had Sergo onboard,” Walo said with a glimmer in her eye. “He can steal anything.”
I laughed out loud. I hoped I wasn’t going to regret this. “Of course he can. What would you say if I told you I knew where Sergo was?”
____________
“Finally came to your senses, hey, Parker?” Sergo was walking with a hop in his step as we exited the ship’s brig. He froze when he saw the entire Ghost crew standing there, cross-armed.
Walo was tapping her foot, as if awaiting an explanation from a husband home far past his bedtime.
His antennae jerked from side to side. “Walo, what a pleasant surprise.”
“Save it, Sergo. You were here all this time and didn’t think to reach out to me,” she said.
“Butterfly, you’re the only reason I came here in the first place. Your grandfather wouldn’t let me near you, so I risked everything to sneak aboard Horizon so we could be together,” he said, and I assumed all of that was a lie. Most of the things from his mouth were, but Walo seemed to eat it up.
“Oh, Sergo, do you mean it?” She hugged him, and I turned away as the wasp woman kissed Sergo.
“If you two don’t mind keeping it in the hive, we have work to do,” Slate said. He was now in uniform, no longer a goon for the Ghosts, but the commander of a starship. “Magnus is waiting.”
We made our way to the meeting room off the bridge. Magnus was already inside, scanning over the materials we’d sent him. I stopped Sergo at the door. “Don’t say a word, understood?”
“You don’t have to be so hostile, Parker. I comply,” Sergo said.
“I don’t like it,” Magnus told us as we approached.
“Which part?” Loweck asked.
“Any of it.”
“We’re supposed to be extracting the Rutelium world’s coordinates, and here we are gallivanting on some side hustle for a frog,” Magnus barked.
“What choice do we have?” I asked him.
“We could have grabbed Zoober and brought him here. Forced it from him,” Magnus said.
“Is that really how you want to operate?” I glanced at the door, making sure it was shut. “This is an Alliance of Worlds starship, Magnus, not a rogue vessel that beats up minor criminals for juicy gossip.”
Slate stepped back, afraid to be caught in the crossfire. I didn’t flinch.
“You have some nerve,” Magnus started, and shifted his stance, running his hands over his red hair. “You’re right, Dean. I’m sorry, everyone. It’s…”
“What is it?” Loweck asked.
“It’s running this damned ship. On Fortune, it was like a well-oiled machine, but here, with the new crew, it’s a mess. The other day, the kitchen schedule was all sideways, and no one ate for twelve hours. Can you imagine? Then we have bunking issues, noise complaints, officers sleeping at their posts, and some virus has been spreading among the Keppe on board, sending half of them into Medical,” Magnus said, spouting off the long list of issues.
“Sorry, Captain. We didn’t know it was so bad,” Slate said. “What can we do?”
“You can go on this mission and get the coordinates so we can stick to the plan. But be quick about it, and be careful. I have enough on my mind. I’m not ready to deal with anything happening to half of my bridge crew,” he ordered.
I felt for Magnus. At the same time, I was selfishly grateful they were his headaches and not mine.
“We’ve already started on the ship modifications,” Suma said. “We should be ready to leave in two days.”
“Good. You’re dismissed,” Magnus said, but I stayed behind while the others left.
I took a seat beside Magnus and saw how exh
austed he was. “You can delegate things, you know. Mary would be pretty good at helping with some of the scheduling stuff. She has a knack for that kind of thing.”
Magnus sat up straight. “Do you mind asking her about it?”
“Sure. I’ll do it right away. Is there anything else?” I asked. I’d known Magnus a long time, and it was clear there was more going on underneath the surface.
“Dean was in a fight,” he said.
I was surprised. “Where? How?”
“After school. Kids were playing in the gym, and they bullied him into the corner, and he hit one of the Keppe kids.” Magnus smiled.
I grinned at the thought of his small, skinny son punching one of the huge Keppe youngsters. “Is he okay?”
“Sure. He took a bit of a licking, but the supervisor saw them and broke it up pretty quickly. I just hope he can get past this. He has to go to class with these kids,” Magnus said.
“Life among the stars isn’t much different from life in the suburbs, is it?” I asked, and he laughed, a good sound from my old friend.
“You have that right, Dean.” He stared at me. “You sure you want to do this mission? What does Mary say?”
“She’s not happy, but she’s not mad at me over it,” I said.
“Who, then? Me?” Magnus pointed at himself.
“No, she loves you. I have to make sure this is my last solo adventure for a while, though. Why do I always let you get me in trouble?” I asked him.
“Ha. I think it’s the other way around, compadre,” Magnus said.
I recalled meeting him and Natalia on that dirt road while Carey and I walked along it, after escaping the ship that had chased us away from Mary, Ray, and Vanessa. It was so long ago.
“I’d better go.” I patted him on the back and left him to his own thoughts.
____________
“Papa, what’s this?” Jules asked, poking a Molariun vegetable with her fork.
“It’s… good for you,” I said, and she stuck her tongue out.
New Horizon (The Survivors Book Nine) Page 7
