by S. J. Bryant
"No," Piper said. "Having a patient is best, people won't want to slow you down. The coat is for Ray."
Kari bowed her head and massaged her temples. She just wanted to get out of the damn place, but she'd seen the fire in Piper's eyes. She wouldn't leave unless her friend did too. "Fine! Just… just stay here."
Reaching for the door, Kari paused and looked over her shoulder. Piper huddled on the bed, her thin shoulders hunched.
"Please come back for me," Piper whispered.
"Of course," Kari said. "I'll be back before you know it." She drew a deep breath and strode into the corridor, letting the door fall closed behind her.
There was no sound of running feet or alarm, so maybe Piper was right and no one had seen their exchange. At least one thing had gone right.
Three doors up she came to a door with 'storage' printed across it. She used her swipe card to open the cupboard and found herself facing shelf upon shelf of medical supplies. If she'd thought the haul from the empty Imperium ship was big, then this was colossal.
She reached out for a pile of drug bottles, fingers trembling. If she took all this then at least some of her money problems would be over. She'd be able to get fuel. And… her hand stopped just short of the first bottle. Where would she put it? She couldn't very well smuggle a small fortune in drugs and Piper out of the facility.
Kari sighed and reached past the bottles for a lab coat that hung on the wall. For good measure, she stuffed a few pill bottles into the pockets of the coat. They weren't worth much, but it was better than nothing.
She turned and strode out of the storage room, back to Piper. When she opened the door, Piper sprang from the bed, a mixture of fear, hope, and dread on her face.
"You came back."
"Of course I did," Kari said, looking away so Piper wouldn't see the anguish in her own face. How much had Piper suffered these long years? Every time the door opened, had she hoped that it would be Kari, and it never was? What would that do to a person?
Piper settled back into the bed and pulled the sheet up under her chin.
"Right," Kari said. She draped the second lab coat over the end of the bed and maneuvered around so that she could push it out of the door and into the hallway. "What room is your friend in?"
"He's next door. Four ten."
"Is he going to freak out and try to kill me?"
Piper looked up at her with a strange look. "Ray's a good man."
"Right." Kari lifted her eyes from Piper and stared straight ahead, careful not to bump the bed on the doorframe. Even if Ray had started a good man, what would years spent in a place like this do to a person?
Piper closed her eyes as soon as they entered the corridor and Kari smoothed her face into an expressionless mask. She shoved the bed down the corridor and stopped outside room 410. Her mind went back to the Imperium ship and the thing they'd fought there. The thing that had once been a girl but which the Imperium had turned into a monster. What if they'd done the same with this Ray person? Piper said he was a good man, but what if he wasn't a man at all?
Kari pushed her fear down and held the ID card to the door. Piper refused to leave unless Ray came with them. So, man or not, he had to come.
The door opened on a room identical to Piper's, except that the person inside was chained to the wall with metal links as thick as Kari's arm. He looked up at her, then past her to the bed and Piper. His eyes moved in the same languid, sleepy way as Piper's, confirming Kari's suspicions that they'd been drugged.
"What do you want?" Ray said, standing. "And what are you doing with Piper?"
"I'm rescuing you," Kari said. She hurried across the room and studied the thick chain. It was attached to the wall via a heavy locking mechanism but a swipe-access panel blinked red just above it.
"Rescuing us?" Ray said. "Is that some kind of joke?"
"Ray!" Piper hissed from the bed. "Do as she says."
Ray looked from Piper to Kari and then shrugged. "Whatever she says."
"Good." Kari held the ID card to the panel and it flashed green. The lock slid back and the chain slithered to the floor with a clatter. She winced and looked to the door, no sound of alarm.
"You should have started with this end." Ray held out his wrists where the other end of the chain hung from thick manacles.
Kari cursed under her breath and held the ID card to the panel on the manacles. They snapped open but Ray managed to catch them before they clunked to the floor like the rest of the chain.
He placed the restraints on the ground and straightened, eying Kari.
"Why were you all chained up?" she said. "Piper wasn't."
Ray held out his arms revealing his huge hands and bulging muscles. "I'm special."
Kari scowled. She didn't have time to exchange riddles with this guy who thought he was so clever. She snatched the lab coat from the end of Piper's bed and hurled it at him. The pill bottles inside rattled as he caught it. "Put it on."
Ray shoved his thick arms through the sleeves and tugged it over his shoulders. There was no way it would do up over his barrel-like chest. It made a poor disguise—he looked more like a professional wrestler than a doctor, but it was the best they had.
"Come on," Kari said. She hurried into the hallway, shoving the bed. The wheels rattled on the metal floor, setting Kari's nerves on edge.
"Where are we going?" Ray said.
"Docking bay A-four," Kari said. She'd been careful to take note of the number when Ghost pulled in.
"Then you'll want the lifts. Turn right at the corner here."
Kari glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "You know your way around?"
Ray shrugged. "I don't knock out so easily. They transport me awake."
Kari followed his directions but her mind raced. Ray was big, sure, so it would take a bigger dose to knock him out, but it was doable. Unless… there was something more going on. Kari's mind flicked back to the spider-like creature. The way its web had been plastered across every wall and the sharp fangs that—
No! She wouldn't think of that. Maybe Ray was just especially resilient. It didn't mean he was some kind of monster, or that the Imperium had corrupted him in some way. And if he was normal, then Piper had to be too.
"Here," Ray said, coming to a stop in front of a set of lifts. "You'll need to swipe."
Kari pressed the card against the reader and the doors opened. She pushed Piper's bed inside the massive elevator—they'd been designed to hold mining equipment and crystal hunters in full suits so it housed the bed easily.
Ray pressed the button for A4 and the doors closed. The elevator shot upwards, so fast that Kari's stomach dropped. The cart shuddered to a stop a few moments later and Kari braced to push Piper's bed out.
"No," Ray said. "Not our floor."
"Then why—"
The doors opened, revealing two women in enforcer uniforms with shotguns held across their chests.
Kari's throat closed over and one hand dropped from the bed to grip her gun. But the enforcers didn't start shooting, instead they nodded at Kari and Ray, glanced at Piper, and sidled into the elevator.
They stood at the foot of Piper's bed as the doors closed and the carriage shot upward. It rattled to another stop and the two enforcers got out. They continued their conversation without a backward glance at Kari and Ray.
As soon as the door closed, Kari let out a sigh and sagged against the bed.
"That was close," Ray said.
Kari nodded. "Too close."
The elevator shot up for a few more moments before coming to a stop. The reader above the door said A4.
The door slid open. Kari was about to push Piper out when Ray clapped his hand around the bed frame and yanked it back. With his other hand he snatched Kari's second pistol from her belt.
Kari's gaze snapped up and took in the scene on the other side of the door. Four enforcers, all with their guns out and about to break through a door on the far side of the room marked airlock.
The enforcers twisted. They faltered for just a second as they saw the bed and Kari. Then they lifted their guns.
CHAPTER 7
Kari scooped her arms under Piper, heaving her out of the bed and carrying them both sideways. Kari landed hard on her shoulder, and Piper landed on top. Kari rolled them both so that Piper ended up pressed against the wall, partially shielded from the gunfire by the side of the elevator door.
Ray crouched behind the bed and fired shots over the top, into the room beyond. The sound of the shots in the close confines of the elevator made Kari's ears ache and the scorched smell of spent plasma filled the air.
A green blast shot through the elevator door and slammed into the wall behind Kari.
She flinched, heart lurching, and grabbed her pistol. She managed to tug it free and crawled across the floor to join Ray behind the bed.
Piper leaned forward as if to follow her.
"No!" Kari said, shoving her back against the wall. "Stay there."
A thin spark of defiance flared through Piper's dull eyes but she obviously didn't have the strength to argue because her shoulders slumped and she pushed further back against the wall.
Kari nodded. She'd never be able to concentrate or aim properly if she was worrying about Piper. She had to focus on the job at hand: survival.
Ray had done a good job of keeping the enforcers at bay and Kari could just see the legs of one who'd been hit. His upper half was hidden by the elevator. Three more enforcers remained, all of them firing into the confined space, creating a stream of flashing lights to rival any firework display.
Kari felt like a fish in a barrel and the thin mattress offered little protection against the plasma blasts.
A well-aimed shot collided with the bed, right in front of Kari's torso, and the heat of it burned through the mattress. Acrid smoke rose up, filling Kari's nostrils, and a small flame kindled which burned all the way through the mattress.
Kari rested her arms on the top of the bed and took aim, sighting one of the enforcers down the barrel of her gun. She drew a breath and fired. Her shot hit the enforcer dead in the chest. He stumbled back. A black circle of soot and dented metal marked where he'd been hit, but he didn't fall.
"Dammit," Kari said.
"Their armor is good for two hits at least," Ray said. "Better to aim for the face."
"I know how to take down an enforcer," Kari said, adjusting her aim. She fired again but the enforcer was ready and side-stepped the plasma blast. "We've got to move."
She and Ray were as good as dead if they stayed huddled in the elevator; the bed might offer some limited protection, but not much, and it would do no good once reinforcements arrived, and they were bound to be on the way. Luckily Kari and Ray were blocking the elevator, but there'd be stairs and the enforcers were well trained.
Unfortunately, the enforcers outside must have come to the same conclusion because as one they split up, going to either side of the elevator and out of Kari's line of sight. She could imagine them sneaking up on the door, ready to shoot her, Piper and Ray dead.
She braced herself and then shoved Piper's empty bed forward, through the open door. It rattled and shook, the pillow bouncing, as it ran over the groove that separated the elevator from the rest of the room.
The deep boom of a plasma rifle echoed and an orange ball flew across the room from the right, hitting the bed.
That was all Kari needed. She dived out of the elevator after the bed, adjusting her aim so that it would hit whoever had fired the orange blast. Bright red bolts flew from her gun and careened into the head of the enforcer who'd been crouched to the side of the door.
His head flew back and slammed against the wall behind him. His body crumpled limp to the floor.
Kari's momentum carried her a few feet from the elevator. She landed hard on her shoulder and skidded a couple of yards. She leaned sideways and kept rolling.
Heat scorched the backs of her legs as the enforcers fired at the ground where she'd been lying just seconds before. It would only take a few moments for them to adjust their aim, and then their shots would be burning through her spine and she'd—
A roar sounded from behind and someone grunted.
Kari rolled to her feet and turned in time to see Ray grappling with one of the enforcers while the other tried to get a clean shot at him. The two big men spun in a vague parody of a dance, both of their faces twisted. Ray had one arm around the enforcer's neck, and the other kept his gun aimed at the floor.
Kari leveled her weapon and fired at the second enforcer before he could get a clean shot at Ray. The blast took him in the face and he collapsed.
Ray released the enforcer's neck and landed a solid punch. Bone cracked and blood poured down the man's face, dripping across his uniform. He grimaced, then drew back his own fist and punched Ray in the gut.
Instead of doubling over, Ray grinned and brought his fist around in a right hook that caught the enforcer on the temple with enough force that it threw him sideways. His gun clattered to the ground and his body slammed into the wall then slid to the floor.
Ray stood over him, chest heaving and hands clenched into fists.
Kari heard shouting and turned toward the airlock. What if there were more enforcers inside and they'd already killed Wren and the others?
No, they couldn't have. The enforcers had been getting ready to attack when Kari arrived and there was no other way into the airlock. So what was all that noise?
In answer to her thoughts, the airlock door hissed open and there stood Atticus, Ryker and Wren.
Crumpled at Wren's feet was the man in the blue jumpsuit, blood pouring from his neck. Wren held a bloodied knife in her hand.
Kari ran to the elevator, snatched Piper's hand, and sprinted toward Ghost's open door. "We need to move. Now."
The others poured through the door in a mad rush. Ray came last and Ghost's door closed just as gunshots sounded from the entry to the airlock.
Kari released Piper's hand and sprinted through the ship to the engine room to initiate emergency detachment. All the locks released at once and Ghost shot away from the asteroid like a bullet from a gun.
Kari pushed the engine to maximum speed, away from the asteroid. It didn't matter where they headed, as long as it was far away from Riat. Sweat trickled down her forehead and she kept her hands locked on the controls long after the asteroid disappeared from view.
There was no way the Imperium hadn't got a lock on their ID. Hell, they'd have pictures of Kari's—and everyone else's—faces.
She tried not to let panic overtake her, but she hadn't thought this far ahead. She might have got Piper away from the facility, but she'd also put a death sentence on each of their heads.
CHAPTER 8
Atticus slumped into a chair at the dining table, popped a sugar cube onto his tongue, then splayed his hands flat. He could still feel them shaking, even if the pressure of the table hid the worst tremors.
He'd thought he was going to die. There'd been that sudden commotion in the room on the other side of the airlock, and then the caretaker reaching into the deep pocket of his overalls and pulling out a gun.
Atticus sucked the sugar, letting the sweet juices calm his racing heart.
It had all happened so fast, and as usual he'd been too slow to do any good. As soon as the caretaker had reached down, Wren had moved. She was like a streak of lightning, darting across the room and slashing a knife across his throat before Atticus even had time to properly register the gun. He had no idea where she'd pulled the knife from, it was as if it had materialized in her palm, and then the man was on the floor, choking on his own blood.
That was the moment Atticus knew for certain what Wren was. Sure, he'd suspected, after seeing Wren fight and some of the comments Ryker had made. But a small part of him had thought maybe he was wrong. What were the chances anyway? But he couldn't deny it anymore. Wren was a member of the Guild, a deadly assassin, and if he ever told anyone, he was as good a
s dead. He swallowed. He hated violence, wanted to put an end to it in the Raxis system, and yet it turned out he had been sharing a ship with an assassin. What was he supposed to do with that knowledge? Just one more thing to process, to come to grips with.
After Wren killed the man in the blue overalls, the door to the other room had opened, and there was Kari with two others: Ray and Piper.
They'd run back into the ship, Atticus sure that he would be shot in the back before the doors closed. Then there'd been a lot of scrambling and shouting. Kari had knocked Atticus aside as she ran for the controls—he'd been in the way as usual, and so he'd come to the dining room.
The engines rumbled and then the velocity of them taking off pushed Atticus deep into his chair. His heart hammered against his rib cage—what if the facility had high-powered weapons? They'd never make it…
His mind whirled with thoughts and worries and he felt panic rising in his chest. No! He'd made a commitment to make the Universe a better place, and he couldn't very well do that if he got scared every time someone pulled a gun.
Atticus drew a deep breath and pulled a small pouch from his top pocket. He laid it flat on the table and unfolded the leather case to reveal the metal tools inside. He carried these everywhere—an emergency set for when he didn't have his proper tool bag with him, and it was exactly what he needed now to calm his damn nerves.
From his other pocket he drew a metal contraption, like a steel mouse with wheels instead of legs and gears instead of organs. He placed it next to the toolset and pulled the magnifying lens down over his eye from where it usually rested on top of his head. His whole being focused on the mouse and the intricate workings. He had great plans for the contraption, and after a few minutes of work, his hands stopped trembling and his heart returned to a steady rhythm. It wasn't so bad. They were still alive and he still had his tools. A lot of people had things a lot worse.
Ryker entered the dining room, grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat beside Atticus. He fiddled with his astral map, sending colored lights across the table. The death grip he had on his beer eased as he watched the rotating stars.
