“What about you?” Rork asked.
Zero shook his head.
“I can’t do it alone. Can’t risk Thryk.”
“What is your plan?” Zero asked.
“Those shooters could be on us any moment. Get out of here. Get safe. Don’t let them have the ship. Stay close to the radio and check back in the morning.”
“For ice cubes?”
“We’ll never have the advantage if they get the MORF-9. They’ll take it and strand you here.” Rork grabbed the mystic’s arm and pushed him towards the broken hatch. “Get out of here. And stay tuned.”
Zero walked outside. His breath turned to vapor as he talked to Thryk. Thryk looked back at Rork and shook his head, his face a wobbly wreck. He took a step into the broken ship but Zero grabbed his arm and pulled him.
They piled into the waiting MORF-9. The hatch closed and it rocketed into the darkening night. It crashed through the force field with a shower of magnetic sparks and receded as only another pinprick of light among the multitude of distant stars.
Rork hit the latch and the cargo bay door jarred open a few centimeters. He jammed his eye up against the crack.
The blinking control panel light revealed a pile of misshapen junk. Were those arms that jutted out? Rifles?
A pulse pistol came through the opening and the cool metal sent a new chill into his head.
“Don’t move.”
The door screeched open enough for Jord to step through. He cracked the heavy weapon over Rork’s head and Rork fell to his knees.
“Jupiter! That was unnecessary!” Rork dug his fingers into his scalp, trying to displace the pain.
“Who were you talking to?”
“No one!”
“Why did you crash the ship?” Jord screamed.
“I didn’t! Another Barbary ship fired on me. He wants us all dead.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Don’t you see? Barbary has turned us against ourselves. We’re a family. What does he have anyway? What’s so special that you’ll betray your own? And is Dad...?”
“Oh brax.” Jord climbed into the cargo hold, then turned and pointed the gun at Rork, the barrel angled down from a height at his baby brother’s forehead. “Get in here.”
“I was coming anyway.” Rork climbed in, the barrel scraping across his scalp.
Jord blocked his path, the light flickering across dead eyes, the gun pushing into his temple.
Rork whipped his arms up and pushed Jord hard. The older brother crashed into the darkness, his pistol rattling across the metal cargo bay roof. Rork took a step to the side.
“You son of a bitch!” Jord rocketed back to his feet and blew past Rork in the darkness. “Where are you!”
Rork stepped in behind his brother, wrapped his arm around his neck and jerked back. “If I wanted to kill you, I could do it now.” He let go.
Jord turned and clawed his fingers around Rork’s throat. “We waited for you.”
“I was a kid,” Rork croaked. “I thought you were dead.”
“You didn’t look for us. You don’t know what he did!”
“The station was junk. Nobody could have survived that! I barely had air and fuel to get down to the planet. I begged for weeks before I started trading again.”
“You abandoned us!” Jord screamed and tightened his grip.
Rork’s knees buckled and he hung in mid-air. “I almost died while you ate his food and did his dirty work.”
“Let him go!” The old man stepped in between them and Jord let go. Rork crashed down and gulped the icy dusk air.
“Well, you got back here fast. You do that all by yourself?” the old man asked.
“Where is Mary Ellen?” Rork climbed to his feet and met his father’s eyes. “What did you do with her?”
“She’s in here somewhere but that doesn’t mean squat if we can’t get off the surface in, oh, the next thirty minutes.”
“The hull is—” Jord started.
The old man silenced him with a movement of his hand. “I heard the other ship. If you want this girl to live, you’ll get it down here in the next ten minutes. Otherwise, we’re all popsicles.”
“You have to save her anyway.”
“She died when you shot us down,” the old man said.
“She’s not even here. What did—”
The old man turned and walked into the gloom. Metal scraped and crashed. Something heavy slid across the cargo hold roof-turned-deck. The old man let it fall with a wet splat.
Rork reached to catch her but missed.
Mary Ellen coughed and groaned. “You bastard.”
“Are you okay? Can you stand up?” Rork asked.
She grabbed his leg and pulled herself up.
“Had enough of you two lovebirds,” the old man said. He brought his pistol up and put it to her temple.
A sigh escaped her lips and she grabbed Rork tight. “Don’t...”
“Now.”
Rork put his wrist to his mouth. “Thryk. Come on down.”
“Is it safe, Captain?” Thryk’s heavy voice came too loud in Rork’s ear.
The old man drew the pistol back and whipped Mary Ellen. She fell at Rork’s feet and sobbed.
“Yes, Thryk. Please proceed with all appropriate haste. Rork out.” He leaned down to pick her up. Rork held her close against his body. She was frigid, shivering. He hugged her chest to his and she laid her head on his shoulder.
“We should be on the same side. We found each other again. We can work together! We’re a family! This is our chance to get revenge!” Rork yelled.
“That’s what I’m doing,” the old man said.
“Screw this.” Jord strode into the bridge.
Mary Ellen touched her lips to Rork’s ear. “We have to do something! I won’t go back.”
“Oh ain’t that cute, these two lovebirds.” The old man looked towards the bridge and raised his voice. “What’s your problem, boy?”
Jord poked his head through the doorway. “He’s right.” He tapped the floor with his boot.
“Forgot this quickly, huh? Everything...?”
The electric hiss of the MORF-9’s breaking engines sounded outside. The ship was inside the magnetic bubble now. Rork pulled Mary Ellen outside and looked up. The wind ripped through him and she screamed.
“Don’t let them take me back. Please, please. I’ll do anything you want. I can’t go back there,” she whispered in his ear.
Rork turned, his eyes caught by something bright. A laser blast sizzled against the hull next to him. He stepped back in and brought his wrist up to his mouth.
A hand clamped down over his wrist. “Radio silence,” his dad said and pushed him out again.
The long, carbon-stained barrel of the laser rifle settled against Rork’s temple. The shooter held a finger up to his mouth. Mary Ellen trembled at his side, her breasts against him, her chest rising, falling.
The MORF-9 fell the last meter to the ground with a thump and the hatch slid open.
Thryk doesn’t deserve this. But neither does Zero. Rork rolled the possibilities around in his mind. Which would it be? Would the shooters kill him? Would Dad finally come around? Would—
The shooter swiveled his rifle to the MORF-9’s hatch. Thryk stepped out, a wide smile on his face.
“No!” Rork reached for the muzzle of the laser rifle. It fired and the heat soaked through Rork’s hand. He ripped it off, skin left behind.
Thryk looked down at his chest, a thumb-sized hole blown straight though his heart. Black blood spilled out and he collapsed, his face shock and confusion.
33
“WE CAN take them, brother.”
Rork looked up at Jord, his hands bound behind his back in the cargo hold of his own MORF-9.
Jord looked toward the bridge through the open cargo bay door. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. He shook his head and walked back to the bridge. He stopped in the doorway and shot a glance back at Rork.
>
“I have a plan.” Mankin bumped his knee against Rork’s right leg, his eyes wide.
“I don’t want anybody else getting killed.”
“What do you think Barbary is going to do to us? What? You’re special? He’s a monster.”
“For once,” Zero said from Rork’s left, “we are in agreement.”
“Me too,” said Mary Ellen from across the room.
“I have a knife.” Mankin bumped him again. “You’re going to try something. You’re Rork Sollix, aren’t you? You’re going to try something, so we might as well plan it.”
Rork met the emaciated man’s eyes out of the corner of his own.
“I’ll cut us out. Your brother joins us. We kill the shooters. Your dad doesn’t want to kill you.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“You gonna man up or what?” Mankin nodded his head at Zero.
Zero looked away.
“He’s a pacifist,” Rork said. “Respect it.”
Mankin laughed. “There are no pacifists out here. There’s no peace with Barbary. You’re either in his organization or you’re floating out there for all eternity. We have to fight!”
“Jord will help us.”
“Those goons are worth three men each,” Mankin said. “What about your girl?”
Rork met Mankin’s eyes full on. “What do you know about that?”
Mankin looked away and shrugged. “You hear things. I know a lot of people who want Barbary dead. Most of them are gone but I knew them.”
“And?”
Mankin looked back at him. “Barbary is public enemy number one for you, right?”
“Rork!” Jord strode towards his brother, grabbed his elbow and pulled him up.
Rork found his brother’s ear. “You with me or what, brother? We can be a family again.”
Jord tightened his mouth into a straight line. He kneeled down and cut the cables around Rork’s ankles, then the ones binding his wrists.
“What are we doing, brother?”
Jord jammed his nose against Rork’s. His lips trembled and his eyelids hung low. “Stuff it. Old Man Barbary is waiting to talk to you.” He pushed Rork forward.
Rork looked down at Zero and the little girl sleeping balled up on the floor next to him. He’s a good man. Better than Rork’s own family.
Zero met his eyes and nodded to him, radiating a dark intensity. “We’re screwed,” he seemed to say, “but in the end none of it matters, except what we do right now.”
Rork stepped into the bridge, rubbing his hands together. “Got my ham sandwich yet, gentlemen?” The shooters stood guard, one on either side of the cargo bay door. He searched their eyes but found nothing human. Rork shivered.
“Step this way, son.” His father moved to the side and guided Rork towards the control panel viewscreen.
Barbary’s face blinked into view. A superior sneer crossed it and dread filled Rork’s bones.
“Impressive. I thought you’d be at least a week in the mine. I guess you had some help from these incompetent nubs.”
The men around Rork stiffened and cleared their throats.
Rork smiled to himself.
“Funny, eh? Let’s see if—” Barbary started.
“Let them go, Barbary. I’ll keep coming for you. You know that. I’m getting closer. I’m closer now than I’ve ever been. You can’t keep me down, old man.”
“Indeed, I am an old man, but fitter and stronger than you, boy. And the closer you get to me, the greater the forces arrayed against you. If I could turn your own family against you, what do you think I have guarding my inner sanctum?”
“Release Lala and Mary Ellen. Let the rest of us go. I’ll take my ship and give you six weeks to regroup before I come for you.”
Barbary’s gold-plated teeth danced as he laughed, his mouth wide open. “You’ll... give... me?” He closed his mouth. “You raised a real jack here, Band.”
Rork’s father stepped forward and nodded.
“What does he have on you,” Rork asked, turning to his father, “that you bow and please for him like that?”
“Go ahead and tell him.” Barbary’s eyes sparkled.
Rork’s father tightened his face and looked away.
“Stop toying, Barbary. What do you want!” Rork yelled.
“Ah, but you are all my toys, one way or another. I have toy soldiers, toy servants, fetchers, bringers, girls, baby dolls. Even my enemies are my toys.”
Such a windbag. When I have him, it will be one shot to the head. Done and done. No time in this life for hot air with snoofs. “Give me a gun and I’ll off myself right now.”
“Oh, no, Rork, that is not your fate.”
Rork punched the viewscreen. “Tell me what you want!”
Arms grabbed Rork’s and pinned them tight behind his back, his shoulders pushed up and aching.
“But this is exactly what I want, thank you very much. So good doing business with you. So predictable. You’re a straight line, Rork Sollix. I couldn’t ask for a better adversary. Honest, true, incorruptible — a straight line in all senses of the word. You’re everything that is dull, boring and repetitive about humanity. Except you have that spark. But we’ll soon take care of that.”
“Shove it up your nose!”
“Your precious blue-hair is inside my airlock.”
The viewscreen changed. Lala sat, legs crossed, on the floor of a small white room. Behind her was a round door, a round porthole in the middle of it. There was only blackness beyond it.
“I’ll rip your teeth out one by one, you fat piece of brax!” Rork screamed.
“Far more likely that you, Lala and your friends there end up drifting in space for all eternity. After we pass her around, of course. Can’t toss a fine one like that without a taste test. We’ve restrained ourselves till now.”
Something heavy clawed at Rork’s chest. He struggled for the words. When will this be over?
“Or, you can save her. Come in now without any further resistance, and I mean any. You become a level one trader, represent Barbary to all your old clients. You’ll have to meet the normal profit targets.”
“I’ll kill you.”
“Not if you want your precious girl to live. You can marry her, keep her to yourself, for now at least. We believe in marriage, Rork. You’ll find a home here.”
Rork’s father turned and looked at him, his eyes questioning.
“Have your father’s approval. Your brother’s camaraderie. It will be lovely.” Barbary smiled wide.
“Forget it,” Rork mumbled. His legs shook and he stared at Lala’s image.
“You will be expected, of course, to impregnate one female per month. You’re a hearty buck, strong-willed, a real alpha. This is going to be right up your alley. Lala’s children can stay with the two of you until I need them. The rest belong to Barbary and Sons.”
“You’re sick, Barbary. Sick!”
“I’m a healthy human male, Rork. That is the goal of any male, to procreate, to control other men, to build something that will last forever. You’ll take my name someday, son, and all this could be yours.”
“You’re an animal, Barbary. A gorilla. I’m not like you.”
His father grabbed his arm. “Take the deal, boy. You won’t get another one like it.”
The corner of Rork’s mouth inched up. His stomach rose and he shrank from the man’s touch. “How dare you.”
“Every man is like me,” Barbary continued. “Some paint over it with honey and milk. You pretend you’re not an alpha male. Or you only wish you could be. I am the pinnacle of masculinity. I mate when I like, with whomever I like. I eat what I like. I control men. I use them to control even more men. I grow my empire and satiate my personal needs with impunity. I am subject to no law, to no other man’s limits or demands. Look inside yourself, Rork. It’s what you want. It’s what every man wants.”
No. One woman, a good one. A good life, with friends, helping people. A wave of pity and fear
overtook Rork. This man was a beast. There was no telling what torture he would subject Rork to. He had to fight him with every gram of will left to him. “You must be so lonely.”
Barbary narrowed his eyes. “I’m not the one who needs pity right now.”
“I refuse your deal.”
“One nod from me and your beautiful girl is gone forever, into the deep reaches of space, alone, forever. The same for your friends there. You speak of loneliness but you haven’t thought this through. You have five seconds.”
Jord grabbed Rork’s shoulder and shook him. Their father mumbled to Rork but the vibrations stopped in his ear. Inside him, his principles and his compassion fought a battle for his will.
“I accept your deal, Barbary, with the proviso that I will kill you and destroy your empire the first chance I get.”
“I would expect nothing less.”
“You have to let my friends go. They pose no threat to you.”
Barbary’s face hardened. “You’re in no position to negotiate. But as an act of good faith, I offer you a direct vox connection to your girl. My men will now take you to the induction facility. I’ll see you soon, Rork.”
Rork’s knees buckled and he found himself on the deck.
34
“WHAT DID he say?”
Mary Ellen kneeled in front of Rork, her frizzy black hair bouncing behind her ears, her deep brown eyes strained.
Rork looked away.
“Did they hurt you?” She ran her hands over his face, neck and torso. “No one laid a hand on you. I would have heard it.”
Zero gripped his shoulder. “Give him a minute.”
“I don’t have a minute! You don’t know what he’ll do to me,” she said.
“Who?” Zero asked.
“Barbary! I’m a runaway. He’s my father. And my grandfather. And my betrothed.”
“What?” Zero asked. “How—?”
Rork buried his head in his hands. “Listen, we have to—”
“What did you do?” she asked.
Mankin and Zero leaned in. It comforted Rork, those three heads so close to his. They were a team. Four strong wills working towards a common goal. He felt safe. A kernel of strength returned to him. This was the time to fight, not wallow. So help me, Jupiter!
Rise the Renegade (Rork Sollix Book 1) Page 18
