by Zen DiPietro
“You should check on the day rotation. That’s where they stick the newbies. If we don’t know him and you can’t find him, he must be new.”
Rigby nodded. “Of course. Thanks, guys.” She smiled at them and turned to go, but paused. “Hey, what’s the quickest way there from here? I never come out this way.”
“Tunnel five just opened up,” the blond one said. “Go to its midpoint to use the emergency exit to cut across warehouse H, and then straight on to Zone D. Day rotation’s supervisor should be there, and can tell you where your guy is.”
Rigby smiled at him. “Thanks. You saved me a ton of walking. I’ll keep an eye out for you in the mess hall.”
“Great. Good luck.”
She nodded, then led their group away.
They embarked on the trek, and this time, they did pass several groups of people, along with stray individuals here and there. As soon as people noticed Nagali’s outfit, they tended to retreat as quickly as possible.
Nagali embraced her role, too. She wore a dire expression that hinted at a deep displeasure that she intended to take out on someone very soon.
Cabot released a small breath of relief when they made it to Zone D. This area had better lighting and felt a bit warmer. Cabot guessed that this was one of the older parts of the complex.
He scanned the people who were present, all of whom edged away when they noticed Nagali. One of them showed a more alarmed response, though, and didn’t retreat.
“That’s our guy,” Cabot said in a low voice to Rigby.
“You sure?” she asked.
“Ninety-five percent.”
“All right. Here goes.” She led them up to the middle-aged, slightly chubby man. “You’re the day rotation supervisor?” she asked, making the words sound like an accusation.
“Yes.” He eyed each of them warily, but most of his attention stayed on Rigby and Nagali.
“I’m Acquisitions Manager Lon Delacorte. Inspector Hrizenka is here to investigate one of your workers whose paperwork was incomplete. Name’s Arpalo.”
He knew the name. Cabot saw the recognition on his face immediately.
“He listed his birth planet as Zerellus, and the inspector has found that to be untrue,” Rigby added.
The supervisor grimaced. “I wish they’d used Barony citizens for this job instead of these contract workers. They’re so much harder to verify. Anyway, I don’t get contractors’ registration paperwork. That’s another department on the moon base, when they’re onboarded to this operation.”
Nagali stepped forward, looking like she was ready to eat nails and spit fire. “I’m not going to chase over there right now. I want to see this Arpalo to interview him myself. I warn you, I might have to take him into custody and you’ll be short a worker. The Zankarti government does not take records falsification lightly.”
Cabot kept his face serious, but he inwardly cringed. Nagali might be playing her part a little too boldly.
But the man nodded, looking grave. “He’s handling new delivery and sorting, at delivery bay three on the other side of this zone.”
Nagali sighed with annoyance. “Could you people not have been a little more imaginative in naming this place? All this zone something and tunnel whatever and warehouse numbers and letters are so dull.”
The supervisor blinked. “I’m…I…I suppose they are rather colorless.”
“There’s colorless,” Nagali retorted, “and then there’s not even trying. Put more effort in next time.”
With a derisive sound of scorn, she strutted off in the direction he’d indicated.
The rest of them had no choice but to follow.
“Can I do this one?” Omar asked as they arrived at Arpalo’s supposed location. “I’m starting to feel like a third wheel.”
“There are four of us, you idiot,” Nagali said. “Learn to count.”
“It’s a figure of speech,” Omar protested. “It means a thing that isn’t needed and kind of gets in the way.”
“Sounds about right,” Nagali decided. “But no. Arpalo’s all mine.”
“Come on,” Omar pressed.
She sighed. “Fine. You stand next to me and look like you’re just barely holding yourself back from tearing him limb from limb.”
Omar brightened. “I can do that.”
“What makes you think this is your call?” Rigby narrowed her eyes at Nagali.
Nagali stared back. “Because I’m the one who knows this guy, knows how to get what we want out of him, and if you have a problem with that, then you have a very serious problem with me.”
Cabot felt like a neutral planet caught between two rival factions.
After a several long moments of tense standoff, Rigby relented. “Fine. But don’t do anything extreme.”
“Extreme is relative,” Nagali spat. “There he is.”
Without another word, she marched forward.
“How dangerous is this?” Rigby asked Omar and Cabot as they hurried to stay on Nagali’s heels.
“To have Nagali running the show?” Cabot asked. “Wildly. But whether it’s dangerous for us, for Arpalo, or both remains to be seen.”
Rigby clearly didn’t like this answer, judging by her scowl.
“Hang in there,” Cabot advised. “She’s also capable of amazing things. This could work.”
“I hope so.”
They turned a corner toward the sound of people working, and chaos erupted.
They immediately saw Arpalo.
Arpalo immediately saw them.
He took off running in the opposite direction, leaving his co-workers standing there, mouths agape at the scene unfolding in front of them.
In a moment of perfect sibling synchronicity, the same exact smile spread across both Omar’s and Nagali’s faces, and they tore off after him.
Cabot and Rigby followed on their heels.
The row they were in was long and straight. Cabot reached for his stinger to knock Arpalo out. An empty pallet gave the man an opportunity to dart sideways into the next row. Nagali and Omar dashed across it with Cabot and Rigby right behind.
As Cabot’s foot came down on a pallet, which for some reason was made of wood, the already-trampled board cracked and broke, throwing him off balance.
His foot slid under the plank, forcing him to drop to his opposite knee to extricate it without stabbing himself with wooden shards. The others ran out of sight, though he could hear the commotion they made.
He freed his foot and stood, glad to find that he hadn’t twisted or broken his ankle. Not so glad to be left behind.
Rather than follow the others, he continued down the same row they’d been in, hoping to get a chance to cut Arpalo off.
His breath sounded ragged in his own ears as he ran. He needed to work out more. He’d gotten too used to a cushy existence on a PAC station.
The sound of fast footsteps stopped and he heard shifting in the row between him and the one they were in. Someone was moving something.
Charging forward, he froze, waiting.
A pallet shifted slightly and a long, scraping sound came after a gasp of breath.
Cabot got ready.
Afterward, he reflected on the fact that he should have grabbed his stinger. Why hadn’t he? Perhaps in the adrenaline-soaked moment, he’d simply forgotten.
He certainly hadn’t gotten carried away, because that would be ridiculous, and without a doubt, he had no need to prove himself or impress anyone.
But when a box was pushed out of the way to make room for someone to get through, Cabot lunged forward, grabbed the reaching arms, and pulled Arpalo through. The man fell a good meter and a half to the floor.
Standing over him and using the leverage to his advantage, Cabot drew his arm back and cold-cocked him in the chin, knocking him out.
Moments later, Nagali, Omar, and Rigby came tearing around the corner of the row, arriving at his position. Cabot stood over the unconscious Arpalo with a unique sense of pride.
> Nagali’s eyes sparkled with appreciation, and even Omar seemed impressed.
Rigby, who had no reason to think this was out of the ordinary for Cabot, remained guarded.
“What happened?” she asked, looking down at Arpalo.
“I kicked his ass, is what,” Cabot declared.
Once again, Nagali and Omar showed perfect parity in their delight for both his boast and his use of a legitimate swear word.
Omar nudged Arpalo with his foot to see if he’d rouse. He didn’t. “Drag or carry?”
Nagali pursed her lips. “Since we need to hear what he has to say, carry. But maybe drag later.”
Dutifully, Omar leaned down, grabbed Arpalo’s arm, and pulled him into a cross-carry over Omar’s shoulder and across his back, with Arpalo’s head pointing toward the floor.
“Where to?” Omar asked.
They looked to Rigby, who seemed surprised. After a moment of deliberation, she said, “Let’s find the quickest way back to our truck. I’d like to get away from prying eyes.”
Nagali nodded. “I like it.”
Cabot felt fairly confident that Nagali was thinking torture, while Rigby was thinking low-profile data-gathering. But whatever. Making themselves scarce seemed like the best thing they could do.
If anyone found it strange for three Barony employees to escort a Zankarti inspector while one of those Barony employees carried an unconscious one, Cabot couldn’t tell it. Every time they crossed paths with someone, the person seemed to suddenly realize there was somewhere else they needed to be, right that second.
Omar covered his fatigue after the long trek, acting like it was nothing after he dumped Arpalo on the floor of their vehicle. Cabot saw his flush, though, and the bow of his shoulders.
“I kind of thought he’d wake up by now,” Nagali said. “Cabot couldn’t have hit him that hard.”
“Hey,” Cabot said, insulted.
She waved away his pique. “It’s just not normal to be out for this long after a bare-handed punch.”
“There should be a medical kit in here somewhere,” Rigby said, looking under her seat. “There will be ammonia snaps in there that should bring him around.”
“You sure about that?” Omar asked, even as he rummaged around. “That doesn’t sound like something Barony would do.”
Rigby smirked. “A Zankarti requirement. One of many. We’re just so civilized in how many rules we make people follow while we allow them to occupy our system and pollute us with their presence.”
“You’re bitter,” Nagali observed. “I like that.” She was about to say more, but she pulled a small, rectangular bag from under her seat. “Aha! Found it.”
“Shouldn’t we get out of here?” Cabot asked. “In case someone decides to follow up on what’s happening with this guy?”
He pointed to where Arpalo lay on the floor of the vehicle, wedged in tight between the seats.
“It’s not a bad idea, just in case,” Rigby agreed. “Why don’t you drive us away from the road?”
“What road?” Cabot asked, starting the engine. “I’ve seen better roads in war zones.”
“Fine, the transit path, then,” Rigby said. “Take us away from all the routes people are likely to use.”
She recited a heading, which he was more than happy to follow.
As they rode, Omar cracked open the ammonia tube and waved it under Arpalo’s nose. Meanwhile, he hovered over him, ready to knock him out again, if necessary.
Cabot appreciated the irony, even as he concentrated on the terrain ahead. He left the man to the other three. He heard an occasional groan or terse words, but couldn’t make anything out.
After thirty minutes, he parked the van and left it idling, deciding that this was far enough that they were unlikely to be discovered by accident.
Of course, if Barony was monitoring its vehicles, it might wonder why one had gone to such an odd location.
He’d have to hope they weren’t doing that, or if they were, they wouldn’t reach them in time.
“You understand everything we’re saying,” Nagali barked at him. “I can tell. You have that same stupid expression you always do.”
Arpalo shifted to sit up, but Omar put a heavy hand on his chest. “I told you, stay down.”
Arpalo groaned. “When I saw you, I hoped my eyes were playing tricks on me. I didn’t want it to be you. Why, of all places, would you be here? Are you a curse brought upon me by some ancient god I don’t even believe in?”
Nagali said, “Don’t worry about that. But if you hoped not to see me on this planet, why did you tell people about me? That wasn’t very nice.”
“Are you kidding? If you’re here, all hell’s about to break loose. I’m just here to work. My business took a big hit because of you, and I’ve had bad luck ever since. I’ve been reduced to grunt contract work. It’s humiliating.”
“Because of me?” Nagali made a coughing sort of sound of outrage. “You were the one who tried to cheat me when we had a deal. You tried to force me into a corner, but you should have known I would find you out and make you pay.”
“Fine,” Arpalo groaned. “I did pay. On that deal, and on a lot ever since. It’s not a good time to be a trader, stuck with inventory people now consider frivolous and not worth buying.”
Cabot would have had sympathy for that, since it was a legitimately bad situation. But Arpalo had treated Nagali poorly, which crushed any stirrings of compassion.
“Why,” Arpalo continued, “are you punishing me again? I already paid for what I did to you.”
Nagali focused on his face with a look as cold as space itself. “You cross Nagali Freeborn, you never stop paying.”
Arpalo heaved a sigh. “What do you want?”
He sounded exhausted, and Cabot suddenly believed that this man was at the end of his tether. The fallout of war and one formidable woman had brought him low.
“We need to know the vulnerabilities of Barony on this planet and the moon base. Everything you know, or anywhere we could search for info. We need all the soft targets and most strategic targets.” Rigby’s words were crisp and precise, like a university lecturer talking about economic theory.
“Why?” Arpalo asked.
Nagali, Cabot, Rigby, and Omar exchanged glances. If they told Arpalo, they couldn’t let him go again. On the other hand, letting him go would probably be a death sentence, because he’d no doubt run back to his employers and tell them everything he knew.
“Because we’re blasting Barony out of the Zankarti system,” Cabot said. “And if you help us, we’ll do our best to get you off the planet, along with us.”
“No offense, but I don’t think you’re capable of that. Four people and a van? How much meddling could you possibly do?”
Rigby frowned at him. “We’re just the welcoming committee.”
“Oh, good line.” Nagali patted Rigby on the shoulder. “Let me do one.” She lifted her chin. “The cavalry’s on the way.”
She pointed up at the roof of the van and, presumably, at the sky.
She brightened. “Oh, that was fun. Just like being in a holo-vid.”
“You have a way out of here?” Arpalo ignored Nagali, lifting his head to look past her to Cabot.
“Yes. We have a shuttle on the surface, in a communications black spot. Considering what’s going to go down here in a matter of hours, or days—we don’t know which—your employment here is about to end, one way or another. I recommend you help us out.”
Arpalo lowered his head to the floor with a soft thud. “And now that you’ve told me what you’re doing, you’ll kill me if I try to get away, right?”
“Well, yes,” Rigby said. “But why would you do that? We’re your only good way out of here.”
He groaned, long and loud, kicked his feet, and generally acted like a child who’d been told he wasn’t getting his allowance for the week. But finally, Arpalo heaved a sigh. “What do you need, precisely?”
Cabot smiled. He liked
it when a person who had no other alternatives decided to be reasonable.
It was always good for business. And, in this case, war.
“Behind that rise.” Arpalo gestured at the craggy land ahead of them. The dust had grown so thick Cabot had to cut his speed by half due to the lack of visibility. “The communications hub is there.”
“What a stupid place!” Nagali practically spat. “It’s nearly impossible to get to. We’ve almost tipped over twice.”
“That’s one of the things they liked about it. Being out in the middle of nowhere means contractors like me are unlikely to sneak out here to strip off some components for resale,” Arpalo explained.
“And the other thing?” Omar prompted.
“Location. It was triangulated as the best spot to bounce signals off of Zankarti satellites, to save Barony from needing to set up more of their own.”
“Hmph. At least that’s a reason, I guess.” Nagali sniffed.
“No security?” Rigby asked.
“I doubt it,” Arpalo said. “They’ve done their best to make the most of the workforce they have. Zankarti regulations have created a bottleneck in how many people Barony can bring here. It’s slowed them down a lot.”
“At least we’re doing something right,” Rigby muttered. “Even if it is just bureaucratic red tape.”
“All right.” Cabot rubbed his hands together, soothing the cramps. “So we’re sure we’re doing this?”
All heads nodded, except Arpalo’s. He sat there looking morose.
“And we’re sure we’re doing this now?” Cabot added.
The same response.
“Okay. I guess I’ll do the honors.” He unstrapped from his seat and reached for the door.
“Wait,” Nagali said. “Why you?”
“Because if this works, I want to be able to say I was responsible for blowing up the Barony Coalition’s colony.”
“But that’s why I want to do it,” Nagali said.
“Me too.” Omar eyed Arpalo, making sure he didn’t do something foolish.
Rigby admitted, “Me too, actually.”
“We could all go,” Nagali suggested.
“Someone needs to watch the van,” Omar said. “It’s our way out. Besides, that terrain is treacherous. We can’t afford to all go out there and break a leg.”
