by Zen DiPietro
They frowned at one another.
Cabot reconsidered his desire to play hero. Fair was fair, and someone else had a better claim. “You know, I think Rigby has seniority on this. Zankarti’s her system, and we wouldn’t have gotten here without her.”
Rigby brightened, a smile spreading across her face. She was an attractive woman, but when she smiled, she became quite pretty. He also didn’t mind the slight maniacal gleam in her eye that he seemed to see a lot of lately.
“Really?” she asked.
“Go for it. Just be sure to set the timer and to run. Once we blow this thing, we won’t have a lot of time to do the rest. Barony will be searching for us.”
She nodded resolutely. “I’m on it.”
He twisted around and handed her the parcel in his lap. “I’d say good luck, but instead, I’ll say have fun.”
“And why did you come down here with something like this?” Rigby asked.
“It’s Nagali’s, though I don’t know where she hid it in that outfit.” Cabot squinted at her.
“I’ll never tell.” Nagali smiled coyly. “And to answer your question,” she said to Rigby, “I like to be prepared.”
“Prepared to blow things up?”
“Of course, if that’s what’s required.”
Cabot couldn’t resist adding, “She once smuggled a sphere of Brivinium under the skin of her arm onto Briv itself.”
Rigby’s eyes went as round as a pair of full moons. “You’re kidding.”
“I never kid about smuggling.” Cabot smiled.
“Oh no.” Realization dawned on Rigby’s face. “You’re all batshit crazy, aren’t you? I thought you were just reckless hedonists, but this is just not normal.”
“We probably are, at this point. We weren’t always—except for Nagali. But we’re wasting time. The PAC might start lobbing bombs at us any minute now.” Cabot gestured at the explosives he’d handed her. “You understand how to work that, right?”
With a look of distrust and worry, Rigby nodded. “Yeah. I hope this works.”
She darted out the side door, jogging carefully over the uneven ground toward the huge hub.
“She’s too uptight,” Arpalo observed, sitting next to Omar.
“Shut up,” Nagali told him.
He fell silent.
Cabot’s eyes followed Rigby until she stepped into the hub complex and the dust clouds obscured her.
He imagined what she’d be doing. First, finding a central access point for the central server. Then, opening the bag Nagali had tucked the assembled explosive into. Tying it to the server. Opening both ends and connecting them to allow the chemical reaction to occur. Setting the timer that would make it happen. Running like crazy, trying not to fall, to return to the vehicle.
Cabot sat with the van running, waiting. Any minute now.
Any second.
Any time now.
Except she wasn’t coming.
“Omar, go look for her,” Cabot ordered.
Omar didn’t need to hear more. He bolted out of the van like a missile, running for the hub. How he moved so fast, with the poor air quality and the bad terrain, Cabot didn’t know. Omar wasn’t much younger than him.
He definitely needed to work out more.
Several tense minutes later, Nagali fidgeted. “Should I go?”
“No. If Omar can’t handle whatever’s going on out there, I can’t afford to lose you, too.”
Suddenly she was just behind his seat, her arms going around him in a backward hug. “I knew it. You love me.”
He considered running toward the bomb.
Why did women keep telling him that he loved them? Pigie had done it recently and now Nagali.
“Wait.” He peered into the whorls of dust. “Someone’s coming.”
Nagali grabbed a stinger out of her cleavage.
“Is that seriously where you keep things?” he asked. “I thought you were being funny before. This is disturbing. Get some pockets, or use a handbag like a normal person.”
A large form hurried up to the van. Only once the door opened did Cabot realize it was Omar, carrying Rigby. They were covered in a thick layer of dust, coughing and gasping for air.
Nagali slammed the door shut and Cabot took off. He left the care of Rigby and Omar to Nagali. He had to get them as far away as he could, before—
A shockwave kicked the back end of the van sideways, slamming the front tire into a rut and jarring the vehicle hard to the right.
Arpalo yelped as they tipped and rolled onto the side, then the roof, then onto the other side. Each landing was a shuddering force that shook Cabot’s bones, even with the benefit of his restraints. Omar and Rigby hadn’t had a chance to strap in. They tumbled free, end over end.
The motion tilted them one more time, and Cabot hoped they had enough momentum to turn over once again, back onto the wheels. Hopefully, that wouldn’t destroy the van’s suspension or damage the axles.
He unstrapped and threw his weight across the van to give it just a little more oomph.
They tilted, tilted, and yes, over they went, slamming down hard on the all-terrain tires.
Cabot had slammed into the side of the van with his shoulder, and it felt like a giant had bashed him with a hammer, but there was no time to worry about that. He jumped back to the driver’s seat.
“It’s still running!”
When he pressed the accelerator, the engine revved but they didn’t move.
Cabot groaned.
Rigby dragged herself to the door. Her dark hair was a wreck and she looked like she’d lost a fight, but she said, “The drive train has disconnected. I can fix it.”
She had a repair kit in her hand.
“Last time I let you out, things didn’t go according to plan,” Cabot pointed out.
She shot him a dark look. “Not my fault. I had company. If we don’t want to have more, I need to fix this.”
She hauled herself out, dragging her right leg slightly and hugging her left arm close to her chest.
“Nagali, help her.”
Miraculously, Nagali followed Rigby without a word.
“What happened?” Cabot asked Omar.
“There were two guards there, and they weren’t happy about us bombing their communications. They put up a bit of a fight. And they had respirators, while we, stupidly, did not. We were coughing up dirt the whole time.”
“I’m sorry,” Cabot said. “We should have thought of that.”
“She should have,” snapped Nagali. “She’s the expert here.”
Cabot threw her a quelling look. Nagali shrugged.
“She fought well, though,” Omar said. “They had the advantage, but she was still holding them off when I got there.”
“I’m kind of glad I didn’t go, now,” Cabot joked.
Omar laughed, then winced. “Pretty sure I broke a rib.”
“Out there, or in here?”
“Maybe one for both? But I’m sure I felt a crack when we were rolling.”
Cabot nodded. “I saw you trying to hold onto Rigby and protect her.”
“Did not. I was trying to use her as a shield,” Omar insisted. “You know, cushion my fall.”
“Right.”
“Wait,” Omar said, tilting his head to the side. “Do you hear something?”
Cabot sure did. “Footsteps.”
With Omar and Rigby hurt and Arpalo untrustworthy, that left only two people to handle the problem.
Cabot sighed. “Omar, keep an eye on Arpalo.”
“Got it,” Omar wheezed.
Cabot jumped out, where Rigby was painfully crawling her way under the van.
“Nagali, I need you,” Cabot said.
“This is a fine time to finally admit it, but better late than never.”
“Not what I meant. Someone’s coming, and we need to get them before they get us.”
Nagali brightened and grabbed her stinger. “Now that sounds fun. Which direction?”
He pointed.
“Last one there’s a loser!” She took off running as fast as the rough terrain allowed.
Cabot steeled himself and ran out on her heels.
The dust had been bad before, but now that they’d torn up the place with their wreck, he could barely see. He had to struggle to keep his eyes open.
“Wait!” He hooked an arm around Nagali’s waist from behind, forcing her to be still.
She made a tiny, satisfied sound and snuggled back against him, like they were spooning.
He bopped her on the head with the butt of his stinger and hissed, “Listen!” in her ear.
Then they heard it. Footsteps, coming right at them. Nagali pointed her stinger at the sound.
“Wait!” he whispered in her ear. “It would help to know if there are others behind us.”
She shoved the stinger into her belt. Thank Prelin.
He stretched out his right arm so that his fingers brushed the fingertips of her left hand so they could remain aware of each other. They stood that way, waiting.
Two people burst through the dusty haze. Cabot clotheslined one while Nagali kicked the other in the crotch.
The person went down and disappeared in a rolling wave of dirt, so Cabot guessed that her opponent was a man. Then they both disappeared from his view.
He went down to the ground after the man who crouched on his hands and knees, choking. Before Cabot could pin the guy, though, he launched an uppercut that caught Cabot under the jaw and knocked him on his ass.
The man, still coughing, lunged at Cabot. Cabot grabbed a handful of sandy dirt and threw it in his face, then ducked to the side. Getting his feet under him, he charged the man, knocking him onto his back with Cabot squarely on top.
With one hand, he grabbed his stinger and put it to the guy’s temple. “I’d freeze if I were you.”
The man went still.
“Are there others with you? Or behind you?” Cabot demanded.
“Just us two,” he said through what sounded like a busted lip.
“Why did you attack our van?”
“We didn’t. We were headed the same way. A shitload of ships are in orbit or headed this way, and we want to get out while we can. We saw your van and figured we could use it.”
Cabot poked him with the stinger. “And what about us?”
“Not our problem.”
At least he was honest, but now Cabot was saddled with what to do with the guy. And the other one, once he found Nagali.
He hoped she was okay.
Cabot’s stinger worked well to prod his captive forward into an oncoming wave of dust, back to where he hoped to find Nagali.
A hand grabbed his ankle and Cabot jumped back, aiming his stinger at a new target.
“It’s me.”
A cloud of dust billowed away, revealing Nagali, sitting primly on the shoulder blades of an apparently unconscious man.
“I knocked him out. Sorry. But I see you got one.” She smiled at up at Cabot’s captive, as if politely greeting someone at a party.
“Yeah. They’re just opportunists. Now we’re stuck with what to do with them.”
She shrugged. “Knock the other one out and let’s go.”
“We can’t just leave them to die.”
“Why?” She squinted up at him, puzzled.
“It’s not sporting.”
She sighed, still sitting on the guy. “Well we can’t just let them go. They might attack us again.”
The man under her lifted his head and tried to roll over. Nagali reached down. Cabot couldn’t see what she grabbed, but the immediate stillness of the man gave him a pretty good idea.
Cabot’s captive chose that moment to sweep Cabot’s feet out from under him. Cabot stumbled, but didn’t fall. He immediately squeezed off a center-mass stinger burst that put the guy in the dirt.
“Well that takes care of that one,” Nagali said. “But now this one’s awake.”
Cabot didn’t want to drag them along, but he couldn’t abandon them to die, and he couldn’t risk them attacking again.
Nagali stood and dusted herself off, which accomplished absolutely nothing. “We have no good options here.”
She pointed her stinger at the one lying on the ground. “How far’s your vehicle?”
“Further than we thought,” the guy said, sounding sulky. “We thought you were a lot closer.”
“Guess we lucked out,” Nagali said dryly. “We’re going to march you to your vehicle and secure you to it. Understand? You’ll get the sporting chance Cabot thinks you deserve for some reason, and you’ll be hung up at least long enough for us to get well away. Now, the question is, will you cooperate or should we just kill you both now? ‘Cause I’m out of time and patience. I’m just not the sporting sort.”
Then minutes later, Nagali and Cabot carefully hustled back to the van, having left the two men shackled to the inside of their small all-terrain vehicle. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was as good as they were going to get.
Rigby was groaning as she scooted her way back out from under the van. Nagali helped her into the van with more tenderness than he was accustomed to seeing from her.
She never stopped surprising him.
“Should be good now,” Rigby said, her breath labored. “Let’s go.”
Nagali swung the door shut after strapping Rigby in, then strapped herself in.
Cabot hit the accelerator and, thank Prelin, they were on their way again.
Although, with two of their people now significantly injured, he wasn’t sure they could move on to Part B of the plan.
8
Rigby tried to cover it, but her breathing had become labored. Rolling around on the ground had no doubt worsened her condition. Cabot wished they had access to emergency medical treatment.
His dilemma now was whether to get off the planet while they could, and get Rigby and Omar treated, or to press on and give the PAC every possible advantage.
On one hand, taking out the planet’s communications would slow any response to an attack while also distracting the Barony workers.
On the other, if going one step further meant giving the PAC the edge they needed to succeed, then how could he not do that?
A brief stream of blue and red in the sky made his decision for him.
“Did you see that?” he asked Nagali, now sitting up front with him.
“Yeah.” She stared up toward the sky.
“I saw it too. What was that?” Arpalo had sat quietly up to that point, but his voice had a high-pitched ring of hysteria.
“That’s what Nagali called ‘the cavalry.’” Omar muttered, his hand resting on his opposite shoulder to brace his chest.
“What does that mean, exactly?” Arpalo asked, squirming nervously.
Cabot glanced up to exchange a look with Nagali. After he settled his eyes ahead again, she shrugged.
He said, “I guess there’s no real reason not to tell you at this point. Just keep in mind that if you try to run, to alert someone, not only will it not matter, but we’ll shoot you, too.”
“Uh…okay.” Arpalo sounded cautious.
“Fill him in,” Cabot said to Nagali.
She brightened and twisted around in her seat.
She loved giving bad news.
“We’re pretty sure the PAC has arrived to wipe Barony out of the Zankarti system,” she announced. “We can assume that at any minute, planet-busting bombs will fall. That means we need to get our asses off this dustball as soon as possible.”
“They wouldn’t destroy the planet, would they?” Arpalo asked doubtfully. “That could screw up this entire system, changing planetary orbits and stuff.”
“Oh, now you decide to be smart?” Nagali shook a finger at him. “Shut up. No, they probably won’t do that, because they’re so boring and care about things like orbits and not destroying star systems.” She rolled her eyes at such trivial concerns. “I just like to think big. Anyway, some serious shit is about to
land right on us, so we have to skip the part where we return to the industrial complex and highjack the air filtration system to fill the place with poison. A shame, because that would have forced everyone outside.”
“Good, so we’re leaving now?” Arpalo asked.
“Yes.” Nagali flicked a dismissive gesture at him. “Not sure what you’re going to do once we get up there, though. I feel no particular reason to give you passage on our shuttle.”
Cabot couldn’t see Arpalo, but he could imagine the man’s eyes widening with surprise and outrage.
“But if there’s a battle going on up there, no ships will be docked at the elevator.”
“That’s sad.” Contrary to her words, Nagali didn’t sound sad.
“I’ll pay you for passage,” Arpalo said, a note of panic in his voice. “Wait. No, I can do better than that.”
“What could be better than money?” Nagali asked derisively.
“I helped build the elevator. I can tell you how to take it down on your way up, if your shuttle has basic weapons.”
A devious smile curled across Nagali’s face. The smile was so rife with wickedness that Cabot felt like he could have seen it with his eyes closed.
“Now that,” she said, “is worth the price of your ride. Start talking.”
“Well, that’s no good.” Nagali’s casual observation didn’t do justice to the depth of Cabot’s despair.
Their shuttle had received a direct hit, and now lay in twisted shards of metal that probably covered fifty kilometers. All Cabot saw in front of him was a blackened hunk of what appeared to be the aft section.
“We’ll have to use the elevator.” Omar sounded no happier about the idea than Cabot felt.
“And if there are no ships?” he asked.
Omar shrugged. “Do you have a better plan? Maybe we should go back and make friends with the Barony people.”
Cabot closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them with new resolve. “Okay. Rigby, what’s the fastest course to the elevator?”
Cabot didn’t often bark, but when he did, it was because the world was about to blow up.
“Let’s move,” he ordered. “Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are no doubt on their way to this elevator to either get off the planet or keep people from coming down.”
